(3) Yoshi Tatsu def. Drew McIntyre
McIntyre was entertaining. Played the heel well. Got a decent reaction whenever he performed the guitar riffs with hip thrusts. Crowd was pretty split between who to cheer. There were some “Yoshi” chants and some “3MB” chants. Match was vanilla compared to the rest of the show, but I enjoy McIntyre so I liked that part of it. Tatsu wins with a roll up pin.
(4) Dean Ambrose def. Zack Ryder for the U.S. Championship
The match was decided via Twitter to be a No DQ match as opposed to a 2 out of 3 falls match. Crowd was fully behind Ryder during the duration of the match. Before the match began some “let’s go Ryder WOO WOO WOO” chants were easily heard. Ryder was capable of getting a chant going at will. Match was entertaining. Kendo sticks, chairs and a garbage can were used as weapons. Ryder used a kendo stick to deliver a Sandman esque Russian leg sweep. Amborse controlled the match for the most part. Ambrose was holding a chair and picked up Ryder and gave him a body slam onto it. Ryder kicked out. Ambrose stuffs the chair into a corner and it backfires as Ryder sends Ambrose into the chair face first. Amborse kicked out. Ambrose exposes one of the turnbuckles. That set up Ambrose to drop Ryder onto it and then use his finisher onto Ryder to retain as champion. At one point towards the end of the match Ryder had a very visible slash on his stomach/hip area. I would assume it was from taking one of the shots from the kendo stick, but it did not look pretty to say the least.
-The other members of the Shield come out to ambush Ryder and that is when Daniel Bryan’s music hits and he and Christian saved Ryder from any further attacking. The match is announced to begin.
(5) Daniel Bryan & Christian def. The Shield via DQ
Bryan received such an ovation it felt like I was at Raw or a SmackDown taping. Crowd was fully behind Bryan and Christian. I did not hear many cheers in favor of the Shield. Great match overall. Easily match of the night. Match ends with Rollins attempting a knee from the top rope but is dodged by Bryan and gets Rollins into the (Whatever it is being called nowadays) Lock. Before Rollins taps, Reigns breaks the hold and Bryan and Christian win by DQ.
-After the match Christian wants a hug from Bryan. He says ”NO!” the crowd responds with a resounding YES! And go back and forth a couple times. Bryan agrees to a handshake and once they are shaking hands, Christian pulls Bryan in for a hug and then runs up the stage and to the back as Bryan chases after him.
-Justin Roberts announces a 15 minute intermission.
