Thanks to Lionel Newman for sending this in:
First night of the South Africa and show was filled with some highs and very unfortunate lows.
The card kicked off with R-Truth vs Fandango w/Summer Rae.
Great participation from the crowd with both superstars interacting well with spectators. Winner by pinfall: R-Truth.
Second match was Kaitlyn vs AJ for the Divas Championship. Good quality Divas match with lots of bumps but also very technical. Dominant performance from the champion. Winner by pinfall: AJ.
Divas match followed by Wade Barrett generating some great heat working the crowd with the mic before his match against RVD. Huge pop for RVD.
Winner by pinfall: RVD.
Next up was local hero Justin Gabriel vs Titus O Neal.
Crowd unsure how to respond to O’ Neal at first but a strong heel performance quickly fixed that. Winner by pinfall: Justin Gabriel. After the match Fandango attacked Gabriel from behind, setting up a match for the following night.
The following match created the biggest controversy of the night. Big E Langston vs Randy Orton. Solid match up between the two superstars with Randy Orton victorious by pinfall.
In a really upsetting turn of events (with Big E on his way to the locker room) an idiot entered the ring with Orton posing on the ropes and ATTACKED HIM FROM BEHIND WITH A LOW BLOW. Orton was quick to retaliate with security having to prevent Big E (breaking character) from breaking the idiot in half.
The damage was done though and one dumbass managed to dampen the mood for the rest of the night. As per WWE security nobody was allowed to even stand up to take pictures let alone run up to the barrier.
After a very timely intermission, the fans were treated to a mixed tag match between Damian Sandow, Cody Rhodes and Briee Bella vs the Funkadelics.
Sandow comes out announcing that he and Cody are no longer tag team partners. Obviously aware that South Africa’s programming is 3 weeks behind.
Winners by pinfall: Funkadelics. Its worth noting that Brodus Clay turned to ringside management to ask about the lack of response from the crowd before being given an explenation.
The penultimate match between Sheamus and Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter kick off with Zeb Colter taunting the locals.
Very strong performance from both men. Sheamus victorius by pinfall after Brogue kick.
The main event for the World Heaveyweight Championship – Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio.
Fans were asked by Lillian Garci to vote for the stipulation and turned out to be a no disqualification match. This allowed for some great spots with a kendo stick, chair and table.
Alberto Del Rio victorious via pinfall. Also worth noting (what I was afraid would happen) is that many of the marks in the crowd were unaware of the double turn and boo’d Ziggler while cheering Del Rio. The two of them shrugged their shoulders and laughed at the situation. Ziggler on a few occassion shouted “I’m the good guy!” and “Don’t you people have internet!?”
Biggest pop – RVD and Randy Orton.
Good quality match-ups right through the card.
Unfortunately the people have spoken with the show not sold out. General consencus is that the card is too similar to that of two years ago and it’s always Smackdown that tours our shores.
Biggest heat unfortunately the idiot that attacked Orton.
Note: It was while Orton was on the top ropes, as seen above, that he was hit in the groin by the fan
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
