Thanks to Ross Gates for sending in the following:
Went to the 6/15 Fort Wayne IN show last night. First live event since the Shield debuted at the 2012 Survivor Series and my first house show in 18 (!) years.
About 10 minutes before the show Justin Roberts came out and announced a Twitter vote between a dance-off and a six divas tag team match. The match won by about 10%.
Kofi Kingston d. Ryback with the Trouble in Paradise. Surprisingly good match. Ryback was pretty over as a heel.
Cameron, Naomi & Summer Rae d. Layla, Rosa Mendes & Eva Marie. Eva looks awful in the ring. They did a lot of interaction with Layla refusing to get in the ring with Summer Rae. Eventually Summer chased her to the back, and Cameron got the pin on Eva.
Paul Heyman showed up on the screen to announce that he was NOT in Fort Wayne. He mocked the crowd for cheering this, and said his client was contractually obligated to appear tonight.
Cesaro d. Big E with the Neutralizer. Cesaro was fairly over, but Big E was over way more than I'd expect. Cesaro seemed to hurt his knee when he landed, and the referee threw up an X. Trainer came out, and he checked on Cesaro. Big E seemed concerned and the trainer spoke with Roberts before helping Cesaro to his feet…and Cesaro blindsided him. Even I and the "smarks" behind me were fooled by this one. He then did some jumping jacks to show he was fine which got a lot of crowd heat. Good match.
The Usos d. Harper & Rowan and The Brotherhood to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. No video for the Wyatts who were over with the crowd. They refused to wrestle at first, so the Usos had a dance-off, followed by Cody doing the Worm and Goldust doing the Spinaroonie. Funny stuff. No tease of any dissention between the Rhodes brothers. The Usos pinned Rowan for the win.
Intermission
Bad News Barrett d. Rob Van Dam & Alberto Del Rio to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title. Del Rio got virtually no reaction – RVD and Barrett were over. Barrett took the mic and played to the crowd, asking if we were having a good time, then did his Bad News bit, stating he didn't come to a hellhole like Ft Wayne to give us a good time. Awesome. Okay match. RVD hit the 5 star on Del Rio, then BNB hit him with the Bullhammer and pinned Del Rip for the win.
Sin Cara d. Fandango. Not much to this. Summer Rae came out and attacked Layla, and Cara got the win with the distraction. Summer Rae celebrated with Sin Cara after the match, but Kane's music hit, and he came out and chokeslammed Sin Cara and Fandango both. He then called out Sheamus.
Sheamus d. Kane by DQ to retain the WWE U.S. Title. Easily worst match of the night. Kane hit him with a low blow to cause the DQ. Felt like a BS finish to me, especially with such a weak card overall. Kane went for a Tombstone on the chair after, but Sheamus slipped off and hit a Brogue Kick.
Overall a weak show. I only paid $17 for my ticket so it wasn't a waste, but definitely not one of the better shows I've seen. No return date announced, which might have something to do with the fact that the arena was only about 1/3 full. To me this event shows how stretched thin the WWE is with Bryan, Cena, Batista & Orton all out of this weekend's events.
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.
