Another Set Of Results From WWE's Live Event In Loveland: Odd Match Order, Punk Promises WM Win
Thanks to WrestlingINC.com reader Dan Botelho for sending in this report for last night's RAW live event in Loveland, CO:
The night started off oddly with the main event of the evening being up first: John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus vs. The Shield. The Shield entered through the crowd, and Cena and company attacked them before they could make it to the ring. Good back and forth action, with the Shield pulling out some unique double and triple-team moves and generating good heat from the crowd. The match ended in a disqualification when Seth Rollins brought a chair in the ring and hit Ryback. The crowd was disappointed by not seeing a clean finish, but the faces put a beatdown on the Shield and cleared the ring. Huge pop for Ryback, crowd loved him. About 90% of the crowd was behind Cena, instead of the usual split "Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks" routine.
CM Punk squashed Zack Ryder in a roughly 3 minute match. Punk did the Undertaker throat-slash move before putting Ryder out with the GTS, then did the 'Taker pin move of crossing the victim's arms over his chest and hanging the tongue out. Punk cut a promo on the mic after the match guaranteeing a win at Wrestlemania.
Alex Ryder beat Michael McGillicutty in an OK match, only notable for McGillicutty's weird refusal to take off his skull beanie early in the contest.
Fairly useless match between JTG and some new guy named Bray Wyatt, who is actually Windham Rotunda, who used to play the old Husky Harris character from the Nexus. Now, he has a weird and boring "hippie/religious cult leader" shtick which left the crowd doing a collective "huh?" Wyatt wins a fairly boring match, I'm not seeing much potential for this character getting over in the future.
Brodus Clay and Tensai defeated Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre in a comedy-type match. Before it got started, Brodus stole Slater's vest and did a Tommy Boy "Fat Guy in a Little Coat" bit. He then handed it to Tensai, who wiped his armpits with it. Decent action and some hard hits and bumps taken on both sides. Match ends when the ref gets distracted and the Funkadactyls sneak in and one of them gives Slater a flying head scissors and sets him up for a Tensai finishing move and pin. Post-match dance party with little kids from the crowd which goes over well with the house.
Katelyn beats Tamina Snuka in a Divas Title Match. Vickie Guerrero tried to interfere and Katelyn knocked Tamina into her and set up a pin in the confusion. Pretty good pop from the crowd for a garden-variety Divas match.
Really solid, entertaining match between The Miz and Titus O'Neil. O'Neil had a good chunk of the crowd behind him with his barking dog shtick after a good move. O'Neil actually controlled most of the match and gave Miz a physical beating with a lot of impressive power moves and hits. Match ends with Miz dodging an O'Neil finishing attempt in the corner and then getting O'Neil in the figure four, forcing O'Neil to tap-out. Major crowd pop for Miz, the fans are digging him as a face right now.
Instead of the opener being the main event, the finale between Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler was given that billing instead, in a "fans pick the stipulation" match, which turned out to be a no-DQ contest. Clearly looks bad for Y2J, since the Show-Off is accompanied by AJ and Big E Langston. Jericho leads an "AJ's Crazy" chant, which sends her off the deep end, and after interfering in the match, the ref banishes her from ringside. Lots of good high-flying action, moves and counter-moves with both guys selling each other's stuff. Match ends when Langston interferes and pins Jericho's arms back so Dolph can clock him with the MITB briefcase, Y2J ducks and Ziggler takes out Langston. Jericho then grabbed the case and unloaded on Ziggler, followed by the Codebreaker and the pin.
Fairly solid night of action, not withstanding the odd arrangement of the lineup. Would've been much better if the night had finished on a Miz/Y2J/Six-Man Tag match roll, instead of wasting the crowd heat so early in the night. Place was about 3/4 capacity, which was good since the tour had just been 30 miles away in Broomfield the night before.
Dan Botelho contributed to this article.