WWE Live Event Results From Newcastle (5/15): Roman Reigns Headlines, NXT Title Match, Steel Cage
Thanks to WrestlingINC.com readers Drew Sw4ns Noble and Chris for sending in these results for last night's WWE live event at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle:
From Drew Sw4ns Noble:
Justin Roberts starts the evening to a big pop, but is soon drowned out with 'No!' chants when he states that due to his recently announced neck injury, Daniel Bryan won't be in attendance. He advises that attendees have 20 minutes to claim refunds for their tickets should they wish to do so. I didn't see anyone go from the area I was in.
Roberts is soon interrupted by Randy Orton who gets a lot of heat. Orton takes the mic and states that the only reason he agreed to come to this 'God forsaken country' was to claim back his title but seeing as Bryan isn't there, he's calling out Roman Reigns.
The crowd give Reigns a big pop as he makes his way through the audience. His eye is still bandaged up from the previous evening in Glasgow and it looks quite swollen. The match begins and there's a brief bout of evenly balanced back and forth until Reigns is thrown out of the ring. Rybaxel run down the ramp and attack Reigns, only to soon be countered by Ambrose and Rollins, who sprint down from the entranceway.
Brad Maddox appears at the top of the ramp and announces that tonight we will see Ambrose and Rollins go against Rybaxel, and later, Reigns will face Orton in a Newcastle Street Fight.
The Shield (Ambrose and Rollins) vs Rybaxel was a great match with plenty of spots. These guys are all truly talented and sometimes I think that watching them on TV doesn't do them a hint of justice. Rybaxel is massive, much moreso then you'd expect, and he panders to the audience well. Rybaxel got a lot of heat and plenty of near pin falls. The crowd were really into this match and The Shield picked up the victory after Rollins hit Axel with the curb stomp.
Paige and the Funkadactyls vs Layla, Rosa Mendes and Tamina Snuka
The heel group of Layla, ROsa and Tamina head out together, with Tamina shouting abuse to the audience. Next out are The Funkadactyls followed by Divas Champion Paige, who gets a huge pop in her home country.
Some decent back and fourth action though the Funkadactyls really struggle to run without looking like they're pretending to do so. Rosa and Layla played the ditzy blondes and at one point, when a member of the audience shouted "We want puppies!", Rosa pointed at him and shouted angrily "That's rude!".
After the heels seperated one of the Funkadactyls for a period of time, she managed to get the hot tag and Paige picked up the pin for her team. After some pressure from Naomi and Cameron, Paige briefly danced a goofy MC hammer routine before getting shy and retreating to celebrate with the crowd around the ring.
Roberts returns to the ring and hypes the matches later in the evening. Kane appears on the screens in a pre-recorded segment and talks about how he will beat Show in their steel cage match.
Sin Cara vs Rusev
Sin Cara makes his way to the ring and stretches, going up the turnbuckle and posing for the crowd. Good to see that they're no longer insisting on having him wrestle matches in yellow and blue lighting to detract from poor performance. Hunico is a much more solid Sin Cara than the original.
Lana appears at the top of the ramp and gets heat as she talks about how she and Rusev support Vladamir Putin, though a lot of males in the audience make wolf whistles at her. She introduces Rusev, who is billed as 'now living in Russia' and his entrance video has a noticeable amount of Putin stills.
As expected, the former power lifter gets in a lot of offensive, mainly slams and delay-holds to showcase his strength. Sin Cara manages to get a few kicks in but Rusev soon sees him off with his camel clutch submission, The Accolade.
NXT Championship Match – Adrian Neville (C) vs Bo Dallas
Bo comes down to a lot of heat. He talks about how each of the audience are dreamers and he loves each of his Bo-lievers just as much as they love him. He adds that he's sorry, but his opponent, from Newcastle, won't be leaving with his gold tonight.
Adrian comes out to a huge pop from his hometown and soon a chant of 'Welcome home' breaks out. Neville gets a strong start in but Bo soon takes control on the outside. He whips Neville into the ringpost and barricade where Neville's family are sat in the front row. Adrian's mam runs up to the barricade and checks he's alright – she looked mortified and i'm not entirely convinced this was an actual planned part of the match – but Bo continues to mock him infront of her, shouting to the audience that "That's his mom!".
Bo maintains control for a good part of the match and is actually a very good wrestler. His moves are tidy and his footwork strong, but eventually Neville, who gets chants of "Neville is a Geordie!" and "New-cas-tle!" gains momentum and puts Bo away to retain the championship. Neville makes his way out of the ring and celebrates with his fans, specifically paying attention to his mam and family.
After a brief intermission, with Justin promoting the merchandise stalls as the ring crew set up the cage which is wheeled out from the back, it's time for the next match.
Steel cage match – Kane vs Big Show
Big Show is out first to a decent pop, followed by Kane. This was a slow match filled with little more than headbutts, punches and irish whips into what looked like an incredibly flimsy cage. At one point Show missed an attempted Banzai Drop which led to Kane climbing the cage but he was soon caught up with and after trading blows balanced on the top rope, both Superstars ended up hung up.
After hitting a knock-out punch, which looked no different to any other punch and is a truly laughable 'signature' move, Show exited the ring via the cage door for the win, then headed straight backstage without embracing the crowd.
Kane, left in the ring, was angered by 'Yes!' chants and targeted the ref, who he looked to choke slam, only for Nick Patrick to attempt to stop him and again be grabbed, but Brad Maddox emerged and told Kane not to do so, only to eat a choke slam himself. Strange ending for an Authority heel.
Later on, Fandango meets Henry in a match of the choice of the audience. Will they have a wrestling match, or a dance off? Instructions on how to vote are shown after a pre-recorded promo by Fandango where he talks about the air on Henry's face. Bizarre and not relevant at all.
Intermission!
IC Championship Fatal Four Way – Wade Barrett (C) vs Jack Swagger vs RVD vs Big E
Swagger and Zeb are out first for this fatal four way match. Zeb states that it's good to be back in Scotland, to which he receives a lot of boos. He says Newcastle is practically Scotland anyway and do the English think they're better than the Scottish, Welsh, Irish, English – the crowd started booing but then stopped at this point – and Americans, to which the crowd recommenced their jeers. Zeb states that if the crowd don't stop booing, which they don't, he'll show them what he thinks of Newcastle. Swagger produces a Newcastle United strip and proceeds to throw it on the floor, stomping on it, which gets them more heat.
Next out is RVD who gets a big pop, followed by Big E, who doesn't. Barrett appears next, getting a huge pop as another English Superstar. He's afraid he has some bad news for the three athletes around the ring as he promises he'll never loose on British soil.
Chants of "Bad News Barrett", "Zeb's mustache", "RVD", "Dutch Mantel" and "Five" break out throughout the match.
Great match with a lot of too and fro action. Big E makes friends with the steel steps courtesy of Wade. Swagger nearly saw off Big E with a Patriot lock but the ref caught Zeb pulling the bottom Rope away from Big E, and is sent to the back by the ref, though he doesn't actually go. Wade also gets landed with the Big Ending.RVD gets a lot of momentum and maintains control of the match for the majority of it's duration. Swagger, who impressed me with some great displays of athleticism, eats a five-star frog splash, but the subsequent pin is broke up by Wade, who has recovered on the outside.
There's a rush of action in the ring and Wade clocks Swagger with the Bullhammer for the win. The crowd go wild.
Mark Henry vs Fandango
Fandango is out first with Layla, still wearing her ring gear from earlier in the evening. Some of the crowd start Fandangoing. Next out is Henry, to a decent pop. Roberts announces that the votes are in and the match will be a dance off, which generates a lot of booing from the audience.
Fandango does some fruity routine and gets in the face of Henry, who steps up and the lights go out. A spotlight shines down on Henry who has produced a sequined glove and starts dancing to Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, crotch grabs, moonwalks and all. He even attempts the splits, to which Fandango reacts by stomping at his head. A fight breaks out and there's a scuffle outside the ring which Henry gets the better of. The crowd cheer as he returns to the ring and celebrates, though a winner wasn't announced. He climbs out the ring and gets a young girl from the audience, bringing her into the ring and they dance to Billie Jean before he raises her hand and the crowd cheer.
Street Fight – Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns
Orton is out first to some major heat followed by Reigns who gets a big pop as he emerges from a different part of the audience to that which he did earlier in the night.
Orton gets an early advantage over Reigns and controls the match for a long period of time. He leaves the ring and returns with a Kendo stick, blasting it across Reigns back and chest repeatedly. A chant breaks out for Reigns who eventually starts building momentum and brings a table into the ring, propping it up against the turnbuckle. Orton retakes control of the match and hits his signature second-rope DDT on Reigns, setting up for the RKO but the bigger man gets out the way and hits Orton with a flying forearm. He follows up with a flurry of shots with his own Kendo stick. He positions Orton to be drilled through it but the former champion dodges and the Samoan crashes through it. It's weird that you don't pick up the sound of the metal bending on the tables when watching on TV but it definitely sounds more viscous in person.
Orton gets cocky and soon loses momentum. Reigns looks close to ending it when Rybaxel once again emerge and beat Reigns down with steel steps.The other members of the Shield soon even the odds and all hell breaks loose. With the additional Superstars indisposed, Reigns hits the Superman punch and follows up with a massive spear for the win.
The Shield pose as Rybaxel scarper back to the ring and Ambrose starts throwing steel chairs into the ring for no apparent reason. They pose to end the night and Roberts thanks everyone for coming.
All in all, it was a great night. High points were the IC and NXT matches. Low points were the Cage match and the dance-off, though I appreciate that the latter is targeted towards keeping the kids happy.
From Chris:
Attendance: Much Better than last time the WWE were here. Only about 400-500 empty seats so pretty much full in a 15,000 capacity arena.
Justin Roberts began by announcing due to injury Daniel Bryan would not be here tonight. Before he could say anything else, Randy Orton's music hit and he came down the ramp. He then cut a heel promo saying that he was looking forward to attempting to cash in his rematch for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship but since Daniel isn't here and he's the only member of Evolution over here in this "Godforsaken Country" then he thought he'd send out a challenge to the "leader of the Shield" Roman Reigns.
Roman Reigns Vs. Randy Orton
Bell Rings but before anybody causes any damage, RybAxel comes out and all 3 begin to beat down on Roman Reigns. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins come out and even the odds before Brad Maddox comes out and announces two matches. He says Ambrose and Rollins will face off with RybAxel in a tag match where both Orton and Reigns were banned from ringside. The second being the main event where Orton will face Reigns in a "Newcastle" street fight. He also said that the tag match would begin straight away.
The Shield Vs. RybAxel
Orton and Reigns cleared to the back and the bell rang. Really good solid match. Good false finishes looked like RybAxel would get the win when Axel hit the Perfect-plex on Rollins but kicked out at two and a half. Shield ended up victorious when Rollins hit the Curb Stomp on Axel and Ambrose stopped Ryback getting into the ring.
Winner: The Shield
Ambrose and Rollins stayed back for a few minutes to sign autographs and take pictures and headed to the back.
Sin Cara Vs. Rusev w/ Lana
Roberts introduced Sin Cara to a good pop. Sounded like a lot of kids were rooting for him and a lot of the older audience didn't tend to be too fussed either way. He then introduced "The Ravishing Russian" Lana and she came out and did her usual strutting on the stage before delivering her heel promo about Putin and how Rusev now fights for Putin. Fairly quick match lasted about 7/8 minutes so a bit longer than Rusev's normal matches but he won with the Accolade and Sin Cara didn't even seem to last in the hold and tapped straight away.
Winner: Rusev
Rusev didn't hang around and went pretty much straight to the back. Sin Cara recovered and went to the back with the referee.
Next up the Diva's Match.
Tamina Snuka, Layla and Rosa Mendes Vs. WWE Diva's Champion Paige and The Funkadactyls
Really good pop for Paige in her home country. No real crowd reaction for any other of the Diva's. For me would have been better match if it was just Paige Vs. Tamina didn't really work having the other diva's involved. Finish segment was extremely good where Paige got the hot tag and finished off Tamina with a new move holding one of Tamina's legs while doing a DDT.
Winner: Paige and the Funkadactyls.
Cameron and Naomi tried to get Paige to dance with them after the match but she refused and went and signed some autographs and took some photos before the three headed to the back.
Kane appeared on the screens and said that he destroyed Daniel Bryan and thats why he's not here tonight. He said that he will do the same to the Big Show inside a steel cage tonight. It was advertised as a Last Man Standing match but presumably swapped after Reign's injured himself last night inside the steel cage.
Roberts then announced that the next match would be for the NXT Championship which got a huge pop due to everyone realising that Adrian Neville would be up next.
NXT Championship: Bo Dallas Vs. Adrian Neville
Bo came out and said that he loved everyone here and that we all have dreams and should never stop BO-leiving. He also said that unfortunately for his opponent, his dream of retaining his title in his hometown will not be realised. Neville comes out to a huge pop with Roberts playing on the fact that he was from Newcastle. Really good back and forward match with Bo playing on the fact that Neville's mum was sat in the front row and beating him against the railing's right in front of her. Neville took control and won with the Red Arrow (Looks even better live than on TV).
Winner and still NXT Champion: Adrian Neville
Roberts said that there would be a short 5 minute break while they set the Cage up. This confused a lot of people because he told us to go and get a limited edition Bad News Barrett shirt which people mistook for the main interval so a lot of people missed the beginning of the match.
Steel Cage Match: Big Show Vs. Kane
Really short match didn't really have much to it to be honest. Kane got real heat when he appeared and the crowd wised up to the fact that it was a last minute decision for the match. Big Show got the win when he hit the K.O. Punch before Kane attempted to prevent him crawling out the cage door and he hit another K.O. punch and crawled out.
Winner: The Big Show
After the match Kane was lying flat out in the ring before sitting up. He then got up and started shouting at the referee and grabbed his throat. The other referee came in and he grabbed in as well. Brad Maddox came rushing down telling Kane to stop before he let go. Kane then grabbed Maddox and delivered a chokeslam to Maddox.
Intermission
We were told earlier in the night to vote between a Dance Off and a match for Mark Henry and Fandango w/ Layla. Dance off comfortably won which Fandango was thrilled about.
The dance off began with Fandango doing his normal routine which the UK fans just decided to dance along to his music. The lights went out as Mark Henry was about to begin his routine. One sole light came on and revealed Mark with a single silver glove on. Billy Jean then began to play and Henry danced like Michael Jackson doing the moon walk and crotch thrusts which Jackson made famous. The crowd got really into it and was hilarious to watch before Fandango interrupted and hit a cheap shot from behind. Fandango began to beat him down in and out of the ring before Henry caught him and hit a World's Strongest Slam. After Fandango and Layla went to the back, Henry, grabbed a girl out the crowd and danced to Billy Jean before heading to the back himself.
Fatal 4 Way for the Intercontinental Championship: Jack Swagger w/ Zeb Coulter Vs. Rob Van Dam Vs. Big E Vs. Bad News Barrett
Swagger made his way out with Zeb and cut a promo about how Newcastle has a rubbish football(soccer) team before Swagger pulled out a Newcastle United shirt and threw it to the ground before stamping on it. This got real heat. RVD then made his way out to a great reaction I don't think many were expecting him to be here so was a very surprise reaction. Big E then followed with a number of fans shouting 5 which is a link back to his NXT days. Bad News Barrett then came out to a huge pop which he always gets in Newcastle. Barrett cut a promo saying he had bad news for the three men in the ring. He said he is not about to bring his main rule in life which is to never lose in his home country of England. This got a great cheer and the audience played along with his "I'm afraid I've got some bad news!" gimmick. Barrett got the win after RVD hit the frog splash on Swagger before being pulled out of the cover by Barrett and he followed up with the Bullhammer on Swagger for the win.
Winner and still Intercontinental Champion: Bad News Barrett
After the match he signed autographs and took pictures and celebrated at the top of the ramp.
Main Event: Newcastle Street Fight: Randy Orton Vs. Roman Reigns
Really good match. Orton controlled the majority, Hitting Reigns with a kendo stick before Reigns retook control. Reigns hit the Superman Punch but attempted to spear Orton through a table which he side stepped and out came RybAxel. They beat Reigns down outside the ring and then moved him into the ring before Rollins and Ambrose with a steel chair made the save. Orton hit an RKO on Rollins but Reigns hit the spear and with RybAxel being fought to the back with Ambrose waving the chair like a mad man he picked up the win.
Winner: Roman Reigns
After the match The Shield took photos and posed at the top of the ramp and Roberts announced they'll be back in Newcastle sometime but revealed no date.
Biggest Pops
1. Adrian Neville
2. The Shield
3. Bad News Barrett
4. Paige
Biggest Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Jack Swagger
3. Rusev
4. Bo Dallas
Match of the Night: Neville vs. Bo Dallas had the best story going throughout the match.
@greggels contributed to this article.