Another Report For Last Night's WWE Live Event At The IZOD Center: Reigns & Ambrose, Cena, Rollins
Thanks to WrestlingINC.com reader Anthony Romeo for sending in this report for last night's WWE live event at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ:
In the final show at the IZOD Center, WWE delivered a great house show with a good pace, great matches, and just enough of a build to hype the Royal Rumble.
We arrive to a cage hanging above the ring. Advertised is the John Cena/Seth Rollins cage match. I take a deep breath, and hope we get something new out of this.
Luke Harper against Bad News Barrett and Dolph Ziggler was a good match to open the card, good chemistry between the three of them, with Barrett retaining the strap by pinning Ziggler. Biggest spot of the night was when Barrett snuck back into the ring, ducked under a top-rope mounted Harper and power-bombed him while Harper superplexed Ziggler.
Tyson Kidd lost to Darren Young in a good match the crowd enjoyed. Kidd's move set continues to impress me, he's got the technical skills but needs the extra push to connect more. This headphone-wearing boyfriend bit just isn't cutting it.
Rusev against Erick Rowan was fine, dead crowd though. Fans "voted" for it to be a title match. He's gone undefeated... all the way to the mid-card...
Y2J came out to do the Highlight Reel, complained on the mic about the Authority, started his "trashbag" rant on Stephanie, but noted that he can't say "ho" out loud because of the PG rating. Big laughs there. Cesaro interrupts and (due to shoddy IZOD sound) inaudible cuts a promo on Y2J and the IZOD Center, and then to my shock, Cesaro absolutely said "I'll beat the s–t out of you, Chris" on the live mic. Great moment, but I'm sure Cesaro's going to catch hell for that one.
Reigns picked up the pin with a spear on Bray Wyatt in a tag match with Big Show and Dean Ambrose. Crowd loves the Shield boys. Saluted the fans with the Shield pose on the ramp after the match.
When given the chance, the crowd loudly cheers for Cena, which is surprising considering our north-east location.
T-shirt toss leads to the intermission break.
Divas Match brings us back from break, Alicia Fox and Cameron take on Natalya and Paige, with Nattie again making me wish we had actual women's wrestlers and not just a Divas division on E! Side by side sharpshooters made both Fox and Cameron tap out simultaneously to end a solid match.
Kane comes out next, still wearing slacks for no reason. Someone let the writing staff know that the horse is dead. We hope Daniel Bryan comes out, to gauge his pop versus the one Roman Reigns got. Instead we get an audible groan from the crowd as Ryback's music hits. Crowd stays just as calm for the duration of the match. A few "feed me more" chants break out, lasting only five or six rounds before petering out entirely. Ryback hits the Shellshock to end the match. Meh.
WWE airs a great video package about the history of the company at the Meadowlands featuring Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, HBK and The New Age Outlaws, thanking fans for their support at the IZOD Center.
And then down comes the cage.
Good match, lots of false finishes, Cena is about to escape through the door after an AA when the Big Show appears and slams the door in his face. Big Show enters the cage and chokeslams Cena, who then kicks out of a Rollins pin attempt. The deck appears stacked against Cena, until he hits Big Show and Rollins with an AA and pins Rollins for the win.
Good attendance, good energy, a nice night for a farewell to the IZOD Center. Now it's onto Philly...