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About 30 minutes before the show, they announced the fan choice match was either a dance-off or a tag match between The Bellas and Alicia Fox/Aksana.
The upper bowl was about 85% empty. None of it was tarped off.
Triple Threat for the IC Title: Big E vs. Ryback vs. Fandango
The former Hawkeye Big E got a huge reaction as we're only about 45 minutes from the University of Iowa. He picked up the win after a fun spot where he hit the big ending on Ryback. Fandango immediately hit his leg drop on Ryback, then Big E hit the Big Ending on Fandango. Summer Rae is fantastic... TV doesn't do her justice, because she's always doing something to make Fandango the center of attention.
Curtis Axel vs. Tyson Kidd
They started really slowly early in the match, which saw Tyson Kidd with the advantage. Axel eventually made a comeback, but Kidd hit a nice neckbreaker off the top rope for the win. They worked hard, but the crowd wasn't very into it. Some of the kids around us didn't know who Tyson Kidd was.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara
Del Rio almost got booed out of the building on this one. Midway through the match, they had a cool spot where Del Rio tied Cara up in the turnbuckles and tried to pulled off his mask. It actually came off, so he had to work fast to get it back on and continue the match. Sin Cara picked up the win with a small package as Del Rio tried to lock on the arm bar.
The Real Americans vs. The Rhodes Brothers
They really played up the dissension in the ranks of The Real Americans. Swagger and Cesaro got into several arguments throughout the match, and there were several times where either Swagger or Cesaro tagged themselves in to one-up the other. They worked over Goldust for the majority of the match until Cody made the hot tag and cleaned house. Cody hit the Crossroads on Swagger to pick up the victory. It may have been because it was just a house show, but I found it interesting that Cesaro was wearing his AC tights instead of his new ones that just have a C on them.
Bad News Barrett vs. The Miz
Barrett came to the ring and cut a hilarious promo about how horrible Moline is. Miz tossed him out of the ring and cut his own promo telling us the USA is awesome. Of course, this led to USA chants throughout the match. After some back and forth action, Miz got the Figure 4 on Barrett and the crowd went nuts. Barrett got out of it and scored the pin (I couldn't see exactly how). Miz recovered and the crowd cheered him as he walked to the back.
Divas Tag Match: The Bellas vs Alicia Fox & Aksana
The crowd was pretty dead on this one. One of the Bellas got the pin on Alicia Fox after a nice Torture Rack/backbreaker combo. It wasn't a bad match, but after seeing Paige/Emma on nXt Arrival, it was pretty lackluster.
Steel cage match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: John Cena vs Randy Orton
Randy Orton came out first, followed by Cena. They did the big fight introductions, where Orton was also introduced first. That blew me away. About 15 minutes into the match, Orton hit Cena with a low blow. After that, he was free to walk out of the cage and pick up the win. He came back with a chair and tried to lay out Cena, but Cena dodged the chair and hit the AA on Orton to send the crowd home happy.
Additional notes:
There was a HUGE face crowd in Moline tonight. It sounded like I was the only one chanting Si during ADR's match, and I didn't hear any dueling Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks chants; only cheers.
The steel cage was pretty tiny. It went up to Orton's waist as he stood on the top rope. That took away from the feel of the match quite a bit.
Everyone worked hard and put on a decent show, but I got the feeling they were saving their A game for Chicago's RAW tomorrow night.
Justin Roberts said they were excited to return to Moline soon, but no return date was announced.
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