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AJ STYLES VS. DEAN AMBROSE & MORE: 1/22 WWE IN FORT WAYNE, INDIANA LIVE REPORT

By Tom Franklin on 2017-01-22 22:52:00

Tom Franklin with The Flying Elbow Podcast and I had a chance to attend the WWE Smackdown house show in Fort Wayne, Indiana. About two-thirds full and the crowd was into everything for the most part.

Opener saw Heath Slater and Rhyno defeat Breezango. Heath Slater was pretty over, they built up to a Rhyno hot tag and he cleaned house. Fun opener.

Baron Corbin over Kalisto. If there was one match that really did not get over with the crowd, it was this one. Fans didn't care about Corbin and weren't all that into Kalisto, who got dominated most of the match. Kalisto jumped into the End of Days and Corbin didn't hang around afterwards.

Kalisto over Curt Hawkins. This lasted all of five seconds. Hawkins did his usual "Face the Facts" mantra, then got rolled up in a small package for the embarrassing loss.

Jack Swagger and Mojo Rawley over The Vaudevillains. Decent match. Jack Swagger's getup nowadays has him looking a little bit like Sgt. Slaughter. I left to get a drink during this match. It looks like Swagger and Mojo will be a team going forward, as they (awkwardly) hit a double team finisher (flapjack into an ankle lock).

American Alpha retains over Usos, Ascension, and the Wyatts. Fort Wayne is Wyatt Country. By far, both Wyatt and Harper were the most over this match, with Harper's act really getting over. Every time he got tagged out, he'd just have this death stare on whoever tagged him. His antics on the apron were also fun. Anyways, after getting beat up most of the match, Alpha finishes hot, hit their double team finisher on one of the Usos, and they retained. I also lost $5 in this match to my friend by incorrectly predicting it would be the Ascension getting pinned.

Becky Lynch and Naomi defeat Alexa Bliss and Carmella. Pretty good match here. Alexa's facial mannerisms are even better live. James Ellsworth at ringside rooting for Carmella seemed like the most over thing about this match besides Becky herself, who got the win with a Disarmer on Alexa. 

The Miz defeats Apollo Crews. The Miz actually got a pop when he came out, as fans seem to appreciate his work as one of the best heels in the biz lately. Before the match, he runs down the "fat, lazy sweathogs" of Fort Wayne before asking everyone to witness Maryse taking off his sunglasses. He milked it the whole way and it was great. During the match, Miz also had the crowd in the palm of his hand, even as Apollo made a comeback towards the end. Miz wins with a small package and he gets the heck out of dodge. Fun stuff.

Dean Ambrose defeats AJ Styles to retain IC belt. This was a bit of a switcheroo, as Daniel Bryan, in a pre-taped recording before the show, promised us a WWE Championship match. When AJ came out, it was even advertised as such. However, AJ challenged Dean to defend his belt, Dean accepted, and in the end, we got a very good match between the two that was also a bit head-scratching, since for weeks it had been promoted as a "street fight", but there wasn't much out-of-the-ring action. AJ and Dean seemed equally over, with different segments of the audience cheering for each.

Overall a pretty fun experience. The last few house shows in Fort Wayne have been stinkers, but most everyone that left the War Memorial Coliseum were pretty satisfied.

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