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The arena was heavily curtained, the high area was hidden, and the rest was not sold out. Porbably less than 3000. 3 years ago, the same building was sold out from top to bottom.
House show production was upgraded with a countdown to the beginning involving a cool light show, 2 mini-trons and a middle-sized tron like the raw entranceway in a smaller scale but it looks amazing, with the wrestlers coming out with their video on the background (with some miscues among the videos rapidly corrected).
RVD, Rhodes, Miz defeated O'Neil, Gabriel, Kidd, Swagger (w/Zeb) : good match with lots of fast action ending with the frog splash.
Rusev (w/Lana) defeated Ryder: squash but Ryder did a good job lasting longer than I suspected. Putin on the tron was funny to see (sooo rocky 4), still don't get why a Bulgarian brute has a Russian flag.
WWE Divas champ Paige defeated Natalya and Tamina for the belt: Big chant for Owen during Natalya entrance which was the most popular. Paige is tiny comparing to the others. Tower of doom at one point. Beginning was slow but it really picked up (in a NXT way) at the end.
Big Show defeated Kane in a last Man Standing match by chokeslam through a table: great entrance for Kane (that must be amazing in big events) and lots of big bumps (Show went on the top being chokeslammed down, went in the step, took some kendo stick shots).
Intermission.
Santino and Emma defeated Fandango and Layla: comedy match, really funny with lots of physical comedy by Santino. Emma looks good and Layla is a funny coward heel. End with a double cobra and a dance by Emma.
Pat Patterson is announced, he speaks what he's calling French (but it's not, it's Canadian from Quebec which is tough to understand for a French) and plays with Barrett who arrived with bad news and plays on the France-England rivalry. Patterson announced Big E. as his opponent.
WWE IC champ Bad News Barrett defeated Big E: good match, E was really good with big suplex moves (in a Steiner kind of way). Bullhammer out of nowhere for the finish.
Shield defeated Orton, Ryback and Axel: great fan response for the Shield, really good match. Orton is better live than on TV, he exudes arrogance and heelishness. Shield was awesome and I understand better why they're pushed, there is so much potential and presence with those trhee guys. Ambrose plays the crazy killer, Rollins the technical high flyer and Reigns the exclamation point beast. Ends with a spear by Reigns after his three moves of doom (jump-kick on the apron, superman punch, spear). Great match and the opposing team put on a good effort too at putting them this much over (Axel is tremendous at that).
The match was really well put together as the heel took the advantage until one of the Shield guy arrives and shines for a moment, first Ambrose, cut off, heel period, then Rollins, comeback cut off, then Reigns with some help later and end.
A really good show considering Bryan wasn't there and Miz was.
This time, I had the feeling that the talent wasn't just playing safe and going through the motions (like I felt a lot of times in these house shows) except for the Rusev match. The increased production value bring more of a big feel to it too.
Merch was really poor: only Cena (tons), Shield (sold out quickly, a good sign), Punk, Cara, Bryan (4 of them weren't there), Paige and a Barrett shirt (how can you compare merch sales when Cena got ten different items while other got zero?)
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