WWE Live Event
New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Report by Dot Net reader Brian M.

I came back in December and the place was packed. Possibly sold out back then. Tonight there were about four sections were empty and a few seats a few of the sections arena wide were empty, but still pretty crowded. About 90 percent full. 

Before the show I got a Daniel Bryan T-Shirt. That's how you incite change in WWE. "Hijacking Raw" with chants won't do much. Proving Daniel Bryan can make more money than John Cena will. If the IWC wants change, they need to stop chanting irrelevantly and start spending money on the people they like. Now, off my soap box and onto the show.

1. 1) Usos defeated The Brotherhood and Rybaxel in a three-way tag match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship. Lots of Uso chants from the crowd as they loved those guys. Jimmy teased throwing his shirt to the fans, and threw it at Curtis Axel. I thought that was a cool spot. It looked like Jey pinned Ryback after the splash. The Brotherhood raised the Uso's hands afterwards. Nice match that went back and forth between all three teams. 

2. The Miz fought Justin Gabriel to a no-contest. Gabriel has really long hair and a new entrance song. Big CM Punk chants at the beginning of this but they died out quickly. Ryback came out after a while and clotheslined them both. He got on the mic and said NYC is responsible for all the negativity we have. He called us all bullies and said tonight Ryback rules. He attempted to Shell Shock Miz, but Miz hits a Skull Crushing Finale and Justin Gabriel hits a 450. They hugged and leave together, and eventually Ryback got up and left to some heat. 

Randy Orton popped up on the screen to say he and Bray would win tonight. He actually got a pop when he showed up.

3. A.J. Lee beat Cameron to retain the WWE Divas Championship. AJ got a slight pop. Cameron got a few initial boos, few initial cheers, then some quiet. They did the voting gimmick here, and the dance off beat a title Match 68 percent to 32 percent. Tamina trucked Cameron during her dance and AJ started to leave. Cameron cut a promo challenging AJ to a title match. The promo just felt like "I'm doing cause I'm suppose to, please buy it that I'm a good wrestler" as opposed to her cutting a promo because she possesses the skill to do so. AJ eventually won with a shining wizard after Tamina interfered.

A WWE Network commercial featured Hulk Hogan popped up. Nice pop. 

4. Kofi Kingston over Damien Sandow. Kofi came out to a good pop. Damien Sandow came out to some heat. He cut a great promo saying just because we're MSG we think we're better than everyone, and that he's going to go back and come out again, and we should give him the Frank Sinatra like welcome he deserves. I popped for that! He came out again to massive heat this time! It was at this point I finally opened my bag of Cracker Jacks after half an hour of trying. That thing refused to job more than John Cena and Hulk Hogan combined. At one point in the match, Sandow held out his arm like he was going to hit the Cobito Aequiet, but instead just started punching a grounded Kofi. Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise at about eight and a half minutes and got the pin. 

Bray Wyatt came on the screen to a pretty big pop

Triple H came out. He grabbed a mic, and yes chants broke out. He started talking about how the world's most famous arena has been headlined by A-plus players like Bruno, Backlund, Hogan, Hitman, Austin, and himself. "Notice I didn't include Daniel Bryan," he said. Yes chants again. Trips said the Yes movement is like a bowel movement. At the end of the day the result is crap. He then introduced Kane. D-Bry came out and led more loud Yes Chants. 

5. Daniel Bryan beat Kane (w/Triple H). At one point, Triple H hit the ref during a two count. Daniel Bryan got chokeslammed and a new ref came out but Bryan kicked out. Eventually, D Bry won with his running knee. Bryan and Triple H teased a fight after the match. As they were about to go at it, Stephanie McMahon came out with agents and refs and stopped it. Eventually, Bryan kneed Finlay and hit Triple H and Kane with a suicide dive. More Yes chants before he left.

Video shows on the screen that WWE returns to MSG on July 12 with pre-sale code WWEMSG (I think).

Justin Roberts pitched souvenir cups and autographed pictures and we go to intermission.

We came back and Vickie Guerrero, after showing a quick highlight video, brought out a team she seems to be managing tonight... The NXT Tag Team Champions the Ascension. Understandably, only a few people knew who they were and reacted. I popped. I guess Vickie was put with them to hopefully get them heat. Los Matadores come out a some pops, and a decent amount of people do the Ole! but not a lot. 

6. The Ascension defeated Los Matadores. Los Matadores have a lot of control early on. I wouldn't say the crowd was dead, but there wasn't a lot of noise - some, but not a lot, probably because of the lack of familiarity with the teams. Eventually, another Punk chant started, and died just as quickly. El Torito dropkicked Viktor while the ref wasn't looking. Vickie ripped El Torito off the apron, which distracted the Matadore in the ring. Ascension hits the Fall of Man and won. After the match, Los Matadores cleared the Ascension from the ring, and El Torito "gored" Vickie's butt. 

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7. Dolph Ziggler defeated Alberto Del Rio. Dolph got a nice pop coming out. Eventually, after a nice back and forth match, Dolph hit the Zig Zag for a win, and another big pop.

It was main event time. Bray Wyatt appeared on the screen and said "Madison Square Garden, I'm here!" and then came out. No family, which kinda disappointed me, but someone's gotta be on the other house show. Orton came out and I heard more yeahs than boos. Batista came out to some heavy boos. One guy in the front row had a 2005 Cena shirt on and was giving Batista some boos and a thumbs down. Batista got in his face and just stared at him as the guy mouthed off it looked like. Cena's music hit and the place ERUPTED. The Yes chants were loud, but Cena's pop might just have been louder. At least from my seat, I didn't hear a lot of boos for Cena, if there were any. But alas, the music got turned off and the "Lets Go Cena! Cena Sucks" started up. Probably 55/45 Pro Cena. 

8. John Cena and Batista defeated Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt. After getting beat on for a bit, people actually started cheering Batista's come back, with a few boos before Wyatt cut him off. There was a big pop for the hot tag to Cena. Wyatt's weird Exorcist crab walk thingy is kinda creepy to watch live. At one point, it looked like Cena was gonna make a hot tag. Batista was really playing the face, stomping on the steps. At this moment I thought "he's gonna go heel on Cena." At that very moment, Cena went for a tag and Batista dropped off the apron. Cena hit a few shoulder tackles and a Five Knuckle Shuffle and told Batista "You Can't See Me." Batista then hit a Batista Bomb and left. Just before this, Wyatt was standing on the apron posing when Cena shoved Orton into Bray, knocking him down. After the Batista Bomb, Bray came back and hit Sister Abigail's Kiss on Orton. Cena dumped Wyatt out of the ring, hit Orton with an AA, and got the 1-2-3 for a W. Cena celebrated and shook hands on his way out. Justin Roberts thanked us for coming and told us to drive home safely. Thanks for leaving me out Justin, I'm going on the subway! And that was it. 

Overall, a fun, enjoyable show with some nice action. It seemed like there were more kids and families for a house show than smart marks, so it wasn't like the usual New York Crowd we see on TV, but the crowd seemed to be with it all night.

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