REPORT & PHOTOS FROM WWE 1/12/14 IN MONTREAL, CANADA
- 01/12/2014 (11:54:50 pm)
- Bob Mulrenin
…
Bell Center, Montréal, Québec. Sunday January 12, 2014
Raw GM Brad Maddox came out to announce that the winning team of the opening match will have a tag-team championship match later tonight;
1-Ryback & Curtis Axel won a 3-way, elimination tag-team match; They beat 3MB first (McIntyre & Mahal) in 7:52, and later on defeated the Prime Time Players in 12:43. Crowd was hot throughout the match.
2-NXT Champion Bo Dallas lost via pinfall to Zack Ryder. A few boring chants during this one but a sound technical match. Time of the match 7:11.
3-The Bella Twins beat Aksana & Alicia Fox after 6:06. Fist announcer Tony Chimmel surveyed the crowd, asking the fans to choose between a Dance-off and an tag match. The heels beat on Brie for most of the match, until Nikki tagged in and did her finishing move on Aksana. A few botched move but overall the ladies gave their all.
4-Albert Del Rio made Sin Cara tap out in 9:51, in a very good match. Del Rio was on fire in this one, even going into the crowd. He gave a promo saying he won the biggest Royal Rumble in history, and will repeat that feat this year. The crowd chanted ''Batista'' back to him. Lots of ''Si'' chants as well. Many impressive aerial moves by Cara.
5-Big Show pinned Kane after the knock-out punch after 9:27. Crowd went wild for both men's entrance, but it died once the bell ring. Kane's offense was beyond weak and gave a new meaning to the term ''showing light''. After the match, Brad Maddox came to the ring to talk with Kane, and told Show to ''Get out of his ring''. Of course, Big Show knocked him out as well. That was the only bad match of the night.
10 minute intermission
6-Diego, from Los Matadores, pinned Antonio Cesaro in a singles mach in 9:44. Most likely, Swagger's criminal record prevents him from crossing the border, since Fernando was here. After the giant swing, Fernando switched place with his dizzy partner as the referee was arguing with Colter and the little bull. After the match, Colter addressed the crowd by saying they would never set foot in Canada again. However, most of the crowd was behind Cesaro during the bout.
7-WWE tag-team champions Goldust & Cody Rhodes retained their titles over Ryback and Curtis Axel after 15:05. Even against lesser workers, the Rhodes gave again one hell of a performance. Cody pinned Axel following a moonsault.
8-John Cena won by DQ against WWE World heavyweight champion Randy Orton after 15:12 of a wild contest. Most of the crowd was on their feet the whole time. It was your usual split crowd between the two. Easily the best match, with a ton of heat. Orton was DQ'd for hitting Cena low to save his belts. After the match, he got on the mic and announced he will punt Cena to make sure he doesn't make it to the Rumble. Cena got out of the way and hit the AA.
Notes:
-I would estimate the crowd at around 9 000.
-Biggest reactions went to Cena and Orton, by a mile. Goldust, Del Rio, Bellas and Big Show were distant seconds.
-With the obvious exception of Kane, everybody else seemed to have a good time and gave a good performance for the fans.
-The actual card had nothing to do with the matches that were announced when I bought the tickets. That is a big lack of respect for the paying customers in my book. I can only imagine the frustration of people who paid 600$ for the VIP experience in hopes of meeting CM Punk.
-Ziggler was supposed to be there but is out with a concussion.
-Merchandise seemed to sell well despite the crazy price tags.
-Many kids and women in the crowd.
Being ringside brought back so many memories, but the prices have gone up so much it's unreal.
All in all, a really fun evening.
Frank
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