sup guys. I was hating on wrasslin' for a few weeks, but I went to a live show over the weekend and made this writeup. here it is if you want to read it.
8/11 House Show Report from Glasgow, Scotland
I read some negative reviews of this show, but it was a first time WWE live experience for me so I guess in my excitement I forgot to be cynical. This is a second show they added because the first sold out STUPID fast, presumably since it was the only Scottish show and we just love fighting so much. Our seats were third row on what would be camera side for RAW so we got a really great view. Arena was 70-80% full, some of the bleachers were empty, and I was a little worried about average audience age, thankfully me and my girlfriend were seated behind a group of six guys in their 20s who were there to have a good time and we got a lot of interaction with the wrestlers (sorry, Superstars) as a result.
After the mandatory opening announcement which I think informed us that the WWE legally owns our souls, Tony Chimmel came out to no pop and introduced Paul Heyman. Heyman laboured down to the ring on a crutch in a neck brace and back brace, and with large cast on his leg. Standard Heyman heel promo, got some cheap heat misprouncing Glasgow and letting us know that people in Europe had told him it was a 'Godless city'. This got a sizeable pop since people had come from all over Scotland for the show, and we have a lot of healthy (mainly football based) intercity rivalries. Heyman told the crowd he blames us as much as he blames CM Punk for his injuries. Out comes Punk to a big pop and sporadic chanting. He teased entering the ring for a lonnnnng time - a weird amount of time - a deliberate amount of time almost - perhaps a length of time that might be suitable for stretching out a skit to cover up a distinct lack of available talent on a last minute show even... Anyway, eventually he had an off mic exchange, apologised to the crowd and left. Heyman laughed and gloated behind his back. Punk then ran back down, produced a Singapore Cane, and proceeded to beat the everliving hell out of Heyman's protective back brace, although he did mistime a swing and crack Heyman right across his ass. A load of 'Yes!' chants here. After this was over we had referees to check on Heyman, at which point Punk ran back and smacked Heyman a few more times for good luck. This was actually more of a beating than Punk gave Heyman at Hell in the Cell, which seems utterly ass-backwards to me, but I guess maybe they were trying to make amends for that weak blowoff.
1) The Prime Time Players over Hunico and Camacho. PTP were over, pockets of fans (me) doing the Millions of Dollars dance and barking at Titus. Pretty solid ~10 minute match, although Darren Young and Camacho botched a clothesline over the top rope bump, something that happens SO often in the WWE. Heat was on Darren Young, Titus got the hot tag and clean win with the Clash of the Titus.
2) The Great Khali over Jinder Mahal. This was, predictably, horrible. Crowd was MAD when the 3MB theme played and Drew McIntyre didn't come out, big heat for Jinder's entrance and sporadic 'we want Drew' chants. Match had no adult heat, but (inexplicably) small kids LOVE Khali. Khali used the Khali chop as his filler offense, but also as his finisher. Jinder caught Khali in the mouth with a stiff HHH jumping knee at one point, Khali looked legit mad and his chops got a lot stiffer and frequent from that point. Jinder dominated Khali with rudimentary leg offense, chop blocks and elbow drops for about 6 minutes at which point Khali completely missed his chop and pinned him for the three count. This dude's legs DO NOT WORK, he looks a lot worse in person, from the knee down his legs are at like a 30 degree angle from where they should be. He looks extremely laboured and it's only a matter of time before one of his knees explodes. Given that he doesn't draw and isn't believable AT ALL as a monster, I cannot understand the WWE's persistence with him. Get some major surgery on his legs and give him some goofy backstage role, but keep him out of the ring!
3) Brie Bella over AJ Lee. Match was announced as a Diva's title match but AJ took the mic and refused to defend her belt, resigning her to inevitable defeat. Tamina looked shoot angry at 'Chyna' calls from the crowd. Tamina as a badass 'bodyguard' is undermined pretty horribly here by the presence of the female WWE security at ringside who is bigger and far more intimidating when she's not even playing a character. Nikki Bella wore her baseball hat and, just like on every TV show, it fell over during their backflip ring enterance. This was a really solid Diva's match, they locked up for some mat wrestling at the start and it occurs to me that Brie must have some kind of stagefright when it comes to televised matches, because in person she can dropkick cleanly and at the correct height. They kept this simple, crisp and fun. There were some shenanigans between Nikki and Tamina, Brie won clean with the X-Factor. Very little heat, I think a lot of people left to buy hotdogs and beer, which is a shame because this was actually one of the better wrestling matches on the show.
Chimmel announced a fan vote for the next match: 2/3 falls versus Streetfight, the latter winning by a landslide. I get that the 'universe' is part of their brand or whatever, but can they not drop it for house shows? It sounds SO contrived in a small arena.
4) Curtis Axel over R-Truth in a Streetfight. R-Truth got a really great crowd reaction, milked the 'what's up' throughout the match to a consistently strong response. Although he came out to complete apathy, by the end of the match Axel might have been the most over heel of the night, contrary to his usual reaction. A lot of crowd interaction early on, Curtis Axel threw a world-class tantrum at one point, really great old school heel behaviour. No Perfectplex, Truth stopped the match midway to dance but otherwise match was really solid and well paced, Axel worked Truth with a chair, but Truth laid him out and got the table to a big pop. After teasing it for a while Axel took a weird table bump in the corner, I think it was a back body drop or a hiptoss. He recovered quickly and pinned Truth clean with his dumb Hangman's Facebuster thing.
I went to buy a shirt during the intermission but I guess most of the merch was in Belgium because the bootleggers outside the venue had a better selection.
5) Usos over Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater. Two 3MB matches in one show? What a treat... Big big pop for Drew, 'Mc-In-tyre' chans, and he even posed with some Scottish flags from the crowd on his way to the ring in case anyone couldn't tell his nationality from his pasty skin, rosy cheeks and obnoxious accent. Heath Slater seemed to find the reaction hilarious. Usos were out next, it sounded like they accidentally played the beginning of Golddust's theme at the beginning which confused and disappointed a lot of people. Usos came out as faces and were treated as such, but when the match started they sold the boos by looking angry and disappointed, and began to work as heels. This didn't really work because the kids in the crowd really, really loved the Usos, so just kept cheering for them as they isolated Slater with heel stuff in the corner. 'We want Drew' chants again, as he hyped the crowd from the apron. Drew got the hot tag, Jimmy or Jey went outside with Slater and Jimmy or Jey schoolboyed Drew for the win. After the match McIntyre saluted the crowd and promised to 'see us on Sauchiehall Street'. Apparently he was in Kushion later in the night, which is indeed a skeezy nightclub just off Sauchiehall Street, so he made good on that promise. 3MB milked their exit and Drew posed with the flags some more. I don't know that the Usos are used to working as heels, neither team were able to use their typical offense as a result which I thought hurt the quality a little, but the match was solid enough at around 10 minutes.
6) Ryback over Justin Gabriel. Wrestling wise this was actually a good match, I'd even posit that it was better than the CM Punk/Ryback matches in its simplicity. Pre-match Ryback ripped up kids signs, bullied Chimmel and cut a promo where he actually mentioned those weird slogans on his singlet: 'big guy, big traps' etc. This wasn't the typical monster squash, the match ran about fifteen minutes and was really solid with no botches from Ryback, and Gabriel getting more offense than I expected, they actually sold it like he had a 50/50 chance of winning. I'm assuming this is a match these guys had endlessly in developmental because it was really fluid. 'Goldberg' chants throughout from sections of the crowd, Ryback responded by copying some of his hypeup mannerisms and hit LONG hanging Jackhammer for a two-count. Ryback hit the Meathook and put Gabriel up for the Shellshocked, but Gabriel wriggled out and teased a 450 splash. Ryback crotched him on the top rope and hit the Shellshocked after all for the clean win. Ryback was blown up after about the first minute but he maintained pretty well throughout. After the match, Gabriel got his music played and bravely limped to the back like Triple H does after every loss. And, just like when Triple H does it, no-one cared.
Main event time!
7) CM Punk and Daniel Bryan over Luke Harper and Eric Rowan w/Bray Wyatt. CM Punk was billed and treated as the star on this show but Daniel Bryan was honestly much more over than Punk, not just the 'Yes!' chant. Match went about 15 minutes and was really good as expected. There was a spot where Rowan went for either a Leg Drop or a Senton and Bryan was supposed to move, but they botched it and Rowan clobbered D-Bry with his leg. Bryan wrestled in his shoulder brace from RAW and got his hype spots in early on, the backflip/running Lariat combo. Luke Harper is fucking AWESOME, at one point he hit an Eddie Guerroro style Hilo. Lots of appreciation for the 'yeah yeeeah yeeeah' from the crowd. Heat was on Bryan for a while, Punk came in to clean house. He teased the Macho Man elbow but instead hit a Plancha onto Bray Wyatt on the outside. He pulled Bray into the ring and got him up for the GTS, but was interrupted by Harper and Rowan. Busaiku Knee on Rowan, GTS on Harper and clean win for the babyfaces. Bryan seemed quite subdued and there wasn't much (if any) interaction between him and Punk. Bryan and the Wyatts left pretty quickly and CM Punk hung around ringside to touch hands and sign autographs. No promo or skit after the match.
Honestly I wasn't really mad about the larger stars being in Belgium, the main event was billed as Punk vs. Ryback and Heyman, and we were surprised by the Wyatt/Punk and Bryan main event, so I have no complaints. It might have been good of the WWE to give us Golddust and Cody Rhodes, but I had a good time anyway. Pleasantly surprised by the Ryback and Divas match, psyched to see the Prime Time Players because I think they're awesome. I'll definitely be at the next WWE Glasgow show.