Post by The Sam on Sept 1, 2012 13:01:55 GMT -5
Just got back from the WWE house show in Melbourne this evening and thought I'd give a report on what happened.
The show was at Rod Laver arena and appeared to be a sellout show. I'm not sure of the official numbers but Rod Laver is a pretty big arena that holds sporting events and rock concerts.
Merchandise included John Cena's green gear, CM Punks grey shirt, Kofi Kingston shirt, Zack Ryder merchandise and WWE Australian tour shirts. They didn't have the pink Dolph Ziggler shirt (that was the only shirt I wanted), you may be saying "but Dolph Ziggler isn't even on the tour", which is true, but last year they sold Alberto Del Rio's shirt and he wasn't on the tour either. Also ADR's shirt looked awful. However I did buy a program, which I will go into later.
The show started at 7.30 with the usual pyro and ballyhoo. Justin Roberts plugged twitter and told us that we could talk about tonight's card by using the hastag #WWEMelbourne.
Brodus Clay (w/Naomi) vs Jack Swagger
Brodus came out first with Naomi (no Cameron, guess they sent her home early) to a big pop. Jack Swagger came out to some heat. I don't get why WWE keep fumbling with Swagger. I've seen him live the past 2 years and he has good matches and he gets plenty of heat. The match was good. Brodus won with the splash.
Winner Brodus Clay
2 stars
The Miz came on screen and cut a backstage promo telling Justin Roberts that he wants Justin to announce him louder than everyone else. Also that The Miz will be defending his Intercontinental title against Alex Riley.
Divas Champion Layla vs Rosa Mendes
Boring match. Rosa salsa danced and Layla did not. Also they tried to do the spot where they both run the ropes in opposite directions and keep running. Some would call it a comedy spot, unfortunately Layla and Rosa do not have comedic timing. Layla won with the who cares?
Winner Layla
1 star
Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs Alex Riley
Miz came out and cut a good promo about how the Intercontinental title represents all the continents including Australia, therefore The Miz is the champion of Australia. Crowd started a "You Are Awful" chant, which Miz responded to. Alex Riley came out to a decent pop.
The match was pretty forgettable. I think the main problem was that last years tour featured Alex Riley vs The Miz as well, but that was a "Melbourne Street Fight". So it was like seeing the same match again but without tables and kendo sticks. Miz won with the SCF.
Winner The Miz.
1 star
A video appeared on the screen showing a replay of Triple H's retirement promo from RAW. People thought Triple H was coming out to the ring. He did not. People were disappointed.
Zack Ryder vs Tensai
Zack Ryder came out to a huge pop. Tensai came out to mediocre heat. Tensai pummeled Ryder for 2 minutes. Ryder hit Tensai with the Rough Ryder and got the pin. As Tensai was heading back up the aisle a fan near me yelled "Go back to China". I laughed.
Winner Zack Ryder
1 star
WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (w/ Little Jimmy) vs Epico & Primo (w/ Dancing Rosa Mendes)
Epico and Primo came out first. R-Truth and Little Jimmy came out and R-Truth did his rap followed by Kofi Kingston. The match started and Primo grabbed Little Jimmy and shook Jimmy's hand, then hugged him and then he attacked Little Jimmy. R-Trth pounced on Primo. (Take note Rosa and Layla, that is comedy timing). Great tag team match with lots of aerial moves and standard tag team spots (blind tags, hot tags, etc). At the 20 minute mark Primo hit Kofi with the backstabber. As Primo pinned Kofi, Kofiput his foot on the bottom rope however Rosa knocked Kofi's foot off the rope as the referee made the 3 count.
As Primo, Epico and Rosa were celebrating their victory General Manager A.J. came out and restarted the match due to Rosa taking Kofi's foot off the ropes. As Epico and Primo complained to A.J., Truth and Kofi were able to hit their finishes simultaneously on Epico & Primo and get a double pin to retain the tag team titles.
Winners Kofi Kingston and R-Truth
Definitely the best match of the card up to that point.
After the match R-Truth celebrated with Little Jimmy and got the crowd to convince Kofi to believe in Little Jimmy. Kofi said he believes in Little Jimmy and all 3 celebrated in the ring.
3 stars
Intermission, during which Justin Roberts asked if anyone was using tout? Which led to lots of groaning and laughing. Justin Roberts touted the fans.
Santino Marella vs David Otunga
Otunga came out first. Maybe I haven't been watching RAW and Smackdown as closely as I should be but when Otunga got in the ring he started doing a Chis Masters-esque pose down with similar music to boot. Santino came out to a huge pop. Match featured lots of Otunga doing poses and Santino making fun of Otunga. Comedy ensued. Santino won with the cobra.
Winner Santino Marella.
2 stars
WWE champion CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan
Before I describe this match I should clarify something. For the past 6 months the local ads for the tour had been declaring the main events being "WWE Champion CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan in a submission match" and "John Cena vs The Big Show and John Laurinitis". Then about 2 weeks ago they started advertising the main event being "WWE Champion CM Punk vs John Cena vs Big Show in an extreme rules triple threat match". Then about a week ago it was changed to "WWE Champion CM Punk vs John Cena vs Big Show in a triple threat match". And so it was quite a shock to see CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan.
Anyway, Daniel came out first. Lot's of YES chants. CM Punk came out and got a mixed reaction at first. Daniel got on the microphone and asked the fans to not chant YES. CM Punk got the microphone and asked if the fans if they would stop chanting YES, the fans yelled "YES", CM Punk said "Good, is that a promise?" to which the fans replied "YES". CM Punk said "Good, do you want to see me wrestle Daniel Bryan?" to which the fans chanted "YES". This infuriated Daniel. CM Punk got a face pop. CM Punk gave his shirt to a fan in the front row, a kid near me said "he gave his shirt to a John Cena fan. What a waste." I laughed.
CM Punk was the face in this match and Daniel was the heel. Some good back and forth before Daniel attempted to pin Punk, a fan near me said "I thought this was a submission match" which made me realize "he's right, this was advertised as a submission match. I guess it isn't now." (Continuity, yay!)
Daniel worked CM Punks shoulder and arm. Daniel Bryan got frustrated with the fans at one point and headed to the outside and did some breathing exercises to calm down. The fans continued to chant YES. Daniel grabbed the microphone and said "NO" as the fans chanted "YES" Daniel got in a fans face as they did a NO/YES on the microphone.
The action went back and forth. Before CM Punk "Punk'd up", pointed his finger at Daniel, punched him 3 times before sending him off the ropes and hitting Daniel with the big boot followed by a leg drop.
Daniel got the upper hand once again before locking in the "No lock". CM Punk grabbed the ropes. Daniel tried to suplex Punk before Punk reversed it into the GTS. Punk pinned Daniel to retain the WWE title.
Winner CM Punk
Match of the night
3.5 stars
Main event: John Cena vs Big Show and John Laurinitis.
John Laurinitis came out first dressed in a suit. Laurinitis introduced The Big Show, who looks like King Kong Bundy without his goatee.
After Big Show came out, John Cena came out to the biggest reaction of the night.
Laurinitis removed his jacket and tie and started off against Cena. As the bell sounded Laurinitis tagged in Big Show. Cena attempted to do the impossible and lift Big Show. Big Show hit John Cena with the open palm chop 2 times before Cena dodged the chop and started working on Big Show. Cena attempted to lift The Big Show and again to no avail. Cena rolled to the outside where Big Show followed. Big Show threw Cena into the steps and ringside area.
Big Show got Cena back in the ring. The action went back and forth until Big Show attempted to hit Cena with the WMD. Cena dodged it and pushed Show into Laurinitis, knocking Laurinitis off the apron. Cena did the impossible and lifted Big Show onto his shoulders and hit the AA for the win.
Winner John Cena
After the match, Laurinitis attacked Cena with a chair. Laurinitis attempted to hit Cena with the chair once again but Cena dodged the chair shot and hit Laurinitis with the AA. Cena thanked everyone for coming out and asked everyone to drive safely.
3 stars
Overall it was ok. Not as good as last year. A lot of the matches were very slow. And some we had already seen before in the same building less than 12 months ago.
I got home and started looking through this program I purchased and noticed some weird things. I may post pictures later. On CM Punks profile page, his right hand has been Photoshopped removing the word "DRUG" from his knuckles yet "FREE" is still visible on his left hand. And Dean Ambrose is listed in the program towards the back, yet he hasn't even debuted yet on WWE.
And that was my report on WWE Australian tour, Melbourne 2012.
The show was at Rod Laver arena and appeared to be a sellout show. I'm not sure of the official numbers but Rod Laver is a pretty big arena that holds sporting events and rock concerts.
Merchandise included John Cena's green gear, CM Punks grey shirt, Kofi Kingston shirt, Zack Ryder merchandise and WWE Australian tour shirts. They didn't have the pink Dolph Ziggler shirt (that was the only shirt I wanted), you may be saying "but Dolph Ziggler isn't even on the tour", which is true, but last year they sold Alberto Del Rio's shirt and he wasn't on the tour either. Also ADR's shirt looked awful. However I did buy a program, which I will go into later.
The show started at 7.30 with the usual pyro and ballyhoo. Justin Roberts plugged twitter and told us that we could talk about tonight's card by using the hastag #WWEMelbourne.
Brodus Clay (w/Naomi) vs Jack Swagger
Brodus came out first with Naomi (no Cameron, guess they sent her home early) to a big pop. Jack Swagger came out to some heat. I don't get why WWE keep fumbling with Swagger. I've seen him live the past 2 years and he has good matches and he gets plenty of heat. The match was good. Brodus won with the splash.
Winner Brodus Clay
2 stars
The Miz came on screen and cut a backstage promo telling Justin Roberts that he wants Justin to announce him louder than everyone else. Also that The Miz will be defending his Intercontinental title against Alex Riley.
Divas Champion Layla vs Rosa Mendes
Boring match. Rosa salsa danced and Layla did not. Also they tried to do the spot where they both run the ropes in opposite directions and keep running. Some would call it a comedy spot, unfortunately Layla and Rosa do not have comedic timing. Layla won with the who cares?
Winner Layla
1 star
Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs Alex Riley
Miz came out and cut a good promo about how the Intercontinental title represents all the continents including Australia, therefore The Miz is the champion of Australia. Crowd started a "You Are Awful" chant, which Miz responded to. Alex Riley came out to a decent pop.
The match was pretty forgettable. I think the main problem was that last years tour featured Alex Riley vs The Miz as well, but that was a "Melbourne Street Fight". So it was like seeing the same match again but without tables and kendo sticks. Miz won with the SCF.
Winner The Miz.
1 star
A video appeared on the screen showing a replay of Triple H's retirement promo from RAW. People thought Triple H was coming out to the ring. He did not. People were disappointed.
Zack Ryder vs Tensai
Zack Ryder came out to a huge pop. Tensai came out to mediocre heat. Tensai pummeled Ryder for 2 minutes. Ryder hit Tensai with the Rough Ryder and got the pin. As Tensai was heading back up the aisle a fan near me yelled "Go back to China". I laughed.
Winner Zack Ryder
1 star
WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (w/ Little Jimmy) vs Epico & Primo (w/ Dancing Rosa Mendes)
Epico and Primo came out first. R-Truth and Little Jimmy came out and R-Truth did his rap followed by Kofi Kingston. The match started and Primo grabbed Little Jimmy and shook Jimmy's hand, then hugged him and then he attacked Little Jimmy. R-Trth pounced on Primo. (Take note Rosa and Layla, that is comedy timing). Great tag team match with lots of aerial moves and standard tag team spots (blind tags, hot tags, etc). At the 20 minute mark Primo hit Kofi with the backstabber. As Primo pinned Kofi, Kofiput his foot on the bottom rope however Rosa knocked Kofi's foot off the rope as the referee made the 3 count.
As Primo, Epico and Rosa were celebrating their victory General Manager A.J. came out and restarted the match due to Rosa taking Kofi's foot off the ropes. As Epico and Primo complained to A.J., Truth and Kofi were able to hit their finishes simultaneously on Epico & Primo and get a double pin to retain the tag team titles.
Winners Kofi Kingston and R-Truth
Definitely the best match of the card up to that point.
After the match R-Truth celebrated with Little Jimmy and got the crowd to convince Kofi to believe in Little Jimmy. Kofi said he believes in Little Jimmy and all 3 celebrated in the ring.
3 stars
Intermission, during which Justin Roberts asked if anyone was using tout? Which led to lots of groaning and laughing. Justin Roberts touted the fans.
Santino Marella vs David Otunga
Otunga came out first. Maybe I haven't been watching RAW and Smackdown as closely as I should be but when Otunga got in the ring he started doing a Chis Masters-esque pose down with similar music to boot. Santino came out to a huge pop. Match featured lots of Otunga doing poses and Santino making fun of Otunga. Comedy ensued. Santino won with the cobra.
Winner Santino Marella.
2 stars
WWE champion CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan
Before I describe this match I should clarify something. For the past 6 months the local ads for the tour had been declaring the main events being "WWE Champion CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan in a submission match" and "John Cena vs The Big Show and John Laurinitis". Then about 2 weeks ago they started advertising the main event being "WWE Champion CM Punk vs John Cena vs Big Show in an extreme rules triple threat match". Then about a week ago it was changed to "WWE Champion CM Punk vs John Cena vs Big Show in a triple threat match". And so it was quite a shock to see CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan.
Anyway, Daniel came out first. Lot's of YES chants. CM Punk came out and got a mixed reaction at first. Daniel got on the microphone and asked the fans to not chant YES. CM Punk got the microphone and asked if the fans if they would stop chanting YES, the fans yelled "YES", CM Punk said "Good, is that a promise?" to which the fans replied "YES". CM Punk said "Good, do you want to see me wrestle Daniel Bryan?" to which the fans chanted "YES". This infuriated Daniel. CM Punk got a face pop. CM Punk gave his shirt to a fan in the front row, a kid near me said "he gave his shirt to a John Cena fan. What a waste." I laughed.
CM Punk was the face in this match and Daniel was the heel. Some good back and forth before Daniel attempted to pin Punk, a fan near me said "I thought this was a submission match" which made me realize "he's right, this was advertised as a submission match. I guess it isn't now." (Continuity, yay!)
Daniel worked CM Punks shoulder and arm. Daniel Bryan got frustrated with the fans at one point and headed to the outside and did some breathing exercises to calm down. The fans continued to chant YES. Daniel grabbed the microphone and said "NO" as the fans chanted "YES" Daniel got in a fans face as they did a NO/YES on the microphone.
The action went back and forth. Before CM Punk "Punk'd up", pointed his finger at Daniel, punched him 3 times before sending him off the ropes and hitting Daniel with the big boot followed by a leg drop.
Daniel got the upper hand once again before locking in the "No lock". CM Punk grabbed the ropes. Daniel tried to suplex Punk before Punk reversed it into the GTS. Punk pinned Daniel to retain the WWE title.
Winner CM Punk
Match of the night
3.5 stars
Main event: John Cena vs Big Show and John Laurinitis.
John Laurinitis came out first dressed in a suit. Laurinitis introduced The Big Show, who looks like King Kong Bundy without his goatee.
After Big Show came out, John Cena came out to the biggest reaction of the night.
Laurinitis removed his jacket and tie and started off against Cena. As the bell sounded Laurinitis tagged in Big Show. Cena attempted to do the impossible and lift Big Show. Big Show hit John Cena with the open palm chop 2 times before Cena dodged the chop and started working on Big Show. Cena attempted to lift The Big Show and again to no avail. Cena rolled to the outside where Big Show followed. Big Show threw Cena into the steps and ringside area.
Big Show got Cena back in the ring. The action went back and forth until Big Show attempted to hit Cena with the WMD. Cena dodged it and pushed Show into Laurinitis, knocking Laurinitis off the apron. Cena did the impossible and lifted Big Show onto his shoulders and hit the AA for the win.
Winner John Cena
After the match, Laurinitis attacked Cena with a chair. Laurinitis attempted to hit Cena with the chair once again but Cena dodged the chair shot and hit Laurinitis with the AA. Cena thanked everyone for coming out and asked everyone to drive safely.
3 stars
Overall it was ok. Not as good as last year. A lot of the matches were very slow. And some we had already seen before in the same building less than 12 months ago.
I got home and started looking through this program I purchased and noticed some weird things. I may post pictures later. On CM Punks profile page, his right hand has been Photoshopped removing the word "DRUG" from his knuckles yet "FREE" is still visible on his left hand. And Dean Ambrose is listed in the program towards the back, yet he hasn't even debuted yet on WWE.
And that was my report on WWE Australian tour, Melbourne 2012.
