Post by breakdownthewalls on Dec 29, 2011 8:01:29 GMT -5
I know some people like to read these, so I decided to post my impressions of a house show I went to last night in Pittsburgh at the Consol Energy Arena.
First: the place was PACKED. Close to a sellout, which is pretty cool for a house show. Definitely the largest crowd I've seen at a live event, it was like being at a taping of one of the shows for sure.
Pre-show, Miz came out, blah blah blah. Then out of nowhere, R-Truth shows up and beats the crap out of Miz. It was amazing how nuts people went for this. Then he grabs the mic and says "Like I always say.... you kick my dog I'mma kick yo cat. Miz is about to gone get GOT!!!"
We started the show with a 10 man bout with the winner facing Ryder for the US title later. Fun little warm up bout that saw Ziggler eliminate Santino to win it. There were some funny bits with Santino and Mason Ryan; I'd actually kind of like to see those two become a tag team down the line.
We also got a decent Riley/Leo Kruger match. Nothing really stood out, but it was prettty fun and Kruger seems like he has potential.
Beth Phoenix beat Eve to retain the Diva's match in one of the best women's matches I've seen in a long time. Lots of back and forth and both girls got in a lot of fancy offense. Beth won via Glam Slam.
Jerry Lawler (yes really) beat Jack Swagger in a very fun match. Swagger was out before the match saying that 2012 was going be his year. Swagger pretty much dominated the entire match, but lost after he refused to pin Lawler and started showing off for the crowd. Jerry rolled him up for the win.
Santino beat David Otunga in another fun match. Otunga played the powerhouse during this, with Santino pulling out some tricks to knock him down including tweaking his nipples and playing possum.
Ziggler got his title shot against Ryder in an excellent back and forth match. Ziggler actually thought he won this as he got a 3 count after the Zig-Zag, but it turns out Ryder had his foot on the ropes. Match restarts, goes a few more minutes, and Ryder wins with the Rough Ryder. Ryder's insanely over with the crowd, everybody and their mother was fist pumping.
Highlight of the night for me was the next match: Kane VS Cena. I was wondering how Kane looked after being out for a while, and he's better in the ring than ever in my opinion. This was one hell of a match, both guys beat the hell out of each other. What surprised me a bit was how many counters we got. Kane blocked the 5 Knuckle Shuffle and attempted a choke slam, only to have that countered into an AA. But Kane rolled out of that and turned it into a DDT. The finish came when Kane got fed up, attacked the time keeper, and grabbed a steel chair to beat the crap out of Cena. Ended up chokeslamming Cena and walking out. Cena slowly got to his feet, then Kane turned around and came back for more. Cena dodged a clothesline, then hit the AA. Kane basically no-sold it, but rolled outta the ring and got out of dodge. I'm pretty much sold on this feud just based on how good this match was.
Main event was Punk VS Miz in a steel cage for the belt. Good back and forth with a ton of teases of both guys escaping the cage. Punk wins via Go To Sleep, crowd goes crazy. An amazing spot where Punk did the Macho Elbow off the top of the cage that drove everybody wild.
Biggest Cheers: Punk, Ryder, Truth, Cena, Kane, Kelly Kelly
Biggest Boos: Vickie Guerrero (I literally could not hear a word anyone said during her appearance with Ziggler, it was amazing), Ziggler tripping Santino, Miz mentioning Cleveland.
As I mentioned, Punk's elbow drop pretty much blew the roof off the place. But the one other spot that people went nuts for? Kane counters the 5 knuckle shuffle into a chokeslam attempt. The whole sequence was like:
*Cena does 'You can't see me'*
Deep baritone: BOOOOOOOOO
Higher Pitched: YEAAAAAAAAAA
*Kane chokes Cena*
Baritone: YEEAAAAAAH KANE YEAAAHHHHH
Higher Pitched: AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH
First: the place was PACKED. Close to a sellout, which is pretty cool for a house show. Definitely the largest crowd I've seen at a live event, it was like being at a taping of one of the shows for sure.
Pre-show, Miz came out, blah blah blah. Then out of nowhere, R-Truth shows up and beats the crap out of Miz. It was amazing how nuts people went for this. Then he grabs the mic and says "Like I always say.... you kick my dog I'mma kick yo cat. Miz is about to gone get GOT!!!"
We started the show with a 10 man bout with the winner facing Ryder for the US title later. Fun little warm up bout that saw Ziggler eliminate Santino to win it. There were some funny bits with Santino and Mason Ryan; I'd actually kind of like to see those two become a tag team down the line.
We also got a decent Riley/Leo Kruger match. Nothing really stood out, but it was prettty fun and Kruger seems like he has potential.
Beth Phoenix beat Eve to retain the Diva's match in one of the best women's matches I've seen in a long time. Lots of back and forth and both girls got in a lot of fancy offense. Beth won via Glam Slam.
Jerry Lawler (yes really) beat Jack Swagger in a very fun match. Swagger was out before the match saying that 2012 was going be his year. Swagger pretty much dominated the entire match, but lost after he refused to pin Lawler and started showing off for the crowd. Jerry rolled him up for the win.
Santino beat David Otunga in another fun match. Otunga played the powerhouse during this, with Santino pulling out some tricks to knock him down including tweaking his nipples and playing possum.
Ziggler got his title shot against Ryder in an excellent back and forth match. Ziggler actually thought he won this as he got a 3 count after the Zig-Zag, but it turns out Ryder had his foot on the ropes. Match restarts, goes a few more minutes, and Ryder wins with the Rough Ryder. Ryder's insanely over with the crowd, everybody and their mother was fist pumping.
Highlight of the night for me was the next match: Kane VS Cena. I was wondering how Kane looked after being out for a while, and he's better in the ring than ever in my opinion. This was one hell of a match, both guys beat the hell out of each other. What surprised me a bit was how many counters we got. Kane blocked the 5 Knuckle Shuffle and attempted a choke slam, only to have that countered into an AA. But Kane rolled out of that and turned it into a DDT. The finish came when Kane got fed up, attacked the time keeper, and grabbed a steel chair to beat the crap out of Cena. Ended up chokeslamming Cena and walking out. Cena slowly got to his feet, then Kane turned around and came back for more. Cena dodged a clothesline, then hit the AA. Kane basically no-sold it, but rolled outta the ring and got out of dodge. I'm pretty much sold on this feud just based on how good this match was.
Main event was Punk VS Miz in a steel cage for the belt. Good back and forth with a ton of teases of both guys escaping the cage. Punk wins via Go To Sleep, crowd goes crazy. An amazing spot where Punk did the Macho Elbow off the top of the cage that drove everybody wild.
Biggest Cheers: Punk, Ryder, Truth, Cena, Kane, Kelly Kelly
Biggest Boos: Vickie Guerrero (I literally could not hear a word anyone said during her appearance with Ziggler, it was amazing), Ziggler tripping Santino, Miz mentioning Cleveland.
As I mentioned, Punk's elbow drop pretty much blew the roof off the place. But the one other spot that people went nuts for? Kane counters the 5 knuckle shuffle into a chokeslam attempt. The whole sequence was like:
*Cena does 'You can't see me'*
Deep baritone: BOOOOOOOOO
Higher Pitched: YEAAAAAAAAAA
*Kane chokes Cena*
Baritone: YEEAAAAAAH KANE YEAAAHHHHH
Higher Pitched: AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH