Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Dec 27, 2021 0:19:45 GMT -5
So I went to the traditional post-Christmas MSG house show tonight! Yep, that one. The one where a bunch of people were pulled for COVID reasons and the one with only about 5500 in the building. Being there live, it was a little sad to look at just because the arena is so damn big and there were so many empty seats. I heard a few ushers blaming COVID for it which didn't make sense as it's been a cold ticket for months and the Knicks just sold the place out last night. There's definitely a wave in the city but people still want to go out and do stuff and are learning to live with it. So New York is definitely not a hot city for them but they still put on...a decent show all things considered. Here are the results:
- They opened by announcing that some talent would be unable to appear due to COVID reasons. They didn't specify who.
- Edge came out and noted he wasn't supposed to be here tonight. Owens then came out and beat up a bunch of inflated Christmas decorations at the stage. They agreed to fight in a cage match in the main event.
- Finn Balor d. T-Bar. Pretty good opening match. Easy to tell big man/little man story. Finn was pretty over. No one really cared about T-Bar but they popped for some of his moves.
- Alpha Academy d. Dirty Dawgs. Gable cut a heel promo on NYC before the match to get some heat. It was odd to start because it was clear we were supposed to cheer Roode/Ziggler but they weren't really over as faces. The match was a well worked simple tag match though that got the crowd into it. Roode dressed very similarly to Triple H and ended up doing all of his spots for his hot tag - including hitting a Pedigree on Gable. Ziggler also did a superkick so it was very much a DX tribute act. Otis ended up getting the win in the end.
- Ciampa d. Pete Dunne to retain the NXT Title. There were some NXT chants but the crowd was pretty dead for this. I got the feeling most fans either didn't know who they were or barely did and never watched NXT. The work was fine and picked up at the end but the finish sort of came out of nowhere. Definitely a house show match and not your typical NXT main event.
- Rhea (with Nikki) came out for a match against Natalya. Nattie cut a heel promo about being a world record holder and wanted to add to it by beating both of them tonight. Which led to...
- Natalya d. Nikki A.S.H with her foot on the ropes. Crowd was fairly dead for this. When Nattie won, the announcer said she won by submission. This then led to...
- Rhea d. Natalya by submission. Nattie tried to win with her foot on the ropes again but Nikki stopped her. Crowd popped for the finish.
- RKBro d. the Mysterio's and the Street Profits in a Steel Cage Triple Threat match to retain the RAW Tag Team Titles. Randy and Rey got huge pops. It definitely felt like a match not planned to be in a cage because they barely used it and it more restricted their spots more than anything. Also it had tags and everything so it was basically a normal match that happened to be in a cage. Plus it made it harder to see. Crowd was mild for this until the end when they all hit their big moves. Randy won with a midair RKO on Rey that was pretty cool but they worked a basic house show style up until that point.
INTERMISSION
- Priest d. Miz to retain the US Title. Miz cut a good heel promo about being a great dancer and how Priest was from the city. He got a good hometown pop. It was mainly a comedy match until the end with them doing dance spots. The crowd was into it and Miz almost won with his feet on the ropes.
- AJ Styles d. Omos by DQ when he pulled an Eddie spot and framed him with a steel chair. This sucked. Omos had very little presence live despite his size. It was three minutes of AJ bumping around him before the finish. Omos laid him out afterwards with a front press slam.
- Edge d. Kevin Owens in a Steel Cage match. Easily match of the night and the first time they ever wrestled. Very good match with a lot of good false finishes. Edge was about to escape and Miz ran in to stop him. This led to Priest coming in to make the save. Edge then won with a spear and using some brass knuckles that Owens brought in. Edge put Priest over big in his speech afterwards to send the crowd home happy. He did note this could be the last time he wrestles at MSG.
Overall, a decent show. Some good action mixed in with some guys taking it easy for a house show. It was also very clear that the only talent over to fans are the main event guys or those who were main eventers years ago. The lack of a reaction for Ciampa/Dunne was pretty sad in comparison.
- They opened by announcing that some talent would be unable to appear due to COVID reasons. They didn't specify who.
- Edge came out and noted he wasn't supposed to be here tonight. Owens then came out and beat up a bunch of inflated Christmas decorations at the stage. They agreed to fight in a cage match in the main event.
- Finn Balor d. T-Bar. Pretty good opening match. Easy to tell big man/little man story. Finn was pretty over. No one really cared about T-Bar but they popped for some of his moves.
- Alpha Academy d. Dirty Dawgs. Gable cut a heel promo on NYC before the match to get some heat. It was odd to start because it was clear we were supposed to cheer Roode/Ziggler but they weren't really over as faces. The match was a well worked simple tag match though that got the crowd into it. Roode dressed very similarly to Triple H and ended up doing all of his spots for his hot tag - including hitting a Pedigree on Gable. Ziggler also did a superkick so it was very much a DX tribute act. Otis ended up getting the win in the end.
- Ciampa d. Pete Dunne to retain the NXT Title. There were some NXT chants but the crowd was pretty dead for this. I got the feeling most fans either didn't know who they were or barely did and never watched NXT. The work was fine and picked up at the end but the finish sort of came out of nowhere. Definitely a house show match and not your typical NXT main event.
- Rhea (with Nikki) came out for a match against Natalya. Nattie cut a heel promo about being a world record holder and wanted to add to it by beating both of them tonight. Which led to...
- Natalya d. Nikki A.S.H with her foot on the ropes. Crowd was fairly dead for this. When Nattie won, the announcer said she won by submission. This then led to...
- Rhea d. Natalya by submission. Nattie tried to win with her foot on the ropes again but Nikki stopped her. Crowd popped for the finish.
- RKBro d. the Mysterio's and the Street Profits in a Steel Cage Triple Threat match to retain the RAW Tag Team Titles. Randy and Rey got huge pops. It definitely felt like a match not planned to be in a cage because they barely used it and it more restricted their spots more than anything. Also it had tags and everything so it was basically a normal match that happened to be in a cage. Plus it made it harder to see. Crowd was mild for this until the end when they all hit their big moves. Randy won with a midair RKO on Rey that was pretty cool but they worked a basic house show style up until that point.
INTERMISSION
- Priest d. Miz to retain the US Title. Miz cut a good heel promo about being a great dancer and how Priest was from the city. He got a good hometown pop. It was mainly a comedy match until the end with them doing dance spots. The crowd was into it and Miz almost won with his feet on the ropes.
- AJ Styles d. Omos by DQ when he pulled an Eddie spot and framed him with a steel chair. This sucked. Omos had very little presence live despite his size. It was three minutes of AJ bumping around him before the finish. Omos laid him out afterwards with a front press slam.
- Edge d. Kevin Owens in a Steel Cage match. Easily match of the night and the first time they ever wrestled. Very good match with a lot of good false finishes. Edge was about to escape and Miz ran in to stop him. This led to Priest coming in to make the save. Edge then won with a spear and using some brass knuckles that Owens brought in. Edge put Priest over big in his speech afterwards to send the crowd home happy. He did note this could be the last time he wrestles at MSG.
Overall, a decent show. Some good action mixed in with some guys taking it easy for a house show. It was also very clear that the only talent over to fans are the main event guys or those who were main eventers years ago. The lack of a reaction for Ciampa/Dunne was pretty sad in comparison.
