John Whitt passed along this live report.
WWE Live
Columbus, Ohio
Sunday January 19, 2014
Show started with video of Mae Young
Card
1. Prime Time Players vs. Ryback and Curtis Axle
This was a good match with both teams looking good. I was really into Ryback’s crowd interaction. He was comical in a “Big Guy” sort of way. This would go good on TV. The crowd was into him. On a side note, Darren Young looked bigger in person. Usually the other way around. Ryback seemed pretty blown up towards the end of the match.
Winner—Prime Time Players
2. Alicia Fox vs. Aksana
This match was a result of an app/text poll of either a dance off or a match. 51% for the match so we got roughly ten minutes of Aksana crawling around the ring like a cat.
Winner—Alicia Fox
3.Brodus Clay vs. Xavier Woods
This match was really a blur. Xavier Woods came out to a new intro that was awful with a video that looked like something from the late 80’s Global Wrestling Federation. Brodus also has a new intro. Just when you started getting into this match it was over. The match couldn’t have been more than three minutes.
Winner—-Xavier Woods
4.The Real Americans vs. The Rhodes Brothers
The Real Americans came out first pushing Zeb Colter in his wheel chair. Zeb made some anti Buckeye remarks as OSU head coach Urban Meyer was in the front row. As always these two teams put on an awesome match. The crowd was very into it. Several times I was going to yell at Zeb but realized it was a waste of time because the crowd was so loud during this match. That’s saying a lot because I was in the front row. Cesaro did the big swing on Goldust and Cody did a lot of high flying. Sadly the weak link in this match was Jack Swagger. I’ve always wanted to see him go somewhere but I’m afraid that when this team splits up he will be lost in the roster. Swagger did interact with the crowd quite a bit though.
Winner—Cody Rhodes and Goldust
5. Kane vs. Luke Harper and Eric Rowan
We were told that this was going to be a Kane vs. Big Show match and were even shown a backstage promo earlier in the night of Kane challenging the Big Show. When Kane came to the ring he was announced as the winner since Big Show didn’t show because of travel issues. They could have just told us that he was filling in for Daniel Bryan but I guess that wouldn’t have been hot enough because apparently we were in for a real barnburner of a match. (Excuse my sarcasm). Brad Maddux was in the ring and told Kane he had an opponent for him. In comes the Wyatt’s without Bray but still carrying his empty wheel chair. Not a great match but it was cool to see the three of them anyway.
Winner—Wyatt family
6. Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio
Another match that I wasn’t really into. Sin Cara wasn’t very impressive in person. Couldn’t help but think I’d rather have seen the other masked man (Rey Mysterio). There was a lot of slow spots in this match including about 3 minutes of Del Rio trying to convince Sin Cara to shake his hand.
Winner—-Alberto Del Rio by submission.
7. The Main Event
John Cena vs. Randy Orton
This is a match we have seen a lot of and will see more of at least for the next week. A writer who attended a house show a few days prior to this commented that Cena and Orton seemed to be taking it easy as to not risk injury. Tonight this wasn’t the case. This was a physical match complete with attitude adjustments, RKO’s, plenty of outside the ring action involving the stairs and barricade and a championship belt to the head. Orton was disqualified for a low blow.
Winner—John Cena by DQ
After the match Orton told the announcer to remind the audience that he was still the champ.
This was a great show overall. My wife and kids loved it. I think it got them excited for Wrestlemania season and the network. I have to note the I felt starstruck by Orton. There is just something about him. When you see him up close you can understand why the company has put so much into him. Even with Batista coming back and a lot of other players in the mix I think he will stand the test of time. It was great to see Goldust before he retires eventually. The only bad thing is now trying to figure out which pictures I should print out as I took around 600.