WWE Live Event
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
June 29, 2013
Report by: Adam Martin of Wrestleview.com
This was the first WWE event in Cedar Rapids since 2011 in the newly upgraded US Cellular Center. The new setting makes wrestling events much more intimate.
After airing company video packages, they kicked off the show with the Smackdown intro. The new branding of “WWE Live” was definitely confusing to a majority of people in the crowd near me. Might be smart to avoid this in the future.
* Sin Cara def. Cody Rhodes in the opener. Sin Cara was very popular with kids in the audience. Rhodes was having a fun time doing heel work with the crowd.
* WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee w/ Big E Langston def. Kaitlyn. Big reaction for Big E as he his a former University of Iowa alumni. AJ cut a promo showing footage from RAW on Monday where she dressed up like Kaitlyn.
* The Great Khali def. Damien Sandow. Sandow’s worked up the crowd in Cedar Rapids on the mic before the match. He really is in a class of his own with that stuff. Lots of floppy bumping by Sandow and bailing out of the ring during this one. Khali’s knees are a mess and he struggles just to walk a few feet at a time.
* Randy Orton def. Wade Barrett. A good portion of the audience started to bail to use the bathrooms or get drinks after Khali vs. Sandow. When Orton’s music hit a mad rush of people came back and returned to their seats. Orton was easily the most popular guy.
* Antonio Cesaro w/ Zeb Colter def. Justin Gabriel. Zeb did some mic work before the match to rile up the crowd in Cedar Rapids. At one point a loud “THIS IS BORING” chant broke out. Cesaro seemed annoyed at first, but worked through it.
* The Usos def. Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal. The Usos are just a flat out awesome tag team act right now. Slater was having tons of fun doing heel work. At one point a portion of the crowd was chanting his name and he yelled back, “No one cares!”
* WWE World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez def. Dolph Ziggler in a No DQ match in the main event. They held a vote to determine if it would be 2 out of 3 Falls or No DQ. Ricardo Rodriguez took some digs at the crowd in Cedar Rapids and then went into his usual introduction for Del Rio. Del Rio had some fun with some people at ringside cheering him. Ziggler had probably the second biggest reaction all night and seems to be settling in nicely to his new babyface role. No AJ or Big E at ringside. Kendo stick was used early on. They eventually brought a table in for a corner spot with Ziggler. Ziggler hit the Zig Zag and Ricardo ran in hitting him with his bucket to secure the win for Del Rio.
Overall, a really fun card. The upgraded house show presentation in the last year with the stage and screens to provide content in between matches really helps the flow.