Craig King passed along this report.
Here is my report:
So, last night, I went to the WWE event in Glasgow, my seventeenth WWE show. Weirdly, the same superstars that appeared on this show, did the November 8th show in Glasgow, went to Berlin and then came back to Glasgow again. The date on the 8th was added late on because a show in Madrid didn’t sell well. Anyway, Daniel Bryan and AJ were added late on to the two Glasgow shows and Cena/Del Rio was the main event.
The arena was sold-out. It wasn’t on Friday, I didn’t go, but I attribute that to it going on sale late as last night was sold-out for many months and the arena always sells out when WWE comes here. I was happy with the line-up, especially given that we didn’t get much star power last time, I was happy I got to see Punk, Cena, AJ, Bellas, Bryan and the hometown boy, Drew McIntyre. i took the majority of photos on my camera but a couple on my phone. Decent seats again, here was the view:
Match 1
The Usos vs. Hunico and Camacho
On Friday night, the Usos beat Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater while playing heels and it didn’t go down very well apparently and to begin that show, the PTPlayers defeated Hunico and Camacho so they’ve switched it up a little bit. The Usos were quite over, especially with their ‘U-so’ thing that they do, but even when they came out they got a good reaction. Not much of a reaction for Hunico and Camacho, I don’t think I’ve seen them on WWE TV for a long time but they did get some boos when they were announced.
Decent match to open the show, the Usos were full of energy as usual and got the win in a relatively short match. The usual tag scenario of one of the face team getting wore down and then making the hot tag happened and then the finish came when one of the Uso’s jumped over the ropes onto Hunico or Camacho and then the Uso left in the ring hit a superkick and the Superfly Splash to pick up the win.
Match 2
The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee and Tamina
Surprised the Divas were on this early but anyway, AJ got a mixed reaction, lots of cheers and wolf whistles for her. The Bella Twins got an okay reaction. I was glad to see AJ, my favourite diva and I wasn’t expecting her on the show until last week so I’m glad she was added to it. I like the Bellas too. They made a change from Friday, which was Brie Bella vs. AJ Lee and made it a tag team match.
Not a bad match. Few ‘AJ’s crazy’ chants and whenever AJ did her skipping thing. The Bellas ‘spanked’ AJ twice which got a little cheer but the crowd only really came alive when the pace quickened, was a struggle whenever AJ or Tamina had one of the Bella’s in a sleeper hold or something but the crowd would eventually get behind them. Credit to AJ and the Bellas, they try and get the crowd involved, whether it be through the skipping or just yelling when they start building up momentum like the Bellas, especially Brie does.
Finish came when Nikki clotheslined Tamina out of the ring and followed her outside. AJ went for her submission which Brie rolled out of before managing to hit the facebuster to get the victory. Tamina pulled AJ out of the ring and carried her backstage all while AJ was yelling which was funny. The Bellas celebrated a little and then left the ring.
Match 3
The Great Khali vs. Drew McIntyre
I’m always glad when Drew McIntyre returns home on a WWE event. He’s had mixed fortunes when he’s came here, he played heel the first time he came here and lost, the second time, he lost a Four-Way Match but was treated like a star and at the end of the show, helped clear house of the Nexus one time and Big Show praised him. Then another time, he was cheered but lost to Santino in the first match and then last time, he played a face and won a tag match with Santino and Mahal before being beaten down by The Shield.
This time, after Friday’s defeat to the Usos, it was changed up a bit and McIntyre had this Singles Match. The 3MB music hit so was a sort of mixed reaction until McIntyre appeared and he got cheered loudly. He took the Scottish flag and taunted a little and the cheers continued until Khali came out. Khali was booed from the start, a lot of heat for him simply because he was up against Drew, every time he taunted, he was booed loudly. Before the match, McIntyre took the microphone and said that Khali may be a giant, but he has a whole country behind him ready to take Khali down, or something like that.
Okay match considering Khali was involved, whenever McIntyre went on the offensive, the crowd were solidly behind him. He eventually got the win with a roll-up and celebrated with the crowd for a bit. Nice to see him win and hopefully WWE does something meaningful with him soon on TV.
Match 4
Intercontinental Championship Match
Curtis Axel vs. Justin Gabriel
Quite a few boos for Axel and a good reaction for Justin Gabriel considering how little TV time he has had. I didn’t even know his music, although it helped that ‘Justin Gabriel’ flashed on the screen as the first part of his entrance video. Expected a good match as Gabriel, when in full flow is entertaining. Axel is a good wrestler.
The crowd was surprisingly into this, for a long time, lots of ‘Lets go Axel; Lets go Gabriel’ duelling chants with the kids leading the Gabriel chants. Good match, the longest of the night by that point, I think, if I remember rightly, that Gabriel went for the 450 splash at one stage and missed which allowed Axel to deliver his finisher.
Match 5
CM Punk and Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatt Family
This was perhaps the most entertaining part of the night. CM Punk came out to a fantastic reaction, huge cheer, lots of ‘CM Punk’ chants and he seemed to be enjoying the adjulation, spent a while before the match just going around the ring clapping fans hands. This match was the main event on Friday night and apparently, Bryan and Punk spent ages going around the perimeter of the arena, clapping fans hands which deserves a lot of credit. He also ‘crotched’ Chimel in the corner.
Before anyone else could come out, Paul Heyman was wheeled onto the stage. Heyman was hilarious, he had been attacked on Friday’s show with a kendo stick by Punk and was now in a wheelchair being pushed by Billy Kidman posing as his doctor. Heyman called his doctor, Mr. Wankenburg. Heyman went on a long rant, his voice breaking several times, saying how he was a victim of an assault in ‘Glasgowazj’ and that asked what we called ourselves ‘Scoots? Scorts? In this suburb of Ireland’ which was also hilarious. Heyman said he was going to hire a jet and take the crowd to New York City to be witnesses in court as he sues CM Punk. Heyman then asked Punk to leave the ring so he could say what he wanted to say, then Punk could have his match. Punk left, but then sneaked up on Heyman, took out the doctor and rolled Heyman into the ring and delivered a lot of cane shots.
Cue the Wyatts and they got the better of Punk before Bryan’s music hit for a big reaction. The match was very good, Bryan and Punk were very over. Wyatt was ejected half-way through. Easy tour for him, outside of the TV Tapings, all he has to do is show up and then leave half-way. Punk was beaten down for a long time before Bryan got the hot tag and cleaned house. I think Punk hit a GTS as Bryan hit his running knee to pick the win. They celebrated with the crowd for a while before heading backstage.
INTERMISSION
Match 6
Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal vs. Primetime Players
Bit of a comedown match in terms of reaction. PTP got a good reaction though and the crowd loved the dog barking and repeated it every time and the dance thing that PTP do too. I was skeptical of PTP for a while actually but since turning face, they’ve been an entertaining team. Heath Slater is a pretty entertaining guy too, he mocked PTP a few times which was funny.
Anyway, short match that PTP unsurprisingly won.
Match 7
R-Truth vs. Ryback
R-Truth did his usual ‘What’s Up’ routine but he was still very over with it. It works. Ryback came out and took a microphone, he said he hates coming to Scotland and the only thing worse than that was that he had to go to Scotland twice in three days. He said that it was a special day for him though as it was the ‘Big Guy’s birthday’. He demanded we sing Happy Birthday to him but he was booed. He then got Chimel to sing it and a lot of the crowd did sing along with him.
Before the match began, there were a lot of ‘Goldberg’ chants, Ryback took a microphone again and said that he was going to beat R-Truth, buy a cake and then take a giant Goldberg on ‘this dump’. Decent match but Ryback was always winning it. Quite short, shorter than I anticipated and he won with the Shellshocked.
Main Event
World Heavyweight Championship Match
John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio
Mixed reaction for Cena but a loud one nonetheless. Del Rio was booed heavily. The introductions also provoked loud reactions. I did record Cena’s entrance but then deleted it which was stupid.
Good match though, went quite long and lots of ‘Lets go Cena/Cena Sucks’ chants aswell as just ‘Cena’ chants. Cena won the match after reversing out of the cross armbreaker and getting Del Rio up and hitting the Attitude Adjustment. Cena didn’t spent a long time celebrating afterwards when usually they do. He did clap hands and sign a couple of autographs. Chimel thanked us once again and that was it.
WWE returns to Glasgow next May at the new Hydro Arena.