A detailed report for last night's WWE live event in Las Cruces: Bryan vs. Wyatt, John Cena
Thanks to WrestlingINC.com reader Francisco for sending in this report for last night's WWE live event in Las Cruces, NM:
It was a packed house, looking around the arena there were no empty seats (except the ones that were blocked off behind the curtain). I had gotten word that earlier in the day a radio station gave up quite a few tickets since there weren't any left. My guess would be it was a sellout crowd, easily over 8,000 people in attendance.
* Dolph Ziggler vs Bad News Barrett opened the show. Barrett started with a promo saying he heard people hated him and loved Ziggler, then he proceeded to give us some bad news, that the match tonight wasn't for the title. Dolph comes out to a big ovation, I'd say it was 25% adrenaline cheers and 75% were because he's a favorite. This was a very well paced match with Barrett getting most of the offense. Hot crowd for him. Typical Ziggler match where he made a comeback and won it with the zig-zag.
* 6 man match next. Curtis Axel, Titus O'Neil & Fandango vs. Los Matadores & Sin Cara. Sin Cara got a major pop since he's from the area. The heels got most of the offense in on Los Matadores and then they made the hot tag to Sin Cara, who hit a bunch of moves and got the win via pinfall.
* Alicia Fox vs. Natalya. Nattie for the third year in a row gets a huge pop. Weird how we're far from Canada and she gets a very loud ovation. Nattie and Alicia show they're so underutilized. Alicia plays to the crowd so great. Nice back and forth technical match with Fox attacking an arm and Natty a leg. In the end, Natalya gets the win via a sharpshooter. In my opinion, WWE really should give the ladies more time on TV. With Nattie, Alicia Fox, The Bellas, Paige, and when they bring up Charlotte and Sasha Banks the division could be fun to watch.
* Daniel Bryan vs Bray Wyatt in what fans voted for a 2 out of 3 falls match. Amazing seeing Bray's entrance in person. Bryan comes out to the biggest pop of the night so far. I knew he was over, but hearing a live crowd and seeing the "Yes!" chants in person (since he missed the last two times they were here) is pretty crazy to see how over he is. Bryan wins the first fall after Wyatt hits him with a kendo stick. After beating him up with the stick for a while they start it again and Wyatt hits Sister Abigail to win the second fall. Third fall starts off with Wyatt on offense and after a few minutes Bryan goes on offense and ends up pinning Wyatt for the win. These two have great chemistry and I hope they work more throughout the years to come.
* After intermission we get the Dust Brothers vs. New Day. Xavier Woods was in the corner with his left leg in a boot. Stardust cut a promo saying we were getting the Rumble next year, then said he lied and laughed at everyone that they believed it. Woods cut a promo calling him a liar and cheap because he doesn't have the Network and it's only $9.99. They proceed with the match. Kofi was in the match for the most part and then made the hot tag to Big E who cleaned house with Kofi and got the win. New Day was pretty over with this crowd.
* Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper is next and Ambrose gets the second biggest pop of the night. This match was a little back and forth with Harper getting a bit more offense in. A little brawling outside the ring and Harper threw Ambrose into the steel steps. Ambrose started hitting a lot of counters and out of nowhere hit a backslide for the pin. It threw me off because there was no finisher or anything, but I remembered Ambrose talking with Chris Jericho about keeping his matches unpredictable, and then it made sense. Ambrose celebrated with the fans and then bowed at the top of the ramp.
* Main Event was John Cena vs. Seth Rollins in a Street Fight. Seth came out to a chorus of boos. There were maybe six of us in the entire arena that were rooting for Rollins (personally he's my favorite wrestler on the roster). Cena came out to the loudest pop I've ever heard. I thought CM Punk got a crazy pop in 2013, Cena's blew him out of the water. A bit of "Let's go Cena-Cena Sucks" chant but it dies down quickly as the match starts.
It started out a bit back and forth but Rollins got the upper hand after hitting Cena with a chair and while Cena laid out selling it, Seth got on the mic and cut a promo saying it didn't matter that people chanted for John because he's a piece of trash and that he's the future of the business. He added it didn't matter if people believed his words because he would prove it since he's the only one with a "Plan B" and held up the MITB Briefcase. He attacked Cena but John got the upper hand and fought back. Cena brought in a table and they ended up setting it up in the corner and eventually Seth went through it. Cena went for the pin but Seth kicked out. They continued back and forth with a false finish thrown in there after Seth hit Cena with the curb stomp and everyone believed that was it. After the kickout Cena brought in another table but it was set up by Rollins. Eventually Cena was thrown into a chair that was set up between turnbuckles. They worked that part of the ring for a good amount of time before Rollins went up to the top turnbuckle to try and Curb Stomp Cena through the table but John went up AA'd Rollins through the table and got the win via pinfall.
Afterwards Cena celebrated and made an announcement that before he went out to the ring they gave him news that the WWE made history in Las Cruces tonight because it was the largest wrestling event held here. A completely sold out arena cheered and he said he wasn't saying goodbye, instead he couldn't wait to come back and wrestle here because it was a fun crowd.
Biggest pops: Cena, Ambrose & Bryan tied second. Ziggler, Sin Cara, Natalya
Most boos: Seth Rollins, Bad News Barrett, Bray Wyatt, Stardust
All in all, another great fun show for the third straight year.
Photo credit: Nicole (@nicole_rose_54)