WWE Live Event results from Greensboro: John Cena headlines, Tyler Breeze with Summer Rae, more
Thanks to WrestlingINC.com reader @CT_SportsReport for sending in this report for tonight's WWE live event in Greensboro:
Fun house show at Greensboro Coliseum tonight. Nice crowd with probably 5,000+ on hand with lower section nearly full. Similar show as Raleigh the night before.
First match on the card was King Barrett vs. Neville. Barrett entered first cutting a heel promo and issued an open challenge, which Neville then accepted. Great back and forth match showcasing both men's offensive repertoires. Neville picks up the win with an impressive Red Arrow.
After the match, Kane attacks Neville from behind as he is celebrating his win from the ramp. Kane announces that Rusev is injured and that he will be replacing him in the steel cage main event for the US Title.
They show an intro vignette for Tyler Breeze, who then enters with Summer Rae. These two could actually work well with each other on the main roster. Breeze and Summer cut a short promo as Damien Sandow makes his entrance. Sandow has a new theme and titantron which we may be seeing soon. Nice to start to a pallet cleansing comedic match that sees Heath Slater interfere and take out Sandow. Axelmania makes the save and challenges Slater and Breeze to a 2-on-1 handicap match. More comedic offense here until it ends up in a beat down of Axel, to which Sandow returns as Macho Mandow. Each hits their house of fire and Axelmania gets the pin after the leg drop.
Next up is my "match of the night" candidate, a triple threat elimination tag match with New Day (Woods/Big E) vs. Kidd/Cesaro and Harper/Rowan. Lots of blind tags and interference from each team. Harper and Rowan are eliminated first after Kidd rolls up Rowan. "Big Red" actually kicked out at 2, but Charles Robinson called it a 3 count. After more back and forth action, New Day retains after Kofi Kingston hits Kidd with Trouble In Paradise off a distraction while Kidd had the Sharp Shooter locked in on Woods. Cesaro and Kidd did their swing and kick combo to all 3 members of the New Day after the match to send the crowd to intermission on a positive note. Kidd/Cesaro could be huge faces if booked strongly.
First up after intermission were the divas, with Paige taking on Naomi. Somewhat of a slower pace than I expected from these two, but both putting in some innovative offense as they targeted their respective limb. After about 10 minutes, Paige picks up the win via Rampaige. Paige got one of the biggest pops of the night.
Next up was Bo Dallas taking on Zack Ryder. Bo cut a cheap heat promo that had the crowd going, garnering Ryder a much bigger pop than one may expect. Solid back and forth match. Ryder counters the Running Bo Dog with the Rough Ryder for the victory.
Lastly comes the Steel Cage match for the US Title as your main event. There were some issues getting the cage in position, but was fixed pretty quickly. Once the match got started, Cena and Kane trade brawling blows and attempts of escaping the cage. Pretty standard cage match for the most part, also seeing 2 separate ref bumps. Cena retains after climbing the cage for the escape. Although most are down on Kane these days, he worked a solid 15-20 minute match with some major bumps, which left me impressed for his age.
Overall good show considering the star power wasn't as high as originally advertised. Hoping they bring a televised event back to the Greensboro Coliseum after the nice turnout.
Photo credit: Nicole (@nicole_rose_54)