WWE Live Event: Ziggler Vs. Cesaro, Orton Vs. Barrett, June 24th, 2013

Thanks to WrestlingINC.com reader James B. for sending in these detailed results for last night’s WWE live event in Albany, GA.

The set was a simple duo screen with a split LCD panel with an X-bar with 2 smoke guns.

The Miz came out to a good face pop. Paul Heyman appeared on the screen doing a video promo to introduce Curtis Axel, and he recapped his list of top dog wins. Miz was sitting on the corner mocking the promo, doing the “on and on and on” gesture. Pretty solid match with a couple of simple botches on Axel’s part, as he missed some weak kicks and punches. Axel picked up the win.

As soon as the match was over and Miz got halfway down the aisle (and it happened with every match), the announcer introduced the next match. Uncle Zeb and Antonio Cesaro, who carried the “Don’t tread on me” flag, were introduced. They built cheap heat by saying it was good to be in “Savannah”. They issued an open challenge to everyone in the back and started a 10 second countdown. At 1, Dolph Ziggler stormed the ring and half-speared Cesaro. Referees came in to break it up.

Next was Heath Slater, who was by himself, doing air guitar down the ramp. Ted Dibiase Jr. followed with his rather cool DiBase Posse video. About 5 minutes of back and forth air guitar playing and pony riding by both, they had a good match. Dibiase won the bout, here’s hoping he gets another crack at the TV level.

Next was The Great Khali, who I felt got the second biggest pop of the night, even over Sheamus! Primo & Epico were good squash meat working the big guy’s knees, but the crowd was over huge for Khali, even getting unusual looks from ring staff and the ref about it. There were even massive “Kha-li” chants from the crowd. Khali picked up the win here.

A Divas tag match was next, with Aksana looking uber hot in a white snakeskin leotard. She teamed with AJ to face Layla and Kaitlyn. It started with the “hold up, let’s watch Big E drop Kaitlyn, followed by the title win” video. That lead to Kaitlyn half spearing cannon-fodder Aksana and getting pushed back by the ref. Kaitlyn cocked back her arm to slap the ref, but was caught by Layla before she swung. Good back and forth work between the ladies with Aksana not fully connecting some moves except for the knee vice head pounding she used on Layla. How she did not knock her unconscious is a miracle. The imprint of the mat was in full view when Layla got up. After Kaitlyn pinned Aksana, AJ went into full retreat with the “byebye, I’m outta here.”

Intermission was about 10 minutes. Only 2 food booths and a single merchandise station were open, which caused massive building heat. I got halfway up the 100 foot building wrapped line before the smoke guns went off and the announcer introduced the Prime Time Players.

The PTP were in the ring, and next was the Usos with a blacked out, flashing light war dance intro which was pretty awesome. PTP played up the crowd with a shirt pull off and huge heat fake-out throwing of the shirt. The Usos grabbed the shirts and tossed them to the A section. Slap of the night was a massive jaw shaker from Jay Uso to Darren Young which shook the windows out of the building and caused Young to hit his knees and hold his head for a good three minutes. Good money says there were words in the back about that one. After the match, Usos did the Rakishi tribute dance minus the hats.

Next was Sheamus “3rd biggest pop, lol” versus Big E Langston. Big E’s thighs are bigger than my 305 BFG All Terrain tires on my pickup. AJ went to ringside and only interfered once. Good power vs power match that ended with a Brogue Kick from Sheamus for the win after both guys were soaked from the South Georgia humidity. Big E did a great drunkard walk to the back, almost falling over the ring barrier.

Fan votes were in with 90/10 for the NO DQ match (which went hardcore) over a 2 out of 3 falls (which I voted for) for Dolph Ziggler vs. Antonio Cesaro. Good back and forth for 5 minutes and then the kendo sticks came out, followed by 2 chairs, and then a table. Nearly had a superplex by Antonio before Ziggler reversed it into a powerbomb through a table, laying Antonio out. After the match, Dolph had three good cuts on his back and a “popknot” from torpedoing a corner mounted chair.

The sweep team was not even finished with the ring before Wade Barret came down and did some mic work, recalling his main event status a couple of years ago. He felt besmirched being dropped down to “local circus” status. Sweep teams were still cleaning the table debris when Randy Orton came down, who even pointed out trash to the ref when he was checked for objects. Great tough man match, with Orton getting the win. Randy was truly the classiest man of the night, doing a round of photos and autographs, one of which sits next to my Enos (Dukes of Hazzard) signature.

Overall 9/10 show for the night, although it felt kinda rushed. But it was a solid 3 hours with just a 10 minute break.