I attended the WWE 'SmackDown Wrestlemania Revenge Tour' from Newcastle, England tonight (19th April 2013). Here's a run down of the results.
PICTURES:
Ring: http://i.imgur.com/xCSrXNG.jpg
THE SHIELD!: http://i.imgur.com/W8nftuv.jpg
THE SHIELD!: http://i.imgur.com/nbRue69.jpg
Show: http://i.imgur.com/VbD0Osb.jpg
Khali/Henry: http://i.imgur.com/rUuhec5.jpg
Khali/Henry: http://i.imgur.com/m219tAw.jpg
Orton: http://i.imgur.com/wxMjisE.jpg
Up first was 3MB, actually, 2MB as there was no Heath Slater. They tagged with Ted DiBiase and Santino Marella who apparently now heels or 3MB are faces. Very odd mixture of guys. They faced the team of Primo, Epico and the Prime Time Players in an 8-man tag team match. Average match, the crowd were begging for Santino and eventually he got the tag and hit the cobra for the win. Slow match to start which sort of set the tone for the night, about 8 minutes in length. As Santino was celebrating The Shield appeared and beat him down. Dean Ambrose took the mic and said that tonight there'd be trouble for the New Age Outlaws.
Up next was everyone's favourite dancer, Fandango! and he faced off against Alex Riley. Lots of 'doo doo' chants to his music, and this happened throughout the night by the majority of fans. Fandango got the win, about 5 minutes in length. Job Squad was now in full effect.
A recorded Henry promo, telling Khali tonight he'd be entered into the Hall of Pain.
Up next Wade Barrett defended his Intercontinental Title against Justin Gabriel in a replica of Wednesday's Main Event. A good match, Gabriel went for a crossbody from the top rope, Barrett caught him with a punch in mid-air for the 1.2.3. Barrett retains the IC title.
Next a match which went marginally longer than the entrances. Mark Henry vs. The Great Khali. Henry beat him with the Worlds Strongest Slam after 6 minutes, including 5 minutes of rest holds. Nothing more needs to be said.
Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter) was next in what was announced as a No DQ match. Lillian took a poll before the match began to see if Zeb Colter would be allowed or banned from ringside. The fans said ban him, but he ordered a re-count. So they did, and Zeb was banned from ringside. Del Rio took the microphone and said "you're not real americans, you're just two wankers." - so much for PG, eh? About 40% of the crowd were kids. Good match, slow to begin but gradually got better towards the end. For a No DQ match this was the tamest I've ever seen. 10 kendo stick shots and that was it. Swagger got a chair but Del Rio enziguri'd him out to the floor. Del Rio wins with the cross arm-breaker. About 18 minutes in length, a good match to end the first half of the show.
One major down-side to the show was the merchandise. £15 for a programme which only had wrestlers/managers in with their picture, home town and twitter handle (as well as the obvious advertisements for PPVs/events). £25 for a signed A4 size picture of a superstar. £35 for most top stars t-shirts and £25 for a Cena baseball cap.
Next out was Hornswoggle, who was the guest ring announcer for the next match (lucky us). It was Natalya vs Alicia Fox. 8 minutes in length, a very slow match with lots of pauses. Natalya got the win with a sharpshooter.
Next up was Randy Orton vs. Big Show, a match we've never seen before... A good match but just your usual methodical Orton/Show match. There was quite a few false finishes which the crowd completely ate up. RKO on Show for the win.
And finally, our main event of the evening. Sheamus and The New Age Outlaws vs. The Shield! This was a solid match, there was a good 5-6 minutes of constant beat down of Road Dogg with frequent tags between Shield members, but it remained at a good pace. It lasted about 16 minutes and the finish came when Sheamus hit a brogue kick on Seth Rollins. He went for the cover but in came Romain Reigns with a steel chair and clobbered Sheamus for the DQ. Reigns went for the Triple Powerbomb on Sheamus but Road Dogg hit Reigns with a steel chair. Billy Gunn hit the famouser on Rollins followed by a Brogue Kick by Sheamus to send the crowd home happy.
Overall it was a good show, very disappointing not to see the World Champ on the SmackDown tour but what can you do. It was sold out from what I could see, could have been a few seats in the upper bowl empty but definitely over 95% full (11,000 capacity). They confirmed the next event to be held at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle would be the RAW event on Tuesday 12th November 2013, tickets on sale 26th April at 9am.
Well worth my £30 ticket!
PICTURES:
Ring: http://i.imgur.com/xCSrXNG.jpg
THE SHIELD!: http://i.imgur.com/W8nftuv.jpg
THE SHIELD!: http://i.imgur.com/nbRue69.jpg
Show: http://i.imgur.com/VbD0Osb.jpg
Khali/Henry: http://i.imgur.com/rUuhec5.jpg
Khali/Henry: http://i.imgur.com/m219tAw.jpg
Orton: http://i.imgur.com/wxMjisE.jpg
Up first was 3MB, actually, 2MB as there was no Heath Slater. They tagged with Ted DiBiase and Santino Marella who apparently now heels or 3MB are faces. Very odd mixture of guys. They faced the team of Primo, Epico and the Prime Time Players in an 8-man tag team match. Average match, the crowd were begging for Santino and eventually he got the tag and hit the cobra for the win. Slow match to start which sort of set the tone for the night, about 8 minutes in length. As Santino was celebrating The Shield appeared and beat him down. Dean Ambrose took the mic and said that tonight there'd be trouble for the New Age Outlaws.
Up next was everyone's favourite dancer, Fandango! and he faced off against Alex Riley. Lots of 'doo doo' chants to his music, and this happened throughout the night by the majority of fans. Fandango got the win, about 5 minutes in length. Job Squad was now in full effect.
A recorded Henry promo, telling Khali tonight he'd be entered into the Hall of Pain.
Up next Wade Barrett defended his Intercontinental Title against Justin Gabriel in a replica of Wednesday's Main Event. A good match, Gabriel went for a crossbody from the top rope, Barrett caught him with a punch in mid-air for the 1.2.3. Barrett retains the IC title.
Next a match which went marginally longer than the entrances. Mark Henry vs. The Great Khali. Henry beat him with the Worlds Strongest Slam after 6 minutes, including 5 minutes of rest holds. Nothing more needs to be said.
Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Colter) was next in what was announced as a No DQ match. Lillian took a poll before the match began to see if Zeb Colter would be allowed or banned from ringside. The fans said ban him, but he ordered a re-count. So they did, and Zeb was banned from ringside. Del Rio took the microphone and said "you're not real americans, you're just two wankers." - so much for PG, eh? About 40% of the crowd were kids. Good match, slow to begin but gradually got better towards the end. For a No DQ match this was the tamest I've ever seen. 10 kendo stick shots and that was it. Swagger got a chair but Del Rio enziguri'd him out to the floor. Del Rio wins with the cross arm-breaker. About 18 minutes in length, a good match to end the first half of the show.
One major down-side to the show was the merchandise. £15 for a programme which only had wrestlers/managers in with their picture, home town and twitter handle (as well as the obvious advertisements for PPVs/events). £25 for a signed A4 size picture of a superstar. £35 for most top stars t-shirts and £25 for a Cena baseball cap.
Next out was Hornswoggle, who was the guest ring announcer for the next match (lucky us). It was Natalya vs Alicia Fox. 8 minutes in length, a very slow match with lots of pauses. Natalya got the win with a sharpshooter.
Next up was Randy Orton vs. Big Show, a match we've never seen before... A good match but just your usual methodical Orton/Show match. There was quite a few false finishes which the crowd completely ate up. RKO on Show for the win.
And finally, our main event of the evening. Sheamus and The New Age Outlaws vs. The Shield! This was a solid match, there was a good 5-6 minutes of constant beat down of Road Dogg with frequent tags between Shield members, but it remained at a good pace. It lasted about 16 minutes and the finish came when Sheamus hit a brogue kick on Seth Rollins. He went for the cover but in came Romain Reigns with a steel chair and clobbered Sheamus for the DQ. Reigns went for the Triple Powerbomb on Sheamus but Road Dogg hit Reigns with a steel chair. Billy Gunn hit the famouser on Rollins followed by a Brogue Kick by Sheamus to send the crowd home happy.
Overall it was a good show, very disappointing not to see the World Champ on the SmackDown tour but what can you do. It was sold out from what I could see, could have been a few seats in the upper bowl empty but definitely over 95% full (11,000 capacity). They confirmed the next event to be held at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle would be the RAW event on Tuesday 12th November 2013, tickets on sale 26th April at 9am.
Well worth my £30 ticket!
