With that said I was pretty excited when my girlfriend bought me tickets to WWE Live @ MSG for Christmas. I haven’t attended a live event since the Attitude Era so I was hopeful that some of the guys I haven’t fully been behind (Daniel Bryan, CM Punk) could turn me into a fan with a good live performance. I was also really excited to see some of my favorites in action (Big E. Langston, the Shield, Dolph, the Wyatts, AJ Lee, Damien Sandow, hell even Ryback and Fandango).
Unfortunately when the card was released there left a lot to be desired. For this week’s holiday tour, the WWE split its roster for two separate tours before reuniting for RAW. Last night the WWE was in both New York and Chicago and it seemed to me that the rosters were put together to accommodate a specific type of audience. Unlike the Chicago show (which ironically included every one of my favorites and most of the edgy characters) the New York show seemed to lend itself to a much younger demographic.
Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio
I arrived at MSG about 10 minutes late but was able to make it to my seat just as ADR and Rey Mysterio was getting under way. The match was solid and even throughout. Mysterio eventually hit the 619 but nothing too exciting.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Brodus Clay vs Zack Ryder
Brodus Clay came down the aisle to Somebody Call my Mama but the music was cut before he even made it to the ring. Not sure if this was a technical error, or if this has to do with his current angle and moving away from the Funkasaurus gimmick. Woo Woo Woo sounded and Ryder made his way out to the ring to a surprisingly loud pop given how little TV time Ryder gets. Perhaps his Z! True Long Island Story You Tube Video series has a bigger following than I thought among the kiddies. Ryder brought a lot of energy to the ring and I was excited to see what was in store for this match as it was two of the younger guys who are both somewhat in transition. Unfortunately the match was extremely short and the crowd never really got a chance to get invested.
Winner: Zack Ryder
Bella Twins & Funkadactyls vs Aksana, Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendez, and Kaitlyn
The crowd in attendance was asked to vote on whether this would be a match or a dance off. It was voted a dance off. The non-total divas went first and were all pretty bad. The Total Divas followed up and gave us some equally unimpressive moves highlighted by Nikki Bella’s worm, just before the non-total divas attacked them. This prompted Brad Maddox to come out and called for this to be turned into an 8 woman tag match. This was actually awesome, because I was able to breathe a sigh of relief that Vickie Guerrero was not in attendance. The match was sloppy and chaotic, per usual with this group. Though Brie Bella did look to be a notch above everyone else.
Winners: Bella Twins & Funkadactyls
Curtis Axel vs Sin Cara
Not a lot of people like Ryback. I am not one of those people. To me he is certainly an enigma, and the WWE is having trouble figuring out how to use him. I actually really thought they had something going with him with the bully promos. Especially the “Favor from the Big Guy” autograph spot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
His in-ring abilities could certainly use some work as well, but ever since he went off on the crowd at Main Event and jackhammered Kofi he’s been steadily improving.
Anyway, I don’t think his partnership with Axel has done much for either but at least Ryback is interesting. Unfortunately Axel came out alone. When he got to the ring he grabbed the mic and did a weak promo about being the son of perfection but he is better than perfect before Sin Cara enters.
As he came out, I couldn’t help but think again how kid oriented the roster was for this event, and while I like this Hunico version of Sin Cara, I’d much prefer seeing a Dolph Ziggler or Damien Sandow. Anyway, it seems the WWE doesn’t do the darker lights for Sin Cara at house shows as the lights stayed normal. The crowd wasn’t engaged at all throughout this match and even started chanting “boring” at one point. The match was OK but overall pretty non-eventful. Sin Cara got the win to continue his push.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
