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A glorified squash matchWWE marked its return to Madison Square Garden with the special ‘WWE Live from MSG’ featuring Brock Lesnar vs The Big Show as the featured contest.The event that took place on October 3rd saw the Intercontinental, United States and Tag team titles defended and was billed as a part of Lesnar’s Go To Hell tour. It also marked Chris Jericho’s 25th year in professional wrestling and the veteran took on Intercontinental champion Kevin Owens at the event.Zack Ryder defeated Bo Dallas and Mark Henry knocked on Brad Maddox in dark matches at the event. The following list gives the results and analysis of the event.
#1 Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev and Sheamus
A decent enough match to open the event featured the continuation of the never-ending saga of the rectangular love story as Dolph Ziggler teamed up with Randy Orton to take on Rusev (w/ Summer Rae) and Sheamus.
MSG was unusually quiet for most of the match till Orton got the hot tag at the end. The Viper cleaned house with a trademark middle rope DDT to Sheamus while Rusev ate a Superkick from Ziggler on the apron.
A second of distraction allowed Sheamus to set Orton up for the Brogue Kick – but he ran straight into another Ziggler Superkick and fell victim to an RKO to concede the match.
Rusev berated Sheamus for the loss at the end of the match which resulted in the Celtic warrior decking the Bulgarian Brute with a Brogue Kick which was followed by another pathetic Summer Rae scream.
Analysis: The match was actually OK, but a lot of time was spent by the commentators ignoring the action in the ring and talking about the ‘Lana situation’ despite the fact that the WWE Universe has clearly grown tired of the angle.
#2 Neville vs Stardust
A match that the WWE Universe have seen a zillion times, Neville vs Stardust is the ultimate example of the lazy booking that the WWE Creative has been accused of lately.
The crowd was never into the match at all and despite the match stretching more than the customary 3-minute mark usually given for filler matches on Raw, it did not produce anything extraordinary.
Stardust took Neville’s cape and ran around the ring, ultimately climbing on to the top rope teasing a Red Arrow. What actually came about was an attempt at the dreaded ‘shot to the head from the top rope’(geez!!!). A kick to the chin left Stardust lying on the mat and Neville connected with the Red Arrow to pick up another victory in a meaningless rivalry.
Byran Saxton made noises about how ‘it is difficult to imitate Neville’ referring to Stardust going to the top rope – but no one in his right mind would ever think that Stardust could execute the Red Arrow.
Analysis: Nothing new to offer at all and while the two wrestlers, however extremely talented, their manner of booking would invariably result in them becoming the next wasted talents of the WWE.
#3 Team Bella vs Team PCB
Paige was introduced as still being a member of Team PCB despite the group breaking up and each member coming out to their individual theme music.
The customary 6 Diva match followed with Charlotte seemingly seconds away from getting the victory via the Figure Eight.
But Paige tagged herself in and got double teamed by the Bellas. When she reached out to her corner to tag in either of her teammates, both Becky and Charlotte jumped down from the apron, resulting in Nikki Bella connecting with the Rack Attack for the win.
Paige broke down in the ring after the match, telling the WWE Universe how she would never have done something like this to her team mates ever.
Analysis: The ending was a nice surprise, with the WWE Universe expecting Paige to double cross her team mates. No one would have predicted that Charlotte and Becky were going to turn the tables on Paige. This leads to the intriguing question of what would Paige do next and how Natalya – who was conspicuous by her absence - fits into the equation.
#4 Intercontinental Championship : Kevin Owens (c) vs Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho made another one of his sporadic WWE appearances at WWE Live from MSG, this time challenging Kevin Owens for the Intercontinental title.
Y2J cut a pretty good promo before the match about how it was his 25th anniversary in the business and introduced some of his friends sitting ringside, including former WCW and WWE superstar Lance Storm. Ever the man for this business, Jericho hyped up his match telling the fans how he wanted to be the 10-time Intercontinental champion today.
Jericho and Owens then went on to put together a highly entertaining match with Owens eating the Codebreaker, but reaching the ropes to escape the 3 count.
A kick to the chin later, Owens set up a frustrated Jericho for the KO, but the veteran somehow countered into the Walls. Owens would use a thumb to the eye and his new finishing manoeuvre – The roll up (man!!) – to retain the title.
Analysis: This match was way more engrossing than anything Owens has had with Ryback in the recent past. Jericho proved that he still has what it takes to compete in the ring and the only disappointment was that Owens was not able to get a KO victory over the veteran. It would not be a bad idea to pit these two in a sustained angle, but Jericho might not be available, given his limited schedule.
#5 Tag team Championships : New Day (c) vsThe Dudley Boyz
The New Day and the Dudley Boyz set about with another match in an entertaining rivalry. The New Day’s usual antics before the match gave an indication as to how well the trio of Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E are enjoying their roles.
Kingston missed his shot from the top rope and the Dudleys connected with the 3-D. However, Xavier Woods broke up the cover resulting in the New Day retaining the titles while the Dudleys got the usual disqualification victory. Woods would go through yet another table as part of the post-match melee as the Dudleys stood tall.
Analysis: The result was pretty predictable, but the WWE Creative made the right call here. The New Day’s act is highly entertaining and it is way too early to make them drop the titles to the Dudleys. The title change might come at Hell in the Cell, but this rivalry has given some much-needed breath of fresh air to the tag team division.
#6 Brock Lesnar vs The Bigshow
The supposed main event was not even the final match on the card, but the MSG crowd did not seem to care as they gave a thunderous ovation to Brock Lesnar.
While WWE might have given a lot of hype to this match, it was very clear before the start that it would only be a glorified squash match. The video presentation that preceded the match failed to mention how Lesnar had manhandled The Big Show at the 2014 Royal Rumble.
Show threw Lesnar out of the ring during the initial stages of the match and hit three Chokeslams in a row on the Beast. But Lesnar soon took the advantage, hitting three German Suplexes on his opponent. It is slightly alarming to come to the realization that the only proper moves Lesnar has used in his recent matches in the WWE are the German Suplex, Kimura and the F-5. Even Sting incorporates more moves than that!!!
Lesnar would fumble while lifting BigShow up for the F-5, dropping him to the mat awkwardly. While the botch was clear, Lesnar managed to cover it up with another German Suplex and finally nailed the F-5 for the win.
Lesnar would come back to the ring after the bell and deliver another F-5 to the BigShow.
Analysis: The reception that the crowd gave Lesnar was phenomenal, but the limited set of moves that Lesnar uses in the ring nowadays meant that this match would be over quickly.
Lesnar might be a top draw, but it is not healthy for the business that so much focus is placed on a man who wrestles rarely. As for his opponent, WWE fans had never bought in to the story of The Bigshow being a challenge to Lesnar in the first place and with the Lesnar vs Undertaker match looming, no body expected him to to do anything here to change that perception.
#7 United States Championship : John Cena (c) vs Seth Rollins inside a steel cage
The match delivered on everything it promised – Rollins and Cena have good chemistry and they put together a highly entertaining match inside the cage with plenty of counters and fast paced action.
While the result should never have been in question, recent rumours that Cena was taking some time off made the WWE Universe wonder whether Rollins might go over in the match. Rollins would counter an Attitude Adjustment, use Cena’s STF and finally neutralise Cena with a low blow.
While Rollins started climbing the cage inorder to win the match via escape, masked Kane made his way to the ring, forcing the WWE World Heavyweight Champion to reconsider and try what looked like a Frogsplash from the top of the cage on a still fallen Cena.
Cena rolled out of the way and connected with an AA to pick up the win and retain the title. Following the match, Kane would enter the cage and deliver a Chokeslam – Tombstone combo to Rollins to close out the show
Analysis: The match was the best of the night with Cena and Rollins stealing the show at the MSG, which again makes you wonder why the WWE World Heavyweight Champion has been booked like a chump ever since winning the title.
Rollins has provided one five star match after another in the ring and this awful feud with Kane will not help him in any way. Hopefully after the inevitable match with the Demon at Hell in a Cell, he would go back to having meaningful rivalries, but that might be too much to expect from the WWE Creative.
As for Cena, he has definitely raised the prestige of the US title ever since Wrestlemania and if he is indeed going to take a break after Hell in a Cell, the intriguing question remains as to who would take the title away from him.
