Analyzing all the action from WWE Live India 15/01/16

The event was a massive hitIndia has a huge fan base for wrestling. A near sell-out crowd turned out at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi, yours truly included, for their wrestling fix. The WWE finally toured India and has, hopefully realized the amazing potential there is in the country, especially after seeing the turn out. I, for one, hope WWE continue hosting such events and come back to India very soon as I had an amazing time at the event. The launch of the WWE network in India was heavily promoted and two Indians made their in ring debuts to a deafening pop. Kishan Raftar was decent in the ring, but watching Jeet Rama lumber around like a smaller, slightly more mobile version of the Great Khali was slightly dissapointing.

#1 Kane was hugely over

On my way in, I saw a multitude of ‘Demon Kane’ and ‘Brothers of Destruction’ signs which gave me a rough idea of what to expect. The match between Wyatt and Kane was made to look better than it was due to an insanely excited and hot crowd. Throughout the Bray Wyatt beating on Kane segment, the crowd booed him mercilessly and cheered at every sign of a comeback.

The Demon chokeslamming the Eater of Worlds

The ‘Spiderwalk-Sit up’ sequence drew what was arguably the single most deafening pop in the first half of the show. Kane kicked out of the ura nage slam and put Wyatt away with a chokeslam, drawing huge cheers from the crowd who were ecstatic with the veteran’s win.

#2 Jeet Rama and Kishan Raftar

I’ve lumped these two together largely because they were very similar, having run-of-the-mill singles matches with NXT tag champs Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, respectively. The Gada-wielding Rama had arguably the worse debut, showing lethargic movements in the ring.

Also, the two matches felt very similar to each other and had similar stories. Jordan/Gable came out, berated India and its athletes and were challenged by Rama and Raftar. Jason Jordan, however, deserves praise for really riling up the crowd with some fantastic promo work.

Raftar with the Sunset Flip cover

I was actually slightly impressed by Raftar whose ability and solid technical sequences with Jordan showed that he had the potential to progress in the WWE. The sunset flip finisher off the second rope and subsequent leverage pin was a good way for him to win as it protected Jordan too.

One hopes Raftar will develop a better finisher and fulfill his potential. Rama, on the other hand, was disappointing to watch. His awkward German Suplex saw Gable land on his head. Thankfully he was okay, but I was not as impressed with Rama as I was with Raftar.

#3 USO CRAZY

The PTP double-suplexing Big E. Despite their efforts, they ended up on the losing side.

The Usos were insanely over with the crowd. During the triple threat Tag Title match, almost the first 1/3rd of the match saw neither of the Usos get any action in the ring and the crowd grew restless chanting, ‘we want Usos!’.

The New Day were greeted with chants of ‘New Day Sucks’ as well as ‘New Day Rocks’. The match was one of the better matches of the night. Despite the slow start, the action picked up and the Usos being tagged in got a huge roar of approval from the crowd.

The Suicide Dive drew a few ‘this is awesome’ chants and the Usos were clearly enjoying themselves out there. The New Day victory was inevitable as the title changing hands was highly unlikely. The distraction roll-up is overused and played out, but the crowd enjoyed with the subsequent beat down that the New Day got. Gutbuster, Clash of the Titus and a Frog Splash, all lead to the crowd cheering their heroes on.

#4 Divas were boring

WWE’s decision to send Summer Rae as the replacement for Nikki Bella was horrible. Charlotte tried to drag a good match, but aside from a few ‘woo’s’ the crowd was largely unresponsive, only reacting to Charlotte kicking out of Summer’s Spin Kick and the Figure Eight with loud approval. The ‘boring’ chants were prevalent and the match was quite simply, pathetic.

Superplex! A rare bright spot in an otherwise boring match.

The Divas Revolution failed to reach India and Summer Rae cannot wrestle. Charlotte still looked alright. Her athleticism impressed a few and her win was greeted with a decent-ish pop after the crowd was largely unresponsive.

#5 Match of the Night!

Ziggler and Breeze during their amazing match.

Dolph Ziggler and Tyler Breeze absolutely stole the show, in my opinion. They elicited the only stadium-wide ‘This is Awesome!’ chant that lasted for over a minute. The match was amazing. It had psychology and the near falls were breathtaking.

The only thing this match didn’t have going for it was that most of the crowd didn’t know who Breeze was. The reaction to Ziggler on the other hand was electric. Dolph has seen a drop in popularity in the USA, but in India, he is still very much over.

With his performance, Breeze convinced everyone of his talents and got an ovation for his efforts. The Tyler Breeze kickout from the Zig-Zag garnered a huge shock from the crowd, as did the Supermodel kick. Tyler’s antics drew some ‘you look stupid chants’ which yours truly countered with ‘Tyler’s gorgeous’ chants, but alas, I lost my voice. The finish was well done, with the Superkick into the Zig-Zag popping the crowd.

#6 Ryback vs Rusev

Rusev and Ryback going at it

The crowd cheered for both men, but Ryback clearly had more support. The Big Guy’s ‘feed me more’ chants rang throughout the audience at various points throughout the match, but Rusev emerged victorious via Shenanigans.

It was sloppy in the middle, but the exposed turnbuckle helped protect Ryback and had the desired effect, the crowd booed Rusev. Lana was sorely missed and people chanted for her, ‘we want Lana’ was heard.

Rusev pushed Ryback into the exposed turnbuckle, hit him with the jumping kick and followed it up with the Accolade for the submission win. Ryback looked disappointed in himself, but the crowd cheered him as he returned to the back. It is worth noting that the match far exceeded the quality of the Rusev-Ryback match on Raw earlier this year.

#7 Roman\'s reign continues

Roman Reigns and the Big Show had an underwhelming match with Big Show dominating for far too long. Despite this, Roman got the full support of a crowd that had died down a little after the Breeze-Ziggler barnburner.

Reigns received a monumental pop for both his entrance and his victory. The ‘Superman Punch’ spot with Big Show not falling was overdone, but the crowd were excited by it and it worked.

Roman Reigns was insanely over!

The Chokeslam and Knockout Punch both connected, Reigns kicking out of the first and rolling out of the ring after the second. They were sold as near falls but it was obvious Reigns wouldn’t lose his title.

On the bright side for WWE, Roman Reigns had amazing support from the crowd. It is worth noting that people enjoyed the presence of Big Show which is quite rare, but the match itself was atleast 5 minutes too long and really slow and boring until Reigns made his comeback.