Arena Reports 12/29 WWE results Buffalo, N.Y.: Detailed second report - three-way cage main event, Tyler Black vs. Kidd, Booker vs. Rhodes, Street Fight
Dec 30, 2011 - 3:25:57 AM
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO BOOKMARK US & VISIT US DAILY
WWE Smackdown house show results
December 29, 2011
Buffalo, N.Y.
Report by Brian Mooney, PWTorch reader
Attendance: Pretty crowded on the lower tier. The upper tier was completely empty, but, for a Smackdown house show, this wasn't too shocking.
(1) Justin Gabriel beat Hunico. A joke of a match, honestly. It lasted way too long, over 15 minutes, and the crowd wasn't into it at all. It was the kind of match where everyone was just starting to get into their seats and settle in. The people that were into the match were all about Justin, and Hunico got a lot of heat for an early match. A weird note about Hunico, I thought he was supposed to be portraying a Mexican wrestler, but on his Titantron video, there was a picture of the Iranian flag. Very confusing. Gabriel won after a kick that was nothing special.
(2) Sheamus beat Wade Barrett in a Street Fight. Wade came out to heavy heat. He looks incredibly awkward in person. He took the mic and trashed on Orton for getting hurt. This drew even more heat. After a couple minutes of ranting, Sheamus came out and the Street Fight match began. It was a very long match that went all throughout the arena. The momentum went back and forth until Drew McIntyre came out, turned heel, and destroyed Sheamus. Barrett attempted the fall, but Sheamus kicked out at 2.99. Eventually, Sheamus hit Barrett with the Brogue Kick and sealed the victory.
The set-up for a contest for the Intercontinental Championship was interrupted when Cody Rhodes came out and destroyed Booker during his entrance to the ring. He took the mic and ranted forever about Booker. Cody drew the heaviest heat of the night during this.
(3) Jinder Mahal defeated Ted DiBiase via submission. A long match that was terribly boring. It seemed like everyone on the floor was talking to each other and paying almost no attention to the match. Mahal won on a submission maneuver.
(4) Seth Rollins (formerly Tyler Black) beat Tyson Kidd. I thought this was one of the worst WWE matches I've witnessed in person. You know it's bad when WWE doesn't even have a Titantron video for Rollins. Eventually (and finally), Seth won. Cody Rhodes then came out and attacked both of them. This was very random, and had nothing to do with his storyline with Booker. Cody beat down Tyson and hit the Cross Rhodes on Rollins.
(5) Booker T beat IC champion Cody Rhodes via DQ; Rhodes retained the IC Title. Cody attacking the two previous wrestlers set up the delayed Intercontinental Championship match from earlier. A very good match that the crowd was solidly invested in. Cody retained when he pushed the referee's head into the ropes and got the DQ. Booker did the spin-a-roonie and, in typical face fashion, high-fived every soul in the building before exiting.
[Intermission]
(6) A.J. & Alicia Fox beat Tamina & Natalya. Great Divas match for the most part. I like A.J. as a wrestler. Very athletic for her size. The crowd was hoping Beth would be home in Buffalo for the night, but they didn't get their wish since she was at the Raw show. Alicia pinned Natalya for the victory. I believe Fox is an incredibly dull wrestler and I don't get her presence in WWE.
(7) WWE tag champions Air Boom (Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston) beat Primo & Epico (w/Rosa Mendes) to retain the Tag Titles. An extremely entertaining match. I thought it was probably the most entertaining of the night. Rosa's presence might have been one of the best parts of the match. Primo & Epico looked solid, and I expect them to be champs soon. Primo pinned Kofi to win the Tag Titles, to which the crowd was stunned and speechless. Rosa did her victory dance, which was lovely, but the refs decided that Kofi's leg was under the ropes. Therefore, they started another match immediately and Bourne hit the Air Bourne for the easy victory to re-claim the titles.
(8) World Hvt. champion Daniel Bryan beat Big Show and Mark Henry in a three-way steel cage match to retain the World Title. It took the crew forever to set up the steel cage. But, once the match got going, the crowd was very excited. Henry was barely part of the match it seemed; he must still be recovering from his "injury." Bryan and Show exchanged many blows, but, after not very much time, Bryan escaped the cage to retain the title.
The most important part of the match came afterward when Show took the title belt and stared at it then Daniel Bryan for a long time. In my opinion, this is setting him up as an epic heel. He finally gave the belt back to Bryan and patted him on the back. Then, Drew McIntyre came out again and attacked everyone. Very bizarre, but, according to Vince McMahon, he is going to be the new face of WWE, so they must be trying to legitimize him in some way. Sheamus then came out and took care of Drew, thus ending the show. The extended presence of Drew was very bizarre, but he is a solid wrestler, so I hope to see more of him in the future.
[Torch art credit Marco D'Alfonso (c) PWTorch.com]
THE TORCH REACHES MORE COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT FANS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE
PWTorch editor Wade Keller has covered pro wrestling full time since 1987 starting with the Pro Wrestling Torch print newsletter. PWTorch.com launched in 1999 and the PWTorch Apps launched in 2008.
He has conducted "Torch Talk" insider interviews with Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, Jesse Ventura, Lou Thesz, Jerry Lawler, Mick Foley, Jim Ross, Paul Heyman, Bruno Sammartino, Goldberg, more.
He has interviewed big-name players in person incluiding Vince McMahon (at WWE Headquarters), Dana White (in Las Vegas), Eric Bischoff (at the first Nitro at Mall of America), Brock Lesnar (after his first UFC win).
He hosted the weekly Pro Wrestling Focus radio show on KFAN in the early 1990s and hosted the Ultimate Insiders DVD series distributed in retail stories internationally in the mid-2000s including interviews filmed in Los Angeles with Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara and Matt & Jeff Hardy. He currently hosts the most listened to pro wrestling audio show in the world, (the PWTorch Livecast, top ranked in iTunes)
REACHING 1 MILLION+ UNIQUE USERS PER MONTH
500 MILLION CLICKS & LISTENS PER YEAR
MILLIONS OF PWTORCH NEWSLETTERS SOLD
PWTorch offers a VIP membership for $10 a month (or less with an annual sub). It includes nearly 25 years worth of archives from our coverage of pro wrestling dating back to PWTorch Newsletters from the late-'80s filled with insider secrets from every era that are available to VIPers in digital PDF format and Keller's radio show from the early 1990s.
Also, new exclusive top-shelf content every day including a new VIP-exclusive weekly 16 page digital magazine-style (PC and iPad compatible) PDF newsletter packed with exclusive articles and news.
The following features come with a VIP membership which tens of thousands of fans worldwide have enjoyed for many years...
-New Digital PWTorch Newsletter every week
-3 New Digital PDF Back Issues from 5, 10, 20 years ago
-Over 60 new VIP Audio Shows each week
-Ad-free access to all PWTorch.com free articles
-VIP Forum access with daily interaction with PWTorch staff and well-informed fellow wrestling fans
-Tons of archived audio and text articles
-Decades of Torch Talk insider interviews in transcript and audio formats with big name stars. **SIGN UP FOR VIP ACCESS HERE**