WWE Live house show results
August 24, 2013
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Report by Khris Watkins of El Paso, Tex., PWTorch reader

WWE held a live event in Las Cruces on Saturday night - a stone’s throw down the road from El Paso. I caught WWE’s other jaunt into this area last year with a Smackdown live event in the El Paso County Coliseum. This time we were in the Pan American Center on-campus of the New Mexico State Aggies! I will say the Center looks more like a wrestling venue than the Coliseum with seats surrounding the arena floor. I would guess 6,000 or more wrestling-starved people attended the event. Onto the show...

(1) Prime Time Players beat 3MB. A solid wrestling match with heel tactics from 3MB most of the way. Darren Young took most of the damage, then hot-tagged Titus O’Neil to set up the finish. Solid ten-minute opener.

(2) Great Khali beat Hunico. Standard Khali match, with a punch to the head ending Hunico’s misery. Thankfully, only six minutes!

(3) Ryback beat Kofi Kingston. Pretty good match with Ryback hitting all his power moves, making Kofi look like a ragdoll! The crowd was seriously into Kofi, as he made a spirited comeback, only to be taken out by the meat-cleaver clothesline. My daughter, with a Kofi sign, started tearing up! A solid 12 minute match.

(4) Kaitlyn & Natalya beat Divas champion A.J. Lee & Layla. This match started as a Dance-Off with Layla busting some moves to “Can't Touch This," but it soon became a tag match when the heels jumped the faces! It’s surprising how over as a heel A.J. still is. After Kaitlyn took a beating for most of the match, Natalya applied the Sharpshooter to Layla, who tapped out after seven minutes.

(5) Dolph Ziggler beat Big E. Langston. Ziggler started the match off by holding up a fan’s sign that said: “Langston Needs Pants," and the chants ensued! Ryback has gotten his time in the spotlight, but Langston with a similar style and physic, is a much better wrestler. Langston hit all his power moves – with Ziggler making it look like he was totally destroyed - but Ziggler made a comeback, hitting the Zig-Zag for the win. Good 12 minute match. Ziggler is a Main-Eventer – the man is talented!

[Intermission]

(6) Cody Rhodes beat Damien Sandow. Sandow is great on the mic and he even brought the Money in the Bank case with him. Both men hit their moves with Cody hitting his finisher for the pin in about eight minutes.

(7) Christian beat World Hvt. champion Alberto Del Rio via DQ; Del Rio retained the World Title. Alberto is so over as both a heel and a face in this part of the country; many people didn’t know if they should cheer or boo! Christian did a small comedy bit with Alberto’s walk-out shirt – while also calling him an “a-hole” in Spanish, which started a chant. Both men got in their offense before Alberto pulled the ref into Christian, then delivered a kick to the head. Alberto thought he won when the bell sounded, but Christian won on the DQ. Solid 18 mins with both men telling a good story with their offense. My oldest daughter made a real nice Mexican Flag Alberto poster that she was proud to display!

Next was the main event of C.M. Punk vs. Curtis Axel. It was surprising to see Paul Heyman on the road. Heyman said on the mic that his lawyers stated this would be a No DQ match, and it would not be for the Intercontinental Title. C.M. Punk’s music then hit and the place exploded!

(8) C.M. Punk beat IC champion Curtis Axel (w/Paul Heyman) via submission in a No DQ non-title match. Punk makes other wrestlers look so much better. You could tell Axel is still learning his craft, but he had some solid offense on Punk, who eventually slapped on the Vice and made Axel tap. After the match, Heyman found himself in the ring with Punk – and then on the end of a GTS! Punk then paid tribute to Eddie Guerrero before the close of the show. A solid 25 minute main event.

All in all, a great house show with solid wrestling up and down the card – and only one non-finish! The show started at 7:30 p.m. and didn’t end until after 10:30. The crowd was hot throughout the night – even for the Khali match! I can’t wait for WWE to come back again...

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

We suggest these recent related articles...

SHOW RESULTS - 10/9 AAW in Berwyn, Ill.: Gargano challenges for AAW Hvt. Title, more title matches, big women's tag match, more

SHOW RESULTS - 10/3 NWA Smoky Mountain in Kingsport, Tenn.: NWA Hvt. Title match, Rob Conway, Kid Kash, Ricky Morton, more

LIVE REPORT - 10/4 TNA BFG PPV in North Carolina: Live notes on technical glitches, pre-Angle match announcement, Captain America Fan, more