WWE Live house show
February 15, 2014
Phoenix, Ariz.
Report by Brian Alston, long-time PWTorch Newsletter subscriber

WWE returned to Phoenix, Arizona for a Road to WrestleMania live event. Last time was a Raw TV taping in August. This is the first house show in Phoenix in a while. Over the past four years, we've had several pay-per-view and Raws/Smackdowns.

(1) IC champion Big E. beat Ryback to retain the Intercontinental Heavyweight Title. Both pulled down their shoulder straps. E. was over with the crowd.

(2) The Bella Twins beat Tamina Snuka & Summer Rae when Snuka missed a flying splash and a Bella pinned her. The Bellas were popular even before they were announced from Scottsdale, Arizona.

(3) WWE tag champions The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) beat The Usos and Real Americans (Jack Swagger & Antonio Cesaro) in a three-team match to retain the WWE World Tag Team Titles. Even though the Outlaws are bad guys, the crowd still did their chant. They also did "We The People." Cesaro did the Giant Swing 21 times on an Uso, but Gunn got a blind tag and stole the win.

(4) Kofi Kingston pinned Fandango in a short match. Fans voted for a match versus a dance-off. Fandango's song wasn't as over as the last time WWE was here in August.

(5) Daniel Bryan & Sheamus & Christian beat The Shield in a six-man tag match when Bryan pinned Dean Ambrose. Christian sold for most of the match until Bryan got the hot tag. A ton of Yes! chants.

Afterwards, Kane came out and berated the audience and Bryan. Of course, Kane tried to chokeslam Bryan, but he escaped and gave Kane the flying knee.

(6) Bray Wyatt pinned Dolph Ziggler after catching a charging Ziggler in Sister Abigail. Good match. Ziggler got some cheers as he rose to his feet and walked up the ramp.

(7) Batista beat Alberto Del Rio via disqualification. Alberto stalled a lot. Eventually he used a chair and got the DQ. Batista delivered a powerbomb to end it. Two adults tried to get "Batista Sucks" and "You Can't Wrestle" chants going without any success. Batista was popular with the Phoenix crowd.

(8) WWE World Hvt. champion Randy Orton beat John Cena in a Steel Cage match to retain the WWE World Title. Orton used a low blow and quickly exited out the door. There were not as many boos for Orton. He got more of a mixed reaction. But, they didn't boo Cena, either.

Afterwards, Orton worked the mic, but Cena slammed the door on Orton to the delight of the fans to end the show.

Notes:

-The lower section of U.S. Airways looked to be full. There were about five rows in the upper-middle north and south that were sold. No idea of the actual attendance.

- A guy sitting to my left was a "smart fan" trying to call spots like Cena's Five Moves of Doom and impressing people around him with his knowledge of Wyatt being the son of I.R.S. His girlfriend had no idea what was happening, though she did yell for Cena.

-A family with kids ages 8, 10, and 11-years-old sitting to my right said "You Suck!" multiple times to all of the bad guys.

-Bryan was the most over person. Cena was a good second.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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