WWE Live show results
March 8, 2014
New York City at Madison Square Garden
Report by Mike Omansky, PWTorch correspondent

Estimated crowd: 14,000-15,000 range (a few sections unsold, but big crowd). ... Return date announced: Sat., July 12. Presale now through March 18 through Ticketmaster with the pre-sale code WWEGARDEN.

Very good show, overall. And, a great “first run” main event tag match of John Cena & Batista vs. Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt, where Batista dumped Cena and Wyatt dumped Orton, allowing Cena to win in the end.

(1) WWE tag champs The Usos beat Ryback & Curtis Axel and Rhodes Bros. in a triple threat tag match to retain the WWE Tag Titles when the Usos pinned Ryback. Good opener, lots of flying by the Usos and the Rhodes teams. Power moves by Ryback. The finish came when Ryback tried to fly off the top rope and failed; the Usos tried and didn’t fail. (**1/2)

(2) The Miz vs. Justin Gabriel went to a No Contest. Both were received as faces, and it was a good back and forth match. The crowd wasn’t overly vocal, but watched respectfully, as the moves and counter-moves were good. The finish: after nearfalls, Ryback ran in out of nowhere and attacked both. Ryback grabbed the mic and proclaimed “Ryback Rules.” He uttered other similar pro-Ryback statements before the faces recovered, double-teamed Ryback, and left him laying. (*1/2)

(3) Divas champion A.J. Lee (w/Tamina) beat Cameron to retain the Divas Title. A.J. won with a running kick from behind after Tamina distracted Cameron from the outside. This started as a “vote” for title match or dance-off. Allegedly, dance-off won 68-32 percent (the crowd booed heavily, so it really didn’t). As Cameron danced first, Tamina attacked her, and the heels left the ring. Cameron called them back, then challenged A.J. to put up the title. Adequate Divas match. (1/2*)

(4) Kofi Kingston beat Damien Sandow with a kick to the head and pin. Finish: Sandow had Kofi in a Scorpian, but Kingston grabbed the rope. The ref made Sandow break, Sandow argued with the ref, and Kingston got Sandow from behind. (*1/2)

Next was the Daniel Bryan vs. Kane match, with Triple H accompanying Kane. Hunter was introduced first to a loud mix of cheers and boos. He gave a really strong promo focusing on the history of Madison Square Garden, and how A+ players have headlined, including Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, and ”myself." He said to note that he didn’t mention Daniel Bryan. He said Bryan is a “B+ player” who could never headline MSG, WrestleMania, and will never be WWE champion. He then introduced Kane who would stop Bryan tonight.

(5) Daniel Bryan beat Kane (w/Triple H). Similar back and forth wrestling as the Raw match last week, but more intriguing with Hunter involved as an active participant at ringside. Finish: Bryan kicked Kane in the head and went for the pin, but Hunter jumped in and threw the ref out of the ring. Kane attacked Bryan with a chokeslam, then Hunter called for another ref from the back. The ref started counting, but Bryan kicked out at two. Kane then hit the second ref in the head, knocking him out of the ring. Hunter tossed Kane a chair, but Bryan used it to belt Kane. As this happened, the original ref popped back into the ring and counted a pin. All very well executed.

Afterward, Bryan challenged Hunder to a match - if not at WrestleMania, then right now at MSG. Hunter said that he could easily kick his ass around the ring. Hunter took off his shirt and tie, but as he was going into the ring, Stephanie McMahon made a surprise appearance. She came out and told them to stop, saying this match will never happen. Steph said Hunter is an A+ player who doesn't need to prove anything to Bryan.

(6) NXT tag champions The Ascension (w/Vickie Guerrero) beat Los Matadores (w/El Toritio) in a pretty unexciting tag match. Ascension wore their NXT tag belts to the ring. The crowd was not into the match until afterward when El Torito rammed Vickie from behind. (DUD)

(7) Dolph Ziggler beat Alberto Del Rio. Ziggler scored the pin with a Zig-Zag after a good back and forth match and a number of nearfalls for each. Typical outing for these two as far as moves go, and very hard kicks from Del Rio. (*1/2)

(8) John Cena & Batista beat WWE World Hvt. champion Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt in a main event tag match. Cena pinned Orton in spite of being powerbombed by Batista, followed by Wyatt hitting Sister Abigail on Orton and leaving the ring. A "bewildered" Cena then popped up and delivered the Attitude Adjustment to Orton to get the pin after both Batista and Bray left. Prior to the finish, Batista started with some power moves on Bray, but Wyatt quickly got back on offense and speared Batista hard. Wyatt and Orton then kept beating on Batista, making very frequent tags for over five minutes. Cena came in, but was worked over by Wyatt, who also speared him, splashed him, and crushed him in the corner several times.

Overall, excellent main event – unusual pairings to begin with. First-rate match and Wyatt showed that he can be, at least in the short-term, and interesting opponent for Cena; but more important, can hang with Cena and Batista, and convincingly beat them up.

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

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