WWE Live show results
March 16, 2014
Dallas, Tex.
Report by Nathan Pearman, PWTorch reader

I attended the Dallas WWE Live show at the American Airlines Center on Sunday. WWE will be coming back to Dallas on July 27 for another house show.

I would estimate around 6,500-7,000 in attendance - ringside was full, as well as most of the plaza level, although the upper levels were mostly (90 percent) empty. It was very heavy on families with small children - certainly fewer "vocal males" than at a typical Raw or pay-per-view. As has been the case recently, WWE heavily promoted the WWE Network.

Onto the results:

(1) Sheamus beat Alberto Del Rio. The crowd was really hot for Sheamus and there was pretty heavy heat on Del Rio. Good opener to get the crowd going, with both guys getting in their spots. The finish came when Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick and got the pin.

(2) Darren Young beat Titus O'Neil. O'Neill cut a promo running down Dallas's pro sports teams to get more heat. Young won in about 30 seconds with a sunset flip. O'Neill complained on the mic about the pin count only being "two, not three," and issued a challenge to the back, which brought out...

(3) Kofi Kingston beat Titus O'Neil. Another 20 second squash match, with Kingston getting the roll-up win. Bad News Barrett appeared with, of course, some bad news for Kingston. Raw GM Brad Maddox then came on-stage and pointed out that O'Neill was already a two-time loser and asked the crowd whether they wanted to see O'Neill lose for a third time? Maddox set up the following tag match...

(4) Darren Young & Kofi Kingston beat Titus O'Neil & "Bad News" Barrett. A solid 12-minute tag match, with Young playing the "Ricky Morton face-in-peril" for most of the match. The end came when Kingston pinned O'Neill, prompting the crowd to chant "three-time loser."

Damien Sandow cut a heel promo on the video board. Sandow ran down Texas-native Mark Henry and trashed Texas.

(5) The Shield beat The Wyatts in a six-man tag match. The crowd was hot for this one, split about 70/30 in favor of The Shield, but there were favorable reactions for both teams. This was the Match of the Night by far, with Ambrose playing face-in-peril for most of the match. The end came at about 14:00 when Roman Reigns got the spear on Harper for the pin. Reigns got probably the second-largest pop of the night.

[Intermission]

(6) Natalya & Eva Marie beat Alicia Fox & Layla in a Divas tag match. The crowd had a choice (via Twitter/text vote) between a Divas tag match and a dance-off. Thankfully, the crowd chose the tag match, but was pretty dead. Very, very slight pops for Natalya, who got the submission win with the Sharpshooter on Fox. The Divas division, excluding champ A.J. Lee, just doesn't seem to generate much fan interest or involvement these days.

(7) Mark Henry beat Damien Sandow. Sandow drew solid heat, running down Texas some more and giving the crowd one more chance to applaud Sandow over the native Texan, Henry, because he deserves it. Solid pop for Henry, but otherwise a weak ten-minute match with some awkward-looking spots. Henry won with the World's Strongest Slam.

Afterwards, Henry got on the mic and gave a similar speech to his Austin house show speech on Saturday. Henry said that the rumors of retirement (for real, this time) are not true and he has "a lot left in the tank."

(8) WWE World Hvt. champion Randy Orton beat John Cena in a cage match to retain the WWE World Title. Mixed reaction for both - more cheers for Cena at first, but pops for Orton as the match went on. Similar style match that these two have wrestled many, many times. The end came after the ref took a bump, Orton low-blowed Cena, and Orton escaped through the cage door at the 13-minute mark.

Afterward, Cena gave Orton the Attitude Adjustment to send the crowd home happy.

Overall, a mixed review for the show. Shield-Wyatts was by far the match of the night, and Cena-Orton did not come close in terms of crowd excitement. Much of the crowd around me, even the kids, were not into Cena at all, with a few exceptions (such as the three-year-old that cried when Cena lost). The split-roster for house shows definitely has forced WWE to draw things out more than they otherwise would, such as using Titus O'Neill in three matches and an extended Divas match with no crowd response.

Biggest Pops:

(1) Sheamus
(2) Henry
(3) Shield (specifically Reigns)
(4) Kingston

Biggest Heel Heat:

(1) Sandow
(2) Del Rio
(3) O'Neil
(4) Barrett

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

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