WWE Live show results
May 24, 2015
White Plains, N.Y.
Report by PWTorch reader Marc from New York

The show was close to sold out but not quite, mostly families with kids on the Sunday night before Memorial Day. The show started with a Triple H promo warmly welcoming people to the show, and asking them if they are ready. I'm sure these promos confuse some of the kids in the audience who know Hunter as the heel authority figure, but I don't think WWE cares.

(1) Neville beat Bad News Barrett with the Red Arrow. Very good opening match to get the crowd going. Barrett did mic work beforehand to get his heat. Neville was the third most over act on this show and his move set is very kid friendly. If he can stay healthy Neville has a long career ahead of him in the slot that Rey Mysterio recently left open. He still needs to work the crowd more before his major spots but overall a strong performance by Neville and Barrett.

(2) Luke Harper (w/Erick Rowan) beat Zack Ryder with the spinning clothesline. Ryder got a respectable reaction, while Harper had heat, but not at the level a guy with s size and look should have. This was an extended house show match that had no real business going as long as it did (over ten minutes). Also Harper was a tad indy-riffic when playing to the crowd. He is a big, scary monster, so he shouldn't have to flex his biceps to get heat. After the match, Rowan and Harper hit the 3D on a defenseless Ryder, possibly teasing a short-term Dudley Boys feud.

(3) Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil & Darren Young) beat Bo Dallas & Heath Slater with a roll-up. A text vote made this a match rather than a dance-off. Bo Dallas did his typical mic work beforehand. During the match, he and Slater played it completely comedic rather than being any sort of physical threat to Titus and Darren. They bickered through out a non-descript match with a roll-up finish.

Afterwards Bo and Heath argued and challenged any team to face them on the spot. Predictably, out came the Mega Powers, Axel and Sandow.

(4) Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow beat Bo Dallas & Heath Slater with the leg drop of doom. Bo bailed out at the beginning, leaving Slater to take the beating. I will give Axel and Sandow credit, they play this gimmick to the hilt and have most of the classic mannerisms down. The crowd likes, not loves, watching this silliness, but it wouldn't last if they tried to make this a more permanent deal. Not bad though for a month or three of house shows.

(5) Dean Ambrose beat Kane with Dirty Deeds. Kane got a decent heel reaction, Ambrose gets a star pop, and the crowd was with him for the match, even though Kane did everything to take the crowd out of the match. Not to be mean but Kane has too many miles is too slow to have an exciting house show match with a guy like Ambrose who can go with he right opponent. Not a bad match at all, but nothing to really write home about. Kane is a good act, but doesn't have the motor to do house shows anymore. Ambrose sells well, and his lunatic gimmick with exaggerated expressions played well in house show setting.

At intermission, WWE did a signed picture gimmick with John Cena and Ambrose signing limited amounts of 7x10's to get people to go to the merch stand. Good way to get people on the line, and if the pictures run out, the people who waited 20 minutes on the line are probably going to buy something anyway.

(6) Divas champion Nikki Bella beat Tamina Snuka with a roll-up to retain the Divas Title. I can see why WWE turned the Bellas babyface, as they have this following among women and girls and Nikki received a strong reaction and support from the crowd. Tamina hasn't really gotten better in her five years with the company, though. There is a reason Tamina is always the heater for another Diva rather than a stand-alone wrestler. Typical match where the heel dominates, the babyface wins with the suprise roll-up, and it doesn't do much for either.

(7) WWE tag champions New Day beat Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (w/Natalya) to retain the WWE Tag Titles with a jackknife pin. Undisputed match of the night. Both teams are absolute pros in the art of tag team wrestling. Both have their acts pretty well defined and each person knows their role and how to play it. New Day has real heat, and Kidd and Cesaro got more over as the match went along, which should be the goal. Natalya and Xavier Woods were a lot of fun at ringside. After the match, Kofi and Woods hilariously lifted Big E. on their shoulders only to get missile dropkicked by Kidd, and Woods got swung by Cesaro.

(8) U.S. champion John Cena beat Rusev in a steel cage to retain the U.S. Title. Cena won with the AA. This match obviously had the most heat of anything on the show. Rusev got a strong heel reaction. Quick note - his entrance video billed him from Bulgaria, and his home country was announced as Bulgaria, so they may be dropping the "hero to the Russian Federation" deal. Cena got a monster pop, which he deserves by the way, and entered the cage. Okay cage match with too much WWE style trying to escape the cage throughout rather than trying to beat the other guy up. Lana came out to a good reaction, slammed the cage door in Rusev's face, and Cena hit his finisher for the win. So, Lana slammed the door on Cena Friday, Rusev Saturday, and Rusev again on Sunday.

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

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