WWE Live show results
May 30, 2015
Greensboro, N.C.
Report by Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch columnist

Estimated Attendance: 6,000 (the floor seats didn't sell out). Fans still break out in spontaneous Whoos in these parts before the big wrestling show. They haven't forgotten the Yeses either.

WWE starts the show with a smart move - a Raw recap video on the big screen to get the dads up to speed on what they're about to see. Also, kind of amazing how many dopes here didn't know you take your hat off for the National Anthem...

Our new Wrestling Daddy Triple H welcomes us to the night's festivities in a completely babyface pre-taped video.

To open the show, King Wade Barrett demands we get down on our knees, bow our heads, and repeat, "All Hail King Barrett!" Surprisingly few fans took him up on it. King Barrett faces Neville, who got a nice response.

(1) Neville beat King Barrett. These two work well together. This was a smartly done opener - not too much, not too little. Fans were into the nearfalls and they know the Red Arrow. Neville wins.

Afterward, Kane attacks Neville on the ramp, then announces Rusev is injured and not to going to appear for his U.S. Title steel cage challenge against John Cena, so he's taking his place. Some of us were hoping Kevin Steen could get in some practice time against Cena tonight.

Tyler "Who's that?" Breeze and Summer Rae do a long promo about how gorgeous Tyler Breeze is. He then faces Damien Sandow, who wrestles as Damien Sandow. He does do a quick, but mute Ric Rude impression.

(2) Damien Sandow beat Tyler Breeze (w/Summer Rae) via DQ. The match ends abruptly when Heath Slater attacks Sandow. Curtis Axel as Axelmania saves Sandow. Some fans actually think he's You Know Who. Axelmania faces Breeze and Slater with the requisite amount of stooging and clowning...

(3) Curtis Axel a/k/a Axelmania beat Tyler Breeze & Heath Slater in a handicap match. Macho Mandow comes out to help (and kiss Summer Rae again, who doesn't like it this time). I'm offended by the lack of character consistency. Hulkamania-mania wins, and the two pose down. Somewhere the Macho Man isn't watching this non-sense.

New Day faces Tyson Kidd & Cesaro and Luke Harper & Erick Rowan. Fans clap along with New Day, then turn on them with that "New ... Day Sucks" stuff. Tag champs New Day say North Carolina doesn't know what champions look like and sing "We Are The Champions." They clearly forgot about the 2015 NCAA College Basketball National Champions from Durham, North Carolina, the Duke Blue Devils.

Tyson Kidd then references the history of the Greensboro Coliseum and puts over Starrcade, Wahoo McDaniels, Arn Anderson (this is the 30th anniversary of the Four Horsemen forming in the Greensboro Coliseum) and, to a loud reaction, the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

(4) WWE tag champions New Day beat Tyson Kidd & Cesaro and Luke Harper & Erick Rowan in a Triple Threat Elimination tag team match to retain the Tag Titles. This is kind of a dull match. Xavier Woods and Big E. wrestle for the Freebirds. Rowan & Harper are eliminated by a Kidd pin, then they take out Kidd and Cesaro with their version of a Diamond Cutter. Kofi Kingston gets Kidd from behind with Trouble in Paradise and Woods pins him for the win. Cesaro does a Medium Swing on Kofi after the match, then he does it to diminishing returns on Woods and Big E.

[Intermission - There was a nice crowd at the concession stand.]

(5) Paige beat Naomi in the Divas match. They worked hard, but it never seemed to come together. Paige won.

Blackjack Mulligan sold out the Greensboro Coliseum against the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair in the steel cage match that was the culmination of their legendary Hat and Robe program, the feud that Flair credits for cementing his status as a money-drawing main-eventer. I mention this only because Bo Dallas, who wrestled Zack Ryder tonight, has a ways to go to match his grandfather.

Mulligan also once potatoed Diamond Dan Grondy in a match. The ubiquitous Grondy worked security for this match from his perch near the old Front Row Section D seats, as he has for Coliseum events for many years.

(6) Zack Ryder beat Bo Dallas.

Main Event time. "Let's Go Cena" four-to-one over "Cena Sucks." Kids over ardent fans, also four-to-one.

John Cena defended the U.S. Title against Kane in a steel cage match. This is the 40th anniversary of this very same U.S. Title, which originated in the Greensboro Coliseum, in a legendary match between Johnny Valentine and Harley Race. Ric Flair's matches for the U.S. Title against Blackjack Mulligan, Greg Valentine, and his NWA World Title defense against Ole Anderson in steel cage final showdowns sold-out the Coliseum in successive years.

(7) U.S. champion John Cena beat Kane in a steel cage match to retain the United States Title. Fans are on their feet for John Cena, who is by far the star of the show. The match was Kane slowly getting heat on Cena while kids yell "Let's Go Cena." I loved how they turned the arena lights off for this one in favor of just the lights over the ring. It awakened some echoes. Cena makes the comeback and wins by going out the door for a well-done happy ending.

This was a very well-produced house show.

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

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