1/17 WWE in Canton, Ohio – Ambrose vs. Owens, Dreamer ends run, Miz’s statement

WWE Live Show Results
January 17, 2016
Canton, Ohio at the Canton Civic Center
Report by Paul Greer, PWTorch correspondent

The show started earlier than the 7:00 p.m. start time with Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose cutting promos for their Intercontinental Title match later in the evening. Ambrose was crazy over with the crowd.

(1) The Wyatts (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman) beat The Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer in a Tables match when Rowan and Harper put Dreamer through a table. As Dreamer was leaving ringside I told him it was good to see him back in WWE. He chuckled and said this was his last day with the company.

(2) Neville pinned The Miz after hitting the Red Arrow. The Miz came out with a prepared statement, but he didn’t deem Canton worthy to hear him speak. He made the ring announcer, Jo-Jo, read his statement. It was funny bit where she had to run down the city and all the Northeast Ohio sports teams while the Miz smirked and took in all the boos.

.@mikethemiz made @ItsJoseann read a special message to the #WWEUniverse tonight in #WWECanton! pic.twitter.com/UPXEbtrEJ6

— WWE (@WWE) January 18, 2016

(3) Becky Lynch pinned Tamina (w/Naomi). Very little crowd reaction for this match. After Lynch won, Naomi and Tamina doubled-teamed Becky. Natalya ran in for the save.

(4) R-Truth pinned Stardust. R-Truth was really over with the crowd, leading them in a dueling “Cody/What’s Up?” chants.

(5) U.S. champion Alberto Del Rio beat Kalisto to retain the U.S. Title. Del Rio used the ropes to help pin Kalisto to retain the title. Both men were over with the crowd. Del Rio played more of a tweener role, as he took in the cheers and the boos. Pretty good match.

(6) The Social Outcasts (Heath Slater & Bo Dallas & Adam Rose & Curtis Axel) beat The Ascension & Los Matadores in an eight-man tag match. The crowd seemed to enjoy the Outcasts.

(7) Sheamus beat Jack Swagger. Sheamus came out to cheers. He told the crowd how he did his Wikipedia research on Canton. He went on to name some of the things Canton is known for, the whole time having the crowd cheer him. Then, he switched and said the nothing important has happened since 1920 and that the town was miserable and the whole country was miserable. Swagger came out to a decent pop, but the crowd still kept with Sheamus even though he tried hard to turn them.

(8) IC champion Dean Ambrose pinned Kevin Owens to retain the Intercontinental Title. This was a really good match. Lots of back and forth action, fighting outside the ring, and some nice false finishes. Both men were over, and it showed with great crowd reactions the entire match.

Overall, the show was fun, but seemed rushed. Eight match plus intermission and it was over in two-and-a-half hours. Only the U.S. and IC matches were of high quality (TV or PPV quality). The other matches were more comedy or over with before they started building momentum.

Biggest Pops

(1) Dean Ambrose
(2) R-Truth
(3) Sheamus

Biggest Heat

(1) Kevin Owens
(2) The Miz
(3) Wyatts