7/16 WWE in NYC Detailed Report – Cena vs. Styles epic 35-minute match, Ambrose defends WWE Title in main event, crowd size & reactions, match notes

WWE Live Show Results
July 16, 2016
New York City at Madison Square Garden
Report by Mike Omansky, PWTorch correspondent

Good show overall, with a terrific A.J. Styles vs. John Cena match that went about 35 minutes… Total show time was three hours and 25 minutes, including intermission.

The crowd estimate was 10,000-12,000, range. Big crowd, but not near a sell-out. Five mid-level sections out of about 25 were empty. The rest of the Garden was pretty full. … There was a cameraman at ringside periodically throughout the night filming some of the matches.

(1) The Usos beat The Club (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) in about 15:00. Good, fast-paced opener, where all four had their working shoes on. Anderson was pinned after a kick to the head by one Uso, then a leap off the top rope by the second. (**1/2)

(2) Apollo Crews beat Sheamus with a roll-up pin. Adequate match. Nothing special. (1/2*)

(3) Alberto Del Rio beat Zack Ryder via submission to the armbar. Fast-moving, competitive match. The crowd was into both guys. There were numerous nearfalls near the end, and false finishes with the Backstabber, Rough Ryder, etc.

A backstage Kevin Owens promo aired.  Owens planned to win the triple threat WWE Title match tonight and leave the Garden with the title.

(4) Mark Henry & Jack Swagger beat Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel). Very one-sided match, with some comedy by the victims. Henry pinned Axel with the World’s Strongest Slam. Good for what it was.  (1/2*)

(5) Chris Jericho beat Neville via dropkick to the midsection and pin. This was advertised as a “street fight,” but the match was normal rules, with the ref counting when out of ring, or breaking for DQ tactics.  Big reaction for Jericho coming in, and he did a heel promo in the ring to turn the crowd. Some good moves by Neville, and good back and forth. (*)

(6) John Cena beat A.J. Styles. Excellent match that went over 35 minutes. The crowd’s interest was held all the way through, and they were more intense than for the main event. Gallows and Anderson accompanied Styles to the ring, interfered several times, and were thrown out by the ref after about 10 minutes.  They did sections where Styles “outwrestled” Cena to escape. The crowd was incredibly into this match; split between the two. Both kicked out of each other’s finishers along the way (Styles Clash and AA). They kept up a pretty intensive pace the longer the match went.

About 30 minutes in, there was a ref bump, and Cena made A.J. tap out with no ref.  Anderson & Gallows ran in, double-teamed Cena, and threw Styles on top. The heels pushed the ref in the ring, and Cena kicked out at a count of two. Shortly after, a second ref bump as Cena accidentally threw Styles into ref. And again, Anderson & Gallows jumped in for a double-team. This time, the Usos ran out and the two tag teams fought, clearing each other. The ref recovered and Cena hit Styles with the AA for the pin. Really impressive for a house show match. (****)

(7) Becky Lynch beat Natalya by reversing a Sharpshooter attempt into a Dis-arm-her.  Not much; fans didn’t care after the previous match. (1/2*)

(8) WWE tag champions New Day (Big E. & Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) beat The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan) in a non-stop six-man tag match. Finish: Big E. and Kofi double-teamed Rowan, and Kofi scored the pin. Very strong performance by Bray Wyatt. All six worked. (**1/2)

(9) WWE World Hvt. champion Dean Ambrose beat Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens in a triple threat match to retain the WWE World Title. Finish: Owens tossed Rollins, and Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds to pin Owens.  Very solid match. Funny spots included Rollins and Owens throwing out each other from the ring. A table and chair were brought into play along the way.  The crowd was tired by this point, but still into the match (the crowd hit its high for Cena-Styles). Fans were strongly behind Ambrose, but seemed to be into all three. (***)

– The return date is Monday, December 26. It was announced as a “WWE Holiday Tour” show, not Raw. Tickets went on-sale after the show at the box office with the pre-sale code WWELIVE.

Best Matches

(1) Cena-Styles
(2) Triple threat title main event
(3) Del Rio vs. Zack Ryder