5 YRS AGO – WWE in St. Louis, Mo. (1-17-2014): Cena, Orton, Cody, Swagger, Cesaro, Kane, Maddox, Ryback, Del Rio

This report was originally published five years ago this week on PWTorch.com…

WWE Live house show results
January 17, 2014
St. Louis, Mo.
Report by Darin, PWTorch correspondent

The event started at around 7:00 p.m. with some videos. Pretty subdued crowd to start with. There was not the typical chanting until around 7:10 p.m. (started by a small child, interestingly enough). Lots of families with their kids. At around 7:12 p.m., WWE let us vote for a Divas match or dance-off. (If you were at the event and voted for the dance-off, you deserve much pain.) Still, much quieter than Extreme Rules last year. The bottom bowl was only about three-fourths full with many empty seats.

WWE announced their return for Raw on April 28. The pre-sale password is STLRAW… WWE showed an awesome Mae Young video package that just about had us all in tears… The show started with the National Anthem for a definite sports-like feel.

(1) WWE tag champions Cody Rhodes & Goldust beat Real Americans (Jack Swagger & Antonio Cesaro w/Zeb Colter) to retain the WWE Tag Titles. The Americans wheeled out Zeb in a wheelchair. He cut a promo about the Big Show and played well to the crowd. Nice, loud “We The People” shout from the crowd. Zeb was on the mic throughout the match telling us to shut up. On the other side, Goldust was way over. As for the match, great false finishes with all the wrestlers’s finishers. Antonio only got six-and-a-half swings out of Goldust, though. Cody won with Cross Rhodes to finish a great, evenly-paced match to start the night.

(2) Xavier Woods beat Brodus Clay. Xavier was without Tons of Funk’s intro music or the Funkadactyls. Meanwhile, Clay had music and his heel persona. Quiet reception for both; the match was David vs. Goliath. Woods won with his finish in about six minutes. On the way out, Woods’s video looks like it was designed by my eight-year-old daughter.

Small video from Kane for his match against Big Show. Brad Maddox then came down for the Divas Choice match. Brad revealed that Divas match won and some people actually sounded really disappointed.

(3) Alicia Fox beat Aksana. Aksana did the splits on the ropes and basically showed half the crowd her nether regions. Decent match, but too many rest holds. The crowd just couldn’t get into it. Alicia won after about seven minutes. Good match with surprisingly no botched moves.

(4) Big Show beat Corporate Kane (sans mask). Kane should wrestle in a suit. Just saying. Kane wrestled small-man style, working on one of Big Show’s legs for most of the match. Big chokeslam from the top rope by Kane, then Kane tried to use a chair on Show, but Show knocked it away and hit Kane with the WMD.

Afterward, Maddox grabbed a mic to call Big Show a “little man” and for Show to leave his ring. Brad addressed Kane, but Big Show stayed. Maddox kept harassing him, so Big Show eventually grabbed him and hit the WMD on him. Maddox sold in the ring until the refs helped him out of the arena.

– WWE Network ad. Break for intermission.

(5) Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neil & Darren Young) beat Ryback & Curtis Axel. Ryback did some Hulk Hogan ear calls, saying, “Shut up you ‘feed me morons,'” on the mic. This was immediately followed by “Goldberg” chants, to which Ryback yelled “Who?” Funny. Darren didn’t want any of Ryback, so Titus tagged in. He is definitely over here in St. Louis. And, Ryback and Axel showed more character tonight than I have seen on TV. Part of that was Ryback did a lot of old Hogan and Warrior-esque moves and taunts. There was a crazy spot where Axel threw Darren out of the ring and into some chairs. Then, Ryback missed a huge frog splash attempt. Players got the win when Titus sidewalk-slammed Axel. Good match, much better than I’ve seen from either team lately.

(6) Alberto Del Rio beat Sin Cara via submission. Sin Cara was wearing his usual ring gear, but with long sleeves and a t-shirt on. Awkward. Concerning Del Rio, there were some “Batista” chants here and there. Lots of high spots, with Del Rio winning with his armbar. Lots of heat on Del Rio.

Repeat ad for Raw returning on April 28…

Next was the main event of John Cena vs. WWE champ Randy Orton. Decent reception for the hometown hero, Orton, but nothing like what he got at Extreme Rules. Giant and biggest pop of the night was for Cena. Before the match, Orton grabbed a mic and said he was proud to be from St. Louis, but we all need to sit down, shut up, and watch him make sure Cena does not make it to the Royal Rumble. Cena said for everyone to stand up and make some noise because he will leave the WWE champion.

Before the match started, Orton yelled at ring announcer Justin Roberts to introduce him first since this was his hometown. He did, then as Justin was announcing Cena, Orton attacked.

(7) John Cena beat WWE World Hvt. champion Randy Orton via DQ; Orton retained the WWE World Title. They were being *very* careful early in this match. More chanting during this match than any time all night combined. Where is Daniel Bryan when we need him? I take the careful back somewhat, as Orton threw Cena very hard into the ring stairs during the match. Cena then had a few Daniel Bryan-esque comebacks. Very fast and full of action. Cena went for the Five Moves, Orton countered, and Cena threw Orton out of the ring. Major air time on that one. Cena came back with the Five Knuckle Shuffle, then went for the AA. Later, Cena went for it again, knocked the ref out, and made Orton tap out with the STF. Orton grabbed the belt, though, knocked down Cena, then got a great nearfall. Cena hit the AA for another good nearfall, then Orton hit the RKO of nowhere for another nearfall. Orton had enough and got himself DQ’ed with a low blow.

Afterward, Cena mic’d up and said St. Louis doesn’t deserve a champion who cheats. Cena challenged him to a fight to prove that he is worthy to be from St. Louis. Orton beat him down, then grabbed a mic and beat Cena with it. He hit him with the title belt. Orton lined up for the punt, but Cena dodged it and put Orton down with the AA to send the kids home happy.

Cena closed on the mic again. He said St. Louis is a city that has seen the likes of Harley Race come through here and fight. He then plugged the Rumble, and that was the show.

Overall, a good show that lived up to my expectations. However, a pretty dead crowd for most of the night, sadly, but not having most of the top acts outside of Cena and Orton was probably the cause. As soon as Cena came out, that changed drastically. WWE put on a good show, and I feel that It was worth my ticket price.

– Biggest Pops: Cena, by far.

– Most Heat: Orton and Del Rio.

By the way: Don’t buy a souvenir cup. After the event, we waited and found four of them just in our section that people left behind. I feel like a freegan.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS AGO FLASHBACK: 5 YRS AGO – PWG “DDT4” Report (1-12-2013): El Generic (Sami Zayn) & Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens) team vs. Young Bucks, plus Callahan, Cole & O’Reilly, Ricochet, Swann