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The following report was originally published ten years ago today at PWTorch.com…
WWE Live show results
August 16, 2013
Portland, Ore.
Results submitted by Owen Rey, PWTorch correspondent
Brad Maddox started the show off by warming up to his hometown crowd, talking about how tonight will be the best show Portland has ever seen. However, he did tell us that John Cena would not be there due to injury. This got a whole lotta boos, although I didn’t see anyone leave for their refund.
First was a Battle Royal. Big E. Langston, R-Truth, Mark Henry, The Shield, Christian, Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam, and Daniel Bryan came out.
(1) Daniel Bryan won a Battle Royal to earn a World Title shot against Alberto Del Rio. Big E. was eliminated first, and it came down to a Final Four of Ziggler, Bryan, Rollins, and Ryback. Ambrose got a ton of heat for eliminating RVD. Ryback offered an alliance to Rollins, who agreed. However, while Rollins was attempting to eliminate Bryan, Ryback snuck up and tossed Rollins over the top. Ryback then eliminated Ziggler. Ryback zoned in on Bryan, but Bryan reversed a powerbomb attempt into a huracanrana over the top rope.
(2) Kane beat Luke Harper via DQ when Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan interfered. Harper was able to work fairly well, but when Kane started mounting a small comeback, Bray Wyatt stepped up to the ring. Rowan attacked Kane while Wyatt distracted the ref, but Harper wasn’t able to capitalize and Kane hit his trademark moves.
Eventually, Wyatt got up from where he was sitting, which was right next to me, and went right at Kane. Kane fended him off, then chokeslammed Harper and Rowan while Wyatt backed off.
After the match, Maddox said that we would decide the stipulation for Big E. vs. Ziggler. The choice was No DQ or 2/3 falls. The crowd was very vocal for the No DQ match.
(3) Divas champion A.J. Lee beat Kaitlyn via submission to retain the Divas Title. Kaitlyn pretty much beat A.J. down the entire match, making it seem like a David vs. Goliath match-up. It was a pretty good Divas match, much better than what we usually see on TV. A.J. ended up getting the win with the Black Widow submission.
Paul Heyman talked backstage about Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk at Summerslam, then Axel stepped in and cut a decent promo.
(4) R-Truth beat Ryback. The crowd loved R-Truth, and responded to everything he did. Ryback got a pretty split reaction, even though he was trying so hard to get heel heat. R-Truth barely got any offense in, but Ryback got cocky and started taunting a lot. R-Truth then rolled Ryback up for the win and immediately ran to the back.
Backstage promo with Big E., who said that Ziggler needed him, not the other way around.
Next was The Shield versus a Big Face Trio. Christian got a nice pop, Mark Henry got a big one, followed by RVD’s gigantic pop. The crowd absolutely hated the Shield; I felt like the only one cheering for them.
(5) Christian & Mark Henry & Rob Van Dam beat The Shield in a six-man tag match. The three faces had a fun little spot at the beginning, doing rock-paper-scissors to see who went first. Christian went in, and Reigns was in first for the Shield. The first few minutes were filled with stalling, with Christian having a taunt-off with all three Shield members. Christian got nearly zero offense in before tagging in Henry, who was a monster like usual. Once RVD was tagged in, the match really picked up. Ambrose did a lot of the work for The Shield, and he really may have put on the best performance. RVD did a lot of exciting moves, then tagged Christian back in. Christian started to mount a little bit of offense, but Rollins wasn’t letting him get too big of an advantage. Rollins tagged in Ambrose when Christian tagged in Henry, and Henry went to work. Henry went for the World’s Strongest Slam, but Rollins ran in and distracted him. Christian threw out Rollins, and Reigns ran in to hit Henry with the spear before turning around to a spear by Christian. Ambrose threw Christian out, and turned right into a WSS from Henry. RVD was tagged in and hit the Five Star Frogsplash for the win.
After the match, the faces spent about 5-6 minutes working the crowd and playing them up afterwards.
(6) Dolph Ziggler beat Big E. Langston in a No DQ match. The crowd seemed like they really picked up after the Shield match, even with the intermission. Right from the start, Big E. knocked Ziggler around before grabbing a kendo stick. Ziggler took a beating, and the fight spilled out to where I was. Ziggler took a lot of the blows, and when the action got back in the ring nothing changed. Ziggler ended up getting the kendo stick and hit Big E. three times before going for a pin, but Big E. kicked out. At this point, Big E. went over to Maddox and stole Maddox’s chair, then set it up in the corner. Big E. took Ziggler and tossed him right into it. At one point, A.J. went into the ring and nailed Ziggler with the kendo stick, but Ziggler then kicked out of the pin attempt. A.J. got right in the ref’s face, and she was kicked out. Big E. went for the Big Ending, but Ziggler slipped out and nailed the Zig-Zag.
Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman came down to the ring and Heyman cut a promo. The crowd was so loud that Heyman didn’t even start for a few minutes. Even when he started to talk, I couldn’t hear a word he said because of the heat. However, when the heat started to die and he told us that the IC Title would not be on the line because Axel refused to defend the title in the state of Oregon.
(7) C.M. Punk beat IC Champion Curtis Axel (w/Paul Heyman) in a non-title match. A very even match, both got their offense in. Punk spent a little time trying to get to Heyman, but Axel was able to step in and break it up each time. Punk made Axel tap with the Anaconda Vice, but Heyman was distracting the ref and the match went on. Axel hit Punk with the belt, but Punk kicked out of that. I can’t exactly remember how the match ended, (I believe Punk rolled up Axel) but somehow or another, Axel got angry at the ref and Heyman got in the ring as well.
When Axel bolted, Punk and Heyman were left alone. The crowd was going crazy, and Punk juiced the crowd while Heyman freaked out. Axel jumped back in and Heyman was able to get away. Punk quickly hit a GTS and then Axel and Heyman retreated. After the action, Punk cut a minute-long promo on Brock and Heyman.
(8) Daniel Bryan beat World Hvt. Champion Alberto Del Rio via DQ so Del Rio retained the World Title. Bryan worked the crowd really well, and Del Rio got a ton of heel heat. The match contained a lot of submissions, but spilled out to the outside for a little bit. The biggest spot was a suicide dive by Bryan, which was crazy to see. Del Rio controlled, but Bryan mounted a comeback. Del Rio hit a crazy backbreaker on Bryan, and then cut a promo on how the crowd should love him because he’s the champion. This was followed by a small ‘Si’ chant, but the match went on. Del Rio went for a Cross Arm-breaker, but Bryan reversed it into the LaBell Lock. Del Rio tried to get to the ropes, but ended up grabbing the mic (not sure why it was still in the ring) and hit Bryan with it.
After the match, Bryan put Del Rio in the LaBell Lock, then Del Rio quickly ran away. Bryan stayed to cut a promo, although it was very short. Bryan talked about how he grew up right next to here and when he comes back next it will be with the WWE Championship. He made a victory lap around the ring and high-fived everyone around the ring.
Live Notes: Maddox was ringside the entire time, as he was multitasking with GM and Ring Announcer duties. … The little kids were really disappointed when they found out Cena wouldn’t be there, but they still had quite a bit of fun it seemed like. … I saw Orton and Sheamus around the arena in the concourse during intermission, although neither of them came out during the show. I was expecting Orton to interrupt the Main Event, although that never happened. I understand Sheamus not coming out, though, since he was injured. … With this being my first wrestling show, I was shocked to see how interactive the wrestlers were. All the faces interacted around the ring and it was pretty fun. My personal highlight was Daniel Bryan coming up and high-fiving me after his match.
Biggest Pops:
(1) C.M. Punk
(2) Daniel Bryan. Those were the two biggest by far.
(3) Rob Van Dam
(4) Dolph Ziggler. After that, it really dropped off. I’d say that maybe (5) was R-Truth, although Mark Henry’s was nice.
Most Heat:
(1) Paul Heyman. It wasn’t close. Nobody could hear him speak, and every time he did anything it was met with boos.
(2) Big E. Langston
(3) The Shield
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