**Note: I found this on my hard drive while looking for other things. I thought I'd share this. This is from a live event I went to last year on WWE's Holiday Tour. These were written mostly for me at this point as I wanted to remember some of the details of what I had just seen. I hope you enjoy these thoughts and some of the pictures from the event.
When is WWE back in the area? This show was awesome. Let me get through some random thoughts about the building/set up before I discuss the actual show.
1) PPG Paints Arena is a beautiful arena. The home of the Penguins is ornate with great decor on the outside and on the inside. The facilities were clean and well kept up.
2) I wasn't a fan of the pricing at both the concessions and merchandise stands. WWE jacked up their T-shirt costs by $10 easily over their prices on WWE Shop and Amazon. I did get a cool Nakamura autograph though.
3) We were positioned right behind the video screens but in a position where we could clearly see the ring and have video monitor access for entrances if we wanted them.
4) The WWE had a good hour long preshow running before the event with clips running on the screens above the arena and several segments with the ring announcer.
Matches
1) The Usos retained the Smackdown Tag Team Championships over The New Day and Benjamin/Gable. Fun opening match. Nothing too exciting to start off the match with some crowd-pleasing hot-dogging by The New Day and some cheap heat tactics by Benjamin. Gable and Benjamin were definitely bigger than TV lets you believe.
2) Sin Cara beat Tye Dillinger. Dillinger worked as a heel during the match. Will it translate to TV? Only if Dillinger will actually be on TV on a consistent basis. Decent quick match. It was here one minute, gone the next.
Fashion Files video with The Ascension trying to hype up Breezeango about their match with the Bludgeon Brothers.
3) Ruby Riott/Liv Morgan over Becky Lynch/Naomi. Naomi's entrance live is cool. The Riott Squad is still a carbon copy of Absolution in my eyes.
4) The Bludgeon Brothers crushed Breezango in under 2 minutes. Harper and Rowan are legit
monsters in person.
5) Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Randy Orton defeated Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens when Randy Orton RKO'd Sami Zayn for the pinfall. Very good match. Orton was having fun with the crowd from the moment he came out to the moment he left the arena. It was great to see Orton at this stage in his career just cutting loose and enjoying everything. Zayn and Owens did a tremendous job on the heel side antagonizing the crowd. Nakamura is great live with his moves being crisp and very realistic. Roode had everyone doing the "glorious" chant.
6) Rusev, Aiden English, and Mojo Rawley defeated The Ascension and Zack Ryder. Once I saw the Ascension come out, I knew this result was coming. Great Rusev Day chants throughout the match with Rusev at times hulking himself up to the chant. I think they are missing the boat by not having Rusev and English as Tag Title contenders. This was clearly intended to be a glorified "bathroom break" as many in the crowd left to go to concessions during this match. End came when Rusev clocked Ryder with a kick allowing Mojo to hit a running forearm in the corner for the win.
7) Charlotte Flair retained the Women's Championship over Natalya, Lana, and Carmella when she made Natalya tap to the Figure 8. Very good match. I was surprised to see Lana in the match instead of Tamina since Tamina was advertised. Instead, Tamina played the role of Lana's outside "enforcer." Lana, for her part, did really well including yelling "LANA... CRUSH!" before locking in the Camel Clutch (ala Rusev). Carmella was there but didn't really do much in the match compared to the other three. Charlotte was front and center for most of the match, which she basically had to be as the only "face/hero" in the match.
Intermission (Set up for the steel cage)
8) Main Event: AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal (with the Singh Brothers) in a Steel Cage Match when AJ escaped over the top of the cage. Fun, harmless cage match that basically played like any other Jinder match. I missed parts of this match as a Ric Flair superfan was going around taking photographs with kids in front of me (it wasn't like I paid a good bit of money for my seats to watch a show or anything; nor was it like he couldn't have waited until the match was over). AJ was bumping like crazy in the cage, like he did 8 years ago when I saw him in a high school gym in Wheeling. (It was so great to see both him and Roode, who was also at that event, beyond TNA now and on the big stage of WWE.) Finish came when the Singh Brothers entered the cage and were dispatched by AJ a couple times before AJ climbed the cage and kicked the door into Jinder's face on the way out.
Overall, it was a very fun show and well worth the money. WWE returns to Pittsburgh for Smackdown Live in March, which probably won't work for me work wise.
But I think I accomplished my goals. My nephews, brother in law, and father all enjoyed their Christmas gift, and I returned to the promised land of live WWE wrestling for the first time in ten years. I will have to make this a more regular thing for myself to do.
_ _ _ _
I hope you enjoyed this quick review of this WWE Live Event. I am planning on seeing another one in the future. So, expect a similar report in the coming months. Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
When is WWE back in the area? This show was awesome. Let me get through some random thoughts about the building/set up before I discuss the actual show.
1) PPG Paints Arena is a beautiful arena. The home of the Penguins is ornate with great decor on the outside and on the inside. The facilities were clean and well kept up.
2) I wasn't a fan of the pricing at both the concessions and merchandise stands. WWE jacked up their T-shirt costs by $10 easily over their prices on WWE Shop and Amazon. I did get a cool Nakamura autograph though.
3) We were positioned right behind the video screens but in a position where we could clearly see the ring and have video monitor access for entrances if we wanted them.
4) The WWE had a good hour long preshow running before the event with clips running on the screens above the arena and several segments with the ring announcer.
Matches
1) The Usos retained the Smackdown Tag Team Championships over The New Day and Benjamin/Gable. Fun opening match. Nothing too exciting to start off the match with some crowd-pleasing hot-dogging by The New Day and some cheap heat tactics by Benjamin. Gable and Benjamin were definitely bigger than TV lets you believe.
2) Sin Cara beat Tye Dillinger. Dillinger worked as a heel during the match. Will it translate to TV? Only if Dillinger will actually be on TV on a consistent basis. Decent quick match. It was here one minute, gone the next.
Fashion Files video with The Ascension trying to hype up Breezeango about their match with the Bludgeon Brothers.
3) Ruby Riott/Liv Morgan over Becky Lynch/Naomi. Naomi's entrance live is cool. The Riott Squad is still a carbon copy of Absolution in my eyes.
4) The Bludgeon Brothers crushed Breezango in under 2 minutes. Harper and Rowan are legit
monsters in person.
5) Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Randy Orton defeated Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens when Randy Orton RKO'd Sami Zayn for the pinfall. Very good match. Orton was having fun with the crowd from the moment he came out to the moment he left the arena. It was great to see Orton at this stage in his career just cutting loose and enjoying everything. Zayn and Owens did a tremendous job on the heel side antagonizing the crowd. Nakamura is great live with his moves being crisp and very realistic. Roode had everyone doing the "glorious" chant.
6) Rusev, Aiden English, and Mojo Rawley defeated The Ascension and Zack Ryder. Once I saw the Ascension come out, I knew this result was coming. Great Rusev Day chants throughout the match with Rusev at times hulking himself up to the chant. I think they are missing the boat by not having Rusev and English as Tag Title contenders. This was clearly intended to be a glorified "bathroom break" as many in the crowd left to go to concessions during this match. End came when Rusev clocked Ryder with a kick allowing Mojo to hit a running forearm in the corner for the win.
 |
| Happier times for Rusev Day |
Intermission (Set up for the steel cage)
8) Main Event: AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal (with the Singh Brothers) in a Steel Cage Match when AJ escaped over the top of the cage. Fun, harmless cage match that basically played like any other Jinder match. I missed parts of this match as a Ric Flair superfan was going around taking photographs with kids in front of me (it wasn't like I paid a good bit of money for my seats to watch a show or anything; nor was it like he couldn't have waited until the match was over). AJ was bumping like crazy in the cage, like he did 8 years ago when I saw him in a high school gym in Wheeling. (It was so great to see both him and Roode, who was also at that event, beyond TNA now and on the big stage of WWE.) Finish came when the Singh Brothers entered the cage and were dispatched by AJ a couple times before AJ climbed the cage and kicked the door into Jinder's face on the way out.
 |
| Still WWE Champion |
Overall, it was a very fun show and well worth the money. WWE returns to Pittsburgh for Smackdown Live in March, which probably won't work for me work wise.
But I think I accomplished my goals. My nephews, brother in law, and father all enjoyed their Christmas gift, and I returned to the promised land of live WWE wrestling for the first time in ten years. I will have to make this a more regular thing for myself to do.
_ _ _ _
I hope you enjoyed this quick review of this WWE Live Event. I am planning on seeing another one in the future. So, expect a similar report in the coming months. Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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