Submitted by Maconga Bacon
I just got back from the house show tonight in Macon, Georgia. It was a pretty damn good show. Overall, the crowd was pretty non-smarky, very old-school when it came to heel/face alignments.
WWE Tag Team Champions New Day vs. Usos & Ryback
The New Day, with the first second generation trombone in WWE history opened the show. Unfortunately, they didn’t open the door until 7:15 for a 7:30 show, so most of the crowd was still coming in when they came out. A lot of “NEW DAY SUCKS” chants got going. The finish came when Ryback hit the Shellshock on Xavier Woods and tagged in Jey Uso for the top rope splash. Overall it was a very good match to start with a lot of back and forth action.
Stardust vs. Titus O’Neil
Stardust is incredibly charismatic. Fun fact, the Macon Centreplex where the event took place is where Cody Rhodes won some big high school wrestling championship, maybe even the state championship, I didn’t hear the people beside me clearly. Cody came out first and after he finished humping a security guard’s face, he got int he ring and laid down with his chin on his knuckles. When he heard Titus’ music, he just went limp and looked incredibly defeated. That was exactly what happened. Titus pretty much squashed Stardust. Crowd had a lot of “CODY” chants and cheered Titus, although it was a very generic face cheer out of obligation.
– Kevin Owens promo: Good quick promo by KO. He pointed out that he had wrestled in Macon before, and hated the city. He said he was going to win back his Intercontinental Championship and and get the hell out of the city.
Los Matadors vs. Hype Bros
The Hype Bros were not advertised, so this was a surprise. Honestly, the Hype Bros music is so freaking loud it was hard to gauge the reaction, but I was marking out. Mojo is a freak of nature and is charismatic. Ryder seemed bored. He did his stuff, and did most of the ring work, but Mojo was the real star. Hype Bros quickly won and Mojo was amazing, taking photographs at ringside with all the fans. Seemed like an awesome dude, and I can’t wait to see what he does in WWE.
Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens
Dean was over with the crowd and the crowd hated Kevin Owens. This match was glorious. These two are so amazing in the ring. After some good back and forth, KO hit the pop-up powerbomb, but Dean kicked out. After that, they had some more back and forth until Dean pulled off the Dirty Deed for the pinfall. Dean Ambrose is a class act. As soon as the match was over, he walked around taking selfies and ringside with the fans and signed a ton of autographs. Dean was OVER with the crowd. I’d say his reaction was #3 of the night.
Social Outcasts vs. R-Truth & Sandizzle
Heath Slater and Curtis Axel came out after a quick intermission to pimp autographed merchandise and Wrestlemania. Curtis Axel cut a pretty cool promo about being sick because he ate Bacon…in Macon…He went back and forth with Slater about Macon Bacon, Macon food, Macon in general, and then culminated it by saying it wasn’t the food that made him sick, it was the people. R-Truth was out next to say WHAT’S UP and get the crowd up and going again after the break. His partner, Damien Sandow, worked as Sandizzle, wearing sunglasses and a black doo-rag. I guess Golden Truth is still on the way. Sandizzle used WHOMP THERE IT IS as his catchphrase. He wrestled in his sunglasses the whole match, which was pretty funny. After a lot of crowd hype, and a Bo run around the ring from hashtag Social Outcasts (sans Bo), R-Truth and Sandizzle got the victory.
– Rusev Promo: Rusev cut a promo from the back stating that when this match was booked, Reigns was the champion, but he robbed him of it at Royal Rumble by putting him through a table. He put over Lana as beautiful, hot, etc.
Divas Champion Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Paige
I will say this…. Becky Lynch was OVER! I don’t mean kind of over. I mean, she was #2 pop of the night, and that was constant through the match. The crowd loved her. Paige worked as a face. At this point, she’s reaching Big Show levels of face/heel turns. Charlotte is pretty damn big in real life. I was surprised by how amazing she looked in person compared to how she looks on television. Paige pushed her “THIS IS MY HOUSE” which got a big reaction since she was working as a face. For a triple threat, they didn’t do much with that aspect. Charlotte got a figure four headlock on Becky and it just dragged on for way too long. Most of the time, one diva was outside of the ring recovering. While Becky was out of the ring, Paige locked in the PTO. Becky got back in and broke it up. Becky slapped on the Disarmer and the crowd went crazy, but Paige broke it up. Becky was out of the ring and Charlotte rolled Paige up with tights for the pin. BECKY. WAS. OVER. It was magical. After the match, Paige pulled Becky into the ring and told the crowd it was her birthday. Paige sang Happy Birthday to her with the crowd. Great moment. I uploaded a video of it, but potato quality, so sadface.
Roman Reigns vs. Rusev
Man, the place came UNGLUED when Roman came through the crowd. Easily pop #1 by an incredible margin. He got a quick upper hand and then Rusev walked out on the match. He took a microphone and said that since Roman was no longer champion, and it wasn’t a championship match, he was done. Roman ran up the stage and brought him back. Crowd loved that. Roman and Rusev went back and forth until Rusev got the Accolade on. (Remember when that move was incredible?) Roman quickly powered out, got the superman punch, got the spear, and it was over.