This Chaos Column is a recap of World Wrestling Entertainment RAW House Show at Staples Center, Los Angeles. Large crowd on hand at Staples Center–most of the seats except the Northern End of the upper level were filled–for the house show. The Kings hockey boards were essentially in place as a barrier between the 100’s & the floor, so the turnover from a WWE house show venue to a Kings hockey rink shouldn’t be that long. Anyhow, the venue were essentially primed for later use at both the Kings & Clippers games the following day, so the fans on the floor & lower levels could look up at the screens below the scoreboard.
1 – Brodus Clay (w/ his Funkadactyls, Naomi & Cameron) p. JTG w/ the Running Splash, then danced w/ a few of the younger wrestling fans. I noticed JTG had his “Brooklyn Nets” trunks on. Really, JTG, in Lakers/Clippers country?
2 – Jack Swagger made Alex Riley tapout to the 2nd Ankle Lock submission.
3 – Newly crowned Divas Champion Kaitlyn successfully defended her title, evading Tamina Snuka’s Snuka Splash, then hit the Spear for the pin.
* Damien Sandow comes out next for his match, and cut a promo in which he asked the fans a trio of questions that had me laughing throughout the whole segment. “Which WWE Superstar is better than Damien Sandow? No one! YOU’RE WELCOME!”
4 – NXT talent Bo Dallas got the DQ-win over Damien Sandow when Cody Rhodes ran in and attacked him. Rey Mysterio comes out to make the save, and before the Rhodes Scholars duo could get to the back, they got stopped by Raw GM Vickie Guerrero, who ordered them to go back to the ring for a tag team match.
5 – Rey Mysterio & Bo Dallas def. The Rhodes Scholars when Rey Mysterio hit the 619 on both Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow, then hit his Springboard Splash on Cody Rhodes for the pin.
6 – Fans chose a No-DQ match over a 2-of-3 Falls Match for the John Cena/Dolph Ziggler match, but before the match could get underway, Vickie Guerrero ordered AJ Lee & Big E Langston to the back. Great back-and-forth action throughout the match that saw 1 chair & 2 tables used. The first table was set by Cena in a corner, which he put Big E Langston through when the referee was knocked down. Ziggler hit a Superkick, but only got a 2-count, so he got the 2nd table set in the ring, only to get his “Attitude Adjusted” through the table, and that was how Cena pinned “The Show Off”. ANOTHER SHOWSTEALER, ZIGGY!
7 – After intermission, Zack Ryder p. Tensai w/ the Rough Ryder in a short but effective match while the fans got back to their seats. WWWYKI!
Shot of the Night – WWE RAW – 01/18/13
SM – Antonio Cesaro successfully defended the U.S. Championship, “neutralizing” The Miz in a great match. HHHHHHEEEEEEYYYYYY!
* When Ring Announcer Justin Roberts said that WWE “was looking forward to returning to Los Angeles in the near future”, I was like, “Yep, I’ll see you guys again…..at SummerSlam on 8/18.”
M – Ryback got the DQ-win over WWE Champion CM Punk, when he got hit in the leg w/ a chair while pursuing “the cookie puss”, as The Rock would put it. Punk landed some chair shots to Ryback’s back after, but a corner chair shot was evaded, and he got Shell Shocked to close it out.
For More Photos of the Show, visit my gallery