This CHAOS COLUMN is a recap of Taping of WWE Main Event & Friday Night SmackDown at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario on February 11th 2014. It was hard to tell how full the smaller venue of the Citizens Business Bank Arena was, but it did look like a capacity crowd on hand for the taping. Sitting 4 rows behind the announcers table provided a great view of the action, and I was seated next to a couple of guys, who brought that “Orton Hates Puppies” sign, that was probably seen on TV.
* Lone dark match of the show saw Alexander Rusev (Knokx Pro’s Miroslav) making Dolph Ziggler tapout to the Cobra Clutch after a vicious STO or Powerslam. With his Bulgarian background and strong style approach to complement the big frame, I think he’ll be a great addition to the main roster.
2/12 MAIN EVENT
* On The Wyatt Family def. Sin Cara & Los Matadores when Bray Wyatt p. Sin Cara with Sister Abigail: Decent match, but I wasn’t that much into it.
* On Natalya making Aksana tapout to the Sharpshooter submission: Good Divas match overall.
* On IC Big E (Langston) hitting the Big Ending on 3MB Members Drew McIntyre, then Jinder Mahal: Good matches to close that episode, and it was nice to see Drew in action.
2/14 SMACKDOWN
* On The Shield def. Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, & Christian when Dean Ambrose p. Christian after dodging Sheamus’ Brogue Kick, then waited for Roman Reigns to Spear Sheamus : Very good opener for me, though I was hoping Roman or Dean grabbed the mic and talked smack with The Wyatt Family afterwards.
* On Jack Swagger winning the Fatal-4-Way with the Patriot Lock submission on Kofi Kingston to earn a shot at Big E’s IC: Great match that saw some good chain & counter-wrestling. I liked the counter that Swagger did on Kofi to roll into the signature submission hold for the win.
* On Eva Marie p. Alicia Fox with a rollup, followed by the “Bad News Barrett” segment: The Divas match was the weakest of the SD card, but the BNB segment was good.
* On The Usos & Rhodes def. Ryback, Curtis Axel, & The New Age Outlaws when Jimmy Uso p. Road Dogg with the Superfly Splash: Great tag team match, and I was impressed with Jey Uso’s durability.
* On Darren Young p. Damien Sandow with a rollup: Reasonably short match, but I liked the way the brewing Young/Titus O’Neil feud is starting up.
* On The Miz p. Fandango with the SCF after Santino Marella & Emma distracted Summer Rae: When I was there live Last Tuesday Night, I didn’t catch Santino’s Cobra that rolled into Miz’s SCF. Other than that, I think the Santino & Emma/Fandango & Summer Rae feud would be a great low-mid card storyline to carry into WM30.
* On (Antonio) Cesaro “Neutralizing” Randy Orton: Excellent match, and regardless of the EC outcome, I think Cesaro’s stock will rise going into WM30.
Shot of the Night 02-11-14
Overall, a great night of taping, and the energy inside the arena was great. MOTN obviously goes to the Cesaro/Orton match, followed by the 6-man tag match, then the four-way. I’ll have to wait and see what pans out in the EC PPV before I consider grabbing the WWE Network, but if I do, it’ll be for the PPV’s as well as NXT.
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