I had the pleasure of attending Thursday night’s WWE Holiday Tour live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City with the Solomonster and Bryan Blade.
Pictures From WWE’s MSG Holiday Tour Live Event
Here are results from the show:
* Vickie Guerrero opened the show by welcoming everybody, wishing us a happy holiday season and running down the top matches for tonight, including Ryback vs. Paul Heyman in a NYC Street Fight and John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler in a steel cage match.
* The New Age Outlaws defeated Team Rhodes Scholars after Billy Gunn hit the Fameasser on Cody. This was a hot opener with the crowd very into the Outlaws. Even though the Outlaw’s ring entrance was modified to say, “Oh you didn’t know? You better call somebody” – both men had many non-PG moments during the match, including Billy Gunn encouraging the crowd to chant “Suck it” and doing crotch chops during the match.
* Brodus Clay pinned David Otunga after a big splash in a relatively short match. Otunga posed in the ring before the match. After it was over, Jack Swagger interrupted Clay’s victory celebration and challenged him to a match. Clay defeated Swagger in another short match and danced in the ring with the Funkadactyls and several children afterwards.
* WWE Divas champion Eve Torres defeated Kaitlyn. The crowd was dead for this one.
* Santino Marella defeated Tensai. As per the match stipulation, Tensai was forced by Vickie Guerrero to sing either Jingle Bells or Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. Fans voted via Twitter and text messages which song they wanted to hear – and Rudolph won. Tensai grabbed the microphone and said he doesn’t know how to sing these Christmas songs because he’s Jewish like Paul Heyman and ring announcer Justin Roberts. He warmed up by singing the first verse of Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song” before singing Rudolph. It was pretty entertaining, with Tensai screaming at the crowd to shut up while he was singing.
* The Shield defeated Team Hello No & The Miz after The Shield hit a 3-man powerbomb on Miz. This one started off with The Shield entering through the crowd and it immediately turned into a wild brawl. The general theme of the match was that the babyfaces would get the upper hand but then the Shield would outnumber them 2 on 1 or 3 on 2.
* Intermission.
* The Usos defeated the Prime Time Players after a double top rope splash & a double pin.
* Unites States champion Antonio Cesaro defeated Zack Ryder by pinfall after hitting the Neutralizer. Both men were very over, with Ryder coming close to winning towards the end. Unfortunately, no Swiss Death European uppercut from Cesaro.
* Ryback defeated Paul Heyman by pinfall after hitting Shell Shocked. Paul Heyman came out first and ran down NYC, including their sports teams and the WWE legends who “built” Madison Square Garden, including Superstar Billy Graham, Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Steve Austin. Heyman declared himself the “Baddest Dude In New York City” when Ryback’s music hit and the place erupted.
With both men in the ring and the match about to start, The Shield hit the ring and attacked Ryback 3 on 1. Ryback got some offense in but they left Ryback laid out as Paul Heyman watched the attack from outside the ring. The Shield set up a table in the corner of the ring but never got to use it, because Kane, Daniel Bryan and The Miz ran down to even the odds. The 6 men brawled and eventually left the ring, with Ryback still laid out from The Shield’s attack.
Heyman got back in the ring and tried to attack Ryback, but literally within 30 seconds, Ryback got him up for Shell Shocked and got the pin. Ryback celebrated and was leaving the ring when he realized there was a table still set up. Ryback returned to the ring, picked up Paul Heyman and gave him a running speer through the table. Heyman sold the effects of the attack for several minutes outside the ring.
* John Cena defeated Dolph Ziggler in the Steel Cage match main event after hitting the Attitude Adjustment and getting the pinfall. The crowd was red hot for this one. AJ Lee and Big E Langston accompanied Dolph Ziggler to the ring and got physical at several points during the match, including Langston slamming the cage door in John Cena’s face. There were several spots where Ziggler came very close to escaping the cage by climing up the top, but Cena would always catch him. At one point, Dolph Ziggler was escaping through the cage door and John Cena climbed the top of the cage and slammed the door in his face from the outside. Towards the end of the match, both Big E Langston and AJ entered the cage, with Langston giving Cena his running body tackle move & his finisher. AJ slapped John Cena in the face as well, with Cena responding by grabbing AJ Lee and giving her a big kiss on the lips. Lots of close pinfalls towards the end and the place went bananas when Cena eventually won.