Wrestleview.com’s own Mike Tedesco attended the event live, and he passed along the following report.
12/30 WWE Results: East Rutherford, New Jersey
* Justin Gabriel def. Hunico w/ Kamacho. Gabriel won with a 450 Splash in a decent little opener.
* Tony Chimel announced that Randy Orton would not be at the show due to his injury. The offered refunds to anyone who wanted them, but I didn’t see anyone leave.
* Wade Barrett cut a great promo about Randy Orton’s injury (he claimed he’s out for six months) and how everyone should respect the Barrett Barrage.
* Sheamus def. Wade Barrett in a Street Fight. They fought through the crowd and used some weapons. Drew McIntyre interfered in the match, and he nearly ruined it for Sheamus. Sheamus then pinned Barrett after a Brogue Kick. This was a fun little match.
* Cody Rhodes and Booker T were going to have their match, but Rhodes attacked him before the bell rang. Booker T was helped to the back, and Rhodes cut a nice promo about how he thinks he’s the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. Rhodes says he is Smackdown.
* Ted DiBiase def. Jinder Mahal. I went and got food during this match, so I guess you can tell how interested in it I was. I’d rather sit through the Diva’s match than DiBiase/Mahal.
* Seth Rollins of FCW def. Tyson Kidd in a very decent match. Rollins was high energy, and he got the crowd behind him a bit. Cody Rhodes attacked both men after the match.
* Hornswoggle came out, and Rhodes threw him down to the mat. That brought out Booker T, and he said he was going to give Rhodes a good ol’ fashioned Jersey ass whoopin’.
* Booker T def. Cody Rhodes via DQ in an Intercontinental Championship match. Booker T looked good in the match, and he had the crowd on his side big time. Booker T gave Rhodes the Scissors Kick after the DQ, and he brought out Hornswoggle. They both did a spinaroonie.
* Alicia Fox and AJ def. Natalya and Tamina. This was advertised as a “Santa’s Little Helper Match”, but they decided against doing that at the show. Standard match with Aksana as the referee.
* Air Boom def. Epico and Primo to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. Epico and Primo actually won the titles, but another referee ran down to say that Kingston had his foot on the bottom rope. They restarted the match, and Air Boom won handily. This was about WWE Superstars quality.
* They had an intermission so they could set up the cage.
* Daniel Bryan def. Big Show and Mark Henry in a Steel Cage Match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. This was very good. Big Show was bumping a lot, and Henry spent a lot of time on the mat. Bryan was hanging off the side of the cage, and Henry was crawling out at the same time. Bryan dropped to the floor first, and he won. Drew McIntyre and Wade Barrett ran out afterward, and Sheamus cleared the ring of them. Big Show then gave them a double chokeslam. They teased tension with Big Show and Bryan after that.
* This was a fun show to go to, as all house shows are usually, but the lack of stars on this show was startling. I hope Orton comes back soon, because if this is what they’re going forward with on Smackdown, they’re going to be some long shows to watch. The arena was barely half full as well. Though I have to say, the new entrance ramp looks great. They did a really nice job with that.