Mat Thompson sent this report in.
WWE, Taipei 7/6 Results
This was WWE’s second tour to Taiwan and it was a pretty great, solid show. Much more entertaining and solid than house shows I had been to living in Canada.
Yoshi Tatsu & Great Khali def. Epico and Primo
Good opening match to warm the crowd up. Some high spots and a lot of humor. Epico got knocked out by Khali before the match and was unconcious on the apron for the first five minutes. When he finally came to, he was hit again by Khali and laid on the ground. Crowd was really hot for Khali.
Wade Barrett def. Zack Ryder
Barrett pretty much just pummeled huim most of the match. Ryder some some of his spots, but the crowd really wasn’t too hot for him. Wade seemed to get more cheers even when he was cheating or bullying him. Ryder took a great Bull Hammer knock out in the end.
Paul Heyman came on the video screen saying he chose not to come to Taipei because he had seen how people lived here and he didn’t want to set foot in the country, but he sent the video to introduce the newest Paul Heyman guy…
Intercontinental Championship Match
Curtis Axel def. The Miz
Realy great match. Axel really worked the crowd, even pissing off those who were cheering for him and trying to make Mr. Perfect chants. He yelled ‘I’m perfect now’ a few times as he went at Miz. Good length match and of course Miz took him out after the match to keep the crowd happy. Axel’s finisher was pretty weak and most were surprised it was the end of the match.
Natalya def. Aksana
Not a bad women’s match. They let them wrestle and Aksana seems to be pretty solid, but Natalya pretty much dominated and won with the sharpshooter.
Chris Jericho def. Antonio Cesaro
Probably match of the night! Awesome match and Jericho was way over with everyone. Cesaro really worked the crowd for the heat and really got it. At one point he was yelling ta a fan with a YOU SUCK sign which Jericho then stole and walked around with while everyone was chanting. Cesaro tried to leave but Jericho stopped him and they had one hell of a match. It was great to see a veteran and an up-and-comer really get to do their thing in the ring. Lots of back and forth and a lot of offense by Cesaro. Impressive to say the least.
Intermission… Poor Justin Roberts trying to sell things to the crowd.
US Championship Match
Dean Ambrose vs Sheamus
Dean came through the crowd with some pretty good support until the Great White came out and everyone went crazy. The match was pretty solid, with Dean really garnering heat from the crowd, always yelling at and fighting with the crowd, bailing out and fighting dirty. When Sheamus had the upperhand out came Rollins and Reigns, which then brought out Kane and Bryan which let to…
Sheamus, Kane & Daniel Bryan def. The SHIELD (Ambrose, Reigns & Rollins)
Rollins and Bryan stole the match every time they were in. Kane didn’t wrestle much, which was surprising. Very good, long match with many spots and some great wrestling from the newcomers. Rollins really played to the crowd, always interacting and getting them going. He pretty much stole the match just through his action. Sheamus won the match by kicking Ambrose’s head off, but by the end the crowd seemed more in favor of SHIELD, or at least more focus on them. Bryan and the YES chants were over huge!
WWE Championship Tables Match
John Cena def. Ryback
This match was about 5 minutes long at the most. Pretty weak. The broke a few tables, beat each other up and Cena played to the crowd which was pretty pro Cena at first, but then they seemed to turn pro Ryback. My section seemed pretty scared to chant anything other than Cena chants until I started screaming CENA SUCKS and getting it going. Taipei is not a very vocal crowd (I’ve been to pretty silent AJPW and NJPW shows in the past). Cena won putting Ryback through the table and most people seemed surprised it was over so fast.
In a very impressive move, Cena took the microphone at the end and spoke to everyone in Chinese. He thanked the crowd for coming, asked them if they enjoyed the show, told us how beautiful and friendly Taiwan is, said they would come back soon and that he and the WWE loved Taiwan. I’m not a fan of his, but as a foreigner living here, his speech to the crowd was amazing and impressive. I know it’s a marketing ploy, but his Chinese was very good (which he apologized for not being good in Chinese) and the crowd really appreciated it.
Merchandise was a little thin. They only had Jericho (sold out fast), Miz, Sheamus, a Taipei World Tour shirt, Ryback and a few different Cena shirts. I guess they don’t want to bring too much overseas with them, but no Bryan, SHIELD or Kane shirts really surprised me. And the program is just a full color picture book without even an event insert in it.
Overall the match quality was great, the wrestlers really played the crowd and it was worth the money. Ticket prices were a little steep (cheapest being $35US up to $200 for ringside), but they still had about 2/3 of the arena full. Lots of people hoping for Punk, but you can’t have everyone there, and the card was better than I expected. Great show.