WWE Live: Augusta, Maine (7/17/16) Review by Nicholas Pruner

My name is Nicholas Pruner and I am responsible for the Smackdown Spoilers here at WNS. Now that Smackdown is going live, in a few weeks after I get cable in my house I will be doing the live results for Smackdown. Make sure you check them out!

But tonight, it's not about Smackdown. It's about the WWE Live show in Augusta, Maine I attended. Here I will review the entire show, and matches, with ratings similar to how schools grade work (A-F). It was a fun show that lasted about 2 hours and 26 minutes in length. I expected it to go to 3 hours. I was excited about the show all weekend. Did it live up to my hype? Let's find out.

I went to Denny's before the show and had an awesome burger called the Slamburger. It was basically a big breakfast in a burger. So good and so filling, so my mood was up going into the show.

Before the show started, there was a poll asking us which Summerslam match we wanted to watch. The choices were Undertaker/Stone Cold (1998), HBK/HHH (2002), and Lesnar/Cena (2014). Undertaker and Stone Cold won so they showed us a 5 minute clip of highlights of that match. That is better than sitting around doing nothing. I liked that.

The host was Mike Rome, who is the ring announcer for the Cruiserweight Classic. The ring announcer was Dasha Fuentes, who is an interviewer and ring announcer for NXT. 

There was a funny promo with the Dudley Boyz. D-Von said something then Bubba told him to talk slower because they were in Maine. Simple heat, but it was pretty entertaining.

Enzo and Cass made their entrance. They did no special promo. Enzo did his thing then Cass said he wanted to get right to the point and said that there's only one word to describe the Dudleyz. When he was about to spell said word, the Dudleyz interrupted. During the Dudley's entrance, Bubba held up a sign that said "My birthday", and threw it on the ground. During Enzo and Cass's entrance, Enzo held the sign up so it showed up on the titantron.

The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von) Vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass

The Dudleyz stalled big time. When D-Von finally went to attack Enzo, Enzo continuously avoided attacks until Enzo was finally caught by Bubba after a tag by the Dudleyz. Enzo took control over Bubba and got a tag to Cass, who did some big spots and tagged Enzo back in. The Dudleyz soon took over for a few minutes until Enzo got the tag to Cass, and they took over. After the Rocket Launcher by Enzo and Cass, Enzo covered for the pin.

Winners: Enzo Amore and Big Cass

After the match, Cass finally spelt S-A-W-F-T and the crowd was happy.

My Thoughts: B-, A simple tag match with the formula that we see all the time. The heels worked over Enzo until he got the tag to Cass which led to the tides being turned. It worked. Enzo and Cass were loved by the fans. It was more comedic at the beginning then it turned serious in the end. Having this match first was good because Enzo and Cass got one of the biggest pops of the whole show.

Sasha Banks made her entrance. She gave the birthday kid from before her glasses. That's awesome. When she left, she signed the kid's sign. That's even better.

Sasha Banks Vs Summer Rae

Summer slapped Banks, then when Banks charged for an attack, Summer screamed and went to the ropes, causing a breakup by the ref. That was funny. She did it like 2 more times, until Banks caught her. The match was a simple Women’s match. The only thing that really stood out was Rae mocking Banks by doing her pose that Banks does on the apron during her entrance. It’s obvious that Summer has gotten much better at getting heel heat. Sasha won with the Bank Statement. The crowd loved her.

Winner by Submission: Sasha Banks

My Thoughts: It gets a B, The match worked. Summer was so good at getting heel heat that it made Sasha’s comeback look credible. Summer mocking Banks made her look like a bitch. It really worked and the crowd gave her some real heat.

The Golden Truth (R-Truth & Goldust) Vs. Breezeango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango)

R-Truth was loved by the fans. The match was stalled for several minutes. What really stood out was when Breeze and Fandango hugged after Goldust dominated Fandango. That was great. The heels then took over and dominated R-Truth for several minutes until Truth made the tag to Goldust who then immediately took over. The faces won. I was in the bathroom when it happened.

Winners: The Golden Truth

My Thoughts: I’m not going to rate it because I missed half of the match. It was alright from what I’ve seen. I hope Breezeango sticks through the draft. They are an awesome team with a bright future, and Golden Truth is good as a veteran comedy-team too. I’m a fan of both.

While they were leaving, I'm pretty sure Goldust signed the birthday kid's sign. Man, he's getting a lot of attention. That's cool though.

Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (w/ Maryse) (c) Vs. Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund)

Miz worked over Young early. Maryse got involved later on. After Miz put a resthold on Young the crowd tried to get him back into the match, but there was only like 30 people clapping him back into it. Sorry Darren, you’re not over yet my man. After Maryse got involved again, the ref threw her out to a big pop from the crowd. After that, Darren’s pops got better. They got even better after Bob Backlund got thrown out after Miz claimed that Backlund assaulted him, something that never happened. Darren tries to go for the Gut Check, but Miz breaks out of it and later tries to run off, but is stopped by Backlund. Darren gets a couple of nearfalls until Miz runs off through the crowd and Darren wins by Countout. Obviously Miz is still Intercontinental Champion.

Winner by Countout: Darren Young

My Thoughts: I’ll give it a B-. It was alright. No one really cared about Young until Maryse got involved, then it made him look more like a credible babyface. Maryse and Miz both did a great job at reacting in a huge way when Maryse was thrown out. Then Miz looked overly confident when he got Backlund thrown out. When Backlund came back out and stopped Miz from running off, he got a big reaction. Miz, being the veteran, then decided to go a different way and ran through the crowd. It leaves Darren looking strong and it keeps the title on Miz. It works.

The Vaudevillians (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) Vs. Kane & Big Show

The Vaudevillians attacked Kane after his entrance until Show made the save. They worked over Kane until Kane got the tag to Show. The match ended after a double chokeslam by both big men onto a separate Vaudevillian. The crowd was going ape-shit for the old guys.

Winners: Kane & Big Show

My Thoughts: It gets a D+. Squash match. Only lasted about 2 minutes in length. At least the veterans got nice pops.

After the match, Big Show made his way up the ramp. As he was interacting with a fan, the Vaudevillians ran past him looking scared. That was funny. As Show was leaving, he looked pissed about something and signalled something to the sound guys. He looked pissed. Not sure what that was about.

Intermission

Charlotte (w/ Dana Brooke) Vs. Alicia Fox

I barely remember this match, and I just saw it four hours ago. All I remember is Brooke trying to get heel heat but she is just awful. No one really cared for Fox either. She barely got a pop for her entrance. Charlotte won with the Figure 8.

Winner by Submission: Charlotte

My Thoughts: D-. The crowd didn’t care and neither did I. Dana was horrible at getting heel heat and no one really cared about Fox at all. They should have scratched both Women’s matches and made Charlotte Vs. Banks and gave them the combined 15 minutes that the two matches got. That would of been much better.

After the match, Brooke and Charlotte attacked Fox until Sasha Banks made the save. It was predictable, but the crowd loves Banks here so it worked for her.

Baron Corbin Vs. Titus O’Neil

Titus had control for like 30 seconds then Corbin took over. End of Days got the win for Corbin.

Winner by Pinfall: Baron Corbin

My Thoughts: Squash match. Waste of time. Seems like it was thrown together quickly after Slater was injured by Titus the night before. I would've rather seen Slater. Nothing against Corbin, but Titus is awful 99% of the time.

Kalisto made his entrance first for the main event, then Sami Zayn, then Cesaro. YES! Cesaro has his suit. His entrance is awesome.He had a new entrance video too. Lana then made her entrance wearing a red suit. She said that Augusta was a little village. Good insult, considering it's the state's capital and second biggest city. She introduced Rusev, who made his entrance. He had boxing gloves on. Haven't noticed if those are the norm for him, but they looked cool at least.

United States Championship: Rusev (w/ Lana) Vs. Kalisto Vs. Cesaro Vs. Sami Zayn

There was a series of rollups from all four men, that was stopped after Rusev dominated all of them. The faces soon took over for a short amount of time. Rusev with a huge kick to Cesaro, sending him out of the ring. He then dumped Kalisto over and worked over Sami for a good amount of time until Cesaro got back into the ring. Rusev still dominated, and did so until Sami and Kalisto worked Rusev over into a corner, and got him on the top rope. Zayn tried for a superplex, but couldn’t do it. Kalisto then tried to help, but both men could not superplex Rusev. Cesaro then grabbed both Kalisto and Zayn, and powerbombed both of them while they superplexed Rusev! Holy shit! I know we’ve seen that spot multiple times in matches like these, but seeing it live was awesome. Cesaro then took over, did the Cesaro Swing on Rusev, then did the Uppercut Train on all three men. The shots to Sami were brutal. Zayn was taken out by a big kick from Rusev, and Cesaro was taken out by Kalisto, allowing Rusev to lock in the Accolade for the Submission victory over Kalisto. Good ending to a good match.

Winner by Submission and Still United States Champion: Rusev

My Thoughts: A-, Great match between four of the best competitors on the roster. I missed a lot, and I regret not bringing a notepad to take notes, but I hit the biggest and most memorable spots. The original match that was listed for the show was Miz/Zayn/Cesaro. That match would have been good, but this match was better. All four men just really played their role really well, with Zayn and Kalisto taking some good bumps and Rusev being the monster that dominated most of the match. It worked really well and it was a memorable match. It really had four parts to it with the first being the team up on Rusev by the three competitors, then the second part came when Rusev dominated them all. Then Cesaro came back and did his big moves then the finish came.

Post match, Cesaro hit a Neutralizer, Zayn hit the Helluva Kick, and Kalisto hit the Salida Del Sol. After that, all three men’s music played as Cesaro took a picture with a guy who looked just like him in the front row, and the three men did Zayn’s dance around Rusev’s downed body. That was pretty funny. Good way to end the show.

3 Biggest Heels:

1. The Miz

2. Rusev/Lana

3. Charlotte

3 Biggest Faces:

1. Enzo/Big Cass

2. Sasha Banks

3. Cesaro

My Final Thoughts: I had a lot of fun at this show. If you've never attended a WWE Live show, it isn't really about the quality of wresting. It's about seeing the guys who work super hard coming to your area to entertain you. We get shows in Maine about one weekend every year, so it doesn't really matter to the fans about quality. We just want to see these guys in person. Even though we got the "B Team" (All the big stars (Styles/Rollins/Ambrose/New Day) were in New York after a show as Madison Square Garden), it was still a good show with the main event being the stealer. Sasha Banks did really well as a babyface here too. I absolutely love her, and judging by her reactions she got here and what she's been getting on TV, when she finally becomes Women's Champion the crowd will love her. It will be a huge moment. Surprisingly, Big Show and Kane got huge reactions too. It was crazy that they got bigger reactions then current superstars Kalisto and Golden Truth. But, I guess this crowd, much like I do, has respect for them for combining over 40 years in the business. It was a good mix of veterans and new guys, because the Dudleyz were there too. 

Overall, the wrestling was OK,and some finishes were questionable, but I didn't really care. I still had a lot of fun and I'm so glad I attended this show and I hope WWE comes back next year.