A show three years in the making provided enough entertainment — and unexpected plot twists — to send fans at the Amarillo Civic Center home happy Saturday night.
The WWE returned to Amarillo to perform Saturday Night’s Main Event house show to a packed crowd.
Fans were treated to an eight match card featuring some of the RAW brand’s best WWE superstars. The main event of the night was a triple threat match for the Raw Women’s Championship, in which Bianca Belair put her title on the line against Asuka and Becky Lynch.
Each of the three women played to their strengths – Asuka with her attacks, Lynch with her creativity, and Belair with her athletic and physical prowess – to put down a pay-per-view quality match.
Belair was able to keep her championship by hitting Lynch – a constant opponent of hers over the past year – with the Kiss of Death. After the win, Belair spent about 15 minutes taking photos, signing autographs, and meeting fans who hung out to get a moment with the WWE’s EST.
The show was not without quirks, as the opening game of the night — a tag team match between The Street Profits and Alpha Academy — ran into a problem early on in the encounter.
Shortly after the match started, the ring’s center rope flew off the pole, leaving each of the four participants amused by the circumstances. The Superstars showed their veteran instincts and continued the game without much trouble.
After their win, The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) celebrated a bit with the Amarillo believers.
After the crew repaired the ring, MVP let the crowd at the Civic Center know how much better New York City is compared to Amarillo. His client, Omos, then put Robert Roode away in a quick encounter.
Ezekiel – who is certainly not his older brother Elias – was attacked from behind by Tommaso Ciampa before their match could officially begin. Though he fought from behind for most of the fight, Ezekiel took the win by countering a move by Ciampa and taking the 1-2-3.
Rey Mysterio and his son Dominic tried to get rid of Veer Mahan in a 2-on-1 handicap match, but Mahan’s sheer brutality eventually won when Mahan had Dominic drained.
The final match of the first session came as a bit of a surprise as Damian Priest of The Judgment Day took on AJ Styles in what was billed as an Amarillo Street Fight.
Before the match could even begin, at least one very rowdy fan encouraged the two contestants to introduce a table into the match. Towards the end, Styles obliged, introduced the table and later went out of the way to send Priest blasting through the woods. Styles topped it off with the Phenomenal Forearm.
A short hiatus was followed by an edition of Miz TV, the most must-see The Miz talk show in WWE history. Miz was joined by United States Champion Theory and the two took turns trying to enrage the Amarillo crowd – with great success.
Bobby Lashley interrupted the pair’s pose-off and ended up facing The Miz in a one-on-one match. Lashley was about to win before Theory broke The Hurt Lock’s entry, giving Lashley the win by disqualification.
In the final men’s fight of the night, Seth “Freakin” Rollins faced off against Riddle, which was originally advertised as the Amarillo Street Fight – as the saying goes, card subject to change. Rollins spent the early part of the match arguing with a fan in the front row, even taking the audience member’s rubber chicken and throwing it across the arena.
Riddle channeled his inner Randy Orton – his best friend – to hit Rollins with an RKO to put The Original Bro in the victory column.
Fans began queuing at 4pm to enter the arena for the 7:30pm show. They queued for two hours before being let in. They were ready for the wrestling to return and were treated to an action packed night.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Fans get an action-packed show, with some twists, at WWE’s first show in Amarillo in 3 years