There is a vocal crowd in attendance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium as the WWE begin the first of their two shows of the WWE Live Dune Bash Tour on Thursday evening. Graham Caygill reports from the venue.
R-Truth beats Bo Dallas by pin fall
WWE superstar Alicia Fox was first out to welcomes the crowd to the event. The crowd warms to R-Truth as they sang “You’re a legend” to him.
Bo Dallas claims he is starting a “Bo Dallas winning streak” which is met by catcalls of derision. Dallas dominates the early exchanges. He throws R-Truth to the outside, but R-Truth survived and wins a five-minute match with his finisher.
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Damien Sandow and Fandango beat Los Matadors in a tag match
The crowd mimic and show their approval for Fandango, the WWE’s first, and almost certainly only, ballroom dancing superstar.
Los Matadors heel it up as the crowd love both Fandango and Sandow. Sandow plays the face in peril and big reaction when Fandango gets the hot tag.
Fandango gets the pin to win the match and leave the fans happy.
Kalisto pins Ryback to retain his United States title
Ryback cuts a promo before the match saying he is “the best big guy in the world” and he had “four years of negativity” from the fans.
Ryback controls the opening minutes of the WrestleMania 32 rematch, at one point lifting Kalisto above his head and throwing him into the ring from outside.
Lots of good nearfalls, the highlight being when Kalisto reverses an attempt to hit “Shell Shocked” from Ryback into a roll-up for a two count.
Kalisto goes on to win with his finisher Salida del Sol and celebrates with his fans.
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AJ Styles beats Kevin Owens by pin fall
Huge reaction for Styles on his WWE debut in the UAE. Owens stalls early on and attempts to walk out on the match, but is dragged back in by Styles.
A relatively short match at only 10 minutes due to show running behind schedule, and Styles gets the pin fall win.
Goldust beat Heath Slater by pin fall
Bo Dallas makes his second appearance of the evening as he accompanies his Social Outcasts stablemate Slater to the ring.
Goldust wins a fairly uneventful 10-minute match with a roll-up pin. Slater and Dallas beat down Goldust post-match but R-Truth runs out to make the save and once the Social Outcasts are vanquished the pair leave the ring together after embracing.
Big Show beat Alberto Del Rio by pin fall
A bit of a comedy feel early on as Big Show manhandles Del Rio, with some brutal chops echoing around the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
Del Rio gets into things and has Show in the armbar submission hold at one stage, but the big man powers out of it and goes on to triumph with the knockout punch.
The Miz retains the Intercontinental title in a fatal four-way match with Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and Sami Zayn by pinning Ambrose
Zayn is first to the ring and plays to his Arabic roots – the Canadian’s parents were born in Syria – by talking about feeling at “home” in the UAE and then speaks Arabic to the delight of the crowd.
The main event lives up to its name with a fast-flowing match with lots of near falls and each man having a spell in the ascendancy.
Zayn hits the olé kick on Ambrose, but Miz throws Zayn out of the ring and steals the pin to retain the title. Miz boasts of his win post-match and is hit with the other three men’s respective finishers and Ambrose, Zayn and Ziggler celebrate and pose with the UAE flag to close the evening’s action.
Friday’s show, also at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, starts at 7pm.
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