WWE Live Dune Bash Tour Show 2: Kalisto retains US title; Big Show riles up the crowd

Graham Caygill reports from the WWE Live Dune Bash Tour Show in Dubai.

Fandango, centre, beat Damien Sandow by pinfall at the WWE Live Dune Bash in Dubai. Courtesy WWE

WWE superstar Natalya comes out to start the show, thanks the crowd for attending and talks briefly about her and Alicia Fox being the first female WWE superstars to visit the UAE for a live event. Graham Caygill reports from the venue.

Kalisto retains United States title against Alberto Del Rio by pinfall

Big pop for Kalisto and lots of Lucha Dragons chants for the United States champion. A fast-paced match with both men having close nearfalls. The match turns when, with Kalisto thrown out of the ring, diverting the referee’s attention, Del Rio unhooks the protective mat on one of the turnbuckles. This backfires as he is then planted into the exposed turnbuckle by Kalisto, who then hits his finisher Salida del Sol to gain the win and pop the crowd.

Fandango beats Damien Sandow by pinfall

Sandow cuts an initially nice promo on the crowd and thanks Dubai for cheering his name on the first night. But he then turns on the locals for singing along to Fandango’s theme when they had partnered the previous night, leading to heavy boos. Sandow jumps Fandango before the bell and attacks him to gain the early advantage. Sandow dominates for much of the match, even cutting another promo mid-match in which he claims dancing is “for losers” which kickstarts the Fandango fightback and he wins after hitting a leg drop off the top rope.

Kevin Owens attempts to cut a promo on Sami Zayn ahead of their match backstage, but is interrupted by R-Truth who thinks that he is insulting him and is ready to fight him now. Owens explains to a baffled R-Truth that they are not rivals or facing each other, and R-Truth apologises before leaving a stunned Owens to give up on trying to verbally bash Zayn, his train of thought gone.

Big Show beat Los Matadores by pinfall in a handicap 2-on-1 match

The crowd loves Big Show and he gets a hug and a kiss on the cheek from Natalya, who is still at ringside before the match. This is a comedy squash match as Show out-powers both his opponents with ease, and after the briefest of fightbacks, pins both members of Los Matadores at the same time after a double chokeslam. Show takes an eternity going to the back post-match as he high-fives a lot of fans at ringside.

Sami Zayn beat Kevin Owens by pinfall

Owens stalls for time early on and then feigns a knee injury briefly before blindsiding Zayn with a kick and after beating on his opponent does a dance to show he is just fine, leading to jeers from the crowd. Owens dominates the first half of the match, taking every opportunity to upset spectators with gestures, visual expressions and even shouting at fans at ringside.

Zayn mounts his comeback and after some nearfalls he wins with the Ole kick.

R-Truth beats Bo Dallas by pinfall

R-Truth has the crowd behind him and the early advantage, but some outside help from Social Outcasts stablemate Heath Slater, who accompanied Dallas to the ring, gives Dallas control. R-Truth gets the win with a roll-up out of nowhere. Dallas and Slater beat him down afterwards but Goldust runs down to make the save and he and R-Truth embrace in the ring.

AJ Styles beats Ryback by pinfall

Ryback throws Styles around in the first half of the match as he uses his strength advantage and his confidence is such that he even incorporates a Ric Flair-style strut into one move. After being beaten down, Styles makes his comeback after Ryback, looking rather unsteady it has to be said, attempts a top rope splash but misses. Styles gets a nearfall with the Pele kick and then leaps over the top rope to take out his opponent when he is outside the ring shortly afterwards. Styles eventually gets the win with a springboard forearm to put Ryback down for good.

The Miz retains the Intercontinental title in a triple threat with Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler by pinning Ambrose

The crowd go crazy for Ambrose. He and Ziggler team up for some comedy spots early on, each taking it in turn to give Miz punches and slaps to the crowd’s joy.

An entertaining match sees each man in the ascendancy with a great near fall coming as Ziggler hits Zig-Zag on Ambrose, Miz tries to steal the pin by throwing Ziggler out but Ambrose kicks out.

The finish sees Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Ziggler, but Miz sneaks up and rolls up Ambrose, using the rope for leverage, to get the win.

Post-match Ambrose and Ziggler call out Miz for cheating, Miz gets on the mic to deny having a hand on the rope, but the crowd is not having any of it. He offers his hand to Ambrose in a sign of peace but his reward is to be hit with a kick to the face by Ziggler and Dirty Deeds from Ambrose to send the crowd home happy as the pair stand tall in the ring to close the evening’s action.

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