Fans get action-packed show, with some twists, in WWE's first show in Amarillo

[Liz]

AMARILLO — A show three years in the making provided enough entertainment — and unexpected plot twists — to send the fans in the Amarillo Civic Center home happy on Saturday night.

The WWE returned to Amarillo to put on its Saturday Night's Main Event house show to a packed crowd.

Fans were treated to an eight-match card that featured some of the top WWE Superstars from the RAW brand. The main event of the evening was a triple threat match for the Raw Women's Championship featuring Bianca Belair putting her title on the line against Asuka and Becky Lynch.

Each of the three women played to their strengths — Asuka with her strikes, Lynch with her creativity and Belair her athleticism and physical prowess — to put on a pay-per-view quality match.

Belair was able to retain her championship by hitting Lynch — a consistent adversary of hers over the last year — with the Kiss of Death. Following the victory, Belair spent about 15 minutes taking photos, signing autographs and meetings fans that hung around to get a moment with the EST of the WWE.

The show wasn't without its quirks as the opening contest of the night — a tag-team match between The Street Profits and Alpha Academy — hit a snag early in the encounter.

Shortly after the match began, the middle rope of the ring popped off of the post, leaving each of the four competitors amused at the circumstances. The Superstars showed their veteran instincts and continued the match without much issue.

Following their victory, The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) partied a bit with the Amarillo faithful.

After the crew repaired the ring, MVP let the Civic Center crowd 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 definitely not his older brother Elias — was attacked from behind by Tommaso Ciampa before their match could officially begin. Though he was battling from behind most of the bout, Ezekiel got the win by countering a move from Ciampa and getting the 1-2-3.

Rey Mysterio and his son Dominic attempted to rid themselves of Veer Mahan in a 2-on-1 handicap match, but Mahan's pure brutality won out in the end as Mahan made Dominic tap out.

The final match of the first session came as a bit of a surprise as Damian Priest of The Judgement Day took on AJ Styles in what was billed as an Amarillo Street Fight.

Before the match could even begin, at least one very vocal fan encouraged the two competitors to introduce a table into the match. Towards the end, Styles obliged, introducing the table and later moving out of the way to send Priest crashing through the wood. Styles finished it off with the Phenomenal Forearm.

A short intermission was followed by an edition of Miz TV, The Miz's most must-see talk show in the history of WWE. Miz was joined by United States Champion Theory and the two took turns trying to enrage the Amarillo crowd — to much successful.

Bobby Lashley interrupted the pair's pose-off and wound up facing The Miz in a one-on-one match. Lashley was about to win before Theory broke up The Hurt Lock submission hold, giving Lashley the victory by disqualification.

The final men's match of the night featured Seth "Freakin" Rollins facing Riddle, which was originally advertised to be the Amarillo Street Fight — as the saying goes, card subject to change. Rollins spent the first 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 into the win column.

Fans began lining up to enter the arena at 4 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. show. They stood in line for two hours before being let in. They were ready for wrestling to return and were treated to an action-packed night.