The WWE European Live tour roared into Newcastle on Thursday the 15th of May. It appeared that the show had sold much better than the previous WWE visit to Newcastle back in November of 2013, which is what you would expect coming off the interest of WrestleMania season. The arena was full but for a few patches of seats, so an estimate of over 8,000 paying fans is a safe bet (with the average tier seats costing an expensive £50). The key selling point was of course the new WWE Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, who ended up not appearing on the show due to his sudden need for neck surgery. This is the second time in the last seven months that WWE have advertised Bryan for Newcastle only for him to not appear. Last time he was bumped over to the Smackdown taping and this time it was obviously more unavoidable with the injury, so fans kind of understood but there was still big disappointment. To appease the situation, WWE made a strong effort to load the tour card. Reigns vs Orton was the main event, with a Kane vs Big Show Steel Cage match the secondary headliner. The NXT title was on the line with Adrian Neville vs Bo Dallas and British based grapplers Wade Barrett and Paige ensured pops on the undercard. The inclusion of a cage match was a nice bonus, something we rarely see on the live tour. The fact we had a hometown return of Adrian Neville was also something which gave cause for celebration, mostly out of a sense of local sentiment than anything else - it's doubtful many in the audience of mostly young kids and casual fans had ever even seen NXT. This was probably the first time many had heard of Adrian Neville, but with the 'Newcastle' name attached to him, it created a star for the night. It was all far more entertaining than the previously dull visit to Newcastle in November, here are 9 observations from attending the evening...
