PHOTOS: WWE hits Rio Rancho

RIO RANCHO — WWE touted its Jan. 14 event in the Rio Rancho Events Center as a SuperShow, and it was.

This show was even “bigger” than the WWE’s card last April, which also brought in fans from well beyond the Metro area.

There were superstars in each of the eight matches enjoyed by a sellout crowd, including what is probably the first appearance of a 7-footer in the events center, if not Rio Rancho itself: 7-foot, 3-inch Omos, the “Nigerian Giant,” who easily handled Akira Tozawa, who appeared diminutive when standing next to Omos.

It was a typical WWE event, with fans of all ages and genders showing their love for their favorite current or former WWE superstars by their T-shirts, caps or “championship belts” they carried atop their shoulders.

And, it was easy to determine — for any first-timers — who the favorites were in each match, except the final, “Main Event,” the World Championship meeting of challenger Drew McIntyre and champ Seth “Freakin’” Rollins, as many in the area were chanting “C.M. Punk,” who recently returned to WWE after a 10-year absence and immediately announced his plans to become a champion.

He wasn’t there, but Rollins retained his belt after a grueling match that occasionally had both fighters on their backs on the mat. He eventually had McIntyre, aka the “Scottish Warrior,” on his hands and knees and stomped his head into the mat, subduing him.

In order, here’s how the event progressed:

• Jey Uso, who recently departed the “Bloodline” partnership, faced Damian Priest of “Judgment Day.” Priest received the bulk of the traditional “You suck” chants, and Uso delighted the crowd — his fans chanting “Yeet!” — by pinning Priest.

• Omos then polished off his 165-pound opponent, a match that had added interest when Omos’s manager, MVP, said he’d give $10,000 to anyone who knocked Omos off his feet.

• Another bad guy, Solo Sikoa of the Bloodline crew faced “The Phenomenal One,” A.J. Styles, a fan favorite. Styles heard the arena erupt with chants of “A.J. … A.J.” as he was being battered in a corner, then rallied to pin Sikoa.

• The relatively new-to-WWE Creed Brothers, Julius and Brutus, took on a pair of Judgment Day bad guys, “Dirty Dom” Mysterio, who received the most and loudest boos of the evening, and J.D. McDonagh. There were three “two counts” before Mysterio won the match for his duo by fashioning a pin. He’s become a virtual bad guy after the “falling out” with his father, legendary wrestler Rey Mysterio, a favorite who wears a mask.

• Billed as a “Rio Rancho Street Fight,” meaning anything is legal, fans got to see another favorite, the “American Nightmare” Dusty Rhodes, take on another bad guy, Shinsuke Nakamura. As this one went on, Rhodes got out of the ring and pulled a folding table out from under the ring — WWE cards always seem to have tables and chairs under the ring, and it’s doubtful they were part of the RREC equipment. As he extracted the table, which wound up in the ring, Nakamura raced around from the other side, wielding a metal chair, promptly battering Rhodes on his back.

It ended the way everyone there hoped: Rhodes got his pin, grabbed a microphone and spoke to the crowd, then grabbed a pen and began signing autographs ringside as intermission arrived.

Three fights were left after the break.

• Bronson Reed, a huge force who tips the scales at well over 300 pounds, seems like a nice guy and didn’t get as many boos as some of the others attendees wanted to see lose. His foe, Ricochet, weighs about half as much as was arguably the most athletic of all who entered the ring Sunday evening. After three two-counts, Ricochet executed a nifty reversal to gain a pin and the win.

• In the first of the two World Championship matches, women’s challenger Shotzy took on Iyo Sky in what looked to be a win by Shotzy after several two-counts — until her “Damage Control” partners yanked Shotzy off her in a sure-pin situation. For a few seconds it was three against Shotzy until — to fans’ delight — two more of their favorites, Becky “The Man” Lynch and Bianca Bel Air, raced to the ring to even things up.

As the Damage Control trio left the ring, to no WWE fans’ surprised, Lynch offered a challenge and it was on (again), only won after Lynch flung Asuka onto her back and pinned her.

• That left just one match, the showdown between Rollins, Lynch’s husband, and McIntyre.

McIntyre recorded five two-counts prior to his demise, while Rollins had three two-counts over McIntyre.

Before the final pin of the evening, the referee was “inadvertently” knocked into a corner and then out of the ring, just before Rollins had McIntyre pinned; fortunately, another ref raced in from backstage to officiate and Rollins persevered.

All photos are courtesy of Joe Grimando.