Thanks to rajah.com reader Graham Caygill for sending this in:
Graham Caygill from The National Newspaper in the UAE here.
We've got the WWE in town at moment and here is a write-up of the action from the first night that hopefully will be of interest to you and your readers.
Have included a link to our full report and photos if that is OK to link to if you use it.
Crowd at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium is around two thirds full when the show begins with Alicia Fo becomes the first WWE women’s superstar to appear in front of a UAE crowd when she welcomes fans to proceedings.
Matches
R-Truth beat Bo Dallas by pinfall
Fandango and Damien Sandow beat Los Matadors in a tag match most noticeable for how much the UAE audience loved Fandango, and to a lesser extent, Sandow.
Kalisto beat Ryback to retain the US title in a great match, full of back and forth action, and Kalisto countering Ryback’s offence regularly.
AJ Styles beat Kevin Owens - a disappointingly short match at only 10 minutes - Owens was great fun on the mic, at one stage infuriating a young fan by telling him “he hit like a girl” only then to add “but you still hit harder than AJ Styles” which of course led to him being knocked down seconds later by a punch from Styles. The crowd loved Styles and he spent a lot of time at ringside with fans afterwards.
Interval
Goldust beat Heath Slater - Slater had Bo Dallas with him in ringside and after Goldust had won with a roll-up the Social Outcasts duo laid the kicks on Goldust until R-Truth ran down to make the save.
Big Show beat Alberto Del Rio - Del Rio sold well for Show, even having the giant rub his butt in his face at one stage. Show wins with knockout punch.
The Miz beat Dean Ambrose, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler in a fatal 4-way to retain his Intercontinental title - Zayn, with his middle eastern roots, is the home favourite and gets a lot of the main offence and near falls. He catches Ambrose with the Ole kick, but Miz pushes him out of the ring to steal the pin as Ambrose kicks out fractionally after the 3-count.
Post-match - Miz taunts the audience and is rewarded by eating the finishers of Ambrose, Ziggler and Zayn, who then pose together to close the show, with Ambrose and Ziggler posing with an UAE flag.
Full report is here - http://www.thenational.ae/sport/wwe/wwe-live-dune-bash-tour-show-1-kalisto-retains-us-title-wins-for-big-show-and-the-miz
Biggest pops -
1) Dean Ambrose
2) Sami Zayn
3) AJ Styles
4) Fandango
5) Big Show