RAW House Show Results, Belfast Ireland - 10/20 [Archive]

Black Widow

10-22-2007, 12:01 PM

Little more on this show

WWE: Raw In Belfast 20-10-07

-The show opened with William Regal coming to to the ring, and cutting a promo that had the crowd, who were already hot, fired up. It’s sold out here, and appears to be a fair mix of all ages. The ringside seats seem to be primarily occupied by kids, and their suffering parents. The Commish announced that there would be a double main event, featuring firstly, Triple H vs. Umaga (or Eww-mang-ga as Regal pronounces it) in a street fight, plus Randy Orton defending his title in a three-way, against Jeff Hardy and Kennedy. Fans popped huge for any mention of Hardy.

William Regal Vs Harry Smith

This was a really solid opening match, with Regal laying out the challenge to Smith, that he would be the one to face him. Oddly, I’m certain Regal said it was Smith’s debut, which is really irritating, but hey. The majority of the crowd seemed There was a lot of mat-work, with the two exchanging holds. Regal was presented as the dominant veteran, with Smith as the upstart. This really gave me a taste for seeing more of both guys, working some nice, slow, technical stuff, but I doubt we’ll see it. I really wish they could have had time to really go long, and play around with some mat-work, but that’s not something they generally go for at house shows sadly. Harry got the win with the Running Powerslam, which looked dodgy, as he never had Regal actually on his shoulder at any point while doing it. Massive cheer from the fans for Smith’s win. Afterwards, Regal shook his hand out of respect.

This was a good opener. I’d like to have seen more of them working in a style we won’t get to see on TV, but then again, it would probably have sucked the life out of the kids in the audience.

Val Venis vs. Snitsky

Val, as always, received a grand reception from the fans, who always enjoy seeing this guy live.

This was a formula Snitsky match, although Val did get a bit more offence than you might imagine. But still, pretty basic and to the point. There’s at least one of these matches on every WWE house show it seems. During the match, I heard some kids discussing how they’ll love to see Big Daddy V. The mind boggles. Lot’s of heat for Snitsky getting the win, but it was definitely of the kid-friendly, “we’ll boo all the bad guys” variety.

The Miz & Elijah Burke vs. Balls Mahoney & Tommy Dreamer

I thought this was a sloppy, basic affair. Beforehand, when it was announced it was an ECW match, the mentioned of the brand got a big response from the Belfast fans. This was exactly what you would expect from these guys, with Burke doing his best to interact with the fans, and play a cowardly heel, and Dreamer working hard. It wasn’t particularly good, but the faces got their signature spots in, and the majority of the crowd were kept happy. After getting the victory, Dreamer had a kid brought into the ring, who was holding up an ECW sign. He paraded the youngster around for a bit, holding up the sign, and took off his own shirt, and gave it to the kid to keep. Nice moment. Tommy’s sweaty shirt… maybe not so nice.

Super Crazy vs. Carlito

Another by-the numbers encounter. At the beginning, Carlito, who came to the ring and was booed decisively, as opposed to Crazy, who received the 80’s style, automatic face-pop, cut a terrible promo. Crazy played it as if he couldn’t understand what Carlito said, and the former US Champ’s joke punch line, fell flat with the fans, who reacted with deafening silence.

They maintained their silence for most of this match, which shows how much attention your average fan pays to Crazy in his current role, when he isn’t flipping off the top rope. Both guys looked tired, but this wasn’t a poor match as such, just predictable, routine stuff. Carlito picked up the soft victory.

World Tag Team Title Match

Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly

The challengers earned this shot at the belts the night before in Belfast. Holly was treated to a big pop from the fans, who were really into him, although Rhodes was also certainly over. For me, this was a fresh match-up, with a great deal of potential, and a sure sign of what is to come on Raw. Cade and Murdoch have a become a really smooth, well-oiled team, and exuded presence here. I was particularly impressed with the slickness of their tags, which led to nice sequences, in particular, a few neck breakers, that saw them control much of this. Lots of slippery heel manoeuvring, but a clean win for the heels, which was surprising, I thought. Holly was the most over guy so far, and commandeered the fans reactions when he was in there.

This bout was a little short, for what they could have done, but otherwise, it was fine. Worth seeing, for sure.

Santino Marella vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Santino came out first, and cut a pretty nice promo, where he talked about being in a bar here the previous night, where guys kept coming up to him and challenged him to fights. This went on for some time until it was revealed that Hacksaw was paying them to do so! The crowd laughed…

Fortunately, I missed this, as it took that damn long to get served at the Odyssey’s rubbish Bar/Concession area. Can’t say I was disappointed though. I was told this was exactly what you would expect.

-Intermission.

Candice Michelle vs. Beth Phoenix©

In my Column on Women’s wrestling, I took a few shots at Candice’s efforts as the top contender for the women’s title on Raw. Now I wasn’t specifically having a go at her, as I believe she’s made a genuine effort to improve, and the results are starting to pay off. I was taking a dig at the WWE, and their repeated hot shotting of their favourite diva to the top, regardless of wrestling ability, whilst tossing the previous one to the side (Mickey James…what???).

This was a big surprise, and the best effort I’ve yet seen from Candice. The two assembled a fairly lengthy, and certainly competitive match up, that kept the crowd interested throughout. It stuck to a fairly basic formula, but wasn’t boring at any point, as they worked through some nice sequences, making it obvious that they’ve been working together on the road a lot. But I mean that in a good way.

I give much applause to Candice here for her efforts. She looked excellent even in defeat, good match.

WWE Title Match

Randy Orton vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Jeff Hardy

I found it disappointing that they were going with Hunter as the main event, over this intriguing combination. Jeff came to the ring, to an absolutely huge ovation. Lots of Hardy fans. Some kid behind me thought he was Matt though. Both Kennedy and Orton were also hugely over as heels, with Orton getting perhaps the most “pure” heel heat, while Kennedy was more of the “entertaining” bad guy.

This followed a simple formula. Orton helped Kennedy get the advantage over Hardy, then spent most of the match on the outset, letting the other heel do the work, while he recuperated. It guaranteed him loads of heat, and Hardy lots of sympathy, but also prevented the match having much flow, and beginning to even approach what it could have been. Still, it was well worked, with some nice moments, and the finish came when Hardy was about to go for the Swanton. Orton crotched him on the top, allowing Mr. Kennedy to get his finish, but before he could cover Jeff, the Champ tossed him out, and pinned Hardy himself. I thought Orton really should have hit an RKO as well, as following past encounters, it wasn’t a believable end, but it was still well-done. Decent match. Fans roared for Hardy as he left. Was nice to see him get the reaction he deserved.

Triple H vs. Umaga

Absolutely thunderous reaction for The Game as he made his entrance, which lasted forever. After much posing, which in fairness, the crowd do encourage, the match finally began. Started slow, methodically, but not bad at all. The two went to the outside pretty quickly, and did a little brawling. Various items were introduced, including the microphone, that made interesting sounds when connecting with Umaga’s head that the kids loved, a trashcan, and a chair. They went or a speedy false finish sequence, which Umaga evaded, before going into a long heat period, with the Samoan working over HHH’s mid-section. This was actually pretty good, and the crowd stayed with it throughout, although they were arguably hotter for the beat-down section of Hardy’s match. They went back to the outside, and Hunter teased a pedigree on the floor, but his opponent back dropped out of it. Back in the ring, momentum swung the other way, with a low-blow, and DDT on the chair. Hunter retrieved the sledgehammer from under the ring, to the biggest pop of the night, and went for it, but missed. Umaga attempted the spike, but HHH avoided it, whacked him with the hammer, and pedigreed him for the win.

Afterwards, a lot of people left right away from the upper stands, but most stayed to watch Hunter’s extended celebrations, which went on for some time. Nothing of note was happening though, just the usual competitive chants from different sides of the arena.

Overall, it was an enjoyable show, that the kids really seemed to love, whilst it was far from a waste of time for the rest of us. I’d actually go so far as to say it was probably the best house show I’ve seen here in Belfast. The top match is probably tied between Hunter/Umaga and the Tag Title Match. Next would be a tie between the World Title Triple Threat, and the Candice/Beth Phoenix clash. The other matches, aside from the good opener, were all pretty ho-hum. However, for the fans here who only get this action once or twice a year, it seemed to be enough for them to merely see their favourite superstars, and a few of their fav moves. I still think that although the WWE did create a sense of reasoning behind the matches on the card, they could be doing more to hype it as an individual show, and not just another night on a tour. Otherwise, I still feel, from my own experience, that they really aren’t using the house shows well to give younger talent an opportunity to improve, and experiment. Guys like Cody Rhodes should be cutting promos every night on tour for their own development, and the likes of the Triple Threat Match could be used to experiment with one or two spots that could be later incorporated into TV.

Still, a damn entertaining show. The last house show I went to (Smackdown), got a huge thumbs down from me, but based on the quality of this, I’d certainly recommend the return tour in December to other fans round these parts. Sure, it’s Smackdown, but something tells me it too, will deliver.

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