Black Widow
05-03-2008, 11:53 AM
Report from the WWE Raw "Wrestlemania Revenge Tour" House Show in Montreal…
I guess the old adage about the "card subject to change" would qualify to explain that the announced matches were changed once again. In particular, Jericho faced Snitsky and not Mr. Kennedy (or the originally announced Umaga). The tag team and women's championship matches were also changed as noted. At the beginning of the show, they announced that there would be a fan voting by cell phone as to what the stipulation would be for the main event (HHH vs Orton). The choices were steel cage, 2 out of 3 falls, or No DQ. Whether or not the poll was rigged, Steel Cage won by a majority of votes.
It had been awhile since I'd attended a house show, and my expectations were not high. However, I must admit that I did enjoy the event very much so. These days, professional wrestling or WWE in particular has become too much of a television show and they seemed to have lost something along the way. Everything is done towards the camera and for TV. The wrestlers captivated on the house show format; as they had nice long matches and used a lot of crowd psychology. I was very impressed and hope this is a new long-term positive direction for WWE house shows. Could it be possible that they've heard how successful TNA's live events have been and are trying to follow suit? I sure hope so.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick beat Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch:
Very good opening match and went over 30 minutes long. Both Kendrick and London were showcased well, and I have to say I like them a little more than I did before. Murdoch and Cade had some animosity following the bout, and Murdoch sang a song for the crowd.
Carlito won over Shad Gaspard:
Carlito got major heat for wearing a Philadelphia Flyers jersey on his way to the ring (currently beating the Montreal Canadians 3-1 in the playoffs). The crowd was booing like crazy and Shad got a good response (he is a beast by the way, he manhandled Carlito like crazy, and has improved since his last run in the WWE). Gaspard hauled Carlito's jersey off his chest, and used it to wipe his ass. Unfortunately, that did not help him succeed and Carlito pulled a surprise pin for the win.
William Regal beat Super Crazy:
Decent match, Regal pulling off an easy win and then gave promo saying he has more power than anybody else in the company being both the King of the Ring and General Manager of Raw.
Mickie James defeated Katie Lea Burchill:
Probably the best match of the night. Katie Lea performed very well in the ring as did defending champion Mickie.
Cody Rhodes defeated "The Natural" Nick Nemeth (formerly of the Spirit Squad):
"Nicky" was actually really good. Very technical match, with Cody Rhodes coming out on top after 20 minutes of back and forth action.
Chris Jericho kept his IC title against Snitsky:
Chris got a huge ovation, coming back to his home nation of Canada. He told Snitsky that his breath stinks and that he should brush his teeth (also said it in broken French as "Brosser tes dents") which got the crowd to pop even more. Another enjoyable contest.
HHH retained the Raw World Championship against Randy Orton in a steel cage match:
Probably a practice go-round to see how things will go at Judgement Day when they will face each other in the cage once again. Strong match; Orton had a lot of heel heat and HHH was cheered like crazy. I personally booed both of them, but that's just me. Good cage match, fans should expect a lot from their next encounter. Both guys tried to escape the steel structure numerous times but were pulled back down by their opponent. Triple H used the Figure Four Leg Lock which brought upon a lot of cheers, while Orton was also on the offence for much of the bout. Match ended when HHH pedigreed Randy Orton for the 1-2-3 count. Following the match, Triple H stayed for about 10 minutes and shook hands with many fans.
PWInsider.com
I guess the old adage about the "card subject to change" would qualify to explain that the announced matches were changed once again. In particular, Jericho faced Snitsky and not Mr. Kennedy (or the originally announced Umaga). The tag team and women's championship matches were also changed as noted. At the beginning of the show, they announced that there would be a fan voting by cell phone as to what the stipulation would be for the main event (HHH vs Orton). The choices were steel cage, 2 out of 3 falls, or No DQ. Whether or not the poll was rigged, Steel Cage won by a majority of votes.
It had been awhile since I'd attended a house show, and my expectations were not high. However, I must admit that I did enjoy the event very much so. These days, professional wrestling or WWE in particular has become too much of a television show and they seemed to have lost something along the way. Everything is done towards the camera and for TV. The wrestlers captivated on the house show format; as they had nice long matches and used a lot of crowd psychology. I was very impressed and hope this is a new long-term positive direction for WWE house shows. Could it be possible that they've heard how successful TNA's live events have been and are trying to follow suit? I sure hope so.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick beat Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch:
Very good opening match and went over 30 minutes long. Both Kendrick and London were showcased well, and I have to say I like them a little more than I did before. Murdoch and Cade had some animosity following the bout, and Murdoch sang a song for the crowd.
Carlito won over Shad Gaspard:
Carlito got major heat for wearing a Philadelphia Flyers jersey on his way to the ring (currently beating the Montreal Canadians 3-1 in the playoffs). The crowd was booing like crazy and Shad got a good response (he is a beast by the way, he manhandled Carlito like crazy, and has improved since his last run in the WWE). Gaspard hauled Carlito's jersey off his chest, and used it to wipe his ass. Unfortunately, that did not help him succeed and Carlito pulled a surprise pin for the win.
William Regal beat Super Crazy:
Decent match, Regal pulling off an easy win and then gave promo saying he has more power than anybody else in the company being both the King of the Ring and General Manager of Raw.
Mickie James defeated Katie Lea Burchill:
Probably the best match of the night. Katie Lea performed very well in the ring as did defending champion Mickie.
Cody Rhodes defeated "The Natural" Nick Nemeth (formerly of the Spirit Squad):
"Nicky" was actually really good. Very technical match, with Cody Rhodes coming out on top after 20 minutes of back and forth action.
Chris Jericho kept his IC title against Snitsky:
Chris got a huge ovation, coming back to his home nation of Canada. He told Snitsky that his breath stinks and that he should brush his teeth (also said it in broken French as "Brosser tes dents") which got the crowd to pop even more. Another enjoyable contest.
HHH retained the Raw World Championship against Randy Orton in a steel cage match:
Probably a practice go-round to see how things will go at Judgement Day when they will face each other in the cage once again. Strong match; Orton had a lot of heel heat and HHH was cheered like crazy. I personally booed both of them, but that's just me. Good cage match, fans should expect a lot from their next encounter. Both guys tried to escape the steel structure numerous times but were pulled back down by their opponent. Triple H used the Figure Four Leg Lock which brought upon a lot of cheers, while Orton was also on the offence for much of the bout. Match ended when HHH pedigreed Randy Orton for the 1-2-3 count. Following the match, Triple H stayed for about 10 minutes and shook hands with many fans.
PWInsider.com