WWE House Show Results (08/15/08) - Rockford, Illinois

[Black Widow]

Rajah.com reader Matthew Bender sent in the following report:

I just got home a little while ago from a great show from the Rockford Metro Centre in Rockford, IL!

I will recap the card here and throw in some commentary!

Match 1: Chavo Guerrero vs. Evan Bourne

Great first match.. Chavo got a lot of heat. Evan picked up the win with his shooting star press. Bam tried to help Chavo win throughout the match but was unsuccessful.

Match 2: Beth Phoenix and Katie Lea vs. Mickie James and Kelly Kelly

First we get introduced to our unbiased referee, Santino Marella. This was a good comedy match. Beth and Mickie stole the show with the wrestling. Mickie got the pin on Beth after Santino refused to hit the mat for the 3 count, so Mickie grabbed his hand and pushed it down for the 3. Post match The glamazon was not very happy and ordered Santino to the back so they could talk about it.

Match 3: Shelton Benjamin vs. Jimmy Wang Yang for the US Championship.

The Gold Standard dominated and got the pinfall. Not much to talk about in this match.

Match 4: Cryme Tyme vs. Dibiase and Rhodes for the Tag Team Championship.

Great match. Dibiase got the pinfall on Shad after a lot of back and forth offense.

Match 5: Carlito vs. The Big Show

To my surprise, Carlito's music hit and out he comes, with his new corn row hair style, and pleather pants, much like what Rey Mysterio wears.. he also looks like he's lost a good 25 pounds or so. Then The Big Show's music hit, which I don't think anyone was expecting. He got the biggest pop by far. The crowd loved him, and he was taking it all in waving at us and playing to the crowd. Big Show dominated in a squash, hitting a choke slam for the win.

Intermission.

Match 6: Finlay w/ Hornswaggle vs. Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas for the ECW Championship.

Finaly got a good pop. Hornswaggle got his super soaker out to soak Atlast, but it was a Mark Henry dominated match as the world's strongest champion gets the pinfall.

Match 7: Kane vs. Batista in a NO DQ match (thanks to our text message votes).

Great back and forth match. The ovation for Batista was insane. Lots of chair shots. Kane worked Batista's shoulder most of the match, but Batista hit the spear for the pinfall.

Match 8: John Cena, CM Punk, and Triple H vs. JBL, the Grean Khali, and William Regal.

Punk out first to a HUGE pop when Chimmell announced he was from CHICAGO ILLINOIS!!! Then out comes Cena to a louder pop yet, and the loudest pop of the night for HHH. Not quite sure how Regal got into this match. Cena and Punk each get beat down until HHH comes in. Finish seems Cena and HHH hitting their signature moves, and HHH covering Regal for the win.

Overall a great show. Lots of fan interaction with it being a house show. Eve Torres was our guest hostess for the night, giving away front row tickets for the night, picking a guest bell ringer, and choosing the guy right in front of me to go to the back and be Cryme Tyme's guest manager. I was quite disappointed that Kennedy couldn't be there as well as Umaga.

Hope you enjoy my recap!

[Black Widow]

Great show tonight from Rockford. The last WWE show in Rockford was a Sunday afternoon house show about two years that drew about 3,000 people in a building that holds 6,500. Tonight's show was almost completely sold out except for the top few rows of the upper deck. The crowd was hot from start to finish.

We open with Chimmel announcing that the fans in attendance could vote on the stipulation for the Kane/Batista match. Text A for falls count anywhere, text B for 2 out of three falls, text C for no DQ. Our special MC for the evening was Eve who started by offering a Summerslam related prize to the person who filled in the blank: Summerslam is known as the biggest of the summer.

Evan Bourne vs Chavo Jr. w/ Bam Neeley
Lots of mat wrestling to open but we eventually go aerial. Several near falls but Evan pulled out the win with a shooting star press. Great opener to get the crowd going.

Mickie James & Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix & Katie Lea
Special Guest Referee: Santino Marella
Santino is out first and promises to call the match right down the middle. Santino took his time searching Mickie and Kelly for foreign objects much to their displeasure. Katie leaned back against the ropes waiting for Santino to feel her up only to be cut off by Beth. Beth put Santino in his place. Lots of back an forth action with Santino giving fast counts for the heels and slow counts for the faces. Mickie pinned Katie and Santino stopped after two. Mickie grabbed his wrist and slammed it down for the win. Santino tried to apologize to Beth only to be rebuffed.

Eve selects someone from the crowd to be the special guest manager for a later match.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Jimmy Wang Yang for the U.S. Title
This got the least response of the evening. Jimmy had a few offensive moments but Shelton dominated overall and got the pin.

Rhodes & DiBiase vs. Cryme Tyme w/ local guest manager for the World Tag Team titles
Lots of back and forth action but Rhodes & DiBiase got the upper hand through their blatant cheating. Rhodes & DiBiase retain. Interesting note: The belts still had Cena and Batista's nameplates hough they looked like masking tape with the names written on.

Big Show vs. Carlito
Carlito (sporting corn rows) must have pissed someone off because this was a squash that wouldn't end. Carlito took a ton of punishment before the chokeslam and the pin. After the match Show worked the crowd by signing autographs, taking pictures, etc.

Finley w/ Hornswoggle vs. Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas for the ECW Championship
You lose perspective on the new ECW belt since Mark Henry has it but it is HUGE. Finley did his best to pull an okay match out of Henry. He even got in some offense until Henry hit the belly to belly slam for the pin. Finley sold this for several minutes. Later he and Chimmel were talking at ringside and Chimmel got a friendly tap on the head with the shillelagh (which he sold). I really enjoyed Atlas's managerial shtick. Henry sucks on the mic but with Goldberg like booking and someone to talk for him, he might be relatively watchable. Funny moment: Hornswoggle chasing Atlas around the ring with a super soaker.

Batista vs. Kane, No Disqualification
Punching, kicking, a few slams and some weak chair shots. The action goes outside where Kane gets thrown into the stairs and Batista takes a header into the ringpost. Back in the ring and both men set up their finishers but they are countered. Batista gets the upper hand and the pin. Kane heads straight to the back while Batista sells his injuries and works the crowd a little.

Regal, JBL, & Khali vs. Cena, Punk, & HHH.
Cena starts the match but Punk soon tags in. Punk took a lot of punishment while the heels kept tagging. Punk tags HHH and Hunter cleans house. HHH gets Khali over the to rope and out of the match. Cena enters and both Cena and HHH hit their finishers simultaneously. Hunter gets the pinfall. The heels dissappear quickly to the back. HHH and Punk are standing in the aisle while Cena grabs the house mic and shills for Summerslam. Cena then calls Punk into the ring and hypes up the (almost) hometown hero (Rockford is only an hour northwest of Chicago). Punk soaks up the crowd response for a few minutes and then heads to the back.

After a two year hiatus from Rockford the local crowd was hungry for some WWE action. I was suprised to see the number of no shows. No Edge, Hardys, Jericho, MVP, or Kofi. It's been almost 4 years since we had a TV taping and I hope that last nights crowd might cause the powers that be to reconsider.