Black Widow
11-12-2008, 05:29 PM
Raw House Show from the LG Arena, Birmingham - 11-11-08
Lillian Garcia is not our ring announcer for the evening, Tony Chimel is filling in. Building looks to be sold out.
Intercontinental Championship – William Regal (c) vs. Santino Marella
Regal retains after hitting the High Knee in a longer match than they had Monday night on Raw. Regal cuts a promo afterwards, putting over the fans as being the “most loyal WWE fans in the world”. Regal appeared to be using his real accent rather than his TV accent.
Snitsky vs. D’Lo Brown
Snitsky wins after catching D’Lo with a boot as he came off the top rope. Match was nothing special, the live crowd were not that into Snitsky, except for a “brush your teeth” chant at the start of the match.
Women’s Championship – Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Candice Michelle
Mickie James is our special guest referee. A fairly long match, Candice is still trying to shake off the rust. Beth retains after arguing with Mickie and hitting the Glam Slam on Candice. Post-match, Beth gets Mickie to raise her hand one too many times, and Mickie lays her out. Mickie appeared to hurt her elbow during the match, but it didn’t seem to be anything serious.
Kane vs. Haas Hogan
Haas was doing all the Hogan mannerisms, such as the shirt tear, the point, and the big boot and legdrop. Kane kicks out, and hits a Chokeslam to a surprisingly big pop to get the win.
World Tag Team Championship – CM Punk and Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Cody Rhodes and Manu
No Ted DiBiase at ringside. CM Punk was very over with the live crowd, Kofi slightly less so. This was a good long match, the heels working over Kofi, setting up Punk for the hot tag. Kofi slips on the top rope after a tag during the match, but he managed to avoid falling awkwardly, and played it off as he meant to dive a lot lower. Nobody noticed his mistake, except everyone in the building. CM Punk gets the pinfall over Cody Rhodes with the GTS after Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise on Manu. Plenty of CM Punk chants throughout.
***Intermission***
Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio
Kelly Kelly is our guest Ring Announcer, and as an announcer, she is a very much improved wrestler. Rey was extremely over, with the live crowd age skewing into the younger generation. Orton gets a very nice pop coming out also. There was a comedy spot where Rey kicks Orton out of the corner, Orton staggers around the ring for about 15 seconds before “coincidentally” falling into place for the 619, then getting up and clotheslining Mysterio when he goes for it. Mysterio gets the pinfall following the 619 and a frog splash.
John “Bradshaw” Layfield vs. Shawn Michaels
This was billed as a “Special Challenge Match”. The king of cheap heat JBL cuts a promo before the match, running down the English fans, and running down the real football, saying the American version is better, as “you may call it football, but I call it gay”. Michaels comes out to a big pop. Much of the match was JBL working over Shawn’s ribs and midsection, before Michaels makes a comeback, going through his finishing sequence, finally hitting the Sweet Chin Music for the pinfall.
World Heavyweight Championship – Chris Jericho (c) vs. Batista
Jericho cuts a promo before the match, saying that the live crowd can chant for Batista all they want, the fact was that he beat Batista in a steel cage match to win the World Championship, and that made him the best in the world. This seemed more like a promo from truthful heel Jericho, rather than whiny heel Jericho. Some people started leaving to beat the traffic during the match, although this was not a reflection of the match quality. Jericho works over Batista’s leg for much of the match, at one point locking in the Walls of Jericho, although Batista powers out of it. Jericho hits the Codebreaker for the three count. A good show live, and the crowd went home happy. Crowd was hot all night, especially into Michaels, Punk, Mysterio and Batista.
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Lillian Garcia is not our ring announcer for the evening, Tony Chimel is filling in. Building looks to be sold out.
Intercontinental Championship – William Regal (c) vs. Santino Marella
Regal retains after hitting the High Knee in a longer match than they had Monday night on Raw. Regal cuts a promo afterwards, putting over the fans as being the “most loyal WWE fans in the world”. Regal appeared to be using his real accent rather than his TV accent.
Snitsky vs. D’Lo Brown
Snitsky wins after catching D’Lo with a boot as he came off the top rope. Match was nothing special, the live crowd were not that into Snitsky, except for a “brush your teeth” chant at the start of the match.
Women’s Championship – Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Candice Michelle
Mickie James is our special guest referee. A fairly long match, Candice is still trying to shake off the rust. Beth retains after arguing with Mickie and hitting the Glam Slam on Candice. Post-match, Beth gets Mickie to raise her hand one too many times, and Mickie lays her out. Mickie appeared to hurt her elbow during the match, but it didn’t seem to be anything serious.
Kane vs. Haas Hogan
Haas was doing all the Hogan mannerisms, such as the shirt tear, the point, and the big boot and legdrop. Kane kicks out, and hits a Chokeslam to a surprisingly big pop to get the win.
World Tag Team Championship – CM Punk and Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Cody Rhodes and Manu
No Ted DiBiase at ringside. CM Punk was very over with the live crowd, Kofi slightly less so. This was a good long match, the heels working over Kofi, setting up Punk for the hot tag. Kofi slips on the top rope after a tag during the match, but he managed to avoid falling awkwardly, and played it off as he meant to dive a lot lower. Nobody noticed his mistake, except everyone in the building. CM Punk gets the pinfall over Cody Rhodes with the GTS after Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise on Manu. Plenty of CM Punk chants throughout.
***Intermission***
Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio
Kelly Kelly is our guest Ring Announcer, and as an announcer, she is a very much improved wrestler. Rey was extremely over, with the live crowd age skewing into the younger generation. Orton gets a very nice pop coming out also. There was a comedy spot where Rey kicks Orton out of the corner, Orton staggers around the ring for about 15 seconds before “coincidentally” falling into place for the 619, then getting up and clotheslining Mysterio when he goes for it. Mysterio gets the pinfall following the 619 and a frog splash.
John “Bradshaw” Layfield vs. Shawn Michaels
This was billed as a “Special Challenge Match”. The king of cheap heat JBL cuts a promo before the match, running down the English fans, and running down the real football, saying the American version is better, as “you may call it football, but I call it gay”. Michaels comes out to a big pop. Much of the match was JBL working over Shawn’s ribs and midsection, before Michaels makes a comeback, going through his finishing sequence, finally hitting the Sweet Chin Music for the pinfall.
World Heavyweight Championship – Chris Jericho (c) vs. Batista
Jericho cuts a promo before the match, saying that the live crowd can chant for Batista all they want, the fact was that he beat Batista in a steel cage match to win the World Championship, and that made him the best in the world. This seemed more like a promo from truthful heel Jericho, rather than whiny heel Jericho. Some people started leaving to beat the traffic during the match, although this was not a reflection of the match quality. Jericho works over Batista’s leg for much of the match, at one point locking in the Walls of Jericho, although Batista powers out of it. Jericho hits the Codebreaker for the three count. A good show live, and the crowd went home happy. Crowd was hot all night, especially into Michaels, Punk, Mysterio and Batista.
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