John
08-01-2009, 06:37 PM
I went to the Raw House Show in Newark, Delaware, yesterday, and here are the results.
Tony Chimmel was the RAW announcer for the night, and asked us to stand for the playing of the National Anthem.
First match was Primo vs. Chris Masters. It was a decent match, with the crowd solidly behind Primo. Typical small guy vs. big guy match, with Masters locking in the Masterlock late in the match, only to have Primo get over the ropes to have Masters break the hold. While Masters was arguing with the ref, Primo recovered and hit a flying crossbody in order to pin Masters.
The guest host Jillian was in the crowd and had a family answer a question about where SummerSlam was in order to move to the front row. It's a shame that Jillian is such a great wrestler and is reduced to hostess duties.
Next was Alex Riley vs. Evan Bourne. Riley came out to a kinda "Who is this?" reaction, but he got on the mic and said that he notices that we don't know him and that we don't know whether to boo or cheer him, which made the crowd boo him. He said that pretty soon we would know who he is. Riley has a great look and will be a good midcarder, in my opinion. Decent back and forth match with Evan picking up the win via the Shooting Star Press, which is an awesome move to see live.
Next up was the Miz vs. Santino Marella. Before the match, Miz grabbed the mic, and before he even started talking, the crowd booed. He called us rude and said that he didn't come to our jobs flipping burgers at the local McDonalds and start booing us before we were able to talk. He said that he is the reason that everyone tunes into Raw, cause he is the Miz, and he's awesome. Santino came out, and said that no one likes Miz, and that he would take a survey. Santino asked who wanted to see Miz get his "face punched" which got a huge pop, and then he told Miz he was going to punch him in the face. Pretty decent match, as Miz has really come a long way since hoo-rahing it up from the audience. He won via pinfall, and after the match Santino stumbled over to Chimel, who said "Santino Marella would like to inform you all, he's okay!"
After that match, they had two youngsters model t-shirts, and Chimel said that earlier in the day, Cena had autographed a limited number of 12 Rounds DVD's for sale (which is a lie cause it's a 5x7 promotion card that they are also selling along WITH the DVD) as well as other WWE merchandise.
Next up was a US Title match with Carlito challenging Kofi Kingston. Early in the match, Carlito got busted open, and there was a point where they actually were compressing the cut while Kofi stood in the corner after selling a kick for as long as possible. It looked as if they were putting temporary stitches in under Carlito's eye, but it was hard to tell. There was definately blood, though, and a 1-2 minute delay. Nevertheless, Carlito continued with Kofi for about a ten minute match, and at one point the ref held a towel to Carlito's head. Gotta give him props for continuing. Kofi won with Trouble in Paradise and was way over with the crowd.
There was a brief intermission, and we came back with a six diva tag match pitting Beth Phoenix, Rosa Mendes, and Alicia Fox vs. Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, and Gail Kim. It was actually given some time and was a fairly decent match. Gail and Kelly both had some moments in the ring before Gail played the face in peril for a few minutes as the heels dominated her, and the crowd was chanting "We want Mickie" and "Mickie, Mickie!" at some points. There was one point where Alicia Fox hit an AWESOME tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Gail. Beth did her usual power moves, including an over the shoulder backbreaker submission move before Gail was able to fight off Rosa for the hot tag to Mickie, which drew a huge pop. Mickie fended off the heels for a few moments, then Hornswoggle randomly appeared from under the ring, distracting Rosa long enough for Mickie to hit her DDT. After the match, the divas celebrated with Hornswoggle and he and Mickie did the point to each side of the arena thing. Then, all four stood on a turnbuckle and pointed to the crowd. They alternated between playing Hornswoggle, Mickie, Kelly, and Gail's music as the faces left. When they played Hornswoggle's music, Mickie was doing an Irish jig.
Next was MVP vs. Jack Swagger. Decent back and forth match that saw Swagger take the turnbuckle off at the end, and when MVP went for his kick in the corner, Swagger moved and was able to hit MVP with the gutwrench powerbomb.
Our final match was a 3-2 handicap match with Legacy vs. Mark Henry and John Cena. Huge heat for Rhodes and DiBiase, who came out before Orton, who also got huge heat. Next was Mark Henry, who got a kinda mixed pop at first (I think the fans who don't follow wrestling religiously thought he was still a heel [same thing with Carlito, as he got a semi-face pop when he came out]) but then drew cheers doing his new point to each section thing. Out last was John Cena, and good God the place went bananas for him. The match was okay, you're typical 3-2 match, with Orton not wanting to face Cena until he was down, and then no one wanting to face Henry when he was tagged in. Finally, Cena was isolated and took a beat down until he made the hot tag to Henry. Orton took off when Henry and Cena started dominating Cody and Ted, and while they were distracted, Cena hoisted Rhodes and DiBiase up for a double Attitude Adjustment. Then, Henry hit the World's Strongest Slam on Rhodes for the win. Afterwards, Cena and Henry celebrated with the crowd for about ten minutes.
All in all, it wasn't a bad show at all. It's always different then the Raw/PPV tapings cause here there is less talking and more focus on the actual sport vs. the glitz and glamour of TV and pyro, which is a nice change.
Biggest Pops
1. Cena
2. MVP
3. Evan Bourne
4. The Face Divas/Hornswoggle
5. Kofi
Most Heat
1. Legacy/Orton
2. The Miz
3. Alex Riley
4. Chris Masters
Tony Chimmel was the RAW announcer for the night, and asked us to stand for the playing of the National Anthem.
First match was Primo vs. Chris Masters. It was a decent match, with the crowd solidly behind Primo. Typical small guy vs. big guy match, with Masters locking in the Masterlock late in the match, only to have Primo get over the ropes to have Masters break the hold. While Masters was arguing with the ref, Primo recovered and hit a flying crossbody in order to pin Masters.
The guest host Jillian was in the crowd and had a family answer a question about where SummerSlam was in order to move to the front row. It's a shame that Jillian is such a great wrestler and is reduced to hostess duties.
Next was Alex Riley vs. Evan Bourne. Riley came out to a kinda "Who is this?" reaction, but he got on the mic and said that he notices that we don't know him and that we don't know whether to boo or cheer him, which made the crowd boo him. He said that pretty soon we would know who he is. Riley has a great look and will be a good midcarder, in my opinion. Decent back and forth match with Evan picking up the win via the Shooting Star Press, which is an awesome move to see live.
Next up was the Miz vs. Santino Marella. Before the match, Miz grabbed the mic, and before he even started talking, the crowd booed. He called us rude and said that he didn't come to our jobs flipping burgers at the local McDonalds and start booing us before we were able to talk. He said that he is the reason that everyone tunes into Raw, cause he is the Miz, and he's awesome. Santino came out, and said that no one likes Miz, and that he would take a survey. Santino asked who wanted to see Miz get his "face punched" which got a huge pop, and then he told Miz he was going to punch him in the face. Pretty decent match, as Miz has really come a long way since hoo-rahing it up from the audience. He won via pinfall, and after the match Santino stumbled over to Chimel, who said "Santino Marella would like to inform you all, he's okay!"
After that match, they had two youngsters model t-shirts, and Chimel said that earlier in the day, Cena had autographed a limited number of 12 Rounds DVD's for sale (which is a lie cause it's a 5x7 promotion card that they are also selling along WITH the DVD) as well as other WWE merchandise.
Next up was a US Title match with Carlito challenging Kofi Kingston. Early in the match, Carlito got busted open, and there was a point where they actually were compressing the cut while Kofi stood in the corner after selling a kick for as long as possible. It looked as if they were putting temporary stitches in under Carlito's eye, but it was hard to tell. There was definately blood, though, and a 1-2 minute delay. Nevertheless, Carlito continued with Kofi for about a ten minute match, and at one point the ref held a towel to Carlito's head. Gotta give him props for continuing. Kofi won with Trouble in Paradise and was way over with the crowd.
There was a brief intermission, and we came back with a six diva tag match pitting Beth Phoenix, Rosa Mendes, and Alicia Fox vs. Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, and Gail Kim. It was actually given some time and was a fairly decent match. Gail and Kelly both had some moments in the ring before Gail played the face in peril for a few minutes as the heels dominated her, and the crowd was chanting "We want Mickie" and "Mickie, Mickie!" at some points. There was one point where Alicia Fox hit an AWESOME tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Gail. Beth did her usual power moves, including an over the shoulder backbreaker submission move before Gail was able to fight off Rosa for the hot tag to Mickie, which drew a huge pop. Mickie fended off the heels for a few moments, then Hornswoggle randomly appeared from under the ring, distracting Rosa long enough for Mickie to hit her DDT. After the match, the divas celebrated with Hornswoggle and he and Mickie did the point to each side of the arena thing. Then, all four stood on a turnbuckle and pointed to the crowd. They alternated between playing Hornswoggle, Mickie, Kelly, and Gail's music as the faces left. When they played Hornswoggle's music, Mickie was doing an Irish jig.
Next was MVP vs. Jack Swagger. Decent back and forth match that saw Swagger take the turnbuckle off at the end, and when MVP went for his kick in the corner, Swagger moved and was able to hit MVP with the gutwrench powerbomb.
Our final match was a 3-2 handicap match with Legacy vs. Mark Henry and John Cena. Huge heat for Rhodes and DiBiase, who came out before Orton, who also got huge heat. Next was Mark Henry, who got a kinda mixed pop at first (I think the fans who don't follow wrestling religiously thought he was still a heel [same thing with Carlito, as he got a semi-face pop when he came out]) but then drew cheers doing his new point to each section thing. Out last was John Cena, and good God the place went bananas for him. The match was okay, you're typical 3-2 match, with Orton not wanting to face Cena until he was down, and then no one wanting to face Henry when he was tagged in. Finally, Cena was isolated and took a beat down until he made the hot tag to Henry. Orton took off when Henry and Cena started dominating Cody and Ted, and while they were distracted, Cena hoisted Rhodes and DiBiase up for a double Attitude Adjustment. Then, Henry hit the World's Strongest Slam on Rhodes for the win. Afterwards, Cena and Henry celebrated with the crowd for about ten minutes.
All in all, it wasn't a bad show at all. It's always different then the Raw/PPV tapings cause here there is less talking and more focus on the actual sport vs. the glitz and glamour of TV and pyro, which is a nice change.
Biggest Pops
1. Cena
2. MVP
3. Evan Bourne
4. The Face Divas/Hornswoggle
5. Kofi
Most Heat
1. Legacy/Orton
2. The Miz
3. Alex Riley
4. Chris Masters