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WWE Raw House Show Results (04/11/08) - Liverpool, England
Written by Stephen Lyon on Apr 12, 2008 - 10:25:03 AM
The following results were written by Stephen Lyon & are courtesy of the Wrestling Observer website. We do not like to get material from other websites so be sure and send us a live report if you attend any WWE show. Below are the results:
WWE Raw House Show Results - 4/11/08
Liverpool, England
This was WWE’s first ever show in Liverpool, and their first time in the new Liverpool Echo Arena, which opened in January. The show sold out two days after tickets first went on sale last October. I mention this every time I write a report on a WWE show in the U.K., but the number of young children in attendance seems to grow by each show. There were tons of pre-10 year olds in the crowd, many of them wearing DX or John Cena merchandise. Based on conversations I overheard, a lot of them were unaware that John Cena and Shawn Michaels wouldn’t be appearing. Some of them even had signs for Rey Mysterio. Big sellers at the merchandise table were the new HHH t-shirt, CM Punk’s t-shirt, and Chris Jericho’s t-shirt. I don’t know if this is a new development or not, but WWE have stopped putting their logo on the back of the t-shirts, which is good news for people who like the t-shirts, but are put off buying them because of the logo on the back, which let everyone know that they’re a wrestling fan.
Show opened on time at 7:30pm, and finished at 10:30pm. Lilian Garcia came out and sang the British national anthem. She then announced that tonight’s main event would be Triple H & Chris Jericho vs Umaga & Snitsky. Plus ‘an appearance’ by WWE Champion Randy Orton. Hmmm.. angle alert.
1) In the opening match, Brian Kendrick beat Paul Burchill in around 10 minutes, after delivering Sliced Bread #2 on Burchill. No Katie Lea with Burchill. Burchill was announced as being from Chelsea, England and was heavily booed (the Liverpool soccer team have a major rivalry with the Chelsea soccer team). Burchill got mic time, and ripped on the Liverpool people (known as ‘scousers’), calling us ‘no-good thieving shellsuit-wearing scousers’ (using common stereotypes). This got Burchill ENORMOUS heat, far more than you’d imagine. Even though this was the first match on the first show in a new building, in front of a lot of fans watching a live event for the first time, and the crowd was the absolute textbook definition of ‘easy’, Burchill did a great job being a heel, and this match had heat throughout, with lots of ‘Burchill Sucks’ chants. It was nice little match too, with Burchill using power moves on Kendrick, and Kendrick kicking out of several near falls before grabbing the win.
2) Maria & Mickie James beat WWE Womens Champion, Beth Phoenix & Katie Lea. Each Diva had their own ring entrance. No out-of-the-ordinary reaction for Katie Lea, despite her being billed from England. Based on this show alone, it looks like the Burchill & Lea pairing appears to have been dropped. Val Venis was the special guest referee for this match, I guess as a way of using him on the show. Apart from a very brief staredown with Phoenix at the end (so brief that if you blinked, you missed it), Venis called it straight down the middle. Phoenix worked hard at getting heel heat, working over Maria for much of the match. Maria eventually got the hot tag, and Mickie pinned Lea after a DDT in around eight minutes.
3) Santino Marella beat The Canadian Bulldog (formerly D.H. Smith) in around ten minutes, reversing a sunset flip attempt and holding on to the ropes for the pin. Marella was awesome here. He did mic work before the match, mentioning how he must talk about Liverpool’s musical heritage, and then talked about ‘four guys who changed music forever’. Of course, instead of talking about The Beatles, he referenced The Monkees, and even began singing ‘Daydream Believer’. He then began to tell a story about how his Uncle Giuseppe back in Italy once had a dancing monkey, when he was rudely interrupted. We never did find out the end of the story. Canadian Bulldog (announced as being from Calgary, Alberta; no mention of the D.H. Smith name, or any acknowledgement of him being Davey Boy’s son, which was curious) interrupted. He didn’t get much in the way of a crowd reaction and a lot of people seemed unaware of who he was. He said the fans came to see Marella wrestle, not talk, and told him to shut up. The match was decent, thanks to Marella’s fantastic comedic antics and mannerisms, although it was clear Bulldog was very green. Crowd really liked this match due to the comedy, but didn’t like the finish.
4) C.M. Punk beat Carlito in about seven minutes. Punk had his MITB briefcase with him – now that’s what you call dedication to the storyline and gimmick. Both guys were over with the crowd and it had good heat. Match was decent too, if a little formulaic. Carlito spat his apple into Punk’s face early on. Finish saw Punk kicking Carlito in the corner, giving him a bulldog, hitting a springboard clothesline on him, then finishing him off with the GTS to a good crowd pop.
5) WWE World Tag Team Champions, Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly retained the titles, defeating Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch in around ten minutes. Solid, but unspectacular match. Cade & Murdoch acted really angry for no apparent reason early on, trying to pick fights with various ringsiders to gain heat. Holly pinned Cade after an Alabama slam for the win. Cade & Murdoch continued to tease a break up afterwards, arguing amongst themselves, and Murdoch leaving by himself.
A fifteen minute intermission followed.
6) ECW World Champion, Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr in a fifteen minute snoozer of a match, after a chokeslam. Chavo channelled Larry Zbyszko early on, stalling for a full five minutes. This match was pretty boring, consisting of Chavo working over Kane’s left leg, grounding him. I thought this match was never going to end. Afterwards, Kane sold the leg, limping to the back. It’s possible he may have a legitimate injury, but if not, he did a great job selling.
Randy Orton came out for an interview, to a major crowd reaction. Orton listed all the people he’d beaten in the WWE. William Regal came out to a big babyface crowd reaction. Regal said that Orton had beaten everyone on the Raw roster, but hadn’t beaten him, and made the match, himself against Orton.
7) WWE Champion, Randy Orton defeated William Regal in around twenty minutes, after an RKO. This was a very good match, and hands down the best match of the night. This was a stiff, scientific match, with lots of matwork, holds and counterholds. There were duelling ‘Lets go Regal, Lets go Orton’ chants during this match. Both guys delivered stiff European uppercuts on each other. Regal had a nearfall on Orton, but Orton’s foot was on the ropes. Regal also had Orton in the Regal Stretch at another point, only for Orton to make the ropes. Orton then hit the RKO out of nowhere for the pin. After the match, Regal took the mic and said that he’d now been in the business 25 years, and that maybe one of these days he’ll win one. He said how great it was to come to Liverpool and thanked everyone for their support. He got a major babyface reaction for this little speech.
8) In the main event, Triple H & WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho defeated Umaga & Snitsky in 25 minutes. The first five minutes of this match were bizarre. All four guys basically stood in the ring and stared at each other. I had no idea what they were waiting for. Eventually, HHH and Snitsky started, and I called this spot before it happened – they locked up, and HHH pulled away quickly. He climbed out of the ring and grabbed the mic. He said, ‘For the love of God, Snistky, brush your teeth!’ This started the ‘Brush your teeth’ chants. He then requested some mints or gum from the ringsiders, and was actually handed some mints. He climbed back into the ring and handed these to Snitsky, who threw them outside the ring. Umaga picked up the mints and ate them to a big crowd pop. He sort of motioned to Snitsky that they were good mints, and when Snitsky went over to investigate, Umaga sold that Snitsky’s breath was horrible. Yes, this was the comedy portion of the show. Triple H truly is the smartest (laziest?) man in wrestling. Jericho worked most of the match, with both Umaga and Snitsky beating him up. Finish came when Jericho had the Walls of Jericho on Snitsky, and Umaga broke it up. Triple H then pedigreed Umaga for the win. The babyfaces posed in the ring after the match. No mention of a return date, although Lilian Garcia said that they ‘couldn’t wait to come back to Liverpool’.
Overall verdict: Fun show overall. The Orton vs Regal match was the undoubted highlight. Santino Marella was a riot. HHH & Jericho brought the star power, although Jericho did all the ring work and carried HHH. The target audience certainly loved it all and went home very happy.
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