TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU! Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.
Arena Reports
2/10 WWE in Ariake, Japan: Orton vs. Jericho, DX vs. Regal & Umaga, Beth vs. Mickie James Feb 12, 2008 - 1:38:17 AM
WWE house show
February 10, 2008
Ariake, Japan
Report by Christopher Charlton, PWTorch.com reader
Went to the Raw house show in Ariake last night. It was an enjoyable show, much better than expected, with a fairly large and vocal crowd. WWE TV over here is about three weeks behind the rest of the world so there was lots of shilling for the Rumble.
Holly got a good reception and won with the Alabama Slam.
(2) CHARLIE HASS beat D.H. SMITH
Charlie Hass with the win after having his first mask taken off, but finding a second one and rallying with a German suplex. One has to wonder, if he gets stronger whilst wearing a mask, why he doesn't wear one all the time, but anyway. Decent match.
(3) JEFF HARDY beat SNITSKY
Jeff got a huge pop, as expected. He went out into the crowd to shake hands, and made friends with a cosplayer dressed up as him. Twist of Fate and Swanton for the win.
(4) CARLITO beat BRIAN KENDRICK
Nice finishing sequence saw Kendrick going for Sliced Bread but it being countered into the Backstabber.
(5) RIC FLAIR beat MR. KENNEDY
Kennedy was getting over pretty well, and got annoyed at the fans for trying to say his name along with him. Everybody loved Flair, natch. Figure 4 did Kennedy in.
Candice Michelle came out at intermission to give away some T-shirts and give a prize to a competition winner.
(6) BETH PHOENIX beat MICKIE JAMES
Val Venis was the special guest referee, but didn't really get involved. Decent match, Phoenix won with that thing she does.
(7) RANDY ORTON beat CHRIS JERICHO
Really, really good match. Everybody knew Orton was going to win (it was a title match) but really bought into the false finishes. Orton won with the RKO, then tried to punt Jericho, who countered with the Code Breaker.
(8) DX beat WILLIAM REGAL & UMAGA
DX, obviously, got a big reception. Triple H sang 'Turning Japanese' and danced about a bit, which was vaguely embarrassing. He put a slight lack of laughs down to the language barrier. As expected, a fun tag match to send people home happy (but not before being profoundly disturbed by William Regal's bare buttocks). DX won with a Sweet Chin/ Pedigree combo, then went and greeted the fans in the floor seats.
The show was pretty long at nearly three hours. No Cena, JBL or (most disappointingly) Marella, but it was a really fun show, definitely better than the last time I saw WWE live. The crowd was decent, owing in part to Monday being a national holiday.
QUICK TIPS FOR SENDING RESULTS
If you attend an arena event in future, either house shows or TV tapings, we encourage you to send us a report for publication. You can direct your reports to "matchresults07" (@pwtorch. com).
We accept reports in any format, but if it's not much trouble, please format your report like you see above, with the matches numbered like this (1) , (2) , (3) , with the opening line of each match paragraph stating who beat whom (don't just say Wrestler A vs. Wrestler beat with the result listed later; instead, state up front who won so those readers who don't have time to read the entire report (i. e. their boss walks past their cubicle all the time looking beat their shoulder) can at least quickly assess the results.
Also, please list tag teams using the "&" symbol as opposed to stating "and. " Reserve use of " and" when listing results in a three-way or four-way match where there are no teams (i. e. " Wrestler A beat Wrestler B and Wrestler C in a three-way match" ) so it is easy to differentiate a handicap match from a three-way match.
If you know HTML coding for bolding, you can also bold out the first line of each match description. If you don't know HTML symbols, then we can add those ourselves.
Special thanks to everyone who helps us with reports on live events!
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
