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Arena Reports
2/10 WWE in Seoul, South Korea: Michaels & Jericho vs. Orton & Umaga, Flair vs. Regal, Beth vs. Mickie Feb 12, 2008 - 3:12:22 PM
WWE house show
February 10, 2008
Seoul, South Korea
Report by Alastair Middleton, PWTorch.com reader
A little late but here's a report of the Raw house show at Jamsil Olympic Arena in Seoul, South Korea on Sunday February 10:
William Regal came out to run down the card and announce that Chris Jericho would be replacing Triple H in the main event - teaming with Shawn Michaels against Umaga and Randy Orton. Also that Beth Pheonix would be defending the Women's Championship and that Ric Flair would be putting his career on the line against "the world's greatest wrestler". Regal got booed for being Regal but cheered for saying how delighted he was to be back in Seoul.
(1) JEFF HARDY beat CARLITO
The combined factors of being the first wrestler of the evening out and also of being Jeff Hardy at this moment in time meant a huge pop as Hardy entered the ring. Carlito spent the first few minutes running away - first to the ropes, then to the outside. Hardy gave the crowd what they were asking for with the twist of fate followed by a swanton after about 8 minutes. Hardy had the presence of a man at the top of his game and his enthusiasm was obvious.
(2) SNITSKY beat BRIAN KENDRICK
Snitsky was actually entertaining, keeping up a running argument with some members of the crowd. He tossed Kendrick around for a while before Kendrick rolled out of the way of an elbow drop and came back with some offense. Snitsky quickly regained the upper hand and delivered a Pumphandle slam to finish.
(3) D.H. SMITH beat CHARLIE HAAS
Crowd was not into this one at all to begin with although gradually as both wrestlers gave a good account of themselves and really seemed to be making an effort, they started to warm. Haas took a beating before disappearing to fetch his mask which saw him gain the upper hand. Smith eventually took the mask off him and put it on himself and got the win, celebrating with the fans afterwards.
(4) MR. KENNEDY beat VAL VENIS
Kennedy came out first and mocked Ric Flair for a while. Apart from William Regal, Kennedy was the only wrestler all evening to address the crowd. Venis got a huge reception - Kennedy did a great job of looking appalled and left the ring in disgust to let Venis get on with it. When they finally got a highly entertaining match started, Kennedy won with the mic-check and quickly departed for the second time allowing Venis to get on with the real business of exposing his backside while being helped out of the ring.
Before the bell, Murdoch got involved with everyone from the announcer to the girl who took his coat - Rhodes offering her a concilatory hug as she went towards the back. Murdoch then climbed over the barriers to go after one particular fan and in general managed to generate the most heat of the evening. Once Cade had restrained him the four pulled off a good tag match which Holly finished off although it was Rhodes who stayed to take the applause.
Next was an intermission, after which, Candice Michelle gave out t-shirts.
(6) BETH PHEONIX beat MICKIE JAMES
Intense, high quality match. Pheonix was always very much on top but they mixed technical wrestling with some high spots that made for a good spectacle.
(7) RIC FLAIR beat WILLIAM REGAL
Unsurprisingly, the "world's greatest wrestler" turned out to be Regal himself. Flair got a huge reception as expected. Regal did his best to create some heat. Some chain wrestling, some Flair chops, plenty of "wooos" and a Figure 4 to finish.
(8) SHAWN MICHAELS & CHRIS JERICHO beat RANDY ORTON & UMAGA
All four got huge pops - even Umaga. All four took it in turns to pose on the second turnbuckle as the crowd chanted for them, Orton and Jericho holding the ropes in place for Umaga to go up. Standard good-natured house show main event with Jericho and Umaga doing most of the work. It ended with Michaels pinning Umaga after Sweet Chin Music. Jericho was by far the most animated of the four and remained behind afterwards to go into the crowd.
An entertaining if unspectacular two and a half hour show - it was WWE's first visit to Seoul since 2005, although the Jamsil Arena, which holds 13,000 was slightly less than half full which made for a slightly uncomfortable atmosphere. While the crowd were into the intros, they weren't all that into some of the matches - WWE is on practically non-stop on the XTM cable network here in Korea and by all accounts has good viewing figures, but the show being on the last day of the lunar new year holidays perhaps didn't help ticket sales. In terms of effort, Kennedy and Jericho were the stand out performers of the night and Kennedy in particular showed the kind of presence - even in a low key house show - that marks him out as a top performer.
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