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Arena Reports
3/9 WWE in Green Bay, Wisc.: Santino mispronounces Favre's name, Orton vs. Jericho, Glamazon vs. Mickie Mar 9, 2008 - 9:05:50 PM
WWE Raw house show report
March 9, 2008
Green Bay, Wisc at the Resch Center
Report by Matt Johnson, PWTorch.com reader
Ring announcer Tony Chimmel came out to the Raw theme music. General Manager William Regal was introduced. Regal announced that he was bringing the greatest show in the world to Green Bay. Fans were also encouraged to vote for the stipulation for the WWE Championship match. The choices were (1.) a two out of three falls match, (2) a falls count anywhere match, or (3) a street fight.
(1) Super Crazy pinned Charlie Haas. A very good opening match that was perhaps the best match of the day. Haas wore a black singlet. After several minutes of action, Haas went under the ring and came back with a red and silver singlet and a red mask on. Super Crazy tore the red mask off and Haas had a black mask on under it. Super Crazy scored the pin after several more minutes of action. The crowd was hot the whole match.
(2) Brian Kendrick pinned D.H. Smith. Smith ran to the ring first and played babyface. Kendrick also came out as a babyface. The match was quite basic and the crowd was pretty quiet. When it was silent, a fan shouted "That is what steroids will do for you" towards Smith. Smith smiled at him and flexed his bicep. Kendrick eventually scored the pin and ended this somewhat dull match.
(3) Paul Burchill pinned Val Venis. Burchill came out with his sister Katie. Katie said that they were the "hottest pair in the WWE." Venis came out to a solid crowd reaction and threw his towel to a lady in the crowd. Katie kept distracting Venis throughout the match. After the match, the referees pulled a rib on Venis. As they helped him to the back, I heard a large amount of laughter from one side of the crowd. Soon I saw that the referees had given Venis a wedgie. His tights were completely lodged up his backside.
(4) Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes pinned Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch to retain the Tag Team championship. Cade & Murdoch were confrontational throughout the match.
(5) Mr. Kennedy pinned Santino Marella. Santino Marella may have been the highlight of the show. He came out first and got on the mic. He said that he admires people from Green Bay because they make the best out of a bad situation. He said that the only thing in Wisconsin is cheese and snow. He said that Green Bay had a "washed up quarterback named Bert Favv-urr." Santino said that it was quite embarrassing really.
Mr. Kennedy then came out. Kennedy is from Green Bay and got a huge reaction. He said that Santinto has to shut his mouth. Kennedy said it was true people from Green Bay like cheese. They also occasionally like large women. They also enjoy drinking beer and kicking ass. Santino covered his ears with his index fingers as Kennedy shouted "Kennedy" on the mic. The match itself was pretty average. After Kennedy won, he got the mic and said that Santino mentioned Brett Favre crying on television and that someone else was crying now. He then held the mic close to Santino's face and Santino was crying. The show then had a ten minute intermission.
(6) Beth Phoenix pinned Mickie James to retain the WWE Women's Championship. Mickie was really over with the crowd. Beth Phoenix wins in a match that was similar to most women's matches on television.
(7) Shawn Michaels & Triple H defeated Umaga & Snitsky. DX came out throwing DX glow sticks to a huge reaction. What ensued was one of the longest comedy routines I have ever seen at a wrestling event. They got on their mic and did their normal routine. After Umaga and Snitsky came out, Triple H and Michaels argued for two minutes as to who should start the match. They eventually played rock, paper, scissors and after losing, Michaels complained that he hated the game.
When Triple H got tagged in, he went outside the ring and grabbed the mic. He made fun of Snitsky's bad breath. He asked if anyone in the crowd had gum or mouth wash. A fan through Triple H some gum and he gave it to Snitsky. Snitsky was upset and went to talk to Umaga. Umaga stepped away because of Snitsky's bad breath.
A few minutes later, Michaels pulled the back of Snitsky's trunks down to reveal his backside. Triple H again got on the mic and asked if anyone had hand sanitizer. The woman who got Val Venis's towel threw a bottle of it to Triple H. Hunter washed his hands and threw the bottle to Michaels. After Michaels sanitized his hands, he threw the bottle across the ring to Umaga. Umaga did not know what to do with it, so DX showed him how to sanitize his hands. Snitsky was bent out of shape over the whole thing.
After the match ended, DX circled around the entire arena attempting to high five as many fans as possible. They really made an extra effort to please the fans and fans were in a great mood as a result.
(8) Randy Orton pinned Chris Jericho in a street fight to retain the WWE Championship. Chimmel announced that the street fight had won with 82% of the vote. This was consistent with the crowd reaction this stipulation received when Chimmel announced the choices.
Orton received a very strong heel reaction. I found it inappropriate that the man a few rows in front of me shouted "Randy Orton has an STD" while the man had what appeared to be a three year old girl on his lap.
They fought there way into the crowd and up the stairs. Eventually they fought there way back to the ring. The following things were pulled out from under the ring: two chairs, a table, two cookie sheets, a trash can, and an electrical wire. There was good brawling throughout and eventually Jericho was thrown into the table.
As Jericho got up, Orton hit him with the RKO and scored the pin. After the match, Orton grabbed a chair and planned to hit Jericho with it. Jericho countered and dropped Orton. As Orton left, Jericho's music played. He got on the mic and thanked everyone for coming to "Green Bay is Jericho."
Notes: It was an entertaining show and the crowd was in a good mood throughout. There was not much news generated, nor were there many signs of future events. I would not be surprised if D.H. Smith turns heel, however. He seemed to transition into that role as his match progressed. The crowd seemed enthusiastic about Wrestlemania coming up and excited about the prospect of WWE returning in the near future.
BIGGEST POPS
1. Mr. Kennedy
2. DX
3. Mickie James
4. Super Crazy
MOST HEEL HEAT
1. Randy Orton
2. Santino Marella
3. Cade & Murdoch
4. Beth Phoenix
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