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By James Caldwell, Torch columnist

WWE Raw brand house show report
March 16, 2008
Beaumont, Tex. at the Beaumont Civic Center
Report by: James Caldwell, Torch columnist

The Raw brand's weekend tour of East Texas concluded in Beaumont this afternoon with a 3:00 p.m. afternoon show. WWE booked the 6,500-seat Beaumont Civic Center and it was packed to the very tip top of the building. There wasn't an empty seat anywhere. In the past, they have booked TV tapings at the Ford Center in Beaumont, which holds about 8,500. The Civic Center is a much tighter building, which made for an intimate atmosphere for the show.

Dean Malenko was the agent overseeing the action, as he was seated at the back of the arena next to the entrance music table near the locker room entrance. Of course, the demographic was kids, kids, and more kids. You could also see the John Cena effect in full force, with a significant number of young girls who were probably at the Hannah Montana concert in Houston last Sunday. A lot parents, who were probably dragged to the show by their kids. And the kids I was sitting next to really knew their stuff. I'm basing that solely on them knowing who D.H. Smith is. I've been to three or four shows this year, and they've all been very heavy on kids and parents. This is the 2008 demo.

The arena was set up with all of the house lights turned down, and just the one set of lights suspended above the ring, creating a very old school feel to the show. Tony Chimel was the ring announcer, and they didn't have a wireless mic for him. He had to drag a corded mic into the ring for ring announcing and for wrestlers doing promos.

(1) Carlito & Santino Marella beat Val Venis & D.H. Smith in 14:00. Santino warmed up the crowd by cutting a promo about Maria's Playboy. Always a good way to kill five minutes of time while people were still filing into their seats (including myself). One of the more heated matches on the show, mainly because it was the opening match. Finish was Carlito hitting the backcracker on Venis behind the ref's back, then Santino made the cover as the legal man. Afterward, Smith and Venis teased tension, but shook hands. Fine opening tag action. Actually one of the better tag matches I've seen in a long time from WWE, but this was a house show where they can do a lot more in the ring to have fun with the crowd without the restrictions of TV time. (**1/2)

One subtle thing I noticed during the post-match reflects on the younger guys not quite "getting it" just yet. As Venis and Smith were leaving the ring, Venis held open the bottom rope for Smith to walk out to the apron. Smith tried to return the favor by lowering the middle rope, but Venis shook him off and rolled underneath the bottom rope because he was still selling pain from the backcracker. Venis, being a ring veteran now, sold from the moment the match ended until the second he disappeared through the curtain after a long walk down the entrance ramp. It's something that has to be learned over time.

(2) Super Crazy beat Charlie Haas in 8:00. Haas turned into Super Lucha with the mask spot in the middle of the match, but it didn't work. He lost control of The Mask ala Jim Carrey in the movie of same name, and Super rolled him up for the pin. (*1/4)

(3) Paul Burchill (w/Katie Lea) beat Brian Kendrick in 10:00. Katie did a pre-match promo about not finding any real cowboys in Texas, but she's happy with her genetically-gifted brother. The match dragged for a while with Burchill pounding on Kendrick forever. When Kendrick made his comeback, Katie hopped on the apron to distract the referee allowing Big Brother to score the win with his turn-out slam finisher. (3/4*)

(4) Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes beat Cade & Murdoch in 12:00 to retain the World Tag Titles. They basically took a typical four-minute TV match and extrapolated it to 12 minutes. Cade and Murdoch did some stalling mid-way through the match to tease being counted out, but they returned to the ring and isolated Rhodes. The finish was Holly landing a spinning Alabama Slam on Murdoch for the pin after Cody took Cade to the outside. OK match. (**)

[Intermission]

(5) Women's champion Beth Phoenix beat Mickie James in 8:00 to retain the Women's Title. Beth is in great physical shape, as I could see how cut her arms are when she walked down the ring entrance. A very imposing presence. She doesn't quite have that I'm-bigger-than-everyone vibe that Awesome Kong has, but I think they could do something interesting with her in a men's program ala Chyna at her peak. This was a really good match. Mickie scored some close nearfalls with pinning combinations, but Beth eventually caught her with the Fisherman buster for the win. After the match, Beth went for a post-match beating, but Candice Michelle made the save. Poor Mickie did all the work and Candice got all the glory. (**1/4)

During the show, they plugged the text messaging deal to vote on JBL vs. Finlay's match. Choices were Street Fight, Falls Count Anywhere, and 2 out of 3 falls. Chimel claimed 88 percent voted for Street Fight. (88 percent seems to be the number du jour on the house shows.) So, JBL came out and he was the greatest heel ever. His gimmick, of course, is that he disowned Texas and moved to NYC. Well, this is Beaumont, Texas, which is deep Texas. It's not like Houston 90 miles to the west where a good portion of the city is populated by out-of-towners who come to Houston for work. (No, I'm not bitter.)

In any event, JBL came to the ring and stood there for five minutes without saying a word and he got one of the strongest heel reactions I've ever heard in a building for wrestling. He simply stood there with the corded mic next to his side peering into the crowd with that JBL stare. Once the crowd died down just a little, he asked, "Are you finished?" And then they booed him for another five minutes. So, then he talked. He cut his local promo on why he left Texas, and then went for the jugular by calling his former state North Mexico. At that point, he got pelted by one item, then three items, then the majority of the ring was covered in trash. Actually, the ref got the worst of it because he got nailed by a cup full of ice. Finlay then came out to a huge babyface reaction after JBL did all the work by building up the heat. The objects kept flying into the ring until the match started after JBL finished stalling on the outside.

(6) Finlay beat JBL in 11:00 in a street fight. This had a little bit of everything - trash cans, toilet paper, rolling pins, you name it. JBL took a few trashcan shots to the head and was the recipient of the big comedy spot of the match when he took a few cooking pan shots to the crotch. JBL eventually returned to the ring with a chair, but Finlay ducked and nailed a shillelagh shot to the head for the win. And JBL gets his comeuppance. A fine brawl featuring the greatest heel of the afternoon. (***)

DX then came out to a monster reaction. They probably did monster business at the merchandise table because there were DX glowsticks everywhere. They probably sold 1,000 or so. Hunter did the DX intro after Michaels corrected him that there are in fact not millions of people watching this show around the world. Snitsky then came out and got smashed by a cup of ice. The fan was promptly ejected because he or she did it right in front of the WWE employee manning the ring entrance music table. Randy Orton then came out and was spared any liquid debris.

(7) DX (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) beat Snitsky & WWE champion Randy Orton in 23:00. There was maybe two minutes of wrestling in this match, and the whole thing was simply great. Just an example of a typical stall spot: a fan chucked a pack of gum into the ring after Hunter did the promo about Snitsky's teeth smelling bad. So, they spent the next five minutes trying to get Snitsky to put a stick of gum in his mouth. Snitsky eventually kicked Hunter in the gut after refusing to freshen up. Hunter and Michaels then pulled down Orton and Snitsky's trunks. So, we got full moons for about a minute. Hunter then cut a promo that Snitsky's ass smells as bad as his teeth. Of course, the kids ate this up and loved every second of it. Eventually, Hunter got the hot tag for the finish and Michaels landed Sweet Chin Music on both opponents. Snitsky then staggered into the Pedigree from Hunter for the pin and the win. DX then celebrated in the ring to close the show. Smartest match of the entire night because they filled over 20 minutes by doing about five moves total. If you're over with the crowd, you can save your body. (***)

Check back on Monday in the Corner Cube for some overall thoughts on this show and a big picture look at WWE's audience, marketing, and keeping the wrestlers on the road without them breaking down.

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