Note: Some arena reports from readers were misdirected earlier this month into the wrong email box on my computer, so I've retreieved them and am publishing them today. My apologies to the correspondents who filed timely reports and didn't get published until today...

WWE Raw house show
May 10, 2008
Kalamazoo, Mich.
Report by Colin Dilworth, PWTorch.com reader

The atmosphere before the show was very exciting. WWE hadn't been to Kalamazoo in over two years, and you could easily tell the crowd couldn't wait.

The show started of with Tony Chimmel coming down to the ring to announce that Kane would be taking on Chavo Guerrero for the ECW Title later on in the night, and that the fans would be able to vote for what stipulation the match would have. (a) two-out-of-three falls, (b) falls count anywhere, or (c) no-DQ.

(1) Super Crazy defeated Santino Marella. This was a decent opener to get the crowd going. A good back and Forth battle that never got remotely boring, with Crazy usually focusing on Santino's arm, and Santino usually focusing on Crazy's back. Crazy gets the pin after he nails Santino with a sunset flip.

(2) Hardcore Holly defeated Snitsky. This match started off kind of weirdly. Snitsky just comes to the ring with out any music, then Regal gets on the mic and explains to the crowd how he's the "most powerful entity in the WWE", and then Holly comes out and confronts Regal for no apparent reason, which sets up Regal putting him in a match against Snitsky. The match was OK, a little slow, but still some good brawling back and forth between the two. Holly wins with his Alabama Slamma.

(3) Cody Rhodes defeated " The Natural" Nick (Nicky from the Spirit Squad). Nick started off with a promo about how he's the best natural athlete in wrestling today, his in-ring skills are decent, but his mic-skill stinks. This was the worst match of the night. It was slow, with both men putting each other in an arm bar for extended periods of time, but it got a little exciting near the end. Cody Rhodes nails the DDT for the win

(4) Cryme Tyme defeated Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. The match started off with Cryme Tyme dominating, but a thumb to the eye allows Cade and Murdoch to isolate JTG for about 3-4 minutes, with a bunch of near tags to Shad. Shad eventually gets the hot tag and cleans house, and then pins Murdoch. After the match, Cade is extremely frustrated, and then Murdoch grabs the mic and sings for about 10 seconds before Cade grabs it from him and yells "What the hell is wrong with you? We Just lost!"

Tony Chimmel reminds the crowd that they can still vote for the ECW title match stipulation

INTERMISSION

(5) Mickie James defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the Women's Title. Mickie James wins. This was a good match that was far more enjoyable than that lumberjill match they had last week on Raw. Another back and forth battle that actually had some decent length to it. There were a couple of times where the crowd thought Phoenix would actually get the pin, but Mickie kicked out each time right before the ref hit the three count. Mickie James won with a roll-up, which I thought was kinda lame, but whatever.

(6) Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero for the ECW Title. The results are in and what a shocker, it's a NO DQ match. Kane wins. The match started with Chavo jumping in and out of the ring every 10 seconds to avoid Kane for about 3 minutes which prompted the crowd to start a "Chavo sucks" chant, and Bam Neely was really getting into it with one of the guys in the front row. Bam Neely kept interfering in the match behind the refs back, which I thought was kind of stupid since it's NO DQ, Chavo targeted Kane's legs, nailed him with a few chair shots, chocked him with the mic cord, and had Bam throw him into the ring-post. Kane eventually fought back and just demolished Chavo with the chair, threw Bam Neely into Chavo, and then nailed a chokeslam for the win. Good match, making it no DQ was a good move, I haven't really been a fan of any of their regular wrestling matches.

(7) Chris Jericho & HBK defeated JBL & Umaga. JBL came out to the ring and just stood there for a good five minutes while the crowd booed him. After the crowd died down a bit, JBL asked "are you finished?", which set up another 5 minutes of boos. He tried to talk, but kept stopping because he couldn't hear himself over the crowd. Eventually the crowd stopped which set up JBL to bash Kalamazoo, saying he doesn't want to be here, and neither would our hometown hero Derek Jeter, in fact, Jeter is loving life in his "hometown of New York City", which set up another 5 minutes of boos. JBL then calls out his oppenent Chris Jericho. Right before the ref starts the match, Regal comes out and says he hates Y2J, but likes JBL, so he makes it a 2-on-1 handicap match between Y2J and JBL & Umaga. Again, right before the ref starts the match, HBK's music hits and the crowd goes INSANE. Me and everyone else in the crowd literally jumped out of their seat and went crazy. HBK did a very good job of selling his leg injury(they're starting to do a good job of pointing out that it's his LEFT KNEE that's injured) HBK goads JBL and Umaga into accepting HBK's challenge that they make it a 2 on 2 tag match. This was easily the match of the night. Back and Forth tag match with JBL and Umaga eventually isolating HBK and focusing on his knee. Jericho got the hot tag which set up Jericho unloading on both JBL and Umaga. Y2J eventually threw JBL out of the ring, but Umaga nailed him from behind. Just as Umaga was about to nail Y2J with the Samoan Spike, HBK nailed him with Sweet Chin Music, which set up Y2J's Code Breaker and cover for the win. After the match, JBL tries to attck both men from behind, but instead gets nailed with Sweet Chin Music, allowing the crowd to go home happy.

Overall, I give the show a 7 out of 10. No Cena, HHH, Orton, or Kennedy

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