WWE Raw house show Report
December 28, 2008
New York City at Madison Square Garden
Report by Mike Omansky, PWTorch reader

Notes: Howard Finkel returned to the Garden as ring announcer ... Garden was packed. No visible empty seats. ... Show lasted three hours and 15 minutes, including two brief intermissions.

(1) FINLAY (w/Hornswoggle) beat MARK HENRY (w/Tony Atlas) via shillelagh to the head in a solid opener. Henry tried power moves. Finlay attempted some wrestling. At the finish, the referee was distracted by Atlas and Hornswoggle to set up Finlay's hit to the head. Five-minute post-match celebration as Finlay brought six kids from ringside into the ring to dance and frolic with them. (*1/2)

(2) MELINA & KELLY KELLY beat Women's champion BETH PHOENIX & JILLIAN HALL when Melina pinned hall with a leg drop over the throat. (*)

(3) ECW champion MATT HARDY beat JACK SWAGGER via pin with a twist of fate to retain the ECW Title. Best part of the match was Swagger's histrionics. Bout not that exciting. (*)

(4) World tag team champions THE MIZ & JOHN MORRISON beat CRYME TYME (SHAD & JTG) to retain the tag belts when Morrison pinned Shad. Usual Cryme Time match - they have their moments against the heels, but lose to double-teaming at the end. (*1/2)

(5) SHAWN MICHAELS (w/JBL) beat KANE with the superkick for the pin. JBL came out after Michaels and addressed the crowd. He explained that the originally scheduled Michaels-JBL match was canceled as Michaels is now an employee of Layfield, Inc. JBL stayed at ringside the entire match, cheering Michaels on. He distracted each man - he stopped Michaels from an earlier superkick; then Kane came after JBL with an attempted chokeslam on the apron, but Michaels blindsided Kane. (**)

-- Comedy skit. Santino Marella started addressing the crowd, but Boogeyman's music interrupted. He came to the ring and Santino started running as Boogeyman chased him out the opposite side of the building.

(6) Intercontinental champion WILLIAM REGAL beat C.M. PUNK with the knee to the head and pin to retain the IC title. Crowd not into this match/dead.

(7) REY MYSTERIO & KOFI KINGSTON beat CODY RHODES & RANDY ORTON (w/Manu) in the best match of the night. Excellent action throughout. Finish: Rey does a double 619 on both Rhodes and Orton, Orton falls back and out of the ring, and Rey pins Rhodes. Manu had a few excellent selected interference spots that worked well. (***)

(8) WWE World Hvt. champion JOHN CENA beat CHRIS JERICHO in a well-executed steel cage match to retain the World Title. Cena won with a slam off the top rope and pin. The usual "near escapes" by Jericho were very well done, and dangerously close. Mixed reaction to Cena, who got booed more as the match went on. (***)

Solid show overall, with the last two matches significantly stronger than the rest, although the Michaels-Kane match was well-done and interesting due to the JBL presence.

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