WWE Raw/ECW brand house show report
February 22, 2009
Asheville, N.C.
Report by Graham Cawthon, PWTorch reader

Just got back from the Raw house show this evening in Asheville. Fun, but a largely paint-by-numbers card. Very pro-Cena crowd. Prior to the show, both young and old were talking about Cena and his response was deafening.

Photos from the show are available at www.myspace.com/thehistoryofwwe.

(1) WWE Women's Champion Melina & Mickie James defeated Beth Phoenix & Jillian Hall when Melina pinned Jillian with a roll up after Jillian hit the corner. No Santino or Rosa at ringside. Mickie did a good job of getting the crowd into the match, but it was mostly through shaking her butt while standing on the apron.

(2) Tommy Dreamer pinned Paul Burchill with the DDT. Worst match of the show. Dreamer looked like he was phoning it in. His selling was sloppy and aside from one near fall towards the end by Burchill, there wasn't much suspense.

(3) Ted Dibiase Jr. & Cody Rhodes defeated Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspar & JTG) when Dibiase pinned JTG with the Dream Street. Good match, mostly for DiBiase and Rhodes controlling it with illegal tag teaming behind the referee's back. DiBiase and Rhodes were very over as heels, only behind Orton and Jericho.

(4) WWE IC champion C.M. Punk pinned Kane with a springboard clothesline after the challenger hit an unprotected turnbuckle. Punk was easily one of the most over of the night, probably second only to Cena. Several nearfalls on behalf of the challenger.

(5) ECW World Champion Jack Swagger pinned Christian with a roll up after avoiding the Unprettier. Better than their initial match on ECW several weeks back. Wasn't sure if we would see a title change or not - it was during this match that I noticed a WWE photographer at ringside. He wasn't there earlier in the card. Christian got a strong babyface reaction for someone who's only been back a few weeks.

(6) Chris Jericho pinned Kofi Kingston with the Codebreaker as Kingston came off the top. Better than you would think in regards to a semi-main. Though he doesn't have the momentum behind him that Randy Orton does, Jericho is arguably the top heel Raw has at the moment and that was made clear here by the reaction he got to a promo he cut before the match.

(7) John Cena pinned Randy Orton with the FU at the 20-minute mark after avoiding Orton's kick to the head. Prior to the bout, it was announced neither DiBiase or Rhodes could interfere or they and Orton would be suspended and left off the WrestleMania card. Good, but not pay-per-view caliber. A lot of Orton walking around the ring and staring at the crowd, which drew incredible heat. At the same time, anything Cena did popped the audience. Like I said - deafening.

Enjoyable card but the show felt a little rushed. Intermission came at the one-hour mark and the whole thing was over by 2:15 p.m.

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