WWE Raw house show report
April 11, 2010
Liverpool, England
Report by Jon Plotnicki, Torch reader

The arena was buzzing and to kick off the show, the opening match was Evan Bourne against Chavo Guerrero.

(1) Evan Bourne beat Chavo Guerrero. The match began with basic mat wrestling until Chavo started working on Evan's back and wearing him down. Evan broke free and delivered a roundhouse kick to the face, then followed up with a missile dropkick from the top rope. Chavo got up, kicked him, and then performed the 3 Amigos suplexes. Evan came back with a roundhouse kick and placed Chavo under the turnbuckle before climbing up top to deliver the Air Bourne. After a three count, the match was over.

(2) Christian beat Dos Caras. The crowd was loud for Christian's entrance and, overall, Dos Caras looked like a good worker. They began by locking up and using mat wrestling techniques for a while, with the momentum gradually going to the Caras as he began delivering suplexes and such moves. Christian fought his way out of a chokehold and delivered a signature missile dropkick from the top rope. Another suplex later, he then hit a roundhouse kick to the head. He then hit the Killswitch and the match was over.

After the match, as Christian was celebrating, Sheamus appeared and delivered the big boot to Christian, then cut a short promo on what he's allegedly going to do to John Cena in the main event. He then left to loud boos.

The next segment was introduced by Justin Roberts, who introduced Chris Masters. Masters issued a Masterlock Challenge to any WWE Superstar. Cue up Hornswoggle coming out and kicking Masters and diving through his legs to dodge him. Masters then slammed him down and taunted the crowd. Hornswoggle then used a drop toehold to make his head hit the chair he recently vacated. Hornswoggle then climbed to the top rope and hit the tadpole splash. He ran away and Masters walked out in disgrace.

(3) Divas champion Maryse beat Eve and Kelly Kelly to retain the Divas Title. The match began like a handicap match with Eve and Kelly making a pact to take out Maryse. They began with double-team attacks (including a much cheered stinkface) and hammer throws into the turnbuckle until Maryse fought back and kicked Kelly in the stomach. Eve then threw Maryse out of the ring and then Eve and Kelly get the fight on. When Eve was down, Kelly went for the cover. As the count was at 1, Maryse ran into the ring, threw Kelly out, and covered Eve herself. The match was over to a chorus of wolf-whistles.

Before the next match, Ted DiBiase told everyone how good-looking and talented he is while holding aloft his father's Million Dollar belt. Cody Rhodes then went into a rant about why he has to wear an amateur boxing style helmet to wrestle due to Randy's Punt to the head at WrestleMania. After he said that "Liverpool will NEVER see an RKO," they threw down the microphone and Orton's ring music hit. Everyone went crazy cheering as he came to the ring.

(4) Randy Orton beat Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) in a handicap match. The match began with Cody locking up with Orton, taking a punch to the face, then running over to DiBiase holding his jaw and tagging him in. Orton then kicked him in the gut and dragged him through the ropes ready to deliver the Orton DDT. Cody ran over to help, so Orton made it a double and hit the double Orton DDT in WrestleMania-esque style. With Cody as the legal man, he pushed DiBiase out of the ring, ripped off Cody's helmet, and went to Punt him in the head again. As he was about to deliver it, DiBiase took him down. He tried to go for Dream Street, but Orton countered and hit a devastating powerslam. DiBiase rolled out of the ring, then Orton delivered the RKO on Cody to loud cheers for the win.

[Intermission]

The opening match of the second portion of the show was William Regal vs MVP. MVP comes out first and was loudly cheered until people heard William Regal's music. This caused a very mixed reaction, with most of the cheers probably heading toward the heel, Regal.

(5) William Regal beat MVP. It was a good match, with Regal delivering some English-style moves to loud cheers, but with MVP also delivering Ballin' with loud crowd participation. I was slightly confused as to why William Regal used the 'kip-up' three times ala Shawn Michaels, but oh well. As MVP went for the Playmaker, Regal countered with a devastating kick to the head and made the cover. The match was over and he cut a short promo on how much he loves Liverpool and thanked all the people for letting him live his dream. It seemed genuine and he was loudly cheered as he left.

Unified tag champions Shomiz then came out and cut a promo on how good they are. The Miz used analogies to the local football teams, saying that "in one year, he has won more titles than Liverpool FC has in 20 years." This drew loud boos, and he made it worse by saying that he is the best - the 'Manchester United' of the situation. Finally, Mark Henry's ring music hit and he slowly makes his way to the ring. We then found out that his partner is Kofi Kingston. (This was confusing, as I thought it would have made more sense to have Kofi against Regal in the singles match and have Henry and MVP as partners.)

(6) Unified tag champions Big Show & The Miz beat Kofi Kingston & Mark Henry to retain the Unified tag titles. Kofi and Miz started off the match, and it began with Kofi dominating and knocking Miz down a few times. Miz was frustrated and tagged in Big Show, but instead of making the tag to Henry, Kingston quickly kicked Big Show and then landed a headbutt. At the end of the match, Mark Henry ran into the ring and knocked Big Show out of the ring. They then fought outside, but Big Show hit Henry's head on the steel ringpost and knocked him out. Miz quickly tagged in Show and delivered the big KO Punch to Kofi, knocking him out cold. Quick cover and he's done.

The main event was up next without Triple H, who was advertised ahead of time, but hasn't been on the tour. The main event turned into John Cena vs. Sheamus for the WWE Title. Sheamus entered first to loud boos and then Cena entered to screams and unbeliavably loud cheers.

(7) WWE champion John Cena beat Sheamus to retain the WWE Title. Sheamus dominated early on, even suplexing Cena a number of times for nearfalls. Then, Cena got up and hit two flying shoulder blocks, then went for the spin-out powerbomb, but Sheamus countered. This happened twice more, the final time where John Cena had Sheamus in the Attitude Adjustment, but he wriggled out and delivered a hard DDT. Sheamus then went for the Crucifix Powerbomb, but just as he was about to deliver it, Cena wriggled out and did his finishing routine. Cena then hit the Attitude Adjustment and scored the pin for the win.

Afterward, he took the mic and challenged the crowd to be as loud as Sheamus's home crowd in Dublin. At the end, he told the crowd that they are the best in the world before high-fiving everyone on the front row. Great show.

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