WWE Smackdown brand house show report
April 16, 2010
Zurich, Switzerland
Report by Nik Saiti, Torch readers

The arena was pretty full except for the cheap seats in the upper section. I estimate it was about 85-90 percent full, about 8,000. The crowd was pretty hot during the whole show.

(1) R-Truth beat Dolph Ziggler via roll-up. Good reaction for Truth, and also a lot of heat for Ziggler. Nice little match to warm the crowd up, but short at only five minutes.

(2) Mickie James & Beth Phoenix beat Women's champion Michelle McCool & Layla. Phoenix won via Glamslam on Layla. This was more like a comedy match with LayCool warming up in the ring. When Layla bent over to stretch, they played a fart sound effect over the speakers and Layla acted embarrassed. Another interesting spot was Beth doing the giant swing on Layla, then Layla tried to tag in Mickie because she was dizzy.

(3) Matt Hardy beat Shad Gaspard via Twist of Fate. Big pop for Matt, but not much of a reaction for Shad since the majority of the crowd didn't recognize him with the new music.
He did the usual heel shtick ripping Matt's shirt in half and using it as "toilet paper." Shad dominated Matt, but Matt reversed the Thugnificent STO into his Twist of Fate for the three count.

(4) Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & David Hart Smith w/Natalya) beat Dudebusters (Trent Barreta & Caylon Croft). Smith won via Sharpshooter on Barreta. Great reaction for the Hart Dynasty and little heat for Barreta/Croft. Good match with a nice dive outside the ring from Kidd. Natalya slapped both Dudebusters, and after that, Smith applied the Sharpshooter for the win.

(5) Kane beat Luke Gallows (w/Serena) via Chokeslam. Very good for a "big man match" with a lot of suplexes, reverses, and powerslams. Serena tried to interfere a couple of times. Before the match, Kane must have seen something funny in the front row because he actually started laughing when he entered the ring and looked at the crowd.

(6) Intercontinental champion Drew McIntyre beat John Morrison with the Future Shock DDT to retain the IC Title. This was the best match of the night by far. Drew cut a promo in German, saying that he hates Switzerland and we are all losers. And he thinks that all Swiss women are ugly. I had never seen that much charisma from McIntyre and he seemed to enjoy the crowd reactions. John Morrison came to the ring (huge pop) and responded by saying that he sees a lot of pretty women in the crowd and he called Drew (in German) a gay Scotsman. Nice high-flying moves from Morrison. He missed Starship Pain after a flying chuck kick, which McIntyre used to then hit his DDT finisher.

(7) Rey Mysterio beat C.M. Punk (w/Luke Gallows and Serena) via 619. The Straight Edge Society attacked Rey during his entrance. Good match with Punk teasing the 619 a couple of times. The finish was similar to their WrestleMania match finish with Serena protecting Punk from a 619, Punk lifting Rey for the GTS, but Mysterio sending Punk head first into Gallows, followed by his 619 and springboard splash finisher.

(8) World Hvt. champion Jack Swagger beat Chris Jericho and Edge to retain the World Hvt. Title. Good reaction for all three wrestlers. Jericho insulted the Swiss crowd and told them to not chant "spear." Edge took the mic and said he's going to spear both of them. Typical triple threat match with the heels teaming up to work on Edge with Edge making a comeback. Funny moments were Jericho hugging Swagger and slapping him on the backside, then grabbing the referee's leg because he didn't want to get speared. The finish saw Jericho hitting Edge with a chair, then he tried to do it again, but Swagger threw him out of the ring and stole the pin for the three count. After the match, Edge hit both of them with a spear.

Biggest pops:
-Edge
-Rey Mysterio
-Kane

Biggest heat:
-Jericho
-C.M. Punk
-Swagger/McIntyre

Overall, I must say it was a good house show with a lively crowd and the WWE Superstars looked like they enjoyed the good atmosphere in the arena, especially after all the problems they had with their travel schedule.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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