WWE Raw brand house show report
April 16, 2010
Belfast, N. Ireland
Report by Adam C. and Marc Thompson, Torch readers

(1) Evan Bourne beat Chavo Guerrero via Shooting Star Press. Great opening match. Very nice pop for Bourne and the crowd was solidly behind him the whole match. Also, nice heat for Chavo. Both men had fantastic high-flying offense and you haven't lived until you've seen the Shooting Star Press live. Sadly, I was told to turn my camera off before I could record it.

(2) Christian beat Dos Caras via Killswitch. A friend texted me during Caras's entrance saying he was awesome and he was correct. Caras cut a promo in Spanish and the crowd responded with boos. Christian entered to a nice pop and they both played to the crowd, with Christian winning the crowd's approval. Another good match, but not quite as good as the first with too many restholds. Caras had two nice spots with a kick on Christian sending him to the outside and what I could describe as a GTS into a codebreaker. It was basically a Death Valley Driver onto his knees. WWE should get Caras on TV soon. He's really good.

Chris Masters entered to some heat and said he was going to do a Masterlock challenge. As expected, Hornswoggle answers it. Hornswoggle got the first standing ovation of the night. It's ridiculous how over he is. Basically, Masters played with him until Swoggle hit a drop toe hold into a chair, followed by the tadpole splash.

(3) Divas champion Eve beat Maryse with guest referee Kelly Kelly to retain the Divas Title. I went to the merchandise stand during this match. Eve won with her finisher.

(4) Mark Henry beat William Regal via World's Strongest Slam. Regal cut a fantastic promo to great heat about how Belfast sucks (while the crowd chanted "Regal sucks" over and over). Regal had a funny line when the crowd started chanting "Blackpool sucks." He said, "Blackpool sucks? That's a new one. Must've taken you all night to come up with that." He talked about proving he was the greatest wrestler when Mark Henry came out to a small pop (he's huge!). Regal begged and stalled early on. When the ref told him to hurry up, Regal grabbed the mic and said, "If I take this off, (his robe) he's going to kill me." Henry won with the World's Strongest Slam. (Ironic, as the World's Strongest Man was downstairs.)

[Intermission]

(5) U.S. champion The Miz beat MVP and Kofi Kingston in a three-way match to retain the U.S. Title. Miz came out with his three belts got awesome heat during his promo. He talked about being booed even though he had a three-hour bus ride from France, an hour ferry, a seven-hour bus ride, another ferry for two hours, and then another bus for three hours just to get to Belfast. MVP came out to a weak pop, while Kofi got a nice pope. This was the best match of the night in terms of wrestling ability. There was a spot where all three competitors did about 30 roll-up pin attempts in a minute, then Kingston superplexed Miz while MVP held his legs. The finish came when Kofi delivered the Trouble in Paradise before Miz came in and threw him out of the ring to steal the pin on MVP.

(6) Sheamus beat Ted DiBiase via pump kick. DiBiase came out to small heat with his Million Dollar Title while Sheamus came out to a mixed reaction. Fans didn't know how to respond to Sheamus, as he's from Ireland (not Northern Ireland, though) and plays a heel on TV. One interesting spot has Sheamus hitting a springboard shoulder block. The finish came when Sheamus went for his Razor's Edge, but it was reversed by DiBiase, who tried Dreamstreet, which was also reversed, and Sheamus hit a weak-looking pump kick for the win.

(7) WWE champion John Cena & Randy Orton beat Batista & Big Show in the main event. Big Show came out to a mostly positive reception, Batista got the most heat of the night during his entrance by tearing up a fan's 'Cena' sign and swearing at a fan while doing the loser gesture, Orton came out to the second best pop of the night, and Cena beat Orton with the roof coming off the place when he entered. This was a basic tag match and the crowd loved it. Cena started with Batista, only for Batista to stall and then tag Big Show. It was unreal with these two larger-than-life Superstars facing off with loud Cena chants in the building. Show dominated until running into the ringpost, and while re-entering, Orton hit a hangman DDT. Orton went for an RKO, but Show blocked and tagged in Batista. Batista worked over Orton until Cena took the hot tag about 12 minutes in. The roof came off a second time as Cena dominated doing his vintage moves, but Show stopped the Five Knuckle Shuffle by teasing a chokeslam. Orton saved Cena by RKO'ing Show, then Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment on Batista for the win.

After the match, Cena did some posing until being attacked by Sheamus, who went for the pump kick, but missed. He then fled while Cena announced that he'll face both Sheamus and Batista tomorrow night. Cena claimed the champ was here and spent ages going around to all the fans signing stuff and hitting their hands.

Overall, a great show and I look forward to Smackdown returning in November.

Best Pops
-John Cena (by far)
-Randy Orton
-Kofi Kingston
-Hornswoggle

Best Heat
-Batista
-The Miz
-William Regal
-Sheamus (when he attacked Cena in the end).

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

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