WWE Smackdown brand house show report
June 12, 2010
Upper Marlboro, Md.
Report by Marcus Lee, PWTorch reader

Smackdown came near the nation's capital, in nearby Maryland at the Show Place Arena (a small, old arena that is used for equestrian shows and high school graduations). The entrance set looked like something out of an independent show with no pyro, a small entrance with lights, and two large supports on diagonal ring corners with lights on top. When WWE came to D.C. for the Survivor Series, WWE had at least ten 18-wheelers hauling equipment. At this show? Only one.

Tony Chimmel welcomed us and hit an awkward high note when saying "superstars," similar to when he introduced Edge at WrestleMania 26. After the National Anthem it's showtime.

(1) Christian beat Dolph Ziggler. Nice pop for Christian, who led the crowd in a "boo, cheer" contest involving he and Ziggler. (He even pointed to the referee, who got a big cheer, enraging Ziggler.) An okay, 11-minute match that saw Christian win with his Scorpion Death Drop-like finisher. After the match, Hornswoggle came out (huge pop from the kids) and hit a tadpole splash on Dolph before dancing with Christian in the ring.

(2) MVP beat Tyler Reks. Reks came out to zero reaction and tried to cut a promo, but the house mic echoed throughout the arena. He said something about being called "T-Reks" or something like that. Eight-minute match with the "Ballin' elbow" and MVP winning.

(3) Women's champion Layla beat Kelly Kelly. As Layla entered through the ring ropes, her belt fell off. Kelly did a stinkface on Layla. Layla had a long head scissors hold on Kelly (2-3 minutes if I had to guess). Layla then won with her finisher in a ten-minute match. (Yes, ten minutes.) No Michelle McCool.

(4) "Dashing" Cody Rhodes beat Chris Masters. Cody cut a promo saying he was the best-looking guy on Smackdown, and he dissed NXT rookie Husky Harris. Masters landed the first knife-edge chop of the night. There was a funny spot where Rhodes ran out of the ring and into the crowd, then ran back into the ring after a fan tried to touch him. Rhodes won the nine-minute match with Cross Rhodes. No pec-jiggling by Masters here.

(5) Unified tag team champions Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & D.H. Smith w/Natalya) beat Straight Edge Society (Luke Gallows & Mystery Man w/Serena) via DQ in 11:00. Punk did not accompany the SES to the ring. Nice back-and-forth action that saw the ladies get involved. Hart Dynasty won via DQ when Punk came in and jumped Smith as he had the unknown member (Joey Mercury?) in the sharpshooter. Kane then came out and chased off the SES.

Tony Chimmel introduced Tiffany, who was wearing an awfully short dress for a crowd dominated by children. She hyped some merchandise available in the concourse (coffee mugs, programs, and an autographed photo of Kofi Kingston), and threw t-shirts into the crowd.

[Ten-minute intermission]

(6) Intercontinental champion Kofi Kingston beat Drew McIntyre. McIntyre hyped his match vs. Teddy Long on Smackdown this Friday and said he would get rid of Long like he did Matt Hardy (big boos from the crowd). Kingston was over big with the crowd, and his "Boom! Boom! Boom!" bit was a hit with the kids. Nice action in a 14-minute match, which Kofi won via a rollup. Afterwards, McIntyre got a cheap shot in on Kofi and who else but Matt Hardy came out. Hardy beat up McIntyre, was chased off by the refs, came back into the ring, and poor Drew was hit with a Trouble in Paradise and Twist of Fate, which led to Matt running off again and eluding the refs in pursuit.

(7) Kane beat C.M. Punk (w/SES). Punk had a cool little promo before the match, complete with graduation cap & gown. (There were some high school graduations at the arena the past week.) Kane won with a chokeslam and had to fight off the SES several times. After the match, the Hart Dynasty came out to confront the SES. The masked member and Gallows then received a double chokeslam by Kane.

Tiffany (and her short black dress) came back out to find a kid who could be the guest bell ringer for the main event. A little boy name Owen won after correctly guessing the question, "Which WWE Pay-Per-View is coming up next?"

(8) World Hvt. champion Jack Swagger beat Big Show in a Street Fight. Before the match, Show spotted a fan in the crowd with a Hulkamania get-up (complete with feathery boas). That led to Show to cutting a Hulk Hogan-like promo on Swagger to a major crowd reaction. Big Show had fun throughout the match, including shaking his booty (again, kid-majority audience). Big Show's chest slaps are loud and sound as painful as they feel; the sound was heard throughout the entire arena. Nothing too extreme in the action. There were a couple of chair shots to Show's back, and Swagger won with his Vader Drop in eleven minutes. After the match, most people left (including myself) while Swagger was on the mic, but I figure that by the end of the show, Big Show got his comeuppance on Swagger (if WWE writing has taught me anything over the years).

The show ended about 10:15 after nearly three hours. It's worth noting live events have far less security. The only security was at the entrance to the floor seats and to the ring. Kids were jumping in and out of their seats and running to the gates whenever a match was over or a wrestler's theme music came on. You could almost say parents let their kids run wild for three hours. Compared to a live TV or PPV taping, it was pretty lame. The arena seats 5,000 and I would guess the attendance was 2,000 to 2,500.

There were flyers handed out for a live Raw in Washington, DC on September 6. The presale is this week, and the password is "RAW906."

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