WWE Smackdown brand house show report
August 9, 2010
Aberdeen, Scotland at Aberdeen ECC
Report by Torch VIP member David Wallace

Tony Chimel introduced the show. My friend and I had our seats upgraded prior to the show beginning due to poor ticket sales. Two sections of the tiered seating were even curtained off. I put this down to the fact Smackdown would also be there on Friday night. Arena staff told me they expected a better turnout then. The majority of the crowd were youngsters who went nuts for the babyfaces. The other fans were all cheering on the heels.

(1) MVP beat Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler at 5:27 in a non-title match. Pre-match, MVP dared, then double-dared, Dolph to put his title on the line. After a long hard thinking process, Ziggler responded with a resolute ‘No.’ Good, quick opener with MVP picking up the three-count after hitting the Pay Dirt. MVP was well over with the youngsters, which surprised me somewhat, and they popped big time when he did his Ballin’ move. We heard a few groans from fans when Ziggler attempted his sleeper submission move.

(2) Alberto Del Rio beat Matt Hardy via submission at 11:27. I have no doubt in my mind Del Rio will be a future champ. Having seen his first few weeks on Smackdown, he has the charisma and in-ring ability to be a main-event player, and seeing him in person just re-affirmed this. Before the match, he riled up the fans by saying “Aberdeen, what a horrible place with ugly people,” which I found quite amusing. He continued by saying he would do to Matt Hardy what he did to "that Chihuahua Rey Mysterio," which drew heat from all the Mysterio fans. Del Rio won with his arm-bar submission move which looks really good live. Matt Hardy doesn't appear to be in good shape at the moment. To quote Gerry, my friend sitting next to me at ringside, “His body is wobbling all over the place.” I personally think Hardy hasn’t looked in good shape since before he had those intestinal problems last year.

(3) Jack Swagger beat Chris Masters in an ‘Anklelock versus Masterlock’ submission match at 8:30. The crowd died for this match, with Swagger unsurprisingly coming out on top. Nothing really stood out here, but I would have liked to see Swagger have a standard wrestling match with one of the upper-card wrestlers.

(4) Drew McIntyre beat ‘Dashing’ Cody Rhodes at 7.40. Pre-match, Rhodes cut a promo on Scotland saying it was “absolutely disgusting” and he started singing the American National Anthem, much to the crowd’s distaste. Interestingly, Ziggler’s music played and he joined Rhodes in the ring, and gave his own rendition of the anthem. Big crowd heat here. Swagger decided to get involved too and together, they all sang the anthem at once. Horrendous singing, may I add. It was amusing to see Tony Chimel stand proudly with his hand on his chest during the anthem. National hero for the night, Drew McIntyre, promptly interrupted the trio singing to a huge reception from the crowd, and he joined the heels in the ring. After some talk, McIntyre went for all three but found himself on the wrong end of a beat-down. Swagger and Ziggler then left the ring and Rhodes had the advantage as the bell sounded to start the match. McIntyre won after planting Rhodes on his head with the Future-Shock DDT. McIntyre celebrated by laying a kilt of the prone Rhodes, which the fans popped for.

[Intermission]

(5) Kelly Kelly beat Women's champion Layla at 7:02 in a non-title match. Your typical Divas botch-fest. Layla looks pretty assured in the ring, but I’m not convinced at all by Kelly Kelly’s ring work. Kelly Kelly was very close to landing awkwardly on her neck after botching a back-somersault. After a relatively-slow match, Kelly won with a small package.

(6) C.M. Punk beat Christian at 15:08. I think Punk is one of the most underrated WWE performers in recent years. He simply is fantastic. Punk easily drew the most heat of the night. During his entrance, he even had a stare-down with a young WWE fan at ringside, and this stare-down went on for at least 30-40 seconds, with neither Punk nor the fan backing down, so great. During Christian’s entrance, Punk managed to take one of Tony Chimel’s shoes off and he threw it as far as he could towards the ramp; such a clever heel move. Chimel humbly retrieved his shoe back much to our amusement. The match itself was one of the better matches of the night with plenty of believable nearfalls. “C.M. Sucks” chants by the younger fans went on throughout the match. Punk bailed out of the ring many times and his interaction with the fans at ringside was great. Eventually, Christian was on the receiving end of a GTS, which gave Punk the three count.

(7) World Hvt. champion Kane beat Big Show at 14:46 in a No DQ, Falls Count Anywhere Street Fight to retain the World Hvt. Title. Pretty much what you’d expect from these two - a slow, sluggish match that never got out of third gear. Despite being ‘falls count anywhere,’ there was only one attempted pin outside the ring. Some weapons had been put under the ring before the show started. However, only a kendo stick and chair came into play. Disappointingly, Show decided to break the kendo stick in half rather than use it against Kane. Kane picked up the win after Punk came to the ring and slid him the chair, allowing Kane to DDT Big Show onto the chair (although from our angle they clearly missed the chair by about half a foot).

Post-match: Kane bailed, leaving Show in the ring. Punk taunted a disappointed Show but got too close, with Show taking his frustration out on Punk by giving him the KO Punch to send the fans home happy. Punk sold the punch for about ten minutes after Show left the ring. As the crowd gradually dispersed from the arena, the referees helped Punk to his feet. Punk attempted to stay upright without the assistance of the referees, but comically fell flat to his face.

Tony Chimel thanked fans for attending and plugged two matches signed for Friday’s show - C.M. Punk vs. Big Show and Drew McIntyre vs. Kane for the World Heavyweight Title.

Overall, the show was very enjoyable. The attendance was disappointing, but I guess that’s to be expected when there’s a show in the same arena the following day. The star of the night was undoubtedly C.M. Punk, who expertly portrays the characteristics you’d expect from a top-class heel. His interaction with the young fans at ringside and his bullying of Tony Chimel were fantastic. Hopefully, it’s only a matter of time before he cements his position in the main event again. It was also nice to be able to cheer McIntyre for once and I’m sure he’ll have a successful babyface run later in his career.

Biggest pops:
(1) Drew McIntyre
(2) MVP
(3) Big Show

Biggest heat:
(1) C.M. Punk (by far)
(2) Alberto Del Rio
(3) Dolph Ziggler

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

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