WWE Raw house show results
February 9, 2012
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Report by Mohammed Al Housani, PWTorch reader

Here are the results from Day 1 of 3 of WWE's Raw World Tour show in Abu Dhabi:

At the beginning of the show, Justin Roberts introduced the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim Raw GM, John Laurinaitis. He was booed out of the Zayed Sports City Tennis Stadium, which to me meant the crowd was knowledgeable about the current scene in WWE. He welcomed the fans and said that WWE is honored to be in Abu Dhabi for the first time ever. He also promised a great show and hyped the double Main Event.

(1) Alex Riley beat Drew McIntyre. Riley was over and a lot of people were chanting "Riley" during the match.

(2) WWE tag champions Primo & Epico beat Santino & Mason Ryan to retain the WWE Tag Titles. People loved Santino and this was the comedy match of the show. Santino got his heat back post-match by nailing Epico with The Cobra.

(3) Michael McGillicutty beat David Otunga. Otunga came out and dissed the crowd by saying that he could see that his reputation precedes him judging by the raucous reception. Then, he dissed the crowd by saying that they probably don't know what "raucous" means, so he used some synonyms. He then said that the Raw Interim GM promised him a workout against an unnamed opponent, so McGillicutty showed up, and beat him.

(4) Kofi Kingston beat Chris Jericho. Jericho got the biggest pop of the night so far, and did his JeriTroll gimmick with his "light-up jacket and holding the mic without talking" spiel. The crowd turned on him because of this, except a few chants of Y2J from the front row, which he hilariously responded to by telling them to shut up. It took a while for the match to start because of Jericho's heel mannerisms (leaving the ring, the arena, etc.). Once it got going, this was the second best match of the show. Jericho played his role very well. He even proceeded to rip off a sign from one of the fans and took his time ripping it into pieces, which was funny. He is a badass in person. I love his new character.

After Kingston won, Jericho laid out Kofi. Kofi was then carried out, leading to intermission.

[Intermission]

(5) U.S. champion Jack Swagger beat The Miz and R-Truth in a three-way match to retain the U.S. Title. Pre-Match, The Miz cut a promo on the crowd with all his catchphrases. He lamented them for booing when it took 16 hours of flight time to come all the way over here. He also promised a victory at the Elimination Chamber.

(6) John Cena beat Kane via Disqualification when Kane used a steel chair on Cena. Biggest pop of the night, by far, went to Cena. People went crazy for him. This was a pro-Cena crowd. There were some dueling chants and "Cena Sucks" signs, but they were easily overwhelmed by the pro-Cena crowd.

Post-match, Kane chokeslammed Cena and left, but after Roberts announced the decision, he came back, and was on the receiving end of an Attitude Adjustment. Cena then proceeded to tell Kane that he proved he doesn't need a chair to beat him, so challenged him to a No DQ match tomorrow night (Day 2), where he can use anything he wants and he will still beat him.

(7) WWE champion C.M. Punk beat Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Title. Punk received the second best pop of the night, and was as popular as Cena. Lots of C.M. Punk t-shirts in the crowd. Ziggler riled up the crowd before the match doing his "Showoff" gimmick. This was the best match of the show, by far. Quality wrestling by both. At one point, they were both counted out and the match was declared a double count-out, but John Laurinaitis re-started the match and C.M. Punk won with the GTS. No one takes it as good as Dolph Ziggler.

It was a great show, overall, and I am estimating the attendance was around 5,000+ (the stadium holds roughly under 6,000). Lots of kids and families. A lot of Cena and Punk t-hirts, as well. I can't wait for Day 2 tomorrow.

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

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