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WWE Raw house show
April 16, 2008
Vienna, Austria
Report by Markus Gronenmann, PWTorch.com reader

There were two public events scheduled in the afternoon before the show: The first one was an autograph session at a local Toys 'R' Us (the same one where last year's pre-show Smackdown autograph session took place, located just outside the Vienna city borders near Austria's biggest shopping mall, in Lower Austria). It featured Hardcore Holly, Cody Rhodes and Beth Phoenix and went from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. We were there by 1:45 and were first in line. The wreslers arrived shortly after 3 with a camera team in tow. Hollly and Rhodes went right into the crowd, shaking hands and taking pictures with the fans. Beth Phoenix was a bit out of the spotlight in the beginning but was really nice in person, posing for pictures with me and my brother and looks far better in erson than on the TV.

The second event was a small fan-fest at the arena, promoted by the recently launched German langauge edition of the offical WWE magazine (which features both parts translated from the U.S. edition, as well as some original content - on an interesting note, this German edition is being produced and edited by the same people who also publish various German "inside knowledge" magazines on pro wrestling). Tickets to this event were only available shortly before it started and could only be purchased by ticket holders for the evening card, at a price of EUR 5.00 (about USD 8.00). It went from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. and featured some competitions such as guess the theme music where DVDs could be won. They did a wrestler impersonating contest where my brother won a Rey Misterio DVD by impersonating Ric Flair and dropping an elbow on his jacket. The overall contest was won by a Jeff Hardy impersonation, the guy got second row tickets to the show. There was lots of humor directed at the natural animosity between Austrians and Germans (the hosts). The advertised highlight was a Q & A session with Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, which should have started at 5:30. The session ended up lasting until close to bell-time, beause the team arrived only shortly after 7 p.m. Kudos to the hosts who really did their best to entertain the crowd, which was clearly exhausted after almost three hours of competitions and screaming.

Almost exactly one year ago, we finally got an overseas tour again (Smackdown/ECW, which virtually was sold-out with an attendance of close to 8,000 people, the most successful show on that tour, second only to the Raw taping, IIRC) after almost twelve years. That's right, the WWE had been absent from the Austrian market since 1995 (by the way, Triple H was in the midst of a feud with Henry O. Godwinn, Shane Douglas was getting his ass kicked by Scott Hall AND had a lame Dean gimmick, and Kevin Nash was battling Yokozuna for the world title on that tour... and I have to admit that I really marked out for Diesel slapping my hand on his way to the ring - hey, I was 13 and a major Diesel-mark).

Anyway, this time the Raw brand was sent over, so we finally got to see the designated "A-list talent" (you know - Snitsky, Val Venis and the whole lot) live. A pity it couldn't have been the other way around, as I really would have loved seeing Ric Flair one last time, and it would have been great for my younger brother, a wrestling fan for all his life (I hereby plead guilty), too. So as things stand, I guess my only live expirience of "Naitch" will be a U.S. title match he had with Jeff Jarrett at the July 21, 1997 Nitro in Orlando. As you can prbably guess, this was only the second show I ever got to take my brother to, since he was born just one year prior to the WWE's last show in Vienna, back in 1995 (on an interesting trivia note, I attended a major independent show, featuring guys like Mick Foley, Brutus Beefcake, Koko B. Ware and Marty Jannetty here in Vienna the night he was born... challenge to all readers: try finding out the date of that one :D). Enough nostalgia already (I promise...) - the show started at around 7.40 pm and was pretty much sold out (around 8,000 - 10,000 fans)

Here are the results:

(1) William Regal beat D.H. Smith with a kick to the face. Lots of good mat and chain wrestling from those two.

(2) Tag Team Title, Triple Threat: Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes beat Santino Marella & Carlito and Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch after Holly pinned Murdoch with the Alabama Slam. Lots of stalling and attempted blind tags by Marella/Carlito in the beginning, as none of them wanted to be in the ring with Holly. Cade again chewed out Murdoc for losing after the match, as he does lately on house shows, so I guess those to will break up some time soon.

(3) Paul Burchill beat Val Venis after his neckbreaker-finisher. So-so match, but the crowd still ate it up. Venis bowed to the fans after the match, which was a nice gesture.

(4) Mickie James & Maria beat Beth Phoenix & Katie Lea Burchill in a surprisingly good match. Everyone was trying real hard with MAria seling nicely for the opposition and even hitting a few nice spots herself. Finish saw Maria cross body press Phoenix from the rops who caught her - Mickie then dropkicked Maria''back, thrwing both Divas out of the ring. She then gave Burchill the Chick Kick and swinging DDT for the win.

Intermission

(5) Umaga & Snitsky beat Paul London & Kendrick when Umaga gave Kendrick the Samoan Spike. Surprise of the night was how unbelievably over Umaga was, up to the point where the fans cheered when Umaga went into the ring at the start of the match and booed when he left or Snitsky entered. Tey layed the crowd with that all night, up to Snitsky blind-tagging Umaga in and out at various times. Kendrick & London did their best Colin Delany impressions, bumping and selling like rag dolls for basically everything the big guys did.

(6) Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho beat JBL with the Codebreaker. JBL got major cheap heat at the start of the match, bragging about how great th US were and how we should be thankful for their protection. He event went as far as singing God Bless America to a chorus of boos. Back and forth match, but I was somewhat disappointed that it didn't go longer, or that we didn't get to see a Lionsault.

(7) WWE Title: Triple H beat Randy Orton by DQ after William Regal interfered. Triple H kicked out of an RKO, Orton countered a Pedigree at which point Regal came out to distract the referee. Orton went for a belt shot, but Triple H countered with a low blow, gave Orton a belt shot and went for the pin. At this point Regal got into the ring and broke up the pin for the DQ. Triple H then gave Pedigrees to both Regal and Orton to send the fans home happy.

Final Notes: Overall a decent show with great crowd response and a nice overall card. I was most impressed by the women's match, they shoul have had that one at WrestleMania instead. The Kendrick/London/Umaga/Snitsky match was very nice too, because it had great heat and Kendrick/London sold and bumped awesome.

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