WWE Smackdown/ECW brand house show report
May 31, 2009
Bowling Green, Ky.
Report by Brian Harwood, Torch reader

I arrived right at 5:00 p.m. and the arena was about half-full. The floor seats on ringside were full. About 6:30 p.m., the arena filled to about 75 percent full. I heard that fans were being let in free after intermission, but I don't know if that is true or not. I was telling friends of mine that our cable service (Insight Cable) couldn't get Smackdown on MyNetworkTV, but I learned tonight from wbgnbeatdown.com that Smackdown airs on tape delay at 12:30 a.m. Saturday mornings every week only hours after the actual Smackdown telecast. Had more people known that, I feel the crowd would have been even bigger.

Crowd was into every match and superstars the whole night and the wrestlers did a good job working the crowd for fans or boos.

(1) Great Khali beat Dolph Ziggler with the Khali bomb. Good pop for Khali, especially when he hit Ziggler after about three minutes into the match when Ziggler did a lot of stalling outside the ring.

(2) Drew McIntyre beat Jimmy Wang Yang when McIntryre hit Wang with a Jeff Jarrett Stroke type move. Before the match, McIntyre cut a promo about being Scottish and pretty girls and "living in the fast lane."

(3) Evan Bourne beat Tyson Kidd (w/Natalya and D.H. Smith). Smith attacked Bourne before the bell, which led to Tiffany ejecting Natalya and Smith from the arena. Bourne and Kidd had a good back and forth match, and Bourne won with a Shooting Star Press. After the match, Smith ran in and attacked Bourne again.

(4) John Morrison beat Chris Jericho with Starship Pain (back flip legs off the top rope). Jericho came out and just stared at the crowd for a while. Jericho then got on the mic and said the fans in Bowling Green were losers, liars, and hypocrites - to many boos - and they never accomplished anything. They weren't like Chris Jericho, 2008 Superstar of the Year, the best at his chosen profession, and they never would be like Jericho. There were many nearfalls in this match.

(5) Christian & Tommy Dreamer beat Jack Swagger & Mark Henry when Dreamer DDT'ed Henry and Christian headbutted Henry off the top rope. THere was a sign that said "Jack THagger THucks." (I guess the sign made fun of Swagger's "TH" sound.) Christian did a "yell" and "boo" routine with pointing to himself and Dreamer for cheers, and pointing to Henry and Swagger for boos. Tommy Dreamer tried to hit a "Tree of Woe" on Swagger during the match but missed contact with Swagger in the corner.

[Intermission: Biggest crowd pop came when two children came out and threw t-shirts into the crowd.]

(6) Gail Kim & Melina beat Natalya & Alicia Fox when Melinda plinned Alicia with her flip finisher. All four did an excellent job playing to the crowd.

(7) C.M. Punk beat Umaga with a roll-up. A sign in the crowd said "I had a beer with C.M. Punk." Umaga attacked Punk at the beginning when Punk tried to throw his shirt into the crowd. Crowd popped big for the Punk victory.

(8) World Hvt. champion Edge beat Jeff Hardy clean with a spear. Hardy had the biggest pop of any wrestler while Edge had the biggest heat after ring introductions (they were mixed before). There was a sign in the crowd that said "Jeff makes me Hardy." Before the match, Edge cut a promo and said he was going to do Jeff a favor. He knew that Jeff needed five stitches from what Edge did to Jeff's eye on Friday night. He knew that Jeff received a concussion from the top-rope Edgecution Jeff received from Edge at Judgment Day.

So Edge said, don't let these fans talk you into doing something you'll regret for the rest of your life. We don't have to have the match. Jeff said maybe Edge was right. Then he kicked him to begin the match. It was a great back and forth match with several near falls. When Hardy made his comeback Edge hit a spear out of nowhere for the win.

After the match, Edge tried to hit Hardy with the World Belt but missed, Hardy then hit Edge with the World Belt and left to celebrate with the crowd. Edge finally got up after a couple minutes and argued with match referee Scott Armstrong. Edge then hit Armstrong from behind. He tried to whip Armstrong into the ropes but Armstrong reversed it and dropkicked Edge to a huge pop. Edge then ran quickly to the back. One of the most surprising endings to a house show that made the crowd go home happy.

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