WWE Smackdown/ECW brand house show report
July 5, 2009
Honolulu, Hawaii at Blaisdell Arena
Report by Kaipo Punohu, PWTorch.com reader

I went to the house show on Sunday night and the arena was about 90 percent full. Some empty seats scattered and I believe they roped off the section in the top tier just above the entrance of the wrestlers. Justin Roberts came out and the Star Spangled Banner was played. On with the first match.

(1) John Morrison beat Shelton Benjamin. Morrison received a big babyface reaction while Benjamin was strongly disliked. Lots of great action and a great way to start off the night. Morrison wins with the Starship Pain.

Justin Roberts then pointed to the top tier where ECW GM Tiffany asked a family a question and if they got it right, they would get ringside seats. The question was who won the Intercontinental Championship at the Bash. The family got it right and they got ringside seats. YAY!

(2) Mark Henry beat Evan Bourne. Squash match basically. Bourne had a positive reaction but everyone knew he was going to get squashed so they weren't behind him as much. Henry got a mixed reaction because he was playing heel tonight but played babyface last Monday so a lot of people were confused. Bourne had some offense, but Henry wins with the World's Strongest Slam.

(3) Great Khali beat Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler had some real heat going for him. The crowd really unanimously disliked this man, but he was a great performer and something special (which says something since he was a former Spirit Squad member). Khali got a strong reaction and the crowd seemed to love him. Ziggler did the hit and run strategy and had Khali down for a while but Khali came back and ended it with the Punjabi Plunge

(4) World Hvt. champion C.M. Punk beat Jeff Hardy to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Hardy had one of the biggest pops of the night. Everyone loved Jeff. Punk had a mixed reaction but it was mostly boos. However, throughout the match, Punk began to get cheers even though Jeff did as well. Punk didn't sell the eye injury as much but did make reference to it once in a while. Punk wins by reversing the Twist of Fate into a roll up. When Punk does turn heel, he'll be awesome. He knows how to play the character and it looks like he's more comfortable with it.

(5) Melina & Gail Kim beat Women's champion Michelle McCool & Alicia Fox with Maria as Guest Referee. Quite possibly the greatest divas match I've seen all year. These girls can go but for some reason they lack the skills on TV. It's a real shame because they work so well. I don't know if it's nerves or what. Great to see Gail since we don't see that much of her on TV. Melina & Gail win when Gail pins Alicia Fox with her inverted stomp facebuster.

(6) ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer beat Jack Swagger and Christian to retain the ECW Title. Great face reactions for Dreamer and Christian and a great heel reaction for Swagger. My friend and I were possibly the only two to be cheering for Swagger. Great fast pace match but it was a little too short for my standards. Dreamer wins with the DDT on Swagger.

(7) Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio beat Chris Jericho with Ricky Steamboat as Guest Referee to retain the IC Title. What can you say about this match? An absolute classic. Jericho is great on the mic and knows how to get the crowd riled up. Jericho used his usual big word dialogue as well as throwing in some things to relate to people from Hawaii like "pineapple eating" and "sun worshipping" and "ukulele playing." He also saw a sign that says "JERICHO IS MAHU." In the Hawaiian language, "mahu" means someone who is gay. Jericho didn't know that so he was calling himself mahu the entire time which bought a grin to everyone in the building. Mysterio got a great pop and Steamboat got the biggest pop of the night simply because he is the "hometown boy." Great action back and forth. Not the best match from these two but, hey, it's a house show so why expend your energy. Mysterio wins with the 619 and the springboard and freefall splash. After the match, Jericho attacked Steamboat but Steamboat eventually came back and sent Jericho to the back.

All in all, the event was pretty good. Because of the injury to Edge, the main event was switched around many times. Every time I would drive, the commercial for the event would come on the radio. In the beginning, the main event was Edge vs. Jeff for the Heavyweight Title. Since Edge lost, the main event was Punk vs. Jeff for the Title. Then, the night before, the matches were Edge & Jericho vs. Mysterio & Steamboat and Punk vs. Jeff. Then the day of the event, the matches were Edge vs. Mysterio, Jericho vs. Steamboat, and Punk vs. Jeff. So we didn't know what was going on but it all came together in the end and the matches were simply great (even the divas match).

Also, I noticed that there wasn't any Cena merchandise at all. I know he wasn't scheduled for the event, but usually it doesn't matter. It was just interesting since Cena is their biggest draw right now.

Biggest Pops
(1) Ricky Steamboat (for being from Hawaii)
(2) Rey Mysterio
(3) Jeff Hardy
(4) The Great Khali

Biggest Heat
(1) Chris Jericho
(2) Jack Swagger
(3) Dolph Ziggler
(4) C.M. Punk (in the beginning)

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