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WWE Smackdown/ECW brand house show report
July 19, 2009
Greenville, S.C.
Report by Ryan Burton, Torch reader

Before the show, we saw ring announcer Justin Roberts, The Hart Dynasty and Natalya, The Great Khali, referee Mike Chioda, the timekeeper, and Cryme Tyme all arrive to the Bilo Center. A young kid asked Roberts if Rey Mysterio would be there and he yelled very rudely "I DONT KNOW." In a Hidden Highlight if you will, Shad and JTG waited until D.H. and Tyson were in the arena before exiting their cars, and took time to play to the crowd that had gathered.

(1) Fit Finlay beat Drew McIntyre in 7:00. Entertaining match-up. Drew is very acceptable in the ring and on the mic. Couple of miscues, but otherwise, a good match to get the predominately under-10-year-old crowd into things.

(2) Melina & Eve Torres beat Katie Lea & Natalya in a Divas tag match. Katie Lea was the weakest performer in the contest and maybe on the show, with many obviously blown spots that caused a few boos from the crowd. Entertaining enough match that went over ten minutes.

(3) Dolph Ziggler beat John Morrison in roughly 10 minutes. Both were over fairly well, each had a great amount of heat. Ziggler is leaps and bounds better than I expected. Fantastic music and he is a bumping machine. Very reminiscent of Curt Henning while ironically looking like Jeff Jarrett in the process.

(4) Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspar & JTG) beat The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & D.H. Smith) in a really good tag team match. Both teams show great chemistry and Cryme Tyme is very entertaining. JTG stayed on the outside playing Robert Gibson for most of the match and did a great job of keeping the crowd into things.

(5) The Great Khali beat Kane via DQ in a match as bad as expected. Khali went for a clothesline over the top about two minutes early and Kane had no idea how to properly sell it. The less said the better.

[Intermission]

(6) ECW champion Tommy Dreamer beat Christian and William Regal in a three-way match. Regal is a great, old school heel playing perfectly with the crowd. Entertaining three-way encounter. Dreamer stayed on the outside primarily until hitting the DDT on Regal for the victory. Afterward, in a true touch of class, he brought a young fan with a "Dreamer is Hardcore Personified" sign into the ring, let him wear the belt, gave him his shirt, and posed with him and the belt for his family to take pictures. This was my first house show in many years and WWE does a better job than the last time I came around with crowd participation.

(7) Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat beat Chris Jericho in roughly 15:00. Steamboat is my all-time favorite and was the highlight of my night. Jericho berated the crowd and a fan literally ran down the walkway and tried jumping into the ring, but got hung up on the bottom rope. Had he not, he would have gotten a good shot at Jericho as Event Staff watched him the entire time. This was the same event staff that wouldn't let the six-year-old in the fourth row next to me go up to the rail to shake Jeff Hardy's hand. The Dragon came out in his red robe and headband and I felt like I was six-years-old again. Surreal, great moment that I did not expect whatsoever. Less surprising, the two had a GREAT back and forth encounter, multiple armdrags and nearfalls. Dragon even managed to skin the cat, do a modified plancha over the top, and do various other top rope moves. Match of the night by far.

(8) World Hvt. champion C.M. Punk beat Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules match to retain the World Title. Finish came much to the dismay of the roughly 4,500 people in attendance. Good back and forth action. Jeff took a bump to the top rope from a ladder, which was unexpected. Punk played tweener towards the beginning but heeled it up in the end, taunting Jeff afterward telling him to consider the Straight Edge way of life.

All in all, a great three hours of action. WWE put on a great show showcasing a lot of young talent. Crowd looked to be between 4,500 and 5,500, and remained hot all evening.

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