WWE Raw house show report
March 19, 2010
El Paso, Tex.
Report by Edric Ray, Torch reader

WWE Raw invaded a sold-out arena of over 7,000 people the El Paso County Coliseum on Friday night, March 19. Considering the show was sold out, you would think the fans, I mean "WWE Universe," would have been rewarded with a mega-Superstar show, especially since there was no Smackdown show running concurrently.

I was ringside exactly where the "hard camera angle" would be so we had all the action directed towards us. The show kicked off at 7:30 p.m.

(1) Kofi Kingston beat Ted DiBiase via DQ. The show kicked off with Kofi, who stated that it was supposed to be him and Evan Bourne vs. Legacy, but that Legacy jumped Evan Bourne backstage and injured him, so he was unable to wrestle. So, the one-on-one match ended as soon as it began with a double team beat down by Rhodes and DiBiase. With the face getting the beat down, who else made the save but te hometown favorite, Chavo Guerrero. I guess when you get your head cracked open by Kofi, you repay him by saving him from a beat down.

Legacy challenged them to a tag team fight, so Chavo got on the mic and said they should know that a Guerrero never backs down from a fight.

(2) Chavo Guerrero & Kofi Kingston beat Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) by pinfall when Chavo pinned Cody Rhodes. Good match with good action. The end came when Kofi nailed the Trouble in Paradise on Rhodes, who was then hit with the Guerrero frog splash. The heels fled in usual heel fashion allowing for Chavo to address his hometown crowd. He talked about how he and Eddie use to sell programs there in that same arena years back when they were kids. A huge "Eddie" chant broke out. He said Eddie is gone but not forgotten.

The Bella Twins came out and picked someone in the audience to be the special guest timekeeper (bell ringer). The person had to name two matches at WrestleMania to win the spot. The lady picked Batista vs. John Cena and Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon. This would be the only time that Bret's name would be mentioned the entire night. And by a fan.

(3) Carlito beat Primo by pinfall when Carlito hit the Backstabber. Not much of a pop for Primo. Carlito had decent heel heat. Average match. I guess WWE was making sure the Hispanic wrestlers on the roster made the border-town house show. If that was the case, with no Smackdown show on the same night, Rey Mysterio should have made an appearance, especially since they were hocking tons of Mysterio garb at the concession stands.

(4) Chris Masters beat William Regal via submission when Regal tapped out to the Masterlock. A chair was placed mid-ring and Masters challenged anyone in the back to take on the Masterlock Challenge. Regal came out and stated that he would not take the challenge, but in turn challenged Masters to a match. Regal stated that in a match, Masters did not have the skill to get the Masterlock on him. Naturally, Regal tapped to the hold.

After the match, Regal stated that he is NEVER coming back to this God-forsaken town, which, of course, got a big pop. I certainly hope I get a chance to see Regal live again, even if he is currently jobbing to NXT Rookies. He is a great wrestler and even better heel.

[Intermission]

(5) Gail Kim & Eve Torres & Kelly Kelly beat Divas champion Maryse & Alicia Fox & Jillian via pinfall with Santino Marella as special guest referee. Santino got a nice pop, then just as the match was to begin, Vickie Guerrero came out and said that she would be the referee. Santino left the ring, but stayed at ringside. The match itself was pretty good with Vickie never wanting to count the pin for the faces. Good basic wrestling, except the part where all of the faces rode all of the heels like a cowboys on a horse, not kidding. It's entertainment, right? Not a bad match by any means. The faces got the pin when Santino entered the ring and counted the pinfall when Kelly Kelly pinned Jillian.

(6) U.S. champion The Miz beat MVP, Evan Bourne, and Christian to retain the U.S. Title when The Miz pinned MVP. The Miz is an amazing heel. His pre-match mic work was second to none. The match itself was THE best match of the night. Evan Bourne is and always will be underrated. His ability to not only execute moves but sell them is awesome. He even took a hard knee to the mouth from The Miz. The end came when Christian hit his finisher on MVP, then Christian was knocked out of the ring by Evan Bourne, who then nailed his Air Bourne from the top rope on MVP. As he made the pin, The Miz threw Evan off and stole the 1-2-3.

So, when it was time for our "main event," I was thinking we've lacked pretty much every top superstar on the roster. Enter disappointment... First off, it was announced that it would be a tag team match. So no title defense, which meant no World champion. Here is what we got.

(7) John Cena & Mark Henry beat Sheamus & Unified tag champion Big Show. Yes, Henry and Big Show in the main event. The finish was Cena pinning Show after interference by Hornswoggle. The match was average and nothing to write home about. The end came when Big Show was going to chokeslam Cena, but Hornswoggle gave Show a Sweet Shin Music kick that caused a distraction. That was enough for Cena to pick up show for the Attitude Adjustment for the pin.

Overall Thoughts: This show was sold-out and it sold-out way ahead of time. WWE even added a Smackdown show up the way in Las Cruces, N.M. for May. Let's recap. There was no World champion Batista, no Randy Orton, no Triple H, and no Shawn Michaels. We had Chavo, Primo, Carlito, Santino, Eve Torres, and no Rey Mysterio. I know he is on Smackdown, but this is his old territory and with no Smackdown show running elsewhere and with no top stars on the card, it was very disappointing. I guess WWE figured throwing us Cena would make up for the lack of stars. The superstars that showed up did a great job, but the lack of top performers was disappointing. And for that I give this show three out five stars.

On a side note, Sheamus walked over to where I was sitting at ringside and took a little kid's homemade "John Cena #1" sign and ripped it in half right in front of him. The kid, maybe 6-years-old, started bawling. I watched Sheamus as he quietly grabbed a security guard and whispered to her to grab him (Sheamus), pull him over to the kid, and have the kid do the "you can't see me" motion to him while she scolded Sheamus. Sheamus also had her tell John Cena to give the kid one of the armbands John was wearing. Very classy act from a guy who is supposed to be a major heel. Being a relatively new father himself, it shows a lot of character from a guy who didn't have to do that, especially since he's a heel. I think he'll make a great face whenever it's his time to turn.

Biggest Pops:
-- John Cena, Chavo Guerrero, Santino, and The Divas

Biggest Heat:
-- The Miz, William Regal, Sheamus, Vicki Guerrero

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