WWE Smackdown brand house show results
June 27, 2010
Worcester, Mass.
Report by Chris Censullo of Waltham, Mass., PWTorch reader

I decided last minute to see what kind of ticket I could get for Sunday's Smackdown show in Worcester. On Saturday morning, I was able to get a second row seat, so I decided to treat myself to the show. I haven't been to a live event since the '80s, and think I may have picked the wrong time to get back into wrestling.

The DCU Center holds 14,800, but was only about one-thirds full at most. The balcony was completely empty. Lots of little kids were in Rey Mysterio masks and John Cena t-shirts. It was a family-friendly event that lasted about two-and-a-half hours, including intermission.

One of the interesting things about the crowd was seeing Kofi Kingston's family in the front row. He grew up in Winchester, Mass. and attended Boston College.

(1) Christian beat Dolph Ziggler via pinfall with the Killswitch. Ziggler created some good heat by saying on the mic that no one cares about Christian and there were no peeps in attendance. He then claimed we were all dolphins or Dolph-fans, or something. The crowd rallied to Christian, chanting and clapping for him throughout. This was one of the best matches of the night, as both men worked hard.

(2) Alberto Del Rio (Dos Caras) beat JTG via pinfall. Not a very memorable match for either man.

(3) Matt Hardy beat Tyler Reks via pinfall with the Twist of Fate. I expected this to be a squash, but Reks held his own. Matt is still very much over with the crowd.

Tiffany came out as the guest host and gave away some t-shirts, which led to intermission.

(4) Women's champion Layla beat Kelly Kelly via pinfall. This match provided some levity, as Layla sprayed the ring and referee with some aerosol due to her opponent being "smelly." Kelly is breathtaking in person and surprised me with some athleticism in the match, including a springboard off the top rope and a cartwheel in the corner. After the match, Layla stomped on Kelly until Hornswoggle appeared for the save to deliver a stunner. Kelly and Hornswoggle did an Irish jig and left the ring.

(5) Unified tag champions Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & D.H. Smith) beat Vance Archer & Curt Hawkins via submission. Smith won with the Sharpshooter. This was one of my favorite matches of the night. There was great energy and athleticism on display. Both teams worked a good match. Towards the end, Tyson Kidd suffered a bloody nose at the hands of Archer. This prompted a stop in the action as the ref put on gloves and signaled for assistance from the back. Meanwhile, Archer circled Kidd and taunted him. Two trainers eventually arrived from the back, but waited at ringside as Kidd, showing lots of emotion, fought back and made the hot tag to Smith. Tyson rolled out of the ring and was attended to while Smith cleaned house and applied the Sharpshooter to Archer for the win.

After the match, Straight Edge Society hit the ring and attacked the Harts. Serena tossed Natalya out of the ring while Luke Gallows and the mystery man took care of Smith. Gallows got on the mic and claimed they haven't seen C.M. Punk since he was attacked by Kane and they want retribution. Kane hit the ring and chokeslammed Gallows, the wrestler "from parts unknown," Archer, and Hawkins. The run-ins added some excitement, but I thought took away from what was a strong match.

(6) Intercontinental champion Kofi Kingston beat Cody Rhodes via pinfall with the Trouble in Paradise. Sadly, it appears that Cody's new "dashing" moniker isn't going away soon, as the label is written on the back of his trunks. He was on the mic reminding us of it as well. Considering the talent of these two men, this match was a disappointment to me. Certainly, both are great athletes; that was obvious. After the match, Kofi hugged his mom, high-fived his brother, and messed up his sister’s hair. She is adorable, by the way.

(7) World Hvt. champion Rey Mysterio beat Jack Swagger and Big Show in a three-way match to retain the World Hvt. Title in the main event. Mysterio hit the 619 and springboard splash on Swagger for the win. Show sold his ankle injury the whole night, so expect that to continue to this week's Smackdown. This was a decent match, but too short, in my opinion. It's been said before, but Swagger is huge. He's not dwarfed by Big Show at all. I really wish he would have been allowed to show more offense in their recent matches, similar to Brock Lesnar being allowed to handle Show years ago. The best moments of the match came when Show was on the outside, leaving Swagger and Rey to work some fast-paced action.

In the end, I am happy that I attended the event. I was entertained and it was exciting to see some of these larger-than-life personalities up close. But it can't be a good sign for WWE that the arena was so empty and I was able to get such a good seat at the last minute.

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