WWE Raw brand house show report
November 3, 2010
Nice, France
Report by Christophe B., PWTorch reader

Torch Reader Alert: We're looking for reports from WWE's European Tour over the next two weeks sent to pwtorch@gmail.com.

The show from Palais Nikaia began at 8:00 p.m. with Justin Robert in the ring asking us how we felt and if we were ready for Raw.

It was now time for the first match of the evening. R-Truth made his way to the ring with his old "What's Up" music. (Maybe because of this past Monday where nobody sang with him, but whatever.) He had a great connection with the crowd, screamed a lot of "What's Ups?," and once he got in the ring, he danced for a few seconds and screamed, "Nice, France...What's Up?" Then, some unfamiliar music hit and Alex Riley came out to the ring. He actually had good heat (thanks Miz).

(1) R-Truth beat Alex Riley. Good back and forth match. Riley did a good job with a lot of kick outs. Riley almost won when he reversed a superplex by clotheslining Truth on the top rope. But, Truth was the dominant wrestler and won with the Lie Detector. Good match. Before leaving, Truth played with the crowd a while. I am not really a fan of him, but he was a really good guy live.

Justin Roberts came back in the ring to told us the next match would be a Tag team match. The first team was Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. Huge pop for them. It was not the same for their opponents, the Uso Brothers (without Tamina).

Before the match started, the sound of the anonymous GM was heard. (He really is everywhere in the world!) Justin Roberts warned us that before the wrestling match, it would be a dancing contest where the WWE Universe would be the judges. Santino and Kozlov did their hum dance to the crowd's pleasure, but the Usos attacked them to start the match.

(2) Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov beat the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso). Santino was beaten up, then he made a comeback by scaring his opponent with his hand by teasing the Cobra. The Uso tagged out and Santino tagged in Kozlov, who dominated, but the Usos cheated. That brought Santino into the ring, but the referee told him to leave. So, the Usos did just like the Bellas and switched without anyone noticing. The end of the match started with Santino in the corner with one of the Usos and, on the opposite side, Kozlov was with the other one. Santino and Kozlov reversed Irish whips and Santino hit the Cobra. Kozlov hit a superkick and Santino scored the pinfall for the three count. Huge pop for Santino and Moscow Mauler. Another good match and it was funny as well.

(3) Ezekiel Jackson beat Zack Ryder. The kids didn't really know if they needed to cheer or boo Big Zeke, which was pretty funny. Nothing important to say, as it was the same match we saw this past Monday on Raw, but a bit longer. Ryder rolled out from the ring a lot of times (maybe four or five times in a match that went less than three minutes). Big Zeke showed us his big muscles and hit Ryder with his finisher. It was the shortest match of the night

(4) U.S. champion Daniel Bryan beat William Regal via submission to retain the U.S. Title. So, I personally really liked this match - European style wrestling with a lot of technical moves. Maybe too many submission moves, which they did for about five minutes and the crowd did not like it. Weird. The submission moves were followed by reversals and "modern" wrestling. Bryan used his kick combos on the legs and the chest of Regal. He targeted Regal's left arm and did his back flip from the top rope out of the corner, but Regal clotheslined him. Regal followed with the running knee, but not as a finisher this time. Good back and forth match for both of them. The match ended when Bryan reversed another clothesline from Regal, jumped over the Regal's shoulders, rolled with Regal to the mat and applied the LeBell Lock, which Regal tapped out to. Great match!

The next match was The Miz (with Alex Riley) vs. John Cena. Miz was first in the ring. He screamed at a fat guy dressed like Cena in the old green Cena attire. Riley took the mic and said he's Alex Riley and Miz is the future of this business. Riley said Miz is the future of the business and he will become WWE champion whether they like it or not. Miz spoke in French and said he knows that we don't understand him because he's The Miz and he's Awesome. Cena then made his way to the ring. Huge pop for him, but some lame guys chanted, "Cena Die." The Miz didn't care about Cena, but cared about the fat guy at ringside. Cena then punched Miz to start the match.

(5) John Cena beat The Miz (w/Alex Riley) via submission. I liked this match and Miz's performance, as well. This guy is so different than before when he began or when he was with John Morrison. Riley interfered in the match when Cena was lying on the ground and Riley distracted the ref. Miz then came back with his usual combination. After the Five Knuckle Shuffle, Miz countered the Attitude Adjustment with a big boot attempt that didn't catch Cena's face. Cena then tried the AA again, but Miz held the ropes. Cena brought him back to the middle of the ring, but Miz reversed it with an elbow to the head. Miz then hit the Skullcrushing Finale and made the cover, but Cena kicked out before three! Cena then won with the STF. An awesome match.

(6) Eve beat Tamina. No reaction for Tamina, but a huge pop for Eve. Nothing special to say about the match, but Eve looked great in-person. Eve won after reversing a splash from Tamina and hitting her with a moonsault.

(7) Sheamus beat John Morrison. Huge heat for Sheamus and huge pop for JoMo. Sheamus was ready to fight and took advantage over Morrison for a few minutes. Sheamus ended up missing on three Celtic Cross attempts. Eventually, Morrison wanted to kick Sheamus in the mid-section, but missed and hit the ringpost. Once back in the ring, Sheamus dropped Morrison with the Brogue Kick for the win. Decent match.

Time for the main event of WWE champion Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett. Barrett came down to the ring and was booed by the fans. He took the mic and asked, in French, what the problem was. Barrett said he's the leader of Nexus and he's John Cena's boss. He said at Survivor Series, he will beat Orton to become new WWE champion. He was interrupted by Orton. The fans were so loud for him; biggest pop of the night.

(8) WWE champion Randy Orton beat Wade Barrett to retain the WWE Title. The match began with headlock and clotheslines, then Orton began to hear the voices in his head. He taunted Barrett by hitting the mat, but the leader of the Nexus rolled out to the apron. Orton then kicked him in the chest and went for the Spike DDT, but Barrett sent Orton into the referee, who was laid out in the ring. Barrett then took the WWE Title and used it as a weapon to hit Orton in the head. He made a cover, but there was no referee, so he called out John Cena to the ring to make the three count or else. Cena was given a chair and went to hit Orton with it, but Cena stalling allowed Orton to stand up and avoid the chair shot. Orton then RKO'ed Barrett and Cena quickly counted a three count and left the ring.

Last year was great with Smackdown and this year with Raw was just as good even if Triple H, Chris Jericho, and C.M. Punk were missing. WWE also announced four dates for 2011 on the "WrestleMania Revenge Tour."

-Strasbourg at the Zenith on April 21, 2011
-Lievin at Stade Couvert on April 22, 2011
-Lyon at Halle Tony Garnier on April 23 and 24, 2011

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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