WWE Smackdown house show report
November 4, 2010
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Report by Ryan and Karl Hoy, PWTorch readers

(1) Finlay beat Tyler Reks. Good hometown reaction for Finlay, even if he did look out of shape and sluggish. Reks got pretty much no reaction from the crowd. A slow, unappetizing opening match that was only livened up when Hornswoggle interfered. (By the way, Hornswoggle very obviously came to the ring in a cape during the 'do not record anything' pre-show message. Hornswoggle produced two shillelaghs, including one for Reks, which distracted the ref, and the other for Finlay to hit Reks with while ref was distracted. Hornswoggle finished with the tadpole splash humiliating Reks.

(2) Jack Swagger (w/Mascot) beat Chris Masters via submission. Good pop for Swagger, who really should not have been out this early. It felt very strange. The mascot was there, of course, and provided much humor. No reaction for Masters. I thought it was a poor match with absolutely no heat or real point to it. Swagger put on the Anklelock and that was that.

(3) Chavo Guerrero beat Mason Ryan. Good heel reaction towards Chavo, who always plays the crowd very nicely. Obviously, no one knew who Ryan was, so zero reaction and he almost seemed too big and menacing to be slapping fans's hands at ringside. He has a very Batista-esque look about him. Ryan won with a spinning powerslam in a short match.

I think at this point Kelly Kelly and Hornswoggle (making his second of three appearances on the night) came out and threw some t-shirts into the crowd. Awkward moment when ring announcer Tony Chimel said, 'all right,' as in leave the ring now.

(4) IC champion Dolph Ziggler (w/out Vickie) beat MVP, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes, and Drew McIntyre in a Fatal Four-way match to retain the Intercontinental Title. A solid, more exciting match than the previous three. A lot of posturing to start off with and the usual "two guys rest outside while two guys fight inside the ring" scenario. No real highspots, which was disappointing. Ziggler won after capitalizing on Cody's kick to MVP for a typical heel victory.

Cue a Nexus run-in minus Wade Barrett. No real beat down by Nexus other than on MVP, which was foreshadowing for later. Nexus, which drew the most heat of the night so far, announced they'd be facing The Hart Dynasty later on with the tag belts on the line. Mixed reaction for that from the crowd.

(5) Kofi Kingston beat Alberto del Rio (w/out Ricardo Rodriguez). Rey Mysterio was the original opponent (major pop from the crowd, as he's a draw), but he was "injured" by Alberto. Alberto kicked him down from posing on the ropes and wrapped his legs around the ringpost with his scarf. Cue up a run-in from Kofi and the unpopular switcheroo took place, much to the crowd's displeasure. Alberto spoke a little after his entrance doing the usual heel routine. Kofi won via Trouble in Paradise when the injured Rey came out for distraction.

[Intermission]

(6) WWE tag champions Nexus (Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel) beat Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & D.H. Smith) to retain the WWE Tag Titles. Short, relatively unexciting match. Gabriel won with a roll-up and no 450 splash.

(7) Natalya beat Layla via submission. Layla's use of an exercise ball for pre-match warm up was quite comical, but Michelle and her are much better together. A solid Divas match, actually. No botched moves.

(8) Big Show beat World champion Kane via DQ after Nexus interfered; Kane retained the World Hvt. Title. Good reactions for both men, although it was very disappointing not to see Edge make an appearance. Kane cut a short promo talking about how he was better than everyone, then Show said he wasn't better than The Undertaker, which was silly considering he wasn't there and the crowd was constantly anticipating his arrival. Short, slow match with neither man really doing much besides punch, kick, suplex.

Post-match, the Smackdown heels rushed the ring and the expected Smackdown/Nexus stand off didn't happen as the heels (Cody/Drew/Dolph) proceded to beat down Show. Cue the Smackdown faces and a brawl. The faces obviously cleared the ring. Show thanked the fans and said Belfast rules to close the show.

It has to be noted that during the main event, many people left the arena, especially those with young children. The arena was maybe 70 percent full and the crowd was lukewarm the whole night. Perhaps it was due to the lack of mic work, which didn't help the show much. It was obvious there was a severe lack of star power, and with Mysterio not fit to wrestle, Show and Kane were the sole main eventers and really cannot put on great matches. I noticed some people looked very disappointed and no one stayed long after the main event concluded.

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

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