WWE Raw house show results
June 26, 2011
Houston, Tex. at Toyota Center
Report by James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

I'll be posting real-time results on Sunday's Raw brand house show and also posting updates/photos/various random thoughts on my Tumblr blog at Tumblr.com/PWTorch and via the PWTorch Twitter page.

Toyota Center said pre-sale was 7,500. At bell time, it seemed closer to 3,500. Plenty of Little Jimmys in the crowd and mainly kids  & families, as usual, on a Sunday evening. 

Hometown'er Booker T started things off as guest host and announced a Spinarooni dance contest later on. Tag champs Mike and Otunga interrupted to get in Booker's face. Santino and Kozlov made the save and Booker booked a non-title tag match. 

(1) Santino & Kozlov beat WWE tag champions Michael McGillicuty & David Otunga in a non-title match at 8:28. Santino was over with the kids and families. Appeals on that Hornswoggle level. Slow Clap sign guy was back from the last Smackdown TV taping. Two early appearances as the heels isolated Santino for a good while. Santino eventually made the comeback and dropped Mike with the Cobra for the crowd-pleasing win. (*1/2)

Chris Masters came out for the next match, but Jack Swagger jumped him in the aisle.

(2) Jack Swagger beat Chris Masters via submission at 1:30. Masters made a comeback right when the bell sounded and had the Masterlock, but Swagger escaped. Swagger then took out the knee and slapped on an anklelock. Crowd bought the teased finish which surprisingly turned into Masters tapping rather than getting a rope break. Quick match. 

(3) Divas champion Kelly Kelly & Eve & Beth Phoenix beat the Bella Twins & Maryse in a six-Divas tag match at 5:09. Slow Clap #3 of the night as the heels isolated Eve. Kelly eventually took the hot tag and picked up the win. 

Justin Roberts tried to introduce the next match, but Vickie Guerrero interrupted to huge boos. She brought out U.S. Champ Dolph Ziggler for a title match. Strong reaction for Bourne as the first of two opponents. Kofi Kingston was out to a slightly-less-than-Bourne reaction.

(4) U.S. champion Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) beat Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston in a three-way match at 11:07 to retain the US Title. Bourne and Kofi worked together before the Mid-card Powers exploded and Kofi cleared Bourne to the outside. Dolph took control on Kofi as a result. Meanwhile, everyone in our section was trying to figure out Dolph's ring trunks. They went to a nice finishing sequence that ended with Dolph taking out Bourne before Dolph rolled through a top-rope cross-body from Kofi for a quick win. Nice match with some unique spots. (**1/2)

Post-match: the bully babyfaces attacked Dolph, and Bourne hit Air Bourne, which the kids came to see. Afterward, Dolph milked the heck out of the post-match attack and Vickie drew tons of boos for her role assisting Dolph to the back.

Next out was C.M. Punk to a big reaction of boos from the kids and cheers from the minority of adult males. Punk waited a while to milk the boos before cutting a local heel promo and vowing to take the WWE Title from Cena on July 17. Rey Mysterio then came out to big cheers answering Punk. Punk stalled ringside for a while before teasing a t-shirt toss and dropping it ringside. 

(5) Rey Mysterio beat C.M. Punk at 11:50. Punk taunted Rey by dropping to his knees to size up Rey for a test of strength. The match moved to the floor early on and Punk took advantage to control the match. Sign Guy and Slow Clap sign guy collaborated on a rally for Rey, leading to a 619 tease that Punk countered with a backbreaker. Punk regained control before actually attempting a top-rope moonsault. Yes, a moonsault. Punk missed, then Rey hit the 619 and splash for the win. Nice match. TV-quality. (**1/2)

Afterward, Punk threw a fit in the ring before doing a comedy heel routine pretending to hurt himself kicking the ring steps in frustration. 

Booker came out for the Spinarooni contest. Little Jimmy from the crowd beat out two radio station contest winners. Booker then had the final word with a Spinarooni in his dress pants. 

Justin Roberts plugged some merchandise and hyped Cena still to come in the main event leading to intermission. 

The Miz was out first following a ten-minute intermission. Miz claimed a referee conspiracy cost him his match against Riley at Capitol Punishment. Miz said he's glad he doesn't have a match tonight or he would take out Riley from WWE. Miz worked the crowd into a frenzy asking for silence to do his catchphrase. Riley then ran into the ring and jumped Miz. After they were separated, the Raw GM buzzed in and Roberts said the GM is booking the match now. Nice of him/her to make an appearance. 

(6) Alex Riley beat The Miz via DQ at 8:13. Miz teased taking a count-out, but re-entered the ring at nine. Miz quickly cut of Riley and worked him over for a while. Slow pace, then some nice nearfalls before Miz grabbed a chair and jabbed Riley for the DQ. Miz tried another chair shot, but Riley stole the chair and Miz bailed. Okay match. Riley isn't there yet as a top face. He needs time in the ring and for the crowd to have a reason to get behind him other than "he's not Miz." (*1/2)

Del Rio came out for the semi-main event, then ran away when Big Show came out to face him. Del Rio did the heel routine asking to be friends and to put the past in the past. Show then smashed Del Rio on the handshake attempt to start the match. 

(7) Big Show beat Alberto Del Rio at 2:53. Show got in his signature spots before Del Rio slingshot his arm across the top rope. It looked like Del Rio would start working the arm, but Show immediately blocked a top rope attempt with a chokeslam for the decisive win. Crowd ate up Del Rip getting his. 

Main event time. R-Truth came out first and ran down the pathetic Houston sports scene before heeling on the Little Jimmys in the crowd. Cena then came out to a huge pop. Pretty much the entire arena bought a ticket to cheer or boo him. Kids were intense for Cena. Roberts handled formal ring intros for another big Cena pop. 

(8) WWE champion John Cena beat R-Truth at 16:01 to retain the WWE Title. Truth did running heel commentary to get the kids riled up again. Dueling chants early on as Cena failed to get an advantage. Truth then cut Cena off and controlled the match for about eight minutes. Truth was terrific with his character doing little mannerisms and interacting with the crowd to keep things interesting. Cena teased his comeback a few times before the ref was bumped. Truth tapped to the STF, but the ref was down. They set up a big nearfall spot with Truth sneaking up on Cena for his finisher and scoring a dramatic two count. The kids freaked out again when Truth tried a belt shot, but Cena ducked and hit the AA for the win. Basic house show main event with some good work to involve an easy crowd. (**1/4) 

Afterward, Cena posed for the crowd before doing a victory lap. Cena signed off without a promo to call it a night after a two-and-a-half hour show.

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