WWE Raw house show report
November 8, 2011
Newcastle, England at Metro Radio Arena
Report by WrestlingScribe with contribution from Cohen

The arena was very close to sold-out, with a noticeable distinct difference in demographics: the young boys were covered almost head-to-toe in John Cena merchandise, and the men were wearing "Best in the World" C.M. Punk t-shirts. The exception to this division was when the men were fathers to the boys, otherwise it really was a case of "separating the men from the boys."

This was the night after the airing of Raw "Supershow" live Liverpool, which meant there were a few switch-ups to what had become a consistent pattern in matches and results from the first leg of the European Tour.

Santino Marella came out first for the show-starting crowd pop and faced David Otunga.

(1) Santino beat David Otunga. This was quite a laboured match, which gave the Harvard Law graduate a generous amount of offense before falling to the Cobra. Nice-enough, short and sweet crowd-pleaser to start with.

Curt Hawkins emerged with rock pants and walking cane and reminded me of Brian Pillman until he got into the ring and let the charisma be drained from him by opponent, Mason Ryan, who - despite Justin Roberts introducing the Welshman as hailing from, simply, "the United Kingdom" - didn't generate much of a pop or, indeed, a great deal of crowd interest for this match

(2) Mason Ryan beat Curt Hawkins. It was painful to watch Hawkins just bump around for Ryan, who hit his finisher for the pinfall win and the second babyface victory.

(3) Alex Riley beat Michael McGillicutty. The third face triumph in a row came courtesy of Newcastle crowd favorite Alex Riley, who engaged in a decent exchange of moves with the wasted potential of Mr. Perfect, Jr, Michael McGillicutty before going on to win. This provided a much-needed boost of wrestling action, and it was fun to see Riley so over.

Speaking of "perfect," the U.S. Champion of self-proclaimed "perfection," Dolph Ziggler (sans Vickie) cut a promo en route to the ring. He was up next for a title defense in a triple threat match including the popular John Morrison and Drew McIntyre, who, interestingly, split the crowd (so close to the Scotland border, heel McIntyre was both jeered and cheered as well).

(4) U.S. champion Dolph Ziggler beat John Morrison and Drew McIntyre in a three-way match to retain the U.S. Title. The heels took turns taking bumps to the outside for breathers, and there were a few rest holds, but overall a good match making most of the three-man dynamic. Ziggler retained, of course, but the most interesting result from this match was the fact that, despite a self-aggrandizing promo from "Heel Ziggler," Dolph enjoyed a scary amount of applause and even some chants in his favor. How long before heel Ziggler becomes face Ziggler?

In true British house show fashion, fiendish actions were required post-match in order to provoke an incident where the face could stand tall: Dolph went for a belt shot to add insult to injury, only for Morrison to come back and blast Ziggler with Starship Pain, which truly does look incredible live. Morrison deserves more than the Melina-induced de-push of late.

For a pre-interval segment, the Bella Twins came out to pick four fans for a dance contest, the winner of which would get to go backstage to meet the WWE Superstars. In what seemed too good to be true, each contestant was from different nearby rival localities representing the mixed north-east crowd: Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, and the country across the border, Scotland. From two young women, a young man, and a small Scottish boy, it was astonishing to witness the biggest pop by this point thus far coming from the young lad's victory.

After a relatively brief interval, Divas Champion Beth Phoenix came out wearing the Diva Title before kissing it for the referee to raise above his head as Eve challenged her.

(5) Divas champion Beth Phoenix beat Eve to retain the Divas Title. Beth regressed into hissy fit heel mode, stalling and garnering some heat with reverse psychology, telling the fans to quieten down. None of this worked particularly well, as - despite a really impressive move set from Eve with several minutes allocated for her to perform - fans were seemingly conditioned to not care about the Divas division or its title. Beth retained, then - a la Ziggler - attacked Eve after the bell to provoke none other than Kelly Kelly, running to the ring to make the save (or rather, cantering to the ring in street clothes and taking an eternity to do so). I felt bad for Eve, who worked so hard and then Kelly stole the spotlight. Perfect reasoning for a future heel turn.

A real treat was Mick Foley introduced as special guest referee in street clothes for a six-man match featuring John Cena, Kofi Kingston, and Zack Ryder - all of whom were over, but none as much as Foley himself, who inspired chants as he plugged his comedy show and induced a cheap pop. The heels were Miz and Truth - and, in another unexpected surprise, Kevin Nash making his in-ring return after a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble in January.

(6) John Cena & Zack Ryder & WWE tag champion Kofi Kingston beat The Miz & R-Truth & Kevin Nash in a six-man tag match. Nash, frankly, phoned it in, after emotionlessly walking to the ring and then emotionlessly walking back after Cena pinned Miz following a Foley retaliatory shove. The usual "Let's Go Cena" / Cena Sucks" chants ebbed and flowed throughout the match.

The main event saw CM Punk challenge Alberto Del Rio for WWE Title after a Ricardo Rodriguez introduction and a delayed entrance by Alberto, who came out in a t-shirt that only served for a match spot where Punk ripped it off him, then dragged him around the ring with it.

(7) C.M. Punk beat WWE champion Alberto Del Rio via DQ; Del Rio retained the WWE Title. Rodriguez got involved behind the back of the referee, who later ejected the pseudo ring announcer then took a bump, thus missing Punk's pin attempt until Rodriguez returned only to take a chair shot to the back after Punk ducked. The Straight-Edge Superstar then took a chair shot to pick up the DQ win so that Del Rio could retain the title.

Afterward, Ziggler and Awesome Truth ran in and inexplicably assaulted Punk. This, again, proved to be contrived to provoke babyface dominance, with Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, and even Eve and Foley coming in to run out the heels and deliver respective finishing moves (including Mr. Socko) on the dazed Dolph. Foley, Punk, and Cena offered words on the mic, before Cena made more digs about The Rock and Hollywood.

Punk stood tall, alone in the ring, for the close of the show, which, all in all, was a decent offering, and otherwise standard house show fare elevated by one or two pleasant surprises.

Read from the Wrestling Scribe at WrestlingScribe.wordpress.com.

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

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