WWE Raw house show report
January 13, 2012
Yakima, Wash.
Report by Gerrad of Kennewick, Wash., PWTorch VIP member

The crowd was about 90 percent full. This was a better turn-out than the previous showing. Overall, the crowd seemed more alive than the last show in May 2011. The new house show stage is fantastic. With video screens, it really ups the feel of the event. Kudos to WWE. Th ematch times were "recorded" by me from bell to bell.

(1) R-Truth beat Jack Swagger in 6:00. Before the match, Swagger got on the mic and said Zack Ryder was scared to show up. R-Truth came out to a mixed reaction and the entire building chanted "what" after his every sentence he said. Mostly stuff about calling swagger "Jimmy Swagger." The match was a basic back and forth with Truth playing the face. A couple of solid kicks to the face connected (I was close ringside and could see it connect).

Smackdown's World Hvt. champion Daniel Bryan came out to about 80 percent cheers, 20 percent boos with calls for Big Show from the crowd. The mayor of Yakima read a proclamation from our state governor for all his accomplishments in pro wrestling. The mayor also named it Daniel Bryan Day in Yakima. This was all supposed to be serious and Daniel played it in a respectful babyface manner. No sign of any of his heelisms. David Otunga came out in suit and announced his opponent - Jamie Noble.

(2) World Hvt. champion Daniel Bryan beat Jamie Noble via submission in a non-title match in 11:00. Bryan got the crowd on his side and was very well-received throughout the match. The match was very physical, as most Bryan matches are. Jamie looked good and hadn't lost a step; he's a very solid person for Bryan to work with. There were a couple of good high spots with Frankensteiners. Bryan won with the LeBell Lock in eleven minutes.

(3) "Funkasauras" Brodus Clay beat Tyler Reks in 5:00. Brodus make his full entrance with both dancers. Short match. Brodus was well-liked by the crowd and talked loudly during the match, like on Raw. Example "I'm gonna get him!" and "I'm gonna beat the funk outta you."

(3) "Ryback" Skip Sheffield beat Alex Riley in 7:00. A-Ry came out to a decent pop despite his lack of TV time. Next up was a returning Skip Sheffield going by the name "Ryback." He did have an arm band with a red letter "R" on it. He's sporting a black wrestling singlet now. Standard heel reaction for "Ryback" going up against A-Ry. It was a longer match than expected with Riley on defense most of the time. Big babyface comeback towards the end, only to be stopped by a vicious spear by "Ryback" for the three count. If he is using the spear as his finisher, I'm all for it, as he does so in the fashion of Rhyno or Goldberg, and less like Edge/Christian.

(4) WWE tag champions Air Boom (Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston) beat Primo & Epico (w/Rosa Mendes) in 16:00 to retain the WWE Tag Titles. This may have been the longest and possibly best match of the evening with lots of great athleticism from four young guys. Bourne was in for the majority of the match with lots of great offense up front, only to detailed by a very extended best down from P&E. Repeated tags from P&E to do damage to Bourne kept this match from getting stale, and instead built great heat. The crowd stayed loud the whole time, investing in Bourne as the underdog. It helped that Bourne would get in flurries of offense every now and then to keep hope alive. Bourne finally tagged Kofi, who cleaned house, but ended up falling victim to a pin. Primo and Epico were declared new tag champs at about the 15:00 mark. However, another ref came out and informed the current ref that Kofi's feet were on the ropes. The match was then re-started and led to a flurry of offense from Bourne and Kofi with Bourne hitting the Shooting Star to win the match in another minute.

Justin Roberts was about to announce the next match when every light in the building and his mic were shut off. Suddenly, the light-up jacket appeared on-stage. The new stage is perfect for moments like this at a house show. Lights and Jericho's music hit to a thunderous pop. Y2J made his way around doing his whole gimmick from the past two weeks, high five-ing fans and the like. He got in the ring and milked it. When his music stopped, there were clearly more boos than have been on Raw at this point. (It could also be because Jericho's last appearance in this arena as a heel included him cutting a very-close-to-non-PG promo against the Mexican population that is significant in this area when fighting Rey Mysterio. Or, it simply could be the audience catching on.) But, with his smile lighting up, the Y2J chants eventually started heavily and took over in full force.

Jericho finally picked up the mic and, as he was about to speak, David Otunga interrupted. He went on some rant about Jericho needing a permit for his light-up jacket. He claimed he was a lawyer and told Jericho to remove the jacket. He shouted over and over as Jericho just stared at him. Finally, Jericho did so, and then hit Otunga softly on the head in a comedic manner with the mic just enough to startle him. He was knocked down and Jericho performer the Liontamer on him. I say the Liontamer and not the Walls of Jericho because he performed it the way he used to in WCW with one knee to the ground. Jericho then put his jacket on and played to the crowd. This segment must have run over 15 minutes.




[Intermission]

Back from break, the Bellas came out two be dual guest refs for a Divas Title match.

(5) Divas champion Beth Phoenix beat Eve in 7:00 to retain the Divas Title. Beth was out first to scattered boos. Eve was out next to a good reaction. As usual, the Divas match at the house show outshines anything done on TV and I even found this longer and more competitive than recent PPV matches. Overall, good back and forth with good nearfalls. Eve hit her standing back flip and her top-rope back flip. Beth executed a sit-out powerbomb in the match, as well. Eve had the pin and one of the Bellas was making the three count, but she pulled her arm away in pain before the three. Eve was angered, and this allowed Beth to hit the Glam Slam for a very quick three count.

Next was John Cena vs. Kane. Cena came out first to the reaction of the night. Next up was Kane, who made his entrance with removable mask. The dueling "Cena Sucks / Let's Go Cena" chants were in full-force, which was a first time for this arena. Last May, Cena hardly got a single boo. Within one year, this town has become the normal 50/50 split heard weekly on TV. Also of note, "Cena Sucks" t-shirts were on sale.

(6) John Cena beat Kane via DQ in 11:00. Good back and forth with a few stuff hits thrown in. Being up close, I thought some hits would come off as less than stiff, but not so tonight. Lots of moves connecting, no air. Surprising, really. Cena hit his standard spots, but before he could give Kane the Attitude Adjustment, Kane hit him with a chair and was DQ'ed.

After the bell, Kane beat down Cena and delivered a chokeslam, leaving Cena in the ring. Kane walked up the ramp and turned around to see Cena getting to his feet, though, so he came back back to the ring. Cena then delivered a beat down and AA.

Next was the main event WWE Title match. Dolph Ziggler came out first to a strong heel reaction (good sign), and to his previous music (the harder version of "Perfection," not his new "Show the world" music). He got on the mic and even made a comment, "I don't know whose music that was." Someone messed up the audio there. He cut a promo on Yakima to good heat. C.M. Punk was out next to a huge reaction. Not quite the Cena reaction, but probably tied with Jericho for best pop. But, his cheers were sustained longer than for Jericho. Also of note, Punk decided not to slick his hair back tonight. Cool look, actually, without the grease. The entire crowd was on Punk's side.

(7) WWE champion C.M. Punk beat Dolph Ziggler in 14:00 to retain the WWE Title. This was match of the night contender with the Tag Title match. Similarly, there were lots of great nearfalls and stiff shots. If this is a warm-up/preview of their Royal Rumble PPV match, then I wouldn't put it past them for a possible high-three-star/four-star match. Punk eventually won with the GTS.

Post-match, Punk celebrated in the ring by laying his belt down on each side of the ring and kissing it. He thanked the fans before coming around ringside slapping hands.

I've been to around 8-9 house shows, and this was by far the best I've been to. The addition of the great stage just kicks up the experience so much, not to mention the workrate in the matches was superb. The show also had the stiffest action I've seen at a house show. Good effort on WWE's part.

Biggest Pops:

(1) Cena by a landslide.
(2/3) Punk and Jericho equal, but Punk had 100 percent cheers following the pop.
(4) Daniel Bryan (very close to Punk & Jericho due to being in his home state).

Biggest Heat:

(1) Ziggler
(2) The mayor of Yakima (he always gets booed here).
(3) Otunga
(4) Swagger

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

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