WWE Smackdown house show report
April 14, 2012
Manchester, England
Report by Gareth, PWTorch reader

Lillian Garcia opened the show and sang "God Save The Queen" to bemusement all-round. Jingoistic anthems never really went down that well here.

(1) Great Khali beat Jinder Mahal. Khali got a great response, although it may just have been that whichever person they rolled out first got a big pop. Jinder got some bog-standard heat. The match itself was nothing to write home about, Khali is virtually immobile, although Jinder took some good bumps. Khali won after eight minutes of what can loosely be described as action.

(2) William Regal & Tyson Kidd beat Hunico & Camacho. Regal got a big reaction and Hunico wound the crowd up very well. Once the actual wrestling started, it turned into a strong contest. Kidd pulled out the old Owen Hart/Blue Blazer backflip off the ropes, and also a variant when Hunico hip-tossed him onto the ropes. A somersault plancha and a supremely smooth set of reversals with Hunico also got a good reaction. The heels took control and knocked the stuffing out of Kidd, until a hot tag allowed Regal to clean house and pin the limited Camacho.

Afterwards, Regal described Kidd as "the most underrated wrestler in WWE." (He is not wrong, as Kidd looked excellent.) Regal then introduced his niece to a nice ovation.

(3) A.J. beat Natalya with Hornswoggle as guest referee. Nice, well-paced match-up, and far longer than standard Divas fare. Natalya heeled it up, which was confusing, and she and A.J. got some nice chain wrestling going. The highlight was Natalya catching A.J. on a crossbody before A.J. spun it into a swinging DDT for a very believable nearfall. A.J. won after a roll-up when Hornswoggle pushed Nattie over.

(4) Alberto Del Rio beat Ezekiel Jackson via submission. As soon as Zeke's music sounded, I went off to drain the lizard. The missus says I didn't miss much. ADR won with the cross arm-breaker, and most people were talking about Ricardo Rodriguez rather than the match.

(5) IC champion Big Show beat Cody Rhodes to retain the Intercontinental Title. Very entertaining match-up. Rhodes got some excellent heat with his pre-match mic work and stalling at the start. Show won following a chokeslam. Both men played their roles well and got loud reactions from the crowd.

(6) Mark Henry beat Yoshi Tatsu. Rubbish squash. Henry makes Khali look like Usain Bolt for speed. Tatsu got next to zero offense in, and Henry won with the World's Strongest Slam to a thunderous round of indifference.

(7) Randy Orton beat Kane in a No DQ match. Excellent, energetic brawl. The participants were both super-over, and there were some nice nearfalls and some good stiff moves. Highlights included the draping DDT onto a chair, and a chokeslam for a false finish. Orton won with the RKO to a rapturous ovation.

(8) World Hvt. champion Sheamus beat Daniel Bryan to retain the World Title. The crowd was hot for this one, with dueling chants, and a lot of "Yes!" shouts. Bryan got some heat with the audience before the match, and the dueling chants continued apace. The match itself was very good, lots of hard hitting moves, slick reversals, and both men got a lot of their signature offense in. The only thing lacking was drama, as Sheamus insisted on kicking out before the count of one on all but one of Bryan's pin attempts. It kind of killed the suspense. Sheamus won with a Brogue kick to send the kids home happy.

Afterwards, Lilian thanked us for coming, and my missus had lost her voice from all those "Yes!" chants.

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

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