WWE Raw house show results
May 6, 2012
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Report by Brandon W., PWTorch reader (@Genxlife)

A somewhat late-arriving crowd showed up for this Raw show in Chattanooga. Lots of Cena shirts. Lots of kids. C.M. Punk shirts were probably a close second. Overall, the performers were pros and gave a good show despite a lackluster crowd. They had a few decent pops, but it seemed like the people just got tired of cheering quickly or just wanted to watch instead of really try to interact with the performers.

To start the show, R-Truth came out to a decent reaction and did his old "What's Up" rap entrance. He stayed on the mic and told the crowd he had good news and bad news. The bad news was that his partner Kofi Kingston was not there. The good news was that Little Jimmy found him a partner. Out came Santino to another decent reaction. Rosa escorted Primo and Epico out as their opponents.

(1) WWE tag champion R-Truth & U.S. champion Santino beat Epico & Primo (w/Rosa Mendes). One thing I realized while watching this match was that I had no idea which one was Primo and which one was Epico. These guys just lost the Tag Titles and WWE hasn't made me care enough to know which is which. Truth and Santino both took their share of time working from underneath with 80 percent of the offense in the match from Primo...or was it Epico? Santino tried the Cobra, but was thwarted. Eventually, he landed it and Truth got the cover for the win. Santino went to Primo/Epico's corner after the match to get his cobra sock back. He threw one to the crowd during his intro, but stuffed this one back in his tights instead of giving it away to a kid. Is his supply running low?

Jack Swagger appeared in a pre-recorded promo. It seemed to me they are taking his character in a different direction and trying it out. He seemed to be selling much more as an arrogant snob than I recall in past promos. Maybe I am wrong about this, but he just seemed to emphasize how much smarter and better he was than the local crowd and Brodus Clay, who he would face later.

Next out was Husky Harris (now Bray Wyatt). He cut a promo as he walked the aisle to the ring. He was wearing a Panama Jack-like white fedora and a Hawaiian type shirt with black pants. They looked like slacks, which struck me as odd for ring attire. His promo was totally forgettable non-sense that can be paraphrased as "I am the bad guy. You need to boo me." (If you read that last quote with a long Southern drawl, you got all you need to know about it.) I kind of liked Husky on NXT, but I don't think this character is going to make it. Zack Ryder then came out to another decent pop, but again, the crowd wasn't all that helpful.

(2) Zack Ryder beat Husky Harris (Bray Wyatt). Bray...er...Husky...looked passable in the ring. He did wear a black tanktop (to go with his black slacks?) to cover his less-than-stellar physique. The ring work in this match was really not anything special. In fact, I barely remember a move of it. I am going to put the blame a little more on Husky for that than I am Zack. Overall, a match everyone seemed to be looking forward to ending quickly to move on to more interesting things.

(3) Lord Tensai beat JTG & Tyson Kidd in a handicap match. Just as the bell rang in what was announced as Tyson Kidd vs. JTG in a singles bout, Eve came out to tell the crowd she had just received a text from Executive VP of Talent Relations, Mr. Excitement, John Laurinaitis, and this match would now be a handicap match with JTG and Kidd teaming up against Lord Tensai. Typical Tensai squash match here. Neither guy got much offense in and even when they did, it didn't take Tensai off his feet. Eventually, JTG got knocked out of the ring for an extended period of time so that Tensai could green-mist Kidd and get the pin. Tensai is not getting over. He got mild heat during his intro, but for the most part this audience just wanted this match to be over with quickly.

(4) Brodus Clay (w/Hornswoggle) beat Jack Swagger. Brodus, Naomi, and Cameron came out first. Hornswoggle was with them in his matching red jogging suit. Good pop for Brodus. He is getting over with the kids and parents in the crowd. Swagger began the match very slowly, stalling for time and rolling out of the ring to confront fans. Brodus took several comedy shots at Swagger's new comb-over hairstyle. 80 percent of the offense in this match went to Clay. Swagger controlled the action very little and played the part of the crafty, "not looking for a head-to-head fight" heel pretty well. Brodus eventually scored with his pinning sequence and they did the usual "dance with the kids in the ring to celebrate" bit.

[Intermission]

(5) Eve beat Kelly Kelly. Kelly came to the ring hugging kids every-so-often along the railing, then she hugged some dude wearing a C.M. Punk shirt. WTH? After that, it was a Divas match. Thankfully, it was a relatively quick match (rather long by Divas match standards), but still a relatively quick match. Eve played the heel and got the win.

The actor Dennis Haskins ("Mr. Belding" from Saved By The Bell) was announced in attendance and took a bow. He is a Chattanooga native and a big WWE fan, having appeared on Zack Ryder's YouTube show and on Raw.

Next was John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler. Before the match, Ziggler cut a promo in the ring explaining that he is the future of WWE. He also said that in order to secure his path as the future, he needed someone to watch his back. He introduced Mason Ryan as the guy who is, "from now on," going to be that guy who will watch his back while he does what he does best. Cena came to ring with the expected big pop. He was still selling the arm injury from Brock Lesnar, and that came into a play a ton during the match.

(6) John Cena beat Dolph Ziggler (w/Mason Ryan). The ref got bumped at one point during the match and Ryan came into the ring and gave some offense to Cena. He pulled Dolph on top and woke up the ref for what looked like was going to be the win, but guess what happened? If you said Cena kicked out at two-and-three-fourths, you are qualified to be a part of the Creative team. Cena rallied while still selling the arm and hit the AA for the win. Two things stood out to me: (1) Cena looked tired to me. (2) Dolph Ziggler is the future of WWE. I just hope they realize it.

(7) WWE champion C.M. Punk beat Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Title. I have to hand it to Punk. He really worked the crowd at this event trying to get any sort of spark he could from them. Don't misunderstand, he was very over with them, but as I said at the beginning, they just didn't give the performers a lot of good feedback to play off. I was a little surprised this was not a gimmick match - just a regular, old match, which was fine with me. These guys can both perform at a very high level in a regular, old match, so I was happy. Both guys were pros and gave a good show, but there weren't any major high spots that I can recall. Afterward, Punk gave the crowd a decent amount of face time and sent them home happy.

Biggest Face Reactions:

- John Cena
- C.M. Punk
- Brodus Clay

Biggest Heat:

- Dolph Ziggler
- Eve
- Jack Swagger

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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