WWE Smackdown house show results
August 9, 2012
Tokyo, Japan
Report by Yuma, PWTorch correspondent

Day 1 of the Japan tour was attended by 6,873. There were a plenty of empty seats here and there, as it seems like the number of WWE fans has decreased recently. Partly, because it's been a long time since WWE has withdrawn Raw and Smackdown from national TV.

The show started a few minutes earlier than promoted. Tony Chimel, who wass tonight's ring announcer, welcomed us.

(1) U.S. champion Santino Marella beat Cody Rhodes and WWE tag champion Kofi Kingston at 8:00 in a three-way match to retain the U.S. Title. Nice pop for all of them during their entrances, even for Cody. Cody seemed confused for getting cheered, since normally Japanese crowd cheers every one to show some respect for coming here. There were some comedy spots from Santino as Cody tried to heel on the crowd to somehow get booed. After a combination of superplex and powerbomb from a corner, Santino connected with the Cobra on Cody to retain his title. Good, high-speed opener to warm the crowd up.

(2) Ted DiBiase beat Jinder Mahal at 7:33. Mahal's open challenge was accepted by DiBiase. Mahal came out first and cut a promo in Punjabi and English. Most of crowd apparently didn't understand English, even for his "at Raw 1,000, I single-handedly destroyed The Undertaker" line, therefore almost zero reaction to him. Sorry, Mahal. After he issued the open challenge, DiBiase came out with decent pop. There was a funny spot where DiBiase got Ryder's headband from the crowd and did his "Woo woo woo" to get more pop. The match itself didn't make crowd as excited as the opener, I suspect because most fans didn't know who Mahal is. But, the good news is DiBiase looked in good shape, so I think he is ready for weekly episodes. Eventually, DiBiase countered Mahal's full-nelson attempt and hit Dream Street to get the three count.

Suddenly, Daniel Bryan was shown on-screen. It was obviously a pre-taped promo. Again, a lot of crowd seemed not to understand. He cut promo on tonight's opponent Kane like, "Is Kane going to beat me tonight? No!" Ultimately, this caused Yes!/No! chants.

(3) Kelly Kelly beat Natalya at 6:16. Both got good reactions from the crowd. Kelly wrestled her first house show since her return. Natalya, who executed some nasty submission maneuvers, acted in the heel role. Back and forth, typical Divas match and Kelly hit her finisher, which was enough for the three count.

(4) Wade Barrett beat Justin Gabriel at 7:04. Gabriel came out first, then Barrett, who sported his new look, was next. Barrett dominated the early part of the match with some nasty blows. Gabriel made a comeback with some nice moves, but Barrett connect with the Black Hole Slam to get a three count. This felt like a squash match. With his arm injury seemingly healed, Barrett looks ready to be brought back.

(5) Kane beat Daniel Bryan at 17:00. Bryan came out first with big Yes! chants. Kane was next, of course no Charlie Sheen. This Summerslam trailer was an unexpectedly great match. In fact, this must be match of the night. Bryan took control of the early part of the match with many submissions. The crowd went nuts as they tried to counter each other's Yes! Lock and Chokeslam. After a rope break from the Yes! Lock, Bryan was upset and brought a chair to the ring. However, the referee took it and Kane hit a Chokeslam for the three count. Assuming Charlie Sheen's involvement, I expect the finish at Summerslam will not be the same as this. Overall, and excellent back and forth match. Both of them know how to control crowd's minds.

[Intermission]

After intermission, Yoshi Tatsu came out to a small pop, unlike you would expect. I was surprised, too, but I assume this is because fans weren't ready due to intermission. In fact, he got massive pop during his match. Suddenly, Jack Swagger assaulted Yoshi while he was posing for fans in the corner. Then, Zack Ryder came out to make the save, then Epico and Primo came out to help Swagger. After some beat down, Rey Mysterio's theme hit to make crowd crazy. Mysterio came out to the biggest pop by far to help Yoshi and Ryder. Out of the blue, Tony Chimel announced a six-man tag match.

(6) Rey Mysterio & Zack Ryder & Yoshi Tatsu beat Jack Swagger & Primo & Epico at 16:38 in a six-man tag match. If you expected Yoshi to dominate and destroy them because this is Japan, you're wrong. Actually, Yoshi took a hell of beating from all of them. After Yoshi took a beating for seven or eight minutes, he finally tagged to Rey, who cleaned house with high-flying moves. Then, Ryder hit the Rough Ryder to Primo, and Yoshi attempted a spinning heel kick on Epico, which he botched. Finally, Rey hit 619 and a bodypress to Swagger for the win. Unlike Yoshi's first house show in Japan, he didn't have his moment. Last time, he had a chance to face Chris Jericho and delivered a great match despite the fact that he wasn't in the main event scene at that time. This time, he got destroyed by Swagger and botched his finisher. I hope tomorrow he will shine in a one-on-one contest.

Another pre-taped promo, this time from Big Johnny. Again, fans didn't understand, so they just yelled to him. John Laurinaitis said he and Big Show would beat Sheamus to get the World Title. Of course, his infamous catchphrase, "People Power," ended the promo.

(7) Randy Orton beat Alberto Del Rio at 13:41. Both guys were really over, but needless to say, Orton received a massive pop. Slow0paced match, with mainly Del Rio focusing on Orton's arm for his finisher. Suddenly, Orton made a comeback with a clothesline, powerslam, and DDT as seen weekly on Raw. After a series of counters, Orton hit the RKO to get the 1, 2, 3. Overall, Orton was super over and both men really worked hard to deliver a nice match. But, they didn't have chemistry like Kane and Bryan.

(8) World Hvt. champion Sheamus beat Big Show and John Laurinaitis at 11:07 in a handicap match to retain the World Title. Sheamus came out first to massive pop, then Laurinatis, who wore his track suit, came out to little reaction. Lastly, Big Show got a mixed reaction. Surprisingly, Laurinatis started the match, but quickly tagged to Show, like you would expect. Big Show dominated most of match while Big Johnny just stood at a corner. After roughly 7 or 8 minutes, Sheamus finally made a comeback, but Show hit a Chokeslam. Laurinatis wanted to tag in to pin the champ, he got what he wished for, and Sheamus kicked out. Suddenly, Sheamus caught Johnny's leg not to let Big Show tag back in. Thus, Big Show got in the ring without the tag to hit the champ with the WMD, but it caught Big Johnny instead. Show then took a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. So, Sheamus pinned Big Johnny to retain his title and send crowd home happy. While Big Johnny was funny, I was a bit disappointed due to short match time.

Overall, a nice house show with a great Kane-Bryan match. I'm a bit anxious about Yoshi after seeing how he was booked on this show. The returning Barrett and DiBiase are apparently ready for TV matches again. But, most importantly, kudos to all WWE stars for delivering this show after a tough 13-hours flight from the United States!

Match of the night: Kane vs. Daniel Bryan.

Biggest Pops: (1) Rey Mysterio. (2) Randy Orton. (3) Sheamus/Bryan.

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

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