WWE Raw house show results
April 18, 2013
Belfast, N. Ireland
Report by Ryan, PWTorch reader

The show was okay, nothing special. During the house shows, WWE put screens above the entrance to encourage the crowd to send tweets before the show and during intermission. Tweeters were begging for Fandango chants, but only a few small sections of the audience "Fandangoed"... which was disappointing. Being a younger audience that usually attend the Belfast shows, I wouldn't compare this to what the London crowd should be like at the Raw taping, though. Looking around the arena, the biggest merch sellers were Ziggler, Cena, and C.M. Punk (although he got pulled from the show).

(1) Tons of Funk & the Funkadactyls beat Team Rhodes Scholars & the Bella Twins in an eight-person tag match. A lot of Sandow chants, as well as chants for Brodus & Tensai. Typical opening bout. Tensai and Brodus pinned Sandow for the win.

(2) Zack Ryder beat Heath Slater. Nothing special to report. I did notice that Ryder's Broski Boot visibly missed Slater, but Slater still sold it anyway. Ryder is still over with the younger audience here.

(3) William Regal beat Michael McGillicutty. Regal was extremley over with the older audience. He grabbed the mic at the beginning of the bout and said, "Two years ago I came here and you booed me, do you feel sorry for this old hand now?" Standard match, and Regal got the win.

After the bout, Regal thanked Finlay, who was sitting in the audience, for helping him break into the business. Both Finlay and Regal got a huge standing ovation, which was the highlight of the show. Regal thanked the audience for the support and talked about how he had wrestled in Belfast years ago. It was a great speech and Regal made it feel special.

(4) WWE tag champions Team Hell No beat World Hvt. champion Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston (w/A.J. Lee) to retain the Tag Titles. Ziggler got a massive pop, as did Daniel Bryan. Team Hell No got the victory after Kane chokeslammed Ziggler and a Bryan hit the Diving Headbutt.

Afterward, Kane snatched the tag belts from Bryan, and Bryan announced he was leaving in a huff because Kane wouldn't give him his title. The two eventually hugged. It's getting a little stale, as we pretty much saw this exact same aftermatch promo last year in Belfast. Still, the crowd loved it. Ziggler got huge chants throughout the match and played up to the chants well.

Intermission was next. A "WWE '13" commercial played, which got a C.M. Punk chant.

(5) R-Truth beat Antonio Cesaro. Truth came out rapping his "What's Up" theme - I thought he stopped that stuff. Anyway, decent match made good by Cesaro. He taunted the crowd by running the ropes three times only to go into a headlock, which I thought was pretty funny. There were some Cesaro chants, but not enough to drown out the kids shouting, "What's Up."

(6) Divas champion Kaitlyn beat Tamina Snuka to retain the Divas Title. Before the match, Vickie Guerrero came out to announce that her new pet project would defeat Kaitlyn for the Divas Title. That didn't happen. Snuka had most of the offense during the match, but Kaitlyn won in the end. There were "We want Chyna" and "JBL" chants during this match. I have no idea why the crowd would want Chyna. JBL is understandable, though.

Main Event time of John Cena vs. Ryback. Lots of boos for Cena; usual kids cheering him. "Cena sucks" chants were just as loud as the "Let's Go Cena" chants. Ryback acknowledged Goldberg chants and shouted to the crowd, "No, it's Ryyy-back, Ryyy-back."

(7) WWE champion John Cena beat Ryback in a tables match to retain the WWE Title. Ryback looked blown up within the first five minutes of the match, but still had an entertaining-enough bout. I should note that the kids in Cena gear had to be told numerous times by security to go back to their seats as they were constantly in the aisles to the point where I saw a kid in a Cena shirt crying and being carried away by his dad (I'm not kidding). Cena reversed the Shell-Shock to deliver an AA through the table to send the younger audience home happy. Again, nothing special but it's never really expected at these kind of shows.

Overall, I'd give the show a 6/10.

Biggest Pops:

- Dolph Ziggler
- Daniel Bryan
- John Cena
- William Regal

Most Heat:

- Antonio Cesaro
- Damien Sandow



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

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