WWE Raw house show results
April 20, 2013
Paris, France
Report by Simon Diguet, PWTorch reader

The arena was pretty packed. Lots of kids with John Cena shirts (and grown men, as well). A few GTS yellow shirts and Ryback shirts as well. The crowd was hot all night long - WWE does not come here often, so people are always eager to see the wrestlers and interact with them. I noticed several people trying to launch some Fandago'ing during the show, but it never really caught on with the whole crowd.

(1) R-Truth beat Heath Slater. Fine opener. Truth warmed up the crowd with his "What's up?" chants, and it seems that everybody loves to hate Heath Slater. The entire building was booing him. The match itself was solid, and the crowd was firmly behind Truth. He won after hitting his Mic Check-like finisher.

(2) Divas champion Kaitlyn & Cameron & Naomi beat Tamina Snuka & The Bella Twins in a six-Divas tag match. Not a very good match, and the crowd was not really invested in it. At one point, one of the Funkadactyls badly botched an huracanrana on Tamina. A light "Kaitlyn" chant broke out when the heels were dominating. Naomi hot-tagged her and she managed to pin one of the Bellas after hitting the spear.

(3) William Regal beat Michael McGillicutty. The crowd did not know how to react when Regal's music hit because he barely has been featured on TV. Same for McGillicutty. He quickly positioned himself as the heel by trash-talking the crowd. The match itself was fine for what it was: lots of stalling by McGillicutty and a few comic spots. Regal won after nailing his finisher. I was glad to had the opportunity to see him wrestle, but a bit disappointed that it was not in a more competitive match.

Next was the Tag Title match. Both Daniel Bryan and Kane got a very good pop, as their team is really over here. Ziggy and Big E. Langston got tons of heat. There was a Twitter poll to decide if A.J. would stay at ringside or not, and she stayed.

(4) WWE tag champions Daniel Bryan & Kane beat World Hvt. champion Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston (w/A.J. Lee) to retain the Tag Titles. Bryan pinned Ziggler to retain. The match was really good and entertaining. Lots of shenanigans at the end, but it served the match nicely. In the end, A.J. distracted the ref, and Big E. was holding Kane so that Ziggler could hit him with a superkick, but Kane ducked and Big E. ate the kick. After that, Kane chokeslammed Ziggler and tagged Bryan. Flying Goat and it was good for the win.

After the match, Kane and Bryan argued over the tag belts before hugging to the delight of the crowd. Lots of "Yes" chants during the entire sequence.

(5) Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay & Tensai) beat Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow) when Tensai pinned Sandow. I missed the entrance for both teams because I was still buying my over-priced beer, but I managed to see the whole match, which was quite good. Sandow and Cody interacted a lot with the crowd and received good heat, while kids cheered Brodus and Tensai. Tensai pinned Sandow after he and Brodus double-splashed him.

(6) Antonio Cesaro beat Zack Ryder. Very small reaction for Ryder's entrance. It is amazing to see how far he has fallen in one year. The match was good, and Cesaro is a very impressive performer to see live. However (and for the first time of the night), the crowd was not firmly behind Ryder and I heard a lots of "Cesaro" chant. He hit the Neutralizer after countering the Rough Ryder and it was good for the win.

Main Event time with Cena vs. Ryback. Ryback was out first. Good pop and tons of "Feed Me More" chants. Since the broadcast of Raw is delayed in France, he has not officially turned heel here, so it was almost a face vs. face match. Cena was out next. Outstanding pop, by far the biggest of night, and the crowd was on their feet. I'm not a Cena guy, but I have to admit that the guy gathers people behind him.

(7) WWE champion John Cena beat Ryback in a tables match to retain the WWE Title. The match was fine for what it was, but not amazing. It was interesting to see that as the match progressed, people booed Ryback more and more. Cena countered Shell-Shock into the Attitude Adjustment to throw Ryback through a table in the center of the ring for the win.

After that, Cena took the mic. He spoke a few French words. His French was terrible, but at least he tried. For what I understood, he thanked us and told us that we were all champions.

Closing Comments: The show was good, with an hot crowd and some intense match, especially both title matchs. We were really disapointed that C.M. Punk was not on the tour, but the guy deserves some rest. I was there last year and I must admit that last year's show was better. The main event was C.M. Punk vs. Chris Jericho in a Street Fight, and it was far better than this year.

Of note, to show how things change in one year, Ziggler and Ryder faced here last year and it was the Long Island Iced-Z who came on top. Also, John Cena beat The Miz, R-Truth was teaming with Kofi Kingston against Primo & Epico, and a debuting "Lord" Tensai squashed Tyson Kidd.

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

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