WWE Raw HOLT report
October 5, 2009
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Report by Jack Hale, PWTorch.com reader

I just attended the October 5 Raw in Wilkes-Barre. The Wachovia Arena was jammed packed. It holds roughly 9,000 and I would say that 98-99% of the seats were filled. The Roethlisberger appearance drew a ton of local media attention in the last week, and probably accounted for the big crowd... though WWE usually draws really well here.

DARK MATCH:

The dark match featured someone named Heath Slayer (might be wrong on the name) facing Jamie Noble. Slayer looked like a jobber, but he came out with a mic and gave a cocky promo on his way to the ring. They had a decent match that the crowd dug. Noble won when he rolled through a powerbomb attempt into sunset flip like rollup to win.

SUPERSTARS TAPING:

We got the Superstars opening/pyro and they showed that the Smackdown match on Superstars will have Cryme Tyme facing the Hart Dynasty on Tuesdays taping.

Ted DiBiase came out alone for the Raw/Superstars match. He got on the mic and showed a vid from after the PPV of Cody Rhodes being stretchered out of the Hell in the Cell. He talked about Cody's injuries and asked the crowd for a moment of silence, which he didn't get as he had massive heat. His opponent was Evan Bourne, who got a decent reaction. They had a long match with Bourne's offense getting cheers. Finish came when Bourne tried a jumping roundhouse one too many times, only for DiViase to sidestep it and take Bourne out with Dream Street.

RAW NOTES:

Big Ben was booed by some early but by the end of the night had won over most fans regardless of their team.

Randy Orton made two entrances. After Raw went to commercial, he checked the face Divas out as they left and he made his way to the back. A minute later he came out again, this time showing that he can walk to the ring at regular speed.

The Miz's title win marked the first time in the Wachovia Arena's ten year history that a title change happened here. (Bobby Lashley being stripped of the ECW Title at the 0'7 Draft doesn't count in my book). Now when announcers talk about titles changing in towns, we have a title change to talk about.

Josh Mathews came out midway to do the "Sign of the Night" or whatever its called.

AFTER RAW:

After Raw went off air, DX and the Steelers posed in the ring for a few minutes before going around ringside slapping hands. They ended up at the top of the ramp for a final pose before heading to the back. Big Show then emerged from the ring announcers area and made his way to the back jawing with some fans.

A good show that appealed to the majority of people who attended. Not a big number of smart fans, as most wrestlers got the reactions that they should be getting. My biggest gripe was that there wasn't any non Raw wrestler merch beyond some Mysterio stuff. There usually is something, guess my new Punk shirt will have to be ordered.

[Evan Bourne photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]

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