10 YRS AGO – WWE in Binghamton, N.Y. (1-20-2008): Orton vs. Hardy for WWE Title, plus Michaels, Jericho, JBL, Cody, Carlito, Kendrick, Umaga, Mickie, Beth

The following report was published ten years ago this weekend on PWTorch.com…

WWE Raw house show
January 20, 2008
Binghamton, N.Y.
Report by Aaron Waymire, PWTorch.com reader

I attended the Raw house show in Binghamton, NY this afternoon. I’d say the place was three-fourths full, maybe a little more. One thing about Binghamton is that the crowds are always loud, and today was no different.

(1) Brian Kendrick beat Charlie Haas with Sliced Bread #2. Haas thankfully didn’t do the mask gimmick. Hopefully that’s been buried. Good opener.

(2) Snitski beat Super Crazy with a pump handle slam. This lasted about a minute. Total squash. I cheered because it meant we didn’t have to sit through a long Snitski match.

(3) Vladimir Kozlov beat Hacksaw Jim Duggan. I don’t even know what his finisher was called, but picture picking up someone for an FU and just dropping to your knees. Looked kind of weak. Hacksaw is still super over. I was disappointed that we didn’t hear the “Double Double E” line from Kozlov. That still cracks me up!

(4) D.H. Smith beat Trevor Murdoch with a small package. Murdoch was actually very entertaining with his antics. He was introduced as “one half of the Red Neck Wrecking Crew,” but I’ve never heard them referred to that on Raw before.

(5) World Tag Team Championship: Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly beat Santino Marella & Carlito when Holly hit the Alabama Slam on Carlito. Santino was great before the match. He said that last week he was sick and Maria wanted to go dancing. Since Carlito is such a great partner, he ended up taking her out. Santino then said that Carlito did such a great job that they got home at 7 in the morning and she could barely walk. Good match with Rhodes being worked over for most of the time.

(6) Chris Jericho beat JBL by countout. JBL said before the match that Jericho could either kiss his feet and admit that he’s the better wrestler or get beat. End came when both guys were on the ring apron at the count of 9 and Jericho punched JBL back to the ground and barely beat the count back in the ring.

After intermission, Ashley came out to throw some shirts into the crowd.

(7) Women’s Championship: Beth Phoenix beat Mickie James with a delayed cradle suplex. Entertaining match. I was glad to see Mickie wrestle and not Ashley.

(8) Shawn Michaels beat Umaga with Sweet Chin Music. I knew Michaels was advertised to come, but was still a bit surprised to see him work a house show. He genuinely seems like he’s having a great time, though. Umaga caught the first attempt at Chin Music, went for a clothesline that missed, then got nailed.

(9) WWE Championship: Randy Orton beat Jeff Hardy with the RKO. Orton said that “Jeff Hardy is a suicidal circus freak” before the match. Both started brawling in the aisle to begin. This didn’t last too long like I thought it would, but they were probably selling the injuries from last Monday as Orton was taped in the waist and Hardy was holding his hip throughout. End came when Hardy went for the Twist of Fate, but it was reversed into the RKO. Orton went to kick Hardy in the head after, but Hardy swept his feet as he went by. Hardy then nailed him with a chair to close the show.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS 10 YRS AGO FLASHBACK: 10 YRS AGO – ROH in New Jersey DVD Taping (1-12-08): Daniel Puder submission challenge, Kevin Steen (Owens), Generico (Sami), Daniel Bryan, Claudio (Cesaro), Austin Aries