5/22/04: PHILADELPHIA, PA (WACHOVIA CENTER)
RAW BRAND HOUSE SHOW RESULTS
Mark Myers - Philly, PA
Just got back from the Philadephia WWE Raw Brand House Show at the Wachovia Center. Crowd was pretty light after coming off of the Royal Rumble being there last. I'd guess maybe 4000-5000 people. Only floor and lower levels used and not at all near capacity.
First up the show begins with the Coach coming out and telling us he is our ring announcer/host for the evening. We all stand for the National Anthem and....
La Resistance music hits! Instant crowd heat. USA chants start.
Match #1- La Resistance vs. Rosey and the Hurricane. Good opening match, back and forth. Hurricane and Rosey win via pinfall after a double team drop/stunner combo.
Next we get Trish and Tyson Tomko sans Christian. We were supposed to have Y2J vs. Christian in a steel cage. However, Trish tells us he couldn't compete and she had a "doctor's" note. Y2J comes out and bad mouths Trish and calls her the Bottom feeding trashbag Ho thing. Johnny Nitro comes out and informs us that Eric Bischoff has left him in charge and their will be a cage match with Y2J vs. Tyson Tomko! Trish and Tomko are pissed and the match is set for later in the night.
Match #2- Rhyno vs. Garrison Cade. Rhyno was way over here in Philly. ECW chants galore! Coach tries to interfere and receives a gore for his trouble. Eugene wonders out during the match with his jackethood covering his face. He played "peek-a-boo" with the crowd and caused a distraction for Cade who received a gore of his own. Rhyno covers for the win! William Regal comes out and takes young master Eugene to the back.
Match #3- Batista vs. Shelton Benjamin. Batista comes out and says Shelton has beaten all of Evolution members except him. Tonight Shelton adds another win by beating Batista and a great match by pinfall.
Match #4- Test vs. Matt Hardy. Test comes out first and puts his hand out to the crowd to shake some hands. Someone actually fell for it and Test said yeah right and pulled away. Pretty funny. Hardy comes out to a hot pop without Lita. Match ends with the Test Pump handle slam. If that wasn't enough Kane comes out and beats down V1 and says he was looking for Lita all day and it's a good thing she's not there. Also says he's glad she said "YES" on RAW. This leads into....
Match #5- WWE World Champion Chris Benoit vs. Kane. If this match is any indication to what is to come at Bad Blood, fans are going to be pleasantly surprised. Lots of domination by Kane with Benoit coming back with not one but two flying headbutts to which Kane sat up after each of them! Several attempts of the Crippler crossface until finally Kane couldn't get away and had to tap! Winner and still champ Chris Benoit via submission.
Coach tells us about a brief inrtermission while the cage is set up.
Match #6- Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko (w/Trish) in a steel cage. Well they brought out the 80's blue cage and that was a surprise! Not the chain link fence they normally use. Crowd was actually not into this and i feel Christian would have generated more heel heat and no one cared about Tomko. Trish generated some heat by slapping Y2J as he tried to escape the cage door. She came in the ring with a chair at one point and got spanked for her troubles. Cage was very wobbly and I was afraid with all of Tomko's weight it might buckle. Jericho wins after knocking Tomko off the cage back into the ring. Trish attempted to stop him but it was too late. Winner Chris Jericho via escape of the cage.
During the break of taking the cage down, Coach and the T-Shirt gun guy prepared to launch some shirts into the "close" crowd at ringside. Usually they shoot up in the upper decks but no one was there. This brought out Eugene again and he shot some shirts to the crowd. Coach wasn't thrilled with Eugene being there and told Regal that he better take him out of there or he will tell Eric Bischoff about it Monday Night. Coach then gets the shot in the nuts from the gun by Eugene. Coach sells it in the corner and Johnny Nitro comes out to yell and he then got his own ballbuster from Eugene. The crowd loved it and Regal seemed to be laughing hysterically. This definitely killed the time it took to disassemble the cage.
Match #7- IC champ Randy Orton vs. Edge. Pretty technical match. Crowd wasn't into it. Lots of rest holds. Actually heard a few boring chants. Randy wins by pinfall after Batista runs in and Edge ends up in a RKO. The aftermatch beatdown continued until Chris Benoit ran in for the save.
Match #8- Women's champ Victoria vs. Molly Holly. Good match for these two. Victoria pulls off Molly's wig and it distracts her enough to be set up in the widow peak and then the pinfall. Crowd wasn't into this one either but Victoria looks smokin in person!
Match #9 and MAIN EVENT- Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels. Huge pop for HHH and HBK. A rematch from the Royal Rumble. Shawn blades and blood goes flying everytime HHH punches him. Spit goes flying when HBK hits HHH. Real sanitary match for the crowd!
Match ends with a bump to Referee Mike Chioda, then Randy Orton running in and trying to distract HBK. Batista ran in to but HBK somehow hits the sweet chin music and HHH is down for the count. Yes HHH jobbed to HBK by pinfall. Kinda suprised me but it was only a house show. After HBK left HHH got on the mic and the real show started. This guy is great when he is unrestricted like he is on TV. He ripped on the crowd with Batista and Orton, which the crowd liked. Philly is definitely Evolution country and next time Flair better be there! Another funny spot happened before the mic work too. Batista and Orton helped HHH to his feet after getting Sweet chin music and they thought he was balanced and steady. HHH then crashes to the mat. Batista and Orton tried to hide their smiles but it was pretty funny.
Good card over all, Smackdown taping scheduled for Tuesday July 20th next time for Philly. Here are the POP and HEAT lists:
POPS:
1. Benoit
2. Eugene
3. HHH
4. HBK
5. Edge
HEAT
1. Coach (especially when he announced the Philly Flyers lost Game 7 and are out of contention for the Stanley Cup....great heel move!)
2. Kane
3. La Resistance (interrupting the National Anthem)
4. Cade
5. Trish
