RAW House Show Results, Tallahassee, Fla. (1/12/08)
Tallahassee-Leon Co. Civic Center
By Joseph T. Sena, rajah.com reader
I got to the event 5 minutes before the show started hoping my friend was there
before me. Their were a lot of people there, probably about 5,000. According to
what I saw here on rajah, the card was different from the show in Jacksonville the
night before, except for the Women's & World Champion matches. Lots of woo's
prior to the event. The show started at exactly at 7:30pm. Once the lights went
out, they announced some rules i.e. no recording devices allowed, etc. Tony
Chimmel came out to the RAW Theme and welcomed us to the show and introduced the
first bout as a Tag Team Royal Rumble Qualifying match.
Match 1-Tag Team Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
Santino Marella (w. Maria)/Carlito vs. D.H. Smith/Super Crazy
Santino introduced first. Maria did her usual entrance of blowing a kiss to the
crowd. Santino got major heat. Once Santino was in the ring, he thanked everyone
for coming out to see him. Huge boos. He bashed Florida State University (see
Internet stories on the Music City Bowl game) and introduced his tag team partner,
Carlito. Carlito came out with an apple to boos. He and Santino talked back and
forth on the mic and Carlito said that his team will win and go on to the Rumble
where he said he would "win it for Maria, I mean us." Is it me or do I see a face
turn in the near future for Carliot (sort of like the Mega Powers fall-out and
eventual breakup)? D.H. Smith comes out with Super Crazy. Huge ovation for them.
Santino gets the win for his team after a swinging neckbreaker move on Super
Crazy. Winners: Santino Marella/Carlito. They are now in the Royal Rumble.
Post match saw Santino leave first followed by Maria and then Carlito. Carlito
carried Maria
for a little bit before putting her down as Santino turned to look at them. Maria
waved to the crowd on her way out.
Match #2
Charlie Haas vs. Drew McIntyre
Drew came out wearing a kilt similar to the Highlanders. My friend showed up
during this match. Haas did the mask bit and told the crowd he's "Captain
Entertainment." Hurricane he's not. McIntyre pinned Haas after a flying high
cross body. Winner: Drew McIntyre
Match #3
Brian Kendrick vs. Snitsky
Kendrick came out to his old theme music "Spanky". Kendrick was way over with the
crowd. Match was a squash. Snitsky wins the pump handle slam. Winner: Snitsky
Tony Chimmel then introduced Ashley to the crowd. She got a huge response. A lot
of the little girls were screaming for her. She got on the mic and thanked
everyone and said she's happy to be back and was going to kick back and watch the
show with all of us.
Match #4
Atlas DeBone vs. Trevor Murdoch
Atlas got a good reaction when he came out. Trevor was introduced as one-half of
the Redneck Wrecking Crew. He tried wooing Ashley before the match but, she
wanted nothing to do with him. Atlas got the crowd behind him after he started
doing the tomahwk chop. Ashley was cheering for Atlas while in a neutral corner.
Atlas pinned Murdoch and got the win. Winner: Atlas DeBone. Post match saw
Ashley leave with Atlas and she hugged a group of little girls near the railing.
Trevor ran after them but, nothing happened. Had it been a RAW show, cameras
would have followed them backstage.
Match #5 Tag Team Championship Match
The Highlanders vs. Hardcore Holly(c.)/Cody Rhodes (c.)
Holly/Rhodes way over with the crowd. I do believe some in the crowd were aware
of Dusty's Florida background for Cody. Holly was over since Mobile isn't that
far from Tallahassee. Holly got the win for his team after the Alabama Slam to
retain the belts. Winners and still the World Tag Team Champions: Hardcore
Holly/Cody Rhodes. Post match saw Holly & Rhodes pose on all four corners showing
the crowd the belts.
After this match, was about a 10-20 minute intermission.
Match #6 Women's Championship Match
Beth Phoenix (c.) vs. Mickie James
Beth look's smaller in person than on TV. Crowd seemed dead for her entrance
somewhat. Mickie way over with the crowd. Both women got in all of their moves.
Beth pinned Mickie after her finisher. Winner and still women's champion: Beth
Phoenix. Post match saw Mickie sell the finisher for a couple of minutes before
leaving to cheers.
Match #7 World Championship Match
Randy Orton (c.) vs. Jeff Hardy (Intercontinental Champion)
Orton out first showing no reaction except for holding up the belt. Hardy out
next and blew the roof off. As Bobby Heenan would say, "I can't hear myself
think." As J.R. would say, "Jeff Hardy's getting that rock star like reception."
Hardy did his trademark entrance, minus pyro. Back and forth match. Orton won
after an RKO. Winner and still world champion: Randy Orton. Post match saw
Hardy sell the RKO for quite some time.
Prior to the main event, Tony Chimmel thanked us for coming out and said that the
WWE hopes to be back in the future. He also mentioned that Wrestlemania 24 is
coming to Orlando and that tickets are still available at all ticketmaster
outlets. (Note: They are also available on ebay, where I'm selling 3).
Match #8 Main Event
DX (Shawn Michaels/HHH or as Regal would say "Triple Haatch") vs. William
Regal/Umaga (or as Regal would say, "Umanga")
Lights go out. "Are You Ready?" Green spot lights come on followed by DX. They
blew the roof off and threw out glow in the dark DX sticks. They did the whole
different section cheering before finally HHH took the mic and said, "They told us
we were dead." Boos. "They told us we could never do this again." Louder boos.
"We told them that we've got two words for them." Nobody said nothing but, some
people around me said that it probably wasn't "Suck It!" but, "FU." HHH then
stated "Are You Ready?" Cheers. "No, No, No. Tallahassee. I said Are You
Ready?" Even louder cheers. "Then, for the thousands in attendance. For the
millions watching at home." At this point HBK whispered in HHH ear. "This is not
TV? Damn, you're loud! OK, for the millions NOT watching at home. Let's Get
Ready to Suck It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He stretched out the Suck It part. HBK then
took the mic and said, "And of course, Tallahassee. If you're not down with that
we've two words for
ya..." To which the crowd yelled, "Suck It." William Regal out next to huge boos.
From my vantage point, it looks like Regal is starting to go bald in the back.
Umaga out next. Some fan thew something at Umaga, which looked like money. Umaga
just turned around looked up at the crowd, saw a coin on the ground, picked it up
and headed to the ring. I yelled out, "Rosey!" Regal started out first for his
team. DX did rock, paper scissors to see who would start out for their team. It
was HBK. Funny point in the match, HBK attempted a sunset flip and grabbed Regal
by the tights exposing his ass, got a two count. Regal got up wanting to fight
while his ass was still showing. HHH came in a spanked him once. Regal pulled up
his tights and got out of the ring pissed. He took the mic and started speaking
but, kept getting his mic cut off and kept looking at Chimmel pissed and looking
back at the audio guy. HBK chased the ref wanting to wipe his hands off. HBK got
out
of the ring and started heading to the back at which point HHH got on the mic and
said, "Does anyone have any hand sanitizer? Regal, some advice for you. Baby
wipes." Some fan gave HBK hand sanitizer and he went back into the ring. Umaga
was trying not to laugh during the whole time. HHH looked reluctant at making a
tag into the match. Both DX members hit their moves. Umaga missed the bum slam.
I noticed that when Umaga does this move he really doesn't run. He walks fast
toward his opponent. Finish saw HBK hit sweet chin music on Regal, then on Umaga
followed by a pedigree by HHH on Umaga and covered for the 3 count. Winners: DX.
Post match saw both DX members walking around the ring shaking hands with the fans.
They left and came back to shake some more hands. Both posed at the top of the
ramp before leaving. That was it.
After I walked out of the building, my friend and I headed over to the railing
where the wrestlers had parked their cars. I saw Atlas & Drew leave together.
Maria & Carlito left together. Maria acknowledged the gathering. Carlito ignored
everyone but, I could see him laughing. It took them 5 minutes to figure out how
to put their luggage in a Neon. People were yelling down, "Just throw it in the
back. We know because we own one." On the way out of the lot, Maria gave a kiss
to a security guard and Carlito shook his hand. Orton left with Santino in a SUV.
Orton looked surprised at how many people were hanging around. Santino honked on
the way out. Beth left with Cody Rhodes. Cody waved to the crowd while Beth
smiled up at everyone. They drove away in a SUV as well. Mickie James waved up
at the crowd as she left while on her cell phone. She left by herself in a car.
By then, security was telling everyone to leave. We did get to see Hardcore Holly
get in a
SUV. He waved to everyone. Jeff Hardy was the last person I saw leave as security
was telling everyone to leave the parking lot. A fan yelled out to Jeff if he was
OK since he no longer was selling the RKO. All in all a good show.
