Rajah.com reader Leonard Maglasang sent in the following report:
Hey Rajah.com,
I attended last night's house show at the Garden. Much to my surprise, I was sitting ringside behind only a row for some handicapped fans in attendance (pretty much where the announce table would be. I could practically feel all the pyro, I can only imagine what it would feel like ringside if they brought the whole set).
- Primo Colon defeated William Regal with a backslide
- Kelly Kelly is announced in the crowd talking to fans (in the section where my brother was!)
- Lance Cade defeated D-Lo Brown with his finishing move
- Beth Phoenix retained the Women's Title over Mickie James with the Glam Slam
- a young kid accompanies Jamie Noble to the ring who defeats Snitsky with a Guillotine Choke. the kid tries to get into the ring to celebrate with him, Jamie keeps him on the apron because Snitsky attacks Noble.
- DiBiase & Rhodes retain the Tag Titles over Cryme Tyme after Rhodes makes the save behind the ref's back who was dealing with JTG. What was funny was to keep with last week's Raw, Cryme Tyme came out with the Tag Titles around their waist. After the win, as Team Priceless is celebrating with the belts, Cryme Tyme jump them and steal the titles back. Team Priceless throw fits in the ring, hug and leave.
- Santino Marella retained the IC Title over Kofi Kingston after Beth Phoenix pulled Kofi off the second rope.
- John Cena and Batista defeated Kane and Y2J with the F-U to Kane. Before the match Jericho angrily and repeatedly calls for a stage hand to sweep the ring because of ash or something left behind from Batista and Cena's pyro. Cena raised the hand of the "sweeper" to a nice pop. Cena signs autographs and takes pictures with the handicapped kids in the front row.
- after about 15 minutes to set up the steel cage, CM Punk retains the World Title over JBL. Punk fell out through the door as they were fighting on the apron (during the match, JBL slammed the door into Punk's head which caused the door to wedge, as the match continued the ref on the outside after a couple minutes finally gets the door to open with a hammer to a nice ovation). After the match, JBL grabs a chair and tries to attack Punk, Punk lifts him up and hits him with the GTS. Punk celebrates on top of the cage and before he leaves the ring, he lies down in the middle making snow angels. He makes a round of the ring before leaving.
Observations:
This was my first time at a house show, so I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary. All matches were basically by the numbers but none were boring in my opinion. While technically sold out, I did see a lot of empty chairs in several sections throughout the Garden (there were still a lot of above-face-value to outlandishly-priced tickets from nosebleed down still available on ebay and stubhub before I left my house). The crowd was MUCH tamer compared to the Royal Rumble crowd. I could hear a few "New York fans" there but for the most part, all the faces were cheered and all the heels got their boos. I will be uploading pictures and some videos on my youtube page shortly (www.youtube.com/LLtv1)
You can credit? G. Alicea for these results
Amazing house show!!! Lots of people going crazy .. Typical NY crowd...
Tony Chimel was our ring announcer ... Kelly Kelly was special hostess for the
evening ...
Pyro goes off as Tony welcomes us all to Raw. Right after the pyro, Regal's music
hits to a chorus of boos...
1) Primo Colon pinned William Regal
?-- Both wrestlers used lots of headlocks and takedowns. Colon won via backslide.
Lots of "Let's Go, Whitepants" chants because no one knew the guy's name. However,
he was wearing white tights with the Puerto Rican flag on the backside.
2) Lance Cade pinned D'Lo Brown
-- Crowd went nuts for D'Lo. Booed the heck out of Cade. Great match. It's seemed as
thought Brown would win. He hit his Sudden Impact clothesline, and even his Sky High
powerbomb, but Cade kicked out. Brown missed the Lo Down, and Cade capatalized with
his Sit-out Uranagi Bomb for the 3-count.
3) Beth Phoenix pinned Mickie James to retain the WWE Women's Championship
-- Typical James/Phoenix match. Phoenix nailed her "Jazz Stretch" sit-out bomb for
the duke.
4) Jamie Noble defeated Snitsky via submission
-- Kelly Kelly picked out a little boy from the audience to be Noble's guest
manager. Snitsky dominated the entire match, and out of nowhere, Noble executed his
front chancery sit-out choke. After a good minute, Snitsky tapped to the shock of
the crowd. After the match, as Noble celebrated in the ring with the boy, Snitsky
nailed him with a big boot.
5) Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase defeated Cryme Tyme to retain the World Tag Team
Championship when DiBiase pinned Shad Gaspard
?-- DiBiase and Rhodes cut a promo, ripping the NY crowd and irate over Cryme Tyme
stealing their titles. Cryme Tyme came to the ring wearing the championships. The
finish was Shad having DiBiase pinned, but Rhodes snuck in and leveled Shad with a
DDT while the referee was conversing with JTG. Rhodes and DiBiase celebrated as the
referee gave them the titles. Cryme Tyme got to their feet, beat up on the
champions, and ran out of MSG with the gold again. Team Priceless was pissed off yet
again ..
Intermission
6) Santino Marella pinned Kofi Kingston to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
?-- Marella cut a great promo about how great it is that he is a two-time, times
two, champion. He then sang a rendition of "New York, New York". Great stuff. He
then told us to watch out for his new finishing maneuver, The Mazarati Clutch. He
showed us the sign for it ... A "M" sign with this flexed arms, meaning Mazarati ..
And the clutch .. meaning clutch. His words, not mine. Great stuff. Good match, with
Santino being the great entertainer that he is. His facial expressions are
priceless. Ending had Beth Phoenix, who was sitting at ringside, distract Kingston
while he was on the ropes. This led to Santino rolling up Kingston near the corner,
grabbing the tights, and getting the 3-count.
7) John Cena and Batista defeated Chris Jericho and Kane when Cena pinned Kane.
? -- Jericho came out first and cut a promo telling us all that we are to blame for
HBK's demise. Kane then came out, followed by Cena to a loud reaction. However,
Batista got the loudest reaction out of them all. Seems to be a typical Monday Night
Raw tag match between the four guys, with Batista getting worked on alot. Finish had
Batista spearing both Kane and Jericho, Cena throwing Jericho out of the ring, and
FU-ing Kane for the pin.
8) C.M. Punk defeated J.B.L. in a Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight
Championship
?-- JBL got booed out of the building, especially after cutting a promo telling us
that we're losers and that he is NY's favorite son. He told us that history will be
made, that we were going to see the greatest match of all time. New York needs a
savior. We have a governor that sleeps with prostitutes and the New York Knicks
suck. He was here to be our savior. He was here to become World Champion. Awesome
promo. Punk came out to a rousing ovation. Good old-school feel match. Punk even
went to the top of the cage and went for a leg drop, but he missed. Funny part of
the match was when the cage door got stuck. JBL used the door to slam Punk's head
with, and after that, the door was stuck closed. Three referees came out to try to
pry open the door. This led to a "Fix the Door" chant, led by me of course. Once the
door was fixed, the referee got a great ovation. Finish had both wrestlers on the
apron, right near the door, trading blows. Punch by JBL. Punch by Punk. Punch by
JBL!
. Punch by Punk. Then, when JBL landed another right hand, this knocked Punk right
out the cage door to wint he match. JBL was shocked. After the bell, he went
outside for a chair, swung, and missed. Punk hit the GTS outside the ring as JBL's
head ricocheted back into the cage. Punk then celebrated his win, climbing the cage
and holding up the title.
GREAT SHOW!! CAN'T WAIT TO GO AGAIN IN DECEMBER!!!!
