Post by J12 on Jun 26, 2010 22:59:06 GMT -5
Hey guys,
Just got back from the Smackdown house show in Portland, Maine. Had a fun time, though it wasn't a great show. Walked up to the box office an hour and a half before showtime and got front row seats. Not bad for going in with no tickets.
As mentioned in my original post, Kelly Kelly appeared to have been injured. You can read a bit more about it below during the results.
I'll get some pictures up here as soon as they finish uploading.
Small crowd, the venue was maybe a bit over a quarter full. One of the smaller attendances I've seen at the Civic Center, and I've been going there for shows for eleven years now.
Show kicks off with the usual Chimel introduction/National Anthem and opens up with our opening contest...
Christian defeated Dolph Ziggler
Great match. Typical opener to start things off, slow paced in the beginning. Picked up after a few minutes and held on to match of the night throughout the entire show. Christian was mega over and Ziggler got a ton of heat, he had some great interaction with the crowd. Ziggler locked in the sleeper late in the match, Christian escaped. Ziggler then went for the Zig Zag out of the corner, Christian blocked it and hit the Diving Reverse DDT which led to the Killswitch seconds later for the win.
JTG defeated Tyler Reks
30 second match at most. The bell rang, I turned to my friend to tell him about something, and when I looked back, JTG had Reks pinned and the ref counted three. I missed the entire match by turning my attention for under a minute.
Tiffany (looking absolutely gorgeous, by the way) comes to the ring to ask a trivia question to the crowd. Person who gets it right gets to be the special bell keeper for the match (and more importantly, sit next to Tiffany for ten minutes).
Alberto Del Rio defeated Finlay
I don't know if he was announced under this name, I didn't hear it, but anyway. Came out to traditional Mexican music and they played up the gimmick heavily. Cut a pre-match promo in a mix of Spanish and English and talked down the United States and whatnot. Finlay enters, says he loves the USA, and we're underway. VERY slow paced match. Crowd was behind Finlay, not very interested in Del Rio. One cool little tidbit, Del Rio kept giving Finlay a snapmare and applying a chinlock. Finlay was facing directly at Tiffany and every few seconds, he'd make a ridiculous face at her. Tiffany was almost in tears at ringside. She was trying so hard to keep a straight face, but she couldn't do it. Cool to see interaction like that. Tiffany seems like a sweetheart. Guys were constantly coming down and sticking cameras over the guardrail while she sat at ringside and she would oblige and smile, etc. Afterward, she walked around and signed things for people if they wanter her to.
Back to the match itself, Del Rio beat Finlay with a roll up and his feet on the ropes. After the match, Del Rio attempted to escape quickly, but Finlay rushed him from behind and chased him away.
The Hart Dynasty (w/ Natalya) defeated Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins to retain the Unified Tag Team Championship
I was rather surprised to see The Hart Dynasty on the card, given that they're a part of Raw technically. Solid match here. Pre-match saw Hawkins begging Natalya for a kiss. Natalya asked the crowd if she should oblige and was met with a chorus of boos. Natalya says "one little kiss couldn't hurt", and leans in, but instead slaps him in the face. Tyson Kidd plays face in peril for most of this one, with Natalya pumping up the crowd at ringside. I can't say enough about what she does for that team, really. Crowd was really into this one and Natalya helped start quite a few "Tyson" chants. Typical tag team finish, ring gets cleared, David Hart Smith slaps the Shaprshooter on Hawkins, who taps out immediately.
Post-match, the Straight Edge Society (minus Punk, + Mercury) run down and attack the Hart Dynasty. After the beat down, Gallows gets on the mic and calls out Kane. Kane's music hits, he comes down, chokeslams Gallows and Mercury, and we head to intermission.
On a side note, my friend screamed "FESTUS" to Gallows' face a couple times. It finally caught his attention and he let out a brief chuckle during his promo.
We come back from intermission with a Women's Title Match. No Michelle McCool tonight, unfortunately, just Layla, who is as excellent as always in getting heat from the crowd. Kelly Kelly comes out to a huge pop and gives out as many high fives, hugs, and kisses on the cheek as she can. It's impossible to dislike this girl.
Layla and Kelly Kelly wrestle to a draw after Kelly Kelly is injured
Match starts, and it's surprisingly entertaining. Kelly was selling incredibly well at the start of things, and got some very athletic moves in on Layla. I don't know if anyone else sees it, but Kelly Kelly is starting to progress along a lot like Trish if you ask me. She started out as useless eye candy and has developed into a half decent in-ring competitor. She can only go up from here.
The match went about four minutes, at which point Layla dropkicked Kelly in the back of the head. Kelly's neck snapped back and she collapsed to the mat pretty hard, screaming in pain. Layla immediately backed off and the ref ran over to check on her. He applied a bit of pressure to her neck, Kelly let out a loud yelp, and he immediately threw up the X and told Chimel to call for the bell.
I couldn't make out exactly what was said, but Tony asked the ref is she was alright, and the referee said "don't know, she can't continue".
Two trainers and another referee came out and worked on her while Hornswoggle came out unexpectedly and did something to Layla, I was watching Kelly, though. They finally got her to her feet and slowly helped her to the back.
Hornswoggle paraded on the ring momentarily to distract the crowd from Kelly. Chimel comes back in and announced a triple threat for the Intercontinental Title.
Kofi Kingston defeated Cody Rhodes & Matt Hardy to retain the Intercontinental Championship
Cody cuts a promo pre-match about Chimel, similar to Smackdown this week. Calls the audience fat, ugly, etc, and repeats "dashing" about ten times. I like this new gimmick.
The opening spot saw Matt Hardy and Kofi Kingston attack Cody Rhodes. They tried to give him a double suplex, but both got caught up in the ropes and Cody's weight swayed above them. They ended up falling backwards and Cody landed right on his head, bending his body at an incredibly weird angle. Matt dropped to the mat and started talking to Cody right away, as did Kofi. Cody rolled out of the ring and the trainers worked on him at ringside for a solid three or four minutes.
Matt and Kofi stood stagnant for a few moments but finally began to work the match without him. Solid match for what it was. He finally got back in the ring and worked the last five minutes of the match or so. After taking the Trouble in Paradise during the finish, he tried to get up, but was favoring his neck pretty heavily. The trainers came in the ring and helped him up, and he looked pretty glossed over. I don't suspect it's anything too serious because he finished the match, but I wouldn't be surprised if he left with a concussion, it looked horrible when it happened.
Chimel thanks us for coming and introduces the main event...
Rey Mysterio defeated Jack Swagger to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
Pretty standard match. Swagger played a great heel, had the crowd going throughout. Cuts a promo mid-match about how Rey cheated to win the title at Fatal-4-Way. Swagger beats down Rey for most of the match, sets him up for the gutwrench. He picks Rey up, Mysterio spins his way out of it and trips Swagger into the ropes. Hits the 619 and splash for the pinfall, kids go crazy. Rey doesn't stick around at ringside for more than a few seconds. Swagger gets up and proclaims (to those willing to listen at ringside - meaning me) that "this was just a warm up - Money in the Bank is when it really counts", which, of course, we all knew anyway.
Overall, an alright show. Nothing great, but I wasn't expecting a masterpiece. No CM Punk which was incredibly disappointing, he was my main reason for attending, and he was advertised.
I'll get pictures up as soon as I can - the site I'm using to upload is taking an eternity.
Just got back from the Smackdown house show in Portland, Maine. Had a fun time, though it wasn't a great show. Walked up to the box office an hour and a half before showtime and got front row seats. Not bad for going in with no tickets.
As mentioned in my original post, Kelly Kelly appeared to have been injured. You can read a bit more about it below during the results.
I'll get some pictures up here as soon as they finish uploading.
Small crowd, the venue was maybe a bit over a quarter full. One of the smaller attendances I've seen at the Civic Center, and I've been going there for shows for eleven years now.
Show kicks off with the usual Chimel introduction/National Anthem and opens up with our opening contest...
Christian defeated Dolph Ziggler
Great match. Typical opener to start things off, slow paced in the beginning. Picked up after a few minutes and held on to match of the night throughout the entire show. Christian was mega over and Ziggler got a ton of heat, he had some great interaction with the crowd. Ziggler locked in the sleeper late in the match, Christian escaped. Ziggler then went for the Zig Zag out of the corner, Christian blocked it and hit the Diving Reverse DDT which led to the Killswitch seconds later for the win.
JTG defeated Tyler Reks
30 second match at most. The bell rang, I turned to my friend to tell him about something, and when I looked back, JTG had Reks pinned and the ref counted three. I missed the entire match by turning my attention for under a minute.
Tiffany (looking absolutely gorgeous, by the way) comes to the ring to ask a trivia question to the crowd. Person who gets it right gets to be the special bell keeper for the match (and more importantly, sit next to Tiffany for ten minutes).
Alberto Del Rio defeated Finlay
I don't know if he was announced under this name, I didn't hear it, but anyway. Came out to traditional Mexican music and they played up the gimmick heavily. Cut a pre-match promo in a mix of Spanish and English and talked down the United States and whatnot. Finlay enters, says he loves the USA, and we're underway. VERY slow paced match. Crowd was behind Finlay, not very interested in Del Rio. One cool little tidbit, Del Rio kept giving Finlay a snapmare and applying a chinlock. Finlay was facing directly at Tiffany and every few seconds, he'd make a ridiculous face at her. Tiffany was almost in tears at ringside. She was trying so hard to keep a straight face, but she couldn't do it. Cool to see interaction like that. Tiffany seems like a sweetheart. Guys were constantly coming down and sticking cameras over the guardrail while she sat at ringside and she would oblige and smile, etc. Afterward, she walked around and signed things for people if they wanter her to.
Back to the match itself, Del Rio beat Finlay with a roll up and his feet on the ropes. After the match, Del Rio attempted to escape quickly, but Finlay rushed him from behind and chased him away.
The Hart Dynasty (w/ Natalya) defeated Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins to retain the Unified Tag Team Championship
I was rather surprised to see The Hart Dynasty on the card, given that they're a part of Raw technically. Solid match here. Pre-match saw Hawkins begging Natalya for a kiss. Natalya asked the crowd if she should oblige and was met with a chorus of boos. Natalya says "one little kiss couldn't hurt", and leans in, but instead slaps him in the face. Tyson Kidd plays face in peril for most of this one, with Natalya pumping up the crowd at ringside. I can't say enough about what she does for that team, really. Crowd was really into this one and Natalya helped start quite a few "Tyson" chants. Typical tag team finish, ring gets cleared, David Hart Smith slaps the Shaprshooter on Hawkins, who taps out immediately.
Post-match, the Straight Edge Society (minus Punk, + Mercury) run down and attack the Hart Dynasty. After the beat down, Gallows gets on the mic and calls out Kane. Kane's music hits, he comes down, chokeslams Gallows and Mercury, and we head to intermission.
On a side note, my friend screamed "FESTUS" to Gallows' face a couple times. It finally caught his attention and he let out a brief chuckle during his promo.
We come back from intermission with a Women's Title Match. No Michelle McCool tonight, unfortunately, just Layla, who is as excellent as always in getting heat from the crowd. Kelly Kelly comes out to a huge pop and gives out as many high fives, hugs, and kisses on the cheek as she can. It's impossible to dislike this girl.
Layla and Kelly Kelly wrestle to a draw after Kelly Kelly is injured
Match starts, and it's surprisingly entertaining. Kelly was selling incredibly well at the start of things, and got some very athletic moves in on Layla. I don't know if anyone else sees it, but Kelly Kelly is starting to progress along a lot like Trish if you ask me. She started out as useless eye candy and has developed into a half decent in-ring competitor. She can only go up from here.
The match went about four minutes, at which point Layla dropkicked Kelly in the back of the head. Kelly's neck snapped back and she collapsed to the mat pretty hard, screaming in pain. Layla immediately backed off and the ref ran over to check on her. He applied a bit of pressure to her neck, Kelly let out a loud yelp, and he immediately threw up the X and told Chimel to call for the bell.
I couldn't make out exactly what was said, but Tony asked the ref is she was alright, and the referee said "don't know, she can't continue".
Two trainers and another referee came out and worked on her while Hornswoggle came out unexpectedly and did something to Layla, I was watching Kelly, though. They finally got her to her feet and slowly helped her to the back.
Hornswoggle paraded on the ring momentarily to distract the crowd from Kelly. Chimel comes back in and announced a triple threat for the Intercontinental Title.
Kofi Kingston defeated Cody Rhodes & Matt Hardy to retain the Intercontinental Championship
Cody cuts a promo pre-match about Chimel, similar to Smackdown this week. Calls the audience fat, ugly, etc, and repeats "dashing" about ten times. I like this new gimmick.
The opening spot saw Matt Hardy and Kofi Kingston attack Cody Rhodes. They tried to give him a double suplex, but both got caught up in the ropes and Cody's weight swayed above them. They ended up falling backwards and Cody landed right on his head, bending his body at an incredibly weird angle. Matt dropped to the mat and started talking to Cody right away, as did Kofi. Cody rolled out of the ring and the trainers worked on him at ringside for a solid three or four minutes.
Matt and Kofi stood stagnant for a few moments but finally began to work the match without him. Solid match for what it was. He finally got back in the ring and worked the last five minutes of the match or so. After taking the Trouble in Paradise during the finish, he tried to get up, but was favoring his neck pretty heavily. The trainers came in the ring and helped him up, and he looked pretty glossed over. I don't suspect it's anything too serious because he finished the match, but I wouldn't be surprised if he left with a concussion, it looked horrible when it happened.
Chimel thanks us for coming and introduces the main event...
Rey Mysterio defeated Jack Swagger to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
Pretty standard match. Swagger played a great heel, had the crowd going throughout. Cuts a promo mid-match about how Rey cheated to win the title at Fatal-4-Way. Swagger beats down Rey for most of the match, sets him up for the gutwrench. He picks Rey up, Mysterio spins his way out of it and trips Swagger into the ropes. Hits the 619 and splash for the pinfall, kids go crazy. Rey doesn't stick around at ringside for more than a few seconds. Swagger gets up and proclaims (to those willing to listen at ringside - meaning me) that "this was just a warm up - Money in the Bank is when it really counts", which, of course, we all knew anyway.
Overall, an alright show. Nothing great, but I wasn't expecting a masterpiece. No CM Punk which was incredibly disappointing, he was my main reason for attending, and he was advertised.
I'll get pictures up as soon as I can - the site I'm using to upload is taking an eternity.
I hope this isn't to serious. 
