WWE Raw house show
Birmingham, England at LG Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Darren Gutteridge

The place was about 90 percent full, two sections with lots of empty chairs but they where the cheap seats.

1. Big Show won a Battle Royal for a shot at the WWE Championship later in the show. Everyone came out to the Raw theme tune (old one, for one last time). Lots of Santino comedy where he kept rolling out or jumping through ropes and then running back in on other side of ring.

Elimination Order: Orton, Kofi, Masters, Miz, MVP, Chavo, Legacy, Sheamus, Henry, Jericho, Santino

Yes, Santino was the last eliminated. He jumped over the ropes onto the apron to try and avoid Show, but got the knock out punch in the end. Fairly run of the mill battle royal, but a good way to see everyone who wasn't featured later on in the card. And Grade A work from Santino, he really is genuinely funny and the crowd LOVED him.

Kelly Kelly gave a family in the nosebleeds a chance to move to the front row if they answered a question right, which they did (Name a finishing move of DX).

2. The Hurricane defeated Paul Burchill. Both got the mid-card pop/heat they warrant, even if there where some cheers for countryman Burchill. Fairly standard match, pretty even if maybe more Burchill on the attack. Hurricane won with the Eye of the Hurricane.

3. The Miz defeated MVP to retain the United States Championship. Before the match the Miz cut what on paper would have been a basic heel promo but he delivered it so well. When he went for his catchphrase, the crowd chanted, "And I'm AWESOME!" before he did, and he said that's his part. He did it again, waited for the chant and then said it after it. There was a quick pace to the match up, and it was entertaining throughout without many rest holds. MVP missed the players boot in the corner and Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale (lame name and finisher) for the 1-2-3.

4. Melina and Gail Kim defeated Jillian and Alicia Fox. No heat whatsoever for the heels, until Jillian announced she was going to sing, which drew a lot of boos. A standard pop for the faces. Very sloppy match in the most part, with Melina and Alicia botching quite a few moves, which didn't win over the dead crowd. Melina got a hot tag and hit her leg split bulldog on Jillian for the win.

Intermission

5. Chris Jericho defeated Evan Bourne. Jericho cut another golden promo, making fun of the accent (it was a London one but it will do). He got probably the most heat all night before, during and after the promo. Bourne came out to a mediocre pop, but he and Jericho had a great house show match, and eventually Bourne won the fans over. Before the match really got going, they had a stand-off face to face.

Evan slapped Jericho, causing Jericho to roll out, start walking away through the crowd, only to come back and yell at he ref on the mic saying that Evan cheated by hitting him in the face. Lots of high spots and near falls for Bourne down the straight that got the fans believing he could win (all the kids charged forward when they thought it was all over only to run back again). Jericho reversed a huracanrana into the Walls of Jericho for the win, but Bourne held in for a good 30 seconds before tapping, and left to lots of cheers from the impressed crowd.

6. DX and Kofi Kingston defeated Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr.). Kofi got a big pop, but DX got a huge one. Half of the arena must have had the glow sticks, it was quite an impressive sight in the dark. HHH tried to do a British accent, before cutting the usual DX promo, with a few changes. He got a cheap pop for saying Sheffield, where the TV taping was, wasn't as cool as Birmingham. He said, "For the thousands in attendance, and the millions not watching at home," which got a lot of laughs.

Shawn invited Kofi in to do the stance before HHH delivers the 'Let get ready' line. HHH paused to tell him to loosen up, and started “loosening up” by doing a Rick Rude hip dance, and Kofi kinda just thrust back and forth to copy. What happened to PG? Legacy (or 'The Brotherhood Of Chinlocks') came out to a ton of heat. Near the start of the match, HBK pulled down Ted's trunks, showing his bare ass (something he did at my first house show here a few years ago to Ric Flair), and HHH did the same to Cody.

As Legacy got back together outside, HHH climbed the corner and celebrated like they had achieved something by doing this. Again, I thought this was PG now? Randy kept the chinlocks of doom to a minimum (three, I counted), and the match was solid. The finish came when Kofi and HBK where down outside, and Legacy where beating HHH in the corner. Hornswoggle slid in the other side to a MASSIVE pop (what is wrong with these people?) in the DX gear, started crotch chopping while Legacy walked up to him.

Shawn started tuning the band and hit a Sweet Shin Music on Randy while the faces regrouped behind Legacy. They each turned round into a finisher each and HHH pinned Cody for the victory. After the match, Horny imitated each of the faces (including a HHH water spurt complete with lighting), before HHH went round picking kids to join them in the ring for a celebration. After the little kids had gone in, HHH specifically picked out a special needs kid to join them as well, doing the crotch chop again before everyone left. Very cool thing of HHH, and the rest, to do for the fans.

7. John Cena defeated Big Show to retain the WWE Championship. A mixed reaction for Show with both boos and cheers, but the place erupted for Cena. But the match was very slow and poor, especially when Show held Cena in a nerve hold for five minutes. Cena hit all his signatures before the Attitude Adjuster and getting the 1-2-3. Cena didn't celebrate for long, and made a pretty hasty exit without the usual fan appreciation, unlike Batista last year who spent 10 minutes high fiving everyone around the ring.

Notes: Overall, it was by no means the best house show I have been to, but a good solid effort by most, except for the main event which felt very 'phoned in'. The match of the night goes to Jericho/Bourne, with Miz/MVP a close second.

Biggest Pops
1. Cena
2. DX
3. Kofi/Hornswoggle

Biggest Heat
1. Y2J
2. Legacy
3. Miz

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