1/24 WWE Smackdown/ECW in Cleveland: Triple H replaces Undertaker in the main event, Royal Rumble preview with Christian defending the ECW Title against Ezekiel Jackson, C.M. Punk saves another fan

WWE Smackdown/ECW house show
Cleveland, Oh. at Quicken Loans Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Jerry Sharp

The Quicken Loans Arena was about 2/3 full, not bad I guess for a house show.

The show started off with Teddy Long coming out to announce that he had good news and bad news. The bad news is that Undertaker couldn't be here today. The good news is.... Then Jericho came out to interrupt since he was supposed to wrestle Taker for the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. Chris demanded that he be given the championship since Taker didn't show up, and Teddy told him that if you beat the special person he brought in to take Undertaker's spot, then Jericho will be the number one contender this Friday on Smackdown. That special person is The Game Triple H!!!

1. Drew McIntyre defeated R Truth, Matt Hardy, and John Morrison in a Fatal Four Way for the Intercontinental Championship. Morrison and Truth by far got the biggest reception in this match. McIntrye hit his finisher on Hardy for the win.

2. Mickie James and Maria defeated Layla and Beth Phoenix. Maria was the one that drew the biggest pop this time, why besides her looks, I have no idea. Mickie won with the Chick Kick. Pretty boring match.

3. Tyler Reks defeated Golddust. This match was the bathroom break match for a lot of people there. During Reks's entrance there was a lot of people yelling "who are you"... Golddust did receive a modest pop though.

4. The Hart Dynasty defeated Jimmy Wang Yang and Slam Master J. The Hart Dynasty was really trying hard to get the crowd to hate them, and they succeeded. The Hart Dynasty won with the Hart Attack. They need to re-tool Jesse again, this persona is not working either.

5. Christan beat Ezekial Jackson to retain the ECW Championship. Christian was over huge with this crowd, and won with the Killswitch/Unprettier.

C.M. Punk and Luke Gallows came out to "save" another person. They drew the biggest heat of the night by far up to this point. They picked a guy out of the crowd and shaved most of his hair off. C.M. Punk as "The Savior" is an awesome persona.

6. Finlay defeated Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler got little to no reaction at all. My son and I were yelling "welcome home Dolph" which most people there had no clue at all he is from Cleveland. Finlay won via roll up. Finlay got no reception at all, except for the kids that thought Hornswoggle was coming out since they STILL have the same music!

7. Kane and Rey Mystrio beat CM Punk and Luke Gallows. A weird spot happened in this match. Rey stood on Kane's shoulders and fell backward onto the mat. Rey seemed to be limping a bit after that. Kane and Rey won with a double pin after a double 619 then a splash and chokeslam.

8. Triple H defeated Chris Jericho. Jericho had the whole crowd chanting "you suck" at him, and he was doing the Hulk Hogan ear thing like he couldn't hear them, so HHH grabbed the mic and told him "In case you don't hear them, they are yelling you suck!" The place went absolutely nuts for HHH through the whole match. HHH won with the pedigree in the end. Triple H's entrance even at a house show is one of the coolest to see.

This house show was very entertaining, and they did a great job of making people forget Taker wasn't there by having HHH show up.