3/16 WWE Raw in Providence results: The Shield vs. Ryback, John Cena, and Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho, Antonio Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz for the U.S. Title

WWE Raw live event
Providence, R.I.
Report by Dot Net contributor Zack Zimmerman

Fantastic crowd. The Dunk was completely full, I'd say atleast 10,000 fans in attendance. As usual with house shows, mostly families and casual fans.

1. Brodus Clay and Sweet T beat Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre (w/ Jinder Mahal) in about 12 minutes. Color me surprised, Tensai was really over and had a fun time with the crowd, soaking up multiple "Tensai" chants. He hit a monkey flip at one point, very impressive. Late in the match, Naomi snuck in the ring and hit a hurricanrana on McIntyre. The babyfaces hit a double splash and got the win.

2. Zack Ryder beat Darren Young in about 10 minutes. Young looked good, usual stuff from Ryder. He hit the Rough Ryder for the win. Post-match, the Shield entered the ring and hit the triple powerbomb on Ryder. They cut a promo on bringing justice to Providence.

Vickie Guerrero came out to immense heat. She announced a Divas title match and introduced Tamina Snuka.

3. Kaitlin beat Tamina Snuka to retain the Divas Championship in about 8 minutes. Vickie Guerrero tried to interfere for Tamina, but it backfired and Kaitlin hit a spear for the win.

A short Ryback promo aired on the screen.

4. Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho in a fans choice No-DQ match. The fans chanted "AJ's crazy" so Ziggler wanted to leave. "We're outta here, marks!" He yelled, before Jericho rushed to the ramp to attack Ziggler, and the match was underway. AJ got ejected for hanging onto Jericho's leg. In the end, Langston interfered but Jericho hit Ziggler with the MITB case and got the Codebreaker for the win. Very good match, but they used the match stip to waste time and work a house show style. Action picked up down the stretch, but everyone is in Wrestlemania preservation mode.

Intermission. I took a walk and had a chat with PWTorch's Sean Radican and a Twitter friend, Manny, before heading back in for the second half.

5. R-Truth beat Titus O'Neil with a rollup in about 8 minutes. Standard fare. Titus got himself good heat after coming out to silence.

6. Antonio Cesaro defeated Miz and Kofi Kingston in a Triple Threat for the U.S. Championship. Cesaro broke out the Alpamare Waterslide from his indie days, cool to see. Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Kofi, but Cesaro threw Miz out of the ring and stole the pinfall. Good match. After the match, Cesaro went after Miz, but Kofi hit TIP and Miz hit the SCF to let the babyfaces go out on top.

7. Ryback, Sheamus, and John Cena defeated The Shield by DQ in a six-man tag that went about 30 minutes. Rollins and Ambrose handled most of the work for Shield, but Reigns is really effective, believable, and impressive in his role. DQ finish when Rollins brought in a chair. After the match, Shield beat down Sheamus and Ryback. They set up for a triple powerbomb onto the chair, but Cena made the save and all three babyfaces hit their finishers in tandem to send everyone home happy.

Notes: Overall, a fun show that was amplified by a very impressive looking and hot crowd. Lots of kids, but that makes for a fun environment. I made the drive to see Ziggler/Jericho, and was a little disappointed that they used the no-DQ stip to not work the match I hoped for. I fully understand the logic behind it though. Also, slightly disappointing that CM Punk didn't appear or get mentioned, despite being advertised. He deserves time off, but the star-power he brings was missed on this show.

Throw any comments, questions, criticisms, or corrections @zzimm22; always happy to discuss. Thanks for reading!