4/18 WWE Raw in Belfast: Fit Finlay homecoming, John Cena vs. Ryback in a tables match for the WWE Championship, Team Hell No vs. Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston, Kaitlyn vs. Tamina Snuka for the Divas Championship

WWE Raw live event
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Report by Dot Net reader Jordan Ellison

The Raw opening sequence played on the screen, followed by Justin Roberts coming out to be our ring announcer.

1. Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls beat Team Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins. Decent show opener, although they gave no mic time to Sandow, which disappointed me. Along with Rhodes, he still managed to draw some heat from the ring apron. One of the Funkadactyls was brutal, although the other one looked quite good in-ring. The end came after a double splash from Clay and Tensai.

2. Zack Ryder beat Heath Slater. I wasn't sure how these guys were going to manage to job to each other... Slater had a fun altercation with a guy in the crowd and invited him into the ring, the guy just stood there mouthing of though. Ryder won after the Rough Ryder.

3. William Regal beat Michael McGillicutty. Regal got a nice reaction, which led him to get on the mic and comment on how he used to be booed out of the building here, and was it just because he's old now? This was a slow match, with lots of comedy aimed towards kids. McGillicutty played the frustrated tantrum heel. After Regal picked up the pin, he got on the mic and put over Fit Finlay, who was sitting at the production table near the stage. Finlay's hometown is less than 10 miles outside Belfast so he got a great reaction, it was a nice touch from Regal.

4. Team Hell No beat Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston (w/AJ Lee) to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. Best match of the night. Ziggler got a good reaction, but he managed to turn that into heat. Big pop for Bryan especially, very loud Yes! chants. Also good to see Langston's leotard now has shorts, instead of the man-thong he's been sporting recently... There had been a twitter vote to see if AJ could stay ringside or had to leave, she got to stay and celebrated with Dolph. As I said, match of the night, Bryan was brilliant. The end came when Kane chokeslammed Ziggler. Kane and Bryan had their argument after the match, with Bryan shouting at the crowd that he wasn't a goatface. They hugged it out to send us into the intermission.

Intermission (this is when Roberts announced that the merchandise stalls were now selling autographed posters from Cena and Ryback. Sneaky.)

5. R-Truth beat Antonio Cesaro. Okay match, Truth got a nice reaction. Cesaro got into an argument with the same guy from the Heath Slater moment earlier. The guy was an idiot, I would have paid double to see Cesaro own him. R-Truth got the pin after his finisher.

6. Kaitlyn beat Tamina Snuka (w/Vickie Guerrero) to retain the WWE Divas Title. Vickie came out to introduce Tamina, big heat as always for Vickie. Kaitlyn got the win after a spear. Afterwards, she threw Vickie into the ring, but Tamina pulled her back out, only to have Kaitlyn baseball slide both of them from inside the ring.

7. John Cena beat Ryback in a Tables match for the WWE Title. Ryback came out to a pretty good reaction, he still has some way to go to get himself over as a heel in my opinion. There was a decent 'Feed me more' chant going on, to which, the small boy behind me shouted, 'Don't be greedy!' Gave me a kick. Cena came out next, and the roof blew off. Seemed like the 'Let's go Cena/Cena sucks' chants lasted the entire match, definitely more pro-Cena than anti-Cena though. The end came when Cena countered Shellshocked into the AA through the table. Cena celebrated with the title to send everyone home happy.

All in all, a fun night. If anything, it seemed like the card lacked in star power a bit, but when the WWE decide to go with four part-timers for the WrestleMania main events, what did I expect? Didn't help that C.M. Punk got injured as he's been advertised for the main event since the get-go. An honorable mention to the three guys that came dressed as The Shield, complete with jackets and all. A dishonorable mention to the guy behind me who just couldn't get in sync with any crowd chant whatsoever...

Biggest Pops
John Cena
Daniel Bryan
Fit Finlay
Ryback

Most Heat
Vickie Guerrero
Dolph Ziggler (after some work)
Heath Slater
Rhodes Scholars