7/29 WWE Raw in Lexington, Ky.: John Cena vs. Big Show in a cage match, three-way elimination match for the WWE Tag Titles, Layla vs. Beth Phoenix for the Divas Championship, Antonio Cesaro vs. Alex Riley

WWE Raw Live Event
Lexington, Ky. at Rupp Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Terri Bey

The show was just alright overall. Rupp Arena's capacity is about 23,000 or so. The very top portions were tarped off. The floor seats were sold out, and a good portion of the lower arena was as well. I would estimate a crowd of 8,000 or so attended.
 
This was my first house show since WWE upgraded their house show setups. I like the new stages and video screens. It makes the shows more attractive.
  
1. Brodus Clay beat JTG. It was the usual match that Brodus has. He came down with his dancing girls, and here came JTG, and they had their match, which was just ordinary. JTG fell victim to the Brodus slam.
 
2. Antonio Cesario (w/Aksana) defeated Alex Riley. This was just another boring match. There was some pretty decent action. The end came when Riley had Cesario pinned, Aksana took Cesario's foot and put it on the ropes. After that, Cesario defeated Riley with his finisher.
 
3. Layla defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the WWE Divas Championship. There was quite a bit of stalling and comedy during this match. Beth would get on all four ring posts to try to get the fans to cheer for her, and Layla was doing the thumbs down gesture so Beth would be booed. Beth was so mad each time. Once the match got going, the ladies had a pretty good match.

During one spot, Layla stole Beth's tiara, ran around the ring with it, and made fun of her. Beth did lift Layla up in the air at one point. The finish came when Layla rolled up Beth for the win. After the match, Beth was escorted out of the ring, selling the effects from the match, and she got some flowers that a friend of mine had. She stomped on one of them and ripped up the others.
 
4. The Miz beat Zack Ryder to retain the Intercontinental Title. The Miz cut a good promo whining about our voting for either the Street Fight or the best of three falls. He demanded we vote for the best of three falls. He also said something mean about living in Kentucky.
The match itself was the best of the night. Both men worked the safe version of the street fight, but they did a very good job. The Miz won via his Skull Crushing Finale.
 
5. R-Truth and Kofi Kingston beat The Primetime Players (w/A.W.) and Epico and Primo in a three-way elimination match to retain the WWE Tag Belts. This was a fun match even though AW's yapping was annoying. Regardless, the action was pretty good between all three teams. Epico and Primo were the first ones eliminated. The end came when the Primetime Players appeared to have won (AW moved Kofi's leg off of the rope while being pinned by one of the PTP), but the match was restarted, and Truth and Kofi pinned the PTP for the win.
 
Intermission
 
6. Santino Marella defeated William Regal to retain the U.S. Title. This was an alright match. Regal went on the little screens earlier in the evening, and said that he wanted to be the next U.S. Champion. He said he would be a good representative of the United States. The match itself ended with Santino winning with the Cobra.
 
7. Tensai beat Tyson Kidd. Tensai came out to just about NO reaction. The fans were quiet as church mice. Tyson barely got a reaction when he came out as well. When the match got going, though, fans got behind Tyson somewhat, and did boo Tensai.
 
8. John Cena defeated Big Show in a cage match. Cena got a big reaction. They used that four panel cage that they just put together. The match itself was just there. I didn't think it was anything special. Both guys pretty much hit their usual moves on each other. Cena defeated Show with his AA. 
 
Notes: AW made a challenge for the tag belts on the small screens. During the intermission and before the show, they showed highlights from Raw 1000.