WWE Raw house show
Estero, Fla. (Fort Myers area) at Germain Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Omar Oquendo

1. Vladimir Kozlov and Santino Marella defeated The Uso Brothers (w/Tamina). Santino was his usual cheerful self, playing to the crowd. On the other hand, Kozlov was all business while in the ring. Kozlov attacked the Usos with kicks to the face and a fallaway slam on one of them (hard to tell them apart, I apologize).

The Usos took advantage when Santino tagged in. They connected on a double elbow and a butt splash in the ring corner (ala Rikishi, their dad). Eventually, Kozlov got the hot tag and connected on kicks to the face as well as headbutts to the chest of one of them to score the pinfall, while Santino was on the other side of the ring kissing Tamina near the end of the match. Fun opener. 
 
After the match, the seven Nexus members ran in and beat down Santino and Kozlov. The Nexus cut a promo hyping the main event match for later in the evening and during their promo, took shots at several past successful factions and tag teams, including the NWO, DX, Four Horsemen and even the Fabulous Freebirds.
 
2. The Great Khali defeated Ted DiBiase Jr. (w/Maryse). No Ranjin Singh in Khali's corner tonight. When Maryse was entering the ring doing her head movement she normally does, an earring flew off one of her ear lobes. She picked up the earring and gave it to the ring announcer. DiBiase cut a promo talking about how jealous the crowd feels that he has more money than everyone in the arena combined. DiBiase was upset at not being chosen to be on Cena's team vs Nexus at Summerslam and challenged anyone from Cena's team to prove his worth.

Out came Khali. Once the match began, there was a bit of stalling at first. DiBiase was outside of the ring, jawing with a few fans at the front row. Khali was completely dominating the match when Maryse distracted the referee, allowing DiBiase to connect on a DDT to get the near pin on Khali. Eventually, Khali recovered and connected on a clothesline and a chop to the head. Khali got the submission when he locked in the vice grip on DiBiase's head. This was mostly a one sided match, but the fans were cheering loudly for the Great Khali.
 
The Bella Twins were introduced. They were searching for a special bell ringer for the upcoming match provided they answer a question correctly. They spotted and asked a teenage girl (Courtney) to name three of Nexus opponents at SummerSlam. Courtney guessed correctly by naming John Cena, Bret Hart and Chris Jericho. Courtney and the Bella Twins went to ringside for the next match.

3. Yoshi Tatsu defeated Primo Colon. This was a very good technical match by both men, probably the second best match of the show. They each had their moments, connecting on armdrag takedowns along with several chops and dropkicks. Tatsu got the pinfall when he connected on a flying spin kick off top rope. Great match. Yoshi is a very talented, technical wrestler. Same with Primo; he's no slouch, either. One or both of these guys deserves an opportunity at a title. Maybe it won't happen on Raw, but hopefully it can happen on Smackdown, perhaps for the Intercontinental championship, once Smackdown moves over to Syfy in October.
 
Chris Jericho ran into the ring and hit a Codebreaker on Yoshi Tatsu. Jericho was serenaded with boos from the crowd. Jericho cut a brief promo trashing Ft. Myers and stating that the team facing Nexus at Summerslam is not Team Cena but rather Team Jericho.

4. Goldust defeated William Regal. This match didn't last very long. A bit of stalling at the start of the match. Goldust dominated Regal with multiple punches. Goldust got the pinfall with a school boy rollup out of nowhere to end this match. Boring match from these two.
 
 
5. Randy Orton defeated Sheamus by disqualification in a WWE championship match so Sheamus remains champion. Very good match by both men, easily being the best match of the show. Lots of back and forth exchanges b/w Orton and Sheamus. Sheamus tossed Orton over the ropes onto the floor when he blocked an attempted DDT by Orton. Loud Randy chants from the crowd. Orton got his second wind and hit two clotheslines and a powerslam, setting up for the RKO.

However, Sheamus blocked it and attempted a bicycle, but Orton also got out of the way. Lots of near pinfalls for both men. Finish came when Sheamus connected on a bicycle kick, but Orton got up at 2. Sheamus went ballistic and went outside and brought a chair inside the ring. There was a tug of war for the chair between Sheamus and the referee, but Sheamus pushed the referee out of the way, prompting the lame DQ finish. Sheamus swung the chair at Orton but missed. Orton hit the RKO on Sheamus. Lame finish, but the crowd was happy once Orton hit the RKO on Sheamus.
 
The Bella Twins returned once again to toss several t-shirts to the crowd. We got a 15 minute intermission.
 
6. Eve Torres and Gail Kim defeated Alicia Fox and Jillian. Surprisingly, Jillian did not sing to the crowd on this show. Not much action during this match. Alicia was barely involved in this match. The finish came when Eve pinned Fox on a swinging neckbreaker. Surprised that Eve didn't try her reverse flying moonsault off the top ropes as she's been doing recently. The women's division has taken a nosedive in recent years, especially since two of the best female wrestlers (Trish Stratus and Lita) retired a few years back.

7. The Miz defeated Evan Bourne to retain the United States Championship. Before the match began, Miz cut a promo. He stated that he didn't cash in his MITB briefcase earlier in the show because he didn't want to do it in a place like Ft. Myers. Miz also went on to say that Ft. Myers is where people go to retire and die. Classic promo by the Miz. The crowd was very angry and booing Miz out of the arena. Miz went on to say that people may view Bourne as Superman and that the Miz is his kryptonite because he is the Miz and he is awesome. Pretty good back and forth action by both men. Bourne hit some dropkicks and a headlock takedown.

Miz connected on a snap suplex and his patented clothesline to the corner. However, midway through the match, Miz was grabbing his hamstring. Not sure if he may have tweaked it or was selling an injury to the crowd. The match kept going and there were several near pinfalls throughout the match. The finish came when Miz moved his knees to block a shooting star press attempt by Bourne, and Miz immediately got the pinfall victory to retain the US championship. Good match by both men. The Miz has worked hard, come a long way and made tremendous strides over the years. I hope he is NOT the first person to cash in MITB and lose. He deserves a run at the WWE championship. Hopefully that championship opportunity comes sooner rather than later.

8. Team Cena (John Cena, John Morrison and Chris Jericho) defeated Nexus members Wade Barrett, David Otunga, and Skip Sheffield by disqualification. Fun match to close out the show. The big story of this match was the constant bickering between Cena and Jericho. Barrett started the match vs Jericho (student vs teacher). Jericho connected on a drop toe hold and drop kick onto Barrett. Jericho slapped Cena on the shoulder to tag him in, and they had a staredown that Morrison prevented from escalating further.

In a weird moment of the show, while Barrett and Sheffield were on the ring apron and Otunga was in action, Barrett asked Sheffield to use his hand and pinch his nose due to a punch he received before tagging in Otunga. Multiple cheapshots throughout the match by Nexus on Cena and later on to Morrison. Cena was in the match for a very long time, while Jericho was only in briefly at the start of the match. Late in the match, Jericho attempted to hit Cena with a codebreaker, but Cena blocked it, and Jericho left the match.

The finish came when Cena got a hot tag from Morrison and connected on two tackles and a Five Knuckle Shuffle on Barrett. Cena was about to hit the STF when the rest of the Nexus members not in the match ran inside the ring, causing the DQ finish. Several members of the Raw locker room ran out to attack Nexus to even things up. Among them included Evan Bourne and Randy Orton, just to name a few. They connected their finishing moves (Bourne with the shooting star press on one of the Nexus members and Orton hit the RKO on another Nexus member). Finally, the Nexus members left the ring and the group that came out to help Cena and Morrison soaked in the cheers of the crowd to close this show.
 
Final thoughts: Great effort by everyone in all the matches. Definitely got my money's worth attending this house show, and was definitely worth driving 125 miles from my hometown near Miami, Florida to attend this show. There was hardly any downtime and the promos were kept to a minimum. Majority of the matches were at a fast pace. Lots of near pinfalls. Overall, very good show tonight.

Most cheers:
1) Tie between John Cena and Randy Orton
2) Evan Bourne
3) Great Khali
4) John Morrison
 
Most heat:
1) Chris Jericho (for both his promo and walking out of the main event match)
2) Nexus members
3) Uso Brothers
4) The Miz (mainly for his promo trashing Ft. Myers)

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