WWE Raw Live Event
Santiago, Chile
Report by Dot Net reader Nicolas Ramirez V.

This was the fifth WWE show in Chile, and was likely the best one. Since the last time they were in here, WWE TV programming lost a lot of momentum and currently only Raw is being televised (on a small network). Originally, WWE booked two shows, but the second one was cancelled, probably due to low ticket sales. That show was eventually moved to Ecuador.

There was a nice audience. The arena holds 15,000 people, and while there were a lot of big empty spots, the floor was packed and I believe there were between 10,000 – 11,000 in attendance. Lots of kids and their parents wanting to see John Cena, but still a lot of older folks too.

1. R-Truth defeated Primo in six minutes. Not much to the match. Truth was over with the crowd and didn't mess up the city, so that was nice. Primo had good heat, but he over-sold a lot. He was acting almost like HBK when he wrestled Hulk Hogan at Summer Slam. Truth won with Paydirt.

2. Mark Henry deafeted Tyson Kidd in 10 minutes. Good heat for Tyson, I thought it was going to be a total squash for Henry, but Kidd got plenty of offense after the slow start. Henry won with the World's Strongest Slam.

3. David Otung and Michael McGillicutty (w/Mason Ryan) defeated Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in 12 minutes. Otunga did most of the work in this one. Formula Raw tag match, but it was good and the crowd helped a lot. Santino got a nice pop. The finish was Santino hitting The Cobra on Mason Ryan, and McGillicutty seizing the distraction with a schoolboy on Santino.

4. Eve Torres defeated Alicia Fox to retain the WWE Divas Title in seven minutes. Before the match, the Raw general manager chimed in and Justin Roberts said that there was going to be a dance off between the two divas. It's a good thing that neither Great Khali or Hornswoggle were in the house for this show. After the dance off, the match really dragged and no one in the crowd seemed to care what was going on in the ring. No heat at all. The finish saw Eve hitting a neckbreaker for the pin.

5. The Miz (w/Alex Riley) defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship in 20 minutes. This is where the show moved to to a second gear. It was weird seeing the title match on the middle of the card, but no one seemed to care about that. The crowd was not as hot for Orton as I thought they would be, but he received a nice reaction either way. This was a typical Orton match. It started slow, but the crowd got into it, and it really picked up by the end. Great effort by both men. The finish was Riley hitting Orton in the back with the briefcase allowing Miz to connect the Skull crushing finale for the pin. Afterward, Orton RKO'd both of them to give the crowd a pleasant moment.

Intermission

6. Daniel Bryan (w/Gail Kim) defeated Ted DiBiase (w/Maryse) to retain the U.S. Title in 15 minutes. Best match of the night. I was the only one at my section of ringside with a Daniel Bryan sign, so I got a nice welcome by him, and I think I even got photographed for the WWE website. Anyway, this match had it all. Maryse joined DiBiase in the middle of the fight. Children didn't know Bryan, but he got the older fans to chant "Dragon" and even ROH. Bryan's offense is amazing.

The crowd really got in to it as the match progressed, and they were cheering for Bryan because of that. The finish saw Bryan hitting the airplane spin on DiBiase, who got dizzy and tried to roll up the ref. The Divas interfered at ingside and finally Bryan put the LeBell Lock on DiBiase for the tap. After the match, Maryse slapped Ted, Gail, and Bryan.

When Bryan was walking to the back, he was attacked by Sheamus, who was angry as he walked to the ring. Sheamus cut a promo for some good heat, and the Raw GM chimed in again. He said that the next match would be a street fight.

7. John Morrison defeated Sheamus in a street fight in 15 minutes. Another strong match between these two. I was surpised to see Sheamus work so stiff - or at least, it looked pretty damn stiff - on Morrison. In the midde of the match, John cut a promo in Spanish in which he insulted Sheamus for great heat, and by then everyone was into the match. Chairs and kendo sticks were used in this one. The finish saw Sheamus missing a Pale Justice on a chair, and Morrison hitting the running knee on Sheamus (who end up sitting in that chair after he missed the move) for the pin.

8. John Cena defeated CM Punk (w/ Nexus) in 20 minutes. The same match they've had several times on Raw. It was still pretty good. Punk did a lot of stalling in the begining. Overall, it was a slow, but well worked match. Chants were divided. Cena got the better by the end, still a lot of CM Punk fans in the house that helped the match.

The finish saw a ref bump for a Nexus run in. They were stormed off by Santino, Kozlov, and Bryan. Punk and Cena kicked off of their respective finishers, only to end the match with an Attitude Adjustment from the second rope for the win. After the match, Cena greeted the people at ringside, but he did not say a word the entire evening.

Notes: Overall, it was a strong show. While it presented a lot of the same matches we've seen on Raw for the last months, it's always amazing to see them live. Also, the card was packed with singles matches that really put over the in-ring product. The filler nonsense was kept to a low level. As I mentioned, this was the best show so far by WWE in Chile, and the three hours of action were good enough to leave me happy I attended the event.

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