Dot Net reader Andrew Martin attended the WWE Smackdown house show in Cardiff Wales today and sent along the following report.

The live stage, lighting and ring set up was nice to see as it made the live event feel a bit more special considering it wasn't on TV. The arena was sold out and full which surprised me somewhat when you hear about the shares of WWE being in decline.

Great Khali defeated Jinder Mahal. Khali was announced and came out to a very big pop which took me by surprise as he isn't on TV that much. Jinder Mahal also came out to some decent heat and managed to play on that. The crowd made a somewhat slow and tiresome match interesting and enjoyable. Khali won with a Punjabi Plunge and slowly made his way around the ring after the match to high five everyone, it seemed to take an age.

Uso Brothers and Mason Ryan defeated Drew McIntyre, Tyler Rekks and Curt Hawkins. Huge pop for the home town Mason Ryan. He is sporting longer hair, probably trying to get away from the Batista comments. Funny note, McIntyre was swinging around Hawkins cane before the match and managed to break it with pieces flying off into the crowd. All the heels laughed this up.

Enjoyable match with a good pace that ended when Jimmy Uso superkicked Hawkins into Ryan who hit is Full Nelson Slam finisher. Another huge pop for Ryan who posed with the Welsh flag in the ring and savored the moment.

Alberto Del Rio (w/ Ricardo) defeated Percy Watson. Huge Ovation for Ricardo and his announcing in person is brilliant. Very mixed but loud ovation for Del Rio who played up to the crowd and they loved it. Percy Watson made his entrance to near silence. Squash match with Del Rio winning with the cross arm breaker. Was a shame because I would have liked to have seen something longer from Del Rio.

Alicia Fox defeated Natalya (Askana as special ref). Quick match which was well wrestled. Fox got the win with a roll up.

Intermission

Brodus Clay and Booker T defeated Mark henry and Christian. It was awesome to see all four of these guys and outside of Mark Henry I was shocked to see the other three. Good match which really played to the crowd. Brodus got the win with a splash on Christian when Henry walked off. Cue lots of dancing and Spineroonies with Hornswoggle and Booker. Feel good crowd match.

Randy Orton defeated Kane in no DQ match. The crowd went nuts for Randy. I think the girl sitting next to me came in her pants when his music started. Great match with use of Kendo Stick and chair with some believable near falls. The end came when Randy hit an RKO on a chair for the win.

Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan. Sheamus is over but there was definitely 50/50 Yes/No chants for Bryan which shows just how over he could be if WWE turned him. Here's hoping they won't though. Awesome match, the best of the night, with both men working hard to put on a show for the crowd. Plenty of Yes chants when Bryan locked in the Yes Lock! Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick for the win and the biggest ovation of the night.

All in all it was a great show and I can't wait to attend the next one that comes to Cardiff in November.

Biggest Pops

Sheamus
Randy Orton
Booker T

Biggest Heat

Kane
Daniel Bryan
Mark Henry

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