WWE Smackdown/ECW house show
Geneva, Switzerland
Report by Dot Net reader Daniel Mat

The Arena of Geneva is sold out, but a few seats are left empty during the show.
The atmosphere is pretty hot, and the crowd age is nicely mixed, without too many kids.
Expectations seem high. Kids are waiting for Rey Mysterio, and older fans must have read reports on the web, because i can spot half a dozen "RKO" signs around the ring area. I'm sitting first row, in the corner of the entrance way / ring area, right next to the steel steps.

Justin Roberts came to the ring to a great pop, and people actually shouting its name.

1. Evan Bourne beat Tyson Kidd with a Shooting Star Press. The match started and finish with high flying, fast paced action. The middle dragged a little with mat based old school wrestling, courtesy of Tyson Kidd. Very nice to watch a more technical bout, but not the best bet for an opening match.

ECW doesn't air in Switzerland as far as I know, meaning casual fans are unfamiliar with Bourne. The usually hot highflyer gets only mild reactions. Nobody seemed to care much about Kidd, apart from the standard boos. Good reactions for the always impressive shooting star press.

2. Gail Kim & The Bella Twins beat Maryse, Natalya & Katie Lea Burchill. The sector where I was sitting was full of horny teenagers who were actually cheering for Maryse more than they did for Bourne in the previous match. The match was sloppy, slow and quite boring. Gail Kim's hot tag at the end was the only good part. I think at one point, guys around me were more concerned by the cute ring girl that spent the evening sitting beside the time keeper, holding championship belt, and running away whenever the action came outside of the ring around her.

3. MVP beat Shelton Benjamin & R-Truth in a triple threat match to retain the U.S. Title with a Playmaker. Good reactions to R-Truth "What's up" gimmick. He overused it during the match though. More boos than cheers for MVP during the entrance, but once people remembered he was supposed to be face now, he got good reactions. Shelton got the average heel treatment.

Justin actually plugged "12 rounds". Mixed reactions at the mention of Cena's name. Loads of boos when the crowd realized it was only a movie plug.

4. Finlay (w/ Hornswoggle) beat Mark Henry in a Belfast Brawl with a Shillelagh shot. Great pop for Hornswoggle, over with kids as well as older folks. Good heat for the overly sweaty Henry. Most of the match was spent with Henry chaining locks and holds, boring. The crowd went pretty wild when Finlay took a lot of stuff from under the ring. A toolbox, a garbage can, a kendo stick and a table are all that I remember. Henry tossed Finlay through the table (which was simply put against a corner), but the table didn't break completely. It kind of "bounced", with the wood cracking and cutting Finlay's arm. Nothing too bloody though.

Nice comedy at the end with Hornswoggle removing his jacket and throwing it at Henry's face in a defiant move, before getting tossed outside the ring. Henry turned around only to receive a Shillelagh shot to the head for the count.

[15 minutes intermission]

Tiffany came to the ring to announce the next bout.

5. Jack Swagger beat Christian to retain the ECW Title with a Gutwrench powerbomb. No reaction when Christian's music hit (see the ECW comment for Evan Bourne), I was actually the only one in my sector raising my hands at that point. Good reactions when he came out though. Jack Swagger came out without much of a reactions, but almost immediately played his cocky heel role to its best, and almost ended up getting the most heat of the night during the match.

Very nice back and forth match, with a lot of finish reversals and near falls. Swagger hit the powerbomb for the win. Christian walked out after selling the move for a few minutes, to a big applause.

6. Jeff Hardy beat Matt Hardy with a Swanton bomb. Good mixed reactions for Matt when he came out. Huge pop for Jeff. During the match, the mixed crowd totally turned on Matt who played it very well. The match was actually not as good as I hoped. Lots of near count-out and rest holds. Jeff hit the Swanton, and left the arena under thunderous cheers. "Goodbye" chants broke out for Matt when he sat up and crawled back to the entrance ramp.

Justin thanked the fans and promised that WWE would soon be coming back to Geneva, to a wall of cheers.

7. Triple H & The Undertaker beat Priceless (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) with a Pedigree/Tombstone double finish. Lots of boos when Rhodes and DiBiase came out. I actually think it was more a frustrated reaction to the absence of Randy Orton than heat for Priceless. Huge pop for Triple H, only surpassed by the one that came when Taker's bell rang. Interesting match, with The Undertaker's role kept to a minimum. Triple H spent most of the match selling for Priceless. The middle was a little boring with rest holds and submission attempts when Hunter was trying to tag out only to be dragged back to the middle of the ring. The double finish was received with a huge ovation. Priceless left the arena, helped by the referee and a security agent.

The Undertaker did a long walk out, and the "look back & arm raise" on the stage. Great crowd reaction. Then HHH's music hit and he started pointing out each sectors of the crowd to make them cheer louder and louder, in a DX fashion. Afterwards, he made a gesture to bring in the whole crowd at once, counted back from 5 to 0 with his fingers and got the biggest cheer of the whole show. My ears still ring from this one.

He then spent almost 5 minutes going around the ring to shake everyone's hand and spreading his sweat all over our hands and shirts. He also went specifically to the sector reserved for the disabled, shook their hands, and showed them the WWE Championship belt. Nice gesture!

Notes: Overall, it was a solid show. I could complain that they did almost the exact same show for the whole tour, but it's my own fault for spoiling myself with online reports. I don't quite understand why Randy Orton wasn't there for the last two shows of the tour, though. It lead to some sad faces around the ring area. The crowd often went quiet between spots, but reacted very well to every big move or gestures from the performers.

Top 3 heel heat :
1. Matt Hardy (at least after the mixed pop to his entrance)
1. Jack Swagger (I can't say which one got the most...)
3. Priceless

Top 3 face pops (entrances) :
1. The Undertaker
2. Triple H
3. Jeff Hardy

Special mention for the biggest single crowd reaction of the night :
Triple H gesturing for the whole crowd to cheer at once.

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