WWE Smackdown/ECW house show
Binghamton, N.Y.
Report by Dot Net reader Brad Andrews

It seemed like a better crowd than the last time WWE was in Binghamton. The Broome County Arena was about 3/4 full, with the floor level pretty much totally full. The crowd was definitely into every match and popped for all the faces. Justin Roberts did the announcing.

1. John Morrison beat Mike Knox. Nice pop for Morrison. Turning him face is looking really smart. Some heat for Knox. The match was fun. Knox actually showed some personality, flexing and posing after knocking over Morrison a few times, which drew big heat. In the end, Morrison hit Starship Pain for the win.

Tiffany appeared in the crowd and did the "trivia question for better seats" game with a family. The question was "Who won the ECW Championship last Sunday at Extreme Rules?" The kid got it right.

2. The Hart Dynasty (w/Natalya) beat Evan Bourne & Hurricane Helms in a tag match. Seeing Helms was a nice surprise. He came out to the old Hurricane entrance music: "Stand back! There's a hurricane comin' through!" He actually got a nice reception from the crowd. Not much of a reaction for the Hart Dynasty. Natalya took the mic and cut a promo that drew some boos, though.

Much of the match was an extended beat down on Bourne. Hurricane didn't get in too much, but looked good when he did. I think Helms teased a chokeslam of D.H. Smith, which was funny. Bourne went for the shooting star press late in the match, but Natalya interfered before he could jump. In the end, the Hart Dynasty hit the Hart Attack (with Kidd springboarding from the ropes to hit the clothesline) on Helms for the win. A little sad I didn't get to see Bourne hit the shooting star live, but it was still a good match.

3. Ricky Steamboat beat Drew McIntryre. McIntryre came out a cut a promo about speeding to Binghamton doing 120 miles per hour, getting pulled over, and then bribing the N.Y. State Trooper with "more than a policeman's yearly salary" to get off the hook (r something like that - it was hard to hear him). McIntryre said that he had a surprise opponent, and that he would show that opponent that McIntryre was the future of pro wrestling.

Steamboat's music played, and he came out to a huge pop. Awesome surprise. Unfortunately, the match wasn't great. McIntryre went to the Randy Orton headlock about 20 times. The last 12 minutes of the match were McIntryre locking Steamboat in a headlock, Steamboat hitting a move or two, and McIntryre reapplying the headlock. I'm shocked no "boring" chants broke out. After his 15th or so comeback of the match, Steamboat eventually hit the flying cross body for the win.

4. The Great Khali beat Dolph Ziggler. Nice pop for Khali. It's unbelievable how big he is. Ziggler stalled for the first few minutes of the match, drawing boos. Khali eventually got his hands on Ziggler and threw him around the ring for a while. Ziggler recovered and actually took control of the match. Ziggler decided to go for a chair, but the ref stopped him. While Ziggler argued with the ref, Khali grabbed Ziggler and hit the Punjabi Plunge for the win. Ziggler took forever to leave the ring after the match, and I actually thought he was hurt for a second. Looked fine as he left though.

5. Melina, Gail Kim, and Eve Torres beat Layla, Natalya, and Alicia Fox in a six-diva tag match. The heels came out to Alicia's music and no reaction. The faces got a decent pop, as did Melina's entrance. Pretty standard diva tag match. Eve got beat down for much of the match before Melina got the hot tag. The heels tried to interfere, leading to Gail and Eve sending Layla and Natalya out of the ring. A few seconds later, Melina hit her flip finisher on Alicia for the win.

6. Tommy Dreamer beat Jack Swagger to retain the ECW Championship. Tiffany handled the ring introductions. Huge heat for Swagger - easily the most heat of the night. (Not that he had much competition for that with no Edge and no Jericho at the show.) Still, this guy is the real deal. A good pop for Dreamer. Really nice match. There was a funny spot in which Swagger got on his knees in the amateur wrestling "defensive" position and dared Dreamer to actually "wrestle" him. Dreamer appeared to agree, then kicked Swagger in the ribs instead. In the end, Swagger ran into the turnbuckle and Dreamer caught him with the DDT a second later to retain.

7. CM Punk beat Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Huge, huge pops for Hardy and Mysterio. Nice pop for Punk too, and Punk was acting very much like a face. Bit of a strange match with three faces, but a lot of fun. Everyone hit their signature spots at one point or another. In a strange spot, Rey hit the 619 on Punk, but Rey then fell to the floor rather than staying in the ring. After quite a few seconds, he re-appeared and missed the falling headbutt on Punk. Weird. Eventually, Hardy hit the Twist of Fate on Rey, and was taking off the tank top to head to top rope when instead Punk caught him and nailed Hardy with the GTS for the clean win.

After the match, Punk checked on Rey and then grabbed the mic and defended how he won the title at Extreme Rules, much as he did on Smackdown. Punk then said to Hardy, "Now that you've had a fair chance to win the title back, I hope you and me can be buds again." Jeff took the mic and said, "Sure, we can be buds." Hardy then kicked Punk and hit the Twist of Fate. Hardy's music played to end the show.

Overall, fun show. Every match but the Steamboat match was pretty good, and it was nice to see a large, enthusiastic crowd in Binghamton.

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