WWE Smackdown/ECW house show
Manchester, N.H. at Verizon Wireless Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Trevor Dumais

This was not a sell-out crowd, but the people were excited and energetic. The advertised Main Event was Rey Mysterio challenging CM Punk for the World Title - which obviously did not occur.

1. Finlay defeated Ezekiel Jackson. Interesting choice to have two slower guys start a show. I expected different. Zeke is huge in real life, towering over everyone in the front row. The action was slow paced, with Zeke working over Finlay. He hit a few nice power spots that got the crowd making "ooo" sounds. Zeke tried to use a steel chair but the ref argued with him allowing Finlay to use his Shillelagh to get the win. (*)

2. Eve Torres and Maria defeated Layla and Natalya. Natalya acts like a star with an air of confidence that is refreshing to see within WWE's womens division. Maria is absolutely terrible. She skips around the ring after taking a hit, her selling is atrocious, and her facial expressions are just plain bad. Sorry, I don't want to hate on a girl, but even my girlfriend rolled her eyes at some of her antics. Eve is a work in progress, but she puts forth a lot of effort and I say in about a year, she could possibly hold her own (compared to some of the other Divas they parade around). Eve won via her handspring standing moonsault onto Layla. After the match, Nataly hoisted Layla onto her shoulders and walked to the back. That was great. (1/2*)

3. Tommy Dreamer defeated Sheamus. Sheamus is awesome. He came out to the ring and cut a brief promo against the crowd. He said he was going to eradicate the last of the ECW originals. Dreamer came out to a solid pop. Sheamus dominated Tommy until he made his comeback and hit the DDT for the win. Dreamer's upset got the crowd going, but to me and the other like fans, we all boo'ed because none of us wanted to see Sheamus' first loss to Dreamer of all people. But its a house show, so it doesn't count. (*3/4)

4. Eugene defeated Ricky Ortiz. Call me crazy, but I thought Eugene wasn't a member of the roster? Well he made a surprise appearance to face Ortiz. He walked to the ring, walked around slapping high fives, then began to leave because he couldn't remember what to do next. My girlfriend hates the gimmick. She asked if he was really like that and I told her no. She said that was F'ed up. I have to agree. Either way, Eugene got the roll-up for the "upset"? I don't even know anymore. (No Star)

Intermission

You would think at this point they would have a fast match with some athletic guys going at it to get the crowd going again.

5. Vladimir Kozlog pinned Goldust.Yup. I was wrong. Goldust, why? Terrible match in my opinion. Goldust just looks like a goof. But thankfully, Kozlov pinned the freak and we moved on with our lives. (No Star)

6. Chris Jericho and Big Show defeated Cryme Tyme to retain the Unified Tag Titles. Finally, Jericho saved the show for me and made his way out with Big Show. They cut a promo against the crowd that sounded alot like Raw's promo, going on about how they have 40 titles between them and they are the best and the crowd is not. I was pretty close to the front and began to bow at Jericho when he turned and faced my section, and my girlfriend told me he smirked at the sight of me so that was the moment of the night in my book, even if she was lying.

Cryme Tyme is insanely over. If Cryme Tyme's push means that Vince is seeing the value in Tag Teams again, then I am all for it. Shad did the majority of the selling in the match (really?) before hot tagging JTG. The crowd chanted his name as he hit some of his nicr moves. That man can move. But it was Jericho who hit the Codebreaker to score the 2nd heel victory of the night. Afterwards, Shad helped JTG up and they played to the crowd a bit. Good stuff. Summer Slam should be fun with these four, as Jericho gets to work against some new faces while Show only comes in for a few spots. (**)

7. Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the Intercontinental Title. When it was announced that the last match of the night was going to be for the IC Title - there were a ton of young Hardy fans who looked at their parents with sad eyes. No Jeff Hardy. I can't tell you how many kids were face painted and had those green arm bands on. CM Punk would be appalled at their parents. Dolph just looks like a top star, although his look needs a bit of fine tuning. Before the match, he cut a quick promo saying that the crowd would have to get ready to be introduced to the new IC Champion... but before he could finish the line with his name, Rey's music hit. It was alot like their Night of Champs PPV match, but had fewer cool spots. Rey won after a West Coast Splash. (**)

Notes: It was a solid show that was geared for kids. Nothing outside of Jericho's promo was really bone cutting or edgy, but the crowd reacted exactly the way WWE wanted - so I guess that means they are doing alright. I enjoyed seeing Sheamus & Zeke live as they are huge. But Zeke is about five years from ever being a crisp big man wrestler.

The problem I had as that all the talented wrestlers were left off the show pretty much. I understand not having all the top guys but Jeff Hardy is their number one guy. The amount of shirts, armbands, and face painted kids made it actually sad to see no Hardy there. But for me, no Hardy, no Punk, no Morrison, no Tyson Kidd, no Christian, no Kane, etc. made it a weak line up. The first real star to come out was Tommy Dreamer - then it wasn't until Jericho's music hit that the show picked up for me.

If the fans see how no stars come to these shows, then maybe it will hurt future house shows. But Rey Mysterio is their # 2 guy so the crowd was happy to see him in the Main Event. I thought it was cool to see the IC Title in a Main Event, but I doube that would ever happen if Rey wasn't the IC Champ.

In the end, it was a cool 2 1/2 hour show that gave me a chance to see some newer guys work on their craft. It was a nice night to spend with my girlfriend watching wrestling. Thanks for reading!

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: