WWE Smackdown/ECW house show
Mankato, Minn.
Report by Jason Powell

1. Finlay defeated Mike Knox. Knox tried to untie the turnbuckle for no logical reason. Well, other than that the referee was distracted just long enough while checking the turnbuckle for Finlay to hit Knox with the shillelagh and get the pin. Solid opener in the sense that the live crowd loved Finlay and was all over Knox.

Layla appeared in the upper deck and asked a family where WWE SummerSlam will be held. They answered the question right and she gave them front row tickets. I'm curious to know what would happen if a family answered wrong.

2. Vladimir Kozlov defeated Jimmy Wang Yang. Yang got in some offense, but Kozlov put him away with his version of the Rock Bottom. Kozlov looked clumsy at times, but he had good heat with the live crowd.

3. Melina and Maria defeated The Bella Twins. Neither team worked as heels. The Bellas came out and slapped hands with the fans at ringside. Melina and Maria came out and did the same. Melina pinned Brie. Okay, so I have no idea which Bella was pinned, but there's a 50/50 chance I'm right.

4. Dolph Ziggler defeated R-Truth. A ton of stalling before they actually locked up. Dolph said he was going to introduce himself for the first time and the fans would always remember where they were when he did it. Truth's music interrupted him and he entered through the crowd and got a great reaction for his entrance song. They went back and forth on the mic. Ziggler threatened to go home.

Truth said Minnesotans have a saying. It was something like "Take your hat and grab your coat and leave." This Minnesotan has never used that particular phrase and it didn't exactly roll of the tongue, but it didn't stop a group of fans from trying to get a chant started. It failed miserably. Fun mic work that went on about two minutes too long. The match was fun. Ziggler hit his finisher out of nowhere for the win. Good energy. The crowd cheered Truth afterward despite his loss.

5. Cryme Tyme and Eve Torres defeated David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd, and Natalya. Great reaction for Cryme Tyme. The kids loved them. Natalya did a funny impersonation of Cryme Tyme dancing to mock them. Unfortunately, that was as much flash as the Harts showed during the match. The crowd stayed hot throughout the match and popped big when Cryme Tyme went over. They remained in the ring afterward and did a nice job of playing to the crowd. Bonus points to JTG for acknowledging a couple of signs that younger fans brought for them by pointing to the signs. Too bad the kids had their faces behind the signs and didn't seem to notice. I'm sure it would have made their nights.

Intermission

At some point, ring announcer Justin Roberts brought a couple of young fans inside the ring and hand them throw t-shirts to the crowd. Yes, everyone outside the first five rows was screwed.

6. C.M. Punk defeated John Morrison. I was stunned that they put this match on after intermission rather than in the main event spot, but it turned out to be the right call. The only boring taunts of the night occurred during this match. Granted, they seemed to come from two or three fans, but it's not like the arena was pumped to see Morrison. Punk was over, but Morrison was not. In fact, he seemed to lose some along the way, as there were more cheers than boos when Punk won with the GTS. No mic work from Punk. Too bad.

7. Christian defeated Tommy Dreamer, William Regal, and Shelton Benjamin in a four-way to retain the ECW Title. Nice reactions for all four men. Christian's usual gaze into the upper deck during his entrance had to be lowered a bit since there weren't many people in the upper decks at this show. Regal was a lot of fun throughout the match with his mannerisms and heel antics. It was a treat to see his antics in person.

The fans popped when Christian and Dreamer locked up for the first time. These four received better reactions than Morrison, and this would have been a solid main event match. Christian hit the Killswitch on one of the heels (I believe it was Regal) and scored the pin.

Afterward, Christian spotted what appeared to be a teenaged fan wearing one of his t-shirts in the crowd. He made the fan's night by bringing him in the ring, putting the ECW Title over the fan's shoulder, having him strike a Christian pose, and taking his picture for him. A very cool moment.

8. Great Khali defeated Kane in a lumberjack match. The lumberjacks consisted of the male wrestlers who worked matches held prior to the intermission. The live crowd cheered when Kane's music hit, but there seemed to be some disappointment when Khali came out. I'm sure the fans who didn't know the lineup were hoping for Jeff Hardy or Rey Mysterio, so Khali was a letdown.

Both guys tried, but Khali's limitations made for a lame main event. Most of the lumberjacks added to the match at ringside, but Finlay looked like he wished he was anywhere else. Khali hit Kane with his finisher for the win.

After the match, Cryme Tyme and Yang entered the ring and danced to Khali's song. After the other babyfaces left, Khali took a lap around the ringside area to slap hands with the fans at ringside, which most of the babyfaces did throughout the show.

Notes: My buddy Pooch and I estimated that there were 2,500 people in what appeared to be a roughly 6,000 seat venue. Small crowd in small college town. They didn't advertise in the Twin Cities (roughly two hours away) and I'm sure they would have drawn better had this show taken place after the college kids returned to school.

They sold a ridiculous number of floor seats. It had to suck for people more than 10 rows back. The seats went so far back that there was actually a Row W on the floor (and maybe more). Meanwhile, there was plenty of seating in the lower bowl of the arena where there were much better views.

I was excited to see a Smackdown house show until I realized that there was no Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho, or Rey Mysterio. This felt like an old C show lineup due to the noticeable absences of those top stars. Everyone tried hard to put on a good show for the small crowd, but this was just a throwaway event.

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