WWE Smackdown/ECW house show
Dublin, Ireland at O2 Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Matthew Macklin of Monaghan, Ireland

I attended the Smackdown and ECW in The O2 last night. It was a fantastic show with a great atmosphere. I had front row seats and it was amazing to be that close to the action.

1. John Morrison defeated Matt Hardy to retain the Intercontinental Title. This was a great matchup with both men pulling out every move in their arsenal. Plenty of counters and near falls, with match kicking out of the moonlight drive. Morrison won when he hit the starship pain after Hardy hit the ring post. The crowd was firmly behind Morrison during the match. After the match they shook hands only for Hardy to nail Morrison with a twist of fate, which drew huge heat. Great match

2. Shelton Benjamin pinned Zack Ryder. Decent match, Ryder got good heat. Ryder hit a nice missile dropkick and his leg lariat. Shelton is super athletic in person. He won after suplex off the top and paydirt.

3. Drew McIntyre beat Finlay. McIntyre came out to big heat and took his time milking it. He then cut a promo talking about how the tour never went to Scotland and he whinged about being in Ireland. There was one Scottish guy behind me that tried to get a Scotland chant going but it didn’t work. When Finlay came out the roof near came off the place. It was amazing. Pretty good match, McIntyre tried to use the shillelagh and ended up winning with his feet on the ropes. Finlay then stayed around ringside and even clunked Chimel in the head with the shillelagh.

4. Katie Lea and Mickie James defeated Michellle McCool and Beth Phoenix. These girls are gorgeous in real life. A lot of Beth chants, some guys were shouting at Katie saying your brothers a pirate. Usual divas match, Katie rolled Michelle up for the win. Mickie looked to have hurt her leg during the match.

5. Ezekiel Jackson pinned Goldust. Goldust got a good response, myself and a few others were shouting Black Reign at him. Zeke is huge in real life, Zeke won after his rock bottom like move.

6. Rey Mysterio over Dolph Ziggler. Excellent match. Ziggler has so much charisma, he was awesome, Rey obviously got a huge response and took his time coming to the ring. Great match with both men hitting all their big moves, including Rey nailing a seated senton off the apron right in front of me. Rey won after a 619 and splash.

Intermission

7. Christian pinned William Regal to retain the ECW Championship. Regal got huge heat mainly because he is English, Christian got a massive response and he loved it. He played with the crowd and raised the camera mans arm to get a better response than Regal. The match was fairly short but still good, Christian won with the Killswitch.

8. R-Truth beat Eric Escobar. Not many people knew who Escobar was. Truth sang his way to the ring and was over. He danced for a while and rolled Eric up to win in about 5 seconds, Truth danced with Chimel before he left. By the way between matches their were a lot of Tony chants for Chimel coming from one section. Hilarious. Scott Armstrong got some chants and high-fived fans around ringside. I was shouting Road Dogg at him to no response.

9. Undertaker beat CM Punk in a casket match to retain the World Hvt. Championship. Punk got a very good reaction coming out. As the lights went out Punk beat the hell out of Chimel thinking it was Taker. Takers entrance was electric and something everyone should see in person. AWESOME. The match was short but good. Taker nailed a leg drop on the casket and Punk fell on it similarly to when HBK hurt his back in 1998. Punk used a chair. Taker won after a tombstone. The deadman celebrated with the gold and left. Charles Robinson immediately began taking the ring apart.

Fantastic show. There's nothing like sitting front row at WWE live.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: