WWE House Show Report 11/7: Belfast, Ireland

Credit: Roby Leighton and pwtorch.com

The Odyssey Arena was pretty much sold out; the usual scattering of empty seats in the £55 section were empty.

(1) Santino & Brodus Clay (w/Naomi) beat Primo & Epico (w/Rosa Mendes). Fun match and the kids went nuts for Santino. This ended when Santino hit the Cobra, then Clay hit the splash for the win. I did notice how hard Rosa works outside the ring working the crowd.

(2) Michael McGillicutty beat Tensai. Tensai got a decent reaction, but I’m glad the music was loud or I’m sure you could have heard a pin drop for McGillicutty’s entrance. This was basically an extended squash match, except Tensai took a powerslam that excited the crowd. McGillicutty eventually won with a roll-up.

(3) Divas champion Eve beat Layla and A.J. in a three-way match to retain the Divas Title. A.J. got a huge pop and the crowd was excited for the match. There didn’t seem to be the usual mass toilet break when the Divas match happened, either. Unfortunately, when the match started, Eve ran away, then tried to persuade someone to team with her, etc. This went on wayyy to long. Overall, the match was basic. A.J. won after earlier diving under the ref to stop a three count. The arena erupted for the teased title change. Vickie Guerrero then appeared on-stage to restart the match. I couldn’t hear her because the boos were so loud. After the match was re-started, Eve hit her finisher and pinned A.J.

(4) John Cena beat Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero). Great match. During the match, some vocal males started chanting, “You can’t wrestle.” So, Cena responded by putting together a nice chain wrestling sequence which ended by monkey-flipping Ziggler out of the corner. To finish the match, the ref took a huge bump, and it was quite funny to see him sliding out of the ring. Vickie then came out, took the MITB briefcase, and tried to hit Cena with it, but A.J. appeared and took the briefcase. Vickie then turned around and ended up on her knees in front of Cena in a suggestive position (glad the U.S. elections are over). Then, the vocal males started a “Vickie sucks” chant. A.J. and Cena then had a moment, Ziggler came to, and got clocked by A.J. with the case. AA for pin.

[Intermission - a chance for kids to buy more Cena merch - the place was a sea of green.]

(5) U.S. champion Antonio Cesaro beat Zack Ryder to retain the U.S. Title. Good, solid match, but the crowd didn’t really care to much for either guy. Cesaro won with the Neutralizer.

(6) WWE tag champions Team Hell No beat Team Rhodes Scholars to retain the Tag Titles. Super tag match which included Sandow screaming like a girl when being chased by Kane. The ending came when Kane hit a chokeslam on Cody, then Bryan tagged himself in and Kane broke up the cover. Sandow entered and Kane tossed him over the ropes. Bryan then tossed Kane over the ropes and put the No! Lock on Cody for the win.

After the match, Kane and Bryan did their usual schtick on this tour – argue, matador/bull, hug it out, and then Bryan stole both titles.

Main event – Punk with Heyman against Ryback. It was awesome to see Heyman get some “ECW” chants happening. There was a Twitter vote to make this a title match. (Punk and Heyman’s reactions were brilliant when this was announced.) After the announcement, Punk stood on the turnbuckle for about three minutes just posing with the belt, and the crowd booed and booed and booed. Super bad-guy work.

(7) Ryback beat WWE champion C.M. Punk (w/Paul Heyman) via DQ; Punk retained the WWE Title. The match was okay. Ryback dominated until he ran into turnbuckles. Punk was on the offensive until Ryback made a comeback. Then, Heyman summoned all of the heels from the back to cause the DQ. Kane then came out and disposed of Rhodes Scholars, leaving Tensai in the ring with Ryback. Tensai kept looking toward the curtain, then Ziggler appeared, possibly a tad late. Cena then came out cleaned house. Cena hit AA on Ziggler and Ryback Shell-shocked Punk. Cena left the ring without a confrontation with Ryback.

Overall, a very enjoyable house show… Biggest Pops: John Cena or Daniel Bryan followed by A.J. … Biggest Heat: Vickie Guerrero. I couldn’t hear myself think when she appeared during the Divas match.