Right, here's a rundown of the house show myself and sledger went to, for the benefit of everyone else. Myself and mates had awesome seats, right at the front of the top tier of seating, as you'll see. Picture quality is sadly very poor for the most part, my camera isn't top quality.
Justin Roberts opens the show by welcoming us to the show, saying how good it is to be in London again and announcing the opening match. Fair bit of pyro goes off around the entrance ramp. Like so:
Opening match is
The Brian Kendrick vs Carlito. Decent little match, some great heat garnered by Kendrick. The man knows how to work heel. One impressive spot where Carlito did a springboard backflip type thing and landed on his feet. Finish saw Kendrick hit The Kendrick, but Carlito get a foot on the ropes to stop the 3-count, followed by hitting the Backcracker soon after for the win.
Second match was
The Great Khali vs Ryan Braddock. Poor match, although Braddock got a surprising amount of heat for a jobber - real story was that Khali was
way over as a face, and I think most people were just amazed to see him in the flesh. The guy is ridiculously, stupidly massive. Khali wins with a Tree Chokeslam in about five minutes, most of which was procrastination by Braddock.
Third match was the Divas -
Michelle McCool and Maria vs Maryse and Natalya. Match quality was poor, but I can't deny that it was good to see the Divas in person. Michelle was wearing almost nothing, it was awesome. Faces won when Michelle hit her (actually quite impressive) Wings of Love finisher, ripped off Christopher Daniels of course.
Next up we had a Triple Threat Match for the United States Championship. Now, I think with the show falling on the same night as an ECW taping, the lack of Miz and Morrison available meant they had to split up the Colón brothers - Carlito wrestled earlier, and they found a spot for Primo in this match;
Primo Colón vs R-Truth vs Shelton Benjamin. Good match, suffered a bit at the end when R-Truth appeared to injure his shoulder. The finish was a little bit improvised. Shelton's "PayDirt" finisher looks awesome in real life, though. He pinned Primo for the win. R-Truth's entrance was good fun, he's pretty over with the crowds thanks to it.
Last match before the intermission was a cracker - straight off the SummerSlam card,
Jeff Hardy vs MVP. Very good match, possibly the best of the night IMO. Finish saw Jeff win cleanly (obviously, given MVP's current situation) after reversing a Playmaker attempt into a Twist of Fate and a Swanton Bomb. MVP used the Ballin' Elbow at one point in the match, which got him some pretty nice heat. Both guys were insanely over, even at the first tick-tock of MVP's theme music the crowd were angry as hell. The guy is a born heel.
After the intermission, we were welcomed back by
Kung Fu Naki vs Ezekiel Jackson. Basically an extended squash. Zeke is an impressive physical specimen, and his finisher looks like it
hurts. Always a good sign, think the big man could be going places along with Kendrick.
Then came the real business of the night -
Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov, with the WWE Championship at stake. Very good match, the two work well together and it was a great, traditional, battle-of-the-big-men contest. Triple H's entrance was a sight to behold - equally impressive was the fact that he spent a good 10 minutes after his victory (by DQ, when Kozlov nailed him with a microphone - nice little spot, came out of nowhere) high-fiving fans and posing for photographs, then heating up the crowd for the main event.
This is why he's in the position he's in. The guy has great matches night after night, the fans
love him, and he gives as much back as he gets. My respect for the guy increased tenfold last night.
Finally, our Main Event was a Falls Count Anywhere Match between The Undertaker and Big Show. Was dead excited for this TBH, and it didn't disappoint. Some good back-and-forth action, lots of countered chairshots and even a shot with the steel steps from 'Taker at one point. 'Taker won with the newly-christened "Devil's Triangle" submission hold after Show hit the KO Punch. Crowd ate up 'Taker the whole time. His entrance is spine-tinglingly awesome in person, was delighted to see my favourite wrestler of all time up close.
All in all a fantastic evening, really good show and I commend the WWE for putting so much effort into a non-televised event. My only qualm was that besides R-Truth and Justin Roberts, no-one spoke on the mic all night. Just struck me as a little bizarre. Definitely going to try and go to the RAW taping in London in April - had two mates who were at the one in Manchester last night, it sounded awesome fun. Anyone who has me on Facebook will be able to see more photos soon enough - for now, I'm out.
