Report by Aaron Pinsky & F4WOnline.com
Santino d. William Regal with the Cobra Strike. Santino did his acrobatic antics early in the matchup, prompting Regal to do his own cartwheel attempt that actually didn’t look too bad. The crowd booed anyway, and they loved it when Santino won. This was a pretty decent comedy match.
Next, we had the Cutting Edge featuring Sheamus. Edge told Sheamus that he had a big target over his shoulder (the title) and that everyone was now out to get him. Sheamus said that he didn’t fear anyone, not the Nexus, not Arn Anderson, not John Cena, and definitely not the Anonymous GM. It was here that the GM chime rang in, with Brie Bella coming out from the back to give Justin Roberts a message. Roberts announced that the main event would be a lumberjack match for the WWE title.
Great Khali d. Zack Ryder in a squash match with the Brain Chop. Kind of a bummer for Zack, but at least Khali had some nifty powder blue pants.
Alicia Fox d. Eve Torres with what looked like the Scissors Kick, except that Alicia’s leg missed completely and she instead sat on Eve’s head. Eve is pretty darn over here in Huntington, though the same can’t be said for Alicia (even when I was waiting in the parking lot to see the wrestlers pull up, I noticed the silence and shouted, "We have nothing for you Alicia. Sorry!"). The story of the match here was that Eve spanked Alicia after a gutbuster, and Eve started rubbing her butt mockingly, Alicia rubbed hers. I guess it was supposed to be comedy, but it just came off more suggestive than anything else. Totally PG! The match was fine.
Edge d. Mark Henry in a pretty straight-forward match. Mark Henry missed a corner splash, and Edge countered with the Spear for the victory. As soon as he got the pin, Edge ran for the hills like a sprinter, lifting his fist into the air in victory as he dashed through the curtain.
Evan Bourne d. Chris Jericho with the Shooting Star Press. The two of them had a pretty back-and-forth match, with Evan being the speedster and Jericho being the guy trying to slow things down to his liking. The finish came when the two of them fought on the top turnbuckle only for Jericho to finally fall so that Bourne could hit the SSP. Chris Jericho is absolutely jacked in real life: guy’s like as big as HHH only not as tall.
(Intermission)
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Hart Dynasty d. the Usos to retain the Tag titles. Justin Roberts announced that it was Tyson Kidd’s birthday. The four of them went back and forth until Natalya disposed of Tamina, allowing one of the Usos to get hit with the Hart Attack 2.0 to end the match.
The Miz d. John Morrison & Ted DiBiase in a 3-way to retain the United States Title. Miz cut a lengthy promo before the match started saying how Huntington is full of idiots and that he doesn’t appreciate us stealing his catchphrase. This was the first time I’ve seen Miz live, and being that he’s been one of my favorites since Spring 2007 it was definitely cool. Miz and Morrison did a C4 spot which looked…interesting live. I thought they were going for a weird arm drag at first. The finish came when Morrison hit Starship Pain on Ted, but then Miz ran in and hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Morrison for the pin.
Sheamus and Cena went to a No Contest as the Lumberjacks turned out to be…the Nexus! Sheamus and Cena kept throwing each other out of the ring, where the Nexus eagerly beat the tar out of whoever came out without discrimination. Eventually, Cena had enough of it and tagged Barrett before heading back into the ring and hitting his trademark offense. Sheamus countered with his own offense, and they continously went back and forth kicking out of each other’s trademark moves. Cena even pulled off the Attitude Adjustment, and Sheamus kicked out of that. Major surprise there! When Cena locked in the STF, the Nexus ran in and mauled both competitors. The faces then came out of the locker room and went to Cena’s rescue, driving the Nexus off.
The show ended with the faces standing triumphantly in the ring to the sound of massive cheering. The whole thing was about 2 hours 40 minutes counting intermission, but I have no problem with a short show as long as it delivered, which it did. WWE, like every company, has its weak points, but its strong points definitely showed this afternoon.
