WWE RAW House Show Results - 28th May Manchester England
Submitted by Matthew Tremley on Saturday, May 29, 2004 at 2:39 PM EST


• Alex Carr sent in the following:
  
  Report from "RAW: Tour Of Defiance" House Show
  MEN Arena, Manchester England
  Friday 28th May 2004
  By Alex Carr
  
  Last night was the first House show in England for me since the WWE changed to WWE from WWF, my last event was a WCW Thunder Taping 2 years ago in the same arena. I was reluctant to buy tickets for this and I speak for a lot of fans when I say this, but these tours usually don't always provide and that's why they haven't always sold out in 15mins. Even so this event seemed pretty packet, definitely a full arena, I would estimate 15,000 easy. After watching the past weeks RAW television I was pleased to hear some of the names announced as this could turn out to be much better than expected, which it did!
  
  Before anything got going I had a good look at all the sound, lighting and pyro setup the WWE uses. It seemed that only about 3 refs were active tonight, as Earl Hebner was in his jeans and T-Shirt telling people what to do more than worry about reffing. The wait is over and finally the lights go out and Guns N Roses hit for the Fink to walk out.
  
  Finkel, does a great job of pumping the crowd as always, great professional. Then I feared the inevitable, he introduces Stephanie McMahon, she received a decent pop although I tried my hardest to get some boos going, she blabs on about Manchester being great, yeah right! And welcomes us to RAW, pyro follows and the first match is announced.
  
  Matt Hardy V1 vs. Batista
  
  Matt got a great reception from the UK fans, as did most of the superstars, he milked the cheers before Batista came out. He got plenty of heat and eventually the match got underway. The crowd were well into it, but it comes as expected since its probably the first show for most of them. Matt carried Batista for a while, but although the two produced some good spots, it was a complete miss match and Hardy couldn't fly around and produce as good of a match as I would of hoped because of Batista. Batista's in ring ability is slowly getting better and better, which is good as he has a decent amount of charisma. Good spots included the Twist Of Fate, Plancha over the ropes and the middle rope Leg Drop. Eventually the match ended with a big Spinebuster from Batista. Following that Batista returned to the ring and worked over Matt, he left again and the referee reversed the decision. Matt was then carried out by the ref. Good match to open with as we get plenty to boo and plenty to cheer although I would have liked to of seen Matt wrestle someone smaller.
  
  Winner: Matt Hardy V1
  
  La Resistance vs. Hurricane and Rosey
  
  La Resistance get plenty of heat as they come out first, mainly because us English hate the French more than any other country in the world, or at least it seems that way. They wave the Quebec flag for a bit before the superheroes make their entrance. Good pop for hurricane as he seems to be very over in these house shows, but hasn't been able to make the same impact on TV. The match gets underway and Rosey showed some decent signs of improvement throughout the match which was good! La Resistance seemed to work quite well too. Eventually Eugene comes out to a great reception, Regal follows and Eugene gets in the ring and starts to ride Rob Conway. After the ref deals with Eugene, Rosey and Hurricane hit a nice spin, followed by a neckbreaker to win the match. Plenty of Eugene chants as he leaves, and the same for Hurricane and Rosey. A nice match for the fans, but I'm not sure anyone would react to it on TV. During this match Randy Orton could be seen warming up under the seating, from where we were sat.
  
  Winners: Hurricane and Rosey
  
  Garrison Cade vs. Rhyno
  
  Not sure about this one, as Cade is a virtual unknown on the RAW roster, even so he does get a decent amount of heat, but nothing in the size of La Resistance. Rhyno gets a nice pop which is good to hear, being a huge admirer of his work in ECW I tired to get some ECW chants going, but to no avail. This match never really got going, and was easily the worst match of the night. Cade leap frogged over Rhynos attempted Gore, at least I think he was going for a Gore. Cade landed rough on his knee and lay their for a good 10 minutes while refs and trainers, including Fit Finlay looked on. This was a good long work as it went on for so long the crowd really started to believe it. But the moment Rhyno held the ropes open you could tell what was coming. Cade jumped Rhyno and threw him back into the ring for the 3 count. Cade then beat on Rhyno for a couple of minutes before leaving to a lot of boos. Personally I thought this was a waste of time, the wrestling was practically none existent and although it does nothing for Cade, if deprives the fans of seeing how good Rhynos ability in the ring is. Rhyno left being carried by the ref.
  
  WWE Intercontinental Championship: Randy Orton vs. Shelton Benjamin
  
  Shelton comes out first, and got a great pop, which was surprising as he hasnt been on RAW TV as a singles competitor very long. I was pumped to see this guy wrestle, and was expecting a decent match here. Randy comes out to the great Evolution theme by the English band Motorhead. He gets a pop of sorts but it soon turns to boos. He really works the heat posing and waving the belt around. The match eventually starts and doesn't get going too quick, this match was the longest match of the night after HHH/Shawn Michaels. Randy worked well with Shelton and both put on a really great wrestling match, as much as I hate Randy Orton, he's certainly doing well in the ring and its clear that he's going far. The crowd was split, but I would say most of the crowd chanted for Shelton. The match went around the ring and back in with the crowd counting along with the ref (which they did throughout the night I might add). The match ends with Orton using the ropes to aid in the pinfall, no surprise on the winner since its a title match. Yeah this was better, so far the best match of the night, good to see Shelton Benjamin at least.
  
  Fink then announces Stacy Keibler to a huge pop, she dances her pretty little ass to the ring and pumps up the crowd on the mic. She then asks if we want to see her dance, another big cheer and she begins to dance to her music. This is cut short by Eric Bischoff and Johnny Nitro making their way to the ring. They receive major heat and Bischoff tells her to stop. He then announces that the match between Jericho and Tomko will be No DQ, decent sized pop for that. Nitro and Bischoff gab on about how great they are before Eugene makes another appearance, I've no idea why he isn't wrestling at all tonight? Great reception for Eugene again, he jumps in the ring quickly followed by William Regal. Eugene then starts to hug Eric, and Eric tells Regal to look after Eugene and make sure he doesn't go walk abouts, he then gets right into Regals face and begins to put him down. Huge chants of Regal here, then Regal snaps and grabs Bischoff. Eugene hits a nice Samoan Roll-through on Nitro to put him down, things then calm down as Eugene and Regal leave.
  
  Nitro then kicks off again saying that Regal was one of the best wrestlers to come out of England, this gets a huge reaction from the fans and Regal gets back in the ring. Nitro attacks from behind and lays in the boot. Fans get behind Regal as he begins to mount offense. Regal pulls off his jacket and nails Nitro to the ground with a big right hand to end a great segment.
  
  Triple H vs. Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels
  
  This is the main event for most people here, as these to get massive reactions from the fans. Triple H comes out first to a big ovation, as the biggest heel in the business you wouldn't know it from this reaction. I think its down to the fact that he is the big player and no matter if he his heel or face he will get a good reaction. HBK then makes his entrance to the biggest pop of the night easily. These two really worked the crowd as they came out. I've got to say seeing HHH in the flesh really shows how fat he really is getting. HBK although his best days have gone, shows he still puts in 100%. This was the best and longest match of the night, which I expected as they work together so well. They wrestled, they power struggled, they fought in and outside the ring. Triple H launches Shawn into the ring post on the outside and then onto the steel steps. Back in the ring HBK was busted up! On a House Show?!?! I never saw that coming. Back and forth they go and then its Triple H's turn to meet the ring steps, he then does a super quick blade job and he starts bleeding. Triple H's cut seemed to get worse whereas HBK's seemed to clear up quite fast. HHH attempted a pedigree outside the ring and then back in it. HBK missed with a superkick which the fans really got into, then finally Shawn hits it on the second attempt. Then comes the controversy? HHH gets covered with the ref counting 2, he gets a shoulder up very late but the ref hits 3 and the bell rings. Shawn is awarded the victory but I'm not sure how the end was supposed to be like that or not. Either way this was the highlight of the night, a great match by two of the best ever workers in the business.
  
  Winner: Shawn Michaels
  
  Fink then calls for an intermission, but announces more UK dates in October, the fans didn't like that none of the dates were in Manchester though. He plugs the merchandise stands and then gives us the main event, Chris Benoit vs. Kane for the title.
  
  -Intermission-
  
  No Disqualification: Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko with Trish Stratus
  
  As mentioned by Bischoff this is No DQ, but did that make any difference? No! This match was quite bad, and if it wasn't for Jericho it could have been the worst of the night. Tomko and Trish come out first and Trish gets on the mic saying that they put Y2J through a table on RAW. She then goes on about being called abusive things by the fans and then builds up a slut chant. Jericho comes out with the usual blow your face of pyro, me being sat 20 feet away from the pyro I can really confirm that! Tomko has been put in these House shows for obvious reasons, and it shows this guy really needs a lot of work because he is very touch and go. There was a couple of weak spots in this, a missed drop kick, a couple of stop short clotheslines and boots to the face. The only high spot was Jerichos walls which were blocked and the missed chair shot into an ensiguri for the win by Jericho. Jericho seemed to limp back to the locker room. Not the best showcase for Jericho really, he needs another big push because the guy can wrestle and he's one of the best on the mic. During the match Tomko seemed to injure Jerichos arm.
  
  Winner: Chris Jericho
  
  Ric Flair vs. Edge
  
  Edge made his entrance first here, a big pop to welcome the Canadian to the UK. This was a real highlight, all night long Whooos! could be heard, from the moment we qued to get in, to walking through Manchester after we left the arena. Everyone still loves Ric Flair. Whoos galore when he came out and 2 nice big Whoo signs in the crowd. Ric slowly walked to the ring taking in all the energy from the crowd. It was slow to start as expected but watching Ric Flair is always great! Sure he's past his best everyone knows that but for my money he's the best wrestler that's every lived and it shows even today. Almost straight into the match Edge got on the mic and said that he was sick of crowds like us "Whoo-ing" all the time, he called us a bunch of British bastards and got booed for the rest of the match. Maybe this is a testing ground for a later heel turn? For his age Ric put on a great match with Edge, they worked all round the ring and did the typical routine, strut, top rope, big over body slams. Including one really high one that Ric nearly landed on his head and almost hit the ref. Ric Flair went for a sunset flip, but when Edge blocked it, Ric pulled Edge's tights, revealing his backside. Edge wrestled the rest of the match with his tights pulled down. Ric kicked out of a spear, but eventually locked on the figure 4 to everyone's delight. Edge tapped, match over. Great action from the master, it made my night!
  
  Winner: Ric Flair
  
  Triple Threat Match for the WWE Woman's Championship: Victoria vs. Lita vs. Molly Holly
  
  I couldn't care much for this match, I find it hard to get into a decent woman's match in the WWE. Even so both Victoria and Lita received good pops and Molly got some interesting abuse from the fans. My personal favorite was "Baldilocks and the three hairs". Typical woman's match, typical triple threat match really. I hate triple threats these days were you rarely see 2 on 1 because the third competitor spends half the match outside the ring. The match was the shortest of the night with Victoria retaining with the Widows Peak on Molly Holly. Lita walked backstage clutching her elbow. During this match we could see Shelton Benjamin taking an interest as he looked on from the curtain.
  Winner: Victoria.
  
  World Championship Match: Chris Benoit vs. Kane
  
  Kane came out first to a big pop like most of the superstars, mainly because you don't get much wrestling over here of this level. He had some nice warm pyro too as usual. Then it was the man himself, Benoit, I'm so pleased for the man although he didn't receive as big of a cheer as HHH, HBK or Flair, but I'm glad he gets main event. He got on the mic and pumped up the crowd some before saying that Kane wont get the title from him. The match was slower than you'd expect from Benoit simply because of Kanes size. Most of the match was back and forth until Benoit finally nailed Kane with the diving headbutt only for Kane to sit up! Chris drop kicked Kane back down and hit another diving head butt. The fans enjoyed those with plenty of camera flashes in the crowd. Benoit hit three rough German suplexes, (rough because of Kanes size) before reversing the Chokeslam into the Crossface for the eventual tap out! Good match from Benoit considering the size of Kane, it will take a decent amount of planning to perform a good quality match between these two at the PPV. During this match Dean Malenko was watching, whilst trying to keep a low profile, wearing a baseball cap.
  
  Winner: Chris Benoit
  
  Following the match Benoit got on the mic and said that Kane had joined and elite club called the "You tapped out" club. That then got the crowd chanting some more before Benoit made his way to the back. Just before he walked through the curtain he saluted all the fans in my section, who all went nuts for him chanting and punching the air. Great stuff. Finally Fink got on the mic and wished us all well, plugged the up coming events one last time before leaving down the aisle himself.
  
  Notes:
  
  - Most of the superstars received a pop, which would either turn to boos or would die down. (HHH, Kane and Randy Orton)
  - Matt Hardy should of wrestled a smaller opponent
  - Hurricane and Rosey are performing better, although they are probably not over on TV like they are live
  - La Resistance received tons of heat
  - Rhyno/Cade match never got going
  - Eric Bischoff got plenty of heat too, and some asshole chants
  - Regal got massive support, as did Eugene
  - HHH/HBK was the highlight of the night
  - Shawn Michaels music over ran
  - Tyson Tomko needs to goto wrestling school, he was carried by Jericho
  - Ric Flair wrestled well, Edge turned heel
  - Woman's match was far too short
  - Benoit came out to Shelton Benjamin's music, which lasted for all of 2 seconds before Benoits music was played
  - Kane/Benoit match will need work for Badd Blood
  - Dean Malenko, Sergeant Slaughter, Fit Finlay, Tom Pritchard's son whose name escapes me and Earl Hebner were all present
  - Off the 3 WWE House Shows I've attended this was easily the best, the other two were Manchester April 1998 and Sheffield 1999/2000 (cant be too sure)
  
  Biggest Pops:
  1. Shawn Michaels
  2. Ric Flair
  3. Triple H
  4. William Regal
  5. Chris Benoit
  
  Biggest Heat:
  1. Eric Bischoff
  2. La Resistance
  3. Edge
  4. Batista
  5. Trish Stratus
  

  
  

  
  
  

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