Thanks to Michael Sullivan for sending in the following report:
Raw World Tour – 7/30/2010
Greetings from downtown Tallahassee, Florida! Tonight’s stop on the Raw World Tour is a house show from the Civic Center (I’d call it about 60% full, though I’m terrible at judging such things). If you’ve never been to a house show before, they’re not quite the same spectacle as a televised event. In this case, there’s not even a ramp, so obviously there’s no pyro nor a Titantron. On the positive side, no announce tables means no interruptions by “e-mails from the GM.” The interruptions themselves don’t bother me… but why do the lights always flicker when Michael Cole gets a new e-mail? Yes, I spend too much time thinking about such things.
In any case, Jamie Keyes (the NXT ring announcer) is going to be our emcee for tonight’s event. I’m pretty sure you could forge steel on her calves.
Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov are tonight’s curtain-jerkers, and they’re facing off against the Usos with Tamina. Jimmy and Jey actually got some pretty good heat from the crowd after they began walking to the ring (though nobody seemed to recognize their music when it hit). Tamina is wearing more clothing than normal – I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in jeans before. I also can’t help but notice she has approximately the same wingspan as Tayshaun Prince. The match itself was enjoyable; Santino is designed for house shows, and he can actually tell a pretty compelling story in the ring when he’s given more than a 30-second squash match to work with. The finish was sort of interesting, too. Tamina was on the apron complaining to the official, and Santino (in a daze, looking for the hot tag) wandered over and kissed her on the lips. Jey and Santino chased each other around the ring, while Kozlov hit his finisher on Jimmy for the clean pin.
Winners: Santino and Kozlov
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
