Thanks to W DS for sending in the following:
I attended the Raw house show last night in Belfast, Northern Ireland and here is a more detailed report of the event with photo's included!
First off the arena wasn't sold out as there were a lot of empty seats and the seating behind the stage was completely empty which I have never seen in Belfast for show. It is possible this is due to the fact Cena, Punk or Bryan were not on the show.
Santino Marella defeated Fandango (With Summer Rae)
This was a comedy match with some entertaining moments. Santino won the match after hitting the Cobra on Fandango. After the match Summer Rae entered the ring and started yelling at Santino which made Santino kiss her.
Los Matadores (With El Torito) defeated The Real Americans (With Zeb Colter)
Before the match begun Zeb cut a promo on how Belfast is known for absolutely nothing and how they were in the country legally. The match itself was very entertaining with some comedy moments such as Los Matadores using The Real Americans "We the people" cape as a bull cape. After seeing some high flying moves and dives from Los Matadores the match consisted of one of the Los Matadores members getting dominated by Cesaro and Swagger in which we also seen the Cesaro Swing. After getting the hot tag Los Matadores hit their finisher on Swagger for the win. After the match Cesaro and Swagger pulled Los Matadores out of the ring leaving El Torito in the ring with Cesaro, Swagger & Zeb Colter until Los Matadores made the save.
Natalya defeated Aksana
Without a doubt the worst match of the night! This match was originally supposed to be AJ vs Natalya until 2 days ago when WWE decided to replace AJ with Aksana which sucked! Anyway all this match seen was Aksana dominating Natalya which got Aksana a lot of "You can't wrestle" and where I was sitting some "F-C-DUB". Out of no where Natalya got the Sharpshooter on Aksana which ended the match much to the crowds delight!
Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz
The biggest shock of the night whenever Miz came out first to a lot of "You are awesome" chants until he got on the mic and cut a heel promo! He basically said we cheer him at first but whenever his opponent makes their way down to the ring we cheer them and boo The Miz. He went on to say we have been cheering for the past few months whenever he got beat up in his hometown by Orton, whenver he got beat up by the Wyatt Family and whenever he got chokeslammed by Kane. Miz continued his heel promo by yelling at a fan at ringside as he was calling him fat. If you have seen any of his interviews from the WWE App or interviews lately it is very similar to that. (I actually tweeted this to Justin LaBar during the actual match telling him what Miz did and he posted the article up on Wrestlezone. ) Expect an official heel turn on Raw next week. The match itself lasted close to 25/30 minutes was the best wrestling match of the night with a lot of false finishes. Miz worked Kofi's leg during the match to set up the Figure Four which Kofi eventually broke out of. Soon later Kofi hit Trouble & Paradise for the win. After Kofi left ringside, Miz sat on the apron listening to the fans boo him.
Cody Rhodes, Goldust & Big E defeated The Shield
Very good match. Very similar to the Rhodes Family past matches with The Shield on TV were Shield dominate until we see a fast paced ending. We got to see Big E & Roman Reigns have a test of strength at the start of the match which Big E won. The match consisted of The Shield dominating Goldust until Big E got the hot tag and. Cody got the pinfall on Seth Rollins after hitting Cross Rhodes. As soon as the match ended The Shield jumped him from behind until Goldust scared The Shield off with a steel chair. On a sidenote The Shields entrance is awesome in person!
Intermission
Wade Barrett defeated Zack Ryder
Not a lot to say about this match to be honest. Barrett dominated the match until Ryder started to make a comeback until he got hit with The Bullhammer. Barrett had a lot of heat from the fans during this match.
Damien Sandow defeated Dolph Ziggler
Before the show started we were told to vote if this match would be NO DQ or 2 out of 3 Falls. No DQ won the vote. Damien Sandow cut a promo on how he was the uncrowned World Champion and that the people in Belfasts opinion did not matter. The match itself was without a doubt the best match of the night as we seen Kendo Sticks, Chairs, Steel Steps, Tables and there was even a spot near the beginning were Sandow took a canvas drawing of Ziggler off a fan and smashed it over Dolphs head. Sandow dominated most of the match it took Dolph over 10 minutes to get an opportunity to take his shirt off! The match seen both Sandow & Ziggler get opportunities to hit the other several times with the kendo stick. Sandow set the table up in the corner which he ended up going through minutes later after he tried to barge Dolph through the table with a steel chair only for Dolph to move out of the way. Another match with a lot of false finishes. Sandow won after hitting his new Full Nelson Slam finisher on Dolph. The crowd seemed very shocked to see Sandow win this match.
Big Show defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship via DQ
A lot of annoyed fans whenever Big Show's music hit instead of Daniel Bryans! The match itself was nothing special as Orton stalled by running away from Big Show for the first 5 minutes. After getting Big Show down Orton made sure to keep him on the mat. After dodging an RKO Big Show then started to make a comeback just as he was going to hit his KO punch on Orton, The Shield interfered. After beating Big Show down, The Shield were going to Triple Powerbomb them until Big Show reversed and gave Roman Reigns a chokeslam and giving Ambrose & Rollins a Double Chokeslam. Orton then hit Big Show with the WWE Title which he tried to do for a second time until Big Show hit the KO Punch. The show ended with Orton posing with the title in the ring (after Big Show left) to get himself some heat from the crowd.
Overall
This was a very good show for a weak card. Bryan & AJ were advertised until 1 day before the show which disappointed a lot of fans. As well WWE advertised Cena vs Del Rio for the Dublin show the next night making some fans believe it was happening in Belfast also. WWE returns to Belfast on the 21st of May 2014 and will be in Dublin in the 22nd of May. Justin Roberts pointed out that Finlays mother was in the crowd. Worth noting that the Total Divas theme song is now the WWE houseshow theme song also. Should be a good a European tour for anyone that is going to a WWE show during this tour!
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @WDSWWE
Photo's can be found at
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=F9D3C78C53AA2054&id=F9D3C78C53AA2054!109
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.
