WWE Raw live event (Wilkes Barre, Pa.)
Report by Daniel Smeriglio and ProWrestling.net
Very loud crowd! If I were to guess I’d say there was about 6,000 to 7,000 people attending, which is a high number considering the arena holds about 10,000. It is also important to note that there were more here for tonight’s show than the Smackdown taping a few months ago! Go figure!
The show started at 7 p.m. with Justin Roberts welcoming us and the national anthem playing after he announced the 15-man battle royal with the winner facing Daniel Bryan later in the night.
1. Alex Riley won a battle royal to earn a U.S. Title match. The participants were Mark Henry, Husky Harris, Heath Slater, David Otunga, Michael Mcguilicuty, Justin Gabriel, zack Ryder, Primo, David Hart Smith, Tyson Kid, Alex riley, Yoshi Tatsu, William Regal, Kozlov, and one other person (the last Participant escapes me. I do apologize and even sitting ringside it was hard to see.)
A quick match. The definite crowd favorite was Mark Henry, about eight minutes in and the only remaining wrestlers were Alex Riley, Mark Henry and the Nexus. Mark Henry eliminated Riley (or so we thought) then took out all of Nexus and while attempting to eliminate Husky Harris, Riley, who managed to roll back in after being hung over the top and then hid outside, ran in and eliminated both Henry and Harris.
2. Vladimir Kozlov and Santino Marella defeated Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater to retain the WWE Tag Titles. Good back and forth action. Heath Slater did an amazing job of generating heat much to his credit. He was one of the biggest heat draws of the night! Santino had the crowd going nonstop and actually put on a great wrestling performance. Kozlov took a beating for awhile and Santino got the crowd firmly behind Kozlov. Santino came in and hit a combo of moves including the Santino Stunner. He hit Gabriel with the Cobra for the win. A good match that ran about 12 minutes long.
The GM sent a message to Justin Roberts via his cell announcing that Randy Orton will get his rematch with the Miz tonight. Roberts introduced Gail Kim, who did her WWE trivia to select a special guest time keeper for the upcoming match. So damn stupid and played out by now, but Gail is quite nice to see in person at least! Anyway, the mind numbing question was “What is the name of the next Pay Per View’!?! and of course some little kid got it right blah blah blah
