WWE Smackdown live event
Shanghai, China
Report by Garron Chiu and ProWrestling.net
I traveled all the way to Shanghai from Hong Kong to watch my first live show, so i was really excited especially since it was my first love event, and i missed out on two Raws when i was living in Boston. Pretty packed house in Shanghai, about 25 percent taped off (behind entrance ramp and nosebleeds opposite entrance). I came into this expecting weird crowd reactions. My friends Craig, Phil, and my dad had seats by the entrance ramp which made for good photos.
There were a lot of John Cena shirts. They’d be disappointed that he’s not here. Daniel Bryan was way over. There was a whole section of Bryan fans with yes signs. I was a little disappointed in two things: no pyro at all (don’t know if this is normal for house shows) and the security guards kept telling people to sit down during the matches. People always stood for the good spots but security kept yelling at the crowd. Buying shirts was a mess. People in Shanghai don’t like to line up for things.
1. Justin Gabrielle beat Jack Swagger. Long match. Justin was over, Swagger not so much. Gabrielle won with the 450 splash in about ten minutes. An oddly slow paced match.
2. Yoshi Tatsu beat Jinder Mahal. Jinder Mahal came out and did a promo in Punjabi and English, challenging anyone from the back before Yoshi Tatsu came out. Quiet crowd. Dead most of the match. Yoshi won with his finisher, though he might have hurt his arm. The ref was checking on him a lot after the match.
3. Wade Barrett beat Ted DiBiase. A loud “welcome back” chant started and Barrett shushed everyone. Huge pops for DiBiase’s t-shirt when he teased throwing it into the crowd. A very good match with Barrett using a new finisher, which looked something like a swinging Rock Bottom as he catches a guy running into him. Definitely better than the Wasteland.
4. Kelly Kelly over Natalya. Huge pops for Kelly’s entrance. A snoozefest except for Natalya’s heel antics which were pretty funny. Kelly won with the leg drop in about five minutes.
5. Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, and Zack Ryder beat Primo, Epico, and John Laurinaitis. Epico and Primo are apparently heels again, and Orton got the pop of the night. Huge pops for all the faces throughout the match. The brawl ended in Johnny taking all the finishers with Orton pinning him after a 619 into an RKO. The faces stayed a while after the match to pose for pictures and sign autographs into the intermission. Orton also got everyone into a Ryder chant and held up his arm for the crowd. When they were leaving, a guy hopped the rails and ran towards Orton. He was tackled by security. Orton brushed his shoulders and smiled more for the crowd.
6. Koffi Kingston beat Daniel Bryan. Bryan was way over, with both pops and heat. He teased leaving the ring when the crowd started A.J. chants. They both played to the crowd great with the “yes/no” chants. This was easily the match of the night lasting over 20 minutes with Koffi winning clean.
7. Santino defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the U.S. Title. Cody came out and gave a really good promo on how he was the Royal Rumble MVP. He even thrrew in some Mandarin at the end (I couldn’t hear all of it but i believe it was “I’m not scared of the Cobra). The crowd loved Santino’s comedy act, and he won with the Cobra.
8. Sheamus defeated Kane, Alberto Del Rio, and Big Show in a Fatal Four Way to retain the World Hvt. Championship. Sheamus won with the Brouge Kick on Del Rio in a very good match with a lot of good near falls. it lasted about 15 minutes. Del Rio was particularly good in the match.
Notes: Overall, this was a very good show and I advise everyone to go out of their way to watch a house show if they like longer matches, with the wrestlers clearly playing more toward the crowd.
