WWE House Show Results - Newcastle, England 08/11/11

Metro Radio Arena didn't look full. Taping off of the higher sections. Lots and lots and lots of kids in attendance with their parents and from those wearing wrestling shirts it was 50% Cena shirts, 40% Punk shirts and 10% older ones (such as Austin & DX) for the older crowd. Though that 18-34 crowd has definitely weakened in numbers lately. 1) Santino Marella def. David Otunga in the opener. Mostly a comedy match. Marella won with the Cobra. 2) Mason Ryan def. Curt Hawkins - Total squash match with Hawkins getting in no offense. Ryan is ungodly huge in person and was somewhat over with the crowd with being from the UK but nothing like you would have expected. 3) Alex Riley def. Michael McGullicutty - Totally boring. Crowd were dead for it. 4) WWE U.S. Title Match Dolph Ziggler (c) def. John Morrison & Drew McIntyre - First good match of the night. Ziggler won with his superkick out of nowhere. Was somewhat of a strange match as all three wrestlers were over with the crowd which made for an interesting atmosphere. Ziggler had a vocal set of fans, mostly in a section of the front row who he told 'I don't need your admiration. Ziggler cut a promo on how perfect he was, the best in the company on the mic, in the ring, in sports entertainment and for 'flicking his hair back'. McIntyre was half cheered for being Scottish but was playing mostly a heel role. Morrison was over for being Morrison but good God are his punches horrible up close. A post-match attempted beat-down on Morrison back fired from Ziggler and Morrison got his heat back after defeat. The Bella Twins then came out for a dance contest to see who would get to go backstage. Four of the fans got into the ring.They asked them where they all came from, one poor young woman said she was from 'Sunderland' which meant she had no chance of winning as it was a crowd voting contest. The little kid won the dance off, deservedly, after a great attempt at break-dancing. He got the biggest pop of the night. INTERVAL (endless plugging of merchandise and more events from WWE, plus upcoming Survivor Series and WWE 12) 5) WWE Woman's Title Beth Phoenix def. Eve Torres - Champion defended with her glam slam. Beth worked the crowd real well and made it into a good match. Went surprisingly long. Kelly Kelly came down to save Eve from a post-Beth beat down. 6) John Cena, Zack Ryder & Kofi Kingston def. The Miz, R-Truth & KEVIN NASH! Special ref: Mick Foley (HUGE reaction for Foley, he plugged his stand-up in Newcastle on Friday and was happy to be back in the WWE) Crowd were hot for Cena, obviously, though is entrance pop was nearly matched by Zack Ryder. Neither of them got much of a reaction when they were in the ring except the odd Cena chant. I don't know if it was the crowd that was present but nobody seemed to give a damn about Nash. He was tagged into the match twice and his contribution was a big boot and sidewalk slam to Kingston, knee's into the corner, his running clothesline to the turnbuckle (though he got no momentum as he was barely mobile in the ring) and then later a botched big boot to stop the Attitude Adjustment. Nash took two bumps in the match and didn't look comfortable taking either. Finish came with the Attitude Adjustment. WWE Title Match CM Punk def. Alberto Del Rio by DQ Same finish I believe they have been doing at house shows all over the country. Great, great match... CM Punk was over big style and the crowd were more into his match (perhaps because it was a singles contest?) more than they were Cena's. Regular chants from kids too. Funny moment before the match when Punk took off his short threw it to a girl in the front row who was wearing a Cena shirt and Punk wasn't going to start the match until she put the Punk shirt over her Cena one. She eventually did... really fun moment. Both guys put on a great show, though Punk was the master of working the crowd. He also did a really cool Macho Man elbow drop that got a reaction from the older crowd. Post-match beatdown from The Miz & R-Truth on Punk brought out Cena, Foley and even Eve Torres (?) for the save. Foley did his Mr. Socko bit on Ziggler and then they posed to the crowd for the finish. BIGGEST POPS 1. The kid who won the dance contest. 2. Mick Foley 3. John Cena's entrance Though by far biggest guy over during a match was CM Punk. BIGGEST BOOS 1. R-Truth's pre-match 'Newcastle sucks' rap. Obviously, as it would. 2. The Miz in-ring 3. Alberto Del Rio 4. David Otunga in the opener too is worth a mention but probably because it was first match.