WWE in Cardiff - review...

Here’s my review of last night’s WWE house show in Cardiff, as seen by me, 5 rows back from the front.

The last WWE show I saw was in April, when I had nothing but praise for the WWE, and the performers. All of the big names put in an appearance (bar the injured Mysterio), no-one phoned it in, and I had a cracking night. And to my surprise and pleasure, the same happened last night.

Triple H defended his title against Kozlov, and won by DQ. All I’ll say is that the editing that the Russian gets on Smackdown is incredibly favourable, put bluntly, he’s fucking useless. To give Trips credit (which, rather worryingly seems to be something I’m doing quite a bit recently), he sold all of Kozlov’s fuck ups as devastating blows, and won after Kozlov ‘missed’ him with a microphone shot.. To finish the match, Trips nailed the Russian with a Pedigree, then left the ring, posing for photos and autographing every Trips sign he could see. He was the only superstar to sign anything, incidentally.

This wasn’t the main event, that went to the No DQ match between the Big Show and Undertaker. Any fan can see the Show was absolutely bugger all by way of stamina, so the fact this match went about 10 minutes was pretty mind-blowing. Halfway through, some little Welsh kid sat behind me tried to encourage the Taker to ‘get a ladder, climb it and elbow him!’, which as awesome as that would have been, sadly didn’t happen. Taker won by submission with the gogoplata, to the surprise of no-one.

The rest of the show was pretty good too. The Hardys opened the show against MVP and Mark Henry, not only the Worlds Strongest Man, but also the World’s Sweatiest Man. Seriously, you could have swum in that ring by the time he left it. MVP was pinned by Jeff, so still no win bonus for the former armed robber. Also have tpo say, Jeff’s Swanton Bomb in real life is very impressive. Kendrick beat Kung Fu-Naki, Ezekiel Jackson is an absolute fucking beast of a man. He glared at me for yelling something at Kendrick, and I automatically slunk behind my good lady and pushed her in front of me. I tell you, Shawn Michaels has nothing on me…

The major disappointment for me was in April, I got to see a Diva’s Bikini Contest, featuring the delights of Kelly Kelly, and in a previous review on another forum (can’t remember if it was Saqib’s or Heelboard) commented that the view of Kelly Kelly in a tiny bikini had been stored in the wank-bank. Tragically, this time, they made the Diva’s wrestle, so I had the task of watching Maria and Michelle taking on Maryse and Natalya in a tag contest. I realised a couple of things during this match: 1) By the amount of hair coming out, they must spend a sodding fortune on hair extensions, 2) Maryse is undoubtedly the fittest woman I have ever seen in my life (I can say this as the woman I’m marrying in 5 months time isn’t likely to read this), 3) Maria has a perfect arse. In the course of the match, McCool threw Maryse into the corner, mounted the ropes and did the 10 punches as the crowd counts thing. Maria lead the crowd and got as high as 7, which certainly proved my theory on the intelligence of Divas wrong. I don’t know if she stopped there as she doesn’t know what number comes next, but a round of applause for trying.

Khali also featured, the opponent taking his life in his hands was Ryan Braddock, in a short nothing match. Khali did get one hell of a reception though, so maybe the Punjabi Playboy thing is starting to work. Who knew? Although, it did happen in Wales, so how much notice you take of that is your own choice…

Finlay and Hornswoggle did the same routine I reckon they do on every house show, a clean win over Jack Swagger (who did nothing for me, just another generic heel), then called a load of kids in the ring to do some stupid jumping competition. This was only memorable for some kid managing to body slam himself (to a standing ovation, although even now I’m mystified as to how he did this), and the guy who was ther in April dressed as the Undertaker being called into the ring to take part. He wasn’t sure whether to look chuffed to be in the ring, or well pissed off that his whole Undertaker, scary, evil, big bad dude persona had just been shat on by a dwarf.

However, despite me marking out (again) as soon as taker’s music kicked in, or even growing to ‘not mind Trips all that much’, admiring a Swanton Bomb, the match of the night was between Primo & Carlito and Morrison and The Miz. As in April, Miz and Morrison stole the show. The Miz plays his complete twat character brilliantly, Morrison is an excellent heel and has thew in-ring skills to be more deserving of a singles role higher on the card. Carlito was the biggest disappointment, it was the first time I’ve seen him live, and he just looked completely disinterested. On the other hand, Primo looked fired up, and on last night’s evidence, certainly the more talented of the two.

So, all in all, it was a damned good night. It matched up to April’s show, had the added bonus of not having Batista on the card, all the available big names appeared, and with the exception of Carlito, did their best to entertain. Move of the night was the Taker’s DDT on big Show which was picture perfect (and had me worried about the Big Show’s spinal cord for a few seconds), and was definitely worth going.

Even to Wales.

Top review Grecian, I assume Kozlov gets the Kennedy treatment when it comes to editing, he'll be found out when he goes live.

and yeah, Maryse is unbelievably hot.

How much was the tickets?

Good review, good read, has convinced me enough to go and see a house show at some point, i turned down buying tickets to RAW tommorow tho, kinda regret it now its coming round because ive never seen WWE live, just wasnt convinced at the time it would be worth the money. Maybe next year tho...

I dont no anybody that would wanna go, im a 'secret' wrestling fan lol, i dont think my mates would ever drop it if they found out i liked it, although amazingly when alcohol is flowing it always seems to come up into conversation

Cheers, guys...

Baz, ticket was £55 (can't remember if that invloved a booking fee or not). The problem with Cardiff is that it's £55 a aticket, regardless of where you sit. April, I was quite a way back, this time 5 rows back for the same price.

Cal, it kinda sounds like all your mates are closet fans too, if it only comes up when you're pissed...

£55 per ticket??

Nice read, was gonna go to a Raw show with a mate myself this month, fell through, but one day lol...

Ticket's woulda been, from £30 to £90 I beleive at Shef Arena, if I remember right...

Yup, £55...

That's shocking you can get two tickets for United for just a few notes more.

Yeah, but you don't get the entertainment at United...

Pffit, watching Gary Neville trying to shoot is all the entertainment I can handle.

Feel sorry for all the parents who had to pay for themselves and their kids, must of cost a fortune, I can understand(JUST) £55 for a TV taping, but for a house show?? hell no, lol

Good review and good read. What was the atmosphere like? Was it full of die hard wrestling fans or kiddies? And what did you say to Kendrick that made Ezekiel give you "the stare" lol?

nice review

good read that.

you should review how shit raw tonight is compared to it lol.

(no k kwick rapping out of time through the arena, id have been miffed)

The atmosphere was pretty good, there were a load of kids, but enough fans like me to counter them. The whole 'duelling chants' thing got going a few times, in the Shelton / R-Truth match mostly. Kids yelling for R-Truth, me and the rest of the grown male audience cheering for Shelton.

For the 'Ezekiel stare', I yelled something along the lines of 'Paul London is better than you' during a lull in the crowd. he's a terrifying beast, I can tell you...

And R-Truth did try and rap for his intro, but all I got was that fuck awful 'Wassup?' thing that I thought went out with the Dudleys.

its class, cos its so out of time and his voice sounds like hes eaten a knife haha.

id probably mark out for r-truth, hes a face AND hes decent. id probably cheer for both men tbh, but not at a recording no no, all faces must be cheered, all heels booed, unless its batista. and obviously id boo edge whilst clapping and probably holding a sign lol.

hate it when smarks are heard booing faces when they have no idea and when there is no heat for heels. (unless its a home coming or they really are great/deserving)

"Paul London's better than you!"

And Sexton, you probably wouldn't be allowed in with a pro Edge sign. I've heard that security take away some people's signs and I doubt they would take away "DX rules" signs.

Oh yeah I forgot to ask, was Paul Burchill at the house show?

bazz23-v2 ®™ wrote:

Oh yeah I forgot to ask, was Paul Burchill at the house show?

On quite a few wrestling sites, they said that Paul and Katie Lea Burchill didn't even travel to the UK let alone perform at a house show, although we all know how dodgy those news sites can be.

That's fking shocking, bye bye Paul

No, he wasn't at the one I went to. Although I did see Smackdown, and not Raw. None of the reviews I've read elsewhere mention him at all either.

You can't beat a live show but I'm the same the reason I didn't go this time was the price. A little bit extreme but good report and I'm glad everyone that went had fun.