| Date: 08/05 | 12:22 AM |
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Both reports are from the www.WrestlingObserver.com website. August 3rd is from Huntington, West Virginia and was submitted by Jeff Bartram. The second report was uncredited but came from Manchester, New Hampshire on August 4th.
After being welcomed to the show by Justin Roberts, we all stood for the National Anthem and the show began.
First match saw Cody Rhodes (who recieved a nice ovation) defeat Davairi in a rather quick match. Crowd was solidly behind Rhodes.
Side note: Has Davairi been tested for steroids lately? The guy is huge compared to what he looked like the last time I saw him less than a year ago!
Hacksaw Jim Duggan comes out to a nice reaction along with a kid as his special guest manager that was chosen from the crowd and escorted backstage earlier in the show.
Hacksaw carried the 2x4 while the boy followed waving the flag. I'm sure this will be a night that this kid will never forget. Good stuff.
Hacksaw defeated Sylvan w/an unfamilar diva I can't remember the name of. Another quick match.
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch defeated the Highlanders in a pretty good match that was given a decent amount of time. Pretty good offense from the Highlanders throughout, but of course Cade and Murdoch retained the belts in the end.
During intermission, Justin Roberts advised everyone of the return of Mr. McMahon at this coming monday night Raw. The message here was that Vince was coming back to settle some scores or whatever, but nobody seemed to care and were not very receptive in terms of having to once again put up with him on television. I knew he couldn't stay away for very long. God help us! He also plugged Cena's movie "The Marine" for sale and that every copy was personally signed by John Cena.
Umaga defeated Santino Marella in the exact same match as we seen on Raw. Santino comes out first and blabbers on for what seemed to be forever regarding "my Maria" and crooked officiating. He compares the officiating to the NBA. Out comes Umaga to a mixed reaction (as was Santino when he came out as well) as he moves closer to being a babyface as was evident by the way he carried himself before the match by sorta playing to the crowd. I may be mistaken, but when they did the spot where Umaga runs across the ring to butt smash a helpless Santino sitting in the corner, it looked to be a little stiff and I firmly believe that Santino was shaken. Match ended with the Samoan Spike.
Candice Michelle defeated Jillian in a short match dominated by Candice who is really improving, but still kinda sloppy. Val Venis was the special guest ref for this match, and Jillian told him that she had something for him which at that point she began to sing to a chorus of boos.
King Booker defeated Jerry Lawler in a quick match that ended out of nowhere when Sharmell hit Lawler in the crotch allowing Booker to score the pin. Prior to the match, Booker comes out to inform everyone that Lawler did not show up. (which means he did show up in the wrestling world) Booker says that he did a little background search on Lawler and said that Lawler was a fake. At least he didn't do a criminal background check to bring up rape and domestic violence, but then again... who can forget Booker's mugshot on the Smoking Gun for robbing Wendy's? Booker said that Lawler held down his peers during his career. Booker then went on to say that Lawler's dad was nothing more than a dishwasher at IHOP. (I didn't even know they had IHOP back then.) Lawler's music hits and he comes out wearing street clothes and holding his crown to a great reaction. He says that Delta lost his luggage that carried his wrestling gear, so he had to stop by Wal-Mart to buy some clothes which got a huge pop from the crowd seeing that there's a Wal-Mart at every turn around here. Why wasn't his crown missing along with his wrestling gear? Guess he just carries it around wherever he goes. He tells Booker to NEVER talk about his father again and that he's dead, then Booker makes a remark to Lawler something in the lines of "your dead-ass daddy", and with that, Lawler starts throwing punches. Nothing at all to the match it'self, and the stage was used to simply further their feud that will lead up to the bigger match-up between the two. Lawler seemed very gracious and shook a lot of hands and even signed a few autographs before making his exit.
I thought we were going to make it through without a derogatory remark about West Virginia, but Booker changed that when he told the crowd that they were nothing but a bunch of rednecks and peasants.
Cena defeated Randy Orton with the FU in a near 30min match if I were guessing. Orton came out first to a superstar reaction with a the crowd split of about 70/30 boos/cheers. Either way...he brought out the emotions of every wrestling fan in the building. When Orton climbed upon the ropes in the corner for his trademark pose, the crowd went crazy with camera flashes lighting up the arena. Crowd is all pumped up doing the Cena chant as Orton patiently waits, and when Cena's music hit...August 03, 2007, the roof officially blew off of the BigSandy Superstore Arena! Everyone in the building were on their feet and the crowd noise (95% cheers) was deafening. Orton even had a genuine smirk on his face because of the reaction, and Cena was genuinely moved as this crowd of nearly 5,000 sounded like that of 20,000. West Virginia is definately Cena country.
Both guys worked really hard as if they were doing it on television. I can't comment on everything that transpired during their match because I was busy helping my wife take pictures, but it was what you would expect out of the two as if they were doing it on Raw. Cena plugged WV as a special place to him after the match I was told, (I left before this took place because of the potential of being tied up in traffic for 2 hours with everyone leaving at the same time) and he may say that to every town he wrestles in, but regardless he seemed genuinely happy and appreciative to be there.
Side note: handouts are usually given with a rundown of the card, but I didn't see any. A local paper had Flair and Khali listed, so I guess that was printed before they were drafted to Smackdown.
Jeff Hardy was listed as was Bobby Lashley, but of course we know the reasons regarding their absence. Everything seemed rushed with the exception of the Booker/Lawler pre-match stuff and the main event, but overall a good house show. Justin Roberts tells the crowd that they will return to Huntington in the very near future.
August 4th - uncredited:
* MVP vs. Matt Hardy: MVP said he had an injury and couldn't wrestle but he found someone for Hardy to take on which led to... Matt Hardy d. Finlay with the twist of fate.
* Mark Henry d. Eugene and Jimmy Yang.
* Chuck Palumbo d. Ryan O'Reily.
* Deuce/Domino d. Major Bros.
* Extreme Expose danced for a bit and then threw t-shirts.
* Big Daddy V d. Nunzio.
* Tommy Dreamer/Stevie Richards (O) d. John Morrison/ Kevin Thorne (X).
* Rey Mysterio d. Chavo Guerrero.
* Batista d. Khali by DQ.
* Kane/Batista d. Finlay/Khali.
Notes:
* Floor sold out and lower bowl roughly 2/3 full with the top section roped off.
* Hyped Mr. McMahon's return on Raw several times during show.
* Biggest Pops (in order) Rey, Batista and Matt Hardy.
* Biggest Heat (in order) Chavo, Khali & Finlay.