YRadio

The first thing I have to say before we get into this Is as much as I try to hide it, I've always liked wrestling. Well, actually I used to up until a certain point, the point being when cm punk started to question the direction it was heading. By It I mean of course mean the world wrestling entertainment (WWE) that entered the realm of PG do to all sorts of different reasons that let me to think that it wasn't as fun to watch as it once was. Gone are the days of the altitude era where Stone Cold Austin and The Rock were smacking each other with chairs and threw tables to try and win the battle of the TV ratings against World Championship Wrestling (WCW). So, when CM Punk made a speech saying that wrestling had become soft and predictable, it got people talking.

It also got casual fans like me to sit up and take notice. So after finding out that the RAW tour was touring the UK this November, YRadio and the game on presenters Steven Hesse and Scott Ireland took to the metro radio arena to see the WWE'stars in action on Tuesday 8th November!

As me and Scott sat waiting for the show to start, that at nearly 24 years of age that I was feeling too old to be there, mainly due to the fact that John Cena (the biggest draw commercially for WWE) fan base is mainly under 16 sporting his purple t shirts that have his catchphrase you can't see me written on. He is essentially the Justin Bieber of the WWE in that everybody under a certain age loves him and that everybody over about 18 hates him. That's why as I sat there wearing my newly bought cm punk-best in the world I realised that the crowd were cut in half, the CM punk crowd and the Cena crowd, the old fans versus the new. I'm just hoping that the CM punk crowds the one that goes home happy.

the announcer enters the ring and begins raw with the fireworks going off and introduces Santino marella, the Italian who is the comedy element of the show. I said as he was being introduced to Scott that Marella is a great wrestler, especially when he wrestled in his native Italy, but he is used as a kind of tolerable comic relief at the start of shows in WWE. His opponent David Utunga generated a lot of heat due to his involvement of the current storyline in which he is the lawyer of the rebelling wrestlers (long story). The match was an ok starting point as Santino worked the crowd well and mocking the huge muscles of David Utunga. The announcer then introduces Kirk Hawkins who I have to say I have never heard of but once you heard the music of Mason Ryan won comprehensively, showing his incredible explosive power that he has. He got good exposure when he was part of the now Defunt group the Nexus but got injured so it is nice to see him back consistently again. The next match was Mcgillacuty (another ex nexus member) and Alex riley, who got a lot of air time as The miz's apprentice when The Miz was champion. He got a very nice cheer and magillacuty was getting booed consistently, such as taking a fan sign Riley took from the crowd and ripping it in half. It definitely was the most evenly matched match on the card as after riley was losing for a good portion of the match riley recovers and uses his finishing move and wins. I really do think that Riley can get to the top if he can improve his gimmick as he is going along.

The next match was one of the most interesting matches, a triple threat match for the united states championship. The current champion Dolph Ziggler gets introduced and starts talking to the crowd about how great he is and how he was going to steal the show. One of the things you noticed about Dolph is he is very good on the mic, he really did make people want to shout at him. I have to say the reason I was mainly shouting at him is his on screen manager Vicky Guerrero was not at the show. (an absolute disgrace in my eyes). The next wrestler out was Drew Mcintyre from ayrs Scotland who got a great cheer . he is one of the wrestlers currently that WWE gets criticized for not using correctly and often enough because he is a really talented performer. The last wrestler in this triple threat was John Morrison, someone I was dying to see as he is such an innovator and entertainer. He was until one day ago on a long losing streak after coming back from a real serious neck injury he suffered 6 months ago. I was just hoping he was 100 per second and I got to say, his entrance has to be the coolest in WWE right now (bar maybe kofi Kingston, but ill mention that later). The match began with all the superstars trying to get the best chant from the crowd, with John Morrison clearly getting the most support. I really liked the exchanges in this match as the other two ganged up on Dolph at first then they kept alternating on who was fighting each other. drew showed his wrestling skills by doing some powerful moves while also taking some hits particularly from Morrison. I have to say WWE should shower Morrison with praise as he is definately the wrestler that takes the most hits. which you have to say is brave after the hideous neck injury he has had to recover from. The match ended with dolph running into the ring and retaining the title using his finisher the zigzag on morrison. As usual in house shows they pleased the fans by having dolph run in to try and hit Morrison with the belt, only for morrison to counter and set up his finisher starship pain.

the final part before the iterval involved the bella twins (scott and I were more interested than the two kids sitting next to us) who talked to the crowd and started a contest to meet a WWE superstar backstage. the 4 people chosen were a middle aged man two young ladies and a really small child around 5 maybe. the funniest part of the night had to be that one girl said she was from middlebrough and got booed, only for the girl after her to say she was from sunderland and got the girl from middlebrough off the hook. Obviously, the little boy won as he pretended to break dance so it was really nice way to end the first half.

after the interval, a divas championship match took place between beth phoenix and Eve Torres (to Scotts disappointment that it wasn't kelly kelly) that was a decent match, I think Eve Torres is underated as a performer and doesnt seem to get as much airtime as she used to. they were a lot of submission move in the match so it was quite slow at time but it ended well, with a lot of counters keeping the crowd interested. the match ended with Beth performing her very impressive finishing move. Scott did get his wish (a predicted this would happen) as kelly kelly comes out to save eve from beth, and gets a great cheer from the crowd. not a bad payday for 3 minutes work.

then comes the huge announcement everybody had been waiting for, Mick foley is the special guest referee for a 6 man tag team match. he comes on to his famous cactus jack music to which the two kids next to scott ask us who he is and I let out a long sigh. He repors with the crowd who start the chants of "Foley Foley" and announces he is now a stand up comedian and performing at the Journal Tyne theatre on friday the 11th (good luck to him I say). he is then interrupted by the miz and R-truth, who sing the you suck song and say Newcastle sucks. This then leads to the three exhancing words with Foley clearly on the crowds side. The miz then announces that he has 7 foots worth of back up and KEVIN NASH's music starts playing, to the shock of everyone. Zack Ryder then gets introduced (Im not his biggest fan) and then kofi kingston follows him and does his really cool entrance, complete with fireworks which pleased me greatly. Then the inevitable cheer and boos as John cena is introduced and enters the ring in his usual annoying swagger (he cant move like jagger thats for sure) cena begins the match then tags in Zack after cheers to do so, lots of back and forth action including each of the wrestlers fighting to get the best cheer. Cena then eventually gets tagged, does his usual vintage cena (I can see why pure wrestling fans hate him) and the match eventually ends with his attiitude ajustment on The Miz.

What I mean by pure wrestling fans no liking Cena is he seems to not have fans over 16 but the most annoying thing about cena for me is that he does the same move sets over and over again, really boring, no variety. WWE has to take some blame in not wanting to risk getting away from this super cena angle and actual start to make him lose matches. they are going that way with Smackdowns Randy Orton which has helped that brand so I dont get why they are so reluctant to try it. Anyway, the last match of the night was between cm punk and Alberto del rio, both getting responses in that cm punk got a huge cheer and Alberto got booed all the way through. I have to say that del rio, as much as I hate his mic skills and everything inbetween, he aint a bad wrestler: it certainly felt like an old school wrestling match in anyways. Del Rio's personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez was his usual comical self including manchester united in his announcement and tryingto help del rio win the match. He eventually got sent back by the referee much to the amusement of the fans. As I said earlier, WWE certaonly think about their house show which i find very pleasing by including british wrestlers and letting morrison do starship pain for example. Its something, having seen a live show for the first time, that they should be commended for as they could easily focus on dare I say it more important things like ratings and their two TV shows.

Cm punk ultimately wins by Disqualification meaning that Del Rio kept the title, which it usual considering title never get won at house shows. (a fact that I can never understand how some fans don't know that) CM punk winning means only one thing, a beat down by del rio, which leads to the heels to come out and the babyfaces Cena, zack ryder, eve torres and mick foley to come to CM Punks rescue. They all ended up performing their individual finishers on Ziggler which then led to all the Faces to talk to crowd. The common theme in house shows is in how the shows end. What I mean is that due to cena being the biggest name in WWE he always gets the last speech, even with mick Foley and CM Punk around, but it was great to hear and see everyone. Cena spent most of the speech slagging off the rock for not being here and that Cena is here soing the thing he loves ever single night. I gotta sat Im starting to find the whole thing shameful, Cena is trying to win an arguement he cant win and like most storylines its a biproduct of the truth and as you probably can tell I dont think the productivity that cena brings is fun and watchable. Lets see what happens at survivor series as I hope the Rock shows him up and that the older fans get something worth watching with Cena involved.

so to sum the evening up, I was surprised. Surprised in that the standard was fairly high, but also that it felt throughout the night that the WWE didnt hold back. In general the matches were entertaining and even in a house show It felt like we were cared about. It also was a night of history, Mick Foley entering a WWE ring fdor the first time in years and Kevin Nash back at the WWE for the first time in about 10 years. So even for that it was worth the price. I want to end this review on how the show ended though. CM punk was out for maybe 15 minutes after the show high fiving everyone, proving to everyone that he is the best out the ring and in the ring right now. In fact, he is best in world.

For those who are interested a fan video of the night is embedded below:

Overall YRadio Score

83%

November 8th 2011

Reviewed by: Steven Hesse

YRadio Rating System

• 0.5 Star = 0% - 10%
• 1 Star = 11% - 20%
• 1.5 Star = 21% - 30%
• 2 Star = 31% - 40%
• 2.5 Star = 41% - 50%
• 3 Star = 51% - 60%
• 3.5 Star = 61% - 70%
• 4 Star = 71% - 80%
• 4.5 Star = 81% - 90%
• 5 Star = 91% - 100%