Monday, July 11, 2011

Detailed WWE Smackdown House Show Report (7/10/11) - Johannesburg, South Africa

Below are detailed results from yesterday's WWE Smackdown house show from Johannesburg, South Africa:

-I attended the Smackdown Show on Sunday in The Dome in Johannesburg on Sunday. It wasnt a packed house, but was very near to it. There was a good vibe all round, and A LOT of Red John Cena caps, shirts and armbands.

* Ezekiel Jackson b. Wade Barrett via a powerslam in a very good opening match. It was for the Intercontinental Title. This match was much better that their Capitol Punishment bout.

* Ted DiBiase b. Cody Rhodes in a "grudge match" with a roll-up. Cody cut a promo before the match telling the crowd that this country is ugly and whatnot and everybody should wear the paper bags, as the bell-keeper handed them out. After the match Cody attacked Ted, hit a DDT and put a paper bag over his head.

* Jinder Mahal b. Daniel Bryan via Full Nelson Slam. Daniel had Jinder locked in the LeBell Lock, but Jinder reached the ropes and reversed another attack into the slam for the finish. Jinder cut a promo before the match telling the crowd he will be the next World Heavyweight Champion and he's the guy responsible for making The Great Khali a monster again, as well as some stuff in Indian or Punjab or whatever, which of course none of us understood!


* Kane b. Sheamus via Tombstone Piledriver. This was definitely the best match on the card. Great ring psychology, back and forth action etc. Sheamus hit Kane with the Brogue Kick, to which Kane kicked out. Kane hit a chokeslam and Sheamus also kicked out. As Sheamus went for Pale Justice, Kane reversed him into the Tombstone which gave him the victory.

* Natalya b. Alicia Fox. Nothing much to say here, typical short Divas match.

* Sin Cara b. Yoshi Tatsu with his version of the Swanton Bomb. It was a good match but still a bit sloppy. Sin Cara definitely can work and fly, but he nevertheless botched a move or two. Not a bad match though, as Yoshi also showed that he can move very well.

* Randy Orton, Big Show & Justin Gabriel b. Christian, Mark Henry and Alberto del Rio, with Bret Hart as ringside enforcer. There was a lot of showboating by the Heels to start the match. I now saw first-hand what a brilliant heel Christian is. His facial expressions and mannerisms alone made this match very enjoyable! As Justin started the match, a portion of the crowd on the side we were sitting were chanting "P.J. Black" as it was Justin's name while he was wrestling in South Africa. At one stage you could see Randy asking him why the people are chanting this, and when Justin told him, you could see Randy realised that. Randy also did a lot of crowd-psyching. The faces were standing in the corner in front of where we were sitting, so with Big Show there we couldn't really see so well! In any case, the match took a while to get underway with tests of strength and bantering to the crowd etc. The finish came when Mark tried to use a chair. Bret took it off him which distracted him long enough for Big Show to take care of him, with Justin taking care of Alberto del Rio on the outside. Randy "hulked up", hit a couple of clotheslines and then hit the RKO on Christian for the win to send the crowd home happy.

Overall it was a great show for me, as it was my first time attending a live WWE event. Sheamus and Kane really worked very hard, and gave a great match. I really hope that the WWE come back down to our country more often, despite the luggage-stealing episode, as I will definitely attend any future shows! It was great and we definitely got our money's worth!

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