Patrick J. Schmick and Pwinsider.com
The Bradley Center was pretty well attended, a Smackdown show about a year ago or so had the entire upper section tarped off, and part of the hard camera side. Monday night only about half of the upper section was tarped off, and most of the seats were filled.
Crowd reactions
Face pop:
1. John Cena
2. Randy Orton
3. Jerry "The King" Lawler
4. R-Truth....before he called us "Green Bay"
5. John Morrison
Heel heat:
1. Vickie Guerrero.....BY FAR
2. CM Punk
3. Nexxus
4. The Miz
5. Alberto Del Rio
The main event dark match after the show (Orton and Cena vs. CM Punk and Miz with Michael Cole as the referee) was a decent length match, with an injured Randy Orton coming to the ring mid match to make the save for Cena. CM Punk did a great job once again showing he's an amazing heel. His mannerisms during the match, playing up the crowd really got some heat.
I'm not sure how it came across on TV, but Cole was playing along with the crowd during the "Milwaukee" chant after R-Truth's error. The King mentioned Milwaukee later that night, as did Punk during a commercial, and Cena in his promo. Funny though, because Cena mentioning Pabst is a bit of a sore spot, since they left Milwaukee several years ago.
Overall a fun show, and the merchandise stands were busy before, during, and after the show
Credit: Gregory Davis and Pwinsider.com
Dark Match:
Percy Watson defeated Zach Ryder. The crowd was into Percy's theme and entrance, but the match was meh.
Superstars:
Scott Stanford and Josh Matthews with the call.
Natalya defeated Alicia Fox. This will open the show as it was preceded with the opening pyro display. A very long match, that unfortunately wasn't much of one. There were some impressive spots from both, but outside of those moments, the crowd didn't care. They did love the sharpshooter, which is how Natalya won.
The Great Khali defeated the Usos in a handicap match. Almost a squash. Head chops and Khali bombs for the win.
Raw:
Michael Cole was introduced as a two-time Slammy award winner, and came out holding the Slammy in the air. The King came out to a lot of cheers.
The Khali match was actually taped after the Raw live cut-in. This is why the ring wasn't shown as the Superstars gear was still in place.
When Vince came out, there was some scattered "We Want Sting" chants. It was actually hard to hear him, and folks in my section didn't really get what he was talking about.
When R-Truth came out, I jokingly said to myself that with all the talk about the Green Bay Packers, he would actually say he was in Green Bay. After he said it, most of the crowd turned on him. They wanted Mason to kill him.
During the commercial break of Del Rio's entrance, we were shown the closing minutes of the Rumble match, including Santino's near victory.
Once again, Vickie got the most booing of the evening. Everyone just hates her.
Before CM Punk came out on TV for the main event, he came out separately during the commercial break, and started doing a free style rap. It was mostly filled with "Yo", and saying he's from Chicago and loves the Bears. Obviously Cena responded with a rap supporting the Packers. Punk then said he had to go get ready and left, obviously to return when the cameras were back on.
Post-Raw:
The GM sent an email saying the main event tag of Cena/Orton vs. Punk/Miz was next. He said the good news was that the Nexus was banned from ringside, while the bad news was that Michael Cole was the referee. Punk cheap-shotted Cena, and then Miz came out. Orton did not come out until near the end, and even then it was slowly to play up the earlier attack. Cole was being the classic heel referee, purposely turning away when it benefited the Miz, posing with him in the corner, etc. When Cole refused to make the count, Orton and Cena stared him down, at which point Cole bailed out. Orton and Cena hit stereo RKOs and AAs, and another ref counted the three. They posed at all the corners and greeted the ringside fans to end the show.
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