WWE House Show Results 1.28.12 - Evansville, Indiana

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 01.29.2012

See what happened...

Credit: Jeffrey Rodgers & PWInsider

This was the first WWE event in the new Ford Center downtown. We made the 90-minute trip from Louisville so our daughter could attend her first WWE live event. We sat in the second row, behind where the announcers would normally sit. Here is my report:

The new house show set looks fantastic; it definitely adds to the atmosphere. The crowd was announced at 6,400 people, not too shabby for a house show. "Sign Guy" got the celebrity treatment, entertaining a never-ending parade of picture-takers and well-wishers before the event started. He carried his signs in a black garbage bag. Weird.

The show started at 7:30 p.m. with the Bella Twins announced as the guest ring announcers for the evening. They wore matching red dresses, which left little to the imagination.

(1) Sheamus beat Jinder Mahal. The crowd was hot for the Celtic Warrior...not so much for Jinder. It went a little longer than their standard Smackdown squash match, but the result was the same. Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick for the easy win.

Next up, one of the Bellas introduced the U.S. champion, Jack Swagger. He came out sans Vickie Guerrero and cut a promo about winning the Royal Rumble. He doesn't seem to be getting any better on the mic, as he still seems very awkward. A "We Want Ryder" chant broke out, prompting Mr. Swagger to inform the audience that Zack wasn't there (duh), but he would issue an open challenge to anyone in the back. R-Truth answered the call and got a decent little pop.

(2) R-Truth beat U.S. champion Jack Swagger in a non-title match. Swagger got more heat as the match wore on until Truth hit his finisher and picked up the victory. The referee handed him the belt and the crowd popped huge since they thought they were witnessing another impromptu house show title change. David Otunga walked out, though, and said it was a non-title match and ordered Truth to give Jack his belt back. After much consternation, Truth shoved it in Swagger's chest and left. By the way, if you ever attend an event where Truth is on the card and you're sitting in the first three rows, bring a poncho. I've never seen a man spit so much.

(3) Divas champion Beth Phoenix beat Eve to retain the Divas Title. It was interesting to see a Divas match longer than 90 seconds, and it wasn't half-bad. Eve hit her backflip thing and set up for the moonsault, but Beth knocked her off the top rope. Next up was a Glam Slam and victory for Beth. Sign Guy's sign for this match was, "I lost sleep last night, Beth snores." I guess she's over Punk.

The Bellas plugged some WWE cups and pointed out some Indiana National Guard members at ringside.

Santino came out next to a great reaction. Otunga appeared at the top of the ramp and informed the audience that Big Johnny himself had left Otunga in charge. Otunga called Santino WWE's bumbling buffoon and said he handpicked his opponent, Ryback. More specifically, he referred to him as the "Sin City Cyborg." No reaction whatsoever. Nobody really knew who he was.

(4) "Ryback" Skip Sheffield beat Santino. It was a glorified squash match. The crowd ate up Santino's comedy bits, though. Ryback got the pinfall after he hit some sort of modified backdrop. It was believeable enough as a finisher. The crowd was not impressed, though. He attempted to antagonize the crowd, but it doesn't seem he has the charisma to pull it off.

More merchandise shilling from NIkki and Brie led to a blackout. Chris Jericho's jacket then lit up and the crowd came to life. He did his usual "trolling the crowd" bit before Otunga came out and demanded he take his jacket off since it could give people seizures. Again, he invoked the name of Mr. Excitement, John Laurinaitis, who actually got a little pop! Otunga ordered him to take it off for a third time and Jericho finally obliged before putting Otunga in the Walls of Jericho. That was the third and final appearance for Otunga, none of which featured his coffee mug. Jericho then shushed the crowd and told everyone that tomorrow at the Royal Rumble, it would be "The end of the world as we know it." It was word for word what he said on Raw.

Wade Barrett was out next to huge boos, followed by Randy Orton to a monster ovation.

(5) Randy Orton beat Wade Barrett. Solid match, Randy hit his signature maneuvers, including an RKO for the clean pin. After the match, Randy went around the barrier and signed autographs for everybody who had something for him to sign. He signed my daughter's sign, which made her cry and made the whole trip worth it. Randy seemed genuinely appreciative of the fans. He was a class act.

The Bellas plugged the Royal Rumble, more merchandise, and the WWE movie, "The Reunion," before throwing out a few t-shirts leading to intermission.

Back from break, Cody Rhodes was introduced by one of the Bellas. Major heat for Cody, but there were some cheers, too. Cody cut a promo, calling it "Cody by the numbers," a play on the "Royal Rumble by the numbers" bit on WWE TV and demanded that the Bella re-introduce him as the winner of the 2012 Royal Rumble. She just dropped the mic instead. Out came Justin Gabriel to an okay reaction to face Rhodes in a match.

(6) Intercontinental champion Cody Rhodes beat Justin Gabriel to retain the IC Title. It was a nice match, with some good back and forth action. Cody interacted with the fans A LOT. He had them eating out of his hand. Like my wife said, he was born to do this. Very impressive. He hit Cross Rhodes for the pinfall.

Next up was the World Heavyweight Championship match. It was advertised as a triple threat between Big Show, Mark Henry, and Daniel Bryan, but Henry wasn't there due to his injury. Of note, Show is huge in-person and Daniel Bryan's schtick is actually pretty entertaining in-person, but it sure makes you want to see him get beat up.

(7) Big Show beat World Hvt. champion Daniel Bryan via DQ; Bryan retained the World Title. After a few minutes of Bryan mostly running away from Show and screaming "World Heavyweight Champion," Bryan attempted a top-rop move and ate a Knockout Punch on the landing. As Show went for the cover, Jinder Mahal and Wade Barrett came out and attacked him, causing the DQ. Show fought back and served up a double chokeslam for their troubles. Bryan lay "unconscious" for another few minutes before waking up in a frenzy and leaving with his belt.

The main event was John Cena vs. Kane. Cena got a pop on par with Orton's. It was 90 percent cheers, too, which was a bit surprising. Cena praised the Bellas (and kissed one of them) before telling us how great he was and how excited he was to be in Evansville. Yeah, I'm sure. Kane came out to pretty thunderous boos.

(8) John Cena beat Kane via DQ. This was probably the worst technical match of the night, but it was entertaining nonetheless. Kane took a chair to Cena's gut to earn a DQ, then hit a chokeslam for added emphasis. He walked to the top of the ramp, but stopped when Cena was declared the winner. He returned to the ring to take Cena's Attitude Adjustment, sending the kiddos home happy.

Afterwards, Cena invited the Bellas back in the ring to dance a little, and one of them did the worm. Cena then thanked the crowd and said they would be back and bring the television cameras next time for Monday Night Raw. Show over, with a running time of about two-and-a-half hours.

Notes: Notable absences included C.M. Punk, Dolph Ziggler, the Funkasaurus and The Miz. It was pretty well-known that Punk wouldn't be there, but Dolph was a surprise, especially since he tweeted a picture from Evansville. Miz was coming back from London, but I held out hope that he would show up and add a little "awesome" to the show. Overall, a great show and great value for the money. WWE puts on fantastic live events.