WWE Raw in Sheffield

I'd be meaning to get online and do a post all week since coming from the WWE Raw house show in Sheffield last Thursday. It was a fantastic day went with Andy and Paul and his son George, all of us massive, massive wrestling geeks...cough...erm I'm mean fans.

We got to Sheffield about half 12 in the afternoon and went to get hand bands to go the signing of superstars Jeff Hardy and Candice Michelle, we decided to join the back of the line (which was small at this point) and do it in shifts so none of us got to bored from waiting in the line. The signing was arranged for 3 but didn't begin until half 3ish, both where very friendly especially Candice who was a delight. I got a Great American Bash 2007 and Summerslam 2000 (signed only by Jeff- thanks to Andy for taking this up because we was only allowed one item per person) DVDs to add to my signed DVDs collection.

We all made our way to the arena, stopping at the kiosk where George spents loads on wrestling memorabilia, I'm a cheapo who didn't buy anything, we went to KFC for tea before arriving at the venue earlish where there was only something of a small line, we got among the first people and practically walked in one they started letting people in.

The matches where as follows:

Tony Chimmel was ring announcer, last time I was there it was Lillian Garcia, don't mind Chimmel. Would love if it was the Fink.

CODY RHODES vs CARLITO was two second generation or is it third generation I forget, got a good reception because it was the first match, Carlito bad mouthed English apples which made us all mad for some reason (Boooooooooooooooo, how dare you bad mouth our apples). A solid match if a little slow for an opener.

SUPER CRAZY vs SNITZKY, Crazy came out to a good reception considering he's jobbed out for ages, Snitzky got almost zero reponse, love Crazy wanted him to win, knew he wouldn't. Snitzky won in an almost squash, continued to beat him down, which brought out Hacksaw Jim Duggan for some reason for a farily big reception, Snitzky ended up beating him down after a while as well.

TOMMY DREAMER vs ELIJAH BURKE, I'm a big Dreamer fan and Burke's got the potential. Pretty good match ended with a nice DDT from Dreamer. Crowd where not massively into this. Too many kids I think.

THE MIZ vs BALLS MAHONEY. The Extreme Expose came down with Miz and sat at ringside. Not massive on either of these guys. I think The Miz won. Kelly Kelly cheered for Balls during the match I remember.

WILLIAM REGAL AND HARRY SMITH vs CADE AND MURDOCH: Strong match good reception for Regal and a top reception for Smith when Regal said he was the British Bulldog's son. Crowd including me where very behind Regal, they got the win by disqualifcation. Best match so far.

There was a short interval.

CANDICE MICHELLE vs BETH PHOENIX. Candice Michelle is the new Trish Stratus, there I said it, she like Stratus started as a diva with little to no wrestling talent and kept about because of there looks but both worked hard to learn the ropes and Michelle as come a long way since her debut. Beth Phoenix, whose an impressive wrestler won. On a note, last monday, Candice Michelle was injured quite badly on a live Raw back in the U.S. she'll be out for two months, get well soon Candice.

SANTINO MARELLA vs HARDCORE HOLLY. Santino is truly gold on the microphone, he was very funny and issued an open challenge to the back, out came Hardcore Holly to a good reception, went to get some beers cause I'm not a fan of either of these wrestling. Holly won in the end with an impressively brutal Alabama Slam.

MR. KENNEDY vs VAL VENIS. Kennedy got a good reception coming out, he is gold on the microphone and the crowd where eating out of his hands during his intro, Venis got a fairly good reception. Crowd seemed more behind Kennedy (who won).

JEFF HARDY AND TRIPLE H vs UMAGA AND RANDY ORTON. Orton and Umaga got sutiable heel heat, Jeff Hardy got a really strong ovation but Triple H's enterance blew the roof off of the building. Crowd where really into the match and there was some decent manoevers. Triple H ended the match with the Pedigree to send the fans home happy.

Overall, an enjoyable show to be at, had good company, lacking in star power compared to the last WWE show I attended alongside Triple H and Orton last time where Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, Edge, Batista, Shawn Michaels and he who shouldn't be named (aka Chris Benoit) where there. Overall a fantastic day out.