WWE RAW Live Event Results
September 5th, 2009 – St. Paul, MN
Report by Aaron Goff
1st match- Evan Bourne beat Chavo Guerrero with the shooting star press after a distraction from Hornswaggle. Really good match.
2nd match- Chris Masters beat Alex Riley with the masterlock. I think I am a knowledgeable wrestling fan, but even I did not know who Riley was and neither did most of the crowd. I assume he must have come from developmental in FC, House shows are a good place for new guys to get training in front of larger crowds, but some tv exposure could have really helped here. The crowd didn’t really care about Masters as he has pretty much been portrayed as a mid-card guy that is not involved in any programs right now and Riley has the WWE size and the same generic WWE hair cut and look that most of the guys from FCW have. Working against a mediocre worker like Masters does not allow him to show anything special and the crowd had little reaction to the match.
3rd match- Sheamus beat Santino Marella. Highlight was Santino making fun of Sheamus’ very whilte complexion. Sheamus dominated the match and Santino only have shorts bits of offense. Santino is not a bad worker if they give him a chance, but they are more content with him being the comic foil. It would be nice if they could keep his same character, but use some of his former character’s MMA gimmick to at least make his matches interesting.Sheamus won with his neckbreaker-backbreaker combo.
4th match- Gail Kim and Mickie James beat Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendez. I am not a fan of Diva matches but the crowd really got into this match as with the exception of Mendez, the other three were good workers and I think fans were happy to see people they recognized from tv after having no idea who Riley was and few have probably seen Sheamus since he is on ECW. James pinned Mendez after a Thesz press off the top rope.
5th match- Kofi Kingston beat MVP and The Miz in a US Title Match. The best match of the night as these three worked with well together. Kofi is really a popular character with fans and I hope they realize they got something in him.
6th match- Mark Henry beat Jack Swagger with the World’s Strongest Slam. Other than Swagger spending a lot of time working on Henry’s leg, nothing really special about this match.
7th match- HHH beat Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase in a handicap match. A lot of the match was spent with Legacy working over HHH. HHH eventually knocked Dibiase out of the ring and pinned Rhodes after the Pedigree. Legacy laid out HHH after the match.
8th match- John Cena won by DQ over WWE Champ Randy Orton. I know he gets a mixed reaction in other parts of the country, but here in St. Paul, Cena was over huge as a babyface. Minus the special effects and pyro, I think Orton’s average walk from the dressing room to the ring is longer than Undertaker. This was a great back and forth match as each man kicked out of each other’s finisher. Orton is a fantastic lead heel that knows how to get major heat. During the match he grabbed at least two fans’ signs and ripped them up after getting in their face. Orton was DQ’d when Legacy ran in for the save and then HHH ran in to save Cena. Orton left the ring as Cena gave Rhodes the Attitude Adjustment and HHH gave Dibiase the Pedigree. Show ended with Cena and HHH in the ring celebrating.
