WWE House Show Results 12.28.11: Detroit, Michigan

From Chris Gabbard and Pwinsider.com:

The last time I attended a house show in East Lansing a couple years ago they didn’t have a set for the house show. The new set is basically a video board screen similar to what you see from the old school Madison Square Garden RAW or PPV with an X of lights and a WWE logo at the top of it. Each side had one small video screen for the superstars titan tron to be shown in addition to the arena’s video board. The backdrop of the video screen had the superstars name like it would on the titan tron at a RAW or SmackDown TV taping.

We opened with WWE videos promoting what all the company does and how they are TV PG – a nice video that runs down some “Did you know” facts about the company you see on RAW or SmackDown!. Tony Chimel is our ring announcer and we stand for the national anthem This lead to our opening match.

Ted DiBiase defeated Jinder Mahal with Dreamstreet – Ted was over with the crowd and put over the Troops from the National Guard in attendance first row during his match with Mahal and got the USA chants going. Afterwards Ted went to the troops hugged and slapped hands then exited. Another thing Tony Chimmel did was put over the troops for all that they do and the crowd stood up for those in attendance. Chimmel did this two to three times and it was well deserved though out the night. Good opening match and the crowd popped for DiBiase.

-Tony Chimel reads a statement about Randy Orton not being able to compete and gives the fans until 8:25 pm to get refunds. They said Wade Barrett would be force to fight tonight in a Street Fight against Sheamus. Lot of people were upset Randy Orton wasn’t going to compete tonight. At this point they didn’t tell you what the Main Event was until later in the evening. The Main Event would be a Triple Threat Steel Cage: World Heavyweight Championship Match with Daniel Bryan defending against Big Show and Mark Henry.

After Chimmel read the statement Wade Barrett came out and cut a promo saying Randy Orton would be out of actions for 6 months due to what he did to him. He doesn’t apologize for doing it.. Sheamus comes out and Barrett grabs the mic and says, “I am a bare knuckle champion. I can beat anyone in Detroit but it isn’t worth my time” and gives Sheamus a chance to opt out or Barrett wasn’t going to hold anything back. Sheamus stays so we have.

Sheamus defeated Wade Barrett in a Street Fight. They used a Singapore cane or kendo stick which ever you prefer and a steel chair as the main weapons. They brawled near my section but they were two rows over and because it was a house show and there was no camera for the building unless you were in that section or on the other side of the building you had no idea what was going on. The sprawled back into the ringside area. When Sheamus got the weapons Barrett on his knees pleading with the referee which he said he said he couldn’t do anything as Sheamus beat Barrett over with the Kendo Stick. Drew McIntyre ran in (a lot of people asking were asking who he was) giving Sheamus the Future Shock DDT for two count. Sheamus would take care of Drew McIntyre and then Barrett hit the Winds of Change (Boss Man Slam) for a two count. Sheamus would come back and hit the Brogue kick after he countered Wasteland and scored the pin on Barrett. I guess we have foreshadowing of what would happen after the Main Event with McIntyre.

The Intercontinental Championship Match between Cody Rhodes and Booker T was scheduled next but during Booker T’s entrance, much like TLC PPV, Cody Rhodes attacked Booker T before he could get to the ring. Cody took the mic and said the similar promo about Booker T saying this was a young man’s game and Cody says he is the youngest and that he will continue to do this all night. Cody Rhodes is a star and he has major heat all evening whenever he appeared.

Seth Rollins defeated Tyson Kidd with a combination of a power bomb into the turnbuckle where Kidd would fall to his knees afterwards and Rollins hitting a grounded superkick to Tyson Kidd to get the pin. This was a fun match that saw Kidd do a lot of his trademark moves. If you watch Superstars with him and you like Tyson Kidds matches you would’ve enjoyed this match. Seth Rollins got to showcase some of his moves which were unique. Fans really didn’t know who Rollins was and cheered for Kidd but he did gets some more cheers and after he won the crowd cheered for Rollins as he slapped hands with fans in the front row as he exited.

Justin Gabriel defeated Hunico with Camacho with the 450 splash. Hunico came to the ring with Camacho – a guy wearing a white tank top and jeans. Hunico was in a black tank top and jeans. Good match with them doing some lucha stuff with dives to the floor and reversals. Crowd was a little bit tired for this match as they saw a very good athletic match with Seth Rollins and Tyson Kidd prior. Hunico hit the Swanton Bomb to Gabriel and he kicked out. After the match Hunico and Camacho double team him hit a combination of Cryme Tyme’s old G-9 Samoan Flipping Neck breaker move.

This lead to Cody Rhodes coming to the ring and Cody Rhodes hit Cross Rhodes on Justin Gabriel and threw him over the top rope and cut a promo on how he’s the greatest Intercontinental Champion in history and to by the way to properly introduced himself as Cody Rhodes. Rhodes ran over all what he had accomplished in 2011 from Rey Mysterio to current day. Booker T came to the ring and we will finally have our Intercontinental Title match.

Booker T defeated Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes via DQ after Rhodes pie-faced the ref. This was a good back and fourth match and the crowd really had heat for Rhodes who stalled before locking up with Booker T. Fans loved Booker T who hit his moves including the Book End for a near count that almost gave Booker the win. After the match Rhodes was walking to the back and Booker brought him back and gave him the Scissors Kick and gave the crowd a spineroonie, and posed on the turnbuckle.

Tony Chimel tells us that Hornswoggle is our special Guest Host. They do a dance off with 3 people in the crowd and the little kid wins a backstage pass to see a superstar of his choice.

-Intermission-

Aksana was the referee for the next match, which saw Alicia Fox and AJ defeateNatayla and Tamina. AJ got killed majority of the match and tagged in Alicia Fox who kick the ax kick on Natayla for the win. Crowd loved AJ.

WWE Tag Team Champions Air Boom defeated Primo & Epico with Rosa Mendes to retain after a Trouble In Paradise and Air Bourne shooting star press on I believe was Primo. Originally Primo and Epico won the Tag Team Titles after Primo hit the Backstabber on Kofi Kingston and pinned him but the ref didn’t see Kofi’s foot on the rope. Primo and Epico celebrate as they are the new champions when another ref runs down to tell the other one that Kofi’s foot was on the rope. This had to be the best match of the night and probably one of the best WWE Tag Team matches I have seen in quite some time in WWE. Air Boom was extremely over with the crowd, Primo received all of the heat because they are more familiar with him then Epico. I would love to see another round of this in the future. I wouldn’t have a problem with Epico and Primo as WWE Tag Team Champions but I can see why WWE has Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston together – they make each other better in my opinion.

Intermission to put up the Steel Cage which feature the famous cage lowering music and the ring lights above the ring flickering.

Main Event: Triple Threat Steel Cage World Heavyweight Championship Match: Daniel Bryan defeated Big Show & Mark Henry via escape over the top of the cage with both feet hitting the floor to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Fans were split on Bryan. Big Show was over big time and Mark Henry showed signs of being hurt as the fans booed him. Bryan first tried to run and escape both sides of the cage only for Show and Henry to yank him down on their respective side of the cage. Big Show then speared Bryan and he was knocked out for a while and became Big Show vs. Henry. This would alternate to Show vs. Bryan and Henry vs. Bryan as he took a lot of bumps off the cage in this one. Big Show knocked out Mark Henry with the knockout punch and had the title won until Bryan went to escape over the top, Show was trying to go for a Chokeslam from the top of the cage but Bryan kicked him a bunch of times until he was over the cage but Show stopped him. Bryan was able to knock show off the top rope and he climb and fell to the floor to retain the title.

Henry exited the cage fast because out came Wade Barrett and Drew McIntyre who attacked Big Show and brought Daniel Bryan into the cage. This brought Sheamus to come out for the save. Big Show gave a double choke slam to Barrett and McIntyre. Big Show stood tall while Bryan recovered and got back to his feet after the attack. Big Show grabbed the World Heavyweight Title, stared at Bryan, then shook his hand. Show left. Bryan went to the top rope and raised the title in the air for the fans.

Bryan showcased very little offense with kicks to Show at one point to get him down to size and later The Labelle Lock in which Henry broke up. Bryan also hit a DDT on show shortly after Show knocked his hand into the steal cage. Bryan was the bumping machine in this one. Mark Henry and Show went at it. It is how you expect Bryan to be seen him taking all the abuse from two monsters with him over coming the odds to escape to still remain champion. Everyone involved worked very hard and I give props to Mark Henry for working the match. He did get a small Sexual Chocolate chant.

Not sold out by any means, plenty of empty seats all over the place. Some fans expected this be a TV Taping while others knew what they were getting. This was a fun show overall. If this was a TV taping and it wasn’t the Holiday season here I am pretty sure the building would be near capacity like it generally is. I got to see a lot of fresh talent perform Live for the first time and got to see a lot of athletic wrestlers perform. My friend that went had not watched in a long time and he enjoyed himself.

They announced RAW Supershow TV Taping for April 23rd at Joe Louis Arena with tickets going on sale February 25th. Majority of fans didn’t know RAW was doing a House Show in Pittsburgh tonight and people were complaining that Zack Ryder wasn’t there when he was never advertised to be there. Merchandise they had CM Punk’s shirt, Cena’s red shirt, his current shirt and other various merchandise shirts. They had Cena vs. Rock WrestleMania contest to enter for a trip to Mania where you use your phone to scan the icon off the poster.