Thanks to Inside Pulse reader Edric Chan for sending in the following report. If you attend any WWE TV tapings or house shows and want to send in a report, please do so. My email address can be found above by clicking on my name, or by heading over to the “Inside Pulse Staff” page on the top right.
I may have missed several details (or have mixed them
up a bit chronologically, but this is somewhat
accurate), but the entire event was so surrela.
Event started at 4PM. Attendance is about 16,000 –
18,000. The place is jampacked.
Eugene vs. Snitsky
Eugene came out to a huge pop. Snitsky also came out
to a nice pop, but got boos when the match went
underway. Snitsky and Eugene played the crowd real
well (mostly people who have never seen the WWF live
since the last time they were here, it was in 1994)
Snitsky tore up Eugene’s doll, that caused Eugene to
go ballistic on Snitsky. Failed rock bottom, failed
stunner… but Eugene hits a schoolboy rollup for the
win. Snitsky is last to leave, but is given a nice
round of applause by the fans.
Lita & Torrie vs. Trish & Maria, special guest ref:
Val Venis
Venis came out to a big pop. Up next were the women.
Biggest pop was for Trish, who came out last. It was
an average-ish match. Nice spot where a catfights
happens and they roll over Venis, who stands up and
smiles. Haha. Maria showed some nice in-ring moves,
but got pinned after she was isolated by Lita. After
the match, Maria and Trish posed with Val for the
crowd, the crowd chanted “KIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSS!” and
then they both gave vall a kiss.
RVD vs. Tyson Tomko
Tomko is introduced first. He’s alright… I guess.
“ONE OF A KIND!”, and the crowd explodes for the first
time tonight. Huge ROB-VAN-DAM chant. Insanity ensues.
RVD hit his usual collection of unorthodox moves, and
was awesome. Big RVD chants and a nice ECW chant
during the match. Tomko got hit with the rolling
thunder and then a 5-star frog splash that RVD seemed
to defy gravity on. The crowd was hot for the finish
of the match. After the match, Tomko got a big round
of applause… which he acknowledged by waving… and
then flipping the crowd off! jesus. Haha.
Mick Foley vs. Carlito
Carlito came out first. Pop for him. Big CAR-LI-TO
chant as he walks out. I think he was surprised. He
got on the mic. Taunted the crowd. “I love the
Philippines… no I’m just kidding, I hate it, I hate
the beaches, the streets are filthy and the food
stinks… but I love the beautiful women…. no, I’m
just kidding, they all look like Manny Pacquiao with
long hair!” Well, so much for the cheers. Foley came
out, and the crowd explodes a second time. Nice.
FO-LEY FO-LEY chants. Comedy match, a lot of nice and
funny spots. There’s one with Carlito and Foley
running accross two sides of the ring, Foley just
leaves and sits down with the announcer, leaving
Carlito running accross the ropes for 30 seconds,
until he fell flat on his face. Carlito also wanted to
leave… big “Chicken” chant. He grabs a mic and says
he’s not Chicken. Announces says that he has
confirmed, Carlito is indeed a Chicken. Hah. Crowd
popped for that one. Finish was nice. Carlito took a
bite out of an apple, and Foley used Socko to win,
with apple spit all over the ring. Foley got on the
mic and thanked the fans. Says he’d only wrestle
during important events… WrestleMania, Summerslam,
and right here in Manila… hahaha. Cheap pop bastard.
But we love him.
Shelton Benhamin def. Viscera
Nice match. Benjamin is first announced as the NEW IC
champ, winning it on RAW (the WWE is 2 weeks delayed
in broadcast here in the Philippines) Benjamin was hot
on the mic. I mean, I never expected it, but he got
the crowd going into a WHAT? chant. “Once again.”
WHAT!? “I am not” WHAT!? “A mama’s boy!” WHAT!? “Stop
that.” WHAT!? “Please stop that.” WHAT!? “Simon says
stop that.” WHAT!? Big Mama’s boy chants. Viscera is
out and he gets a decent sized pop. Average match…
several comedy bits with Viscera’s moves. Funny bit
when Viscera got smacked in the face, he spit up…
and it hit one of the ring bodyguards who was
absolutely VILLIFIED. Haha. Benjamin wins.
Ric Flair & Big Show vs. HHH & Chris Masters
Masters is out. THE GUY IS FUCKING RIPPED. He gets a
huge pop. He plays with his pecs a bit, receiving nice
reaction from the ladies.
“TIME TO PLAY THE GAME!” THE ENTIRE AERNA JUST BLEW
UP. HHH is so god-damned over in the Philippines, I
think they should hold WM22 here, just so they can get
a POP of EPIC proportions when he wins the title. HHH
does his bit and the fans just don’t stop cheering and
screaming and chanting.
“WWEEEEELLLL…. WELL IT’S THE BIG SHOW!” The POP fest
continues. Show jumps in the ring and the heels clear.
Nice reaction for Show.
“WHOOOOOOOOOO!” RIC FUCKING FLAIR! OH MY GOD. CROWD
POPS AGAIN! WHOOOOOO’S are shouted. This was all
pretty surreal at this point.
GREAT MATCH. Nice spots where HHH refused to tag in
against Show. :) Flair flipping off HHH while he was
behind Show. Flair and HHH doing flair-flops. HHH’s
spaghetti legs. Flair being an amazing face-in-peril.
Big show annihilating everyone using his patented 1
vs. 2 whoop-ass set of moves. Flair won it with the
figure four on Masters.
Afterwards, the heels leave. Maria, Trish, Viscera,
Venis, and Eugene walk down the aisle into the ring.
Show leads everyone into singing happy birthday for
Flair. HHH walks out again, he steps into the ring and
goes face to face with flair. Handshake! Hug! HHH does
a bowing motion to Flair, that the entire arena
emulated. More WHOOOOO’S are shouted.
The announcer then says that there will be a 5 minute
break.
After the break… the announcer says that this is a
CAGE MATCH for the WWE CHAMPIONSHIP. BIG POP. Cage is
lowered! WHOOOO!
Edge is out with Lita…. and gets a nice pop. He
steps into the cage and waits for cena.
Cena’s music hits and we get the LARGEST POP OF THE
NIGHT. IT WAS INSANE. Cena jumped out with the title,
and the crowd would not stop cheering. Jeez. I’d
understand why Vince and company are behind this
guy… he’s just a pop-machine. Sure smarks hate him,
but smarks compose of what? 25% of their viewership?
Fact of the matter is, Cena knows how to play to the
crowd, and to his strengths.
Cgae match was awesome. Slow to start, but it built
momentum near the halfway mark. Cena bladed after
being rammed into the cage. Edge took full advantage.
Cena had a crimson mask! Edge tries to go up by the
cage, but Cena stops him! SUPERPLEX! HUGE CROWD
REACTION. Small “Cena sucks” chants from the gen.
admission. seats, but other than that, this was a
pro-cena crowd. Edge gets a couple of near-falls. He
climbs up the cage. Cena runs after him. Edge is
almost out! By this time, I actually believed they
were willing to switch titles in a houseshow. Cena
grabs Edge by the arms. He pulls him back in. Brawl,
brawl, brawl, while straddling on top of the cage.
EDGE THROWS CENA DOWN INTO THE RING! FUCK. Nice spot
there. Edge is going to win! NO! Cena found a second
wind. Cena just climbed the cage like a cat and pulled
Edge back in! Brawl now in the ring. We get the usual
routine. FIVE KNUCKLE SHUFFLE! That got a big pop.
Edge powers out of the FU, and the match continues.
Edge connects with a spear!!! That gets two! Edge
tries to walk out via the door. Cena grabs his pants,
ass shot. I didn’t have to see that. The crowd was red
hot at this point. BIG LET’S GO CENA! LET’S GO EDGE!
DUEL CHANTING GOING ON. Cena now tries to go out the
door… NO! LITA SLAMS IT ON CENA’S FACE! Lita jumps
inside the ring! Edge holds Cena, Lita slaps him! Lita
goes to the top rope… HURRICANRANA! NO! CENA DUCKED!
LITA HIT EDGE WITH THE HURRICANRANA! BIG POP. CENA
GOES FOR THE FU! ONE-TWO-THREE! AND WE GET THE LARGEST
POP OF THE NIGHT. EVERYONE WAS STANDING, EVERYONE WAS
GOING NUTS. Cena poses and waits for the crowd to die
down before leaving.
The announcer thanks us, and says that they’re
planning on coming back, grabbing another huge pop
before everyone leaves.
Biggest Pops:
1. Cena
2. HHH
3. Flair
4. Foley
5. Trish
