What Happened Off-Air At RAW Last Night

Kyle Weaver sent this along:

I attended Raw tonight in Greensboro, NC (my first live show ever) and I thought I'd give you my impressions of what I saw.

Attendance approximately 12,000, just over half full.

DARK MATCH

(1) Val Venis beat Doug Basham with a Money Shot.

HEAT MATCHES

(1) Kane beat Johnny Parisi in a squash in 90 seconds.

(2) Tyson Tomko & Gene Snitsky beat Chris Hammrick & a partner.

(3) Goldust beat Trevor Murdoch.

(4) Viscera beat Rob Conway.

The HHH vs. Big Show match was well received. The crowd popped big for the barricade spot. HHH was very "face" over when he entered and had heel heat by the time he left. Some Big Show chants here as well.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Eugene came and went. I don't think anyone noticed. A few "Mama's Boy" chants though.

The Striker promo got good heat. Seriously.

The crowd wasn't into the RVD/Masters match at all, but did pop for the Five Star.

The crowd was into Flair's promo, though there was some definite disappointment in the crowd (including myself) that he didn't wrestle.

Most of the backstage stuff didn't seem to have much crowd effect. I wasn't sitting where I could see the screen, so I'm not really sure most of what happened. It didn't seem to matter.

The crowd didn't seem to really get hot tonight until the main event, Cena vs. Edge. I must admit, I was surprised how much the crowd was into Cena. I saw a feel people booing (mostly guys), but he was very much over. I was impressed.

Biggest pops:
1. Cena
2. Flair
3. HHH
4. HBK

Biggest heat:
1. HHH
2. Edge
3. McMahon
4. Striker