Off Air Report From Yesterday's RAW/ECW Tapings

R. McKay submitted the following report to PWInsider

Warning: The following report contains spoilers for tonight s ECW on Sci Fi

Just thought I'd send in some notes from RAW last night.

First off the arena was officially a sellout last night but there were plenty of empty seats available to improve your view. Although the crowd was hot last night, a lot complained about the fact that they could not hear what was being said on the microphone or the big screen.

The night started with a video package highlighting WWE since Wrestlemania (technically the start of the wrestling calendar). Everyone on the package received a huge pop except john Cena, who got his usual mixed reaction.

Dark match before ECW was Doug Williams v Carlito. Doug Williams looked like an overweight Test when he came to the ring. Carlito is over in England. Everything he did; he got a huge cheer for but the pop when he came out it was electric (probably because he was the first star to come out). He won in about 2 minutes with the backcracker and then spat his apple in Williams face.

When Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay came out to ringside, fans behind the commentators were chanting "You can't wrestle" at Terkay...it was pretty funny!

Joey Styles was over when he came out; he got a huge pop and the crowd broke out into a huge "E-C_Dub" chant; it was cool.

ECW was a good show live; the crowd popped for Big Show's music but booed when he came out. When Paul Heyman announced who was going to be signing the contract for the Elimination Chamber; Holly got a huge boo but Lashley got a great pop for laying him out.

CM Punk v Mike Knox was a good match and the crowd were into Punk but most people had there eyes on Kelly! There were a lot of parents with there kids who have never WWE before so it was quite amusing to hear the gasps when he came out&our group were taking bets on how loud the gasps would have been if they d have seen him wrestle.

It was disappointing for both the Dreamer-Daivari match and the ECW main event to end in DQ but WWE made up for it when Sabu and RVD ran out with CM Punk.

After the camera went off the air everyone went to the back while RVD and Lashley stood in the ring and played up to the crowd&I think it was a big mistake not having RVD on the show as he is over as well. Everyone loves him; the older fans love him and the kids worship him. The crowd was really hot for ECW and it was a great way to start the show but it will probably take away from SmackDown tonight!

Credit goes to the ring crew for changing the ropes and the ring apron&they must have taken all of about 90 seconds!

Lillian Garcia came out and sang the national anthem. She asked people to rise but no one did; it was quite funny in the differences in patriotism between the USA and England. Later in the show they aired a video package showing WWE s latest Rally the Troops campaign and it s amazing to note that no one in Britain does that for our troops& WWE really needs to be commended for their commitment to fulfilling this.

JR and the King got huge pops when they came out to ringside and people were actually singing along to the RAW theme music as it played. RAWs pyro is so much more impressive live.

DX were well over when they came out, probably the biggest cheer of the night. HBK is more popular than Triple H, which was a little surprising. It didn t come off on TV too well but the crowd were well into their promo. As was the Arsehole chant for The Coach.

The tag match was pretty standard stuff but the crowd were into that too; there was a huge chant of You Fat Bastard at Viscera&

During the break DX played up to the crowd but it was funny to note that Cade, Murdoch, Viscera and Haas didn t sell their match at all. When it went to commercial, they got straight back up as if nothing had happened and walked back up the ramp.

Through all the adverts the fans would start a Mexican wave on the top tier which was pretty cool.

The Highlanders were over, as expected, but they must be the most boring tag team in WWE; as well as being a worse stereotype than Cryme Tyme.

People were into the Masterlock challenge until about 5 seconds in.

Eugene backstage was pretty funny especially the line about coming for the bounty and DX handing him kitchen paper.

There was no sound for the Masters backstage bit and fans were not into it.

Todd Grisaim came out to no pop what-so-ever, which was surprising considering that he hosts Bottom Line and Afterburn.

Our group popped huge for the pub on the titantron as it was Sinclair s oyster bar right outside the arena where we d had a few beers before hand. *?1.57 for a pint of Germany s finest lager people&should you ever visit our fair city!*

Umaga got huge boos but Estrada (isn t that a car make) was well popular especially when he got on the ring apron. There were actually some Joe, Joe, Joe chants when he came out.

John Cena came out to deafening cheers for about 5 seconds before the boos kicked in. Kids were screaming their hearts out for him though.

Disappointing that there was another DQ on the night but WWE was never gonna let Cena lose again. The kids sat next to me were devastated when Cena got battered by Big Show. I notice that Maria didn t come out to save him, ungrateful diva, eh?

Fans were well into Hardy v Nitro and were shocked to see Hardy win the title, but does he really need it? The spots with the ladder were cool and Nitro was quite popular with the fans upon leaving.

DX using the bounty to buy tickets from Cryme Tyme was quite funny but again the crowd couldn t here what was being said.

Lillian Garcia gave out free t-shirts during the break but special mention should go the referee. He had a great arm!

The pop for Carlito reading the Daily Star was huge and it was just hilarious when he turned the paper sideways to look at the page 3 girl&

The picture of Old Trafford got the biggest heat of the night!

Lita v Mickie James why? Crowd was not into this; except to call Lita a whore constantly during the match!

Main Event was the most obvious finish in wrestling; there was no way that there was gonna be any other finish. The conchairto was impressive but the crowd was just dead by this point. Problem was, by this time, half the arena was empty as parents with young children and people traveling on public transport began to leave before the end of Lita v Mickie. So by the time Orton and Edge had won the titles there was hardly anyone there! Also it seemed like WWE took notice of this and rushed the main event!

All in all a good night out; but it was a show just for those in the arena; the matches were nothing special but the crowd was really hot but it just seemed boring for those watching on TV. The last two matches suffered because the arena was half empty. If WWE can follow up for SmackDown tonight they will have put two good house shows on worldwide TV! WWEs not coming back to Manchester for their Wrestlemania revenge tour so it seems that it ll be another year till they come back!