WWE House Show Results (6/13) From Binghamton, NY
Thanks to Stevie Graham for sending in this report from the WWE house show in Binghamton, NY this past Saturday:
Hi guys, been seeing a lot of posts regarding the Saturday Night house show in Binghamton, NY... here's what went down for those of us down at ringside:
Opening match saw John Morrison go over Mike Knox. Morrison worked the crowd well, and is even more ridiculously ripped in person! Knox stalked around the ring like an effective monster heel, and looked to be working pretty stiff with Morrison. JM wins with his split-legged corkscrew moonsault.
The second match saw The Hart Dynasty defeat Evan Bourne and the returning Hurricane Helms! The Harts came out first, with Natalia cutting her usual in-ring promo running down the credentials of each member of the Dynasty. Bourne and Hurricane were both really over with the crowd. Lots of "Hur-i-cane" chants. Helms came to the ring in his green superhero outfit, but also had the trench coat and bandanna from his last run... Bourne worked most of the match for his team, but Helms actually surprised me with some of the bumps he was taking. The finish came when the Dynasty hit Helms with the Hart Attack (with Tyson Kidd coming off the top rope with the clothesline... very cool-looking, hope they keep using this version!).
Before the third match, Drew McIntyre took to the ring and cut a heel promo against the NY State Troopers. To be honest, the sound was bad all night in the arena, so I barely heard anything that he was saying... but that lead to the biggest treat of the night for me... Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat!
The reports of this match not being too over with the fans is really only half-accurate. Yes, this was very rest-hold heavy. McIntyre has an AWESOME look, but clearly needed a lot of coaching in the ring. Once he gets his bearings on the bigger stage, he may end up being really good, as he played the "bad guy" role very well. The only time people started the "boring" chant was when McIntyre was in control. Anything Steamboat did got a huge pop out of the crowd. There were a few instances where they even started "you've still got it" chants. Steamboat gets the win with his body press, and my date gets goosebumps from seeing a legend that neither of us expected to see! Steamboat was great with the fans, taking a lap around to slap hands and thank everyone for their support.
On a side note, I wouldn't be shocked to see McIntyre moved up to ECW soon... or possibly to Smackdown to feud with John Morrison in a battle of who has the most abs!
The last match before intermission saw Dolph Ziggler face the Great Khali. Ziggler played the effective heel for the crowd, constantly dodging any attack that he could and running out of the ring. Khali was over HUGE with the crowd, and got the win after landing his chokeslam. It's a good thing Khali can't move too fast, because the ringside fans could not get enough of him... He spent plenty of time talking to everyone, even signed a few autographs. Ziggler caught some Spirit Squad-related heat from a guy in the row in front of us.
Intermission was next, where Justin Roberts hawked the Jeff Hardy autographed photos.
First match after intermission was a 6 diva tag match... or as my date and I called it, our 6 Diva smaoke break. Melina, Gail Kim and Eve Torres go over Natalia, Layla and a third partner who eludes me right now.
Pre-Main Event had Tommy Dreamer defend the ECW championship against Jack Swagger. Swagger played the heel AMAZINGLY well. Lots of jawing with the fans, and even tore up another ringside fan's sign after getting into an argument with them. Dreamer was awesome with the fans... This has got to be a great treat for him to be on this title run, as everyone was behind him 100%. Dreamer catches the win after a great match with Swagger, and in what is possibly the classiest move of the night, took a lap around the ring to let each fan share a touch of his Title Belt. He even stopped to take a kick off of a beer from the guy who was right in front of me all night, which got a great reaction from the croud in our section!
The Main Event of the night saw CM Punk defend the World Championship in a 3 way dance against Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy. Jeff and Rey were amazingly over with the crowd. Lots of kids wearing Mysterio masks, and women going crazy for Hardy... Punk was over witht he guys, but is catching a lot of heat from his recent interations with Jeff. All three guys made the fans happy by tossing their shirts into the crowd... and the SAME guy who had just shared a beer with Dreamer caught Punk's shirt while he was sitting around eating nachos! This guy was really into the show all night, and was that cliche beer-drinking loud fan who can annoy you, but it was awesome to see that someone who really was so into the show all night got to have 2 amazing WWE moments that he can brag to his friends about for a long time to come!
Some great spots in the match. Mysterio seemed to control the pace, and really worked Punk over for a lot of the time. If you have never seen Rey in person, he is TINY and floats like a feather when he takes to the air... it is amazing to see in person! I hope we get a chance to see another run of this match on TV soon, as all three men took great care to make sure everyone looked amazing. The finish came when Punk hits Hardy with the GTS and gets the pin.
After the match, Punk gets on the mic and does his "there was nothing personal Jeff, I just took the opportunity where I saw it" routine... As he extends his hand to Jeff, Hardy nails him with a Twist of Fate that blew the roof off of the building!
All in all, this is probably the best house show I've ever been to. We had great seats, and saw some great matches. There was nothing on the card that didn't leave the fans happy going home. It was nice to see so many young kids there, getting a chance to go crazy over their heroes. Big thanks to WWE to coming to our little corner of Upstate NY!