The ring announcer was Angela Fong. She was also the timekeeper; the bell sat on the ground in front of her and she rang it with a wrench.
I'd guess the attendance at a little better than 3,000 people. The arena was about half-full, which is a fair bit better than the last show here.
1. Melina & Maria d. Natalya & Layla. Melina pinned Layla after that move where she does the splits into a Final Cut.
2. Finlay pinned Drew MacIntyre with a Celtic Cross.
Between matches, the Bella Twins were introduced. They gave ringside seats to a kid who answered a trivia question.
3. Vladimir Kozlov pinned Goldust after an Iron Curtain. Kozlov is really really bad.
4. The Great Khali pinned Mike Knox after a hanging tree slam.
5. Christian retained the ECW title in a triple threat match with Tommy Dreamer and William Regal. Regal laid out Dreamer with a knee trembler, but Christian sunset flipped Regal off the second rope to win.
Intermission. I waved at, shook a chair at, and texted hansen9j.
6. Shad Gaspard pinned Tyson Kidd. David Hart Smith threw Natalya's shoe to Kidd, but Shad caught it and hit Kidd for the pin. Shad ran around the arena and got mobbed by fans before the match began. The crowd reacted to the Harts as heels. No sign of JTG.
7. John Morrison pinned Dolph Ziggler with Starship Pain. Very fun match.
8. CM Punk pinned Chris Jericho in a #1 contenders match by reversing the Walls of Jericho into a small package and grabbing the ropes. Jericho came out to a mixed reaction, but told the crowd they could call him Y2J and pointed out that Punk was a "nerd" for not liking beer, so the crowd accepted Jericho as their own. After the match, Punk offered his services as a better partner than Big Show; Jericho responded by hitting him with the mic and one of the tag title belts.
Morrison/Ziggler and Punk/Jericho were both quite good. Overall, a very fun show, mostly because the crowd loved everything. Goldust got chants. Drew MacIntyre got "you suck" chants. Tommy Dreamer got an E-C-dub chant. Great Khali entered to a standing ovation. In Regina, everyone is over.
Really, really good show. My main regret is that I'm not positive that Mike Knox ever saw me do The Knox in support of him.
The crowd did not care that they didn't know MacIntyre; they booed him like he was Orton. The crowd did not care that every heel bailed to the outside at the start of the match. Hell, the crowd went crazy for Goldust when he came out. (I was with the crowd for all of that, ESPECIALLY Goldust. Very disappointed he didn't kiss Kozlov.)
I cannot believe that they had the gigantic Shad as the face against the Canadian underdog.
And as James pointed out to me, there was a fan in the crowd holding up a sign saying "UFC is 4 Real Fighters". On the same night as a UFC PPV. No one ever said our city was full of geniuses.
(edited by hansen9j on 9.8.09 0228) It is the policy of the documentary crew to remain true observers and not interfere with its subjects.
Originally posted by hansen9jESPECIALLY Goldust. Very disappointed he didn't kiss Kozlov.)
Not sure if you were gone by this point, but after the show, Jericho was walking around ringside slapping hands with the fans. When he got to the new ring announcer, he picked up her hand and kissed it. Then he got to the referee and did the same.