WWE Live Event
Birmingham, England at the LG Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Darren Gutteridge

1. R-Truth defeated Alex Riley. I missed most of the match due to trouble getting in, but down the stretch it was very much your typical R-Truth match. Truth hit the Lie Detector for the pin. Used his old music instead of the new one.
 
2. Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov defeated The Usos. Before the match, the GM chimed in and said there would be a dance off before the match began. Santino and Kozlov did an actually well rehearsed and performed routine, but the Usos just attacked them to start the match instead of dance. Usos took it to Kozlov, Santino got the hot tag and hit the double cobra (he set up one, Kozlov set up the other arm) on the Usos for the win. Standard tag match.
 
3. Ezekiel Jackson defeated Zach Ryder. Jackson came down in face mode, high fiving and posing for the crowd. Jackson monstered Ryder with four moves before hitting the Book of Ezekiel. Complete squash.
 
4. Goldust defeated Ted DiBiase. A fine but slow match. Lots of rest holds and every 10 seconds someone was thrown to the outside. Goldust hit the Final Cut for the 1-2-3.
 
5. Daniel Bryan defeated William Regal to retain the United States Championship. The crowd slowly went from pro Bryan, to 50/50, to pro Regal. VERY technical match, lots of chain grappling. Didn't make for the most entertaining of matches, but it was clear how smooth the teacher and protege can work together. Bryan sunk in the LeBell Lock out of nowhere for the submission. Post match, Regal raised Bryan's arm before leaving.
 
6. Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett to retain the WWE Championship. Some of the crowd seemed to think this was the last match. I saw one or two people leave after the match thinking it was the main event. Before the match, Wade got some heat for saying his home town of Manchester was the greatest city on Earth, and bragged about controlling Cena. Fairly run of the mill match, not that exciting. The ref took a bump, Wade grabbed the title and hit Orton with it. He demanded Cena to come to the ring to be the ref, Cena came down but Orton kicked out. Wade grabbed a chair and told Cena to hit Orton. He refused, they argued while Orton recovered to RKO Wade for the victory. Cena left pretty much straight away.
 
Intermission
 
7. Eve and the Bella Twins defeated Maryse, Tamina and Alicia Fox. Sloppy match, but Eve, Alisha and one of the Bellas showed their athleticism with some of their moves. It just showed what the divas division could be if they just mastered the basics. Eve got a roll up on Maryse (I think) for the win.
 
8. Sheamus defeated John Morrison. This match really showed how well suited these two seem to be. It was by far the best match, Sheamus looked flat out brutal at times and Morrison was his usual flashy self. One spot stood out though, Sheamus caught a kick, turned round, placed Morrisons leg on his shoulder and then just hurled him over the top of him, slamming Morrison into the mat. Obviouusly Morrison had to jump to make it but it looked really cool. Morrison missed the Starship Pain and then got drilled by the Brogue Kick.
 
9. John Cena defeated The Miz (w/Alex Riley). Riley cut a promo first, explaining why he is basically Miz's servant. He said it was because Miz is the fastest rising star in the WWE. Miz then cut his usual yet still entertaining promo, listing his achievements before doing his catchphrase. If you have seen a Cena house show match, you know exactly what this match was like. Miz got a fair bit of offense before hitting Riley by mistake with the MITB case and then Cena giving him an AA.
 
Notes: Overall, it wasn't the best card I have seen at the LG over the last few years, but it ticked the right boxes. Place was 90 percent full, and the crowd was usually into the matches.
 
Biggest Pops
 
Cena (2nd time, the crowd was kind of stunned when he came out in the Barrett/Orton match)
Orton
Santino
 
Biggest Heat
 
Barrett
Miz
Every other heel either gained no heat (DiBiase, Ryder) or got 50/50 cheers/boos (Regal, Sheamus)

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