Dot Net reader Dylan Robertson attended the WWE Raw house show in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on 8/20 and sent in the following report.

My friend and I had seats on the floor and we got to the arena around 6:15. The lineup was very long but once the doors opened they got everyone through quickly. The souveneir stand, however, was a complete mess. I don't know if it was just for Saskatoon or if it is always like this at house shows, but they only had one and the four guys working it made no attempts to organize the crowd. My friend and I stood around for forty-five minutes before getting served and by then the show had already started.

The entire upper level of the arena was taped off and there were large holes in the lower level. In an arena that seats 15,000, I'd say they maybe got 5,000 people there. Lots of Cena shirts on both children and adults.

Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne defeated David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty. Kofi and Evan both received major pops, but the tag champs received practically no heat whatsoever. My friend and I were still in line for this one, but Kingston and Bourne won.

Zach Ryder defeated Drew McIntyre. The original match was supposed to be McIntyre vs. Chris Masters, but obviously that didn't happen. The crowd did not pop much for either guy's entrance but as the match went on they decidedly rallied behind Ryder. Ryder won with the Rough Ryder after a decent match. I tried to start a "masterlock" chant but all I got were blank looks from the kids. Go figure.

Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the Divas Championship. Both girls got very loud pops, especially Kelly. The crowed absolutely loved her and on her way to the ring she stopped and posed with a guy who had an "I came here for Kelly Kelly" sign. Lucky guy. Really similar to their match at Summerslam with Kelly winning with a rollup.

John Morrison defeated R-Truth. R-Truth had a mic on his way down and insulted Canada and our Little Jimmies. The crowed was really into the "what?" chants and we had a good back-and-forth with R-Truth before Morrison came out. Incredibly short match with Morrison winning with the Starship Pain.

Alberto Del Rio defeated CM Punk to retain the WWE Championship. The card originally called for a triple threat match between Punk, Del Rio and John Cena for the title, but they split them up and said the winner of this match would face Cena in the main event. Good long match with Punk chants lasting the entire time. Unfortunately did not see the end due to a sign in front of me, but Del Rio won. Punk milked the crowd for cheers for a few minutes before leaving. Surprisingly, there was a good amount of "CM sucks" chants from adults in the crowd.

Eve then came out and held a dance contest with four fans. The winner got a chance to meet a WWE Superstar. Of course, the little kid won. After Justin Roberts advertised some merchandise, they had an intermission.

Santino Marella defeated Jack Swagger. An unadvertised match. It was your typical Santino match with him winning with the Cobra. How far Swagger has fallen.

Dolph Ziggler defeated Alex Riley to retain the US Championship. Before the match Ziggler grabbed a mic and dissed Saskatoon. The best line was "do you know what you call a beautiful woman in Saskatoon? A tourist!" Riley came out and grabbed a Canadian flag from a chick ringside and posed with it before Ziggler grabbed it. He tried elbow dropping it but Riley snatched it off the mat to loud "Canada" chants. Probably the best match of the night. The two were given a very long time and it was back and forth throughout. Dolph eventually won with the Zig-Zag.

Justin Roberts then thanked the fans for coming out and promised WWE would be back very soon.

John Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio by disqualification in a WWE Championship match. It was great seeing Ricardo Rodriguez twice in one night. The pop for Cena was easily the loudest of the night; there was actually very few "Cena sucks" chants. Nearly everyone in the building was pro-Cena. Before the match, Justin Roberts announced that Triple H ordered Rodriguez barred from ringside. A decent match between the two featuring your typical Cena moves.

The end came when the ref got knocked down. Cena made Del Rio tap to the STFU and went to go get the ref, only to eat a chair shot from Rodriguez when climbing back in the ring. The ref saw it and disqualified Del Rio and the two beat down Cena until Punk ran out and made the save. Cena then grabbed the mic and thanked Punk for helping him out and again thanked the fans for coming.

Before the show ended, Cena announced that we needed to celebrate a birthday. He brought out Eve Torres and led the crowd in a singing of "Happy Birthday." We got some booty popping for our efforts, and everyone went home happy. A very good show from WWE despite the absence of Rey Mysterio and The Miz.

Biggest cheers:
1. John Cena
2. CM Punk
3. Kelly Kelly (what can I say? The crowd adored her)

Biggest heat:
1. R-Truth
2. Alberto Del Rio
3. Dolph Ziggler

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: