1/18 Raw/ecw Results From Madison, Wi

The house wasn't even half full when ECW and RAW came to the Wisconsin Badgers hometown this cold and wintry night but the WWE put on a decent show with a few twists and creative matches...and here...we....go!

Non Title - William Regal vs. CM Punk
Regal has a tremendous amount of heel heat and Layla played the crowd like a fiddle. Based on her actions alone, the crowd was in a frenzy. CM Punk got the second biggest pop of the night. The match was fair but to be truthful Punk and Regal just don't seem to have a great chemistry. Solo, they are tremendous performers and Regal is just simply one of the best technicians in the world today but they lack pizzazz. Truth be told the antics of Layla were the best thing going here. After some submission maneuvers and high spots, along with some false finishes CM Punk grabbed the win with the GTS

Your Winner: CM Punk

Women's match - Candice Michelle (in her home state) vs. Melina
Technically this match made me drowsy. Candice and Melina however have great ring presence. What is the most interesting thing to note in this bout is that Candice absolutely turned heel around the mid way point. She faked an injury to the point where the ref gave the sign for the EMTs in the back to come out...she kept that whole thing going until Melina herself went to check on her and Candice rolled her up...1,2....and Melina kicks out. Candice played heel all the way to the end and even when she headed to the back. Melina used her signature split kick for the finisher and squeaked the win. If Candice is being set up to turn heel on television - she has a real shot of making that work for her. She played heel to perfection tonight.

Your winner: Melina

Tag Title bout - Miz/Morrison vs. Cryme Tyme
Not much to say here except they both did their shtick and did it as best as they can. In the end Miz cheated for a win as expected.

Your Winner and still tag team champs - Miz and Morrison

Belfast Brawl: Finlay (W/Horny) vs. Mark Henry (w/Tony Atlas)
Both managers got involved. There was some really nice play between the two. If it was 1986 I would have thought Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart were in front of me. Lots of violence in this one, more than you would think they would do at a house show. Singapore canes, chairs, trash cans - the works minus ladders or tables. Lots of cheating from both sides...some nice spots from both Henry and Finlay. In the end Fit used a Shillelagh for the win while Horny messed with Atlas. After the match Finlay brought both kids and adults alike into the ring. Then Finlay tripped Tony Chimmel (ring announcer)...that was hilarious.

Your winner: Fit Finlay

Santino vs. Kingston
After intermission Santino came out to half pop/half boos. He was absolute gold on the mic. He did a promo where he said he has the whole package and plans to become IC champ again real soon. Funniest bit was when he talked about how Beth (who wasn't there) said he needed just that one more thing to be the greatest of all time...strength. He talked about his weight lifting regimen. Absolute gold I tell you. He then did a bunch of Hoganesque poses. Kofi had a pose-down with Santino...Ultimate Warrior/Rick Rude they aren't. Kofi then beat Santino with two moves and in about 10 seconds.

Your Winner: Kofi Kingston

ECW Championship: Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer

Dreamer came out did his retirement bit but added that if he won tonight that we fans would have FREE tickets to Raw tomorrow night for a celebration. Now, I can't believe I am going to write this but here goes...this was the BEST match of the night from a traditional wrestling standpoint as well as storyline standpoint and they played their characters better than anyone else on the card. Swagger is more than impressive live. He beat Dreamer in what had to be the longest match of the evening. Dreamer pulled out some stuff I haven't seen him do in years...ECW chants abound Swagger still won and with a drop move that is simply crushing no matter how much of a work WWE is. Swagger also grabbed the mic and added what I think may become a post match tag line..."Camera Man, get me from my good side."

Your Winner and still ECW champ: Jack Swagger

Main Event: Rhodes/DiBiase/Orton vs. Mysterio and Cena Handicapped style
It was everything you would expect. Completely paint by numbers. In the end Cena got the hot tag, got the three legacy members on the second rope. Rey hit all three of them with a 619 - a very cool spot and then while Randy went to the outside, Cena and Rey both it their finishers...1,2,3, hit Cena's music and we out.

Your Winners: Cena/Mysterio

All in all a fairly good night of competition. By far Swagger and Dreamer had the best match but the crowd loved the Finlay match most I'd say.

Biggest Pops:
Cena
Punk
Finlay/Horny

Biggest Heat:
Orton
Henry
Regal


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Joel C Croyle typed a pretty good report, so I'll simply add a few things to it.

The attendance was indeed quite low. A full floor and lower bowl, but very few people in the upper level. During Tommy Dreamer's pre-match speech, he said there were 2000 people there.

Where was Beth Phoenix? She wasn't at last night's show either, and she didn't seem to be injured Friday in Oshkosh. They ended up having Candice wrestling in her place, and the one "hostess" activity, where a family in the upper section moves to the front row, was handled by their big security guy.

The post-match antics of the Belfast Brawl were great for me personally. I was sitting next to a couple, and the guy was half jokingly, half seriously asking Finlay to bring her into the ring. As you'd expect, he smiled and said nah. But a few seconds later, he came back and asked her to come in! I think he also had a media photographer come in.

I have to echo his statements regarding Swagger vs. Dreamer. The pre-match speech, where he said he had an offer for an extension, but wouldn't sign if he didn't win the ECW Championship by June, made this match mean something, which was felt near the end. He said if he won that night, he'd contact the box office and buy a ticket for each and everyone there for Raw tomorrow in Chicago, where there'd be a huge contact-signing party. And you know what, some of Dreamer's near-falls had me on the edge of my seat. I really believe this storyline will be a huge hit at live events over the next few months.


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