The following is an email from Markus Gronemann
Hi,
Note: I am sending you a report on the show and surrounding events from
the April 16 “WrestleMania Revenge Tour” overseas RAW house show in the
“Stadthalle” arena in Vienna, Austria. This e-mail is being sent out to
various major pro-wrestling news pages – I’ve been greatly enjoying
your work for the past years and am trying to contribute a little to
the information you guys provide with this report. Feel free to use the
full – or parts – of this report in any online and/or print
publications. All times listed in this report are local CET.
There were two public events scheduled in the afternoon before the
show: The first one was an autograph session at a local Toys R Us (the
same one where last year’s pre-show SmackDown! autograph session took
place, located just outside the Vienna city borders near Austria’s
biggest shopping mall, in Lower Austria). It featured Hardcore Holly,
Cody Rhodes and Beth Phoenix and went from 3.00 to 5.00 pm. We were
there by 1.45 and were first in line. The wreslers arrived shortly
after 3 with a camera team in tow. Hollly & Rhodes went right into the
crowd, shaking hands and taking pictures with the fans. Beth Phoenix
was a bit out of the spotlight in the beginning but was really nice in
person, posing for pictures with me and my brother and looks far better
in erson than on the tv. On a funny note, she pointed out how good she
was looking in the ic I had taken alongfor her to sign.
The second event was a small fan-fest at the arena, promoted by the
recently launched German langauge edition of the offical WWE magazine
(which features both parts translated from the U.S. edition, as well as
some original content – on an interesting note, this German edition is
being produced and edited by the same people who also publish various
German “inside knowledge” magazines on pro-wrestling). Tickets to this
event were only available shortly before it started and could only be
purchased by ticket holders for the evening card, at a price of EUR
5,00 (about USD 8,00). It went from 4.30 to 6.00 pm and featured some
competitions such as guess the theme music where DVDs could be won.
They did a wrestler impersonating contest where my brother won a Rey
Misterio DVD by impersonating Ric Flair and dropping an elbow on his
jacket. The overall contest was won by a Jeff Hardy impersonation, the
guy got 2nd row tickets to the show. There was lots of humor directed
at the natural animosity between Austrians and Germans (the hosts). The
advertised highlight was a Q & A session with Lance Cade and Trevor
Murdoch, which should have started at 5.30. The session ended up
lasting until close to bell-time, beause the team arrived only shortly
after 7 pm. Kudos to the hosts who really did their best to entertain
the crowd, which was clearly exhausted after almost 3 hours of
competitions and screaming.
Almost exactly one year ago, we finally got an overseas tour again
(SmackDown!/ECW, which virtually was sold-out with an attendance of
close to 8,000 people, the most successful show on that tour, second
only to the RAW taping, IIRC) after almost 12 years. That’s right, the
WWE had been absent from the Austrian market since 1995 (by the way,
HHH was in the midst of a feud with Henry O. Godwinn, Shane Douglas was
getting his ass kicked by Scott Hall AND had a lame Dean gimmick, and
Kevin Nash was battling Yokozuna for the world title on that tour. and
I have to admit that I really marked out for Diesel slapping my hand on
his way to the ring – hey, I was 13 and a major Diesel-mark).
Anyway, this time the RAW brand was sent over, so we finally got to see
the designated “A-list talent” (you know – Snitsky, Val Venis and the
whole lot) live. A pity it couldn’t have been the other way around, as
I really would have loved seeing Ric Flair one last time, and it would
have been great for my younger brother, a wrestling fan for all his
life (I hereby plead guilty), too. So as things stand, I guess my only
live expirience of “Naitch” will be a U.S. title match he had with Jeff
Jarrett at the July 21, 1997 Nitro in Orlando. As you can prbably
guess, this was only the second show I ever got to take my brother to,
since he was born just one year prior to the WWE’s last show in Vienna,
back in 1995 (on an interesting trivia note, I attended a major
independent show, featuring guys like Mick Foley, Brutus Beefcake, Koko
B. Ware and Marty Jannetty here in Vienna the night he was born.
challenge to all readers: try finding out the date of that one :D).
Enough nostalgia already (I promise.) – the show started at around 7.40
pm and was pretty much sold out (around 8,000 – 10,000 fans)
Here are the results:
1.) William Regal beat DH Smith with a kick to the face. Lots of good
mat and chain wrestling from those two.
2.) Tag Team Titles, Triple Threat: Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes beat
Santino Marella & Carlito and Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch after Holly
pinned Murdoch with the Alabama Slam. Lots of stalling and attempted
blind tags by Marella/Carlito in the beginning, as none of them wanted
to be in the ring with Holly. Cade again chewed out Murdoc for losing
after the match, as he does lately on house shows, so I guess those to
will break up some time soon.
3.) Paul Burchill beat Val Venis after his neckbreaker-finisher. So-so
match, but the crowd still ate it up. Venis bowed to the fans after the
match, which was a nice gesture.
4.) Mickie James & Maria beat Beth Phoenix & Katie Lea Burchill in a
surprisingly good match. Everyone was trying real hard with MAria
seling nicely for the opposition and even hitting a few nice spots
herself. Finish saw Maria cross body press Phoenix from the ropes who
caught her – Mickie then dropkicked Maria’s back, throwing both Divas
out of the ring. She then gave Burchill the Chick Kick and swinging DDT
for the win.
Intermission
5.) Umaga & Snitsky beat Paul London & Kendrick when Umaga gave
Kendrick the Samoan Spike. Surprise of the night was how unbelievably
over Umaga was, up to the point where the fans cheered when Umaga went
into the ring at the start of the match and booed when he left or
Snitsky entered. Tey layed the crowd with that all night, up to Snitsky
blind-tagging Umaga in and out at various times. Kendrick & London
bumped in best Colin Delany fasion, flying around like rag dolls,
selling for basically everything the big guys did.
6.) Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho beat JBL with the
Codebreaker. JBL got major cheap heat at the start of the match,
bragging about how great th US were and how we should be thankful for
their protection. He event went as far as singing God Bless America to
a chorus of boos. Back and forth match, but I was somewhat disappointed
that it didn’t last longer, and that we didn’t get to see a Lionsault.
7.) WWE Title: Triple H beat Randy Orton by DQ after William Regal
interfered. Triple H kicked out of an RKO, Orton countered a Pedigree
at which point Regal came out to distract the referee. Orton went for a
belt shot, but Triple H countered with a low blow, gave Orton a belt
shot and went for the pin. At this point Regal got into the ring and
broke up the pin for the DQ. Triple H then gave Pedigrees to both Regal
and Orton to send the fans home happy.
Overall a decent show with great crowd response and a nice overall
card.
I was most impressed by the women’s match, they should have had that
one at WrestleMania instead. The Kendrick/London/Umaga/Snitsky match
was very nice too, because it had great heat and Kendrick/London sold
and bumped awesome.
Both singles title matches were somewhat disappointing and relied only
on star power. Mostly predictabe spots and not exactly the best effort
of all four men.
Biggest Pops:
Triple H (especially after the match)
Chris Jericho (durng his entrance)
Umaga (insane how over he was, they really shoud turn him)
Biggest Heat:
JBL (especially his speech/song)
Snitsky (everytime he entered the ring and forced Umaga out)
Orton (and Regal when he interfered)
Photos of the show (in adition to those from last year’s SmackDown!
tour), will be available online at
http://darkguy.pycoos.com/galleries/index.php?spgmGal=wrestling by
tomorrow evening (I haven’t got the cable for the digital camera with
me right now, unfortunately). Also, readers who speak German may want
to check out http://wrestling-dungeon.pycoos.com, which is my younger
brother’s pro-wrestling-related message and discussion board.
Regards,
Markus Gronemann
Vienna, Austria
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |