WWE RAW Brand House Show 12.13.02

Well, just got home from an...  uh...  interesting (?) Raw house show here in Norfolk, Virginia.  The new facility at Old Dominion University probably sits somewhere between five to ten thousand (leaning five), and was about half full.  I had the higher-end price seats, but ended up moving to the nosebleed area where it was nice and empty.  Hung out with some smarks and we bashed HHH.  Anyway, here's the results:
 
Rosey of 3MW and Rico defeated Spike Dudley and D'Lo Brown
-    D'Lo is a heel now, which everyone in Virginia must have missed.  Anyway, he finally reminded them when he walked out on Spike, pissing off the Norfolk crowd.  This would lead to Spike getting racked on the top rope when Rosey reversed the acid drop.  He followed it up with a big splash for the pin.  1 for 1 simply because Rico is god at working the crowd.
 
Raven defeated Johnny Stamboli
-    Sloppiest match of the night due to the fact that Raven has lost all reason to live and that Stamboli is greener than a pod of peas.  Stamboli botched a bodyslam (!), which happened to be the first move of the match.  He would go on to forget to reverse Raven's figure four/spinning toehold attempt, as he remembered after the third spin, but put his foot down since he waited so long to make an attempt.  Anyway, after the most boring five minutes in my life, Raven ended it with the Raven Effect (isn't that what he's calling it now?). 1 for 2
 
Sean O' Haire pinned Tommy Dreamer
-    Dreamer got a pretty good reaction and some ECW chants from the majority of the crowd (most likely people who DIDN'T attend the live shows here a couple years back).  O' Haire got the crowd going when he tossed the stairs in the ring, but fans lost interest when the ring crew just dragged them right out.  Sean would then save face by wowing the masses with his sweet fireman's carry slam finisher thing-a-ma-doodle.  1 for 3, despite O' Haire trying his damndest to make the fans care.
 
Throughout the show I had to deal with the dumb "its fake" wrestling fan behind me.  During the last match he noted that the guys should stop faking that they're hurt for the little kids, because all the "real" fans know that none of the stuff done in the ring hurts.  Riiiight, this dude has NO friggin' clue.
 
Goldust defeated Christian
-    Both men did well and drawing their respective heat.  Scott Keith has never been more right then when he says that Dustin has drive in the ring lately.  He's never been more wrong then when he said he was full at the Golden Corral buffet (LOL2002 THAT ONE WUZ FOR U SCOTZ!!!!111!).  Anyway, match came to an end when Goldie reversed the Unprettier for the Curtain Call and got the duke.  2 for 4
 
Victoria (w/ Molly Holly) defeated Trish and Jacqueline in a triangle match for the World Women's Championship
-    Match was like two seconds long, and if it was any indication of what to expect Sunday night, I'm frightened.  Victoria got the pin on Trish when Jackie pulled the rope on Trish, causing her to crash on her skull instead of hitting Stratusfaction.  Victoria, being the heel that she is, had her feet on the ropes.  Trish and Jacqueline teased a fight afterwards, to no avail.  2 for 5
 
Chris Jericho (w/ Christian) defeated Test (w/o Stacy)
-    Crowd just about cared for Test, until they realized that Keibler wasn't going to be there.  He pretty much lost interest after that fact had been established.  Wait, he did get a pop when he told Jericho "It's too bad you don't like my Testicles...  You're going to have two big hairy ones on your chin after the match!"  Hey, what do you know, I forgot to write down the finish, and hell if I can remember it.  I do remember that Jericho was using some heavy psychology on the arm, and that Test's offense rarely connected.  I'm sure Christian helped Jericho CHEAT TO WIN~! but I'm not sure how.  3 for 5, just for Jericho attempting to make a house show match make sense.
 
Intermission saw them give away a JVC Tower of Power.  Huge pop when Fink said they were giving away a boombox, huge boos when everyone lost the drawing but one "lucky" shmuck.  Ah, I dwell in the fact that he most likely got jumped for the thing after the show.
 
The Dudley Boyz defeated Lance Storm and William Regal in a tables match
-    This was under the "one member through the wood is all it takes" rules.  Bubba was his normal, entertaining self, screaming at the fans and flicking off the former UnAmericans.  Jericho and Christian came out at the end of the match and beat the hell out of the faces, followed by Spike who cleaned house until he was dumped over the top while attempting the acid drop (two reversals in one night...  maybe time for a new finish Spikey).  D'Von reversed Storm's attempt to suplex him through the table into a 3D for the victory.  4 for 6
 
Maven defeated Christopher Nowinski
-    Nowinski claimed to go to a school similar to Old Dominion once...  He thinks it was called "middle school."  As bad as he is in the ring, the guy knows how to draw cheap heat.  He attempted to read us some Shakespeare, only to be interrupted by Maven.  Match ended with a backslide.  Once again I'm left to think this leads to nothing good for the PPV Sunday, since it makes us 4 for 7.
 
Main Event:  Kane and Rob Van Dam defeated HHH and Batista (w/ Ric Flair)
-    As normal in Norfolk, Ric Flair cut a pre-match promo and simply could not make the fan boo him.  He's just too over in the south, sorry.  Though they attempted pyro for both faces, neither worked.  God I screamed for Rob to mess up some offense and crush Trip's trachea, but my pleas went unheard.  Since this wasn't televised, and thus has no long term effect, Hunter allowed RVD to pin him after a five star frog splash.  Normal Sports Entertainment finish with the ref knocked out, and Flair jumping in.  Kane chokeslammed everyone, and Van Dam hit his finish to send the crowd home happy.  After the match, Kane finally got the fire to shoot from the posts and RVD posed at each corner of the guard rails for the fans.  4 for 8 because Hunter didn't get injured and put on the shelf forever.
 
All in all, not a total waste of 50 bucks, though I doubt I'll attend another WWE show anytime soon unless it's a SmackDown! brand show.  I just have to see some GOOD wrestling.  Here's the heat rundown:
 
Biggest Face Reaction:
1.    "Get the tables!"
2.    RVD
3.    The Nature Boy
4.    Goldust
5.    HHH (they should push that guy!)
 
Biggest Heel Reaction:
1.    Christian
2.    Rico
3.    Jericho (have a feeling it would have
       been more, but Christian stole it earlier)
4.    Nowinski
5.    Storm/Regal

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