WWE Raw Belfast April 14 2011 - Live event pics

WWE Wrestlemania Revenge Tour 2011 - Belfast Ireland Review 14/4/2011

Cena Pushes the Truth in Belfast


By Phil Allely

WWE main eventer John Cena graciously allowed the spotlight to shine on R Truth during the second night of the Raw tour in Belfast, Ireland last night.

In front of a pumped up 8000 sell-out crowd Cena took to the mic praising Truth’s assistance in saving him from a post-match beat down by Miz/Alex Riley and the young stars dedication to the business, nicely hyping up their match with Miz at Extreme Rules.

Cena’s main event bout for the WWE Title was a real crowd pleaser too, with action taking place in and out of the ring, the pair gelled well together. Miz’s stooge Riley was the key factor though, running in to cause a DQ finish, the cunning champion retaining his gold.

The rest of the card saw Evan Bourne take flight on numerous occasions, his ‘Air Bourne’ finisher putting Riley down for the three count to open up proceedings in style.

Percy Watson won some new fans with his demolition job on high flyer Tyson Kidd, the up and comer was very over in a quick but well-paced outing.

The Uso’s and Santino Marella (with Tamina) had what appeared to be a handicap match next, fortunately as things looked bleak, the injured Vladimir Kozlov sprinted to the ring to a huge pop and bullied his way through the Samoan pair. A cobra from a rested Marella ending things nicely.

John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler’s heated encounter was an early match of the night contender, both pulling out all of the stops to keep the rabid fans happy. The always impressive Starship Pain giving Morrison the win.

Divas champion Brie Bella (with Nikki) faced off against Eve in a decent Divas brawl, the ever improving Miss Torres however fell short on regaining her belt.

Randy Orton and CM Punk then tore the house down with their ‘fans choice’ battle, the street fight was just what the Irish fans wanted and saw some still spots involving a Kendo stick, steel chair, the ring steps and the ring post. Punk saw defeat but as Orton dug deep and hit a surprise RKO.

Mexican newcomer Sin Cara made his Irish debut next, putting on fair showing against Primo, there were plenty of flashy and attention grabbing in-ring moments before the latest masked superstar to join the WWE grabbed the pin.

The penultimate match-up saw Daniel Bryan (with Gail Kim) tackle Ireland’s own Sheamus. The mighty Celt was more than up for the challenge, overcoming the La Bell Lock and other in-ring abuse to nail a big boot assisted pin.

WWE brought their A-Game to Belfast and the tour certainly lived up to its Wrestlemania Revenge moniker. It was nice to see the effort being put into the card and storylines continue through the night, the build up to Extreme Rules and push for R Truth (amongst others) were a very positive aspect as well. Especially in a week where the wrestling world has lost yet another main eventer, as Edge retired due to injury. The pushing of new/young talent as credible main eventers really is key to the WWE’s future success these days.

The tour continues across the UK, Ireland and Europe for the next two weeks.

WWE Smackdown Live Review: Belfast Nov 4 2010

WWE Smackdown Live Review: Belfast November 4th 2010
By Phil Allely

Every year we fans in the UK and Ireland get the chance to see our favourite Wwe supertsra live in the flesh and what a treat it is to be there at ringside for all of the action.

This November it was the turn of the Smackdown roster to head to Belfast and showcase their talents. Of course recent injuries to many of the companies top name shave had a knock on effect to the roster and the live product. However with almost a full house on hand in the Odyssey arena it was up to those fit, ready and willing backstage to offer forth some top class entertainment.

Phil Allely was on hand (alongside a fellow grapple fan and former wrestler) to witness just how the WWE were going to fill the void left by such stars as Undertaker and CM Punk.

Things kicked off well with hometown hero Finlay stepping out of self imposed retirement to live up to his tough guy image. His opponent Tyler Reks is a highly tipped big man and Finlay made him look like a star. Finlay’s comedy sidekick Hornswoggle was on hand to give his comrade an assist, much tot eh fans delight. Finlay pulled off the win and had the Belfast crowd in the palm of his hand as he and little Hornswoggle celebrated in the centre of the ring. Hornswoggle’s top rope frog (spawn!) splash was hilarious to witness.

Jack Swagger and Chris Masters had a believable and spirited match next. Trading holds, moves and near falls before Swagger made Masters tap out.

Mason Ryan pulled off an upset win next as crowd favourite Chavo Guerrero fell to him with ease, it’s easy to see why WWE legend Dusty Rhodes is high on Ryan.

The Intercontinental Title match saw champion Dolph Ziggler face off against Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and MVP. Scottish native McIntyre proved himself well in this one, controlling much of the match and almost netting himself the belt on a few occasions. After many near falls, high spots and trademark moves the action fell apart as Nexus made their first appearance of the night to end the match, Ziggler retaining.

The hot blooded males in attendance took notice next as diva Kelly Kelly made an unscheduled appearance to pose, strut and throw out some tee shirts to the crowd.

Up next everyone’s favourite little man Rey Mysterio showed just how in need he is of time off to recuperate his collected injuries. Rey was knockout out of action early in his bout with Alberto Del Rio and replaced with Kofi Kingston. Kingston fared well against his unexpected foe, but did require a returning Mysterio’s help to nail the match winning ‘boom drop’ for the pin.

After the interval Hart Dynasty members DH Smith and Tyson Kidd tackled Nexus for the Tag team Championships. The match itself was very good, Kidd especially impressing with his high-flying and risk taking moves. Nexus though proved to be slightly superior on this occasion and retained their gold.


The match of the night in your reviewers opinion was the Divas brawl between Natalya and Layla. Both women had their work boots on and assembled a near perfect bout, trading near falls, hitting decent moves and whipping the crowd into a nice frenzy as near falls came and went. The more experienced Natalya deservedly gained the win with a ‘Sharpshooter’.

The main event had a lot to live up to and since the as-billed Kane/Undertaker match had been scrapped due to Takers injuries his replacement Big Show had awful big shoes to fill. The seven foot monster did try his best and he and Kane did assemble a fair match-up for Kane’s World Title.

Perhaps knowing that fans were feeling short-changed by the lack of star talent on hand the finale to the match saw Nexus and the Smackdown roster have a full scale brawl.

Smackdown may have disappointed some, but whoever did put the show together did their best with what they had. The Nexus collective did their jobs perfectly, Kane proved to a very articulate speaker (something you never see on TV) and equally the often underrated Divas division proved to be the best on the night live.

Roll on the Raw tour next year for more of the same for the WWE.