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I do not agree with Mr. Alex Lamoureux whose review on PWInsiderElite.com referred to the 10/31 Montreal Raw House Show event as "a very good house show" and that "all of the guys worked hard and the crowd had a good time".
Did we watch the same show? Because it seemed to me that many of the wrestlers were half-assing it and the crowd was dead half the time. I usually like house shows because there are less time restraints and you can see who can and can't work.
The WWE used to always fill up the arenas in Montreal whether it be a house show, television taping, or PPV. This time the Bell Centre arena was less than half full. Part of this is due to the product not being as strong as it once was but there was also barely any promotion for the event. They used to hire a local marketing firm to handle the local marketing but they don't even do that anymore. The main event was advertised as Sheamus vs Randy Orton in a steel cage but was changed last minute to Orton vs Wade Barrett.
The Hart Dynasty vs the Usos was a decent opener with Dynasty going over. But it was too much of a TV match with these young wrestlers not working with the crowd.
Yoshi Tatsu beat Zack Ryder in what was a surprisingly decent match. Zack Ryder can actually work when given the chance.
Ezekiel Jackson looked very strong in his squash match with Primo.
Goldust beat Ted Dibiase in a dance contest and a subpar quality match.
The Divas match was atrocious. All the divas were wearing Halloween costumes so at least they looked good. Maryse, who is from Montreal, did not get any promo time and lost cleanly. Gail Kim was trying so hard to make the match work but it was just awful. One of the worst matches I've seen this year.
In the one really good match on the show, Daniel Bryan went all out for the crowd beating the Miz in a US title defense. Big props to him for working just as hard no matter the show.
Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga beat Mark Henry with ease in a bad match. Henry was super over with the crowd while the NXT guys had no reaction. So it really made no sense for Nexus to win here.
Sheamus defeated John Morrison with a big boot in a forgettable match.
The main event of Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett was very disappointing. Orton seemed to just be going through the motions, simply relying on his signature moves, in what was a lackluster short match. The cage had way too much give and was seldom used.
Very disappointing show in my opinion for a city that used to be a wrestling mecca.
