by Leon Peters and Mike Omansky

From Leon Peters: 

Howard Finkel came out to a big pop. Followed by the National Anthem(no Lilian) was the first match.
 
Match 1 - Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) vs Mark Henry (w/Tony Atlas)
 
Finlay won with a shilleglegh shot followed by a pin. Hornswoggle hit Atlas with the tadpole splash earlier in the match. Afterwards they invited several kids in the ring to run around with them.
 
Match 2 - Melina & Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix & Jillian Hall
 
Melina attempted her new Canadian Destroyer-like finisher, but totally botched it so she ended up pinning Jillian with the standing leg drop across the chest.
 
Finkel then announced that at the souvenir stands in the building, if you purchase the CM Punk wrist sleeves, there are 5 signed by Punk available throughout the building to the 5 lucky fans who find them.
 
Match 3 - Matt Hardy vs Jack Swagger for the ECW Title
 
Matt wins with the twist of fate. Not many people knew who swagger was. Matt got a big pop for his entrance.
 
Match 4 - John Morrison & The Miz vs Cryme Tyme for the World Tag Team Title
 
Morrison pinned Shad with moonlight drive.
 
Finkel plugged the release of Mr. Kennedy's Behind Enemy Lines movie coming out next Tuesday.
 
Match 5 - Shawn Michaels vs Kane
 
JBL came out right after HBK and ripped on the NY sports teams saying he's building a bigger dynasty than any of them. He then said he won't treat Shawn like Ted DiBiase treated Virgil or how Chris Jericho treated Ralphus. He'll treat him better.
 
Towards the end of the match Shawn was setting up the super kick when JBL hopped up on the apron and distracted him. Kane recovered and went for the chokeslam, but JBL got up on the apron again and Kane grabbed him by the throat. This allowed Shawn to hit the super kick, but he whiffed on it. Shawn must've called an audible because instead of pinning him he picked up Kane and was caught by the throat. Shawn broke free, hit the kick again and got the pin.
 
Back from intermission and Santino Marella comes out. He started to say something when The Boogeyman came out. Santino screamed and ran away into the audience with Boogeyman chasing him.
 
Match 6 - William Regal vs CM Punk for the WWE Intercontinental Title
 
Nice little match with several scary suplexes thrown by Regal. The ending saw Punk get Regal up in the GTS, but Layla distracted the ref allowing Regal to hit a low blow followed by a running kick to the head for the pin.
 
Match 7 - Rey Mysterio & Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes (w/Manu)
 
Orton got a surprising amount of cheers during the match and there were scattered boos for Rey. The ending saw Orton getting ready to RKO Kofi, but Rey dropkicked him from behind and hit a double 619 on both Orton & Rhodes followed by a top rope splash on Rhodes for the pin.
 
Another intermission to set up the steel cage. During the intermission they played several videos on the screen plugging the Edge dvd, the SmackDown taping this Tuesday at The Meadowlands and the WrestleMania XXIV highlight video.
 
Match 8 - John Cena vs Chris Jericho in a Steel Cage for the World Heavyweight Title
 
The cage looked very loose. Not a lot of climbing. Very good match. Better than just about all of the WWE cage matches in a long time. Jericho kicked out of both the stfu and the fu. Cena kicked out of the codebreaker. Lots of near falls and there were 2 times when Jericho was all the way over the cage, but Cena pulled him back in. It ended with Cena hitting the fu off the top rope for the pin.
 
Good show. Some scattered seats here and there, but a definite sellout. No return date announced for the Garden.
 

From Mike Omansky:

.hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana } WWE "RAW"/ECW -- house show...Madison Square Garden..Sunday, Dec. 28th

from Mike Omansky

-- Howard Finkel returned to the Garden as ring announcer
-- Show lasted 3 hours 15 minutes, including 2 brief intermissions

1. FINLAY (with HORNSWAGGLE) W MARK HENRY (with TONY ATLAS), via a
shillelagh to the head and pin, in a solid opener.  Henry tried power moves,
Finlay attempted some wrestling.  At finish, ref was distracted by Atlas and
Hornswaggle for the hit to the head.  5 minute post celebration as Finlay brought
6 kids from ringside into the ring, to dance and frolic with him and Hornswaggle. * 1/2

2. MELINA & KELLY KELLY W JULIAN HALL & BETH PHOENIX, when Melina pinned hall
with a leg drop over the throat. *

3. MATT HARDY W JACK SWAGGER, pin, with a twist of fate, to retain the ECW title. Best part of the match
was Swagger's histrionics...bout not exciting. *

4. MIZ & MORRISON W CRIME TIME to retain the tag belts, when Morrison pinned Shad.
Usual Crime Time match - they have their moments against the heels, lose to double teaming
at the end.  * 1/2

5. SHAWN MICHAELS (with JBL) W KANE, superkick and pin.  JBL came out after Michaels and addressed
the crowd; explained that the originally scheduled Michaels-JBL match was canceled as Michaels
is now an employee of Layfield, Inc.  JBL stayed at ringside the entire match, cheering Michaels on.
He distracted each man -- he stopped Michaels from an earlier superkick; then Kane came after
JBL with an attempted chokeslam on the apron, and Michaels blindsided Kane. **

-- Comedy skit.  SANTINO MARELLA came out and started adressing the crowd. BOOGYMAN music
came on; he came to the ring, and SANTINO started running, as BOOGYMAN chased him out the
opposite side of the building.

6. WILLIAM REGAL W CM PUNK with the knee to the head and pin, to retain the IC title.
Crowd not into this match/dead.  DUD.

7. REY MYSTERIO & KOFI KINGSTON W CODY RHODES & RANDY ORTON (with MANU) in the best match of the night.
Excellent action throughout.  Finish:  Rey does a double 619 on both Rhodes and Orton; Orton falls
back and out of the ring; Rey pins Rhodes.  MANU has a few excellent selected interfernce spots that
worked well. ***

8. JOHN CENA W CHRIS JERICHO in a well executed Steel Cage Match to retian the world title, via
a slam off the top rope and pin (match could be won either by pin or escape; there was one ref in
the cage, a second outside).  The usual "near escapes" by Jericho were very well done, and dangerously
close.  Mixed reaction to Cena, who got booed more as the match went on. ***

Solid show overall, with the last two matches significantly stronger than the rest, although
the Michaels-Kane was well done and interesting due to the JBL presence.