UK's Christian Coalition
By THE LILSBOYS

WHENEVER we interview WWE wrestlers they always tell us how much they love performing in front of British fans.

And one superstar who will never forget the city of Birmingham, England is Christian.

We've long said that the Canadian grappler is a show-stealer on the mic, can have great matches and should be more than just a comedy mid-card bad guy.

It seems our fellow countrymen share that view - because almost all of the 11,200 fans in the sold-out NEC Arena for this Monday's Raw were going nuts for Captain Charisma.

It's one of those rare moments you can only get by going to a live event, where you know you're witnessing wrestling history.

Because of Raw's English fans it's very likely Christian will soon get a huge push and may even have to turn babyface to accommodate his growing popularity.

We got the feeling something special was going to happen when we entered the arena and saw signs for the star everywhere, with people proclaiming themselves as his Peeps.

Christian's appearance in the main event was never meant to be any more than a way to showcase the feud between world champion Batista and challenger Triple H.

But as soon as Captain Charisma appeared in Birmingham, it became obvious who the real star of the night was going to be.

His first skit with Ric Flair, where he ignored the Nature Boy's advice and said he didn't want Triple H's help, was comic genius.

And when Christian came to the ring and berated us Brits - before crawling back to Flair and Hunter after Tyson Tomko was taken out by Kane - he proved himself as a top tier player.

We've printed the star's best quotes on the right so you can take a look for yourself, but you really have to watch Raw to see just how well delivered they were.

For the match, Triple H made Ric Flair timekeeper, heel announcer Coach referee and himself Christian's replacement Problem Solver.

Leaving aside the fact it was never mentioned how or where Hunter got the authority to call the shots, you'd think having all the baddies lined up against Batista would have put the crowd even more firmly on the supremely popular Animal's side.

However we'd say the arena was split 70/30 in Christian's favour.

Batista's support mainly came from younger fans who were there to see the superstar world heavyweight champion.

But a combination of long-term Christian fans and people won over by just how good his promos were, meant those chanting and cheering for the champ were easily drowned out.

Sadly Captain Charisma lost the match - Batista hit his Bomb and used Coach's hand to count to three - but it was one of those occasions where a wrestler gains as much in defeat as in victory.

TRISH ... didn't want to be Viscera's dish

If the Birmingham crowd came to cheer Christian, then they were also there to boo Edge and Lita.

We reported last week how the couple received loud "you screwed Matt" chants in New York and the WWE were obviously expecting more of the same.

In an unprecedented move worried federation bosses even pulled an interview with Lita from the big screen after a split-second, so that there were no boos when it was replayed on TV.

Edge wasn't so lucky.

Throughout his bout with Val Venis, Christian's storyline brother was loudly heckled by fans of the jilted Hardy brother.

Edge seemed to enjoy it though. When the audience chanted "we want Matt", he cupped his ear then mouthed back "well, you're not getting him".

Edge beating Val Venis followed by a Chris Benoit run-in probably wasn't a ratings winner and Christian v Batista is far from the best main event we've ever seen.

But as part of a crowd hotter than you'd find in almost any American city it didn't matter.

Staffordshire born William Regal may have lost in his tag match with Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari, but the fans reacted as if they'd just seen him win the world championship.

Even the video segments got huge cheers.

Viscera was the surprise of the night, showing more personality than ever in his 'date' skits with Trish Stratus - winning over the NEC if not the gorgeous Diva.

Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels' interview with Mean Gene was also going down well until people realised it was actually taped in America last week - the US style fire alarm was one giveaway - and the two megastars wouldn't be appearing live.

Which was a shame because if the cheers Christian, Regal and even Jim Ross got are anything to go by - the roof would be getting reattached to the NEC right now if Hogan had made the trip to the Midlands.


Christian's best quotes:
1. "Historically Canadians like myself have been much much smarter than you Brits, so I will talk very slowly. Nice teeth by the way."

2. "Next month at the draft whether I stay here on Raw and beat Batista again or whether I go to Smackdown and beat that Ali G rip off John Cena, one thing is for damn sure - it's going to be Captain Charisma carrying the torch. Because that's how I roll."

3. "Tell Triple H if he wants some competition he should get himself traded to Smackdown next month. Maybe he can beat Michael Cole."

4. "About Tomko. I just want to apologise about the things he said earlier. Sometimes you can't shut the guy up, he spouts off at the mouth."

5. To Coach: "Don't ever point at me."
Credit: TheSun.co.uk