By Peter TownsonWrestlemania gripped Qatar yesterday as thousands of fans turned out to watch a selection of WWE stars in action at a soldout Revenge Tour event at Qatar Sports Club.The stadium was buzzing as crowds rushed to get closer to the action, and the initial chaos was an indication of the level of excitement that would ensue for the rest of the evening.?The event, brought to Qatar by Golden Relations and Qtel, also saw arguably the world’s most famous wrestler, Jon Cena enter the ring in Doha.?Sixteen-time champion, Cena was definitely the highlight of the evening for the crowd, and the star would have raised the roof has the open air event been held under cover.Cena took on The Miz for the WWE Championship, and having defeated Cena previously in Wrestlemania, the defending champion berated the crowd for chanting their hero’s name before he appeared.?The Miz was joined by his friend, Alex Riley and the pair’s dirty tricks only strengthened Cena’s support from the crowd.Despite being up against the ropes, literally and figuratively, Cena eventually won the bout by virtue of The Miz being disqualified, which means that despite Cena winning, the belt will not change hands.Before Cena’s victory in the evening’s main event, US champion Sheamus successfully defended his title against the contender Daniel Bryan.
After John Morrison won the opening fight of the evening, other bouts featured the “world’s strongest man” Mark Henry, who managed to put his more than 400lb frame to good use to dispatch his opponent, Ted Dibiase.Jey and Jimmy Uso came up against Santino and Vladimir Kozlov - a popular tag team with the audience who were pleased to see the pair defeat the duo of unscrupulous brothers.?Fans also saw Randy Orton defeat CM Punk who probably received the worst reception of the evening from the audience.If he wasn’t getting booed enough during his entrance, his demands for the audience to ‘be quiet!’ certainly provoked an even angrier reaction from the crowd, who were delighted to see Orton emerge victorious from their bout.The evening also saw Evan Bourne defeat Britain’s William Regal, while crowd favourite Sin Cara took care of Primo in their match up.The event was certainly something different for Doha, and earlier in the day, the craziness surrounding WWE descended on Villaggio, where thousands of fans turned up to get a glimpse at a few of the superstars.The combination of the two events, the demand for tickets and the furore and hysteria surrounding WWE’s arrival in Qatar certainly prove that the popularity of the sport here is beyond any doubt.WWE is by no means everyone’s cup of tea, but the athleticism of those involved is something to behold, and the sight of the wrestlers flinging themselves and each other through the Doha night air will last long in the memory of those that got to watch last night.But perhaps the most noticeable aspect of the event was the diversity of the huge crowd gathered at the stadium.?Families of all nationalities were contributing to the electric atmosphere and large number of mothers and fathers were quite obviously enjoying the opportunity to indulge their children as well as their own inner children.Chanting, booing and celebrating throughout, it seemed that everyone at the stadium was fully immersed in the vibe brought to Qatar by the WWE this weekend.