August 29th was my sons 5th birthday (and 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina). The main event for the evenings festivities was my presentation of these two tickets. The look of suprise and anticipation on his face was all worth it.
Sprinfield is about a two hour drive from Broken City. Show started at 5 at the old Mass Mutual center. Very quaint feeling, like one step up from an indy show. There were rows of folding chairs set up around the ring, but the last 15 rows of each were completely empty. Contrast that with full balcony seats all the way around. Seems like a shame to waste such primo seating, but oh well. Our seats were first row fold-outs, just beyond the circle of chairs around the ring. Perfect seats, with a clear view and very close to ringside. My 5 year old have an unobstructed view.
WWE has a very strict policy about photography and filming, as they remind you on every written notice and pre-recorded segment before the show. But, just to be dicks, they then lowered the arena lighting to BARE minimum visibility levels. Seriously, it was like watching wrestling in a strip club or something. They briefly shone the spotlight on wrestlers as they entered the match, but from there they were wrestling in dusk.
Santino Marella’s theme song opened the show to huge cheers. He and Kozlov beat Curt Hawkins & Vance Archer in the opener. I never understood the new general WWE direction until I saw this match live with my 5 year old son. The comedic stylings and humourous antics of Santino and the others (stuff you and I would roll our eyes at or dismiss completely) went over like GANGBUSTERS with the kids in the crowd. I mean laugh out loud funny at Santino’s little “my butt hurts” strut after eating an atomic drop, or his big climatic “Cobra” finisher (that actually pinned Hawkins). Not bad. After the match, Alberto Del Rio ran in and attacked Santino, then cut a promo saying HE should be in the main event instead of facing Chavo Guerrero later tonight. Big boos.
TYLER REKS (looking the same, yet almost unrecognizable like a big, dreadlocked barbarian – a taller version of Taz 2000) lost to Christian in the second match. The Bella Twins BEAT Lay Cool after the old Killer Bees switcheroo routine. Man, they are SO fine in real life. Like, the finest women in the world. There was a brief intermission.
CM PUNK came out to a HUGE reaction. Mostly boos, but the only 3 signs in the audience were all pro-Punk. He cut a long pre-match promo, riffing on the city and getting heat, and making sure his opponent for the night got cheered. CM Punk then beat MVP in match of the night. Couple of close calls, very Pro-MVP crowd (his name is easy to chant) and some near falls at the end that the crowd totally bought. He finally lost to the GTS but got cheered when he left the ring. Alberto Del Rio beat Chavo with his armlock submission. Another false ending with Chavo hitting the frog splash, but Alberto barely getting his hand on the ropes. The armlock looks awesome in person.
Main event was Kane beating Big Show in a steel cage (the little miniature mesh version) after CM PUNK slid a chair in the ring and Kane DDT’d Show onto it. Big Show is very poor. I saw him live at Survivor Series 08 most recently, and tonight too – there’s just a lot of space in his moves. They’re not tight or snug at all. Even his headbutts clearly miss by inches, and his punches are so obviously and weakly pulled. He chokeslammed Kane to play his music and end the night with cheers. Was over by 7:30 pm EST. Good times. 900 RAW next!!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment