I’ve been watching pro wrestling for the better part of 20 years. It’s my weekly soap opera. For all this time, I’ve only attended two live shows. The first was several years back with the “other” wrestling company, WCW, was more popular than the classic WWF (now WWE) company. I don’t remember much from that show except that my seats kind of sucked, but more so because the venue wasn’t that great. This time when wrestling cam to town, I made sure I was there.
There are two wrestling shows on TV. One on Monday night and one on Friday nights. I primarily watch Monday’s show along with the rest of my Monday primetime viewing. I know all the characters regardless, but typically the Monday show is the “better” show with the bigger names and better battles. This most recent show was Monday Night Raw.
Myself, the wife, and King Tom made it a point to see the show. Our seats were awesome, front row of the non-floor section - so essentially we were on the floor without having floor seats (or prices). Plus, we were literally about 50-feet from the entrance stage where all the wrestlers entered. Just take a look at the photos for the proof!
Anyway, when the tickets were advertised on local TV the main event was a cage match between three of the top guys: HHH, Edge, and John Cena. I was totally stoked. The top superstars and a cage match!!
So we’re there and after an hour of warm-up matches that included the Big Show, the live, televised show started. La dee da and so on with the story lines and highlights from the previous night’s pay-per-view show, and then they start talking about tonight’s show, only they don’t mention anything about a cage. In fact, the three men that were billed to be in the cage weren’t even wrestling during the live show. What a friggin’ bummer. I was totally beat by that. When the first match of the night is a women’s tag match, the rest of the night is pretty much less than par.
You see, following a pay-per-view show, the following night’s live TV show can only go one of two ways: 1) you see a bunch of rematches, or 2) you get a bunch of crap matches because all the top stars got the shit kicked out of them at the PPV. Just our luck that the PPV was one times when they guys actually went full-throttle and got the crap kicked out of them.
So for the most part, the matches were kind of boring and real one-sided. One wrestler was a big name and the other a no-name. And guess who won each match? The only redeeming match was a tag team match with the B-level stars. Some good spots and good audience response.
So the live show ends and I’m thinking, “great, the one time I go to see wrestling and they chump me.” But then the announcer starts talking and says now that the show is over we will have the main event as scheduled - the damn cage match! And indeed all the wrestling roadies come out and erect the cage around the ring. And then the 3 dudes come out and wrestle. Alright! That’s more like it!! This non-televised match, or “dark match”, was probably a practice match for an upcoming show, but nonetheless it was what I was looking forward to. It was a pretty decent match and made the night.
The wrestling aside, the experience of going was a little surreal and deflating. Yes, deflating because the size of everything seemed very, very small. The ring, the stage, the ramp - everything seemed a lot smaller that it looks on TV. Even the wrestlers looked wimpy - except for that 300-pound bohemeth that was all jacked up - it was interesting. The lack of commentary was noticable but not missed, surprisngly enough.
Also very noticable were the camera guys. Obviously, you don’t see these guys much when watching on TV, but there are quite a few of them that get right up in the wrestler’s faces to get a shot. And the wrestler stands there and poses…and waits…and waits…and waits until they get their cue to leave. Just like any other theatre production.
The pyrotechnics and sparks were very big too. So big, and we were so close, the flames from Kane’s entrace nearly melted my contacts. And I almost messed myself when the Big Show’s bombs went off.
The most important thing is I went home happy. I saw some of my TV heroes in action and despite the somewhat shotty matches, I will certainly go back when the come to town again. The price is right and the seats were nearly unbeatable.
For some more comentary on this Raw, stop by and read King Tom’s account.
