WWE RAW Dark Match & Live Notes
Posted by John Meehan on 12.19.2006
I was there! EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS inside!
Just got back from RAW at the MCI Center Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Arena was just about 80% full. Only the uppermost decks were sparsely populated, and no areas (that I could see) were curtained off. Prior to the show the line to purchase tickets stretched all the way BACK through Gallery Place, into Chinatown (some six blocks away), and ended up right about in front of the Urban Outfitters and City Sports stores in downtown Chinatown when everything was said and done (readers familiar with DC will attest that that's a pretty sizable stretch for a line... and that's just in ONE direction -- there was ANOTHER ONE just as long going the opposite way!).
Photographic proof, for any doubters...
See? Tolja' that line was long!
On my way into the building, I also just so happened to be spotted from the crowd and recognized by a bunch of 411's faithful readers. Gotta love ceWebrity, no? Pretty cool, and a nice ego boost to have people recognize you on the street when you're attending a show with your girlfriend (yes, I know).
Here's me and the 411 readers!
Thankfully, I'd pre-purchased tickets online so I was good to go with a quick stop at will-call. Merch stands were loaded with dX stuff, as well as a smattering of Carlito products and a boatload of Cena to round out their collection. Kids simply cannot buy enough dX and Cena merchandise, and WWE is making money off of those two acts hands over fist.
Case in point...
Alright, enough of that. Now on with the show!
Dark Match - Fred Samson (a big angry-looking black dude announced as hailing from Washington, D.C.) defeated Christian York with a running powerslam. York played the heel throughout and was pretty solid in the role for a newcomer. A few slightly botched spots including an inadvertant ref bump and a mistimed lungblower, but otherwise a perfectly acceptable curtain-jerker. Bonus points to Samson for getting the DC crowd into the show early in the night, even if it was only by way of the cheapest of cheap heat. He's no Monty Brown (as many a fan was MORE than willing to remind him), but a totally harmless and effective opening bout regardless.
RAW Match #1: 30-Man Battle Royale to Determine #1 Contender
Wow, where to begin? Since there were just so many things going on at once, I suppose I'll just point out the highlights. You probably heard a big old "Hoooo!" cheer followed by a chorus of "U-S-A" just about five or six eliminations into the match, which is because Duggan and Slaughter made their way up the ramp alongside one another, and so fans couldn't help but give the two old-timers their due. Ditto for Ron Simmons.
In the match itself, Rory McCallister looked like a worldbeater throughout his brief time in the contest, and even though he didn't really *do* much, per se, he really looked like he knew his way around the ring, and it appeared that just about every move he made was fluid and purposeful, as opposed to the infamous "killing time wander" that so many other performers are prone to in matches like this. Edge spent the bulk of the match lurking in wait around the outside, and fans were all over him for being such a slimeball as a result. Nice work by Edge. Trevor Murdoch earned himself a solid pop on the way out the exit, as our section greeted him with a big old Larry The Cable Guy "Get 'r Done," which got a chuckle out of the guy on the way out, and Lance Cade was booked to look like a respectable little midcarder to boot - and fans were booing the crap out of him as a result. Nice work by each of these fellas, as well as by Michaels (especially) when going balls-to-the-wall and vaulting himself onto the final four assault of heels.
BIGGEST MARK OUT MOMENT OF THE NIGHT - I was in section 120, row J (just five rows from the floor seating area), and our seats were technically "partially obstructed view" because we were nearby the stage (as you can see in the photo below):
Still, the view was great, and minus the errant crane camera occasionally blocking our view, I had absolutely no problem with the line of sight to the ring. But anyway - MARK OUT MOMENT OF THE NIGHT!!! Since we're in the "obstructed view" area alongside the RAW entrance stage, we spent much of the night staring over the production technician's table and the pyro operator's shoulders. Though this in itself was cool enough, we also had the chance to see a few familiar faces make their way out to view the match from the comfort (and relative anonymity) of the staging area. So during the Battle Royal, who do we see? None other than PAT FREAKIN' PATTERSON - out to observe the 30-man match that I'm sure he most definitely had a hand in putting together. Just an awesome "insider" moment for smart fans in our section, made all the more exciting by the fact that I shouted "WE LOVE YOU PAT PATTERSON!" and he actually turned, waved and acknowledged our section before returning to the backstage area (with just about 10 guys left in the ring).
Next up...
Ringside Interview: Vladimir Kozlov
Fans weren't sure what to make of this dude, but once he started speaking in Russian? Well, that was all she wrote. And just like that - it was Rocky IV all over again as fans were cheering like crazy for "Rock-y!" "Rock-y!" to come out and go all Ivan Drago on this commie's red ass.
Match #2: Carlito vs. Chris Masters
Carlito was CRAZY over with the DC crowd. Masters? Not so much, but fans were excited to watch The Masterpiece get his ass handed to him if we were given the opportunity. Unfortunately, some pre-match brawling into the crowd meant that such a bout was not to be, and so we had to settle for the fracas in the audience for our fill of Carlito for the night (since he was tossed just about first or second out of the Battle Royale, likely to give him time to get ready for the single's match. Of course, that doesn't really explain how MASTERS lasted that long only to fight in the next match, but regardless). Maybe the match was aborted because Masters was clearly blown up after spending just about 30 minutes in the ring beating up on dX and the rest, or maybe the Carlito/Masters brawl was scheduled to have gone longer until that nasty bump into the cameraman. Guaranteed that one was NOT scripted, as Carlito smacked the poor fella square in the face, and BOTH of them were knocked for a loop as a result. Cut looked wicked, too... even from the diagonal side opposite where the action was taking place.
Match #3: Nitro & TWGTT vs. The Hardy Boyz
Hardyz, as usual, were INSANELY over as soon as their entrance music hit. Yet once the in-ring action began (and stretched through the 9pm hour), things got progressively quiter and fans lined up for the rest rooms. Tough break for Matt Hardy especially, as "the crowd went mild" just about every time that poor dude got in the ring. Jeff kept the crowd hot with his trademark spots, however, and Matt did a bit to win them all back with his top-rope moonsault to the outside of the ring. Melina REALLY knows how to rile up a crowd, and the DC fans were more than happy to greet her shrieking with a rousing chorus of "SHUT UP!!!"
The Rocky Balboa Promo earned two pops: One, at the mention of Rocky Balboa (that one quickly disappated), and two, at the mention of Hulk Hogan (that one lasted a bit longer). Another good laugh from the DC crowd once Stallone said that Federline "must have a death wish," and a wonderfully surreal moment to hear an arena filled with wrestling fans chanting "Rock-y! Rock-y!" despite the fact that we were one Maivia short of a wrasslin' show.
Match #4: Ric Flair vs. Kenny Dykstra
KENNY DYKSTRA?!? Oh come on now. Who in the blue hell will ever admit to being a wrestling fan if the guy supposed to be headlining pay-per-views one day goes by the fear-inspiring moniker of "Kenny Dykstra?!" Shoot man... can you HONESTLY tell me you'd be willing to plunk down $40 to see "The Heart Break Kid, Shawn Michaels vs. The Guy Who We SWEAR Is Neither a Cheerleader or Ex-Philly, Kenny Dykstra." Just a dumb move on the part of WWE's "creative" on this one.
Regardless, Flair was as over as one might expect - yet (perhaps unsurprisingly) - the mark-heavy DC crowd (always eager to disappoint) barely sustained Flair's reception for more than the perfunctory 30 seconds or so, and just about 1/2 the audience was already in their seats by the time old 'Naitch made his way up the ringsteps and into the squared circle. No appreciation for history, and just really disappointing, you know?
Match #5: John Cena vs. Edge
Hands down, John Cena is THE single best professional wrestler in the business today. Not because of his moveset (though he DID bust out a modified top-rope guillotine legdrop tonight), and most definitely NOT because of his wit and/or promo ability (because Stone Cold Steve Austin he sadly is not)... but simply because more than ANY other active regular performer in North America today -- John Cena elicits a GENUINE REACTION from EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN ATTENDANCE. Whether they love him (as the smarts and kids did) or they hate him (or more to the point, they probably just hate the kids and mark fans who blindly cheer the guy while completely oblivious to his obvious limitations), the simple fact of the matter is that Cena's match(es) were, by far, THE LOUDEST and most active crowd-interactive segments I've taken part in this year. And I've seen Samoa Joe, dX, CM Punk, Batista AND Kurt Angle in action this year... NONE of their matches holds a candle to the sheer electricity and bell-to-bell crowd enthusiasm as fans were willing to show for Cena.
Cena is so polarizing that it got to a point where a fair chunk of the EXACT SAME fans who were booing the crap out of Edge just a few matches earlier (and later), found themselves swept up into the anti-Cena "LETS GO EDGE!" fervor in SPITE of the fact that they probably could care less about the guy. Bottom line? Cena is simply *SO* divisive that he can make an all-out heel into a one-match babyface, and he can just as easily transition to the crowd's great white hope to save a beloved team's worth of babyfaces (like dX) when duty calls.
Love him or hate him, John Cena is just an awesome, awesome act to see live.
Interview/Promo: Cryme Tyme and Dubya
To the shock of absolutely no one, Dubya's stand-in was mercilessly heckled from the moment he stepped through the curtain (we'll recall that "the Chocolate City" voted something like 93% Democrat in the 2004 Presidential Election, you know). To his credit, the impersonator did the best with the (spotty) material he'd been giving, and he took his knocks like a champ when the fans turned their ire for the Commander-In-Chief his way. Plenty of chants for Cryme Tyme to "KICK HIS ASS!" throughout the sketch, but sadly not to be. Cryme Tyme was all sorts of over with the largely urban DC crowd, and once "Dubya" accidentally dropped an "N" bomb or two their way - you could almost feel the guardrails begin to pulse as fans were just DYING for the opportunity to charge the ring and give the 'Prez a piece of their mind (and fist, and...). Bravo to "Bush" for playing his part 'till he walked right out the door, though - and he even posed atop the RAW ramp as the show faded to commercial, only to stop and give the crowd the Nixon-esque "V for Victory" pose with one slight twist... a double middle finger to show us how "The Prez" really felt about Washington, Dc.
Match #7: Mickie James vs. Victoria
The non-title stip here was not made clear to the live crowd, and so there were more than a few disappointed and/or confused fans in attendance once the finish sort of caught many of us unaware. The typical smattering of all sorts of off-color chants throughout this one, many of which were directed to the ladies from a) 13-year-old virgins and/or b) their 25-year-old virgin brothers. LOTS of nerdy white kids in the crowd, folks... and if there's a stereotype that "smart" fans are sexually repressed dorks who live in their parents' basements? Well, those fellas and their none-too-flattering chants didn't do much to help quell those rumors.
Promo: Kevin Federline
Love him or hate him (and I know MANNNY of us really do hate the guy), the bottom line is that Federline is a RE-MARKABLE professional wrestling heel. He was SO universally hated that fans couldn't even bring themselves to boo his segment in unison, so instead we just heard chorus upon chorus of epithets thrown his way. Like no joke - it was almost like listening to four people singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" while another three sang "Three Blind Mice" -- ALL AT THE SAME TIME but a half verse after the last chorus had begun. Surreal, and VERY effective in putting Federline on the radar as "America's Most Hated" as WWE rolls into 2007. Only drawback? Federline had a BITCH of a time staying in one spot and/or looking at the stationary camera - so it made for a LOT of wandering on the part of the WWE in-ring cameraman.
Match 8: Umaga and Rated RKO vs. Cena and dX
You know, for the amount of times we'd seen each of these guys earlier in the night, you'd have thought that the DC crowd would have grown tired of cheering and or booing for any of these six men. My, how wrong you would be... as fan reactions for these main eventers were just as loud as ever for the last match of the night as they were for each of their first contests.
Once again, CENA brought the crowd to their feet when he squared off against each of the opponents. Trading blows with Edge and Orton, fans were more than happy to do their usual "Cheer the heel, boo 'Da Champ" call and response to the offensive exchange. Yet once Cena shoulderblocked Umaga out of the ring and onto the floor? Damn, you should have heard those mark fans just take the cheers to the highest level they'd seen all night. And once dX was getting beat down to close out the show? Sure as shit, the "smark" fans were right there alongside their mark brethren... CHEERING for Cena (yes, CHEERING... FOR CENA!!!) to run in and make the save.
Sadly, not to be as the lights came on after Michaels and Triple H were brought to their feet. Kind of a bummer for those fans (like my girlfriend) hoping to cheer for the faces to close out the night, but 11:08pm and we were on our way to the exits.
Overall: Great show and easily the best WWE broadcast to have rolled through DC in 2006. And I should know, as I'm pretty sure that I went to ALL of them (RAW/Smackdown Supershow pre-WrestleMania, ECW/Smackdown! taping in the summer, and RAW tonight).
Biggest Pops of The Night:
1) CENA (particularly the Umaga shoulderblock to the outside)
2) dX
3) Hardyz entrance/ Cryme Tyme
Biggest Heat of the Night:
1) Kevin Federline
2) Rated RKO
3) Vladimir Kozlov / "George W. Bush"
