It happened on a Tuesday, but it was a taping for Friday Night Smackdown...right before a LIVE broadcast of Tuesday night ECW on SciFi. It will all make sense in a minute.
I've had tickets for a live professional wrestling event 3 times in my life and this is the first time I've actually been able to attend. The first time, I was away camping for the weekend when I was 16 years old; I had 4 tickets for WWF Wrestling at the Boston Garden and couldn't find anyone to drive me...even for a free ticket. I didn't go. The second time was this past August...I just went in for gall bladder surgery...it was a Friday...Monday Night Raw went live on Monday and I was on my couch recovering and pissed off that I was watching from home and not from my Premium Club seat at the stadium. This third time, I was determined to go. Friday Night Smackdown and ECW together at the TD BankNorth Garden. It was a 3 hour show and our seats were AWESOME...right on the wrestler's entry ramp...up close and personal to the action and the pyrotechnics. Good thing I brought earplugs.
Although it airs on Friday night...Smackdown was first, and my favorite part of the evening. People that you see on TV that are larger than life were walking right past us...Rey Mysterio, Finlay, Katharine's personal favorite "Kane", The Great Khali, The Undertaker, Batista, and Hornswoggle! OK, well Hornswoggle is a "leprechaun" so maybe he's not larger than life, but he's one of my favorites. We were THIS close:
So, I've heard that the matches look fake at a live event...they don't always hit as hard as they want you to believe, but believe me...the action is real and looked to me better than on TV. The leaps off the ropes, the suplexes, the slams of the 400lb men onto the mat from the top turnbuckle, the smack with a steal chair during the Last Man Standing Match. And it's not just the men...the Divas are doing all the same flips, rolls, and throws...and they're TINY.
The pyro was awesome...we could feel the heat from the fireworks and the explosions.
The matches were fun to watch, the commercial breaks during ECW were a bit annoying...seemed like there were more commercials than wrestling for that show, but that's the way TV works. And at the end of the night, World Heavyweight Champion Batista walked his way around and slapped hands with all of the fans around ringside...pretty cool of him to do that.
They put on an excellent show; I'm amazed they're able to do some of the things they do night after night and not have three times the number of injuries. Finally, I got to see a live show...Katharine was there too, don't let her tell you different...she cheered loud for Kane (both times he came out).
And we'll be there next November when the Survivor Series comes to town...that will be fantastic.
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