“Welcome to the Dunk, the Dunkin Donut Center in Providence, RI, for Monday Night RAW!”
Those were the words I heard when the show began this past Monday, January 31st. I sat in eager anticipation, listening to the opening announcements, standard for every show. As Justin Roberts stepped through the ropes, I felt like Alice, falling
through the rabbit hole to Wonderland, entering the world of the WWE.
There was a dark match as the opener, with William Regal facing current NXT competitor Johnny Curtis in a great match. Johnny showed why he is part of NXT, with good ring skills against Regal. But it wasn’t enough as Regal locked him into his Regal Stretch, making Johnny tap out from the vicious grip. It was great start to the show.
We move onto taping two WWE Superstars matches. This Thursday, you will see tag team action as Zack Ryder and Primo are set in a rematch against Yoshi Tatsu and David Hart Smith. In addition, you’ll also see Divas in action as Melina takes on Tamina in a one-on-one match.
I will say this: the crowd was electric during one match, but not so much for the other. I’ll let you be the judge when the show airs this Thurs.
It’s now time for Monday Night RAW live!
In the darkness during the ten minutes before we go live on air, I watched as they brought in the gold balloon displays, switch the ring mat to the red carpet, and tack up the flag of Mexico onto the side. (It should be noted that the gentleman behind me was asking what the flag was, trying to figure out what country and who was coming out. I had to inform him.)
The show opens with the pyros, which by the way are VERY loud and VERY smoky. Then, Ricardo Rodriguez introduces the mariachi band and dancer, preparing for the glorious celebration of the 2011 Royal Rumble winner, Alberto Del Rio. The crowd was totally booing this guy, so when Alberto drove into the arena, the heat on him was very intense. The heat grew even more when the WWE Champion The Miz arrived. As Miz was trying to pull a fast one on Alberto, the crowd blew up as the words, “You think you know me?” blared over the system, signaling the entrance for the World Heavyweight Champion, Edge. This was one of the better opening segments I had seen in a long time.
Next is the Tag Team Title match with Santino Marella and Vladmir Koslov defending the belts against two members of the New Nexus, Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty. A decent match, with both teams putting on great performances. Though it took something as simple as the Cobra to knock Husky out. And that Cobra is very popular among the fans in RI.
I did notice a camera man walking up the stairs in my direction, which I thought was strange. But my attention went elsewhere as I saw Randy Orton hit the ring, giving the RKO to both McGillicutty and Harris. As he stalked Harris, on the TitanTron, we could see the coldness in his eyes, as Randy glared at him. Just as Randy was about to punt, CM Punk and the remaining members of the New Nexus stood on the stage. Punk assured Randy if he did follow through with the kick, there would be serious consequences. It seemed as though the warning was taking affect, but this is Randy Orton we are talking about. When has he ever heeded a warning? PUNT! It’s good! As Punk and the Nexus ran to attack, Randy took off through the crowd….into MY section! (Now, I understood why the cameraman was there.)
During the commercial break, Punk and Nexus watched as the EMTs attended to Harris, strapping him onto a stretcher, bringing him to the back for medical attention.
The Bellas came out, I’m guessing during the commercial break. They made their way to the commentary booth, which lead me to believe Daniel Bryan was next. I was right. It was Daniel Bryan with his secret girlfriend vs. Tyson Kidd in a short match. It was ok, but it felt like the crowd was more alive as the Divas attacked each other.
(I should note that during the commercial breaks, they were playing promo videos for Wrestlemania, Tribute To The Troops, and we did see that first “2-21-11” promo.)
Edge vs. The Miz was the next match. Edge is very over with the RI fans, and Miz’s heat was off the chain. Miz dominated for most of the match, since Edge was still feeling the affects of Del Rio’s guitar attack earlier in the show. As I watched the match, I noticed the crowd on the other side of the arena suddenly turning around to look up in the upper section. I thought a fight had broken out, until I saw a purple light glowing behind one special fan sitting in one of the chairs: John Cena! You couldn’t believe how fast I had to whip out my binoculars to see Cena getting the crowd to chant “Miz is awful!” and distract Miz enough to fall victim to a Spear from Edge.
The Divas match was next. Personally, I was a little disappointed. I had seen Awesome Kong driving into The Dunk earlier in the day, so a part of me was hoping to see her debut that night. As Lay-Cool scored the victory, I was thinking, “Ok, here she comes…..now…..anytime…..well?” And when she never showed, my heart sank. We knew she was there, so why didn’t she come out?
(Earlier in the evening, a fan behind me wanted to visit the concessions. His exact quote: “I’ll go during the Divas match.” What does that tell you?)
The dance off was next. As much as it was cool seeing The Great Khali again, seeing him in a dance contest went over with the crowd like a pregnant woman pole vaulting. A few of my friends on Twitter sent messages, saying how they felt bad for me having to sit through that. For me, I didn’t know which was worse: seeing that or seeing the Divas match.
I’m not sure if this was on TV or not, but before the main event, the Raw Rumble, Sheamus entered after John Morrison, complaining how he shouldn’t have to compete, let alone being number 2. John Morrison assured him he was right. No one wants to be a “number 2.” In fact, Morrison agreed how Sheamus pretty much was a “steamy number 2.” Think about that and what he was really talking about. Sheamus went to the back to find the General Manager to solve this problem, but his music played again and he came back out to start the Rumble. They were soon joined by John Cena, CM Punk, R-Truth, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Orton in 90-second intervals each. During this match and the previous night’s Rumble, John Morrison showed why he should be back in the WWE Title picture. Each time he was thrown, he used his Parkour training to keep himself in the match, using his feet, hands, and upper body to stay in the ring. Two surprise eliminations were Punk and Randy, the latter being tossed out by R-Truth, which was a surprise to the crowd. One by one, each of the last fighters were tossed. First, John Morrison, followed by John Cena, leaving only the Celtic King and the Hall Of Fame King. As Sheamus ran for the Brogue Kick, Lawler stepped aside and with Cena holding the top rope, sent Sheamus flying to the floor. The crowd erupted when Jerry Lawler was declared the number one contender for the WWE Title.
Even from a distance, I could see Michael Cole, Miz’s number one fan, angry with the outcome. I saw his body language, so I knew he wasn’t exactly singing the praises of his fellow broadcaster. John Cena held Jerry Lawler’s hand in the air in victory, knowing this was The King’s moment. The show may have gone off the air, but Providence celebrated the victory with Lawler, who took the mic and thanked everyone in attendance. For more on that, check out my exclusive footage here on wrestlingnewsarena.com. (I did drop the camera, only because I was moving around and was trying not to get caught by secrurity.)
The biggest pops of the night were Del Rio’s celebration, Edge’s entrance, Randy’s punt, and Lawler’s wins. The biggest heat of the night actually went to a surprise guest: Vickie Guerrero. The boos and jeers were so loud, I couldn’t hear what she had to say. All I caught was, “This Friday night on SmackDown.” Yeah, not even her “EXCUSE ME!” could be heard.
If you ever have a chance to go to a live show, go for it. It’s truly one of the best experiences you’ll ever had. Plus you never know what can happen. Like, maybe, a Viper running into your section…….*Del Rio wink.
*The views of this blog are that of the writer and do not reflect that of WNA or its staff*
