Sports Trip, watching the christians fight the lions

We make no apology's for watching professional wrestling here at TB&TB. We love it. The storeys, the athletes, the history, its all good to us. Contrary to popular thought, we also know its a show with predetermined outcomes, and that people are playing parts that aren't really them. We know the Undertaker is really just a big dude named Mark. We know that John Cena and HHH probably have a beer with each other after the show. We get it.

This last week I had the opportunity to go to the latest WWE PPV, Night of Champions, in person, as it was at the AAC here in Dallas. I work part time for a radio station, and i called in a few favors to score some tickets from them, and went with a buddy from the station who wanted to go but not by himself.

First off i felt kinda bad, Brown was my wwe watching buddy, and I know he wanted to be there, but we only had 2 tickets, so I just rolled with it. This buddy of mine from the station comes and meets me and we roll. First point of duty is to find out what kind of wrestling fan he was. Was he a "blind believer?" The kind of person who still thinks its a game of who's the better man, not who's getting the bigger push, or was he like us, enjoys it for what it is, a bunch of supremely gifted athletes, acting out fight scenes, entertaining the crowd. He was one of us, and after a few test questions i knew we were going to have a good time.

Now, I've been to see wrestling live before, 3 times with the big boys, and countless times at local promotions. The local promotion of choice is XCW, a wrestling brand in Denton Texas, that was once held in an office buildeing. Its "extreme" as most small promotions are, and its BYOB/C/W. (beer, chairs, and weapons). I'll expand on XCW on another post, as it deserves its own, but I just wanted to point out, its for adults, its got cursing and blood, and stuff like that.

Now the 3 Big Boy shows I've been too are as such, WCW Nitro, 1998 summertime in San Antonio, WCW Houseshow, 2000 Bell County Expo Center, and Wrestlemania X7, 2001 Houston. The Nitro was fun, i remember going to it with UntiQM, saw Goldberg beat up the giant, but don't remember much else, the House show i didn't remember anything at all except Booker T for some reason(i think i was thinking too much about getting laid afterward from the lady) and the wrestlemania, again that's a whole nother story, but we sat REAL far away, and were REAL hungover.

All three of those things also happened when i was still in my teens, so the memory of those has been clouded by malted hops and bong resin. This last weekend was the first time I've been to a big show like this as an adult, and was able to just take it in.

This is my experience.

First off, we had amazing seats. We were on row J, That's 10 rows up from the floor, so i could have easily punted a football and cleared the ring. Unlike the Wrestlemania show, where we sat on top of the Titian Tron, I was on the opposite side of it, so I could see all the replays and promo's and what have not.

The first thing I want to talk about is the crowd. I now know why wrestler's put their bodys on the line day in and day out, its the crowd. I have never, and I've been to mav's playoff games in Reunion Arena(loudest place ever), and i do mean i have NEVER heard a crowd this loud, but not all the time. Its not a cheering just to cheer, they cheer their people, and boo the ones they don't like. This really must have been what the crowds were like at the Colosseum, when the gladiators did battle. Each offense move from the well liked baby faces was met with such cheering that i don't know how the wrestlers aren't smiling constantly. And the thing that makes this so surreal is the fact that you can't here the play by play guys, just the crowd and the wrestlers.

The crowd also reminded me of why i love the "sport." I have evolved over the years as a wrestling fan, from a child when I believed it was all real, to the point that I am now, I can admire the show for what it is, a show. Much like CSI, or My Name is Earl, its only out there to entertain. But being at the show and seeing the way the kids reacted to the wrestlers was so refreshing. A little girl near me, who couldn't have been older than 5, almost started crying when Mickie James came out, she was so excited. And as i left the area, I saw several young fans crying that John Cena didn't win.

All and all the experience made me proud to be a wrestling fan. The show was fantastic, and wrestlers performed at a high level, and the fans were loud and proud.

My name is Big, and I love wrestling.