As is our now yearly tradition, Daniel and I traveled up north for the one time a year WWE comes anywhere close to our state. They seem to be sticking with the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho now, whereas the first one or two I attended were in Albuquerque proper. Which, now that I (and the GPSes) know where it is, is fine by me. It's close enough to Cottonwood Mall, that getting a hotel nearby is not problematic and free parking! It's just taken us a few years to figure out exactly which seats we should be seeking, though next year, I really hope I can get in on time to get near the entrance line and actually have a hope of a high-five or t-shirt toss. Calling in to ask for side-facing bleachers was actually a better view than the floor seats which are exceedingly problematic for a few reasons, but mostly because I'm short. Meaning I'm level with everyone else and most of the guys are taller than me, the kids stand on the chairs, people hold up their cell phones/ipads to record the match and I'm about eye-level with the ring itself so I end up missing about 85% of what's happening. This year I was unfortunately next to the most obnoxious child in the entire arena, but my library-training made it so I could kiiiind of tune him out. Seriously, kids should not be internet trolls at the age of 8.
So, we decided to get our commerative cups first just in case they sold out and since I saw a hole in the merch line I decided to get that out of the way, as well. There was however, no actual order to the proceedings so we missed out on half of the first match. Which was Fandango vs Dolph Ziggler, so....yeah. But I got a Shield shirt, a program, a CM Punk Bleacher Creature which is probably about the last WWE Punk merch we're ever going to see so: collector's item! and a Cena hat for my brother. I know, I know...his choice.
Welp, I still have my ganky point-and-shoot from a million years ago and the lighting in there sucks, so my pictures are not-so-hot, but I did get a few shots and at least it helps me remember what actually happened.
Blurry as hell, but it was the first one as I was getting situated and we were at the end of the match. Fandango on the floor and Ziggler...doing something.
Summer Rae came out to attack/distract Fandango, Layla went after her, hijinx were had and allowed Ziggler to prevail.
Clearest shot: Summer Rae's boobies. You're welcome!
Cody's wife, Brandi Rhodes was the announcer for the evening. A little awkward, but we'll get to see something fun with her later. Next up: Titus O'Neil vs Sin Cara!
A few notes. Titus O'Neil did not look happy to be here AT ALL. Not just heel face, either. Don't know if he's just tired of jobbing or being in New Mexico or what, but the unhappiness was evident. Side note: I have no idea why WWE schedules their New Mexico visit in June/July in the dead middle of summer when it's a million degrees, but sadly NM hasn't figured out this less than sound strategy of piling everything up at the worst time of year, either. Also, that obnoxious kid next to me? Freaking LOVED Titus O'Neil. I have no idea why, but he flipped his shit as soon as the music hit. Which I don't mind him being a fan, but instead of just cheering, he would like yell their names like he knew them and expected them to just turn around and come over and have a conversation with him? It's hard to explain, but man it drove me up the wall for this and a couple of other matches.
Baby Titan Tron! The Albuquerque venue had NO A/V for the shows and the Star Center has a few screens around the top of the arena, that they would just show Twitter comments on and then last year the entrance videos, but the wrestlers would still just come out of curtains on the side. This year though, WWE had actually set-up an mini entrance stage that would show the logos, plus the entrance videos around the venue. Pretty sweet set-up for a house show.
The Enforcer. There's security staff that I'm pretty sure were from the venue, but this guy was WWE meaning he meant business. Was fun to watch him talk to talent and the audience and to crack down on people when he needed to.
Next up: A not-terrible Divas match! I think Nattie has been to just about every one of our house shows.
Story Time! A year or two ago, the venue actually combined the WWE show with a BBQ festival thing. They advertised having wrestlers there to give autographs, but didn't specify who. Turns out it was Zack Ryder and Natalya. Not my first choices, but hey, meeting anyone from the company was worth the wait in the giant line. Now, this was after Zack Ryder had really built himself up with his webshow and branding which I had really admired, but after Cena had hooked himself on to it and brought his momentum to a crashing halt. So while he wasn't exactly on the up-and-up, I still had residual good feelings for him. I've never been a fan of the Divas division, so Natalya was neutral for me.
So, we get close enough that I can watch both of them and Zack Ryder looks just awful. The worst sourpuss face, no talking or interacting with people, just sign and swipe it away. When it gets to be my turn, Natalya is the first you encounter. I start by greeting her and asking how she's doing since it's hotter-than-hell out there and she seems surprised, but happily answers that she's good and then sees my shirt and asks about me being a Sheamus fan, and I awkwardly say something dumb about being Irish, too. She said something else gracious while signing the paper, but I don't recall what exactly. So then I step to my left and Zack Ryder and hand him the paper. I ask again how he's doing and get a grunt. I say something about how this heat can be awful and don't even get eye contact. Alright, then.
So. Never a fan of Zack Ryder after that. I understand the heat can wear you down, but it was the fans that got him that push in the first place, so a
little bit of effort would have gone a long way. Nattie on the other hand. Big fan of hers now just because of how gracious and engaged she was in that one, brief encounter we had. Politeness goes a long way with me, so kudos to her for making a new fan in one 30 second interaction.
TL;DR-Natalya: Good, Zack Ryder: Bad
Back to the action! Divas must have had the best lighting since these seem to be my shots that turned out the best. Or maybe they just don't move around as much. So we have current Divas Champion, Paige, defending her title in a triple threat match with Natalya and the currently "crazy" Alicia Fox.
Dat ass.
Ugh, nevermind, still crappy shots. I missed all the good stuff, too. Alicia Fox grabbed somebody's popcorn and freaked out with it on stage and then was using the bag to hit the other girls. You can see some of it on the mat in the last shot. Paige grabbed it at one point and while waiting for the other two outside the ring she just casually ate a few handfuls which was amusing. Last shot is the crazy, whatever-triple-suplex-thing they did from the corner. I'm actually glad we got the merch first as this was actually an entertaining match.
Paige retained, of course. Afterwards, they brought these girls up on stage to pose and whatnot. Never got the scoop on them. Did they win the meet and greet? Make-a-Wish? No clue. They were led away by officials shortly before the entire show ended too, so they must have gotten some kind of fun stuff from the company. Bonus pic of the crew having to come out and clean up the popcorn by just pulling out the apron and sweeping it in between the apron and the ring. The next few wrestlers and staff would still be brushing that stuff out of the way. Stay tuned for part 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment