The Shimmy 01.15.07: The Andy Clark is on Vacation Edition (Part Two)

Hey there, welcome to part two of my first Monday Night Raw experience. For you faithful Shimmy readers you’ll remember that last week I wrote about how excited I was to see my first Monday Night Raw live and in person. Well right off the bat I have to say that I had a really good time. Maybe it’s the fact that you are seeing these people live and in person or its good vibes from being in a communal setting but the show came off much better live than it did on TV (judging by the internet’s reaction.)

For me, the best part of the show was not the action in the ring but rather the reaction of the crowd, specifically the reaction of all the children that were there. As adult fans of wrestling we get all worked up about the backstage politics, how good of a worker one wrestler is over another, which wrestlers should be pushed and which ones shouldn’t, what’s “good for the business,” etc. Kids don’t care about that kind of stuff. They want to see a show, they want to laugh, they want to cheer their favorites, and they just want to have a good time. Seeing a show live you can’t help but be swept up in that unless you are a horribly jaded person and if that’s the case then you have my sympathy. As the show went on I found myself feeling like a kid again and I let myself be entertained rather than looking for something to criticize. I highly recommend this attitude.

One of my best friends is in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America and his 10 year old little brother Richie was at the show, just a few sections over from me. Before the show, we made arrangements to meet up and it was the coolest part of the whole night for me. I have hung out with Richie several times before but this was the most excited I have ever seen him. He had his John Cena title belt on his shoulder and a huge smile on his face. We talked for a little while about who he was looking forward to seeing the most and he told me that he was most excited to see Cena (naturally) and Umaga. He also mentioned that his favorite diva was Mickie James. Needless to say, Richie’s got good taste. We’ve talked wrestling many times before and he’s been a fan of Cena pretty much since day one. I’ll bet most kids his age are exactly the same, they were never worried about Cena’s “superman” push or how Edge was “made to look weak” and all the other complaints people had about him last year. Interesting, isn’t it? Anyway, let’s take a look at the matches:

Dark Matches:

Kozlov vs. Eugene – I missed this one while talking to Richie. I probably didn’t miss much.

Ty Dalton (jobber) vs. Viscera – Ty Dalton was apparently “from St. Louis” so I knew he was going to get smoked. I was right.

Haas vs. Super Crazy – The crowd seemed to like Super Crazy; I pissed off the guys in front of me when I yelled out “put him in the Haas of Pain!” It was great.

Jobber Tag Team vs. the Highlanders – What really surprised me here was the big pop the Highlanders got. They remind me of the Bushwackers and I mean that in a good way. The kids seem to love them. One of the jobbers had a big cross on his singlet. He must have been a Sigma Chi.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Hacksaw – I HATE Hacksaw so I was pretty much the only one cheering Shelton, which was fun.

TV Matches:

Hardy Vs. Kenny – It was fun trying to get a Kenny chant going while people were chanting for Hardy. I got a few people to join in with me but not many. My buddy Tim who got me the ticket for the show finally showed up right before this match started but he’s a big Hardy fan so he didn’t mind missing all the stuff before it.

Victoria & Melina Vs. Mickie & Maria – Maria is just too fine. You know it, I know it, and everyone knows it.

Rosie Vs. Donald – People were bored during this match, I heard the “TNA” and “Boring” chants as reported but what hasn’t been reported was that people cheered when Donald shoved that cake in Rosie’s face. And the flying “hairbutt” made me laugh a lot but that may have been the beer.

Carlito Vs. Chris Masters – I was cheering for Masters as was maybe about 5 other people. Still, it didn’t seem like most were into the match until Torrie came out. Who says divas are useless?? Anyway, when Torrie hit Masters in the butt with the ring bell I laughed very loudly. I don’t care where you’re from, seeing someone hit in the butt is always funny. I think the Three Stooges discovered that.

Cryme Tyme vs. Cade & Murdoch – Cryme Tyme is the truth. That’s all I have to say.

Great Khali Vs. Cena – I told my buddy Tim that as long as Khali just stand there that his offense doesn’t look half bad. Anyway, the match was fine for what it was and what it was supposed to be. Some kids sitting by me were really worried about Cena’s health at the end of that match so mission accomplished in my book.
Dark Main Event:

Cena Vs. Umaga – A kid sitting by me said that there was no way that Cena could win and keep the belt. Of course he (and most of the arena) went nuts when Cena FU’d Umaga for the win. That’s what it’s all about folks.

Random notes:

– Orton in a neck brace = my favorite thing ever
– Crowd cheered for anything involving Cena, DX, or Jeff Hardy. Little kids love all three. In fact, about 10 kids, none of which could have been over 9 years old, were standing up against a balcony and started a Triple H chant during the Rated RKO/HBK promo. The rest of the arena eventually joined in.
– It really says something about how over you are when people cheer even if it just shows you on a video, much less when you come out. It can’t be said enough, Cena is over HUGE.

Scott Keith wrote a book called Wrestling’s One Ring Circus and I think that may be a better comparison than he realized. Wrestling shows are like the circus in so much that they are about entertaining kids, first and foremost. They also allow adults to get over their maturity so to speak and feel like little kids again with some wonder and fun.

I think that’s something we can all get behind.

Anyway, that’s it for me this week. Andy Clark is back next week so be sure to drop by and welcome him back.

If you have anything to say to me, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] and I’ll post it next week.