Solid. That’s one word that can describe SummerSlam in my mind. There were really only two things that upset me, but that’s not a bad ratio. I’ll talk about that later. The T Dot (Toronto) crowd was HOT. They somehow though cheered the heels (bad guys) all night long, which I loved personally. Anywhere in Canada, along with Philly, NYC, Charlotte, and Chicago definitely have to rank among the best North American wrestling crowds. Dudleys won the first match. Paul London is going to be nice though. If they give this kid time, he’ll have the crowd oohing and aahing. He did a nice flip off of Kidman’s back to the outside of the ring. Kidman’s Shooting Star Press (Gainer off the top rope for the diving board fans) still remains one of the best wrestling moves out there. Our second match was the mess involving Lita. Aside from that, the match wasn’t bad. The ending was pretty sweet, as Kane hit a Top Rope Chokeslam (both guys standing atop the highest rope) with some AUTHORITY! Lita runs away because she has to marry Kane, ugh. A nice sign in the crowd that I liked read as “Lita Is A Dumas!” Lita’s real name is Amy Dumas, so that makes it creative. They hit that sign right on the spot too, because she can’t act any better than my pinky finger. The third match of the night was Match 1 of a Best of 5 Series with John Cena and Booker T. Cena gets the early lead here and this was a good match, but nothing spectacular. I think this series could get sweet by the time they get to the 4th or 5th match. It won’t rival the Best of 7 that Booker T had with Benoit in WCW, but that’s tough to do. Next up was the 3-Way in which Edge retains his IC Title. Ironically, Edge is from the T Dot, yet he got booed like crazy. That’s just hilarious. Apparently, Edge is fired up backstage about the reaction he got. The crowd popped big for Jericho and this was a pretty smooth match. Batista didn’t have much of a role in this match other than having roids ooze out of his body, but Edge and Jericho together worked well.
Here is where we begin the feature matches. The match I was most looking forward to which was Kurt Angle facing off against Eddie Guerrero (still my opinion of best current “wrestler” in the world today) definitely delivered. Angle has missed quite the time from the ring this year, but you couldn’t tell that from this match. The crowd loved the near falls in this one and they hit a mix of mat wrestling as well as traditional wrestling. I could watch these two go at it all day long. Triple H does battle with Eugene after Angle made Eddie tap (surprised me there). This one can be summed up in one word: entertaining. I didn’t think this would be a match that would tear the house down, but these two did a fine job. HHH can work an opponent’s body as good as anyone, added some good comedy, and the wrestling between these two was quality. HHH was impressive to me out there. I’m not big on Eugene’s character, but it’s not going away anytime soon. If he can keep wrestling like this, I can deal with it. At one point, Eugene flips HHH off, kicks him in the gut, and drops a nice Stone Cold Stunner. Crowd went bonkers. That’s why we need Austin back as soon as possible. But still, fans better respect HHH like the old days because he still gets it done impressively. How about the WWE Title Match with Undertaker and Bradshaw. Total crapfest. This was one of the two things I hated about the night, along with Diva Dodgeball (which I’m not wasting one word about). Slooooow pace here and the crowd let them know about it. The crowd was chanting for the use of the Spanish Table, bringing Hogan back, and how boring this match was. Way too long. Bradshaw wins by DQ, but gets thrown through a limo roof afterwards. Our main event: World Champion Benoit against Randy Orton. Fear the intensity! The CARNAGE! This one had many great counter moves and was an awesome match in my book. The crowd was really into this one as well as they should have been. Orton ends up winning (clean mind you) to become the youngest World Champion evarrr in the WWE. At the end, Benoit walks back in the ring, extends his hand to Orton, and tells him, “Be a man!” After the drama and the fans are on their toes as well as me at home, Orton shakes his hand out of respect. To non-wrestling fans, you might not understand this, but when respect is shown like that after a match, it’s like the ending to a 5-star movie. If that doesn’t choke you up, nothing will. You get cold chills going and a tear in your eye. Yeah, I admit it.
Sorry, I said I’d write two paragraphs about wrestling today. It’s going to be three since I’m on a roll. This brings me to one of my favorite moments at a live wrestling show. The setting was the ECW Arena (world’s greatest wrestling fans ever, hands down) and this was when Taz (Tazz in WWE) was part of WWE’s roster yet he still had the ECW Title. Tommy “The Innovator Of Violence” was the heart and soul of ECW. He was one of very few who didn’t sell out and go to WWE or WCW when they offered big bucks and was there from ECW’s start. When he spoke, fans listened. No matter what he did, the crowd respected him since he was their boy. Anyways, Dreamer never wanted to be ECW Champion. Weird huh? He just loved being part of the business and was so humble that he didn’t think he deserved to hold that prestigious belt. Well, that night I’ll never forget. Taz comes out in the ECW Arena (that was a surprise in itself) at CyberSlam 2000 and Dreamer ended up being him for the title. Afterwards, Dreamer was in the ring and crying and most of the fans had tears in their eyes. Him winning that belt was like the ECW fans winning that belt. And like I said, Dreamer didn’t want that belt, so immediately Justin Credible comes out to face him for that belt. Two matches back-to-back? Yep. Anyways, Dreamer drops the belt to Credible in a good match, but the crowd got their money’s worth. Words can’t even describe what the ECW Arena in South Philly is like. Best experience I’ve ever had.
What about the USA Basketball Team? Are these guys a joke or what? I don’t care if they somehow edge out of this mess and win a gold, they’re still bums in my mind. Puerto Rico?! We got waxed yesterday by Puerto Rico. Not just beat in a close game, this was a rout. We couldn’t stop Carlos Arroyo (starting PG for the Jazz). Shawn Marion throwing up airball 3’s? Dwyane (yes, correct spelling) Wade is dribbling like he’s an 8-year old kid, Iverson putting together a house of bricks, and nobody really played well except for Lamar Odom, go figure. Yet Puerto Rico (who knew they had anyone bigger than me on their team) was playing TEAM ball. That’s a concept we don’t know at all. They were running the breaks well, burning us, making cuts, pick and rolls, doing all the little things needed to win. It was a sight to see. Next, we have Greece at 10:00 EST on Tuesday morning. They can’t beat us can they? Well, if Italy and Puerto Rico demolished us, anything is possible.
I set a good goal for myself yesterday when I was working out. I don’t often see how many times I can get a certain weight for 10 reps, but yesterday I got bored enough to try. It’s been a while, so I was due. I was able to get up 195 pounds for 10 reps. I’m proud of myself for that one. That’s 40 pounds more than my weight for 10 reps. Not too shabby for a guy my size if I must say so. I don’t know too many guys around here who can do that one. I’m no huge bench guy since I can’t obviously hang with the big roid freaks, but pound for pound, I like my chances.
How about these last four days? Three days in a row I went to bed at 7:00 AM. Stupid, I know, but a neat little streak to talk about. And last night I rolled in a bit after 6:00. So that’s four nights (mornings?) in a row that I’ve been up past 6:00. Fear. Yet in a week or so, I’ll have to be waking up at 6:00. I’m going to be in such a coma at work for the first few weeks I’m sure. Oh well. Should be interesting to see. My kids will think I’m drunk or something probably because it’ll take me time to adjust.
If you read through that mess, congrats. I’ll have a RAW review up tomorrow or the next day, along with whatever goes down here in my mean streets. If you want something special in here, don’t be afraid to let me know in the comment area. Doh!
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