WWE Smackdown, Birmingham LG Arena, 2011

Amy Hanson writes about her experience of her first ever WWE live show.

WWE Smackdown Live Event, Birmingham LG Arena, 07.11.11

Despite becoming a wrestling fan at the age of three, I had never been to a live WWE show.

Now a grown up girl in my 20s, rather a lot has happened in the intervening years – I don’t run around in a Thunderbirds costume so much these days for one – but I still retain an appreciation for the strange form of entertainment that is soap opera meets pantomime meets violent gymnastics. So when tickets went on sale for a Smackdown house show on the same day as my boyfriend’s birthday, I thought there could be nothing more romantic than a night watching muscular men beat each other up.

CM Punk: the best in the world

While I always expected we wouldn’t get to see Raw brand favourites such as CM Punk or Zack Ryder, going to a Smackdown show on the same night as a Raw Supershow did make me concerned that the cream of the crop would be absent to boost Raw. I needn’t have worried too much, as almost everyone one could expect was on the card, even big names like Randy Orton. I do like the fact that WWE seems to give just as good value to their house shows in terms of stars present as to their tapings. I once went to a WCW UK tour show where the Harris Twins were in the main event (and if you are saying “Who?”, I would not be at all surprised).

Arriving at the arena, there was a real sense of occasion and scale, with fans everywhere, t-shirts and other merchandise being sold like hotcakes at stands around the arena, and demo machines set up for the upcoming WWE 12 videogame in the foyer. So, it was with plenty of excitement that we took our seats and waited for the show to commence.

Our opening match, much to my delight, saw Daniel Bryan, considered to be one of the greatest grapplers of today, taking on his mentor and one of my favourites, Blackpool’s very own William Regal. William Regal is massively adored in the UK, despite having spent most of the last 20 years playing a hated villain in the US and I was delighted to see the merchandise stands selling a Regal shirt alongside the usual Cena and Orton garb.

What a match to have as my first experience of live WWE! This bout alone was almost worth the ticket price. The crowd was unsurprisingly behind its native son as he and his protege put on a 20 minute clinic with plenty of chain wrestling, impressive technical moves, and every trick in the book pulled out to entertain. The two were given plenty of time to have a great match that actually made me sad that this wasn’t a TV taping – I’d truly love to be able to watch it again and again. After the match, Regal (pictured right) paid tribute to his former tag team partner, Robbie Brookside, who was in attendance and also encouraged the crowd to get behind Daniel Bryan as a real star of the future. Perhaps we love our old rogues over here because they’re clearly big softies at heart?

Up next, NXT Season 4 winner Johnny Curtis! As it turns out, any tiny Curtisamaniacs in attendance were to be disappointed as Johnny was jumped during his ring entrance by the nefarious Jinder Mahal. The Indian villain gloated of his superiority in the ring to the loud jeers of fans, before his posturing was suddenly interrupted.

A crashing sound over the speakers! A marvellously familiar guitar riff! A glimpse of red flannel!

It could only be hardcore legend Mick “Mankind” Foley! The appearance of a man held among the all time favourites of so many fans did cause me to start screaming like a tween at a Westlife concert (not that I’d know anything about that of course…)

Plugging his 2012 comedy show in his usual shameless but loveable style, Foley went on to tell Jinder that he would have a fair fight this evening after all, against Canadian grappler Tyson Kidd, who he continued to support from ringside. This match was a pleasant surprise for me. Tyson Kidd has always been spoken of well among wrestling fans, though he has not achieved any great heights yet in his time with the WWE. Jinder Mahal has so far mostly been involved in a boring story with The Great Khali and I hadn’t rated what I have seen of him so far. This match, however, was full of crisply executed exciting moves that kept the audience engaged. Indeed, Kidd seems to have developed a rather unlikely popularity with the young female section of the WWE support, going by the high pitch of the “Let’s Go Tyson” chants.

Following this, we had the Divas match of the night between the small and spunky AJ and Tamina, daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. I actually felt a little sorry for the Divas here, as they got very little reaction from the crowd. Their match was probably scheduled as a little bit of a breather after the excitement of a great opener and the return of Mick Foley and the crowd treated it as such, with unfamiliar themes and the lack of a Titantron to announce them not helping much. To the credit of the two ladies, the crowd did start to warm to them towards the end, with AJ’s high-flying offence and Tamina doing her best to play evil. Both are talented young women and could definitely entertain, if given the time and opportunity to shine by the WWE that usually focuses on a Diva’s looks and potential for lads’ mag covers over her ability to kick ass in the ring.

Sheamus

The last match of the first half of the show saw former World Heavyweight Champion Christian taking on Sheamus, the impressively large and equally impressively pale Irishman. Again, this match-up showed one of the benefits of house shows as the two were given plenty of time to entertain. Sheamus threw his shirt to a clamouring crowd, while Christian pointedly went to do likewise, then dropped his firmly inside the guard rail. Then, followed a skit as Sheamus used the recovered shirt as a bullfighter’s cape to goad Christian. The Canadian grew so irate at his humiliation he grabbed a microphone to tell off the audience, complete with the obvious tiresome bad teeth jibes in an attempt at some cheap heel heat (newsflash WWE! The UK has healthier teeth than America!). Both the well-experienced Christian and the popular young talent Sheamus know how to put on a great match, so this encounter certainly ticked all the boxes, keeping spirits high as we headed into the break.

After an intermission where we were reminded to buy every piece of merchandise we could get our hands on, there were a large number of kids wandering around in luchador masks, and probably more Sin Cara ones than the traditional children’s favourite Rey Mysterio. When Sin Cara’s music hit and the blue and gold clad luchador sprung into the ring with his trademark flip (off a concealed trampoline), the younger parts of the crowd in particular were cheering with delight. Their hero took the time to greet fans outside the ring and brought a couple of Sin Cara signs into the ring to wave aloft.

Or so we all thought.

Ripping apart the signs just like the joy of the children who made them, Sin Cara removed his mask to show he was not Sin Cara at all, but the heinous Hunico who was facing off against Yoshi Tatsu.

Suave, debonair and ruthless Englishman Wade Barrett, has been a massive favourite of mine since he set foot in the WWE, with his unrepentantly evil ways, fantastic promo-cutting skills and infuriatingly attractive smirks.

This was an excellent method of garnering the hatred of the crowd to warm the cockles of any villain’s black heart and, sure enough, it was difficult to make out a word of Hunico’s speech on the microphone over the massive chorus of boos. I do love a good bit of schadenfreude with my fistfights. This was an entertainingly high-flying match, with plenty of flashy moves for the crowd to ooh and aah at. There was one obviously botched move, though it seemed to be on Yoshi’s part, as any familiar with the real Sin Cara will have been watching for. I’ve only seen poor Yoshi win a match once I think, and Hunico is currently being pushed as a new big threat, so he took the victory.

The penultimate match was one part of the card I was particularly excited about. Suave, debonair and ruthless Englishman Wade Barrett, has been a massive favourite of mine since he set foot in the WWE, with his unrepentantly evil ways, fantastic promo-cutting skills and infuriatingly attractive smirks. Alas, his glorious homecoming was rather overshadowed by being scheduled against Randy Orton, one of the most popular (inexplicably so to me) superstars on the roster. Teaming with Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes, Barrett faced Orton and Ted Dibiase, son of the Million Dollar Man.

I did wonder if this match had been particularly scheduled by the WWE to ensure Barrett was not greeted with cheers in the UK – the company is well known for trying to stamp out fan reaction that doesn’t agree with their storylines, whether it is by confiscating signs or by editing boos and cheers into television programming. As soon as Orton entered, the finish was never in any doubt and, surprise surprise, the match was really one long build up to the inevitable RKO finishing move with Orton pinning Barrett for the victory. This segment was definitely a “Could do better” for me. It made little sense to not let one of their most talented microphone workers greet a crowd in his home country.

Our main event, which I had groaned loudly upon the announcement of, was to be the gigantic Big Show taking on World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry (left) in a battle of the big men. Any expectations of technical brilliance or high-flying offence need to be left at the door for this one. Still, it pleased my rebellious streak to boo everything that Big Show did and cheer for the bad guy. Show’s juvenile humour grated on we more mature and discerning types in the audience, though the little kids in attendance seemed to lap it up. A title change at a house show is as rare as a Diva quoting Germaine Greer, so it was no surprise when the finish of the match allowed Henry to retain his title by disqualification. The Big Show took the opportunity to stomp down his opponent, allowing the evening to finish on a high with the kids’ favourite triumphantly soaking up adulation in the centre of the ring.

So, that was my first experience of live WWE.

I used to wonder why anyone would go to a house show over a TV taping, because TV is surely where all the excitement and storylines happen. But tapings have their downs as well as their ups, and perhaps the focus there is more on the viewing audience at home. At least at house shows there are no commercial breaks or tedious segments with minor celebrities plugging their latest TV show. At house shows like these, the wrestlers are able to have a good bit of fun with their segments and have plenty of time to put on a great match without being rushed. Now that I’ve been to one, I would definitely recommend the experience.

Even just watching the fans around us was good fun. The crowd was very much a mixture, with plenty of families (including one I saw where all four members were in a different colour of John Cena merchandise), the adults who still watch every week, more casual fans who haven’t watched since the glory days of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and even the occasional couple. Though a lot of people, particularly the little kids, are happy to like who the WWE want them to like, everyone will have some supporters – I adored the little kid in the seat in front screaming “Cody Rhodes! Break his nose!” in support of the vicious villain while his mother seemed inexplicably fond of the brutish Mark Henry. Not to mention the guys in nWo shirts made speechless by the small boy who only knew Hulk Hogan as “that guy who rips his shirt”. Overall, I really enjoyed it and I certainly wasn’t alone in that. There were some great matches, the chance to see the guys and girls I watch every week live in person, lots of audience involvement and everyone going home happy after a good night out.

Always keen to plug things, the WWE reminded us that tickets went on sale soon for their next UK tour in the spring. And you know, I very just might….