Let me gloat one more time that I called WWE’s ending to the ECW PPV well in advance of the show actually taking place. Folks, sometimes you’re just that damn good. ;o)
After my beautiful display of calling WWE’s writing, I attended the first ECW show at the Sovereign Bank Arena in beautiful Trenton, New Jersey. Before I get into some brief comments about the show, let me just say that I know the guy who built this arena and I know his company that now manages it and I’m not saying this because of that relationship, but it is a gorgeous building. Small? Yes. But still a great venue for an ECW show (maybe not so much a Smackdown! show, but we’ll get to that!). The last live event that I attended was RAW at the Continental Airlines Arena last summer.
When my former roommate and I first arrived, we were met with a gigantic line of people waiting to get into the arena.
The line was a bit of a pain in the ass, but what was even more confusing was when we first entered the building, the place was set-up for ECW, not Smackdown! In the picture below, you’ll see a random red/purple light in the middle of the picture against a huge black backdrop. Behind that gigantic curtain was the Smackdown! set.
Now I’m not going to give you a review of the entire show because I’m sure that you’ve read about it already online. However, one of the funnier/more telling moments was when ECW’s Joey Styles took to the ring before the show and said, “Welcome to all of the ECW fans in Trenton, NJ! Now we know that you have some pretty raucous chants but please remember that there are a lot of children in attendance tonight for WWE Smackdown! so please refrain from being vulgar.” He might not have said those exact words, but he said something very similar. He got a healthy set of boos, which he laughed at.
One thing that my former roommate and I both noticed is that John Cena is all muscled up in person. It’s almost freakish because he’s not muscle-bound like Scott Steiner…he’s very sinewy. It’s weird. Anyway, another thing that was obvious was just how big the Big Show really is:
Anyway, the ECW show was actually not that bad live. I hear that it sucked on TV and it seems as though Vince and company agreed. But from this fan’s perspective, the show was sort of what I expected from a WWE-owned ECW brand. You could tell from watching it that Paul Heyman did NOT have complete creative control (as opposed to what the two internet wrestling nerds sitting behind my buddy and I were saying). The Zombie character was actually really funny for the crowd, but remember – this was a family crowd. When he grabbed the microphone and said “Uuuuuuuuuu,” the place went nuts laughing.
And for everyone who says that John Cena isn’t over or that everyone hates him all over the place – come to Trenton, NJ. That man was about 90% over and the 10% that didn’t like him were yelling things like, “John Cena you can’t wrestle! You shouldn’t get pushed!” Like any casual wrestling fan knows what a “push” is…
If you wondered what it looked like while the WWE ring crew set-up the Smackdown! set, here’s some photos:
I have to say that the Smackdown! set is very impressive. If there was one good thing about the WWE end of the show besides the Helms/Mysterio match, it was the impressive size and scope of the set:
One of the most over wrestlers on the show had to be Ken Kennedy…Kennedy! The entire audience went along with him and his introduction.
Folks, that’s really all that I have to say about the show. The Smackdown! portion of the show was so bad that we actually left during the tag team match with Regal and Finlay (and I’m a fan of both of those guys and Matt Hardy). There was nothing going on during the show – nothing at all. No excitement in the crowd (which DID exist during the ECW portion of the show), no buzz – just a dead arena (except for Rey…everyone cheered for Rey).
I understand that WWE needs to tape the ECW show during the Smackdown! events due to TV logistics, but these are two completely different crowds. You have a hardcore crowd coming out to see an ECW show and a family crowd for Smackdown! – it’s just not going to work. If this new brand is going to succeed, then that needs to be addressed first and foremost. Everyone knows how a crowd can ignite a show (everyime WWE is in Dallas for RAW, we get an example of how a crowd can really make the show great).
Overall, though, I was happy with the night because it’s been just about a year since my last WWE event. I’m a little pissed that the Toms River, NJ ECW show was cancelled, because I wanted to go to that one, too. And I can’t make the Supershow because I have an early morning flight the next day…which I might push back to go to the Supershow…
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