Last Monday Night I had the opportunity to attend Monday Night Raw.
Yes, I enjoy professional wrestling. I have for several decades. I have always been fascinated by the athletic display, but what always intrigued me was the storytelling.
There was always something convenient about wrestling storylines – you have a hero (babyface) and a villain (heel). You root for the babyface and you boo the heel- and all he represents.
Times have changed a bit in wrestling, while there are clear cut babyfaces and heels, there are a number of characters that fall somewhere in between.
I grew up with the likes of Hulk Hogan and the “training, prayers, and vitamins”. I always loved watching the wrestlers cut promos (interviews where they would talk trash about an opponent or promote an upcoming event). I respected wrestlers who could charismatically rock a microphone. Even though I knew it was “sports entertainment”, I still enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed something from the cinema.
Last Monday, I got to see a promo cut live. The 7 year old in me was thrilled. In between ring action, I got to see Ryback confront, and assault with condiments, Kane. It was awesome. I was probably about 20 feet away – closer than my seats.
I wanted to take a picture, but was asked by security to put my phone away, and so I obliged. The picture you see here is a shot of my tv screen (yes, I DVR’d a live event I was at). You can’t quite see me (John Cena would be proud), but I’m standing next to a huge trash can that they used to clean up the scene afterwards.
After the scene, it was pretty cool- one of the security guards took a kids’ hat and brought it back with two signatures on it. Seems like that kid and my inner child went home happy that night.
As you can see from the picture I didn’t quite make it on tv, and I wasn’t exactly “almost famous”, but it was a fun show and I had a ball.
I’m looking forward to the next time the show is in town- maybe I’ll hit the big screen then.
That’s all for now… Captain out.
