Date Night - WWE style!

Date Night - WWE Style!

For our first night out since baby Axel was born, Anne and I decided to go to the most romantic place on earth... The Consol Energy Center in downtown Pittsburgh for a live taping of WWE Monday Night Raw!

Actually, Anne's friend, Jenna, hooked us up with these sweet tickets (third row!).  Axel's had a serious case of acid reflux, which has kept him (and us) up all night every night for the past week.  Two nights ago, we had a nice 5 AM car ride around Mt. Lebanon because he wouldn't stop crying.  Needless to say, we've been a little bit on edge recently, but sleep deprived or not, we were getting out of the house and enjoying a night on the town!

Truth be told, I was a huge wrestling fan growing up.  I started watching in the third grade and stayed with it all the way through college.  I think the day I found out wrestling was fake was worse than the day I found out about Santa.  I specifically remember telling myself the entire day that there was NO WAY that wrestling was fake.  I think I ended up locking myself in my bedroom with my wrestling magazines all night and sobbing hysterically like the "Leave Britney Alone!" guy until I calmed down and accepted it for what it was: true entertainment.  I loved the costumes and characters.  I loved the silly dialogue and story lines.  I loved it all.  My fandom reached its peak in high school with the advent of the Monday Night Wars, and all the excitement of having two top-notch wrestling shows competing against each other.  My friends and I would spend the following Tuesday recapping and debating what was going on in the world of pro wrestling.  We would repeat the catchphrases in post football game interviews.  I even shaved NWO (short for New World Order, a popular wrestling faction at the time) into a mohawk once.  It was a great time to be a fan.  But, as time went on, and the WWE (formerly WWF) became the only show in town, my interest began to fade.  They went away from the racier aspects of the "Attitude Era" and refocused the brand to be more family friendly.  I miss the days of this.  In my opinion, the characters of today just don't hold up to the likes of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Still, I have to admit I was super excited to see my first live show in over 10 years.  I think Anne was just excited to be able to go out in Pittsburgh and drink a beer or two. (editor's note:  My wife found out she was pregnant right after moving to Pittsburgh and hasn't been able to have a drink while out the entire time we've been here.)  Well, it turns out that her tolerance isn't very high after 9+ months of not drinking and it turned out to be just one.  But boy was that Shocktop worth it!  We both felt our stress levels come down.

We got to our seats just as the show was about to open.  For weeks I've been telling Anne that we HAVE to get there right as the show opens because the fireworks are crazy and that she can't miss them.  So, 8PM hits and there are no fireworks!?!  What the shit is this?  Instead, we are treated to Mrs. Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and the Big Show recapping Sunday night's (Shocking!?!) finale to the pay-per-view.  I won't bore you with all the details of the night, but it turns out the the Big Show did something that Stephanie McMahon didn't like and she fired him.  I know this because they repeated it at least 50,000 (a rough estimate) times over the course of the next 2+ hours.  This was the only thing happening in the WWE Universe.  Of course, he wasn't really fired and came out during the main event and knocked everyone out.

The biggest thing I took away from this show was that the WWE has a serious lack of compelling storylines.  They have 8 different champions, but the only storyline to be presented at the show was this whole Big Show interfering in the main event of Sunday's pay-per-view between the bearded midget and Randy Orton.  All of the other matches just seemed to happen without factoring into any particular storyline.

Here are some of my other observations from last night's event.

1)  Wrestling fans trail probably only ComicCon fans as the least healthy people on the planet.  There were multiple B&S'ers (Big & Short) walking around the arena.  I'm talking over 300 lbs and around 5 feet tall.

2)  The guy next to us was a HUGE wrestling fan.  He was up and cheering with every match.  He REALLY wanted to discuss the action, but Anne sat next to him.  Every time I would cheer at something he would look over and be ready to chat it up.  Upon realizing that Anne was sitting next to him, and didn't really know what was going on, he would instantly frown like someone shot his puppy and go back to his business.

3)  There's a tag team called Los Matadores and they are basically rejects from The Three Amigos.  Also, they have a little person dressed as a bull that follows them and runs through their capes as the crowd chants "Ole!"  WWE's not exactly breaking down the walls of racial stereotypes on TV with these characters.

4)  I still geek out when WWE legends from my childhood show up.  The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels, showed up (Although he looks more grizzled wilderness man than heartbreaker these days) unannounced and was revealed as the guest referee for the main event of the next pay-per-vew.   When his theme music started playing, I think I screamed like a 14-year old girl at a One Direction concert.  My wife pretended she didn't know me when this was going on.  I have weaknesses.  I won't deny it.

5)  One fan in the crowd REALLY wanted to get a "Let's Go Bucs" chant going.  He was not successful.  Maybe it was the sting of the Pirates losing a game earlier in the day, but the Pittsburgh crowd didn't seem up for it.

6)  Speaking of the Pittsburgh crowd, they didn't really seem into the show as a whole.  Maybe it speaks to WWE's larger problem of not having a stable of marketable stars (Their biggest star, John Cena, is out with an injury), but I felt the crowd was really dead all night.  The only time they really showed any emotion was when the bearded midget, Daniel Bryan, came out.  The only other time the crowd came to life just so happened to be...

7)  My wife's favorite character.   He is a ballroom dancer named Fandango (No, not that Fandango).  He is a silly throwback to the more flamboyant characters of the late 80's and the early 90's.  The fans loved him, too.  The crowd has a dance that they do called Fandangoing and, apparently, it's a thing.

Since we have a 3 week-old, we couldn't stay for the entire event, but all-in-all, it was a successful night out.  We had a blast being out on the town for at least a couple hours.  I had fun revisiting my old stomping grounds.  Even Axel had a great time with his Granni, who graciously volunteered to babysit him for the evening.  He had his best night's sleep in a long time.  We woke up today refreshed and ready to go.

I really appreciate my lovely wife, Anne, for coming to wrestling with me.  I think it's her turn to pick the date night event the next time we go out.