They Came - We Saw - They Left

I refer to Entertainment Wrestling of course.  Son's birthday gift from us was a ticket to see the WWE when they came to town.  That happened on Sunday and hubby and I accompanied son to the event.

Matt Hardy.  One of son's favourite wrestlers.  Look at the luggage for one show!

 

 

 

 

 

Son had a great time and was enthralled with the live vs tv action he watches often.  I was worried I would turn into one of those wrestling freak fans who scream and wave huge signs.  It turns out that honour went to the woman beside me.  She practically screamed my ear off during the 3 hour show.  She was chaperoning two tween boys and quickly became enraptured by the flying bodies.

 Findlay is a wrestler from Ireland and Hornswoggle is his diminutive sidekick, kind of a leprechaun.  Findlay is the fellow wearing the green outfit in the ring and Hornswoggle is the short fellow in green beside the "W" sign.

 

I am not, and never will be, much of a wrestling fan.  I work on the enthusiasm and interest because I love my son and this is something he wants to share with me.  Along the way I've picked up the lingo, the theme music for individual wrestlers and their particular stats.  I know Hornswoggle is a miniature wrestler who is Findlay's sidekick; he pops up as a cute little leprechaun during Findlay's matches.  I know Big Show is 7 feet tall and over 400 lbs and that Kane is almost as tall but a whole lot scarier looking.  I know more than I want to, believe me.

Ouch! That's gotta hurt!  This is a tag-team fight; there are 2 teams and only 2 are supposed to fight at one time.  These guys had a lot of fun with the crowd and seemed to enjoy themselves.  Although that fellow in yellow probably had a sore throat after this!  The "flying" fellow launched himself off the corner pole in order to get this height.

I took pictures for son.  My camera tells me there are 513 photos that I snapped during the 3 hour event.  A quick scan shows me that maybe 13 are decent photos and the other 500 are headed for the garbage can.   I'm more intrigued by the wildlife in my backyard, truth be told.

Oh yes.  The Divas.  What show would be complete without the requisite boy toys?  All these women did was walk around the ring, take off their wraps and model their bikinis and spiky footwear for the.... audience?  If you look at the ringside you can see the men who rushed ringside to ogle...er, ADMIRE, their favourite femme fetale.  It was one of the long-legged blondes who won "The Best Body" or something.  Gee, girls, I hope you got paid well for this.  And please don't mind me for NOT wanting my daughter to be like you.  She has terrific looks and a beautiful mind.  I would hate to see it wasted in such a time-warped wretched manner as this.

 

Here is Matt Hardy raising his arms in victory, after winning his fight with MVP .  Matt Hardy is one of son's favourite wrestlers (today anyway!)

 

 

What a life these guys have.  They had a show an hour up the road, earlier that day.  Most pulled up in rental vehicles, unloaded their baggage shortly before the show and went in to perform.  As soon as their 15 or 20 minute match was over, back to the dressing rooms to change back into their "street" persona...load up the rentals and drive off into the night.  To another gig in another city.  To another day and another fight or two.  I don't know how lucrative this career is but there must be some passion for the sport and entertainment to put up with the travelling and time away from friends and family.  It is not the life for me!

 

This is CM Punk with his adoring fans.  This is another favourite wrestler of son's.

 

 

 

 

See CM Punk fly?

An ordinary person would never get up for more.  Wrestlers however, seem to thrive on pain.  What else would explain this next feat?

 

 

CM Punk dive-bombs OVER the wrestling ring and onto his opponent!

 

 

 

But wait!  CM Punk still isn't done with his bag of tricks!  Did this fellow come from a circus or WHAT??

 

 

Holy cow, another acrobatic feat!  Is there anything this guy CAN'T do??

 

 

 

Yeah, he can't win....for all that effort and pain there was no gain.  CM Punk's opponent, a fellow I nickname "Mr. In-Love-With-Himself" (for obvious reasons) takes home the victory today.

Our flying hero lies in a ruined heap on the mat.  Er, maybe next time buddy, ok? The tricks were pretty cool though! Ya might want to get an icepack or two for later...

 

 

You did a decent job, guys.  Some wrestlers put on a thoroughly enjoyable show; they worked the crowd and appeared to have a great time.  Others just did the job and left.  Your fans responded in kind and I've no doubt that a few more new fans joined the club. 

Here's a hoot - and a typical setup in a show.  Two hulks vs a little, puny fellow and his buddy.

The incredible hulk and his freaky partner are Big Show and Kane.  The 7 foot 440 lb gorilla and his matching sidekick, Kane the Insane.

On the left is Chavo Guerrerro and HIS partner.... I don't recall his name.  Now come on you guys.  You really think we haven't figured this one out already?

D-u-h.  See Kane move an arm.  See Chavo fly.

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Chavo, all the bravado in the world isn't going to change the outcome of this fight!  There's just something about the size of those 2 big fellows and come on~ did you really think you had a chance in this next situation?

As in really....what were you thinking?

Son knew this was going to happen ~ he told me when to get my camera ready for the shot!  I'll let you in on a little secret for next time Chavo.  There's this really BIG guy in wrestling, I mean even BIGGER than these two...The Great Khali.  Give him a ring and see what he's up to the next time you come up against these 2 guys.  Now THAT would be a match to see!

 

oh yeah - we never saw that one coming!

But wait ~ don't go yet!  There is still "the feature event" of the evening:  the best and the last!  Here you thought you were going to escape pretty quick, huh, didn't you?  Oh no you don't.  I like to SHARE my misery wonderful experience with my loyal readers!

 

Meet the hero and the loser.  It was a no-holds match, meaning the wrestlers could do what they liked, where they liked ~ so part of the fight ended up in the stands, much to the delight of the crowd.

Edge is on the left and Batista is the hulk on the right.  Edge is a Canadian and is the evil guy.  He insulted the crowd and hollered out that he was going to renounce his Canadian citizenship, he was so disgusted with us....and the crowd went wild!  The fight had already been underway for a while when I took this photo.  Here Batista is dragging a snivelling Edge back to the wrestling mat.

 

Not to fret though because Edge did get in a good whack or two with a chair....

Bad guys have to be really, REALLY bad.  Edge has been on the "wrong" side ever since I was dragged into watching wrestling around 6 years ago.  He's never one to let an opportunity to slip by so after the chair he moves on to ~

 

Some steps....

If that isn't enough to rile the fans then he moves along outside the ring to throw Batista into the protective fence.    The guys wearing the yellow shirts are security.  Otherwise zealous fans would get carried away and probably carry away a wrestler or two! 

 

Alas ~ heroes must prevail and this story is no different.  The happy ending was a bit rough though as our cheating low-life wrestler took his share...

...of smacks to the barrier...

Even though you KNOW the hero is going to get up after that beating it never fails to engage the crowd as if it were a completely new experience and it hadn't ever been seen before.  Oh, did I mention we were in the no booze section?  Poor hubby, he really wanted to suck back a beer or two, presumably to heighten his enjoyment of the show.  Maybe that explains the behaviour of some of the crowd.

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...high dives...

Booze, wrestling fans, booze, hyseteria.  Oh yeah, I can see why the wrestlers don't mingle with the attentive crowds and throngs of  fans watching them arrive and depart the arena (ok, guilty on this!). 

...and finally, the ultimate finisher, "The Batista Bomb".   The lucky recipient of this move basically gets a power-bomb drop on his head.  He's usually down for the count once his head makes contact with the mat!

All that's needed to officially end the fight is the ref's 3-count and the bell ringing....hang on...here it comes...yes...yeeesss....and....

 

It's over!   Hooray ~ the hero wins again!  We can now go home!

 

 

 

 

This event might be over but son's enthusiasm certainly skyrocketed! 

 

 

Son and hubby express delight following the final bell.

 

 

 

*sigh*....see you wrestling folks around....could you make it another 4 years before you come back again though?  It'll take that long for my hearing to recover from the screaming fans and to review 513 photos and print the best for son's keepsake.

  Thanks!