The WWF Live - is it really Larger than Life?

Well I finally got there. On the way home from France and the UK, I stopped over in the USA, for a week. I headed down to Richmond, Virginia, where I was based for 4 days. Thanks to a friend in the WWF Offices, Benjie Gordon I was able to get some hot tickets to a House Show (front row), in Charlottesville, Virginia at the University of VA. About 10,000 in attendance. Great show and it was totally stripped back just a few lights, and music, no pyro etc.. Was great to see the developmental guys on show, Ron H20 Waterman, Randy Orton, Rico Constantino. Orton was great and looks like his dad Cowboy Bob. Waterman is Huge and a ringer for Scott Steiner, blonde goatee and all. Rico, is about 40 but works well, and looks like a cross between Disco and Rick Martel.

One thing we didn't know was the fact that The Undertaker was in the house, no one knew so it was great when he picked me out and had a go at me before his match with RVD. Great card, Dudley's vs - APA, Test & Christian - vs - Hardys, Hurricane - vs - Crash (He's tiny), Lita - vs - Molly, Kane - vs - Big Show (Monsters). Also on card against the developmental guys were Justin Credible, Spike & Saturn. Great show great atmosphere, the Dudley's are great to watch live, and Bubba is at the crowd all the time, something you don't see or hear on TV. Crowd was bizarre, because it was down south there were a lot of inbreds and rednecks (hehehe) Helton would have felt at home there, mixed with College people, being at a Uni. Damn I have never seen so many pick up trucks in my life and confederate flag stickers with "Happiness is a Northbound Yankee" written on them, gees the civil war was over quite a long time ago. After the show I managed to talk to Lita and the Hardys, Taker and RVD, there cars were in a section were my chauffer was parked, lol;all very nice and had time to talk.

The next day I was shopping at the Willow Mall, in Richmond and ran into Test and Stacey shopping there also, yes they are a couple they are an item! Also ran into Molly and Hurricane, all were very friendly, and amazed I was there for the shows.

Raw was on the Monday Night, at Richmond Coliseum, not far from where I was staying. Great crowd about 14,000 and again great seats 3 rows from front. What we don't see here is that Raw comes on live at 9:00 pm but the show starts at 7:30 pm, with 1 ¸ hours of Dark Matches or Heat, Metal etc..tapings. First out as Curt Hennig, to my surprise. Also got to see Brock Lesnar, the developmental wrestler, and world and USA amateur champion, he is mentioned in Angles book a fair bit. He is HUGE, 6'5" and 300 lbs, and lean he is a monster and damn can he wrestle. Also saw another young guy, a black guy Orlando Jordan, he looked good as well. Great to see Tajiri, Val Venis, Scotty, Albert, Hurricane, Funaki, Crash, Bossman in action plus the other developmental guys and some more of the B Team. They film the start of Raw when the pyro starts during this time. Damn loud, and you can feel the heat from the pyro, especially during Booker T's entrance. I moved from my seat to the ramp so I could mark out and get on TV. Hehehe, and I did. I even got D-Vons glasses, yes the white one's with the black tape on the, with his signature printed into them, and made in Taiwan as well..lol. Great atmosphere, AMAZING, half the time I was just watching what was going on. Huge pops for Austin, HHH, (NO ROCK!), and surprisingly, huge pops for Scotty and Hurricane, they were way over. Angle and Vince got most heat. What? Was way over, it was hilarious. But great to be there, the only thing because it is live it that when they go to an ad, on TV, there is nothing going on at all at the venue, just black screen, nothing until they come back from the ad break. Also you can't hear the commentary from King and JR.

After the show, I went back to the Radisson where I was sitting at the bar talking to a few locals and Bradshaw and Farooq came walking in, they say down talked and had a few beers, they are very down to earth. They came over and had a beer. I had some passes (backstage) set up but got knocked back on the night; I had them but was told, no one outside workers and staff back. The reason moral and politics, I was Basically told, straight out, things aren't happy back there, and it is not a nice place at that time, 3 words, Hogan, Hall, Nash. Wrestlers wandered in most going up to their rooms, Trish (I got a hug), Big Show, Angle, Flair, Godfather's Ho's for the night, Sgt Slaughter and Good Ol' JR &endash; Who told me the WWF are DEFINTELTY Touring here in August!!! And of course the King who immediately recognised me (no bullshit here), from Wollongong and Melbourne from the WWA tour, he was amazed that I was there and said "Say hi to Sue Shuter and tell McManus to book some of you guys" A great experience, to see Raw Live!

Next night off 2 hours to Norfolk, Virginia for Smackdown, at the Norfolk Scope Arena, about 12,000 here. I was starting to get tired after all the flying, and travelling and wasn't overly keen for the long drive, because I had to fly to New York early the next day. But I got vibed called my driver Jay and said lets go. I was lucky to get 2 tickets to each show, so I had Jay come to each show with me, he loved it, having been a big fan for years, this guy was a black American and totally great and funny guy (We became friends in just a few days), who doubled as a stand up comedian, working with the likes of Chris Rock and Chris Tucker and also owned his own hire car business. He also used to go and watch all the great NWA shows from years ago as they were based around Virginia, he told me stories of the great cards with Flair, the Koloffs, Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Tully Blanchard, Magnum TA, Wahoo McDaniel etc etc.....would have been great back then.

So Smackdown ending up being great, we got that great Flair interview where he legitimately broke down and cried I have never heard an ovation like that it went for about 5 minutes and with so much history there, the emotions ran high with the Nature Boy. Again about 8 dark matches, and we sat back a bit from the ring this show, traded our tickets so I could actually see the show, great seats. Once again amazing production and great to see these guys in the flesh, and you know what is strange, so look bigger than they are on TV, while others are actually a lot smaller then they appear. It's a weird switching around. Great ending with the contract signing with Austin's interference, and they actually showed the NWO on the screen and Vince announced who was signed, but that was edited out from what actually aired on TV, as did the Posing contest with Chuck & Billy, this time going against Trish and Torrie Wilson I guess they were getting into practice for the one that went to air. Great title change with DDP over Christian, DDP was way over. Rock was this show, huge pop, great to see him finally as well.

All in all I must say a great trip, great fun, and the WWF live is an experience. Something all fans should do. Yes they maybe coming here this year but well, it won't be the same as seeing them in their own backyard. Not the same at all. You have to experience, it USA style. Also went to WWF New York, not bad, lots of screens and merchandise, good food, good beer, and the biggest cups of coffee I have ever seen! Spent 5 hours there over lunch, whilst conducting a business meeting? Hehehe. Anyway if you can make the trip, DO IT! The only bad thing is that my buddy Hugh Morrus, wasn't booked on the shows, unfortunately being part of the alliance with other guys, Mike Awesome, Kidman, Chavo, Stasiak, etc.....They weren't used. Pity as we planned to catch up while I was there...but I still had a great time!