Thanks to Tyler Soulier for sending this in:
Raw starts and Laurinitis gets a very deep jeer from the crowd. No sooner does "No Chance In Hell" start than the roof comes off the building. Even in my cheap seats section, everyone is cheering loud as hell, most people bowing. Huge "Fire Johnny" chant. Huge pop for Sheamus. Another huge pop for the #FireJohnny announcement. Everyone shouted "You're Fired" in their best Vince McMahon voice. another good pop for Vince hopping in the HoverRound, and then driving it off the stage (and yes, it just sat there all three hours.)
Tensai came out to a little bit of heat. Nobody really seemed to care. Good match overall. Crowd was into every Sheamus hit. Huge pop when he wins. Then there seemed to be a bit of confusion when Tensai beat the hell out of Sakamoto. Was it just me, or did it seem like he was no-selling almost everything Tensai hit him with?
Mixed tag match was a lot of fun. Small "Si, Si, Si" chant started in my section for Ricardo. Biggest laugh of the night was for RR u-turning into the pole. 2nd biggest laugh was for the Justin Beiber shirt. (Side note: after the show, a lot of people waited to see the superstars come out of the parking lot. Couldnt be sure, but I think RR was still wearing the t-shirt. Huge "Justin Beiber" chant for him in the middle of downtown Hartford….kinda surreal.)
Huge Yes chant for Daniel Bryan. Crowd seemed to be on the side of whoever was talking during the promo. Even Kane was getting pops here and there. I think everyone is starting to love AJ and the crazy chicks thing.
Not as big of a pop for Christian as one would figure. Not much of one for Kahli either. Huge heat for Vickie. No reaction for Swagger, and a huge…Pop, for Ziggler. I guess it shouldnt come as a surprise anymore. People know Ziggler is the future of the company. Huge "Let's Go Ziggler" chants throughout the match. Great match overall. The crowd didnt know it was an elimination match, so a lot of confusion when Khali was triple pinned. Huge pop when Ziggler pinned Swagger. And just a great rest of the match between Christian and Ziggler. Got to admit, even im finally hopping on the Ziggler bandwagon…just wish he would change his name.
Don't know how the crowd reacted during the Funk-a-Saurus Vince segment, mostly because i was too busy laughing as hard as I could. Incidentally, good to see Ryder back on Raw.
My first live cage match in over 30 live shows, so I was very excited. Unfortunately, it was the squash match that everyone expected, so probably one of the least exciting matches of the night. Oh well. A lot of people thought Kofi was legitimately knocked out. Small Cena chant as Big Show began to leave the ring. Overall just seemed like a glorified promo for Big Show, as he was mostly talking with the crowd, trying to draw as much heat as possible.
Gigantic pop for Vader. The kids in the crowd had no idea who they were looking at. But everybody over 20 years old was on there feet, many bowing just as they did for Vince, chanting "Let's Go Vader". A couple of "You Still Got It" chants about half way through. Just a classic match from a classic superstar. Wouldnt mind seeing him on wwe tv for a little while longer.
Oddly enough, our main event seemed to have the least amount of energy. I guess after 3 hours of really good matches, most people were a bit exhausted. My voice was cracking a bit, and that doesnt happen often. Scattered Yes chants throughout. Just a whole lot of confusion when AJ got in, and it only grew when she started skipping around Kane. One last huge Yes chant for the longest kiss in wwe history.
The excitement returned when Vince and Johnny came back out. Big Show coming back out seemed to bore everyone. Cena's music hit. Most of the crowd, who throughout the night kept booing Cena whenever he was shown in video packages, began to cheer Cena. Provided quite a bit of comedy. Crowd went pretty silent after Show hit Vince.
After the cameras went off, Laurinaitis called Show back to the ring so they could have a handicap match against Cena. Show comes out with Otunga, and Johnny tells the crowd its actually a 3-on-1 match. Only about four minutes passed when Show accidentally hit Otunga (he's really gotta know where he's swinging that fist. Two misfires in 10 minutes) Cena shoves Show out of the ring, pins Otunga. Johnny knocks Cena down with his crutch, but Super Cena quickly hits the AA and sends the crowd home happy. No date set for Raw's return to its home state.
Overall, an excellent show live, even in the nose-bleeds. A hot crowd, a great card, and just a lot of fun.
Biggest pops:
3. John Cena/Vader (Tied)
2. Vince McMahon
1. #FireJohnny announcement
Biggest heat:
3. Big Show
2. Vickie Guerrero
1. Johnny Ace
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
