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WHAT IT WAS LIKE AT RAW LAST NIGHT AFTER THE FIRE, MORE NOTES FROM THE SHOW

By Chris Cummins on 2012-07-31 12:01:23
First of all, the simple fact that the show even occurred is a miracle, and I am sure only happened after many concessions were made, such as NO pyro during the show nor any shooting flames. This is the same arena of the deaths at The Who concert in the late 1970's, and is only a few miles away from the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire in 1977, where over 160 people died. The Fire Marshals here don't mess around.

I arrived at 7:00, to find people everywhere, and no idea what was going on. Once I found out I was fearful of either a) no show or b) an empty arena show. People were not panicking at all and were not mad, which was a good thing. Also, there was a Reds vs. Padres game going on in the stadium less than 100ft from the arena main entrances. People everywhere, but no problems.

Amazingly, the arena opened ALL doors for entrance, including the exit doors, so people could get in in time. Also, they just ripped tickets in half and did not check bags and purses ... MUCH faster than usual.

By 7:45 the arena was pretty much full, and they even removed 2 tarps from covered sections. only 2 sections were covered, on the camera side. Best attended wrestling card there in years ... easily over 11,000.

The GOOD:

1: The arena and their staff ... already said
2: Nothing else

The BAD:
1: Three hours is too damn long. By 10:15 I saw kids sleeping
2: I counted 6 times the RAW recap from last week was run, along with every other kind of commercial they have being run multiple times. Open complaining by the crowd about this, including myself and especially my son!
3: If they are going to have 3 hours, use the 3 hours! The have SO many people on the roster it is ridiculous, and only a handful were used. The lack of star power was very evident (No HHH, Lesnar, Heyman, etc.)
4: If you judge the product by this crowd, they effectively killed two main characters in one week, that being CM Punk and AJ Lee. Just a total "who cares" attitude by people in the stands.

Biggest Pops:
1: Randy Orton (hands-down)
2: John Cena
3: Brodus Clay
4: Santino Marello

Biggest Heat:
1: Vickie Guerrero
2: Michael Cole
3: Daniel Bryan
4: Heath Slater (something is working for him)

Groans (in other words, people thinking "stop shoving the same people down our throats for 3 hours"):
1: Constant commercials
2: CM Punk
3: The Big Show
4: AJ Lee (couldn't hear her, but don't think we missed much)
5: Alberto Del Rio

 

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