FanPost

My Monday Night Raw Front Row Experience

WWE.com

Hey cagesiders, Monday night (May 5, 2014), I was on the floor for Raw in Albany, NY (I was technically in the third row, but I count all of the in that section front row). This was the experience of a life time, and I am dying to share with you all the details.

Now before I begin, I would like to give you a small history of Albany. Albany is a big city, and within that area there are a lot of "smarks" like myself. However, Albany is also in driving distance of the Adirondack Mountain Foot Hills ("mark" central) - so it was a very 50/50 crowd.

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We arrived at the arena around 6:00, and in the parking lot there were already "YES"! chants galore. While we were waiting to get in the door, there was a huge crowd of people around us. We decided to occupy ourselves with chants such as "CM Punk", "Lets go Cena/Cena Sucks", and more "YE!". To top it all off, these three Wyatt Family cosplayers went to the top of the balcony overlooking the line and screamed "SING WITH ME CHILDREN"!!! So, we sang our rendition of He's Got the Whole World.

You may or may not believe what happens next but I really don`t care. I had to use the bathroom, and it was full of course. I was in line for one of the urinals, and the man using it had a white dress shirt and red overalls, with black dress pants, and I thought to myself, "A Bob Backlund Cosplayer?? Thats weird".

Then he turned around............Holy shit, its Bob Backlund! He has to pee just like the rest of us. I shook his hand, and after that, I didn`t have to pee anymore.

So we walk to our seats, and we are seated in front of the camera, which means my "ReverendKain" sign was taken away, because it would of blocked the cameras. We sat down, and god damn it was a weird feeling. The ring was right there, and that stage is 10 times more massive in person. Superstars started off with The Usos v 3MB. I was being a 3MB mark and screaming "BABY" quite a bit. Spoilers: The Usos went over.

Next on Superstars was Paige v Alicia Fox. It happened.

Then Raw begins. Its really interesting just seeing all the little things that happen before the show, The way the cameras get set up, the directors, being there gives you a whole new appreciation for what a process the show really is.

Starting off with The U.S. Title Battle Royal was a pretty good move. It got the crowd pretty hot...until Sheamus won. The kiddies were happy at least. The Show/Henry moment was awesome up close. Those men are massive in person. When The Shield/Wyatt match was announced, I nearly lost it.

I`m sorry. RVD is still fun as hell, and his match with Cesaro was fun as hell. With Paul Heyman in the mix, the ECW nostalgia was too much too not like. I was pulling for my man Cesaro, and my buddy wanted RVD to win. We had fun with this.

Bray Wyatt is excellent. Just freaking excellent. I have no clue how it came across on television, but the sea of cell phones in the darkly lit arena was absolutely chilling live. His promo was hypnotic. A truly great character.

You know what I found amazing about the experience as a whole? Crap segments that I would take a piss break during when I watch it on TV is insanely fun live. Los Matadores are no exception. This was amazing because I caught some candy (even if I maybe plowed over some 8 year olds to get it). I`m pretty sure if you look at the video you can see me. Also, when El Torito was swinging Hornswaggle, I did my best JR impression and screamed "FOR THE LOVE OF GAWD NO!!! NO!!! FOR GOD SAKES THE MAN HAS A FAMILY!!!!!" which seemed to amuse those around me.

I have to make one thing clear. When your 15 feet from the ring, Kane's Pyro is shit-your-pants loud. I almost went deaf. Once again, watching back the skit with Kane and the car......its really bad. But live, It was fun!!

In between commercials, WWE pulled the biggest douche move in history and played a commercial that started with the Stone Cold glass break. The whole arena gasped and then realized what was up, and sighed all together. This sound most likely sexually arouses Vince McMahon.

Everyone sat and watched the Mr.T segment with the same reaction "What the fuck am I watching"?

Bad News Barrett: Good fuckiddy God was this man over. He has a future, dammit. Everyone said "I`m Afraid I`ve Got Some Bad News" together with him. He is incredible, and his match was fun

When I saw Zeb list of people he wanted to deport, for some reason the image that came to mind was Zeb running around backstage with a cartoon net, snatching up foreigners. I want to see this now.

Adam Rose: Once again, stupid but fun. Its really a spectacle how bizarre the whole thing is. The guy has charisma though, he just didn`t have a lot to work with. Give him time. On the next commercial the whole crowd was chanting his entrance music.

Shield vs Wyatts: Marking out happened. Lots of it. When Evolution`s music hit, I was like "Fuck Yes". Only thing I`m disappointed about was the fact that they teased me with the announce table.

On the way out, we were walking away from our seats, when we look around, and walking past us is JBL and Jerry Lawler. I high-fived Lawler, and went to high-five JBL, but he took my hand and shook it. That was crazy.

On the way out, we saw Bob Backlund still just chilling, and he told us "Have a good night" as we walked out the door like he was a WalMart greeter. Great stuff.

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So overall a great experience. It probably wasn`t the best show on TV, but being there that close was a once in a lifetime experience.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.