FanPost

Cagesider Live Report for WWE Raw in Brooklyn (Oct. 6, 2014), aka I SAW THE ROCK

WWE.com

Or: HOLY SHIT I SAW THE FUCKING ROCK!

Monday night, I went to Raw in the Barclays Center. I make it a point to attend Raws whenever they’re in town, because it’s always a great time (even when the shows aren’t much good), and for the reasons contained in the post’s subtitle above.

I took the LIRR in to Brooklyn (the trains were delayed, of course), and ate at the Shake Shack with two friends across the street before the show started. The burgers were amazing, as one would expect, and managed to still be cheaper than the arena food. After finishing our meal, we made our way inside and to our seats, which were in the very last row of the upper deck, about as far away from the ring as possible.

We made it there as Renee Young and Tom Phillips entered (to the NXT theme music) just before the start of Superstars, where (Superstars spoilers ahoy! (for the three people who watch Superstars)) Zack Ryder defeated Heath Slater in a surprisingly long bout and Naomi beat Cameron in a match mercifully free of stomach-pins, yet sadly lacking in Vincent Isayan. Ryder was over, as one would expect, Heath got a mixed reaction, the crowd was surprisingly into Naomi, and Cameron got a few boos.

The announcers came out, with Cole getting booed, JBL getting cheered, and King getting the biggest and best response of anyone so far. When Rollins’ music hit to start the show, the crowd rained down boos on him, and I may or may not have given him the double bird from my last-row vantage point. It was difficult to hear him at times over the boos, which is what he deserved. Jamie Noble got chants, which were also well-deserved.

When it came time for run-ins, the crowd was almost hilariously split on Cena, as we were overjoyed to see Rollins attacked, but typically disappointed to see Cena. We loved Ambrose to death, of course, and were able to revert to booing Cena now that we had our hero out there. The Authority got their fair share of boos, but nothing like what Rollins got. We were happy to tell them that it would, in fact, be good for Cena and Ambrose (mostly Ambrose) to get their hands on Rollins.

Next up was the six-man tag. Cesaro and Dolph got the best reactions, although Dolph’s was better by far. The two tag teams also got respectable cheers, but Ziggler was the only man the crowd wanted to see. The match itself was fine, although it really took off after Ziggler entered the ring and hit his signature moves. The triple superkick was a great spot, and we were happy to see the good guys win.

I straight up don’t know what the Kathie Lee and Hoda segment was about. I texted a friend, "I just watched two drunken, middle-aged women shake their ass, and I’m not even in a low end strip club. What am I doing with my life?"

It’s a valid question.

The crowd chanted for Derek Jeter, although I refused to participate, being a Mets fan with principles and tired of the season-long apotheosis. The crowd loved to see both Bo Dallas and Mark Henry, although we didn’t react all that much to the match itself. Bo’s cheap win by countout was still funny.

The Ambrose/Cena segment was great. When Cena came out, some of the fans (myself included) were singing "John Cena suuuuucks!" along with his theme, which was great fun. We were solidly behind Ambrose, but I enjoyed Cena too, and thought he made more sense than some of the viewers at home (seriously, he was right about Ambrose: He did try to take on Rollins alone, and it did end in disaster for him). Ambrose leaving to go to Coney Island was hilarious, as was the clip of him getting on a subway (oh, how I’d love to be riding that train when he boarded). Triple H’s t-shirt reading was similarly golden.

Brie’s theme song is even worse in person. Nikki isn’t a terrible talker, and the crowd couldn’t seem to decide if it wanted to root for Brie or Summer, especially a group of kids sitting a few rows below us who chanted anything and everything. The "Yes!" chants were pretty strong, although I was personally torn on participating, caught between supporting Brie Bella and not supporting Daniel Bryan (I didn’t chant, at the urging of my friends).

The Miz/Mizdow/Kane vignette got a big reaction, and my friends and I were overjoyed at the prospect of seeing Mizdow. Swagger vs. Kidd was a fine match, and we tried, mostly in vain, to get "Nattie’s husband!" and "Fact!" chants going. Kidd’s gimmick might not be able to really take off on the main roster without the veteran aspect and the ease of putting him into the title scene (which is hurting Bo too, but that’s a separate argument). In any event, both guys did fine, and "We the people!" is as popular a chant as ever.

The teases for Reigns’ interview had gotten mixed reactions, rather heavy on the boos, but the interview itself was mostly cheered. We were all disappointed when it lasted two questions, and that was that.

Torito vs. El Hijo de Dragon Dragon (thanks, Rev!) was awful. Slater Gator’s faces on the cars on the titantron was inexplicably hilarious. Seriously, though, Torito should have been disqualified for using a foreign object on poor EHdDD. "This is stupid!" was fun to chant, at least (less so Derek Jeter. Piazza was better!).

Right, time for the highlight of the night. Rusev and Lana came out to do Rusev & Lana things. My friends mocked Lana’s "Sha tap," but liked the segment well enough. We hadn’t heard that Big Show was suspended and attending sensitivity classes, so we all figured he’d be answering Rusev’s challenge.

Then the Rock's music hit. My friends and I stood up and cheered, and then realized that this was THE ROCK. ON RAW. HERE. WITH US THERE TOO. UNANNOUNCED. THE ROCK. And so we stood dumbfounded as his theme blared and the crowd roared.

With my whole body shaking, I got out my phone and started texting Bish Bash Falls, who was also in attendance. Our exchange reads as follows (all spelling mistakes are the products of our overexcited markdom):

Me: HOLY SHIT!

Bish: Holy fuck holy fck

Me: I CANT BELIEVE THIRS IS HAPPENING

Bish: I no word

Me: Rock us here

Bish: I no words

I also texted the same friend as before, who is a fan of Rock but not wrestling in general, and convinced him to tune in almost immediately.

As the segment went on, I cheered for Rocky more and more, following along with all his catchphrases, gesturing excitedly, laughing at his jokes, and following along with his punches to Rusev at the end. I even chanted "Derek Jeter" when Rock mentioned him, because principle only goes so far. The friends I was with weren't fans of the Rock and were cheering for Rusev, but I kept telling them to be quiet when they tried to cheer for him like traitors.

The Divas' tag match was fun, I likely would have cheered more for all four had Rock not just been out there and used up all my emotions. Emma got a good number of people dancing, AJ got a decent reaction, but Paige didn't get much, although that might be because she and Alicia were the first to come out after Rock's segment ended.

Both Wyatt Family vignettes were cool, but Rowan's gets the edge for novelty.

Miz vs. Sheamus was a fine match, but the real star was Mizdow. We didn't miss a single opportunity to cheer for him, and he amped up his antics every time the crowd got behind him. He even went for a pinfall on the outside once. Moral of the story: Damien Mizdow is the greatest, and everyone should love him and thank him.

The breast cancer segment was nice. Not much to say about it in particular, it was good to help support cancer survivors.

After that, it was main event time. Cena got the usual reaction, with somewhat weaker "John Cena suuuucks" chants/songs. Orton got a big reaction, Kane got a bit of booing (no pyro, which was both fortunate and disappointing), and Rollins got all the boos he deserved. The crowd still spent most of the match cheering for Cena, but when Ambrose showed up we went back to going crazy for him. His condiment attacks on Orton and Kane were hilarious, as were his tongs to the groin against Rollins.

The Authority making the Cena/Ambrose match for the #1 contendership to Seth Rollins pleased the crowd, and Ambrose laying out Cena drove us wild.

After the show went off the air, they had a pose-off, which Ambrose won by a landslide. Cena didn't even bother posing properly, he just climbed the turnbuckles and acknowledged the boos raining down on him. Ambrose did pushups as the crowd cheered and then cut a promo putting over himself, Cena, and Brooklyn.

The train ride home was fun, if somewhat delayed (again). The show itself was pretty fun live, even if seeing The Rock (I SAW THE ROCK!) did most of the work in making up for terrible angles like Kathie Lee & Hoda and Torito vs. El Hijo de Dragon Dragon. Ambrose did plenty of great stuff too, but also...

I SAW THE ROCK.

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