Hello everyone and greetings from Las Vegas, Nevada! Ryan and I are on location covering WWE’s No Way Out pay-per-view that is now in the books. This column is different from my usual Richard Reacts pieces as it is the event from a live perspective and features my opinions not only on the matches but from the overall experience. I hope you all enjoy and if anyone wants to wire me money to feed my gambling problem I would greatly appreciate it. Just kidding, but it is wild out here!
We arrived at the Thomas & Mack Center at around 3:45 PM PST (6:45 PM EST) to find thousands of people gathered around outside of the building. WWE had their WrestleMania XXIV Fan Axxess tour stuff setup. The stop featured displays, memorabilia, and all kinds of interactive attractions that everyone seemed to enjoy. Tommy Dreamer, Justin Roberts, and Hillbilly Jim were at the festivities doing a meet and greet. All three spoke and joked with fans, with Roberts and Dreamer even doing their best Howard Finkel impersonations. People were interested at first but when DX music was played loud outside, everyone looked the other way in hopes of catching a glimpse of Triple H or Shawn Michaels. Lou E. Dangerously was outside talking with other employees, he did not speak but I did see him refuse to take a picture for a fan who wanted one of him and Dreamer (why someone would even ask is beyond me). Dreamer, Roberts, and Hillbilly Jim signed autographs.
When the doors finally opened at the Thomas & Mack Center it was pure chaos. I have been to WWE events all around the United States and have never been to a venue as unorganized as the Thomas & Mack Center. They had crowd control barriers setup everywhere and forced people to form this huge line that went all around the building. Ever seen 10,000+ people try to form a line? It was definitely a scene. To make matters worse there was this loud lady with a blow horn in charge. Let’s just say she didn’t make any friends with the people that had been waiting outside for hours. The arena was less than half full by the time the dark match started because of the lack of organization.
I know I’m in Las Vegas for business but I decided that a cool Bud Light would taste good after being outside in the above average temperatures. Ryan and I approached the beer guy to find out that it was $6 a beer. $6 for ONE beer! It was one of those slightly larger plastic bottles but still, 6 freaking dollars! I was one and done with the beer drinking. However, there were people putting them down like they were going out of style as one guy was so inebriated by the time that the event was over, he could not stand up. Ryan and I saw them selling beer right up until the end of the event so unlike most other venues which cut off alcohol sales; it seems as if they kept selling at the Thomas & Mack Center. If you are one of the people that bought the $6 beers, more power to you. The cab driver told me on the way back to our hotel that when he goes to events at the venue he puts a twelve pack in his wife’s purse. Now that’s someone thinking with their head.
The dark match was Kane going over against Shelton Benjamin. The crowd was completely behind Kane, however, there was not much of a crowd in the building during the match because the Thomas & Mack Center sucks. One guy at the concession stand told me that the selection of merchandise was very limited but I didn’t buy anything or check it out so I can only tell you what he told me. I was very surprised at the age of the audience. Most of our section was filled with young children with their parents/grandparents that they had drug with them. One guy had the audacity to ask me to show him my ticket because he thought that Ryan and I were in his seats. Since he was with his two small children, I decided to be nice and showed him my ticket (I held it upside down but at least I showed him). He figured out that he was in the wrong row (he should have sat beside the morons downing the $6 beers).
Lilian has an excellent voice as she sang our National Anthem. All of the announcers got good reactions from the crowd except for Jonathan Coachman who had a tremendous amount of heat. I did see one kid flip Joey Styles the bird while an event staff member told him not to do it. The kid ignored him and continued to tell Styles that he was number one. Mayweather’s seats were reserved and while I didn’t know that it was going to be him and his posse occupying them at the time, I figured the seats were reserved for a reason.
Onto the matches the event opened with what I felt like was a good choice in Chavo Guerrero and CM Punk for the ECW Championship. There was really nothing noteworthy other than Chavo got the win clean which I felt like had to happen to make him look legitimate. I liked how Chavo hit the Frog Splash for the finish I would like to think that Eddie would have wanted it that way.
I really enjoyed the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match. WWE took the weak parts out of the bout early (Big Daddy V and The Great Khali) so the contenders could get some work. I don’t mark out much at events but I did partake in the “you can’t wrestle” chant directed towards The Great Khali. Khali has massive size but his in-ring work is horrid. Big Daddy V isn’t much better, even though you should hear how loud his chops sound live. MVP and Finlay worked solid and the Hornswoggle bit was fun but hats off to The Undertaker and Batista. Both of them worked their rear ends off tonight. Everyone in the building was behind every move as their work really had the crowd into the match. People were gasping at every spot and that is what makes a good wrestling match. WWE put Taker over to send him to WrestleMania. I expected it and it looks like we will see Edge’s undefeated streak vs. Undertaker’s undefeated streak for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The only complaint that I had with the match was that WWE did what I was told was an injury angle with Ranjin Singh during the match as they put him on a backboard after he took a stiff boot from Undertaker while the match was going on. It looked legitimate to me, but it was a work, and that irritates me. From what I understand, it wasn’t shown on PPV nor were they taping it, so it was just a major distraction live.
I’m tired of the Ric Flair retirement angle. The guy has had a career with such longevity and this is the best thing WWE can come up with? Flair makes Kennedy tap in the Figure Four and even though they made it a respectful win by Kennedy tapping, there wasn’t a whole lot to the match. The crowd was obviously behind Flair with heat on Kennedy but they were not as into it as you might think.
Edge vs. Rey Mysterio surprised me until I learned that Mysterio was really working with a torn bicep. WWE kept it short and it was probably as bad of a Mysterio match as you’ll ever see but you have to give it to Rey for working. It was disappointing to me because I always look forward to watching Mysterio wrestle live but I understood the injury. They put Edge over clean which they were forced into with the injury.
After the match The Big Show returned. He got a pretty loud pop but the segment didn’t make a lot of sense. Show comes out, cuts the cheesy “I missed you guys” promo, only to attack Mysterio for no apparent reason. OK, so the young crowd went from “we love you Big Show” to “you suck Big Show.” The Floyd Mayweather inference was expected when you add up the backstage segment with Rey from earlier in the show, Mayweather’s seats, Big Show’s unexplained attack, and the fact that WWE wants a celebrity at WrestleMania. I guess they are going to do something with Mayweather and Big Show at Mania. Luke posted on the site earlier that Mayweather actually broke Show’s nose. Ouch. Did everyone see Shane McMahon? He didn’t say anything, so I don’t know what all that was about.
John Cena and Randy Orton had an excellent match. The crowd was absolutely on fire throughout the duration of this one. You would have the crowd chanting “let’s go Orton” only for louder chants of “let’s go Cena” in response. Ryan predicted the DQ finish so I can’t say that it was a surprise. It looks like it will be Triple H vs. Randy Orton at WrestleMania unless somehow Cena is able to get on the card in a three way match. I’d put my money on the latter.
I enjoyed the RAW Elimination Chamber match. One of my favorite spots was when Umaga got a Superkick, codebreaker, pedigree, and insane swanton bomb. Jeff Hardy is amazing and I didn’t even understand how over that he has gotten until I saw his reaction live. Folks, he got a tremendous reaction and I really hope that he remains a contender in WWE throughout 2008. The spot where JBL got eliminated then came back and cleaned house with a chair was goofy. Real goofy. Another thing that didn’t make sense was Triple H eliminating Shawn Michaels. Hunter and Shawn have so much momentum with DX I don’t see a reason to destroy that. I thought maybe it was the beginning of a heel turn for Triple H, however, after he defeated Jeff Hardy to win the match and the title shot, he helped Hardy to his feet and raised his hand in the ring. It made even less sense when Hardy went to the back and Triple H started making the DX sign with his arms raised above his head. Maybe I’m missing something but couldn’t they just have let Hardy eliminate Michaels?
All and all No Way Out was a fun event to attend. It was a solid pay-per-view but nothing spectacular. I can’t make a recommendation on whether or not to order the replay because I need to see the tape just so I can see how the show came off on television. There were some really good spots and some questionable booking calls but it was an enjoyable time. Next up is WrestleMania, let’s hope we are treated to some excellent WWE TV leading up to the flagship pay-per-view.
Richard can be contacted at richard [at] grayinternet.com
Richard Gray is a professional wrestling journalist and frequent contributor to Rajah.com. He has been covering the world of professional wrestling since 1999 and has had the opportunity to cover ground breaking stories such as the demise of ECW, the WCW buyout, the Benoit tragedy, Bobby Lashley leaving WWE, and more. For more on Richard check out his web site, Wrestling News World.
