Sorry, The WWE Show in Winnipeg Didn't Suck
by Adam Knight on 2003-02-18

I'm sorry, but it didn't.

I attended the WWE event at the Winnipeg Arena on Feb. 15 like several thousand opther people. Like many of them I paid for my ticket (call me a mark, I dare you) and like the vast majority I enjoyed the show.

Every match (save for the ladies Bra and Panties fiasco) was tight, to the point and everything that it needed to be for a house show. If there was anybody on the show that half-assed it, I didn't see it. And I'd like to think that after 7 and a half years of wrestling that I could tell the difference. The hometown boy got screwed out of the title, but was still the hero in everyone's mind. The heels were reviled and booed. What more do you expect out of a house show?

I mean really?

Every match told a story and was entertaining in one degree or another. I was blown away by how over Matt Hardy was, and was happy to see Kanyon back in action. These guys had one of the best matches of the night. Fluid, no errors, entertaining.

I was surprised to see Show/Lesnar up first, but I can understand wanting to start the show with a bang, and to avoid the slight possibility of stealing the main event's thunder by having the "big guys" near the end of the card.

Jericho / Angle was awesome. Everything that you'd expect from these two. Sure, some people talk about the rowdies in the crowd during this match. But sh*t happens people. Wrestling fans have always been rowdy. This night was no exception.

(However, if the dipsh*t that tried to throw the chair into the ring during the main event ever reads this, if you didn't get the holy high hell beaten out of you that night ... consider yourself very, very lucky.)

Favorite moments?

- Funaki celebrating after getting "steamrolled" by Torrie/Dawn Maire. I didn't like the match, but Funaki's celebration made me laugh for five minutes.

- Jericho wearing a Jets jersey to the ring ... What? I miss my hockey team. Is that a crime?

- Hearing the crowd pop for Eddie Guerrero. I like Eddie, and he was an absolute class act to myself and my fellow workers in PCW last year. It was great to hear such a reaction for him.

Let's "bottom line" this:

I think that the people that are criticising the show are too close to the "wrestling business," or at least believe that they are. Step away from the fact that the match don't look as spectacular as they do on TV, they never will. Live wrestling is what it is, take it or leave it.

My suggestion? The next time that WWE is in town, I suggest that you take off your "cynical cap", lean back and just listen to the crowd's reaction. Let it take you away and make you a part of it. If you think that'll make you look like a "mark", maybe you're right. But who really cares. The people know better than we (wrestling people) do about what they do, or do not want to see. They paid good money. They got a good show. They went home happy.

You paid good money. You got a good show. You went home unhappy.

So who's the mark now?