Woot! Ok, so I went to the house show in Richmond, VA on Monday night and I have to say first and foremost, it totally renewed my love of this wild and crazy sport (I don't care what you call it).  It also affirmed my love of house shows as opposed to TV tapings.  When they don't have to mug for the cameras and time things to such a perfect extent, they spend a bit more time slapping hands, looking you in the eye and oh yeah... WRESTLING. Word to the wise, attend a house show near you. First major observation: floor seats are worth the money. You get eyeball to eyeball with your faves, they nearly land in your lap, and yes, you too can be hair gelled by THE Brian Kendrick. And they can hear you. It's pretty neat if you actually have something to say or some love to shout out. Of course Edge might tear up your sign or insult you, but hey, that's the fun of it!

Random observation: Damn, the Richmond Coliseum needs a new sound system. No, it really sucks bad. The Undertaker's entrance was all distorted, among others. The acoustics are terrible. I think it's because it's primarily a sports arena instead of a showplace. But still, they should be able to do better than that.

So on to the show. Well, first I was late. Hey, I have a job to hold down and I work until 6. The show started at 7 and I had to hoof it back downtown, feed the cats, change into something more formidable, suck down a smoothie and some granola and roll down to a little public parking lot a few blocks away from the arena. I have learned this lesson, friends: stay away from the parking decks close in to whatever show you're going to, wrestling or otherwise. They will be jam packed and you will spend an hour getting out of there when everyone else comes charging out at the same time. Walk your lazy butt a few blocks away to a lot and you'll roll out much faster. For me, this is essential if it's a work night.

So anyway, I walked in late and it was in the middle of R-Truth vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Hurricane Helms. I assume that it was for the title since there were a couple of exchanges with Helms making belt motions at his waist and going, "I'm just sayin'." R-Truth did the same thing after rolling up Helms a couple times with a few surprise maneuvers. Gee, Hurricane, you think he might want it too? Nonetheless, it was great to see Hurricane back in action and it was a fabulous, fast paced match. All three guys really looked their best and I was immediately impressed that this was not going to be a half assed show because of the lack of TV cameras, which was my initial thought. This, as you can imagine, did not end well:

But the match ended with Shelton retaining and a nice round of cheers for the guys. After that I got to crawl over a bunch of folks to my seat which turned out to be basically one chair off the very corner of the entrance. Not too shabby. So when the next match started, Natalya and Michelle McCool vs. the Bella twins, I was well placed give Natalya a nice loud rarbear roar in welcome! And I did and she looked at me and smiled. Go ahead and boo, you sheep, I love me some Nattie. And I believe she spotted me shooting and gave me a little extra time to get this nice pic of her lovely self.

Unfortunately, my camera is teh suck. I have already resolved to spend the money for floor seats again and seeing my pics, I have now resolved to either buy a better camera, or try out one of my dad's cast offs. He's a fairly gifted amateur of some 50 years whose cast offs are professional grade. Of course the thing weighs as much as my head, but it's free, so I figure I'll muddle through and if the results are good, well I'll just have to manage. Anyway, the match was pretty good, and while Natalya carried it, I was more favorably impressed with the other divas than I have been previously. But while I usually hesitate to remark on a diva's appearance (not being in possession of a pair of testicles I don't feel qualified to judge), I must say that Michelle McCool is much more terrifyingly thin in person than I had ever guessed from TV. I had to restrain the urge to go buy her a cheese steak. They say the camera adds 10 pounds and I would say she needs it. Frightening. But all through the match she was being mightily booed, especially by the 4 little girls directly behind me, who were clearly behind their pink princess twins. They also managed to induce a migraine I had to fight down all evening. Ah, the little darlings. *rarbear restrains the urge to eat someone else's young*

But McCool won the match with a sort of upside down full frontal body slam (don't ask me the formal name, that's what it looked like). Afterwards Maria ran out and tried to get a piece of McCool but was rewarded with the same move and some medical attention. It was a little embarrassing because besides being an apparently lame move in that it was ineffective, it was also totally unconvincing and the polite golf clap kind of summed it up. I don't like to hate, but as a wrestler, Maria's very pretty. Oh the little girls got a visit from McCool after the match so she could tell them she "didn't need them anyway." Expertly played. But I'm just annoyed that Natalya appears to be her new badass fashion accessory when it should be the other way around.

Moving on to another enjoyable, but bittersweet match, MVP took on the new freak of the week, Kizarney. He's not bad, but certainly not on par with MVP, whom I really like, despite being a heel and despite the losing streak. I'm a fan of skills, not gimmicks. I regret very much that I didn't have time to make my sign idea ,"I believe in MVP." It would have been so wildly contrarian that it would have thrown a bunch of folks off. Anyway, they did have a good match, well paced with some nice back and forth. Kizarney's not in as good a shape as I'd like to see from someone looking to make a big splash in the WWE though. It was a match that, like most lately, MVP should have won, but didn't. So he sat in the ring and pouted a little while. But then, he got on the mic and said, "I can't do this anymore. I quit." There were thunderous cheers, but I swear a little part of me died inside. Not only did he do it well, but you never can tell if something's a work, especially at a house show! I mean, why say it if there are no cameras? It was an awkward moment and a sad rarbear for a few minutes there.

Next up was debatably the match of the night, a street fight between HHH and Vladimir Kozlov. I got very few pictures of it because I was too busy gawking. I have been known to whine about the predictability of HHH winning and the lack of charisma of Kozlov, but live and in person, these two can put on an amazing match. When they STFU and fight, you get served. And how. So it was street fight, and while they did handle some hardware, most notably a trash can, chair, extension cord, and HHH's trademark sledgehammer, it was mostly a stunning wrestling match. Like I said, I couldn't look away long enough to lift the camera.  The exception was when Kozlov was choking HHH out with the cord.

I'm also more impressed with Kozlov in person because he does emanate a nice scary aura in person. It doesn't radiate well over the camera and into my living room. Or maybe it's less effective because everyone else is trying to do the same thing. But in person, it works mighty well. Eep! Second major observation: I'm beginning to feel that my TV viewing habits (watching with one eye, while on the computer, cats running around, maybe on the phone) may have more to do with the perceived quality of what I see that what's broadcast. But the match ended with a Pedigree after a few well placed Sledge shots and some wearing down. Lots of cheering, and lots of time spent slapping hands and greeting fans, including yours truly, by the Game. :) So, my respect for the man is a renewed. He's working hard for that high perch in the company and that's fine by me.

Following that was a tag team bout with Primo and Carlito vs. THE Brian Kendrick and Big Zeke Jackson. I wanted to boo Kendrick and Zeke, but that man is just really really huge and apparently my survival instincts kicked in and my voice failed. Not so for the guys in front of me. But for their trouble they got a full on hair toss from Kendrick... meaning that they were awash in hair gel afterwards. It was hilarious.

Primo and Carlito appeared to have some disagreement about who would start the match and in the time it took to discuss it, Kendrick tagged out to Zeke behind Carlito's back. This was not to his liking and he then tried to tag in Primo again, but Primo stepped off to chat with a fan. So the clown princes got things off to a good start, with Zeke showing off his strength in a most cringe worthy way. Kendrick got in and pulled off some great maneuvers himself. My only problem with his current gimmick is that when he's being weasely he's not being awesome, which he is more than capable of being. But it was a fabulous match, eventually won by Primo pulling a fast counter on Kendrick. Poor thing looked like he'd cry. God he's good. And, the little fruity dance is somehow less annoying in person. I'm not sure why, but it's just more funny in the flesh.

Next up was the other contender for match of the night, and certainly most popworthy, Edge vs. Jeff Hardy. The poor girls behind me nearly needed medical attention for the hysterics that Jeff Hardy's appearance induced. But hey, I like him and was glad to see him as well. He too took the time to slap lots of hands and pose and do what you're supposed to do when you're a popular champ.

Edge basked in the boos, ripped up someone's sign, and argued with a couple of kids. I kept waiting for him to cut to the chase and just stick his tongue out at one of the little tykes. He also got on the mic and accused us of being a little one horse town that would cry bitter tears once he had taken Jeff Hardy's title.  Man, don't I wish. That would be some serious blog material. They started off kind of slow, but I think that was largely due to the chants and trying to work the crowd up.  We had a nice rhythm between "You suck" and "HAR-DY" going at one point. Edge was his usual weasely self and slid out a few times. I got this pic, which I like very much because it sort of sums up his current state of mind I think.

But he did make a comeback and throw Jeff around a good bit, as is necessary so the girls can all scream and everyone can get a rest and Edge can ham it up in his wild eyed way. He imitated Jeff's entrance dance while slapping his butt. Everyone booed. I LOLed. They spun up the action slowly and did a fantastic job of hitting all the high points and keeping us on the edge of our seats and creating that sense of peril.

But Edge missed a spear and shortly thereafter found himself the victim of a Twist of Fate and a Swanton Bomb. So Jeff won to an earsplitting pop and spent a nice long time visiting and hugging and actually ran around up into some of the stands. So that was really nice and the girls behind me got hugs which I know will be the highlight of their year. I got hellos too, which makes me a happy rarbear. I got love for screwups, being a bit of one myself. Of course I got love for Edge too and gave him a cheer as he slinked out as well.

Main event for the evening was a cage match with the Undertaker and Big Show. For all of you wondering where he's been, the Undertaker is just fine. He's just doing house shows and hasn't missed a beat, thank you very much. Third major observation: Charles Robinson must be the hardest working man on Smackdown. He reffed most of the night and when they started rolling out the cage, he broke out a set of tools and started putting it together. Who knew?

Anyway, I love the Undertaker, but I've never seen him in person, so this was a real treat, even without the big production entrance. And I know a lot of folks say he's getting up there and slowing down a bit, but man can he still put on a great show.  And presence? You know he's coming about two minutes before he gets there. And I don't mean because of the music. As another observation the Big Show is way beyond big. He's like huge. Words don't quite cover comparative largeness from my little 5'6"-ness. Again, the joy of close up seating cannot be overstated. Ok, it's kind of gross when they're hocking up spit, but you get over it.

So they get in the cage, and yes, the pace of this match is slower, but no less brutal. All night I was impressed with just how loud it really was when bodies hit the mat and this, of course, was as loud as it got. Thunder needs to work on itself after this. And when Taker suplexed Big Show? (Yes, you read that right.) "Holy ****!" just begins to cover it. Sadly the pics really sucked because of the cage and my relative camera quality. But again, I don't have many because of the high gawk factor. I was busy watching! Eventually Undertaker slapped a Hell's Gate on the Big Show and got him to tap, which was good because I could not see either of these guys getting out of the cage. Much love and props to both.

So in conclusion, it was awesome and I am sooooooo doing this again as soon as I possibly can. I had a great time and the folks I sat with were fun and friendly as evidenced by the pic they took of your author before we all got hustled out by the poor guys who had to pack all this up and run off to New Jersey for the next night's taping.

Next time I'm bringing a better camera, buying tickets even faster, and I'm making my darn signs! Better yet, I may make just one that contains the sum total of all I want to say to all my favorite superstars, a big pink sign that reads *rarbearsnuggles*.

More pics will be posted in my gallery shortly. I just wanted to put a few in the blog, but I'll put all the ones that are halfway decent in there for your perusal. Enjoy! And see a house show near you! SRSLY!