Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Matt Eberflus

To put it bluntly, Rockford, Illinois is a dump. There are only two reasons why I go to Rockford these days: Eat with the lady at the Olive Garden or go to the Metro Centre to watch wrestling and that’s exactly what we did on Saturday. I can see why WWE only comes here for a house show or Smackdown! just once a year. The crowd, is pretty much the opposite of one that attends events at the AllState Arena but I think that’s what makes being a wrestling fan unique. In different towns, the crowds react in different ways. We were sitting in the fourth row and as always, we seem to get an annoying person sitting near us. More on this douche later (It WAS NOT Irish Yeti). Before the show started, Stacey and I both picked up C.M. Punk’s new t-shirt.

We arrived there around 4:30 to try to meet some wrestlers and get autographs. This year was very different from the others. Metro Centre security guaurds blocked off the entire parking lot where the wrestlers usually go so most of us that were there were a long distance away from the street where the wrestlers ended up parking. And unlike in years past, we only saw about six or seven wrestlers park rather than 15-20. R-Truth was driving with Jack Swagger riding shotgun and he missed the turn to the street not once but twice until security finally directed him where to go. I found that a bit humorous. The only wrestlers to get out and sign a few autographs were Chris Masters, Evan Bourne and Tyler Reks. Now on to the matches…

First match of the night was Chris Masters against Jack Swagger. It seems like the Rockford fans always cheer the loudest for the first match and this one was no different. Masters ended up beating Swagger and it was actually a pretty good match. Next up was The Miz and R-Truth versus Zack Ryder and Alex Riley. I am not much of an R-Truth fan and likewise for Ryder or Riley. That’s why I was pretty happy that Miz gained the pinfall. Before the match, Truth and Miz had a good promo though.

Next match was Primo and Tyler Reks. At every event, there is the “piss match” meaning I went to facilities during it. As soon as I sat back down, Primo won. Next up: Alberto Del Rio and Kofi Kingston. Really good match in my opinion. What I found funny before it was that Del Rio talked about his destiny and he ended up making ring announcer Justin Roberts wear one of his t-shirts during the match. Eve Torres came out next and picked four people out of the crowd to have a dance contest with the winner being able to go backstage and meet some wrestlers. It was pretty cool. Some 10 year old ended up doing the worm and a one-hand stand and won the contest after the other three couldn’t do any kind of dancing which was fun to see. After that, a divas match between Kelly Kelly and Brie Bella. Kelly Kelly won in a not great, but not terrible match either. She’s getting better.

Santino and Kozlov defeated Jennifer Hudson’s husband and Mr. Perfect’s kid. Santino brought out the cobra finisher which he wore a piece of clothing on his hand similar to “Mr. Socko” except it was green. Santino is hilarious on the mic and in the ring. I really wish he would get more TV time. Next up was the U.S. Title match between Evan Bourne and Dolph Ziggler. Stacey and I were a bit dissipointed that Vickie Guerrero did not show up. She was excited to see her yell “Excuse me” in person. Ziggler ended up winning the match. Now on to that douche. This 40-something year old guy chanted “boring” during the match which a bunch of us looked at him with a “Are you an idiot?” look. That was the icing on the cake as he had something to yell during every other match.

The last match of the night was Cena against Punk. This is how unique the Rockford crowd is compared to other places. The place was about 70% full so a good crowd was there. Nearly all fans cheered for Cena unlike the Allstate Arena where all the fans would be against him. There were very few “Cena sucks!” chants. The match was a draw as R-Truth and The Miz attacked both Punk and Cena. Punk and Cena ended up hitting both of their finishers at the same time. Both wrestlers also held up their titles in the air as the show ended. This is probably the first time since 2006 that I am actually excited as a wrestling fan with the current storyline and all.

So all in all, a fun time. I wish we had a chance to meet some wrestlers like we had in years past but it’s all good. The fans were really into it and that’s what I love about these events. I have been to venues for wrestling like Ford Field in Detroit, the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and of course, the Allstate Arena which is my favorite but the Metro Centre is also a fun place to watch wrestling. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. We took some pictures but they didn’t come out all that well due to the lighting but I will try to get some up soon.

This entry was posted on July 31, 2011 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.