On Sunday, August 23, my friend Don and I, went to the Staples Center to see WWE Summerslam live. We are both into wrestling and when I discovered back in March that this event was going to be held at Staples Center, I popped the idea of getting tickets. He liked it and so we did. We had a great time. So enjoy my little pictorial review of Summerslam.
Since we got there between 2:30 and 2:45 and it didn't start until 4:45, we walked around the Summerslam Axxess area outside Staples Center. It was separate admission and we didn't feel like paying more so we just walked around to see what was going on. We hung out near the ring that was setup outside. When we realized they were going to be having a match there, we stayed. It was pretty cool because we were maybe 50 feet away, which is how I was able to get the picture above. That is the Hurricane leaping off the top rope onto Paul Burchill. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Finally at about 3:15 we headed over to get in line to get inside. It was good timing as the line grew pretty quickly after that.
The beauty of seeing a pay-per-view (ppv) live is that they had a "bonus" match before they went on air. In this case, it happened to be a 15-diva battle royal. This just means that you get eliminated when you are thrown over the top rope and both feet hit the floor. You can see the chaos above after the opening bell rang. The best thing was that after the match Hornswoggle came in the ring and wound up dancing with a bunch of the divas. Honestly, I think they have the bonus match to test everything out from lighting to sound to the ring itself because after it was over, a bunch of guys, including the referees, were out there weaving rope through a new mat cover, which was actually underneath the mat they wrestled on here. That's another cool thing about seeing an event live is everything you don't see on tv.
I like this shot for a couple of reasons. This is during the match for the Unified Tag Team titles: Chris Jehrico and Big Show vs. Cryme Tyme. You can see the action in the ring where one member of Cryme Tyme is trying to escape from Chris Jehrico's submission move: the Walls of Jehrico. However, if you look outside, you see the other member of Cryme Tyme on the ground (between the camera guys). Meanwhile Big Show is totally just hanging out on the far right of the picture. He stayed there until he clocked the guy grabbing the bottom rope with a right hand, which ended the match and allowed Jehrico and Big Show to keep their titles. Not the outcome we were hoping for, but oh well.
This picture represents, by far, the coolest entrance of the night, which was by Degeneration X (DX), which is made up of Triple H and Shawn Michaels. (See the cool little glow sticks that some people are holding up in an "X"?) We had no idea what was going to happen, but when a bunch of stagehands start moving the massive ramp that the wrestlers walk down to enter, we had no idea what was about to happen. They rolled into the arena on a tank! How sweet was that?! This was also exciting because this was DX's first match in a couple of years and they were facing a tag team that pretty much everyone hates. It was great when DX won.
This picture shows John Cena and Randy Orton beginning their match for the WWE title. It was a bizarre match to say the least. First Orton got disqualified (which meant he kept his title). Then Vince McMahon orders the match to be restarted and if Orton get dq'd again, he loses the title. Next Orton gets counted out (which also means he keeps his title). Then Vince McMahon orders the match to restart again and if Orton gets counted out again, he will lose his title. Then Orton pins Cena by using the ropes as leverage. Another ref comes running out from the back and tells the match's ref what happened so the ref restarts the match. Then what looks like a fan from the crowd goes running into the ring to pull the ref out of the ring as Cena locked in his submission hold on Orton. (Turns out it was someone affiliated with Orton, which was revealed on Monday Night Raw the following night.) Finally, after the distractions ended, Orton won fair and square. By far, this was the most disappointing outcome of the night. But again, oh well.
This is during Jeff Hardy's entrance for his World Heavyweight title defense against CM Punk in a TLC (tables, ladders and chairs) match. It also shows how cool fireworks can be inside an arena. This was the best match of the night, which is probably why it was the last one. It's also why I posted the most picture from this match to give you an idea of what this match is like.
Here you can see that Jeff hardy is climbing the ladder and CM Punk is trying to kick the ladder down to prevent Hardy from reaching the title belt which is hanging above the ring. That's how you win the match, you have to climb a ladder to reach and grab the belt. Once you have it, you win and are the champion.
Here is a picture of Jeff Hardy slamming CM Punk from about half way up the ladder. Pretty painful to watch, but a pretty good action shot.
This has got to be the craziest moment of the night. You can see the referees holding the ladder. Figure they are about 6 feet tall. Therefore, you are looking at about a 20-foot ladder. If you look next to the top of the ladder, you will see a blur of Jeff Hardy as he leaps off the top of the ladder onto CM Punk, who is lying on the announcers table below. No matter how fake wrestling can be, this had to hurt both of them. Obviously the table collapsed when he landed squarely on Punk. Somehow, though, the match continued on with CM Punk eventually winning we grabbed the title belt after knocking Hardy off the top of the ladder they had both climbed.However, the most exciting moment of the night, and the moment when I lost my voice, was after the match. As Punk was standing over Hardy, the lights went out in Staples Center and you heard the bell of the Undertaker, who hadn't been seen since Wrestlemania in April. When the lights came back on, he was laying where Hardy has been when the lights went out. He grabbed Punk by the throat and chokeslammed him sending a message that he is back and after Punk's new title. Both Don and I lost our voices as soon as the lights went out and the bell sounded.
So that was my experience at my second ever WWE live event. The last one was about 20 years ago when my friend Mike and I went with three of the jr high staff at church, and things have changed a lot in the last 20 years. I definitely hope to do this again sometime. It was awesome!
