WWE Until WrestleMania

This. Was. Something.  

A friend here used to work for WWE in Sales from '99 to '07.  Has great stories as he got to be on the road alot during this time.  He somehow got in touch with this promoter for BTW and ended up getting us in for free.  We walk in through the loading dock and meet this promoter and he is working the Sting line for the meet and greet - 500 ppl easy.  Shake hands and my buddy tells him I used to ref.  He goes (in thick Boston accent) " Ah shit man you got your gear?  One of my refs called in sick.  Ahhh fuck it got two still nevermind."  My buddy is convinced next time I can ref if I want to.

So we wander around the arena - a really nice space on the NC State fairgrounds and a building big in the territory days, JS Dorton Arena.  All the guys on the poster had tables setup to take pictures and autographs.  Buff Bagwell was working every dollar he could out of people.  It was a straight hustle and fascinating to watch.  Billy Gunn was sitting like the new Virgil.  He was whacked out of his mind on something and people weren't really sure if they could approach him.  I tried getting a picture but was hard to be inconspicuous and I didn't want to wake the bear out of hibernation.  The most popular table?  Teddy Long.  He was a trip and my buddy knows him from WWE days so we walk up and he says "Hey Teddy I see Value City still treating you right with your suit selection!".  Teddy fucking pops and shouts "Hell yea playa!  Value City you know it playa.  Best damn suits there is you know that.!"  They reminisce for a min and then I am introduced to Teddy and he is as engaging and sincere as can be.  Had a nice little chat about coming to Raleigh and his memories here from back in the day and he called me Playa no less than 30 times.  It was amazing.  He loves wrestling and he loves doing this.  He also gave me a heads up, you heard it here first... don't be surprised to see him on Monday Night.  He didn't say exactly but I am guessing HOF inductee.  We move on and Matt Hardy has a table setup and he is full gimmick non-stop.  I can't tell if it is him just fucked up or he is just being an artist and living the gimmick kayfabe.  I like to think it is the latter, but I don't know.  

We keep moving and have another beer or two just talking waiting for show to start and the place is filling up.  My guess was 1200 people (we asked the promoter later he said 1500 but we know thats never true so I think split the difference and 1350 is probably more accurate).  We didn't have seats since we didnt pay for tickets so we stood back on the floor near entrance ramp by the curtain.  Local ring announcer guy starts it off, then introduces Teddy.  He comes up and gets everyone going, it was great.  Then Sting comes out, the big draw everyone was there for.  Street cloths, no makeup, just sunglasses and a receding hairline.  Says maybe 3 sentences about Raleigh and the arena and have a great show.  He leaves.  He went to the back behind the curtain and 5 seconds later is walking past us out the arena.  The other guy we were with says to him quite loudly "Hey thanks for showing up champ.  Way to get your money's worth".  Sting just shrugs and keeps going with his handler.  Lost quite a bit of respect for him.  I can't imagine he had anywhere else so pressing to be at 8:30pm when he was booked for a show.

First match was George South, some old, old, old school local heel, vs Tony Atlas.  Good lord I thought hips were going to be broken.  They actually had a decent match but it went on about 12 min too long.  Good psychology and good crowd work.  Was entertaining.  They had two more matches that went too long that were forgettable with local guys.  One of the matches had CW Anderson and Johnny Swinger vs local guys - it was a train wreck.  Local guy in all neon (jeff hardy wannabe i guess?) trying to do high spots and had no real ring presence or psychology - and CW and Swinger had an off night too I think.  It just didnt click.  

We see some commotion by the beer table and I see a guy with a Shockmaster helmet.  He is being swarmed by people for pics.  Hilarious.  He walks by us and I grab him and take a pic.  I sent it to Drop In.  It was great.

Then came the part I popped huge for.  This guys comes out dressed in boy scout gear with a handbook.  Called him self the ManScout Jake Manning.  Ran down the crowd and had some really funny stuff in there.  He has an open challenge for anyone in the back.  Out comes Khali, in street clothes, and he does not look well.  At all.  He picked up the mic and said something but it was unintelligible.  Meanwhile ManScout playing it up great and goes to consult the handbook.  Eureka has an idea!  Jumps out the ring, grabs a chair, throws it in ring, climbs back in, sets it up, stands on it, taunts Khali to come closer so he can punch him, and Khali choke slams him off of it for the win.  Was really great way to get through a potential awful match.  I thought it was clever and great.  

Next up Carlito vs local champ Flex Armstrong.  I have never been a Carlito fan but he looked good and they actually had a good match.  I was surprised and enjoyed it.  Carlito went over and became new champ.  They have another show tonight in SC so I am guessing Flex gets it back.  Again pleasantly surprised by Carlito and how hard he was working and not just going through the motions.

Now we have Matt Hardy vs Ricky Morton.  Oooph.  Hardy starts with his wierd phrasing on the mic, not sure what he was running down exactly but I think HOF and Vince.  They start brawling and it goes everywhere.  They get back to the ring and Hardy ends up with the victory.  Ricky had a good time but it was hard to watch. 

Finally the main event: Bagwell vs Gunn.  NWO music hits and for about 3 min nothing happening.  I thought someone passed out or went home with Sting.  Not sure what the hold up was but finally Buff comes out to the ring hand slapping along the way.  THen DX music hits and out comes Billy Gunn.  Definitely looks more awake than before but still off.  He gets on ring apron and falls getting into the ring  LOL Crowd harasses him a bit and he grabs the mic and says "Yea I almost killed myself just now, but you aren't here to see that!  You are here to decide who the best faction of all time was.  Besides the Four Horsemen."  He continues to run down Bagwell, who just took it.  Was weird.  Anyway they have a match and its not good, but then CW and Swinger run in, they each take finishers and Buff and Billy pin them - bell rings.  Huh?  They get back on the mic and go back and forth, they each do their schtick and then praise the crowd and Raliegh and the history in the building blah blah blah.  Then ring announcer gets in the ring thanking everyone and says next time they are back in September it will be with Bret Hart!  

Overall it was a fun night even if the wrestling itself was terrible.  We had fun and will definitely go back.  And I'll keep pressing my buddy for more WWE stories from late 90s early 2000s.  He has some gems.