The Covelli Centre in Youngstown was the setting as The WWE Raw roster made a stop.  It was an interesting night on many levels.  First of all, this was a traditional house show, so there was no McMahons around, no Jerry Lawler, no Jim Ross, and no TV cameras.  There was no Titantron or raised ramp.  Just a ring, an old microphone and a bell.  My seat was right next to the railing where the wrestlers entered about five rows from the ring.  My cousin Vito and I attended many of these shows in Struthers way back when, but this was the first in Youngstown in awhile.

Howard Finkel came out and welcomed everyone right at 7:30 as he asked the sold-out arena to stand for The National Anthem.  Afterwards, Mickie James’ music played and the place went nuts. 

Match #1  Mickie James vs Maryse in a non-title match.  Pretty good match back and forth with the crowd really working for Mickie.  Interesting observation, Maryse lost a couple of blond hairs everytime she did anything, you could see them drift toward the canvas.  Mickie got the win on a clean pinfall.

Match #2  Chavo Guerrerro vs Festus.  Chavo came out to a loud chorus of boos.  He grabbed the microphone and riled the civilians up for a minute.  Bell rings and Festus grabs the microphone and starts singing “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight“.  Festus dominated the match but Chavo hit the frog splash and pinned Festus for the win.

Match #3  Jamie Noble vs O’Shaughnessy  I never heard of O’Shaughnessy before but learned he is from Youngstown.  He was about 6’5″, very pale complected, and red hair — the perfect Irish hero since Finlay wasn’t going to be around.  Maybe he was filling in for Santino who was advertised but didn’t show.  Noble told O’Shaughnessy he was the whitest guy he ever saw and worked the mic pretty good.  O’Shaughnessy came away with the victory.

Match #4  The Miz vs Kofi Kingston.   One of the best matches of the night as WWE continues to push Miz as a singles competitor.  Miz might have the best mic skills in the company right now.  He really got under the crowds skin and made a crack about being in Youngstown of all places.  The match was really well paced and Kobe did some high flying.  Miz scored the win after avoiding Kobe diving off of the top rope for the three count.

20 minute intermission.  This freed me up to check Pens and Cavs scores as well as grab a Gatorade.

Match #5  Matt Hardy vs Goldust.  Hardy mumbled without direction for about five minutes, four were about his brother Jeff.  Goldust got a pretty nice reception.  The tourettes angle they did with him a few years back was one of my all-time favorites.  Matt favored his injured right arm most of the match and would run out of the ring.  He even got about halfway back to the dressing room and ran back into the ring to beat a ten-count.  Predictably, Hardy scored the win.

Match #6  MVP vs William Regal.  Regal takes about an hour to get to the ring with his arrogant stares.  This guy is still the ultimate villain.  MVP came out to a huge pop.  Very physical match which saw Regal in control most of the way.  Quite a few MVP chants filled the arena.  Again, predictibaly, MVP comes away with the win.

Match #7  Primo & Carlito vs Legacy (Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes).  As Legacy was walking to the ring, I noticed a nose piercing in the right nostril of Cody Rhodes that I never saw on television.  He was a little bigger than I thought he would be.  Good match back and forth.  Carlito took about ten minutes of torture and when Primo finally tagged in he went off for about forty seconds before Legacy used a couple of chairs and took the disqualification.

Match #8  Big Show and Randy Orton vs John Cena and Batista.  The Big Show got a beer dumped on him as soon as he came out and was instantly angered.  By the time he got to me, he stopped even with my seating to look around, this guy is huge in real life.  Orton came out with that goofy glazed look in his eye like he just smoked again before he came to the ring.  Batista got a good pop on his way out and he is probably the most ripped WWE Superstar.  The place went absolutely nuts for Cena.  I always hear some boos mixed in on television, but couldn’t hear any in Youngstown.  We decided to leave before this match ended to beat traffic and catch the end of what was a close Cavs game at that time. 

My general observations:

• A security guard obstructed my view all night.  He was about even with the third row and I was in the fifth.  He did not move and I had to watch him yawn about forty times trying to see around him.
• I will never sit on the seat closest to the entrance ramp again.  Before and after every match, kids swarmed from three sections over to try to touch hands with the superstars.  I had a six year old on my shoulder all night as he would stand on my seat.  I felt like a parakeet trainer.
• There were no empty seats and The Covelli Centre was loud!
• I did not bring a camera to the event because with various lens sizes and strobes I carry a large bag which I figured would not make it in.  I was angered to see several folks carrying photography bags and realized I could have really got some great shots.  A couple sitting next to me promised to e-mail me some pics but never did, so I held out on posting these results as long as I could.

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