wwe wrestlemania revenge tour > Reviews (1)

I was sat watching the latest episode of raw on tele when they announce, "the wwe will be coming to the United Kingdom once again in April…There flagship shows raw and smackdown will be coming to The NEC Birmingham". I jumped up and down. After going to watch Raw at the MEN in Manchester in October I knew I had to go again. So I searched the Internet for on sale dates and finally I found it 22nd January 2005. Right I have to save up so I can take my son again.

I knew right from the start that I would be taking my eldest son with me. He is a massive wrestling fan and loves his namesake Shawn Michaels. He says when he grows up that he is going to be a wrestler, he will probably grow out of it. January the 22nd came and I got up at 8am to be ready for the ticket lines to open. I had 3 different web pages open that I was able to buy tickets on and I had my home phone and mobile to hand and 2 phone numbers to ring. 9am hit and I was ready all the Internet sites were down from high demand and even with broadband I could not get through. I tried the first phone number and it was engaged so I tried the NEC hotline which I was risking as it hadn't been announced as selling tickets. I got through straight away. "Could I have two tickets to raw please?" I asked. "Yes, certainly we have 5 rows from the ring available they are the best we have" the woman said " They will be great I said" and that was that I gave my details and I had my tickets Block F row E seats 20 & 21.

If anyone that knows me is reading, you will know that leading upto this event I had been so excited. I even had a count down of days till the event in my about me. I found out a few weeks before the event that two of the superstars would be making appearances in Woolworth's in Birmingham city centre. I decided that we would travel to Birmingham early in the morning and spend the whole day there.

We set out at 10am on Monday Morning and after getting myself lost on the way, we eventually arrived at the NEC arena. We walked about half a mile to the train station and jumped on the next train to New Street Station. After about 5 minutes on the train we arrived at the palisades shopping centre in the middle of Birmingham city centre. Finding Woolworth's was easier than I thought it would be as it was just outside the train station. We then came to a huge queue about half a mile long and jumped in it quickly. No one would tell us who was doing the signing, as Batista and Christy Hemme who were originally doing it had cancelled.

After waiting for about 3 hours we found out that it was going to be just Victoria. Needless to say I wasn't very impressed, but we carried on waiting and got to meet her. Sean my son wasn't impressed either when it came to our turn to meet her and get her autograph, he acted completely dumb. His speech went and he was suddenly deaf. We ended up coming out with grim faces an awful picture of ourselves with Victoria and a signed bit of paper. After a well deserved McDonalds, we headed back to the train station feeling a bit glum.

Arriving back at the NEC there were thousands of people around compared to the few that were there in the morning. We decided to go inside and have a coffee and have a look at the souvenir stands. Everything was a really expensive, T-Shirt price ranged from between £20-30 and Programmes were £15. I just couldn't resist buying myself a new Shawn Michaels T-Shirt even though it was £20. They opened the doors to the arena and everyone cheered, the atmosphere even inside the foyer was amazing everyone was cheering and singing, it was fantastic.

We went to get something to eat before the event and everything was so dear, a piece of rammy pizza robbed me of £2.50. We went to find our seats. I was so amazed at how close to the ring we were and I was becoming to get more and more excited. I was even more excited than Sean. Walking into the arena it wasn't as big as the MEN in Manchester, but it was still huge. Straight in front of us was a huge titantron ( Big TV Screen) either side were to massive union jacks. There was a long entrance ramp leading from the screen to the ring. The rings always look so much smaller in real life than on the tele. We sat down 5th row from the ring. The seats were amazing we were so close, within spiting distance….lol.

The atmosphere was so amazing, everyone was cheering and we even had a Mexican wave going, we had chants of England it was like being at a football match. Then the lights started flashing and then they went off. The ring announcer Lillian Garcia came down to a huge ovation. And she sang the national anthem, everyone joined in, it was so patriotic. Lol. Lillian announced that they would film Sunday Night Heat before Raw. The pyrotechnics went off and Robbie Brookside came to the ring followed by Simon Dean. Everyone was cheering for the homeboy Robbie and there were chants of Simon sucks coming from most of the crowd. Then when Simon Dean beat Robbie Brookside there was a short break and out came the hurricane and Maven. It was a quick finish with Maven winning.

Then the announcement came that everyone had been waiting for "we are now going to start the live taping of Monday night Raw" Everyone cheered and it was so loud. There was a video played on the screen of all the past wrestlers and everyone cheered and booed at the stars. Then the theme music to raw started and the piro went off. The whole building went crazy, everyone was cheering it was electrifying. Then Batista, the world champion's music started and the ovation was outstanding. I held up my sign and was screaming his name. I managed to get my sign onto the screen and knew it would be on tele.

There was a segment with Batista and Jim Ross then HHH came out and everyone booed him. After all that was done with we had a short advert break and next came a short segment on Trish Stratus, The woman's champ and Viscera with was pre recorded onto the big screen, which they shown parts of throughout the show, they were quite amusing, Especially when viscera announced that he had been to the pharmacy to get some "protection" There was a huge chant for Durex…lol.

Then the lead singer of Fozzy (see my other reviews) came to the ring, Chris Jericho. I naturally had my big orange sign held up that said Fozzy in big letters. Which was also caught on camera. Jericho was facing one half of La resistance. After Chris Jericho defeated Sylvain Grenier with the Walls of Jericho, the other half of La Resistance Ran into the ring and beat down Chris. Things were looking bad for Chris until Shelton Benjamin, ran down the ramp and evened the odds. La resistance then left the ring after being defeated and after a brief stare-down, Benjamin surprised Jericho with a T-bone suplex. Leaving Jericho lying in the ring.

Then there was a hilarious section with "Captain Charisma" Christian and Ric Flair in which Christian took the p**s out of HHH. Christian Is fast becoming one of my favourite wrestlers of all time. His humour is so dry. Christian then came to the ring and the crowd went wild. Christian is supposed to be a heel ( baddie ) but he is so loved by the fans its unreal. To my dismay his announcement was cut short by the huge explosion of Kane's entrance music. Christian ran out of the ring and through the crowd but not the way I was sitting, as Kane destroyed Christian's friend Tyson Tomko. An interview of Lita was cut off during this part of the show but was shown on tele. The reason for this is that there is a huge thing going on in real life with lita and another wrestler Edge. Lita dumped her Boyfriend another wrestler for his best friend so everyone has been booing her lately and as soon as everyone started to boo they cut the feed…Spoil Sports.

Christian was then seen on the screen running away from Kane and knocking on HHH's dressing room door. Christian's comical genius was shown again. I'm not even going to bore you with Chris Masters Segment which came next let's just say I nearly fell asleep. Then to my utter annoyance and total disappointment there was a pre-recorded part of HBK Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan. I was so excited when I saw Shawn until I realised it was pre-recorded. I still went weak at the knees though just seeing the hunky specimen on the screen.

Then for all you men this bit will interest you. The diva's came out then and 4 of the page 3 girls from the daily star. Followed By England's own William Regal and Tajiri, The tag team champs. After a huge plug for his new book Muhammad Hassan and his Sidekick Muppet Davari came down to the ring. These two are meant to be Asian and make out that since September 11th they have been discriminated against. A match started and after Hassan hit a modified STO, Daivari climbed to the top turnbuckle and landed a guillotine leg drop to the throat of Tajiri. The three-count came before Regal could intervene, and Hassan and Daivari then proceeded to beat down Regal and force him into the Camel Clutch. Everyone booed and we were disgusted by how the Homeboy was treated. This is the second time that Regal had been defeated in his home country the same happened at Raw in October last year.

Then Came Edge who was almost booed out of the building, with chants of "You Screwed Matt" referring to Litas cheated boyfriend. Edge was facing Val venis. Edge finished off Val Venis with a spear. Then, battered his opponent into unconsciousness with an Impaler DDT, modified Sharpshooter and Crippler Crossface, which is Chris Beniot's Finishing move. Chris Beiot then entered the ring and proceeded to beat down edge he Hit Edge with Three German Suplexes. Beniot got a huge cheer from the crowd.

Then came the match we had all been waiting for the championship match. Christian V's Batista with Jonathon Coachman as referee, Triple H as Christian's "problem Solver" and Ric Flair as official Timekeeper. As Christian was coming down the ring the camera man had his camera pointed at my sign it said "IN NEED OF SOME CAPTAIN CHARISMA" When I got home I looked on the video and there is a clear shot of it. Batista still managed to beat Christian in the main event but what followed was an overwhelming attack as Evolution and Christian Beat the Animal. Batista managed to get a bit of revenge but was caught off guard by Triple H, who eventually landed his Pedigree. A dazed Batista tried to get up but soon slumped back to the ring mat. HHH then did his usually pose as raw went off air. The show carried on in the arena though as Batista got back up and beat back on HHH and flair. Christian had left the ring by this time and Batista was the one left standing to the delights of the crowd.

I then left to beat the crowds and to try and find my car. It was manic trying to get out of the car park and we were sat in queues for about half an hour. But it was worth it. It had been such a long day, Sean was flat out on the back seat within 5 minutes and I was so tired I didn't think I would manage the 100mile drive home. But with all the energy and enthusiasm left inside me I managed to get home just in time to watch the show on tele. I had a fantastic time and cannot wait to go again. But next time I will be 5th row …Please take a look at some of my piccies there is one of the sign that can be seen on tele when Christian enters the ring the second time. The repeat of the show is on tonight (Wednesday) at 9pm and tomorrow (Thursday) at 11pm if anyone wants to watch to see if they can see me…lol…or just to see what all the hype is about.

Thanks for reading

Lynsey xx