Knyte

Thought I would start an uplifting post in the forum. Everything lately has been pretty negative around here.

Just curious to know how many people have been to live WWE shows. Living in Oregon, I have been blacked out from WWE for years, up until recently WWE couldn't or wouldn't do show's here because of some dumb rules that the Oregon Boxing/Wrestling commision had in place. Last year, the rules changed and we finally got a house show, and our first PPV (Unforgiven).

The only show I have ever been to live was Wrestlemania 19, because it was in Seattle and I figured the 4 hour drive was well worth it. For me it was my chance to see almost everyone of my childhood heroes and current faves live. HBK, Hogan, Rock, Austin, Taker, Angle, Y2J, and almost Sting. (In an interview Sting said he almost struck a deal to appear at WM19, but had to bow out at the last moment, due to lawyer problems on both sides.) I had the greatest time. Just don't ask my wife, she was bored as hell, and only went because it meant so much to me. Well, that, and I dropped almost a hundred bucks for her ticket.

Here's Y2J vaulting onto HBK (The best match of the night)
http://home.comcast.net/~salantra/P3300104.JPG

Yes, I was that far from ringside, but still had a blast.

And here is a classic moment in WWE history:
http://home.comcast.net/~salantra/P3300170.JPG

So, what about you guys? What shows have you been to, and what memories do they hold for you?

"The Fire Still Burns!!!"
youtube.com/watch?v=4WXTI20W-ms

HellKat

I've been to RAW tapings and house shows regularly in Toronto since 1996. PPV wise I attended Wrestlemania 18 and Summerslam 2004 and got 2 sweet chairs out of it.

Support Your Local Indy Wrestling - BITCH!!

Blitzkrieg

WC Hall Of Famer

The last PPV I went to live was Backlash 2003 when Goldberg beat The Rock in Worcester, Mass. I pretty much try to attend Smackdown! and Raw tapings whenever they are in the area. I've been to Worcester, Providence, Boston, Mohegan Sun, MSG, New Haven. The last show I went to live was Smackdown! last week at Mohegan Sun.

I always hate the crowd at The Sun. Always dead and the place is real small to begin with. I did also gamble a little and lost my shirt, so all in all I had a stellar time.

AudioSavior

Raw is live not a taping hehe. Ok, I been to 2 or 3 house shows in the early 90's and Also been to 2 SD! and SS,WM and this will be my first Raw taping. I'll have some good pics from Raw and I'll post them when I get back.

Blitzkrieg

WC Hall Of Famer

Yeah well whether a show is broadcast live or not on television it is still taped. How would you explain the "moments ago" segments? haha!

AudioSavior

They have stunt double look-a-likes in another arena who do the same move over to make it look like a replay! lol.

Yer right, I was just being a dink. lol.

Bouchie

I went to every house show in Halifax from 1992 to 1995. One house show in Sydney in 1996, and RAW back at Halifax in 1997. The main event was a 6-man flag match, Bret, Owen, Bulldog vs Austin, Dude Love & Taker. This was right in the middle of the Canada vs USA storyline. Me & my friend got interviewed by the WWE cameras before the show, they were asking who the fans thought would win the flag match, and aired the footage before each commerical break. That was cool. Anyways, haven't been to a live show since.

Blitzkrieg

WC Hall Of Famer

hell yeah, Bret and The Hart Foundation kicked ass. I used to love when they would all go out there and beat the piss out of The Patriot. haha!

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

I can't remember if the crowd was really hot. I think thats what it was. I specifically remember that crowd for some reason.

I just looked up that PPV. there was nothing spectacular about it though.

Knyte

After some digging, I found this in a news archive. Helps explain why the WWE avoided Oregon for so long:

"Current regulations in Oregon treat professional wrestling as a competitive sport not just as a entertainment show. WWE faces additional costs of tens of thousands of dollars to perform in Oregon, costs that it does not occur in any other state.

On Wednesday, Rich Hering, WWE vice president of government relations, testified before the Oregon House Committee on General Government along with others supporters of the bill, including Representative Tottie Smith, the House sponsor of the bill, and Capt. Robert Miller, of the Oregon State Police, who supervises the Oregon State Athletic Commission. After two hours of testimony, the bill was approved unanimously, 7-0, by the committee. It is scheduled to be voted on by the entire House today, and then begin the committee process in the Senate next week.

WWE officials believe the passing of the bill would be a win-win situation for WWE, its fans and the state of Oregon, as it would generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for the state in admission taxes, food, and beverage sales at the arenas and surrounding restaurants, transportation, lodging and meals for performers and crew, media advertising, local jobs, and more."

I also heard that because of being classified as a "Sport" and not entertainment, it would require the "athletes" to pass state given drug tests, which would be billed to the WWE. Since WWE does it's own UA's they didn't want to pay to have another organization to do them as well.

And it looked like the WWE was right:

"On Saturday, May 31, 2003, WWE returned to Portland, Oregon, after 10 years. The event's paid attendance of 14,394, marked our highest paid attendance for a non-televised event since November 1999."

"The Fire Still Burns!!!"
youtube.com/watch?v=4WXTI20W-ms