so i went to smackdown on friday.

It was bat Excel in london. It was much smaller than I had anticipated, I went in expecting to be miles from the action, but as we entered the ring was right in front of us. The first half ended with a JBL & Orlando Jordan vs Big Show and Cena bout, pretty good, especiually when JBL did the 5 nuckle shuffle streight into the finger in Cena's face, but the lack of a Cena rap at the begining was a bit of a discapointment.
Highlights of the second half included a great Eddie and Ray vs MnMs? tag match. I allways thought that the 'wrestler distracted by hot girl' bit was rather stupid, but seeing it live and played well by Eddie and Ray, it was genuinely funny.
The last match was the highlight, and a spectacular bout considering that it was a house show. Angle came out to a chorus of you suck, and despite my continued support for him, I just had to join in. Then it was the undertaker's turn, the place went dark and blue light bathed the arena, what with the bell tolls and the leather jacket and hat, it was genuinely chilling. Ok not really, but it did kick much ass. Talking of ass Angle ended ip exposeing his to my section of the crowd after one of the seven or eight ankle lock reversals, the referee dealt with it very professionaly and the illusion was broken for only a few seconds. This bout ended with a tombstone reversing battle of brawn that had everone enthralled, an incredible end to a great night.
Generally it was pretty different to my expectations. I had expected to be able to 'see the strings' as it were. However, apart from one kick that Rey completely missed, I was amazed by how cohesive the illusion remained. The pace was frenetic and I never had the feeling that because it wasnt televised, no one cared. It is definately strange watching it without commentry or an accompanying storyline, it all seemed much sillier than it does on telly. This was not hepled by how small the arena was, the weight that attaches itself to an event with 15 or 20 thousand fans is not quite their when you only have four or five thousand.
In the end it was money well spent, though i am not sure I would go again. I guess I had been expecting more atmosphere, and in truth that was missing a little, so i wopuld definately want to go to a bigger, televised contest if i went again. All in all though I got took some great memories home with me.