By Tim Drake

he WWE is alive and well and if
Friday night was any indication,

they have quite a stronghold right

here in Vancouver.
The WWE Superstars of Monday
night RAW packed the Agrodome,
and despite a show lacking John Cena,
undoubtedly the most popular wrestler on
the planet, the crowd was alive from the
opening bout right through to the main
event.
There was a unique feel to the event

that you don’t get when watching a
regular edition of RAW or Smackdown on
Monday or Friday nights on T.V. Maybe
it was the relatively dark lighting, the
closeness of the crowd to the ring or the
interaction between the wrestlers and the
fans, but this just didn’t have the standard
larger-than-life feel that generally
comes parcelled with any type of WWE

programming. And you know what? This
time around, that was a good thing.

The event had an old-school aura
about it that made for a great night of
wrestling. The interaction between some
of the more despicable stars, such as CM
Punk and Ted Dibiase, with the crowd
really enhanced the experience, and it was
just something that you don’t often see on
a televised show.

At first, 1 was a little unsure of
decision to book the event in the 5000
seat Agrodome, but in the end it proved
to be a brilliant move. There wasn’t a bad
seat in the house and perhaps because
of the closeness of it all, the crowd was
wired from bell to bell. The Agrodome,
which was previously used in the filming
of Rocky IV, really added to the evening.

Another great aspect of the night was
the lengths of the matches themselves.
Because of time constraints and
advertising commitments, the matches

on T.V. can be a bit short at times, but
that certainly wasn’t the case on Friday.
Almost all the contests went for longer
than ten minutes, and they got longer as
the night progressed.

The match of the night was the sub-
main event bout between John Morrison
and Sheamus in a street fight, and man,
to say that those two delivered would
be an understatement. Two of the best
performers on RAW who are both right on
the cusp of breaking into the main event
picture, it was easy to see why Morrison
and Sheamus are going to be cornerstones
of the WWE for years to come. They went
at it for close to half an hour, and held
the audience for the entire time. Morrison
in particular, who’s reaction from the
crowd rivalled anyone else’s, even
Randy Orton’s, took some wild bumps
throughout the match that left the crowd
gasping. Morrison pulled out the victory
in a great finish with a running knee on a

eel to WWE event

 

steel chair.

The main event featured the
aforementioned Orton against The Miz
for the WWE Championship, and it didn’t
disappoint. No matter where you were
sitting, it wasn’t hard to really feel the
intensity from Orton, and The Miz got
the crowd even more fired up before the
match. The match itself was fast-paced
and exciting the entire way through, and
while it was disappointing to see The
Nexus cost Orton the championship at the
end, it was more than satisfying seeing
The Viper get the upper hand on Punk and
his group with a great comeback.

The only real downside to the night,
other than Cena not being there, was the
fact that it will probably be another full
year or two before the WWE returns to
Vancouver. Until then, we’ll just have to
settle for the awesome action on T.V.

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