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Cedar Rapids- WWE House Show
Jul. 13th, 2013 11:15 amIt had probably been five years since I have been to a WWE House Show (and 15 years since my first WWE house show). Those shows featured a sampling of the WWE roster and the trappings of a small-time wrestling show- a ring, a curtain, and little else.
WWE House Shows circa 2013 are a whole different ballgame. Not the disappointing small-town feel event, but actually resembling an actual live on-air show.
This Saturday Night smackdown show had a complete roster (Ziggler, del Rio, Orton, Khali, AJ Lee, Cody Rhodes, Cesaro, the Usos, Sin Cara), all the pageantry and set-up (less pyrotechnics), and essentially was the same experience (minus the possibility of titles changing hands) .
Of course, I love the heels, and they were epic.
The underrated Damien Sandow- "Where I am from, there is a saying- "Nothing important ever happens in Iowa".
The epic Ricardo Rodriguez (Alberto del Rio's valet and personal ring announcer) stopped mid announcement to insult the crowd- "Albertooooooooo.. you know for a small town, you think you guys would show a little excitement. Do you cheer like this for your sports team? Oh, that's right,Iowa doesn't have any professional sports teams."
Of course, it doesn't get any better than Zeb Colter (Dutch Mantel).
Zeb has a new wrestler in his stable- Antonio Cesaro, and Zeb told the crowd that unlike his opponent, Cesaro came to this country "the right way", because his opponent is Justin Gabriel, who is from South Africa. Oh, I see what you did there.
Zeb easily makes the short list of best on-the-mic performers I have ever run across. the short list (in no particular order) is The Rock, Cowboy James Storm, Chris Jericho, and Zeb.
Zeb opened with the oldest cheap heel heat in the book- "Hello, Kansas", but took the can't fail gimmick of "Hello (Wrong Location)", by taking it to the next level with a "you're that dumb to think I really don't know where I am. Look how easy I got a rise out of you" stare.
Zeb then asked if there were any illegal immigrants in the audience and if so, he hired a bus and in 15 minutes, it would pull up to take you "wherever it is you came from".
Which of course, is tough, for me to figure. Drive two and a half hours west and you're in congressman Steve King territory, and that might just get a crowd pop
It was either Zeb or Rep King who tweeted "20 brazen self-professed illegal aliens have just invaded my ... office" (Hint: it wasn't the one that is on Vince McMahon's payroll).
Outside of being two congressional districts away from where the elected official who says we should select immigrants coming into the country, like we do "picking from the litter" is not only tolerated, he's virtually unbeatable; Zeb was fantastic.
As the old Russian heels used to win and drape the Svoiet flag over the humiliated and beaten opponent, Zeb and his wrestlers drape the "Don't Tread on Me" flag.
Epic.
WWE House Shows circa 2013 are a whole different ballgame. Not the disappointing small-town feel event, but actually resembling an actual live on-air show.
This Saturday Night smackdown show had a complete roster (Ziggler, del Rio, Orton, Khali, AJ Lee, Cody Rhodes, Cesaro, the Usos, Sin Cara), all the pageantry and set-up (less pyrotechnics), and essentially was the same experience (minus the possibility of titles changing hands) .
Of course, I love the heels, and they were epic.
The underrated Damien Sandow- "Where I am from, there is a saying- "Nothing important ever happens in Iowa".
The epic Ricardo Rodriguez (Alberto del Rio's valet and personal ring announcer) stopped mid announcement to insult the crowd- "Albertooooooooo.. you know for a small town, you think you guys would show a little excitement. Do you cheer like this for your sports team? Oh, that's right,Iowa doesn't have any professional sports teams."
Of course, it doesn't get any better than Zeb Colter (Dutch Mantel).
Zeb has a new wrestler in his stable- Antonio Cesaro, and Zeb told the crowd that unlike his opponent, Cesaro came to this country "the right way", because his opponent is Justin Gabriel, who is from South Africa. Oh, I see what you did there.
Zeb easily makes the short list of best on-the-mic performers I have ever run across. the short list (in no particular order) is The Rock, Cowboy James Storm, Chris Jericho, and Zeb.
Zeb opened with the oldest cheap heel heat in the book- "Hello, Kansas", but took the can't fail gimmick of "Hello (Wrong Location)", by taking it to the next level with a "you're that dumb to think I really don't know where I am. Look how easy I got a rise out of you" stare.
Zeb then asked if there were any illegal immigrants in the audience and if so, he hired a bus and in 15 minutes, it would pull up to take you "wherever it is you came from".
Which of course, is tough, for me to figure. Drive two and a half hours west and you're in congressman Steve King territory, and that might just get a crowd pop
It was either Zeb or Rep King who tweeted "20 brazen self-professed illegal aliens have just invaded my ... office" (Hint: it wasn't the one that is on Vince McMahon's payroll).
Outside of being two congressional districts away from where the elected official who says we should select immigrants coming into the country, like we do "picking from the litter" is not only tolerated, he's virtually unbeatable; Zeb was fantastic.
As the old Russian heels used to win and drape the Svoiet flag over the humiliated and beaten opponent, Zeb and his wrestlers drape the "Don't Tread on Me" flag.
Epic.
