Partial Source: Prowrestling.net
— According to Trendrr.TV, last night’s edition of WWE Monday Night RAW scored 518,787 in social media activity. That was the highest score of the year and up 70% from last week. The social score is almost identical to last year’s post WrestleMania show. RAW ranked #1 on cable TV Monday night, but lost out overall to the NCAA Tournament finals, which scored over 2 million is social media activity.
— Ross Luppino sent in this report from RAW:
To start off, I have been to many WWE events. Raw, Smackdown, PPV’s, etc. but none of them came close to last night’s Raw.
My girlfriend (Stephanie) and I got to the arena around 6:45, waited in line for a few minutes before being let in. The first thing she wanted to do was get some food (that’s mainly why she came and another Punk shirt, she loves him) She also pointed out that there were so many adults/teens there. She was pretty amazed that I wasn’t the only 23 year old who was a WWE fan!
We got to the seats (we sat camera side, center, 15 rows up) Not sure if we were on TV a few times, have to go back and watch the show for that.
The lower level was pretty much filled by the time they filmed Superstars. Justin Roberts came on the mic around 7:45 and let us know that the Rock wouldn’t be here tonight due to an injury, the crowd roared in boos.
John Cena came out to boos. I’m not sure how loud it sounded on TV but he was booed tremendously, we actually got a kick out of Cena reacting to our chants, well done by Cena.
Mark Henry received a nice pop when he made his entrance and the crowd chanted Sexual Chocolate for a good five minutes straight. When Booker T came out and announced that Rock was still the No. 1 contender for the title, the crowd booed and chanted “Bullshit.”
They announced the 2-1 handicap match with Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter…a ton of guys including me in our section agreed tonight was the night Ziggler cashes in. After the first commercial break, a loud bullshit chant broke out again for the Rock.
I was amazed at how much the “YES YES YES YES” gimmick is over, the entire arena was standing and moving their hands when Daniel Bryant came out. Big E is a BIG boy in person and he looked dominate in his debut on Raw.
I went to get the girlfriend food during the Miz vs. Wade Barrett match. Barrett was really over and got a nice pop after winning. After I got my food, I was walking back to the seat when I noticed a guy looking like X-Pac walking toward my direction, as he got closer, I was like holy shit that is X-Pac. My girlfriend had no idea who it was….he actually approached me and asked me where his tickets were. I told him I was a huge fan, he took a picture with us and even throw up the DX symbol! I pointed out where his section was (he was in a box suite) and he went on his way, pretty cool but it’s amazing how old he is now. That said, something wasn’t right with him last night.
During the Swagger vs. Del Rio match there were loud chants of “WE WANT ZIGGLER” (for a good 4-5 minutes).
I am a huge…huge Dolph Ziggler fan, when he came out to cash in his briefcase he got a HUGEEEEEE pop. Everyone was standing (including me). I was so happy I got to see him cash in live, what a moment for Dolph, it looked like he truly was honored to win the belt.
I felt bad for Randy Orton and Sheamus, they had a 15 minute match that NOBODY cared about, even JBL, Michael Cole, and Jerry Lawler. Some of the chants that were started through their match: Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole… Mike Chioda, RVD, and ECW. A fan noticed X-Pac and then a X-Pac chant broke out, followed by a JBL chant…which JBL acknowledged by tipping his hat. This was followed by a Jerry Lawler chant a Michael Cole chant! We even broke a Pretzel chant and the guy selling pretzels stopped and danced!! The crowd got the wave going, and chanted “We want Puppies”….(this all took place during the Orton match). Once Big Show came out, a loud “THANK YOU BIG SHOW” chant started….as Randy Orton left the ring he gave the crowd a dirty look, he wasn’t too pleased.
—And now for the best part of Raw —-
Next up was Faaaaaanndaaaaannngooooo vs Kofi Kingston. The crowd was way over for Fandango, popped a little for the Y2J run in and again when Fandango managed to say his name even after the beat down…
During the commercial break, we started singing Fandango’s theme song…da na na na na daaaa na na na and the crowd (camera side) was dancing to the theme for the entire commercial break.
The 8-man tag match received zero attention. I don’t even remember who won. The crowd was singing and dancing to Fandango’s theme the entire time. When we saw the other side of the arena wasn’t dancing…we started a “That side sucks” chant and a “we are awesome” chant…that went on for a few minutes…
Henry and Cena made their entrances….(crowd still dancing to fandango) …short match…crowd popped for Ryback tho….we loved when he laid out Cena!!
On the way out of the arena, people were dancing to Fandango’s theme in the hallways. While we were in the car waiting to leave, people were honking their owns to the theme of the song. I couldn’t believe it, it was incredible.
We didn’t have Rock, C.M. Punk, Brock Lesnar or Triple H, yet this was the best Raw this year, the best Raw I could remember, and by the far most fun I’ve ever had a WWE event. It was basically a big party. I can’t wait for them to return to New Jersey.
If all crowds were like this, WWE would be ten times better. Hopefully it can continue!
— Here is a video preview for the April 27th “Wrestling Cares: Race For The Ring” event:
