Thanks to Matt B and prowrestling.net for this report:
I was at Raw, in the rafters, section 233. I’ve been to probably a dozen or so live shows, and my friend that was with me has been to 40 or 50 shows. None of those shows had live crowds like tonight.
The show started off slow and loud boos for John Cena, and big cheers for Mark Henry. I was in the concession stand lines for the whole promo almost, as they weren’t ready for the amount of people that came as they ran out of food at some stands.
The crowd really picked up when Dolph cashed in. After major boos last night, the roof came off the Izod Center when Ziggler’s music hit. After that, nobody was safe.
The crowd absolutely ate Randy Orton and Sheamus alive (keeping my words PG, but they let them have it). Amongst the chants we started were “Ole!” (for El Generico), Mike Chioda, JBL, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole (yes, even Cole), Justin Roberts, random Pretzel vendor, We Want Puppies, X-Pac, RVD, and ECW. The wave started and I was determined to get Randy Savage going, from section 233, and I was so happy to hear it once it got going. We thanked Big Show for coming to save us from that match.
Once that match ended, Orton left and turned around to stare at the crowd as he looked legit mad at the crowd for just eating them alive.
The next match was Fandango and Kofi Kingston. As many fans may know, we started dancing and singing the theme for Fandango. We popped for Y2J, and he hit a little dance move, which got a pop. Once he left, we started singing the theme.
The 8-man mixed tag match could not have been cared less for. We sang the theme once again.
Cena came out and fought Mark Henry, but we booed him and just sang Fandango’s theme.
After Raw went off air, Cena got on the mic and thanked us saying we brought in the People’s Era and that we make the superstars of the business. He thanked us for a great show, and saying that his favorite chant was the “We are awesome” chant. He ended the show by letting us sing the theme for Fandango, which was followed by WWE playing it.
On the way out, the crowd kept singing it, and dancing to it. The crowd started by chanting Fandango’s theme, then switched to Daniel Bryan’s Yes!, briefly, then back to Fandango. People were playing it in their cars, singing it while walking to their cars, or to the buses, or to the trains. I yelled at the merch stand outside to stop playing Nickelback and to play Fandango’s music, which got a kick out of everyone outside.
By far, the best crowd I’ve ever been a part of. Wrestlers have their WrestleMania moments, but tonight was the crowd’s WrestleMania Moment. I am already looking forward to next year’s WrestleMania and the Raw after.
Thanks to James Caldwell of pwtorch.com for this report:
After being heavily booed during his appearances on Monday’s Raw, WWE top star John Cena positioned himself as the face of the company after Raw went off the air by addressing a crowd that took over the show.
Full Text of Cena’s post-Raw speech: “Heard a lot of chants tonight. Even had a chant for Michael Cole. And, a chant for Justin Roberts. Hell, they even chanted for JBL! (pause for “JBL” chant.) You guys almost know everybody, because there wasn’t a chant for Disco Stu – he’s the cameraman. (pause for “Disco Stu” chant and cheers.) A lot of chants tonight, but the favorite one I heard was when you told yourselves ‘We are awesome.’ (pause for “We are awesome” chant.)
“Indeed you are because you make WrestleMania Moments and you make Superstars. Tonight was a hell of a moment for our new World Hvt. champion Dolph Ziggler. (pause for loud cheers and applause.) And, a special moment for him was made even more special for you because you were excited, you were entertained, and you were active for him in this ring, and for that, we all thank you.
“The guy (The Rock) who debuted this (new WWE Title belt) couldn’t be here tonight (pause for boos), but when he did, he said he wanted to debut The People’s Era, and he was right. Because I looked around and I listened tonight. You guys create the stars in this business; you create the energy; you create the atmosphere.
“I know a lot of vacation days were spent on this weekend; I know a lot of dollars; I know a lot of experiences were had. There is no better way to prove that this belongs to the people. Tonight, I’m giving it to you. (pause for cheers.) We usually end the night by playing somebody’s music, because they think we gotta leave with somebody’s music. But, not tonight. Because tonight, you are going to play the music. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you had a great WrestleMania. Take ’em home!” (cue up the crowd humming Fandango’s theme music as Cena left to the stage.)
