Monday April 18, 2005, I went with my lady & a friend of hers to see the WWE Supershow at Madison Square Garden.  It was supposed to be an entire night of great wrestling action.  It turned out to be half a night of great wrestling action.

Smackdown began taping at 6:45 so Raw could go on the air promptly at 9:00. Smackdown, in my opinion, is the better show these days, mostly because Triple H isn't on it.  It also seems like it's booked to fail most of the time with improper pay-per-view buildups.  But Smackdown has the better wrestlers.  We were treated to the likes of Paul London, Kurt Angle & Eddie Guererro.  Plus, no 1 on either WWE roster connects with the fans like John Cena.  On the downside, Smackdown has Carlito Caribbean Cool (who I'd like to see in a snuff film) Heidenreich & Matt Morgan (both of whom just plain suck).  But comparing Raw to Smackdown, I prefer Smackdown because it's built more around wrestling than Raw, which is built around Vince McMahon's son-in-law.

When Raw began at 9:00 it started off right with Chris Benoit & Edge fighting tooth & nail all over MSG.  Unfortunately it ended in a no-contest& the New York fans shit all over that finish with a chorus of boos & a chant of "bullshit".  Then Trish Stratus had a verbal confrontation with Lita in which every smark decided to voice their opinion of Lita's extracurricular romance that led to the release of her ex-boyfriend, Matt Hardy.  The crowd showered Lita in chants of "You screwed Matt" & "Slut".  It was almost as loud as the cheers for Cena & it was unrelenting.  It was the kind of "Fuck You" only New York could deliver.

I love this city.

It was all downhill from there.

Since Wrestlemania, Shawn Michaels has wanted Hulk Hogan to be his tag team partner against Mohammad Hassan (whose real name is Mark & he's from Syracuse) & his manager Daivari.  Sure enough, the old leathery egomaniac ambles to ringside to throw some weak punches at the heels while the crowd went ballistic.  I wonder if they're watching the same immobile old man that I'm watching.  His "big boot" now hits men in the stomach instead of the chest.  That's hip replacements for ya.

Then ol' Thunderlips starts posing, flexing his brown frame as I hoped he developed skin cancer from constant tanning. Most of the crowd was chanting "HOGAN! HOGAN!"  Are we that nostalgic as a culture?  Do we love the past that much?  No wait. Not we.  You.  Well, allow me to remind you this is the same Hogan who held back great wrestlers like Ricky Steamboat & Bret Hart in the 80's.  He's 1 of the main reasons WCW went out of business.  He's also the guy who jobbed to Jay Leno.  I'm happy to tell every Hogan fan that they are wrong & Hogan sucks.  Even in his prime, Hogan was 1 of the worst workers ever.

Raw's main event, or debacle depending on your point of view, was Triple H versus Jim Ross.  Yes, that Jim Ross.  Announcer, not wrestler Jim Ross in the marquee match at Madison Square Garden.  Yes, readers, the marquee said"HHH vs. Jim Ross".  It's pathetic.  So at main event time, my lady, her friend & I got up & left.  On the way out I yelled, "Triple H sucks! I'm leaving!" & raised a middle finger in the air.

We weren't the only people to leave.  Quite a few people were leaving MSG.  Perhaps we all thought that our time would be better spent catching an earlier train home or thumbing through magazines in Penn Station.  Personally, I just wanted to wash the Hogan filth off me & watch Ring Of Honor tapes.  That's quality wrestling.

The next day, I watched the tape of Raw to see if the main event was as bad as I thought it would be.  It was worse.  Like I said, after the Lita incident, the show was flushed down the toilet.  It was 1 of the worst Raw's ever.  Smackdown was much better.  At the end of the night, thanks to a Batista run-in, a blood covered Jim Ross pinned Triple H.  Now I like watching wrestlers bleed. When a pale, doughy announcer has blood covering his jowls it's not entertaining.  It's fucking stupid.

I'm not going to anymore Raw events.  I'll check out Smackdown anytime. For those of you who agree with me & haven't checked out Ring Of Honor as a better alternative to the WWE, get off your ass!

Raw sucks! Fuck Hogan!

R

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