SummerSlam Thoughts

Or... Toronto=Bizarro Crowd

Last night's PPV was definitely worth seeing live. Had a great time, although I'm still trying to figure out the always-unpredictable Toronto crowd:

We had decent seats, maybe 10 rows up from the floor, directly across from where JR and The King were announcing. During the SmackDown matches, they both looked bored beyond belief. At one point, I looked over and saw Lawler with his EYES CLOSED! Geez, way to support the product! I don't know if that's the norm, but it bothered me for some reason.

RVD Vs. Dupree was a fun opener, and really helped to get the crowd going. And hey, Rob finally wins one on PPV (well, on the pre-show).

London/Mysterio/Kidman Vs. The Dudleyz was about as good an opener as you can ask for. Probably one of the best six-man matches I've seen in a while, to be honest.

Kane Vs. Hardy was exactly what I expected it to be, and I'm kind of glad they kept it short.

The crowd was DEAD for Cena-Booker, which kind of surprised me considering how over Cena usually is here (still, a Cecil Fielder jersey? For the second time?). The match was pretty awful, so that could have been part of it. Surprised me a bit how slow it was.

I was shocked by the reaction for Edge. As I'd mentioned in my predictions on OO, I figured they'd have to have him cut a heel promo to turn him against his hometown crowd. Not so. When he came to the ring, he got a decent pop, one of the best of the night. Then about five minutes into the match, we turned on him for no reason. Can't quite figure that one out. Match was nothing special, and it hardly furthered the Edge-Jericho feud. Not as well as it could have, anyways.

I wasn't as overwhelmed with Angle-Guerrero this time around. Not that it was anything bad at all -- it just wasn't as good live as some people have made it out to be. The finish seemed to come out of nowhere; perhaps the commentary would have been helpful here to explain that. Still, I'm certainly not complaining.

HHH-Eugene surpassed my expectations. Because I'm not sure what was picked up on the PPV and what wasn't: Eugene was booed BIG TIME. Which was odd because he got a nice pop for his entrance. Triple H was also cheered for the most part, as was Flair (though that's probably not unusual). Match finish was predictable, to be sure, but it was the right move, in my mind.

As has been reported -- someone started the wave during the SmackDown title match. I've NEVER seen that before for wrestling, and certainly not in Toronto. Were they THAT bored with the match... uh, yeah, I guess they were. Funny to see, but Taker and JBL must have been thinking -- what the hell is going on here?

One hilarious moment: you've probably heard by now about the kid who jumped on the limo. He was running back and forth on the 'trap door' or whatever it was that Taker chokeslammed JBL through. Can you imagine what would have happened had he fallen through that before the spot?

And the reaction to Orton was bizarre as well. We booed him for the starting of the match almost until the finish, then he started getting cheered for no apparent reason. Then the Toronto faithful went nuts when he won the belt. I just don't understand it....

The match itself was very good. Benoit worked his magic, to be sure, and I think Orton held up his end of the bargain nicely. The finish was innovative, and I honestly can't believe there wasn't any Evolution interference. I also can't believe they're (seemingly) turning him face. Personally, I think a heel Orton vs. face HHH at Mania makes a whole lot more sense, but what do I know?

Overall, it was one of the better PPV's I've been to, but that crowd reaction had me scratching my head.