One year ago, The Silver Report debuted here on the
Silverdome in the unbelievable aftermath of WrestleMania 28. Here we are a year later, looking at the
aftermath of WrestleMania 29. While the
quality of WrestleMania continues to waver, it is the Monday night after
WrestleMania that has become an event just as big as The Show of Shows
itself. As WrestleMania becomes more
focused on catering to the casual wrestling fans, the Raw immediately following
WrestleMania is a treat for the hardcore wrestling fanatics like yours
truly. Explosive promos, great matches,
hot crowd and an electric atmosphere make for easily one of the best Raws of
the year. Personally, I did not find
this year’s Raw to be as good as the Raw that followed WrestleMania 28, but it
was still one hell of a show. Even when
things were getting a little boring, the unbelievably hot crowd at the Izod
Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey kept you entertained. In the last few years, the Raw following
WrestleMania has become such an integral part of the WrestleMania experience
that nobody should skip out on it if they ever get a chance to go to the Show
of Shows.
Dolph Ziggler, New
World Heavyweight Champion!!
Everybody was hoping to see Dolph Ziggler cash in his Money
in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania to win the World Heavyweight Championship
because it would have been an insane WrestleMania moment. Leaving that moment until Raw, where a much
bigger audience than WrestleMania is watching, was even better. Pitting Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter against
Alberto Del Rio in a Handicap Match seemed like the perfect set-up for Dolph to
cash-in. Jack worked over Del Rio’s
ankle before Alberto hooked in the Cross Arm Breaker to win the match. Immediately following the Handicap Match,
Ziggler would come to the cheers of the crowd and many fans sitting at
home. It was a short match that saw
Dolph and Del Rio go back-and-forth.
There was one point where Del Rio hooked Ziggler in the Cross Arm Breaker
that made me yell at the top of my lungs, “Don’t you dare tap, Dolph!” Ziggler escaped the hold by twisting Del
Rio’s injured ankle, which set up Ziggler to hit the Zig Zag for the win. The crowd at the Izod Center exploded in
cheers while I jumped out of my seat in pure excitement. It was easily one of the best Money in the
Bank cash-ins I had the honour of watching.
In the span of two minutes, the emotions everybody watching this match
went from excitement to frustration then ultimately happiness. It was emotionally draining to say the least,
but the best moments in professional wrestling are. Easily the best moment of 2013 so far and it
will definitely be pretty hard to beat.
Now that Dolph Ziggler is the World Heavyweight Champion, it is time for
the WWE to show the world that Ziggler is main event player.
Fandango Becomes a
Star
Last year, WrestleMania week changed the career of Daniel
Bryan. In the span of a week, Daniel
Bryan went from having the most crushing defeat in his career to being the most
over wrestler in the WWE. The birth of
the Yes chants a year ago launched Daniel Bryan’s career into the stratosphere. No matter where Bryan is on the card, he gets
one of the loudest responses of the night.
It is all thanks to the fans in Miami that chose to stand their ground
and show WWE who they want to be pushed.
Fandango seems to be this year’s WrestleMania success story. While the enigmatic dancer did get a huge win
over Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, it was the crowd at the Izod Center that
got Fandango over. From humming and
dancing along to Fandango’s theme song throughout the night to saying his name
in unison, this crowd did everything in their power to get Fandango over to the
point that I believe we will not be hearing any “You can’t wrestle” chants
directed towards Fandango in the future.
While Fandango has truly made his mark on the WWE and the WWE Universe,
Fandangoing seems to be sweeping the inter-webs much like Gangnam Style did
last year and the Harlem Shake did earlier this year. The internet loves the weirdest things, but
the rising popularity of Fandangoing will bring good publicity to the
professional wrestling and the WWE and further push Fandango as a star in the
squared circle.
Best Raw Crowd Ever
Most nights the wrestlers are the stars of the show, but
there are a few nights when the crowd is the star of the show. This past Monday on Raw was one of those
nights. The crowd at the Izod Center was
just phenomenal. The excitement and
enthusiasm that they brought to Raw made it that much more enjoyable to watch
at home. Personally, I cannot account
for how it was like to be in a rabid crowd like the one at the Izod Center, but
I hope to one day experience it for myself.
Apart from Ziggler’s World Title win, the best moment from Raw was when
the crowd decided to hijack the show, which began during the boring Randy Orton
vs. Sheamus match. The crowd chanted for
the announcers, wrestlers, old wrestling promotions and everything in
between. It was a so surreal that you
stopped paying attention to what was happening on the screen and concentrated on intently
listening to whatever crazy chant the crowd decided to start. It would be awesome to have a crowd like the
one at the Izod Center at every show as it would make the three hour marathons
the WWE calls Monday Night Raw fly by.
Sadly that is not possible as a crowd like this one only results from
the international crowd that comes from all corners of the world to see
WrestleMania live. We will just have
wait until next year in New Orleans to see a crowd as rabid as this one, but it
will be worth the wait.
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