My Take On 5.10.10: Remembering The Igloo

REMEMBERING THE IGLOO
In life, there are many things that become a memory marker so to speak. A place that you can think of and instantly be transported back in time to something that happened there. For me, this place is the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, the place currently called The Mellon Arena, and the place known to Pittsburghers as “The Igloo.”

The first 19-years of my life were spent in Pittsburgh, and the Igloo was a big part of my life. I grew up a Penguins fan and watched numerous games there, including the playoffs. I even was lucky enough to play hockey there myself in league finals play. That was an honor to be on the same ice as the great Mario Lemieux. I saw the greatness of the Pittsburgh Bulls indoor lacrosse team, ok, it sucked for the most part, but tickets were free! I went to concerts there, including one special one where I took my mother to her first ever concert, to see Garth Brooks. And of course, I attended wrestling events through out my life. I remember seeing so many house shows in the Igloo, and most of the time we didn’t get the “A-Show,” but hell, let me tell you seeing The FN Road Warriors (coming out to Iron Man) made this NWA fan’s day, even if they were the watered down WWF version. Truth be told, I have been VERY lucky as a wrestling fan, because while I have seen a lot on TV, I have attended three very cool events. Allow me to share…

SUMMERSLAM 1995

On August 27th, 1995 the Summerslam event came to Pittsburgh. This was just a few months after I graduated from high school, and at this time, I knew nothing of “the sheets” and in all honesty, knew NOTHING about the mysterious internet. I got into some tape trading through the old Apter mags, but that was it. I was a simple wrestling fan, a mark in the truest form, and I was about to see one of Summerslam’s best, and worst matches in the same evening. Hakushi vs. 123 Kid was fun, HHH and Sparky sucked, the Gunns vs. The Blus sucked, Skip vs. Barry was solid and Alundra Blazer vs. Bertha Faye sucked a cock. Taker vs. Kama was fine for what it was, and Bret worked magic with Isaac Yankem to give us a good match. I remember having fun with the guys through out the show, whether it was due to a good match or because we were just heckling the shit out of guys like HHH and Sparky. There was good and bad, my friend about shit his pants because he yelled at Kama, and when Kama turned to stare at him, well, we know who won the exchange. To us, the real main event was up next. At this time, I knew Shawn Michaels was good, and Razor Ramon was just a cool dude that we all liked. WrestleMania X provided a great ladder match, the one that set the standard for what we see today, and while I still do not think that this one was quite as good, it was a worthy sequel. I remember heading into the match that we all wanted Shawn to win, but that just about all of my friends turned on him and wanted Razor to win as the match went on. In the end Shawn won, it was a match that would be added to his long highlight reel and we wee happy…for about 10-minutes. After 25-minutes of greatness, we got treated to one of the very worst Summerslam moments ever as Diesel defended his WWF Title against King Mabel. I wish that Vince would have thought more about this and put the ladder match on last, but he had a hard on for Nash and BIG GUYS DRAW. Well, shit draws flies and so did this match. Bless these men, and I fully understand why the guys wanted to leave, because this SUCKED big time. When people think of big event main events that failed on a massive level, this is one of those main events. Thanks to Shawn and Razor I left the show satisfied, but overall the main event almost ruined a fun time.

THE WWF KING OF THE RING 1998

The year is 1998 and I have moved from the City of Champions to Fairmont, West Virginia to attend college. Alcohol consumption is up, I a have a place with some friends, the GPA is at 3.2 and I am still a wrestling fan. Being that I am in college, and it was needed, I am also on “THE INTERNET.” Besides discovering internet “pr0n,” I have discovered wrestling NEWZ SITEZ. I frequented the AOL rooms, I learned of the Dirt Sheets, and I found my go to page for wrestling news. 411 Wrestling. Shitty design, horrible green, Stone9Cold didn’t know about formatting, truly horrible, but it had news, and I liked it. As I chilled at my house, I get a call from a friend, Andy, who has tickets to the KOTR PPV at the Igloo. They are in the Fox Sports box, which meant free food, free beer and for me free wrestling. I was there. I suppose we’ll label this the beginning of my SMARK years.

We arrived and were ushered up to the luxury box, and as we headed there, we padded by ken Shamrock, The Road Warriors (MARK OUT) and Vince McMahon himself. Andy’s dad worked for Fox Sports, and knew Vince personally, and so did Andy. The Boy as he was nicknamed, because he was 19 and looked 14, walked up to Vince, Vince yelled, “ANDREW MY BOY” and fucking hugs him. They chat, I stand there with my dick in my hand and then we head to the Fox Box. I asked Andy why he didn’t introduce me, and his answer, “I forgot.” Fuck you boy, fuck you.

King of the Ring 1998 was an event that was looking to be very forgettable. The Headbangers vs. Kaientai was about what you’d expect, not bad, but nothing special. The KOTR semifinal matches were short and uninspired, Too Much vs. Al Snow and Head was decent and the New Age Outlaws vs. The NEW Midnight Express was the tag title match. Remember kids, when you add NEW in front of something, you may as well add SHIT. Ken Shamrock would finally get some redemption on The Rock as he defeated him to become the KOTR for that year in another forgettable match. This certainly wasn’t going to be the best event I had ever attended, but it was about to become the most memorable.

What happened next is a part of wrestling history, and according to Mick Foley ,there were 500,000 in the Igloo that night, because everyone he meets claims to be there. Clue to you al, unless you remember what the guy was screaming from the upper decks all night, you were not there. Trust me, nearly four hours of this asshole does not leave your memory. Hell in a Cell was next, Mankind and The Undertaker. Now since I was MR. SMARKETY SMARK at the time, I knew that the Undertaker had hurt his ankle and that Foley hated cage matches, so I was not expecting anything special. We all know what happens next. As I stand in the box, right at the edge of the window, they climb the cell. They fight, and as they turn their backs to the box, Taker tosses Mankind off of the cell and through an announce table. It wasn’t until hours later that I would hear Jim Ross’ screams of “OH MY GOD THEY KILLED HIM. AS GOD AS MY WITNESS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF!” But those were my thoughts. I seriously thought that Foley was dead. Time seemed to stand still, I looked around and there were women and children crying in an eerie hush I had never heard at the arena. But then, in another ICONIC/STUPID moment, let’s be honest here, Foley gets to his feet and once again climbs the demonic structure. Watching this live, I will admit, after I got over the fact that he was alive standing, I was FUCKING PUMPED. Shit was on and I wanted to see more destruction. And I got it. Foley then gets chokslammed THROUGH the cage, and at this point, we’re all talking, “There is no way he continues, dude is done, he’s going to the hospital for sure.” Foley amazingly enough does finish, with a LOT of walking through by Taker, and what I came away with was my greatest live moment at a wrestling show. I didn’t give two shits that Austin lost the title to Kane, I saw a man fly off of the big ass cage and LIVE and still go on with the match. To this day the Boy and I still talk about the night, and Christi is still pissed that she had to stay home and chill with my mom because we only had two tickets. Shit happens woman.

WWF MONDAY NIGHT RAW: January 31st, 2000

Unfortunately I would only attend one more wrestling event at the Igloo. Christi and I got married on December 11th, 1999 and as a wedding gift, we received tickets to Monday Night Raw in January. They were a gift from our friend April, who would also attend the event with us. At this point, I was deeply entrenched into the Wrestling Internet sites. I would get the Observer and Figure Four when the had good sales, I listened to the WOL Live show on Eyada every day, Live Audio wrestling on the weekend and I was INTO shit. Heading into this show, I knew about the meeting that Bischoff had with WCW talent, and that numerous talents could be leaving WCW and coming to the WWF. That morning there were many names on the sites that could be coming to Raw, including Eddie Guerrero, Raven, Chris Benoit, Shane Douglas, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko. But I heard the rumors all the time, what were the chances that something cool actually happened again for me?

As soon as classes were over we headed off from Fairmont to Pittsburgh, about a90-minutes. Due to traffic, there was no time for food, so we just headed to the arena and figured that we would get some food there. We got into the building, good seats in level C in the rail so that we basically didn’t have to stand if we didn’t want to. We had the view of the hard camera by the way. I was starving, and WWF were giving away these two-foot long “WWE Meat Sticks,” yeah, make your jokes now. They were big ass Slim Jims, and Christi and April didn’t want them, they wanted nachos, so I went to work eating these things. I am finishing WWF Slim Jim #2 as April says, “What is OSTRIM?” I ignore this and begin WWF Slim Jim #3, Christi and April inform me that after reading the label that these “Meat Sticks” are made of Ostridge. Yeah, I didn’t care.

The night’s action began with local jobbers, so I had a few beers and chilled. But what got my attention was the appearance of a young lady named Amy Dumas, who was managing Mr. Agulia. I remembered him from WM 14 and Lucha tapes I had, and was excited to see him. “Amy” immediately caught our eyes, pretty, and doing cool shit during the match. Christi was instantly a fan. Two-week slater they would “debut” on Sunday Night Heat, where Essa Rios would win the Lightweight Title from Gillberg.

Monday Night RW was getting closer to beginning, and while I had attended house shows and PPVs, this was my first Raw, and I was jacked. Even if nothing big happened, this was a sweet gift, we were having a blast, I ate some Ostridge, and life was good. And then Raw began, and while we discussed people showing up on the show, they arrived. As we were going to kick off the show with tag team action, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn arrived through the crowd and took seats in the front row. Shit just got real as four guys I enjoyed had made the jump. Once again I was blessed with an awesome moment, the Igloo was once again good to me.

And tonight the legacy of the Igloo ends. WWE will run Monday Night Raw there for the final time, and then that is it. Through out my life I have always associated the Igloo with pro wrestling. It wasn’t the biggest building, today’s IWC likes to mock the Pittsburgh crowds as bad ones, but fuck it. It was my Mecca of pro wrestling, it was my Tokyo Dome, my Madison Square Garden, and the memories I have there I wouldn’t trade for anything.

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LARRY’S PPV and TV RANKINGS THUS FAR FOR 2010
Rankings may change through out the year upon a second, third, tenth, one hundredth viewing…

2010’s TOP PPVs:

–DG USA Freedom Gate {8.5}

–WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXVI {7.7}
–DG USA Fearless {7.5}
–TNA LOCKDOWN {7.1}
–WWE EXTREME RULES {7.0}

–TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {6.9}
–WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {6.8}
–WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER {6.7}

–TNA Destination X {5.5}
–TNA GENESIS {5.0}

2010 TOP PPV Matches:

–CAREER vs. STREAK: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania XX VI) {****¾}

–Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi defeated Dragon Kid and Shingo Takagi (DG USA Freedom Gate) {****½}
–ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Kings of Wrestling vs. The Briscoe Brothers (ROH Big Bang I-PPV) {****½ }

–TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle (TNA Genesis) {****¼}
–CAGE MATCH: Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle (TNA Lockdown) {****¼}
–YAMATO defeated Davey Richards (DG USA Freedom Gate) {****¼}

–Last Man Standing World Title Match: Batista vs. John Cena (WWE Extreme Rules) {****}
–The Smackdown Elimination Chamber (WWE Elimination Chamber) {****}
–The Royal Rumble Match (The Royal Rumble Match) {****}
–ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong (ROH Big Bang I-PPV) {****}

–TNA TITLE MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (TNA Against All Odds) {***¾}
–Ultimate X Match: The Motor City Machine Guns (Sabin and Shelley) vs. Generation Me (Max and Jeremy) (Destination X) {***¾}
–FIP TITLE MATCH: Masaaki Mochizuki © vs. Davey Richards (DG USA Fearless) {***¾}
–ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino vs. Young Bucks vs. Shingo and YAMATO (DG USA Fearless) {***¾}
–WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Batista (WWE WrestleMania XXVI) {***¾}

–Davey Richards vs. Kenny King (ROH Big Bang I-PPV) {***½}
–OPEN THE FREEDOM GATE TITLE MATCH: BxB Hulk © vs. Dragon Kid (DG USA Fearless) {***½}
–OPEN THE FREEDON GATE TITLE MATCH: Elimination Rules: BxB Hulk defeated Cima, Akuma and Yamato (DG USA Freedom Gate) {***½}
–Ladder Match: Kazarian vs. Daniels vs. Amazing Red vs. Brian Kendrick (Destination X) {***½}
–Desmond Wolfe vs. Pope D’Angelo Dinero (TNA Genesis) {***½}
–TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Pope D’Angelo Dinero (TNA Lockdown) {***½}
–CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE Extreme Rules) {***½}
–WORLD TITLE MATCH: The Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE Royal Rumble) {***½}
–WORLD TITLE MATCH: Edge vs. Chris Jericho (WWE WrestleMania XXVI) {***½}
–MONEY IN THE BANK: Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Jack Swagger vs. MVP vs. Evan Bourne vs. Matt Hardy vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston (WWE WrestleMania XXVI) {***½}

2010’s PPV MVPs:
Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.

–TNA GENESIS – Kurt Angle and AJ Styles: Delivering Once Again
–DG USA FREEDOM GATE – BxB Hulk: Double Duty To Become The Champion
–WWE ROYAL RUMBLE – Edge: He’s Back!
–TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS – Pope D’Angelo Dinero – Pope Is Pimpin!
–WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER – Undertaker – Through Hell Fire and Brimstone…literally…
–DG USA FEARLESS – Davey Richards – Constantly Delivering
–TNA DESTINATION X – Kazarian – Rules The X-Division Gimmicks
–WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXVI – Undertaker and Shawn Michaels – They Did It…Again
–TNA LOCKDOWN – Kurt Angle – Cannot Be Killed By Conventional Weaponry

2010’s TOP TV Matches:
I will update as often as needed. I sometimes get behind on programming, so there may be delays.

–ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards (ROH ON HDNET 04.26.10) {****½}

–The Young Bucks vs. The American Wolves (ROH ON HDNET 02.08.10) {****¼}

–World Title Match: Jack Swagger © vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho (WWE Smackdown 04.16.10) {****}
–Jay & Mark Briscoe © vs. The Young Bucks (ROH on HDNet 2.25.10) ****
–CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE Smackdown 02.12.10) {****}
–TNA World Title Match: AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle (TNA IMPACT 1.04.10) {****}

–Ladder Match: Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson (TNA Impact 4.05.10) ***¾
–AJ Styles vs. Jeff Jarrett (TNA Impact 3.29.10) ***¾
–Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong (ROH ON HDNET 1.04.10) {***¾}

–Jeff Hardy vs. RVD (TNA Impact 4.19.10) ***½
–Shannon Moore vs. Kazarian (TNA Impact 4.12.10) ***½
–RVD and Jeff Hardy vs. Beer Money (TNA Impact 3.22.10) ***½
–Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards (ROH on HDNet 4.12.10) ***½
–Rey Mysterio vs. Tyson Kidd (WWE Superstars 3.25.10) ***½
–El Generico vs. Kenny King (ROH on HDNet 3.08.10) ***½
–Shawn Michaels vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE Smackdown 1.29.10) {***½}
–Colt Cabana and Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries and Kenny King (ROH on HDNet 1.18.10) {***½}
–Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe (ROH on HDNet 1.18.10) {***½}
–WWE Unified Tag Team Title Match: DX vs. Jeri-Show (WWE RAW 1.04.10) {***½}

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Two Words In Closing

Starship… Fuckin-Troopers