Ban The Legdrop is usually a look into the emotion that wrestling can
bring to a person. Not necessarily me, but anyone who likes wrestling.
There are certain things that just refuse to connect with some people and hit
dead center with others. But if there is one thing that can connect with any
wrestling fan it is a live show. Whether it is the World Wrestling
Federation or NWA Hawaii, there will always be some sort of emotion that
comes out (good or bad).

On Tuesday I attended the Smackdown! tapings in Boston and it was
especially special because I was in the second row. Unfortunately it was in
section F, so it was one of the second row seats that was on the side and not
in the isle or the entrance. But still they were great seats. The other
great thing was that the entire night, for the majority of it, were Invasion
matches. The two dark matches had a tag match and a singles contest. The
singles match was Mark Jindrak against Jerry Lynn in which Jerry Lynn sported
a new red colored goatee. I have to think that if Jerry has to go around
with the red goatee outside of work he has to feel like a dick. Of course,
do I know Jerry? How would I know?

Let me talk about the opening of Smackdown where Shane, Stephanie &
Heyman give their battle speeches to the troops and spread their propaganda
to the WWF fans. Most people (on the Internet) go ahead and just condemn the
mic work right away. But when you are there live, and if you are a fan of
whoever is talking, you eat it right up. That was what I did everytime
Heyman got on the mic, because for the first time in a long time I was proud
to be an ECW fan. I was standing up clapping and cheering on Paul Heyman no
matter what he said. Did I believe or agree with everything he said? No.
But did it matter? No. I was just trying to enjoy the night as much as I
could because I heard a lot of angry fans that night. I especially loved it
when Heyman had the others drop to their knees and pray with him. That was
funny.

The opening match was great. I would have preferred the match to have
a clean ending of course, but it was still entertaining. After that match
there was the segment with Heyman in the office of William Regal that was
just hilarious. It just shows how talented Regal is both in the ring and
out. He flipped out and started screaming at Heyman telling him to get out,
and afterwards he British-ly calmed down, and I thought it was great. Again
I ate it up.

Also backstage later in the show there was the Kane-Undertaker-Tajiri
segment where at the end, Kane just looked at Tajiri and called him a freak.
That was also a great segment. That showed how perfect Tajiri and Regal go
together.

This was followed by a solid six man tag team match with Tazz & The
Dudleys against Kane, The Undertaker & Tajiri. The match itself was great
with all the action, I may even go so far as to say The Undertaker did good,
but the highlight of seeing it life was the ending of the match where Tajiri
waited for the high fives from Kane and Taker. The reaction he gave to them
was just beautiful. And at the end on the entrance ramp where Tajiri joined
the other three (that includes Sara) on the arm raising was good, too.

A quick note that in the front row to the left of me was this really
obese kid who rarely sat down and almost took out a few people. If you know
WWF live events you know how they plug their merchandise during it. Tony
Chimmel plugged Edge's new sunglasses, Taker's new sunglasses and posters of
Trish and Lita. This kid jumped out of his seat (one of the times he was
actually sitting) and almost took out the security guard next to him when he
ran to the merchandise booth to get, and I can only assume, one of the
posters. And I am serious when I say he almost took out the security guard.

Seeing Rob Van Dam make his in-ring comeback to the WWF was great. A
lot of fans at ringside were ECW\RVD marks cheering him on as he and Kidman
did a hell of a job as a tag team for the first time, pulling off a great
double team move early with the surfboard legdrop. It was just great to see
RVD back in the ring at a live event. I am no RVD mark by any means, but it
was great anyway.

The main event was intense with the two gores from Rhyno and the two
Stunners from Austin. Being an ECW mark on that occasion, I cheered seeing
the 3D through the table. I also busted out the first ECW shirt I ever
bought back in November 1996. I think it was the first time I had worn it
since 1997, and it was still weird. Why you might ask? You had to be me in
that situation.

Right before the Heat tapings started and Michael "P.S." Hayes was at
the announce booth with The Coach, some guy at ringside yelled out: "Hey
Hayes, where's Terry (Gordy)?" Luckily Hayes just laughed it off.

The highlight on the night also happened during the Heat tapings in
what was, for most people, an insignificant match between Intercontinental
Champion Albert and Tommy Dreamer. When he came out, I instantly got on my
feet and gave him a standing ovation simply because he deserved it. For the
most part of the match he got walked on by Albert. But all that matters is
that Dreamer was there. No matter if he won the match or not. Even though I
knew Dreamer was not going to win the title, I still cheered as much as I
could because maybe I still believed he could somehow pull off an upset and
get the title. But then again, maybe I was just being naive.

Although it might be foolish of me to think this way, the biggest
thrill of seeing Tommy Dreamer wrestle in a WWF ring was not the fact that he
just wrestled in the ring, it was the fact that he wrestled in the
FleetCenter. Because for years I have seen him wrestle at the Wonderland
Greyhound Park or the IBEW Hall or the Icenter, or some small place like
that. Just to see him wrestle there was an honor because I never thought
that he would ever wrestle there as a part of ECW. Maybe he would one day go
there if ECW shut down and wrestle as a WWF member. But to see him there in
his ECW shirt just blew my mind. Even though Albert just crushed him, just
seeing that was worth the price of admission. I am just counting down the
days until I can see that again. All the stuff he had to endure to get
there: the pain of trying to get over, the pain of staying over and the pain
of two herniated disks in his back, I am sure that he never thought he would
get to that point either. I just hope he appreciated it as much as I did.
It really was an honor for me.

Nothing else to report on from Smackdown! other than what I have
already explained, so that will do it for me this time around. Until next
time, I am signing off saying: "If I'm going to die for a word...my word is
poontang" - Animal Mutha, Full Metal Jacket. LATER!