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> I am back from the Smackdown taping in Hershey, PA. As always, I was sitting in Section H1, Row 4, Seat 1 (on the entrance ramp). I was to the left of the wrestlers as they came to the ring. And, as always, I was cheering every heel and booing every face. I was wearing my Christian / Anti-Orton shirt, which had the phrase “Just Say No To RKO” written on the back.
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> I had no interest in NXT or Superstars, so I stayed out in the concession part of the arena during that time. I tried to buy another Christian shirt, but they were all sold out. In fact, that was the ONLY shirt that was sold out. There were a lot of random Christian fans throughout the arena with “Still A Peep” signs, but overall, I thought he received a rather heelish reaction.
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> At the beginning of Smackdown, I made my way down to my seat. One quarter of the arena was tarped off. Booker T got a huge ovation as he came down the ramp. Michael Cole and Josh Mathews followed.
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> To begin the show, Teddy Long called out Christian and talked to him about the shady finish of his match with Randy Orton at Capitol Punishment. Christian demanded another title match because he got screwed. Teddy Long told Christian that he would have to EARN another title match. And that opportunity would come later tonight against… Kane!
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> In the first match of the night, Sin Cara beat Ted Dibiase, Jr. A cameraman actually had to point to where Sin Cara was supposed to be looking at the end of the match. Wow…
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> Next, Cody Rhodes beat Daniel Bryan. The “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes was used as part of Daniel Bryan’s pre-match promo. I caught Booker T & Michael Cole joking around with a paper bag during the match. Ted Dibiase, Jr. came out mid-way through the match to be in Cody’s corner. At this point, I thought Cody received the biggest heat of the night, until… (more on that later)…
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> Next, Mark Henry attacked Big Show in a backstage segment.
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> Then Big Zeke beat Wade Barrett clean in a rematch for the Intercontinental Title. Afterwards, Gabriel & Slater were making fun of Wade backstage.
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> Gabriel & Slater come out and beat the Uso’s.
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> Yoshi Tatsu was beaten up in the ring by Jinder Mahal & The Great Khali. Mahal cut a promo, which I believe earned him the biggest heat of the night (surpassing even that of Cody Rhodes earlier). Much like Sin Cara, a cameraman actually had to point to where Mahal was supposed to be looking after his promo.
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> Christian & Kane were having a pretty good match with A LOT of near falls. At the end, Mark Henry ran out to attack Kane, causing a DQ and a very upset Christian. Teddy Long came out and said that Christian had just lost the match (implying that he would not receive another title shot), but then Teddy said that Christian had a chance to “redeem” himself in a tag match. Christian/Henry vs. Kane/Orton. If Christian’s team wins, he earns another title shot.
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> The tag match went on for awhile, before it ended with a Mark Henry pin on Randy Orton, allowing Christian’s team to win, and therefore give Christian one more title opportunity (presumably at Money in the Bank). The show ended with Christian standing in the ring, holding the title, on top of a fallen Randy Orton. And the crowd was really booing him.
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> This is where the show went off the air, because all of the cameramen & ring crew began dispersing. The commentators must have taken a back exit through the crowd, because none of them came up the ramp.
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> For the live crowd at the arena, Teddy Long came back out and danced. Then he told us that Christian would be receiving a title rematch NOW… in a street fight! The match didn’t last long, and it really wasn’t much of a street fight, but of course, Randy Orton won after he hit three RKO’s… one on Christian, one on an interfering Mark Henry… and one on an interfering Sheamus. (Sheamus did not appear on the televised portion of the show.) It was truly Super Orton (no exaggeration)!
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> I can’t describe how over Randy Orton was, especially at the end of the night. The cheers from the crowd were absolutely deafening. He paraded around the ringside area, very slowly, for about 10 minutes, celebrating with the fans and slapping their hands.
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> Now comes the part that is very difficult for me to describe in words. You had to be there to see it… and believe it! It was one of the most surreal experiences that I have ever had…
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> When Randy Orton reached me on the entrance ramp, he began to slap hands with the people right next to me. During this time, I was doing everything I could to express my hatred of him. I gave him a double thumbs-down, and was screaming “You suck” at him endlessly. Randy could have brushed me off. He could have easily ignored me. But instead, he was highly amused and decided to “play” with me. Here is how it went down…
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> At first, he gave me a look as if to say “Oh, another one of these hater fans…” He smiled like John Cena would do, and I think he was expecting me to stop, and that would be it. Instead, I kept screaming at him relentlessly (understand that he was right in front of me) and he began to grow increasingly more amused. He waved his hand in a downward motion as if to signal me to tone it down. He made direct eye contact with me several times for a period of 1-2 minutes (although it felt longer). He studied me down completely, to the point where he could easily tell a police department every feature of me if he was asked to give a description. The entire time, he was smiling/smirking and visibly amused.
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> I thought it was over. He went to the other side of the entrance ramp, presumably to slap hands with the people over there. But instead of doing so, he turned back around and stared at me again. I had momentarily stopped doing anything because I had thought that he was done with me, but now the surrounding fans were telling me: “Hey, there’s your chance. It’s just you and him. He’s looking at you. Do something!”
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> So I gave him the double thumbs-down again. At this point, he never stopped making eye contact with me. I got tired of saying “You suck” so I screamed at him “You’re garbage!” I’m not sure why the word “garbage” would have set him off, but for a brief moment, he turned his head upward, and looked like he does when he’s about to punt somebody.
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> I was fully expecting him to come over to me and get in my face, or perhaps just brush me off at this point. But he did neither. Instead, his response was to “taunt” me with his belt. He held it up and showed it proudly to me, all the time smiling and smirking, as if to mock me for telling him that he sucks when he is, in fact, the champion.
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> That was it. But I can’t believe that Randy took the time to “play” with me like that. He could have completely ignored me, but instead he had fun with me. I have never grabbed a wrestler’s attention like that for such a seemingly long period of time. There were people around me who I think would have liked that amount of attention, but it was me who stood out to Randy Orton over everyone else who was there.
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> I had a great time at the Smackdown taping in Hershey. But ironically, it was the person who I hate the most (Randy Orton) who made my night.
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> I still hate the character Randy Orton, but somehow, someway, I think that Randall Keith Orton has just earned my respect.
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> Eric J. Calcara