Post-Raw report: Triple H gets his just desserts
I attended Raw Monday night at the Verizon Center in Washington and will post my thoughts on the show later today. But before I do that, I want to talk about what happened at the arena after the show went off the air.
The post-Raw portion of the evening began with the dark match “main event” that pitted John Cena and Triple H against Randy Orton and The Big Show.
Orton walked out on Big Show before anyone even locked up, so it became a handicap match. Cena and Triple H immediately hit a double suplex on Big Show. Cena then lifted Big Show with ease and hit the Attitude Adjustment. Triple H finished him off with a Pedigree. I think the whole thing lasted about a minute.
Then the real fun started.
Triple H grabbed the microphone and mentioned that it was his birthday (he turned 40) and he knew the boys were planning something. Right on cue, a bunch of wrestlers and producers started making their way to the ring, each of them with a small cake in their hands. I’m not sure I remember all of them, but I know that Santino Marella, MVP, Mark Henry, Kofi Kingston, Cryme Tyme, Primo, Finlay, Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat were among those who came out.
You’ve probably figured out that those cakes weren’t for eating. Triple H did, too, and he made a run for it, with the cake-carrying wrestlers in hot pursuit.
After Triple H made it backstage, Vince McMahon came out and he and Cena called for Triple H to return to the ring so that they could sing “Happy Birthday” to him. Triple H, with some cake and icing on his face, made his way down the entrance ramp. As he approached the ring, Anderson ambushed him and threw cake at him. Triple H wiped some of it off his face and threw it in the face of a cameraman at ringside.
As Triple H entered the ring, most of the locker room, both babyfaces and heels came out. I didn’t see Orton or Chris Jericho, although I can’t say for certain that they weren’t there. A big sheet cake was brought into the ring, and McMahon led everyone in singing “Happy Birthday.”
Afterward, Triple H looked at Mark Henry and said, “I know I’m about to get a lot of cake on me, and I’m afraid you’re going to eat me. Try to control yourself.”
From there, the cake flew and Triple H was quickly covered in it. He then grabbed McMahon and smeared some cake on his father-in-law as they tumbled to the mat and play-wrestled.
Suddenly, Batista’s music hit and he joined in on the fun. Batista, who was at the show since he lives in nearby Virginia, was greeted by some cake in the face, courtesy of Triple H. Big Show then held Triple H for Batista to exact some revenge, but Batista nailed Show with a cake instead. Batista also was shoving cake down Big Show’s singlet.
Finally, McMahon, who had left the ring, came back with a cake in hand. He made like he was going to hit Triple H, but it was another swerve and Big Show got it.
It was cool to see the talent break character and have some lighthearted fun, although I was a little disappointed that Stephanie McMahon did not get involved in the festivities. I was hoping that she would jump out of a giant birthday cake dressed in this outfit that she wore during the Invasion story line. Oh yeah, it's good to be the King of Kings.
Comments
"It's Good to be the King of Kings"
Never thought I would ever read a Mel Brooks reference on a pro wrestling site.
Posted by: Dhananjay Mhatre | July 28, 2009 6:00 AM
Kev:
Nothing wrong with Steph..good call. Yes it is good to see them break character. I remember HHH at the Mania Presser did a little break with the Big Show story fallign down the ramp and Edge was cracking up.
Posted by: Patrick Johnson | July 28, 2009 7:26 AM
Not really an outfit is it that hammock?
Posted by: Mike C | July 28, 2009 7:59 AM
Kev,is the show we see actually live?How does that work?
RESPONSE FROM KE: Raw is a live show. They usually do something after the show for crowd at the arena.
Posted by: Gregory Asch | July 28, 2009 8:03 AM
Kevin,
I don't know if you've seen "SportsCenter" yet today, but they featured Shaq's confrontation with The Big Show prominently. Must be what the WWE was thinking when it went to the RAW guest host scheme.
Posted by: Ray Herrick | July 28, 2009 8:25 AM
lol =D Hey Kev, it would be great if you could post the video as well :P
Posted by: Kunal | July 28, 2009 9:21 AM
I was there last night in Section 4. Jericho did show up toward the end of Triple H's "birthday" party, chatting with MVP near the top of the ramp. No sign of Orton, DiBiase, or Rhodes.
RESPONSE FROM KE: Thanks for clearing that up.
Posted by: Sny | July 28, 2009 9:28 AM
One of my favorite wrestling memories was back when Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Haku were feuding on TV, but at a live show, in the middle of the match, they started pandering to the crowd. While each one did their thing, the other would wait patiently. I'll never forget Hacksaw sitting on the top turnbuckle twiddling his thumbs with his tongue sticking out of the side of mouth, and afterwards Haku lay across the turnbuckles twiddling his thumbs. This sort of oneupsmanship went on for a good 5 minutes while the audience howled in laughter before they got back into the match.
It was my first real exposure as a kid to the reality of wrestling - that these guys really didn't hate each other when they feuded, and they were just regular guys having a blast entertaining us.
Posted by: Tim K | July 28, 2009 10:01 AM
Wow! Loved your descrpition, Kevin, seemed crazy! No Horny or Shaq in that classy celebration? :-)
Posted by: Axl | July 28, 2009 11:09 AM
Thant sounds like it would have been fun to watch. It'd be nice to see the wrestlers out of character, just having fun.
As to why Stephanie wasn't there, it's possible she was at home preparing for her daughter's birthday (which is today) or that she simply didn't want to be on screen.
Posted by: Michelle | July 28, 2009 11:13 AM
Interested to hear your views of the returns of The Masterpiece.
Posted by: John Wilding | July 28, 2009 12:41 PM
Hey I found out the video. Somebody has posted it on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP1flalo0_o
Posted by: Kunal | July 28, 2009 1:33 PM
Darn Kevin, I'm really disappointed --- Purposely didn't get tickets to tonight's show in Baltimore assuming Triple H wouldn't be there since it's primarily ECW/Smackdown and he's primarily RAW, currently (plus most of the people I normally go with are on vacation, out of town this week) and since I work in downtown Baltimore walked over to the Arena on my lunch hour, just to see if anyone was arriving, only to hear that Triple H, Stephanie and their children had arrived about 1/2 hour prior and departed from their RV that was parked there.... Now I'm really disappointed I'm not going... But I'll at least get to read your blog tomorrow - Also, do you know any youtube or websites where they show the happenings after the shows - like the cake happenings after the taping of RAW last night?
Posted by: Jeannette | July 28, 2009 2:23 PM
Do you know why HHH's best Freinds weren't there aka Shawn & Flair?
Posted by: frank from dundalk | July 28, 2009 2:52 PM
Watching the Triple H - Rhodes match, it looked as Cody was getting the best of Triple H (now called Cripple H) and what does Cripple H do.....he goes and challenges both Legacy partners in a handicap match.....if Cripple H has that hard of a time with just Cody, whats he gonna do with both Cody and Ted Jr.....if this weren't just entertainment, Cripple H would get killed.
Posted by: bking | July 28, 2009 3:19 PM
This reminds me of a Rock/HHH, after show, promo about 10 years ago. Rock kept rattling off different kinds of pies and HHH would say why he didn't like them until The Rock finally mentioned a pie they could both agree on....you know the one :)
Posted by: Andre the Midget | July 28, 2009 3:25 PM
sounds like u had a fun time at the show!..did u get any cake or did mack henry and big show eat it all? haha
Posted by: Kevin | July 28, 2009 3:42 PM
It would have been funny if Vince and Hunter both tore quads tripping on the cake.
Posted by: Elevation | July 28, 2009 4:15 PM
Can't believe that in all that fun and chaos around HHH's birthday there was no sign of HBK... (if he was there Kevin would've spot him) Maybe he was the one who arranged all this? HA!
Posted by: JETZexc | July 28, 2009 7:14 PM
lol sounds awesome for the live crowd....though it was also Zigglers birthday..*cough* nic nemeth *cough* no sign of Legacy? so they didnt completely break out of character...maybe they were at Nics party at a bar..lol
Posted by: leslieLegacy | July 28, 2009 7:14 PM
Good God, those are huge.
Posted by: Cliff | July 28, 2009 8:16 PM
TMZ has footage of Triple H's birthday celebration on their website -
http://www.tmz.com/2009/07/28/triple-h-victim-of-birthday-cake-attack/
Posted by: Chris Slater | July 28, 2009 11:40 PM
Look at the fun bags on that hose-hound!
Posted by: Andre The Midget | July 29, 2009 12:40 AM
Here's the video http://wrestlingtruth.com/news/video-triple-h-gets-caked-after-raw-wrestling-fan-arrested-van-vachon/
Posted by: David | July 29, 2009 12:51 AM
Ummm I saw Cody and Ted in the Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGJ0naOOAIk but no Orton.
Thanks for sharing your take on the evening... lets hope it makes it onto the summerslam DVD package.
Posted by: Angelique | July 30, 2009 8:06 AM