Last night, we attended the live broadcast of ECW, followed up by tapings for Superstars and Smackdown.

As it was the first time I had been to a Smackdown taping (as opposed to a live show), it was interesting to see how they did things differently.

They were pretty consistent with shooting different angles and extended reactions before and after matches. They also weren’t afraid to redo a move if they screwed up during a match. Now I get what JR is saying when he talks about the different feel he gets in doing Smackdown play by play as compared to his days on Raw… It will be interesting to see how they handle the shots in the editing room and how the final product appears on Friday night.

After the final bell rang, they managed to keep our attention, even as the event dragged on past the four hour mark.

An appearance by The Undertaker sure didn’t hurt things, and DX was as entertaining as ever, even though it was for nobody’s entertainment but those of us in the arena at that time.

I must say, I am getting more and more excited for WM26 here in the Valley of the Sun!!!

Joshua Schlag

For most of the last 30+ years of my life, I've been watching WWE. As a kid, Monday Night Raw hooked me from the start. From Bret Hart and Razor Ramon, to Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, to CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.. I've witnessed the ups and downs and I'm proud to have enjoyed pro wrestling through the years.

Though I now watch in a much different fashion than I did when I was a kid (finding out Vince McMahon was the owner and Jack Tunney no more than a figurehead was like finding out Santa Claus did not exist), I feel like I have a much greater appreciation for the hard work pro wrestlers do and the things they sacrifice to entertain us.

It's still real to me, dammit!