CRZ,
I got off work yesterday at 5:00 p.m. and drove by the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, Alabama, where the Thunder tapings were. I got a wild hair and decided to pull in. I was just gonna walk around and check out the sites.

As I parked, I noticed a reserve type parking area. Low and behold, Scott hall was unloading his car. He had a big brace on his knee so I remarked, "What's wrong with your knee, Scott?" He said he hurt it last week and it was bothering him. He seemed nice enough. Upon noticing the abundance (4) of parked limos, I walked over to the security guard and asked if pretty much everyone had arrived. He said "Yes, everyone had arrived around 11:00 a.m." God bless Scott and his bum knee, making him late.

I then let myself into the arena and proceeded to watch the ring crew setting up the ring. (All praise the elite Mobile Civic Center Security Team.) I saw Kevin Nash sitting at ringside talking to someone. I also observed Perry Saturn, Shane Douglas, David Flair, Vampiro. There may have been others but I couldn't bet on it. I watched for about 20 minutes when a guard finally asked me who I was with. I made a smart remark and he beat me stupid (not really.) He politely asked me to leave and I said "Alright then ... um huh."

It was now around 6:00 and I decided to check out the ticket situation. Well $26 later, I was the proud owner of seat 15 on row 5. This as it turned out was opposite of where the cameras were so I am probably in a lot of shots. As I walked in front, I saw Buzzkill (Armstrong) getting ready to film a promo. The director asked if we wanted to be on TV. Like the sheep we are, we said "Yaaaah..."

(Note to wrestling fans.... If you go to a live wrestling show, dress up. I mean not in your favorite "Hulkster" out fit or in your favorite work jeans. I mean for gods sake, don't dress like the uneducated, backwards, trailer park trash that we are so often stereo-typed as. I guess you can tell I was not thrilled with my fellow Mobilians choice of attire...Maybe I am just hoping too much.)

Anywho... Buzzkill did his little promo. I was the tall guy in the back in the blue shirt by the cement pole. I yelled " You gotta save the whales man!!", but I am not sure if that will get in or not. It took about 5 minutes. The gates finally opened and we all dashed to our seats.

My seat was about 20 feet from the ring. The guy next to me was pretty cool and there were no jerks with signs right in front of me. It is now 7:15 p.m. and I'd say there is about 2500 people total in the arena. The crowd is hot!! There is so much eneregy in the air, I mean you can feeeel the excitement. Yeah right.

Another note. This is the first time in a great while that I am watching wrestling sober. WHY?! you might ask. Well..... one of my headlight on my ride is out and that is just begging for TROUBLE from the 5 O. So I will be sober for the festivities. Another note. It is amazing how much respect a man with a pen and note pad will get. The third person in an hour has stopped me and asked if I was with WCW. You might want to remember that.

Play by Play starts now. David Penzer comes out and lays down the law. CO-Hosts are Scott Hudson and Mike Tenay. We are told that... Buff will be here! The Revolution will be here! Hacksaw Jim Duggan will be here! Screamin Norman Smiley defends his Hardcore belt against David Flair. Canyon against DDP! Benoit is here! Sid is here! Outsiders are here (limping)! Brett Hart is here. Goldberg is here.

A guy with a WCW sucks sign gets booted. Funny stuff. There is a cage at the top of the roof. Taping starts.. Fireworks go off and I absolutely poo my pants. It startled me almost to death. You would have to be there to understand.

Sid comes out. Benoit comes out. OH SHIT!! They turn out to be teamates. DAMN. Sid speaks. Benoit speaks and calls out the Outsiders. Powers that Be Henchmen are out. (Henning, Creative Control, Curly Bill, and La Parka) Henning says they are ordered to fight each other. Sid's look is priceless. (Give that man an Oscar!). The faces depart.

Juvii comes out and acts like a moron. The females at ringside are all screaming in delight. It's funny.

Vampiro comes out with explosion. (Damn there goes another pair of BVD's.) Buff comes out. They scrap. Oklahoma is out. Dr. Death jumps Vamp. A Misfit is out. Buff Wins. Dr. Death powerbombs Vamp on the mat outside. I THINK THE BIG BASTARD HURT VAMP!! Vamp is in noooo hurry to get up. F.... Russo. (CRZ's favorite saying)

Eavn Kariagas is out with Spice. Spice shows her ass to the crowd and I immediately have a special feeling in my shiny new BVD's. The artist is out with his Valet. The begin to rumble. Madusa comes out. CAT FIGHT!! Prince wins.

The revolution comes out. More fireworks (Damn). Midnight is out. Hacksaw is out. The janitor and the lady with huge thighs take on Perry Saturn and Aysa. The crowd goes ape shit. I mean seriously. Match starts. Crowd is really hot. ( I swear to God Hacksaw got the most heat of the night. The crowd was crazy about this tool.) Booker T and Stevie Ray come out to oversee things. AYSA's Boob pooped out. I mean I really saw it. She spent the rest of the match fighting with her outfit. I guess she was shy. Hacksaw wins and then promplty gets pummeled by the Revolution. They strip him down to his USA boxer shorts. AARON Neville, who was conviently in the audience, slowly makes his way to the ring and runs off the Revolution. If I was Perry Saturn, I would have mopped the floor with Aaron's goofy, no talent ass.

Smiley is out in Football gear. Lil' Flair is out. They trade weak shots with reaaaally thin garbage cans. Meng is out. I get confused and I think Smiley wins. he hauls ass out of there and into the parking lot, Screaming the whole way out. That part was funny.

Sting is out and challenges Lex. Lex comes out in Stingerwear. Stinger calling spots. Liz is out. Torture rack on Lex. Liz accidentally knocked over. Stinger checks on her and gets killed with the bat by Lex. DQ.

Dr. Death vs. The Wall. A couple of power moves. I yell " You suck Steve" about a million times. The bastard wins.

Charles Robinson is out. He messes with the Crowd. Everyone eats it up. He seems to be nice. They then show the Buzzkill clip and yes, you can clearly see me in the back. Cool.

Henning is out with Curly Bill. Dustin Rhodes is out. They wrestle. Someone is dressed as the Undertaker. The Undertaker then starts "Flying" towards the ring. It's double J. He guitarshots Dustin and it sounded like a gun going off. Pretty impressive stuff. Dustin appears hurt. He is bleeding hardway. (I find the whole entrance to Double J. ironic with the past death of Owen Hart doing a somewhat similar stunt.)

Hot Rod is out. Sid is out. Fireworks!! ( Dammit) Benoit is out and the challenge the Powers that Be. PTB henchmen come out and beat the Shiznit out of Chris Vicious and Sid Benoit. (I am getting sleepy)

Chris Champagne and his two very lovely ladies are out. DDP comes out and they brawl. Good little match. A few near falls. Lil Flair interferes. Chris wins. Bam Bam Bigelow comes out and Champagne promptly breaks a glass bottle on BBB's head. He bleeds appropriately. (Hardway) That shot was damn impressive in person.

Cage lowers. Main event time. Hot rod comes out. Nash is out. (No Hall? injury must be bad.) Goldberg's slow ass entrance starts. Powers that be Henchmen take out Hot Rod. Goldberg arrives and takes care of the outside people. Double J shows up and guitar shots Brett Hart. Guitar shot for Goldielocks. Spear on Double J!! Nash then bashes Goldie. Hot Rod, Goldberg, and Brett are handcuffed to the ring. I guess the bad guys won. Goldberg breaks the handcuffs and gives chase. Show ends.

Finishing notes. Show was not that bad. I can be seen, I am sure. This guy in the front row with a Bright orange "THUNDER ON THE GULF" sign was in front of me. I am in a blue shirt and wave alot. When Brett Hart left the ring, he walked around and hugged and talked to the Fans. He looked genuinely unhappy. I actually felt sympathy for him. It is a shame that the industry has so changed. I was impressed with most of the entertainers efforts.

By the way, on the way home, I was about 10 miles from my house and I stopped off at a gas station and bought a tall boy Bud Lite. I drank it and about 4 miles from my house, I was pulled over by a deputy sheriff. No shit. He smelled the beer and asked how much I had been drinking. I told him just one and he made me get out of my jeep. He looked at my eyes and said I was okay. He said he just had to check because of the smell of alcohol. He also told me to get my light fixed. He was nice, but that was just toooooo weird. Normally after watching wrestling, I am sauced. Anyway, I got home about 11:00 p.m. and settled in. About that time, the phone rang. Later that night, I had the greatest experience a man could ever hope for. I went to bed at about 4:30 in the A.M.

If anyone is curious about that event you can e-mail me at jandrewcarver@hotmail.com. I hope this information is useful to someone.

See ya next time..

Andrew Carver