WWE

Yogi Berra, Survivor: Second Chance , Yom Kippur & More- The Daily Spotlight for 9/23/2015

Tom Lynch Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello everyone, it’s been far too long since I’ve given you guys one of these less formal blogs and so I figured I would update today.  My plan is to update these blogs a bit more frequent as the days go by. The idea behind these blogs is so that I can give you all my quick opinions on all of the happenings in my life as well as some of the headlines in the world of sports, entertainment and everything in between.  I welcome all feedback as always either in the comment section of this post, via email at thedailyspotlight2@gmail.com and on twitter @TommyOnTheSpot.  Without any further ado let’s get right into it.

  • I want to take a minute to wish everyone observing the Yom Kippur holiday a safe fast.  I am celebrating myself but wouldn’t call myself overly religious.  I actually consider myself half Jewish and half Catholic as my mother is Jewish and my father the latter so I was raised this way.  My views on religion are basically that one should be able to practice their religion as they choose.  I don’t agree with celebrating or practicing something the right or wrong way, it should be a personal choice.  I feel that if your comfortable with the way you celebrate or observe than kudos to you.  Personally I am at work today and observe the holiday of Yom Kippur by both fasting and not driving for the day.  This meant that in the wee hours of the morning I walked four miles to work this morning and will walk those same four miles later today to the Yizkor service later today.
  • I’d also like to take a minute to acknowledge the passing of one of the best baseball players in the history of the sport, Yogi Berra, who passed away through the night at the age of 90 years old.  Many of you know that I grew up a Yankee fan and growing up,  I always heard stories about Gehrig, DiMaggio, Ruth, Mantle and Berra.  It truly is the end of an era as Yogi was the last living member of that era that was still pretty active even until very recently.  I used to go to Old Timer’s Day at Yankee Stadium every year, and while that franchise has iconic players from every era, there was a different feel whenever Berra was introduced. The legacy of Yogi Berra will be remembered forever through his many catch phrases and his incomparable accomplishments on the field.  He will truly be missed and my thoughts and prayers are with his family during this time.
  • Tonight Survivor: Second Chance premieres on CBS with a 90 minute special at 8PM EST.  I’m really looking forward to the season as it feels like just yesterday we were looking at the different contestants that we wanted to see on the show and tonight the 31st season of Survivor finally kicks off.  My plan is to be here with coverage of each and every episode of Survivor:Second Chance at some point during the week following each episode.  In general this is one of my favorite television nights of the year because CBS debuts the first episode of Survivor, the same night they air the 90 minute live Big Brother season finale.
  • A quick note on the Big Brother 17 season finale, to me the end of Big Brother signals the official end of the summer.  Times flies by right after this, we will blend right into Halloween, then Thanksgiving and before long after that, Christmas.  As for the finale, as much as I wasn’t a fan of Vanessa, I expect that if she wins the final HOH, she will win the season going away.  She has played the best game of the season and has played a role in every single person going home.  There is a small chance that all of the blood Vanessa got on her hands, will rub people the wrong way but honestly, if I’m Steve or Liz and I win HOH, I’m sending Vanessa home.  It’s good to see Big Brother getting an extra 30 minutes for the reunion.  There may not be a show that, if you follow along, takes over your life quite like Big Brother based on it being live and on going with the internet feeds, the twitter feeds, the three broadcasts a week, and the lack of TV competition during the summer. It’s sad to see it go.
  • The Washington Nationals very slim playoff chances continue to take a hit as despite the Mets losing a game they had no business losing last night, the Nationals lost as well.  To make matters worse, Jordan Zimmermann has a stiff neck and has refused to move up his pitching day to Thursday to face the tough Orioles.  That means the Nationals will have Tanner Roark on the mound tonight and the Mets magic number to clinch the division may in fact be down to 4 tonight.  I’ll be rooting hard for my Nats until that magic number is 0 but that may be before long.  Tonight we’re all Braves fans.
  • Lastly, there is a brand new episode of WWE NXT on the WWE Network tonight.  If you haven’t been watching NXt recently you have really been missing out.  I’m not sure if I could remember the last time I enjoyed a tournament as much as I have with the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team tournament.  The teams have been so unique and just a lot of fun to watch each week.  I caught up on last week’s episode and thought Johnny Gargano and Tamasso Ciampa looked great again and would love to see them get deals.  NXT continues to differentiate itself by putting a real focus on some aspects of wrestling we don’t see as much of in WWE, it was first the women and now tag teams.  I also think they’ve done a good job promoting that tournament matches would be taking place on the live shows as it gives fans an added incentive to go check those out.  I was hoping that the semi finals of the tournament would be added to the MSG special on the network but putting the semis and the finals on the Takeover special builds up that show as well.  I for one can’t wait to see Gable and Jordan vs. Dawson and Wilder tonight.

Well, that’s going to do it for me but a really big night for television tonight (even Empire is back),  I may have to break fast with a cold one on the comfort of my couch tonight! In any event, if you haven’t done so please do check out a really fun piece I did on a Dean Ambrose autograph signing that I attended a few weeks ago right here https://thedailyspotlight.com/2015/09/23/the-spotlight-on-dean-ambrose-at-iplay-America/ and stay tuned for more great stuff right here on thedailyspotlight.com.  Tomorrow, I’ll be back with my pick for the Thursday night Football game between the Giants and the Redskins.  I’ll also be back with another edition of the daily spotlight blog for tomorrow and I have a few more fun things that I’ve been working on.  Until then, have a great day!

The Spotlight On Dean Ambrose at iPlay America

Tom Lynch Reviews, Travel, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend, her younger brother and I took the 90 minute drive from Queens, New York to Freehold, New Jersey to meet “The Lunatic Fringe” Dean Ambrose.  My girlfriend’s brother’s favorite wrestler is Ambrose and he wanted to originally meet Dean during Summerslam weekend at the Barclays Center but the cost was a little steep at $150 per person.  Thus, I did a little research on the WWE superstars appearances section of WWE.com and saw that Ambrose was signing autgraphs at iplay America for a fraction of the cost at only $50 per person and that included both a photo op and a signed 8 X10.  We also figured that we may be able to turn it into a bit of a day out in Jersey.  Let’s get into a bit of the highlights of the event.

Highlights:

 The iPlay  America Venue and Deal: The way that iPlay set up this event was just fantastic.  The second you approached iPlay America there was a huge Dean Ambrose billboard along the highway that immediately drew you in and also got you excited for the event.  Also included in your price tag for the autograph session was a $10 gift card to redeem at iPlay America the same day.  Iplay is actually a really big place and we ended spending a good amount of time there.  They have a state of the art arcade, lazer tag, a 4D movie (we did the penguin one and it was great), indoor rides, and so much more.  IPlay also had a number of different events going on from hosting a UFC viewing party later that night to hosting a free concert later that week with former American Idol contestant Casey James.  It also is a great place for families and birthday parties for the little ones.  It was really nice to see a venue so open to so many different things and offering deals and promotions to make the exciting experience affordable at the same time.  From Autograph Signing to WWE Event: We’ve all been to those autograph signings that can be a bit of a drag where you stand on line for 2 hours and it’s excruciating.  Then when you get up to meet the WWE superstar you get two seconds to grab your autograph and go.  If the photograph is even an option, it’s often as the talent is signing or you’re leaned over the table awkwardly.  Well I’m happy to say that this was not the case at IPlay America, not at all.  Instead, they made the whole event seem like a really big deal.  It started when you walked into a big arena setup where Dean Ambrose was and immediately you saw big screens everywhere playing Dean Ambrose entrance videos, best of WWE videos, and Dean Ambrose matches (against Bo Dallas, Bray wyatt, Sheamus and more) so that you could enjoy the matches while you waited on line.  From there they were also selling a variety of really unique WWE memorabilia and light up gimmicks at the event.  The highlight for me, however, was that Dean Ambrose was standing in front of a backdrop waiting for a posed photo.  I’ve never seen this at a signing and it was really cool as you got to stand for posed photos with Ambrose. Then, in order to save time, Iplay took a professional photo of you with Ambrose and, after you were finished talking with Dean and getting your picture,you were given the code to download your photo the next day and your signed 8X10.  By having Dean pre sign all of the 8 X 10s and eliminating anyone’s need for their own personal camera, it saved so much time and gave people the chance to just focus on their time with the superstar.  I feel like anyone running a signing should take a page out of iPlay’s book because it was really well done.  As for Ambrose, it was also great that (maybe because WWE had a show in town that night or because he was asked to do this) he was dressed like the Dean Ambrose you see on television and also acted the same way.  I remember one time I met the ultimate Warrior when I was a kid and he was wearing lounge clothes and a baseball cap, it was still cool but also sort of killed his allure.  Ambrose was out and about after the signing, checking out the iPlay America candy shop and walking through the restaurant on site.   It was a great experience but that wasn’t all. IPlay America also had a special guest in attendance as the host of the festivities which leads us too…

 Howard Finkel: If everything I wrote above wasn’t enough, Howard Finkel was on hand as the host of the event.  He hosted “OutThink The Fink” trivia contests for free tickets to the WWE event in Wildwood that night, Dean Ambrose T Shirts and IPlay America gift cards.  Fink would ask fans how long they’d been fans for and from there would ask questions ranging from “What is John cena’s catchphrase?” for kids to “What Sumo Wrestler did the Big Show wrestle at WrestleMania 21?” for lifelong fans.  This kept the fans entertained while on line and gave ambrose an opportunity to meet with some of the fans who paid for a VIP experience.  Howard was then available for a photo op of his own positioned right at the end of Ambrose’s signing and was also included in the price of admission.  I can tell you that Howard Finkel was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  He seemed genuinely touched by everyone in attendance their to meet him and chatted with everyone for as long as they wanted.  He was also open to taking selfies and signing autographs and even handed out free WWE trading cards to the kids.  A really cool bonus, in a way it was like Dean was there for the new generation of fans an Howard was there for the lifetime fans.  I personally got to reminisce with Howard about meeting him at the Fanfest for WrestleMania 10 when I told him I was afraid of every superstar there and he told me that I didn’t have to be because all of the superstars were told if they weren’t polite they wouldn’t get to wrestle at WrestleMania (protecting the business) which he got a good laugh out of.

Closing Thoughts:  All in all this was one of the best signings that I’ve ever gotten to go to.  I hope Iplay America continues to do events like these and I believe that they will because I did look back at their twitter feed and noticed that some of the superstars they’ve had in the past included Hulk Hogan, Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan.  Even if their aren’t any WWE superstars their Iplay America is a great place to watch a UFC show and a great day for the whole family.  For more information on Iplay America, check them out at http://www.iplayamerica.com/ .

The Spotlight On The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond 

Tom Lynch The Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  Tomorrow is a big day for wrestling podcast listeners around the world with the debut of The TAZ Show on CBS Radio’s Play.It. The show will be the first podcast hosted by a former pro wrestler to air five days a week at 10AM EST. What’s really cool about the show is that it’s also going to air live from 7-9AM and will feature live call ins. 

I’m really excited for this show as I’ve always thought it would really cool to have a morning show focusing on all things wrestling. I also think that Taz is the perfect guy for the job.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again when Taz first launched his podcast I had a bit of hesitation. There are so many wrestling podcasts out there and already a good amount hosted by wrestlers that I thought this one, honestly, would get lost in the shuffle. That said, I decided to try out Taz’s Human Poscast Machine and I couldn’t  have been more happy to be so wrong. First off, Taz is histerical and the banter between he and producer, Seth, is off the charts funny. But the thing about Taz that can’t go unmentioned is that he is both knowledgeable and reputable. When Taz has an opinion you listen because he’s made so many sacrifices in the pro wrestling business, including breaking his neck, and Taz is also so honest. It’s obvious that Taz has respect for everyone in the wrestling business but also doesn’t hold back how he feels in fear of offending a wrestler or company.  

Thus, im really excited for Taz’s new daily show and not only for the wrestling talk but also for the “Beyond” portion of the show. Taz is very knowledgeable in the world of sports & has numerous other interests so it’ll be great to hear him talk about those as well. Taz has also promised that both Jim Ross & Mike Tenay will have weekly spots on his show, which is great. Taz and Tenay have done some really good countdown episodes on a number of wrestling topics so I’m interested to see if he’ll incorporate that. Taz also said that the show will be streamed via video as well, which is unique, but that won’t start right at first. The best part of Taz’ new show is that it’ll be available on demand at 10 AM every day. This way you can listen to Taz’s show anytime in its entirety and it’ll be there when you need it. The biggest problem with wrestling podcasts, for me, is that they generally aren’t the most consistent as to when they’re posted. This is different, it’s Internet radio by CBS so you know they’re good for what they’re advertising. 

Well that’s going to do it for me but make sure you check out the Taz show airing Monday-Friday from 7AM-9AM and available on demand each day at 10AM. If you do check it out, Id love to hear what you thought. 

The Spotlight On Sam Roberts Live From Caroline’s On Broadway

Tom Lynch Entertainment, Reviews, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 This evening I attended a live recording of the Sam Roberts Show (yes with my eyes dilated so if you saw the guy at the event with sunglasses, that was yours truly).  The show was taped for tomorrow’s Sam Roberts Show on Sirius XM and so if you don’t want the show to be spoiled (though I won’t really go into too much detail) stop reading now.

The event itself was a lot of fun and lasted over two hours.  The show for the most part was focused on wrestling almost entirely with guests including Paul Heyman, Corey Graves and Katie Linendoll.  I’ve been a fan of Sam’s for a few years now, subscribing to his videos on YouTube and enjoying all of his interviews that he kicked off with his trademark “What’s The Haps?”.  I’ve touched on his wrestling podcast a couple of the times on the Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts section of the site in the past and have continued to enjoy those as well.  This particular live show, however, was not the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast as much as it was a taping of Sam’s daily radio show on the Opie station of Sirius XM Radio.  Let’s get right into some of the highlights from the taping.

Highlights- 

Mike Cannon-  Comedian Mike Cannon came out for a standup routine to get the crowd warmed up and really got the crowd going.  He was hilarious and did such a great job that Sam invited Mike back up on stage to do his open with him.  The two continued to talk about Deez Nuts, which Sam has really been at the forefront of even before Deez Nuts became such a big overnight sensation.  They also discussed this insane Josh Duggar-Ashley Madison story with Cannon joking that most of the wrestling fans in attendance were probably wondering if Ashley Madison was a new NXT Diva.  Good stuff all around.


Katie Linendoll- Really good to see Today show correspondent, Katie Linendoll on hand for Sam’s live show.  She has been a great addition to Sam’s wrestling podcast and seems to be a true fan of the wrestling business with a good amount of knowledge.  You can tell that Katie was really excited for Summerslam weekend and i think she also did a great job in asking questions to Paul Heyman.

Corey Graves-  For those who don’t know, Graves and Roberts have developed quite the friendship over time and Graves has made multiple appearances on Roberts’ podcast.  What I like about Graves’ appearances is that they’re always a little different and it seems that Sam is able to get a little more in depth with each interview.  For an example, they explained that while Corey can’t wait for NXT in Brooklyn this weekend, part of him really misses being in the ring and he would have loved being in the ring on the show.  He explained that it’s a little weird for him to be in NXT right now because he was one of the members of that old guard for NXT with guys like Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt.  He explained that the time period for someone who first enters NXT to the time that they get to the main roster has really changed since he was competing in NXT. He explained that it used to be that you would come into NXT and then if you were good you would go through the system rather quickly and up to the main WWE roster and if you weren’t good you would get cut quickly.  Nowadays, however, with the invention of the performance center, guys are able to stay down in NXT for a long period of time provided that there is consistent improvement during that span.

Paul Heyman- The main event of the evening was Paul Heyman who came across fantastic on this show.  Paul started off by singing another rendition of “Glory Glory Brock Lesnar” which got everyone singing along.  He then asked one of the fans in the middle of Caroline’s to join him on stage so he can take her seat and proclaimed that he was sitting exactly where he belonged, in the Cesaro Section (a bunch of fans in the middle two tables had brought the Cesaro Section posters into Caroline’s and were holding them up throughout the show) which got a huge reaction.  When Sam asked Paul if there was another star that he wanted to align himself with if and when Brock Lesnar retires, he said all of NXT.  He equated it to if he would ever take over the Yankees back in 2010 the first two things he would have done would be to trade A-Rod and Derek Jeter for about five or six 21-24 year old players who could be the future of the team, which is what he would like to do with some of the NXT talents.

 

At this point Paul went on to mention that if he could draft one guy from NXT it would actually be Corey Graves.  He said that Corey is the best color commentator in all of wrestling because he succeeds in, not only getting one guy over, but in getting the entire NXT Roster over.  He said that Corey Graves is like WWE’s Joe Rogan but is so good that it’s only a matter of time before everyone starts saying that Joe Rogan is UFC’s Corey Graves.  From here Paul was asked about his plans in 1993 to try and take on Howard Stern by becoming a morning radio host.  Paul confirmed that their was in fact plans for him to become the morning guy for Hot 97 but people wondered how you could put a jewish guy on a hip hop radio station.  Of course, years later, Peter Rosenberg is now the morning host for Hot 97.

 

From here Sam wondered what happened when the Undertaker went to a UFC show years ago and if that was part of some plan.  Paul explained that their was no plan but that Brock Lesnar was really pissed because he felt that when he was finished with wrestling, he never had any interest in going back and wasn’t showing up at WWE events and sitting front row.  Whereas, here’s the Undertaker showing up sitting front row at a UFC fight, Brock felt that he had no right to do that. Paul also joked that Brock lost that fight due to diverticulitis which was a spell cast on him by the Undertaker.  When Paul was asked if he believes that he’s the greatest talker in the history of the business, he explained that you’ve never seen Paul Heyman hit a dropkick off the top rope because he knew he would never be able to do that better than anyone else, however, there was nothing that was holding him back from being the best talker in the business and so that is where he focused his energy.  He also added that one of the advantages he has is that he’s one of the few guys who is able to write all of his own promos.  The interview then ended with Paul handing out “Paul Heyman Guy” and “Paul Heyman Girl” shirts to members in the audience.

Q & A-  One of the things that i really enjoyed about this show was that Sam then opened up the room for questions for both Corey Graves and Paul Heyman.  This was great as both of them didn’t shy away from any of the questions that were asked of them, in particular Paul Heyman.  When Paul was asked about what he would do in ECW when different wrestlers would leave and if he ever considered a guy like Sakuraba, he explained that he was always looking for ways to do something different with ECW.  He mentioned how he was able to turn the Sandman from a beach bum to beer swelling hardcore legend and he was able to get the most out of guys like The Public Enemy.  He continued how when technical wrestlers like Benoit, Guerrero, and Malenko left ECW, he knew there was no way to replace them so he looked for something different by bringing in some of the high flyers like Tajiri and Super Crazy.  He added that at one point there was a big idea he had to bring in Frank Shamrock.  When Paul was asked about the success throughout his career, he attributed it to his ability to reinvent himself.  He explained that when he used to work for the NWA and he would walk down the streets of New York City people would ask him where his big phone was, then during the ECW days, people would chant ECW at him and now people chant “BBBBBRRRROOOOOOCCCCKKKKKKKK LLLLEEEEESSSSSNNNNAAAAAAARRRR” at him.

Probably the most interesting thing to come out of this show was when a fan asked Paul why it didn’t work out with Cesaro since he was such a fan of his work.  Paul explained that period of time as a catch-22 for Cesaro as he said that the original plan post Wrestlemania 30 was for both Brock and Paul to take time off.  However, once Brock broke the streak, WWE felt that Paul needed to remain on television so that he can continue to remind fans about Brock breaking the streak.  Thus, he chose to work with Cesaro so that he can stay on television and, on every single show, say that he was ” The one behind the one in 21-1…” and so on.  He explained that the problem was that this relegated Cesaro to a background player and in doing so, the hope of transferring some of Brock’s heat onto Cesaro didn’t really work out.  He added, however, that because Vince was so invested in what Paul was doing (with every intention of building to the inevitable rematch), this gave Vince the opportunity to notice Cesaro, who he claimed Vince had never really noticed as much of anything, prior to this program.  He also attributes these promos that he cut as the vehicle that lead to the rematch at Summerslam because it made Brock’s victory over The Undertaker a bigger deal than if Paul had been taken off television for an extended period of time and the streak being broken was never mentioned for months. He ended by saying that to him this rematch really is the match too big for Wrestlemania because they needed a main event focus and would get lost in the shuffle as a part of the big Wrestlemania card.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, there was so much more to this show and you should go out of your way to listen to the Sam Roberts Show tomorrow when it airs Sirius XM Radio on Opie 103 at 12PM EST.  It is a great way to get excited for Summerslam and NXT Takeover being that both Paul Heyman and Corey Graves are such big parts of those shows respectively.  In the end, this was one of the most enjoyable live radio shows/podcasts that I’ve attended. A great job by all of those involved.

That’s going to do it for me but tomorrow will begin our dailyspotlight rankings of all of the Summerslams in history and I’ll be back Saturday with coverage of the Live NXT Panel.  Until then thanks for reading and have a good night.

The Spotlight On WWE Night at MCU Park

Tom Lynch Entertainment, Reviews, Sports, Wrestling , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 Last night I was able to attend WWE Night at MCU Park, the ballpark of the Brooklyn Cyclones (The Single A Affiliate of the New York Mets). It was the first time I had been to the Park and it was a really great night for a baseball game. MCU park is a nice atmosphere for a game, located at the center of Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.  This gives you the chance to can see some of the landmark roller coasters going right behind the game as it is going on.  WWE night was obviously in conjunction with the promotion of Summerslam week here in and around the New York City area. The event was presented by Tapout which is now being heralded as the official athletic apparel of WWE.

Photo Courtesy Of WWE

The game started with a celebrity softball game featuring local disc jockeys like WFAN’s Craig Carton & Z100’s Skeery Jones, newscasters Rosanna Scotto & Greg Kelly (who actually both had their bobble heads given out prior to the game), New York Mets legends John Franco & Edgardo Alfonzo and of course WWE Superstars Fandango & Intercontinetal Champion Ryback as well as WWE Divas Eva Marie & Charlotte.

 Following the game Eva Marie, Charlotte and Fandango (who was accompanied by Ryback) each threw out a ceremonial first pitches and there were giveaways from both WWE and Tapout throughout the night.  There were even 8 tickets to the, impossible to come by, sold out Summerslam event on Sunday, given out at random to fans who attended the event.  There was also autograph signings with the WWE superstars and MCU Park was smart to separate out the Superstars and Divas so that there were more opportunities for the fans to meet the Superstars and Divas.  At one side of the park Ryback and Charlotte greeted fans while Fandango and Eva Marie signed for everyone else.  Here are some quick observations from the event in general…

  • Interesting to note that Ryback did not participate in any of the baseball related activities.  Ryback did not play in the softball game and did not throw out a first pitch like the rest of his peers.  I’d assume that this is likely due to Ryback having a big match on Sunday and also recently recovering from his staph infection on his knee.  That said, it was great to see the big guy and the people really seemed most excited to see him as their was a fear that his injury would hold him out of the event.  Their were many fans who lined up on the Ryback/Charlotte line from the second they entered the park. 
  • Charlotte is someone who is really gaining a following especially from her father, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.  There was a big “wooo” chants every time she came to the plate.  This was nice to see and a sign, to me at least, that the Divas Revolution continues to gain a following throughout WWE.
  • Eva Marie was booed quite heavily at times by WWE fans throughout the event.  I’m a firm believer that when you pay your money to go to a WWE live event, you should be able to cheer or boo whomever you’d like.  However, this was a charity event.  This was not the time or place for fans to boo Eva Marie, or anyone for that matter.
  • It has to be stated that a lot of fans spent upwards of 2 hours waiting on line to meet the superstars and walked away with nothing.  The falls on the shoulders of the event planners.  It’s completely acceptable to cut off a line once you get to 100 people and I know the event planners wanted as many fans to meet the superstars and divas but when you allow people to get on line, they expect to get autographs.  This also led to people getting upset with the Superstars and Divas for leaving prior to the fans getting to meet them but it really isn’t their fault.  At the end of the day the Superstars and Divas only signed up for a limited amount of time and couldn’t sign for the never ending line of people that were allowed to line up.  What they could have also done was separate each and every one of the Divas and Superstars to create four lines and more opportunities for people to meet the Superstars and Divas. 
  • At the end of the game, MCU Park donated $5,000 to the New York Police and Fire Widows and Childrens Benefit Fund.  A really classy event all around and it was for a really worthy cause.

In closing, this was a great start to Summerslam week.  It reminded me of those really old school WWE softball games that you would see clips of during the 1990s.  It was a fun night at the park and it was a great deal to boot.  MCU Park does this promotion called “WayBack Wednesdays” in which tickets at only $10.  This means that for $10 you got admission for the celebrity softball game, autograph signings with the WWE Superstars and Divas and admission into the regularly scheduled Brooklyn Cyclones game after that.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

That’s going to do it for me but I actually just returned from the Sam Roberts Live Podcast Event In New York City this evening and will have coverage for all of you upcoming.  Until then be sure to hit subscribe so that you can get all of the Summerslam coverage on the site all week.