Dot Net reader Jeremy Nettles attended the WWE Summerfest event in Venice Beach, Calif. on Saturday and filed the following report.

I'll mention up front that I didn't go for the entire thing, as the point of interest for me were the matches. The last (and only other) time I had watched WWE live, was when it was WWF, and Macho Man had won a battle royal a month prior to his title win over Ric Flair at WM 8. Considering that, along with the fact that is was free, and the event was held a block away from my work which meant free parking, I thought it'd be a shame to pass this opportunity up.

I got there about 5 minutes before Lillian Garcia was introduced. There were tents up for My13 Network (the new home of smackdown this fall), Telemundo, Army recruitment, and a couple others. There was a photo area where you could get your picture taken with a WWE Title, as well as a Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 booth with four game sets running. It was pretty crowded, and it seemed the majority of people there were middle age men with their families, with about 50 percent of those kids up on their parents shoulders to get a better view.

Garcia got a decent ovation, then sang "America the Beautiful." Then came Funaki, who got a respectable amount of cheers and applause.  Chavo Guerrero came out to about 50-50, with audible boos heard for five seconds after his introduction, which were then drowned out by a slightly larger amount of cheers. You know, the whole 'love to hate the guy's character so the few times you get to actually see him you can't help but cheer' thing. That and a large chunk of the audience were Hispanic.

Chavo posed a fair amount but never got on the mic. Match started around 1:09 p.m. Even though I was somewhat close to the ring, I could only make out what was going on when the wrestlers were standing, as opposed to on the mat. Luckily there weren't many restholds, and it was a fairly standard match. Both got in a decent amount of offense, with quick action in the form of hip tosses, back body drops, and Chavo getting drop kicked out of the ring after he dared pose against the ropes. 

The only real highspot came when Funaki gave Chavo a high cross body off the top rope. Match was about 8 minutes long, and ended around 1:17. The inish came after Chavo had delivered two of the 'three amigos,' then Funaki landed on his feet reversing the third and rolling Chavo up, for the quick and surprise three count. You heard me right, Chavo jobbed to Funaki, in front of a crowd that was at least 25 percent Hispanic. Go figure.

The next match featured John Morrison and The Miz, who came out and got on the mic to work the crowd. Watching a wrestler jaw jack with the crowd on TV certainly isn't as fun as watching it live, as live you're thinking, "Hey, if I was in the front row, he could yelling at me!" Oh to get on the nerves of someone who's caricaturing the pretentiousness of the late Jim Morrison. A fan can dream can't he. One of the other reasons I wanted to go was to see John Morrison's Abs in person, and no offense to the guy, but I can't say I was impressed. Maybe it was the distance I was from the ring, or maybe it has something to do with the fact that HD makes things look more detailed and impressive they look in real life.

Anyway, Morrison told everyone to shut up while they gave everyone what they came to see, which was *of course* The Miz taking his shirt off and showing his abs, which were less visible than Morrison's ironically enough. While this happened, one of the annoying fans who yelled out stuff during the rest of the match said, "You know John's getting excited." I wonder if WWE will ever play up that up in a future angle, the inherent insinuated quasi-homosexual relationship they have, IE the fact that they always compliment each other and kiss each other's ass.

Anyway, The Miz got on the mic and laid down some more nicknames that I had never heard before. I'm a bit fuzzy on the exact wording, but he referred to himself as 'The Grand Miz-ard of Lust,' 'The Mojo Master,' and something about Abdominals with another word that began with A.

Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards came out next to a decent pop. Dreamer got on the mic and said the reason these fans hate M & M so much, is because they claim to be from here (LA), but John lives in St. Louis, and Miz is from Cleveland. Great line. The annoying fan yelled out "What part of LA is Cleveland in?" Unfortunately that was the last semi-funny line that fan yelled, as from that point on he was just annoying. Anyway,

The match started around 2:11, and the first 5-6 minutes was predominately posing and trying to get the fans into the match. Morrison would do the Rick Rude Hip Gyration, after which Dreamer would hip toss him, and mock Morrison with a Hip Gyration of his own. The crowd liked that. Not too much to this match, with okay back and forth action. Match was just under 15 minutes, which sucked considering the amount of posing in the opening minutes. The finish came when Miz gave Richards the 'Reality Check' running knee-Neckbreaker combo. 

Considering it was free, and I hadn't watched wrestling live since I was an ignorant middle-schooler, it was a fun experience. The match quality wasn't great, but still decent and watchable. Certainly better than the BS 3-4 minute matches we usually get on Raw. It definitely peeked my interest in seeing what a full scale show would be like, and I'll be keeping an eye out for the next time WWE has a show here. In that sense, the event did what it needed to do from a marketing perspective, and I'm sure I'm not the only fan it impacted that way.

Although it will be for nought if the next event is like the last god-awful lame excuse for a pay-per-view held here, No Way Out 2007. Sorry this wasn't a full review of the show, but there's only so much standing in the heat, sweating your balls off, surrounded by strangers while you have to go to the bathroom I can do in one day. Hope this report gives you some insight the live webcast on WWE's site couldn't give. Peace.

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