Almost part of the show

I have no doubt in my mind that Scott Taylor is a generally nice guy. Like all people, I'm sure he has his moments where he's less than pleasant or what have you, but I've seen his friendly nature, patience with children, and willingness to share his time with those interested in doing so. He tries to make people happy. I have no problems with him on those levels. When he climbs into the wrestling ring as Scotty 2 Hottie, he annoys me.

Now, this is not always a problem. When it comes to wrestling, the way a person acts normally and the way the act in the ring can be totally different. Some of the nastiest people in the ring are the nicest outside it. Scotty 2 Hottie has a character that's a good guy. He connects with the crowd are they react positively to what he does. I cannot fault him for doing this because it obviously works for him. Personally I don't care for his shtick but it's my right to dislike it just as much as it's someone else's right to like it. I don't criticize those that enjoy it. Good for them.

Scotty was in the second match of the show we went to see on Friday night. Obviously I wasn't inclined to cheer for him. As it was a 'three way dance' match, a match where three wrestlers face off against each other until one manages to pin another, I considered his opponents. 'Electric' Eric Freedom is a local level wrestler that I'm familiar with to a reasonable degree. He generally works as a bad guy and I don't care much for his style either so I couldn't cheer for him. That left Lenny Lane.

I'm mostly familiar with Lenny's work in WCW during the late 1990s. He was never a guy that gained a lot of attention but he was involved in some storylines at times. I always thought he did good with what he was given but he never clicked in a way that would make him a star. He was at an earlier local show and I was able to see his work and meet him. I couldn't say I was ever a big fan but I am pro-Lenny. As he entered the arena, I applauded and cheered a bit for him.

Somehow, in an unplanned way, all five of us in our group seated in the fifth row were soon standing, pointing to the ring, and chanting 'Lenny'. Now, both Eric and Lenny were scheduled to work heel, play bad guys, so our sudden chanting for Lenny 'made no sense'. The majority of the crowd was confused, looking at us strangely or hollering for us to settle down. Lenny looked confused as well, but grinned. He quickly started working with us. Standing on the turnbuckle, he pointed to us. We cheered. He flexed. We cheered. Scotty came out and, good-naturedly, we booed.

The bell rang to start the match. Scotty and Eric locked up on the far side of the ring. Lenny posed for us further, ignoring the action behind him. We cheered. Thusly distracted by us, he backed into Scotty and was drop toe-holded into trouble, much to our dismay.

I figured out the basic storyline of the match rather quickly. With Eric and Lenny both playing the heel, they would team up to beat down Scotty. This occurred as expected. The goal here is to have the crowd, who by in large is supporting him, cheer for him to survive the assault of the bad guys and find a way to succeed. The formula worked. The crowd booed as poor Scotty was ganged up on. One of the heels would get knocked away, Scotty would have a moment to try to have the upper hand in a one on one situation, but then the heel would recover and it would once again be two on one. When Lenny succeeded, we cheered. When he was knocked down, we shouted encouragement.

While I knew Scotty would win, I wasn't sure what the actual end sequence would be. I did expect a breakdown in the heels and that did happen. Eventually they beat down Scotty enough to get him in a pining predicament. One tried to pin him, only to be pulled off by the other. They argued, they fought, and then frustrated, Lenny walked out. this took long enough for Scotty to recover and he was able to defeat Eric for the win.

Especially since we were so engaged in it, the match was enjoyable to watch. Since Scotty won, we knew there would be an extended dance sequence in celebration. Brian and I got up to visit the nearby concessions stand. As it happens, a door to the backstage area also lead to the area by the concessions stand. Standing there was Lenny, apparently looking for us.

We shook hands and chit-chatted with him for a moment. We hoped we hadn't thrown them off too badly and he assured us all was well. He said he'd joked with the guys 'I bet they're not even from Minnesota' as Lenny is. He was right. We thanked him, he thanked us, and we went for beer.

It was a great moment. We caused some other 'trouble' during the show but that was the best part; connecting up with the guys in the ring and sort of becoming part of the show.