I just realized that with Cody Rhodes being a Unified Tag Champion, he should be able to appear on both shows. That, along with his relationship with Husky from NXT s2, better begin a huge cross promotion that brings Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, Husky Harris, Michael McGillicutty, and Brett DiBiase all together as the Fortunate Sons.
We haven't heard the rumors for that in a while, but with Cody able to cross-promote and Husky and McG interfering in Cena v Barrett, the time is NOW.
Hell, even though I hate his guts, that works right in perfectly with the rumor of DH Smith's heel turn on Kidd and Natalya. He is a Fortunate Son, after all.
And if anyone cares, even though it is nearly two months after SS, I finally got a chance to write down my day at SS Axxess before the actual PPV again. Check it out if you want!
! So for SummerSlam Axxess, I made sure to get up and head out as early as possible. It started at 11 am, and I got there at about 10 am. The line for entrance on the main entrance was packed already. Luckily, I knew that there is a back entrance to Nokia center, and it only had about 30 people in line, and once it came closer to the people actually getting there, it was about 100 people on our side. I can only assume the main entrance had grown even longer, as well.
! At 10:45, a limo pulled up by the back entrance and people were trying to see who it was. Then, Vince McMahon stepped out and was talking to the security at the gate. I yelled out, "Vince!" and he turned and waved to the entire line, and was met by huge applause from the line. Vince got into his limo, then drove up into the employee parking, and went inside Staples Center.
! After Vince left, they started letting the people with VIP tickets in first. Edge was in a completely separate area than all the other wrestlers at Axxess, so it was a big divide. The group in front of us said that they had gone to the Axxess the day before with VIP passes for both Mysterio and Orton and that Orton's line was so long that every VIP didn't get to see Orton. I know I would be violently pissed if I paid an extra $50 to only see Orton as a bonus (and apparently at a cost of time, depriving you of seeing other wrestlers at the Axxess) and I didn't even get to meet him.
! So, 11 am hit and they started letting us in, checking our tickets and running everyone through metal detectors. They hadn't set up the signs for each booth, so we weren't sure who was at which section. I went to the one that was empty and was the first person to get Alicia Fox's autograph. She was absolutely gorgeous and very nice. I didn't even think to ask if she would take a picture with me, so I didn't ask (which I absolutely regret!), but the group right behind me asked and she stood up and posed with them. Dang it!
! Next, my group went to the photo booth with Cody Rhodes. I'm a huge mark for Cody, so I was happy to see him. No joke, Cody and Ted as Legacy last year were the absolute coolest guys at Axxess, and both of them were still the coolest this year. I was wearing my Legacy shirt, and Cody goes, "Nice shirt, man! I mean, we got the cool shirt and the group ended so soon! I need a new shirt real quick." I replied, "I would definitely buy a shirt that said 'Dashing' on it." He laughed and shook my hand. We took the photo at the booth and another shot on my own camera, then I asked if he would sign my Legacy shirt. He said that they weren't allowed to sign anything at the photo booths, so I was disappointed, but he gave me another handshake and I moved on. He's really cool.
! Right after Cody, we went to the Jack Swagger booth. I was surprised because it was relatively a short line. Swagger is a big dude! I shook his hand and said that I'm a big fan of his. When I said that it was a shame he lost his title, he said, "I'll get it back. Count on it!" I'm hoping he does, he didn't get a real fair shake at it, so his second reign would be the one that really defined him.
! We went directly to the main autograph table which was Kane and Great Khali. This is where the funniest (or saddest, depending on your outlook) part of the day occurred. Normally, I wouldn't care about meeting Kane all that much compared to others, but I really wanted to meet with someone while they were the World Champion and Kane has been fantastic in his current role (and is still excelling). I don't and never will care about meeting Khali, however. I'm just not a fan of his and think he's all hype. This will come into play, by the way.
! So, we get in line for Kane and Khali, and after about 15 minutes Kane gets up, waves, and leaves, even though he was supposed to be there another 45 minutes. I was quite livid with this. I was about to turn and leave the line, but my friend pulls out his cell and checks the listing for who is going to be at this stage next, and the listing shows it as Hart Dynasty and the Miz. Quick note: I went to SS Axxess '09 and met the Hart Dynasty. Tyson Kidd was nice and friendly, but DH was a huge asshole, so I wasn't really amped to see them, but for the Miz I was VERY excited. I figured maybe The line would take up time until Khali left and we would be near the front and just be in prime position to get Miz and the HD autographs, but it moved way quicker than I had thought. We got to the front of the line and were called to go next, but I told the person running the line, "We're going to stand off to the side and let people pass us, we want to wait for the Miz and Harts." The people were okay with this and Khali didn't seem to notice.
! Here's where it got awkward…
! A group of people asked my friend why we were letting everyone pass us, and he told them that we were waiting on Miz and HD. That group also decided Miz and HD together were way better than Khali alone, so they decided to wait. More and more people began to just stop and wait for Miz and HD till the line COMPLETELY stopped and Khali had no one to sign autographs for. Khali stood up and looked out at the crowd, obviously confused. To be honest, I still have no idea of Khali's level of English understanding in real life, so I don't know if he got what was going on completely. The officials of the line stood up front and yelled out, "Is anyone still here for Khali?" Dead silence. "Anyone for Khali? If you are waiting on Miz and Hart Dynasty, let anyone for Khali pass you!" A small group of kids passed up front with their parents and went directly to the front. They had to pass by, and this is NOT an exaggeration, at least 50 people who had decided that Khali wasn't worth the wait, and Miz and HD were worth a longer one. Khali signs for the kids, then looks at the crowd again, still confused. The officials yell for Khali autographs again, then no one responds. They say something to Khali, and he gets up and stares angrily at the crowd before leaving… five minutes before his time was supposed to end, since no one wanted to lose a place in line and start over to see Miz and Hart Dynasty.
! Here's what got me bummed…
! About ten minutes later, Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith and Natalya come out and wave to the crowd. They get set up, and an official says, "We regret to inform you all that the Miz will not be here for the autograph signing today, but the complete Hart Dynasty will be." I'm clearly bummed that Miz wasn't there, since he was a good 90% of the reason that I started letting everyone pass me and caused the fiasco that made Khali look like a mid-carder who no one likes. On the positive side, in 2009, I got to meet Kidd and Smith, but Natalya wasn't there, but this time she was, and she was wearing a very sexy black dress. I went up and got my autographs from them all. Natalya was really nice. She asked my name and asked how my day was. I said it was awesome and I purposely waited to see the Hart Dynasty as the first person (It was partially true) and she said that was really sweet. I spoke with Kidd, who was still very down-to-earth and kind. I asked him why they didn't have a tag titles match at SS, and I was looking forward to seeing that. He answered, completely in kayfabe, that no one had qualified in time. Smith leaned over and pointed at the picture of Santino and Kozlov, saying they were the big threat and may become number one contenders soon. I laughed, but Smith's smugness really bothers me.
! Just like last year, he gives this attitude like he thinks he's better than you, but he really isn't a big deal in wrestling and it isn't anything like his character is supposed to be. For example, CM Punk in 2009, reached out to shake my hand, but totally snubbed me and pulled it back, laughing. I was pissed, extremely so, but I can recognize that he's just a master at drawing heat for his then-budding heel persona. On the other hand, DiBiase and Rhodes are both cocky heels who I could understand being snobby in-character, but they realized they were there for the fans and are easily the nicest two wrestlers I have ever met, BOTH times. Meanwhile, Smith is a smug jerk while playing a fan favorite, in my opinion, that just flat out makes him a real-life asshole. I can't stand the guy, and coupled with the fact that he's majorly the weak link in the HD and cannot lock in a decent Sharpshooter to save his life, he's one of my least favorite wrestlers ever. I went on a bit of a tangent there, but it was what was going through my mind at the time, anyway.
! After getting the HD's autographs, I shot over to the booth where Alicia Fox had been before, because now it was set for Maryse and Ted DiBiase. Their line was really long. A couple of my friends decided to go to a different set because they had met them in '09, but I definitely wanted to see both of them again. I got up to my turn, and just like with Cody Rhodes, the first thing DiBiase said was "Nice shirt, man! Good choice!" I told him I was a big fan of both him and his father and he said that meant a lot to him. He said it was a shame that Legacy didn't last too long, but he was set to move on solo, so I asked if he would mind signing my Legacy shirt along with my program, and he said, "Sure thing, man!" He went all out on my shirt. He signed in a silver sharpie and put a bunch of dollar signs on the back. I shook his hand and said that meant a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing him when the title in the near-future. I didn't get to talk to Maryse that long, since the officials were kind of mad that DiBiase signed two things for me, but she was nice. I went kind of cheesy and said she looked beautiful and was really excited to see her again, since I met her last year. She said it was nice that I wanted to meet her again and shook my hand after she signed my program.
! After meeting DiBiase and Maryse, I went with a friend to check out the SvR 2001 game station and played a match. The game was pretty fun. We also got several packs of a new WWE card game, which I wouldn't normally care about, but I did get a few cool cards so I kept them.
! I went to the picture booth with Eve last. I hadn't been a big Eve fan, but when I got to the front, I saw that Eve is gorgeous in person. I said it was really nice to meet her and she said that was sweet. She posed with me for a couple pictures and asked how the day had been. The camera guy snapped a few shots while we were talking so we look weird in some of them, but a few came out really nice, I think. Meeting Eve was one of those situations where even if you weren't a fan of them before, just by knowing they are a nice person and work hard, you cheer for them and become a fan. I'm glad because now I'm happy when Eve comes out and hope she has a good career and continues to improve.
! After that, I tried to go to Evan Bourne's booth, which I didn't even know was there since they had it buried off to the side, but even though he only had a little over ten people in line, they wouldn't allow any more people in line because it was too late. I was bummed because I would have really liked to have met Bourne.
! We left Axxess and had an hour before SS actually began, so we got food at a Denny's. We got back and went into the arena. We had nosebleed seats, but honestly, at Staples Center the view is not bad even in the worst section. We had full view of the ring and could make out who was in the ring easily, and that's what really matters. It did suck that there was apparently some problems with the TitanTron and the screens above the ring because it normally will show the regular match like you would see at home for scenes where you might not be able to tell, but it would go in and out during matches. Thankfully, all backstage promos played perfectly, so I didn't miss anything at all.
! The dark match was Evan Bourne v Zack Ryder. They had a good five minute match, where Bourne won with the SSP. I already gave my thoughts on the actual PPV (and honestly, all my sentiments remain the same, even with the developments since then) so I'm glad I finally got time to actually sit down and tell you guys all about Axxess!