22 Days Of WrestleMania (Saturday Night's Main Event Recap)

Saturday Night's Main Event had been absent from NBC for nearly 15 years, but on Saturday, March 18th, 2006, it made it's triumphant return. Where did they pick to host an event of such magnitude? None other than Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
Dave Distelrath, Chris Hoelscher, Joe Serra, and I arrived down at Cobo at about 5:45ish to discover a large line around the arena. While we froze our tails off, a camera man walked by every so often. Being the ham that I am, I always tried to get on there, hoping that the fact that I was wearing shorts would get me on TV. Once the doors opened, my adrenaline started pumping, I knew what was coming soon. We get to our seats, which were in row F. As I got close to the rail, I realized that row F was none other than the first row, directly across from the entrance ramp. Even Chris was stoked about that. I took the obligatory picture of the set up and couldn't sit still until the lights semi-dimmed. It was show time.
The first match was a dark match (a match for the live crowd only) featuring Big Show and Carlito. It ran about 4 minutes long, but the Big Show was over in a huge way (especially with Joe). The match was pretty blah, but just being there with a sold out crowd makes a match like that entertaining.
We were told the actual taping would be starting soon and were introduced to the hosts. Good ol' JR made his return and was followed by Tazz and Jerry Lawler. The fireworks went off and it was show time. We were then treated to the Raw vs. Smackdown tag team matchup. The crowd was into this big time, and whenever Cena made his way in, half the crowd obnoxiously booed, while others screamed louder than a woman giving birth. The match was a real crowd pleaser, full of action and drama, everything a WWE match should be.
Next we got a Cutting Edge featuring none other than Mick Foley. The flaming table was neat to see, as was Foley getting thrown into a huge pile of thumbtacks, but I have a feeling it will be better when I watch it on tape.
The beer drinking contest between JBL and Austin was vintage Austin, ending with JBL lying in a large puddle of beer (or was it apple juice?) after being stunned not once, but twice. A very entertaining segment straight out of something you would see in the late 90s.
The women's match and Undertaker segment are nothing really worth discussing, so I won't even go there.
Then we get to the highlight of the show, Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels in a street fight. As soon as Shane brought out a ladder, Dave and I knew something crazy was going to go down. Within the next few minutes both Shane and Shawn were superplexed off the ladder through two tables. Without question this was worth the price of admission alone. The ending saw Shawn getting screwed while in the sharpshooter, making all of us fans think that there's a small, maybe even minuscule chance that Bret Hart may get involved at WrestleMania 22. Don't get your hopes up.
All in all it was a great night spent with three of my best buds. Joe, thanks for sitting next to me and always keeping me entertained. Chris, thanks for driving and being a good sport despite being ill. Dave, thanks for one of the best birthday gifts ever received.