Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Look Kids, It's Big Ben!
Steelers QB Roethlisberger visits area to host WWE Monday Night Raw at Wachovia Arena
By Jonathan Bombulie (Staff Writer)
WILKES-BARRE TWP. - Monday Night Raw turned into Monday Night Football when Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hosted the WWE's flagship television program at the Wachovia Arena on Monday night.
Roethlisberger was introduced to a near-capacity crowd as the show's guest host as it went on the air live just after 9 p.m.
Wearing a black Johnny Cash T-shirt, a black ballcap turned backwards and jeans, Roethlisberger was met with as many boos as cheers when he first appeared in the arena.
He acknowledged the boos by saying he knew there were plenty of Philadelphia Eagles fans in the house, then attempted to win over the crowd - the male fans, anyway - by announcing the first match would be a "Diva Bowl."
With that, 12 female wrestlers in football pants and cutoff jerseys - as well as a female referee in silver hot pants - battled it out in the ring to a healthy ovation.
The WWE has been using celebrity guest hosts on its two-hour Monday night program since late June.
Roethlisberger didn't engage in any actual wrestling. When Chris Jericho and The Big Show, a wrestler billed as being around 7 feet tall and weighing more than 400 pounds, confronted the quarterback in the ring midway through the program, Roethlisberger called out his offensive line.
When Darnell Stapleton, Max Starks, Trai Essex, Justin Hartwig, Chris Kemoeatu and Willie Colon got into their stances and threatened to charge The Big Show, he and Jericho quickly left the ring.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin offered no comment when asked his thoughts on his star quarterback jetting across the state for a wrestling show in the middle of the season.
Roethlisberger gave his thoughts in an interview with the Beaver County Times.
"I mean, it's our off day," he told the suburban Pittsburgh newspaper. "I talked to (Tomlin) about it. I didn't really ask for his permission. I talked to him about it to get a feel for if he was going to have a big problem with it. I figured he tell me. But like I said, it's our off day."
Well Big Ben followed up a great Sunday of costing me Monday by stepping inside the squared circle and facing off with some of the WWE's finest. Not sure how well things went because I decided to watch the Brett Favre Bowl and have not begun my DVR recap of the weekend. I'm sure he couldn't have done worse than Cedric the Entertainer though. Dreadful. How that guy continues to get work is beyond me.
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