WWE SmackDown tour held in Big Bob

Saturday night, a 6-foot-5, 222-pound wrestler walked onto the stage at the Bob Carpenter Center with fists clenched and a scowl on his face. The wrestler, Jinder Mahal, was received with boos from the crowd as his considerably smaller opponent, Ezekiel Jackson, approached the ring.

A bell tolled and the wrestlers began to fight in one of the eight matches at Delaware’s leg of the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. SmackDown world tour. The 20 competing SmackDown wrestlers included The Great Khali, Sheamus and Randy Orton.

As Jackson and Mahal fought, the crowd clapped loudly and someone yelled, “Finish him already!” Mahal pushed Jackson down and the crowd called for him to stand, to no avail. Mahal won the match.

Wrestler Daniel Bryan’s catchphrase “Yes, yes, yes,” resonated throughout the stadium as he flipped himself into the center ring. Bryan ranted about how horrible the city of Newark is and complained that the only reason he came was to defend his World Heavyweight championship.

Freshman Alexander Capolupo says he attended the event to support his friend, freshman Missy Morrison and her father, J.J. Dillon, a recent inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Capolupo says seeing the crowd’s reaction to each match was hilarious because they were heavily engrossed in watching each fight.

“I go to a lot of sporting events here too and usually the crowd’s not this into it,” he says.

Anna Carrillo, 20, from Townsend, Del., says some people may think it is weird for a woman to attend a WWE match. She says she thinks it is normal, though, since she has been watching wrestling since she was a little girl.

Carrillo says she usually follows WWE wrestler John Cena, but came to support her new favorite wrestler Randy Orton. She says she has always been a fan and it is exhilarating to watch people using all their energy to push each other down.

“It’s just interesting to watch and something always comes out to excite you,” Carrillo says. “You never know what’s coming.”

Junior Ronald Daughtry says he has been watching WWE matches since he was five years old.

Daughtry says he has never been to a live WWE event before, so he was extremely excited to hear that the event would be in Delaware.

Daughtry says the most exciting part of the night was chanting ‘Yes,’ as Bryan emerged and the whole crowd followed.

“Everybody just started screaming ‘no’ and then they stopped,” Daughtry says. “Then I stood up and started chanting ‘yes’ and the whole crowd started chanting ‘yes.’ It was the greatest moment of my life. I checked that off my bucket list.”