Liverpool gets to grips with wrestling superstars (with gallery)

Apr 12 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Raw Wrestlemania Revenge Tour pulled up in the city yesterday for its only North West date in the UK – and the Daily Post got a look behind the scenes.

While current champion Randy Orton got meeting and greeting the public at Woolworths before the show, tag team partners Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch took the time to meet the press at the Echo Arena Liverpool.

Murdoch – a strangely sweet and demure character despite the lambchop sideburns and baseball cap declaring him the “redneck wrecking crew” – and the more measured, gargantuan Cade have won the tag team championship belts on a number of occasions.

When asked what the audience could expect from them in the show, Murdoch looks as if he’s been asked the silliest question of all time.

“Prob’ly see somebody gettin’ hurt,” he says, matter-of-factly.

He wasn’t wrong, to be fair, but sadly it ended up the man himself, who was walloped in the head and pinned down by opponent Hardcore Holly – leading to a bit of an in-the-ring bust-up between the partners.

But it’s all for the good of the paying fans, the pair explain earnestly.

“The fans are way more aggressive and excited over here,” said Murdoch.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love being at home, but in the States, because they have the opportunity to see us, they are kind of spoilt.”

WWE “Diva” Mickie James is next to come and say hello.

The women’s division is finally becoming as respected as the men’s, she says, but it’s taken a long time.

“The only person that didn’t think I was absolutely insane when I said I wanted to be a wrestler was my mom,” she said.

“And she probably thought I was and didn’t tell me.”

At once petite and pneumatic, she reels off an impressive list of nasty-sounding injuries she’s sustained in her time, but nothing “super major”.

The Liverpool audience was mostly a family one, unlike the American events which tend to attract more men.

But the WWE wasn’t stopping to take in the city, moving on after the show to the next destination, no sooner than the event had finished.

It’s a strange life, the wrestlers themselves will be the first to admit.

“I’ve been all around the world,” Cade said. “But I’ve seen nothing.”

And the circus left town.

vickyanderson