You always remember your first time.

From your first kiss, to your first frothy sip of Guinness, to the first time you drove a car without Mom or Dad, all are memorable moments, to be sure.

This past Monday I experienced another first, one I won’t soon forget.

RAW was broadcast from the Ford Center on Monday. The day was an unremarkable one, right up to the beginning of the show. After the opening pyro, the fire alarms in the building were triggered. This happens from time to time, but what happened next was a first. Suddenly, all show related power in the building, all 1600 amps of it, was shut off.

No lights, no sound system, nothing at all, just darkness. The crowd cheered in bewildered amazement, thinking this was all part of the show, the TV truck reacted with panic, knowing it wasn’t. Because the production truck was powered by a generator, we were still live on the air.

After a few minues of stalling, with no flashy entrance videos, no music, not much of anything in fact, the first match started, the ring lit only by four working spotlights.

Lights? We don’t need no stinking lights!

The show must go on… in the dark!

A surreal, scary seventeen minutes passed before power was restored. The audience never really knew what had happened, and the remainder of the show continued without incident.

The time the lights went out in Oklahoma was another first I will never forget.

Author: frenchy