If Saturday night's WWE Supershow at the BJC proved anything, it's that wrestling fans love John Cena.
The star performed the evening's headlining three-on-three match against Randy Orton. As Cena followed partners MVP and Mark Henry out of the gate, the entire crowd became riotous when the professional wrestling icon made his appearance.
The match, which started out as a tag team one-on-one, eventually devolved into a free-for-all. Cena and MVP each pinned an opponent at the same time, as the nearly 400-pound Henry chased his enemy out of the ring and into the locker room. After the fight, Cena took the microphone and gave a short but inspirational speech to his Central Pennsylvanian fans.
"It's fitting that we just whipped Randy Orton's ass here in State College, because Penn State just kicked the crap out of Michigan," Cena said.
Frank Angelone (senior-management) said he has been a fan wrestling since he was a child but had never been to an event before.
"It was my first event, and I loved it," Angelone said. "It was one of the best experiences of my life."
The crowd was filled with many children and their parents but also with some college-aged fans.
Desiree Woodring, 21, of McConnellsburg was another longtime fan who was pleased with the performance.
"I got to touch John Cena's hand," she said. "I had a heart attack, and I'm not washing my hand ever again. I loved it."
The level of audience participation was incredibly high all night, as fans shouted insults at the heels -- the "bad guy" fighters.
"Our entire section was screaming the entire time," Matthew Pluta (freshman-history) said. "The only disappointment was that they should have brought out the midget more. Also, there was no chair."
Of course, the evening had its villains, too.
The Miz received boos upon entering the arena and took the microphone to give a cocky defense.
Facing shouts of "Miz is husky" from the audience -- including overweight members -- the wrestler responded with such biting rhetoric as "I'm the Miz, and I'm awesome!"
While it seemed mostly arbitrary which fighter the audience would side with for each match, Woodring said there was some thought to it.
"It's just who you like, and it goes by their attitude," she said. "Some fight dirty, and I don't like that."
In the midst of all the bare-chested, Speedo-wearing male wrestlers grabbing and pinning each other down, a two-on-two female match featured the Bella Twins.
While fans were aware of the acting involved in professional wrestling, they were still impressed with the moves and flips of the wrestlers.
"You can only act so much," Woodring said. "Those kicks and slaps leave marks."
Kyle Zaspel (junior-elementary education) isn't a big wrestling fan but attended because his aunt bought tickets and couldn't go.
"I think it's funnier to watch the people than the actual wrestling," he said. "Some people are really into it. People definitely think it's real."
