Several members of the Raiders ringside at WWE Monday Night Raw
The action was no doubt in the ring Monday night, but for a few minutes, the spectators sitting ringside at Oracle Arena were the stars of the show.
WWE Monday Night Raw descended upon the Bay Area earlier this week, and several members of the Oakland Raiders were part of the capacity crowd that took in the headline bout between Chris Jericho and Seth Rollins.
"When the opportunity came across, and I had my nephew in town, he watches it, so I just turned into a big kid," said defensive tackle Dan Williams. "It's not like it had The Rock, or Stone Cold [Steve Austin], but it was still cool. Chris Jericho is still out there wrestling, man. It's crazy. I was my nephew's age when he first started. It definitely was a cool experience, very exciting, and it's cool to just sit back and watch the show."
Williams wasn't alone in taking in the evening's festivities, as a handful of his teammates joined him, including Derek Carr, Michael Crabtree, Andre Holmes, Matt McGloin, and Justin "Jelly" Ellis.
"We all had fun out there screaming and yelling, and enjoying everything going on," Williams said. "I kind of got scared a few times, when the fireworks went off, but other than that it was a cool experience. That was my first time being at one of those events, [and] actually seeing it in person was ten times better than ever watching it on TV."
As the event was held at Oracle Arena – next door to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum – the assembled crowd was a decidedly pro-Raiders one, and the group of players earned a raucous ovation when they were shown on the big screen, with Carr even earning a few "MVP" chants throughout the night.
"It was cool," Williams said of the crowd's reaction. "Oakland faithful out there, man, a lot of Raider Nation people out at RAW last night, and they definitely let us know that they're proud of us, and they're definitely out there still supporting us."
