Ok, tried some things:

Tested continuity between aquadag and chassis/crt ground. I have about 1k ohms, which I will assume as normal. Direct contact with ground strap to ground is near 0 ohms. So we know we have good CRT ground.

I took Eric's suggestion and powered up the chassis with the second anode disconnected. The TV does still work. I get sound. The CRT heaters are working and no arcing, which is excellent. So I now know at least the CRT is ok. That was my main concern.

I'm done for the night.

Tomorrow shall I try hooking the second anode back up and giving it another try?

This is just odd... The HV popping was pretty loud, but it appeared to be all contained within the CRT, and it only did it twice. Just found it odd that it had that second or 2 delay then popping loud with the screen lighting up like it did.

I was just afraid of ruining a brand new CRT, hence I just had to delurk and ask for help.