Past Wrestlemanias

RKJ_force

(since ive seen dead silence the last month I thought id open a new thread)


Hey everybody that has been to past wrestlemanias describe here there experiences, if theyve been with package,what tickets they got, the trip, the atmosphere these days, when they got their tickets, what tickets they got,if they liked the view from where they wrese seating,any video link(youtube),pictures(facebook).
Ive never been to a wwe show never in my life (live in greece so travelling to the us its not so easy)but me and 2 more friends of mine we are planning to go to wm29(the mania after we finish school) and want to get for 3 people a platinum package so im gathering from now any information I can:D

Whole Show

This is the thread i wrote after I got back from WM 25. Long read

Here’s my Wrestlemania 25 Diary, hope it’s not to long and people enjoy reading.
I booked my silver travel package last April and the wait at times was unbearable to my first trip to the USA and Wrestlemania.

Thursday 2nd April.

Woke up at 2.30, pretty crappy sleep due to excitement and also due to a nasty cough I’ve contacted. My taxi arrived at 2.30 and I was on my way, Checked in fine at the airport. Everything was shut in the airport until 5 when WH Smiths and the duty free shop opened. Once smiths opened I managed to purchase Bret Harts book and a couple of newspapers. Had to connect in Frankfurt and the flight over was nice and quick. The flight from Frankfurt to Houston wasn’t, it was a killer, it was late taking off and I must have sat on the plane for just over 12 hours, Killer. Even though asking for an aisle seat in was crammed in the middle of a 4 seater but did have an amazing Norwegian lady next to me. Reading Steven Gerrards book and playing my PSP helped passed the time; the film was Marley and Me which was decent. Arrived in Houston around 2.30, Immigrations was an absolute nightmare, must of qued for a hour and half, every queue I seemed to go in seemed to take a age, I must have been one of the last people to go through, Luckily my baggage was still waiting for me. I got in a cab for $50 In which the driver had no seatbelt on and was on his phone.

I was in my hotel around 4.45; The Hyatt was really nice, massive lobby, nice bar, and shop and had a big screen which had the wrestlemania logo and welcoming WWE to Houston, nice touch. Checked in fine and headed into my room 812 on the 8th floor, Really nice once again, Big double bed, Nice big TV and a couch. Dropped my stuff of, shower and change then went down to the WWE shop in the lobby, I purchased the Silver Jersey to get signed, the white WM shirt, the HOF & WM programs and a cowboy hat which I promised my friend. $160 done already on merchandise.

Dropped my stuff back in my room and headed for Main Street station which was 3 blocks away for Axxess. I have to admit I was looking around for the ticket man, soon realized there wasn’t one so purchased a ticket from machine, also purchased a coke from over the road, advertised at $1 but they don’t advertise the tax so it came to $1.07. Hopped on the metrorail and immediately got chatting to two cool blokes from England who had already been in Houston all week. Took around 20 minutes to get the Reliant Park, it was pretty quiet and Thursday was definitely the least busy of the Axxess sessions which I thought made it better. Picked up my Will call tickets and headed in. Was greeted my massive posters of the WWE wrestlers, Headed straight to the first autograph booth where Pat Patterson and Gerry Briscoe were signing, shirt queue only taking ten minutes, both guys were nice especially Briscoe thanking me for coming out. Jimmy Hart & a bloke called Christian were hosing the activities in the ring, Rey Mysterio came out and John Cena was in the ring later in the evening, Cena was way over. At a lot of the signings on Thursday you had to have a blue ticket this rule seemed to disappear though. I managed to meet quite a few guys, Christian, who was really cool, Katie Lea Burchill who is amazingly good looking. Maryse who was a bit smug, same goes for Shelton Benjamin who didn’t want to take pictures. Festus who stayed in character and Jesse who commented on my Hardyz shirt saying it was all about Jesse and not the Hardyz. The Great Khali was nice enough and had huge hands, Kane who surprised me as he was really friendly and seemed to be enjoying himself. Also managed to meet Jimmy Wang Yang and Burchill as they were leaving the ring from their Axxess match, both were really nice. Also managed to meet Cryme Tyme as they were signing for everyone at the end of their session, some some dude get a $1 bill signed. Jerry Lawler and Todd Grisham were there filming stuff and JR was doing call a match later followed by Michael Cole .Regal, Layla, Noble & Goldust were also signing during the show. Had a look around the Memorabilia =, was really cool, among show were Mike Tyson’s WM shirt, Roddy Pipers boxing glove, Ric Flairs Robe, Vince McMahon’s suits, Andre The Giants shirt, Hogan’s ripped shirt, Titos jacket, A HOF wall of plaques, LOD’d shoulder pads, Freddie Blassies slammy & picture, Tony Garea’s jacket, Andres foot cast, Honky Tonk Man’s guitar, various WWE vinyl records and a wall of all WM programs. Left at 10 and was back in downtown by 10.30, getting of it was like a ghost town, nothing open not even any takeaway shops, Hungry I purchased some food from the hotel shop and headed to my room for a much needed sleep.

Friday 3rd April.

Had a look around downtown Houston in the morning, there wasn’t much to it really, not many shops, Had a look in Macys. Went for a McDonalds, the food is much saltier out there.

Then headed for the George R Brown Convention center for Booker T’s legends of wrestling fan fest. Doors opened up around 1.30, once in we had the queue up to purchase tickets for who we went to meet which was painfully slow, I purchased photo ops with everyone from session one. The line going around was pretty quick, up first was Chavo Guerrero Snr, he was really nice and told me to look after my Eddie Guerrero shirt which I was wearing. Next was Ernest Miller who didn’t say much, Then it was Rikishi who is still huge, he was really friendly aswell and told me to enjoy my stay in Houston. Next was Team 3D, Buh Buh was a bit grumpy to various people, dissing some guy telling him to move on, D-von was much nicer. Next was Kevin Nash, was really pleased meeting him as I have always marked for him, he was nice enough, his arm is still taped up. Stan Hansen was pretty quiet, infact he didn’t say anything. Next was The Beautiful People, both were really friendly and both are drop dead georgeous, even more so in person. That was the end of the 1st session, NWA Legends were there with Rocking Robin & Missy Hyatt and seemed to be doing good trade. There was another vendor there selling various T-shirts and so was Highspots selling various DVDS, masks & figures. Chris Nowinski was walking around and I got him to sign my Mania jersey, he was nice and spoke about when I saw him in 2001 wrestling for FWA, he then wanted me to buy a ticket for his Chris Benoit concussion talk, no way at $20. I decided to purchase a photo with Tully Blanchard who was really nice and it was an honor meeting him. I then went and joined the line for Sting, who I purchased at for a whopping $75, It was cool to meet him and nice enough and was cool meeting such a legend. Few things were disappointing though were that he didn’t have his face paint on, even though he was advertised to, I also though we got a 8 x 10 for free, we didn’t, seeing as id paid for a sig I got him to sign my WM jersey. Mick Foley was there earlier in the day also signing at $75, I passed. We then had to queue once again for who we wanted to meet for the 2nd session, and I only went for DDP & Christy. The line was pretty big and with me clockwatching wondering if id make it to Axxess in time things were not helped when this weirdo cut in line talking to me, talking about various things like how he went to Wrestlemania 2 and remembered everything even though he was 3 years old and then was going on about how he paid $42 to get his signs shipped to the hotel, He even wanted me to ride to the reliant stadium Sunday in his car with him, no chance, The 2nd session of wrestlers came out with Jake, Booker & Nastys & Hart at the front, Id had enough so went to the front of the line and asked the security if I could go right down to the bottom and meet DDP & Christy, he was fine with it and of I went. DDP was super friendly, posing doing the diamond sign, Christy was really nice aswell and said make sure I smiled for the photo, really georgeous aswell. I then shot out of the arena avoiding my new friend and headed back Downtown,
I quickly had another McDonald’s, A Chicken Grill meal which was lovely. Then shot of on the metro rail for my second axxess session.

Went straight for the autograph booth were Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase Jnr were signing. Line was pretty big and I missed DX in the ring. Both were amazingly friendly though and polite, I got the guy behind me to take a pic, he was incredibly slow though and annoyed security in the process, at least I got the pic, Legacy were also marking out when they spotted themselves on a Mania billboard. Jeff Hardy was there but his line was huge, I met him in November so passed. Went for the next autograph booth, Torrie Wilson was there who seemed friendly, she passed her 8 PM signing time though so she swapped over for Hurricane & Koslov, the security were really good taking pictures for us, Both guys were cool and Koslov writes his sig in Russian. Edge was next in the ring and I managed to snap him when he was leaving the ring. At this time I met the infamous sign guy, he was cool to me and I got a pic with him and I had a chat with him from where I was from, while this was happening some fat American women called him a prick, his reaction was priceless, both amazed and upset, priceless. Hornswoggle was there signing in his house. Matt Hardy & Charlie Haas had a huge line so I went for Jack Swagger & Ricky Ortiz, once again both guys were nice. While this was going on I was able to watch the THQ challenge which was entertaining. 1st round was Cody beating Dusty, Ted Jnr beating Ted Snr, who came out throwing money, Slaughter beating Punk, Beth beating Michelle Mccool, Hornswoggle beating Finlay, Kofi beating Evan Bourne, Kendrick beating Zeke and One of the Bella twins beating the other. The final ended up with Kofi beating Cody Rhodes, then past winner Shelton Benjamin came out and challenged Kofi, Kofi beat him again, Kofi was getting major reaction from the crowd. The signings were all closing to an end, went over to Kung Funaki & Mark Henry which was ending, Funaki was really nice allowing me to throw my jersey to him to sign, Henry also came of the stage and signed for who was left, He is huge. Back to downtown, luckily tonight the $1 store was open so I stocked up on food for the next few days, The hotel was really noisy tonight with plenty of Whoooing lasting until 3 in the morning.

Saturday 4th April

Woke up early at 6.45, The queue for the metro rail machine was a joke so just ended up jumping on the thing when it arrived.

Much shorter queue for Axxess today, went for the signing booth at the back of the ring, Zach Ryder & Curt Hawkins turned up, the line emptied and I was pretty near the front, they were cool though and questioned why I got Ricky Ortiz autograph. I then went for the Diva photo op with Melina who’s really small but sweet, Jericho was in the ring and was pretty funny. Went to the next signing where I missed Kofi & Sarge and ended up with Tito Santana & Vickie Guerrero, Was lining up with a really nice American family, Tito takes ages signing his sig, Vickie was cool and looks a lot better close up, she said enjoy my weekend. Had a look around Undertakers tombstones, was really cool especially the open grave with Shawn Michaels name on, there were graves of all his Mania victims, various coffins and a hell of a load of smoke. Had a picture with the Spinner belt and had a look at all the other belts, they had a ton. Time was getting close to Midday Madness so I didn’t queue again, Kendrick & Zeke were there and so was Molly & Gail, Went over at the side to see Molly, She may have been the best looking Diva of the weekend, Her hair is also dark now unlike it was at Mania. The line for Piper & Chavo was probably the biggest at Axxess all weekend.

Then went upstairs for the Midday Madness session, had to wait outside for around 30 mins with about 200 people in front, they then allowed us into the main room where I counted 5 tables, the wrestlers came out about 12.10, Rey Mysterio, Evan Bourne, Mr. Kennedy, Maryse & The Great Khali. Took about an hour to get round, the good thing was that you were allowed time to speak with the wrestlers and get autographs and pictures, The nice lady behind me took pics for me which I really appreciated. Rey was really nice, someone brang him a picture of him & Benoit to sign which he loved and was taking pictures of it on his phone. Evan Bourne was great, I said I saw him wrestle in England a few years back which he remembered correctly as IPW UK and said he cant wait to come back in a few weeks, he also liked my old school Jerichoholic shirt. Kennedy is always really good with the fans, bantering along. I didn’t want Maryse & Khali to sign my jersey again so opted for the Mania program instead, Maryse was much friendlier this time, Khali didn’t say anything and bloody wrote over the info on my Mania 2nd page. Overall was happy with Midday Madness, the lines were still massive when I left though, apparently they swapped over later with Carlito, Primo & Swagger among others so I was glad who I got. Headed back Downtown, Went in Books A Million where both Dibiase Snr and Jnr were signing but they had long gone, got a popeyes chicken and went back to my room.

Got ready for the Hall Of Fame, made sure I made the effort the dress up, can’t believe the amount of people at the show dresses in shorts & vests, disrespectful if you ask me. Before the show I headed downtown for a few drinks. Went to the Flying Saucer which has 85 beers on tap, then went to the Irish pub down the round.

Left around 5 for the HOF, decided to line up yet again for merchandise where I purchased the Steve Austin HOF shirt and the Hall of Fame 2009 shirt. My seat was amazing right next to the stage level with the front row, really enjoyed the wrestlers arriving, Melina, Stephanie & especially Mickie James looked great, I had Mark Henry, Matt Hardy & Mickie James in front of me. Was funny seeing the wrestlers asking for directions to there seat. Like others had said the HOF was way to short for me and was definitely affected by the time constraints. The crowd were brilliant this year though, no heckling and very respectful, then again there were signs plastered around saying you would be ejected if you did. Funks speech was good, Dory was kind of boring but Terry was great, Just being Terry Funk rambling and shouting down the mic, the mention of ECW had Mark Henry marking out for some reason. Koko was quite funny and the crowd was into him, Frankie was over and even crapped on the stage, Michel Hayes can still talk and the Von Erich induction was well done. Finks speech was ok, Shane McMahon & Jericho were loving it down below. Bill Watts was defiantly the best speech of the night going over 10 minutes and the steroids remark was met with awkward silence, really enjoyed the Cowboys speech.

Next up was the TV part, loved the opening, Out came Flair to the first big pop of the night, Steamboat induction was good and the guy was very emotional, him and Flair tying up was classic. Then came the man we all came to see Steve Austin, Vince got a huge reaction, I think the Austin video package was one of my fav moments from the whole weekend, it was just awesome, Austin came out to a massive pop, with huge Austin & Thank you Austin chants, he seemed to be loving it. It definitely would of great to hear him go on for hours but the speech was still good, it was nice being there for the farewell of one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, he thanked the fans for always supporting him when he came back and said he was sorry to the fans when he no showed his match with Brock Lesnar. He pretty much said he was done with wrestling and dismissed calls for One more match and said he hoped the fans would stick by him in the movie business. He ended the speech with a few beers passing one to John Cena and the confetti pouring down. Then all the legends came out onto the stage, Austin disappeared quickly.

It was all over by 8.30, I saw Jerry Lynn outside and shook his hand and also saw that curly hair T4 presenter, dropped my shirts back to the hotel and headed back downtown for a few beers, A pint of Miller Light at $4 was pretty good, ended up chatting to a few blokes who were really cool and lived near me. We got chatting to this local guy who said he could get us in all the clubs, we said ok but wanted a quick one in the Irish Pub, we got in but the local guy didn’t as he was underage, so much for him getting into the clubs, staggered back the hotel around 2.30.

Sunday 5th April.

Got up, Had a Subway and brought a few gifts from the gift shop, pretty much everything was shut on a Sunday. I ended up buying the Mania lanyard from the lobby shop and set of for my final Axxess session at 1.They had new Mania shirts on sale, with the Mania card on so I brought one of them and headed in, First signing was Hacksaw Jim Duggan who as expected was super cool, I told him I met him when I was 7 in a place called Slough before Summerslam 92. During queuing up I met this nice American chap who I ended up going around with, he was showing me some very cool pictures from the day before. We went to line for Tyson Kidd who was nice but has a stupid haircut. The divas line had shut which was a shame as I was going to queue for Candice, my new American friend said his Mum was queuing for Sgt Slaughter and I could cut in with him so that’s what I did, Sarge soon disappeared though and I missed him for the second time this weekend, I was over the moon though when Nick Bockwinkle and Harley Race walked out, Both were cool and have really cool signatures especially Bockwinkles. Time was getting on and lines were big but I decided for one last time to queue for Ron Simmons & Afa. It was a pretty long wait, not helped by the family in front who had around 15 kids who were only getting there arms signed. Simmons was barking out instructions to security to get the line moving as he was going in 10 mins, still he was nice to meet, Afa was very quiet and my battery ran out on my camera when I posed with him. I said goodbye to Axxess for the last time and headed over to the Reliant Stadium for Wrestlemania.

I got in my seat at around 5, I was in Riser 130 Row 1, the seat was pretty good I could see the ring & entrances fine and got plenty of great pictures, only downside was there was much of a rise from the floor and the people holding up there signs made it hard to see at times. Still because I was on the end I could stand and peer over the ring at times.

At 5.30 the WM 24 video aired followed by an Edge slimjim vid, the announcers arrived and then we had the dark match.
It was a shame that this got slammed to the dark match especially as it was really good and the crowd were really into it, both teams have really good chemistry and it was pretty damn good and im looking forward to watching it on DVD.
The lights went out and we had a 15 second countdown, I loved the opening video package, but I always do, National Anthem was good and then the Fireworks shot of and Shoot To Thrill blaring out, this was another one of my fav moments from the weekend, I realized I had finally made it to a Wrestlemania, A dream come true, there were even people hugging each other near me.
MITB was excellent, really enjoyed it, Kofi for me really excelled in the match, Shelton continued to do his usual yearly crazy dive. Some really cool spots in the match like Henry slamming Kofi on the ladder, Crowd didn’t really boo when the powerbomb spot was messed up. Crowd was totally behind Christian, Punk got a good pop for the win but think a lot of people wanted the Captain Charisma win. I was pretty happy with Punk winning and hopefully it will give him a good run again.

Kid Rock was awesome live, It was probably crap on TV but it rocked live, really did Rock, In a way The Divas coming out besides him looked cool but by doing that I didn’t have a clue who was in the battle royal, Didn’t even know Santino was in it until half way through the match, watching it on TV it was a poor match but live it was fun and once we established Santino was in there the crowd were really into him, his acceptance speech and win was really funny.

Jericho got a big pop, the legends got respectful pops and Naitch got a big pop. Early part with Snuka & Piper was horrendous but when Steamboat got in there it was really good, the crowd were really into Steamboat and the near falls. The Rourke thing was pretty crappy being honest, It took an age for him to get in the ring and the knock out blow looked garbage.

Hardys match was pretty damn good, not as over as I though it would be though and just seemed to revolve around a ton of spots, the spots were good though and the finish was really good with Hardy missing of the ladder and Hardy delivering the Twist of Fate through the chair..
Rey/JBL was short and sweet which I preferred being honest, Rey got a great pop for the win and JBL got good heat for his farewell. Was fun live.

Next was the greatest match I have ever had the privilege to watch live, ***** all the way for me, HBK’s entrance was brilliant although we could see him up there during the video package. The match was bloody fantastic, ive never been a part of an atmosphere like that, unbelievable the crowd were going nuts especially during the near falls and especially when Shawn kicked out of the tombstone. Takers dive was sick and looked like he hurt himself at first. Just an honor being there for this match, awesome. The 17-0 on the screen was cool aswell.

The crowd were pretty burnt out for the triple threat match but I enjoyed it and though some of the action was pretty good, it was pretty pro Cena were I was sitting and people were going mad for his win jumping up and down. His entrance was pretty funny aswell especially the reaction from Edge and Show.

HOF was good, I was sure though Austin was done as he disappeared to the back and was pretty disappointed that was it, So when he came riding out I marked like crazy, although all he done was drink beer it was cool as hell and he could of stayed out there all night, the people absolute loved him, if it is his farewell im glad I was there for it.

The main event was lame, some of the work in the match was decent but overall it was lame, There were a few Orton, RKO & Lets go Orton chants where I was but for the most the crowd were dead and really burnt out, Didn’t see any support for HHH either. The crowd were definitely expecting McMahon 7 Legacy run ins which defiantly would have made the match better, the finish came out of nowhere aswell and left pretty much everyone around me like is this it? And that was lame, Orton defiantly should have took the belt and I really am sick of HHH as baby face.
The crowd was weird coming out, I was just glad to be a part of Mania though with my fav bits being MITB, Austin coming out, Cenas Title win, Kid Rock, The opening and the incredible HBK/Taker match, so glad I was there for that classic.
Coming out I nearly got lost finding the station, was a nightmare getting on a train, the 1 security guard was totally losing control which was funny, ordering people to not cross and when his back was turned people ran over, I managed to get on the 3rd train I saw.

Monday 6th April.
I never attended Raw so this was going home day for me, had a spot of breakfast, packed up, checked out with ease and got in a cab outside the hotel, Cabby was really chatty talking about Mania & London and even Michael Jackson’s tour and English arenas.
Check in was fine although I wasn’t allowed to take any Vodka back on the plane as apparently they would not of let me though in Germany. Journey home was much smoother in about 8 hours to Frankfurt, the bloody sound on the TV was not working though.
I connecting at Frankfurt and had a short journey back to Heathrow in which I went over Spurs and Charlton’s ground and also Twickenham. Landed around 10.25 and was out of the airport by 10.40, nice and smooth.

RKJ_force

anyone else that wants to share their experiences??

Initium

Thank you Whole Show, it was a nice reading and brought me back lots of memories!

RKJ_force

Intinum any experience of yours??? i think you have (at least as I know from wm25 FRONT ROW RINGSIDE)

Gambino Capo

I've been to Wrestlemania 23 and 26.

I go to my fare share of live events in the Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia. I've been to countless house shows, Raws, and Smackdowns over the years but it was my experience at Survivor Series and Summerslam that kind of made me really want to go to Wrestlemania. My chance came when I got an e-mail with all the travel package info and saw that it was pretty reasonable. I bought a single silver package and was Wrestlemania bound for the first time ever.

I arrived in Detroit early Friday morning and the best weekend of my life got off to a fast start as I saw Don Muraco at baggage claim and got a pic and autograph. From there I picked up my rental and headed to the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Detroit. The hotel was amazing, a very tall building with a GM showcase on the bottom floor featuring old and new cars alike.

After exploring the hotel for a bit, I explored the city. I first went to all the venues where the weekends events were being held... The Condemned premier and HoF at the Fox Theatre, Mania at Ford Field, and Axxess at the covention center. Then I went up to 8 mile Rd. just cause Eminem is my favorite and wanted to see the infamous street featured in songs and movies. Soon it was time for the premier of The Condemned where fans and WWE Superstars both packed the theatre in support of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Although it wasn't critically accepted, I personally enjoyed and liked the movie.

Saturday morning meant it was time for Morning Madness where i recieved autographs from CM Punk, Torrie Wilson, Jeff Hardy, and Hardcore Holly. Then got my picture taken with Mr. Kennedy and MVP. Saturday afternoon was Axxess time and I was blown away. Other than live events, I've never seen so many peolple in one room that was just die hard wrestling fans as myself. So many things to do, i could barely process it all. Pics, autographs, memorabilia, games, contest, I was like a kid in Disney World. I took full advantage of my time there and had an absolute blast.

Now its was time to get grown and sexy for the WWE HoF. I didnt really know what to expect going in but I left very satisfied. It's easy for one to say that the HoF is boring maybe cause depending on your age you may not even know the people being inducted or you may only care about the big names. The class I was fortunate enough to see included Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Mr. Perfect, Nick Bockwinkel, Mr. Fuji, The Shiek, and Dusty Rhodes. Me being 22 at the time, I knew the names but wasn't all too familiar with the careers. Mainly Bockwinkel, Rhodes, Shiek, and Fuji. I sat and watched all these guys get up and relive their careers and just take us through some of the best times of thier lives. I hung on every word that came out their mouths. The HoF for me is a MUST for any real fan.

Sunday Morning saw the Bacon, Biceps, Bagles Brunch. Fans got a chance to eat breakfast with WWE superstars which was a fun experience. Mick Foley talked to us for a while and honored a few kids from the Make-a-Wish foundation and said he'll see us all later that night at the Grandaddy of 'em All, Wrestlemania.

The "Main Event" so to speak of the weekend was of course Wrestlemania 23 eminating LIVE from Ford Field. I had seats in the 100s section via my silver package. Had a great view and enjoyed a night of great WWE action.

As my weekend was coming to an end, Monday morning was checkout and going to the airport. I really really enjoyed my first Wrestlemania trip and the only thing I was thinking about while waiting for my plane was that I couldnt wait until the next one. My weekend saw one last surprised before I left Detroit. Sitting at an airport cafe was none other than Superfly Jimmy Snuka. Although a huge wrestling fan, I still acknowledge these guys and gals privacy so I played it cool and simply introduced myself, said i was a fan and wished him well. No autograph no pic, just a short conversation then I went back to waiting for my plane.

It was without a shadow of a doubt the greatest time of my life. I had fun at WM26 too but your first is always the most special.

Sorry if a bit long but I dig wrestling, I dig wrestling fans such as yourselves, and I dig this site. ATL HERE WE COME!!!!!

RKJ_force

so many people have went to a mania before from this forum but so many are bored to write their experiences

WweAndTnaRules

Boards only seemed busy when the Travel packages were on sale, not many people came on to Boards when the actual tickets went on sale, come on people! Share your Wrestlemania experiences

TheDanimal

Thanks to the guys who are posting thier stories. It's my first WM this year so its been a treat reading the WM26 thread and these posts in particular.

MOAR!

XtremeLegacy

how did any of you that had the take home chair it back home? i went to mania last year but sat in the 100s so i didn't have to worry about it.

bboy123

Thanks for the stories guys

Will start to become more of a reality that I am going to mania in the next month or so, at the moment it still seems a distant dream. Again this is my first Wrestlemania so really interesting reading the different stories.

RKJ_force wrote: »

(since ive seen dead silence the last month I thought id open a new thread)


Hey everybody that has been to past wrestlemanias describe here there experiences, if theyve been with package,what tickets they got, the trip, the atmosphere these days, when they got their tickets, what tickets they got,if they liked the view from where they wrese seating,any video link(youtube),pictures(facebook).
Ive never been to a wwe show never in my life (live in greece so travelling to the us its not so easy)but me and 2 more friends of mine we are planning to go to wm29(the mania after we finish school) and want to get for 3 people a platinum package so im gathering from now any information I can

WWE never come to Greece? I know WWE tours couple of times a year but not sure about all the countries they visit.

RKJ_force

yep I know they havent come to greece :mad: ....

krudler

Heres my one for Mania 23:

saturday april 31st- get into detroit after a 4 hour drive from Toronto, pass 8 mile road on the way in which is kinda cool,but the city itself is awful looking,abandoned houses and run down areas every few blocks,things look up once we get to the area the hotel is in,get checked in and head over to have a look at ford field as its only 2 blocks away,the arena is immense,no ticket windows open to have to come back first thing tomorrow to pick up my tickets,am dreading that i wont be able to get them or some problem will screw things up. head into ford field for the last part of the axxess event,hillbilly jim is throwing t-shirts at the crowd and theres a great atmosphere inside,more random shouts of "wooo!"

head over to the fox theatre to see if we can score hall of fame tickets but theres none left,theres a sports bar nearby with big lcd tvs playing old wrestlemanias so stay there for the night drinking and chatting to other fans,random shouts of "wooooo!" can be heard all night and a few "cena sucks!" chants start as well,theres a great atmosphere and everyones getting on well

april 1st 10.00 am-get up and head to ford field,my worries about the tickets are soon eleviated as it takes about 30 seconds to get my tickets,theres a merchandise stand open nearby and theres already a queue for t-shirts,pick up a program and a baseball jersey,figure therell be more stuff inside the arena,head back to the same sports bar for breakfast (which winds up being a burger and a pitcher of beer),theres an atmosphere of excitement and the bar is getting busier,dozens of people are walking the street decked out in wwe gear

3pm- get ready and head to ford field,the crowd is incredible and its still about half of what will turn up,catch a crowd watching Maria and Josh Matthews doing interviews,maria is even more gorgeous in real life,the crowd is building now and people are starting chants everywhere (mostly cena sucks), a bunch of guys dressed as hogan,warrior,flair and savage are all attracting a crowd,hogan rips his shirt off and starts posing for the crowd,warrior runs around and then they have a test of strenght,gets a huge cheer from the crowd and hundreds of people are taking pics,these guys have balls of steel for doing this

4.30pm- after hanging around the crowd for ages we wander into a queue for the doors to open,a ford field employee is annoucning something with a megaphone,after every sentence about 50 people shout "what?!", the doors opening gets the first pop of the night,after being frisked and getting our area wristbands we're in,the crowd is hot already,i get to the merchandise stands and get a replica heavyweight title belt,i hope to god undertaker wins tonight as its either this or the spinner and im not buying that crappy thing. as we walk to the seats we realise we're on the wrong side,its takes about 5 mins to walk around ford field,this place is enormous

the walk to the seats is great,the arena is barely full and the scale of it is insane,the stage and ring setup look great,shouts of "wooo!" are echoing around everywhere,this crowd is going to be loud all night


5pm- head out for overpriced beer and food,a few people are gathered around someone,its the sign guy! i go up and ask for a pic,hes very accomodating to all the people asking for pics and has a folder with about 25 signs in it under his arm,head back to arena its nearly full now and looks incredible

6.15 pm a few video packages play to warm up the crowd,boos for cena and batista,huge cheers for austin and taker,a few ads of celebrities talking aout wrestling play,the sign guy has his own commerical which gets quite a lot of boos from the audience suprisingly,huge cheer when the rock appears on screen

6.30 the announcers make their way to the ring,massive heat for JBL,pop for styles and tazz,standing ovation for Jr and Lawler,they announce we are being treated to a special tag team lumberjack match between flair and carlito against chavo and helms, the lumberjacks are mader of up what seems to be the entire roster,im not joking about 30 guys come to ring,many of whom should have been on the main card like nitro,hass and benjamin and londond and kendrick, match is ok,and flair gets one of the biggest cheers of the night,"wooooo!" can be heard every few rows

6.50 more video packages play to get the crowd warmed up again,Lillian announces we are about to go live in 5 mins to a huge pop,nothing happens for those 5 mins until she announces every min we are closer to going live,finally the lights dim and the american PPV copyright warning appears on the big screens,the opening wwe logo plays,big cheer

7.00pm after a brief video of past wrestlemanias Aretha franklin sings America the Beautiful,she still has a powerful voice for someone her age,the whole stage is decked out in US colours,big round of applause at the end of the song and then the Mania promo begins

7.05pm the opening pyros go off and its absolutely deafening,the amount of fireworks that they used must be staggering,once the lights come on fully and the spots are shining the stage set looks incredible,the sound of the crowd is making my ears ring and everyone is on their feet screaming,the cameras pan over our section but i dont know if i got on tv,must check the dvd when i get it

7.08 Lillian announces its time for the MITB match to a big cheer,i cant remember which one of the hardys comes in first,might be jeff,huge heat for orton and edge,2 guys in front of me are wearing orton and edge tshirts and one does ortons signature pose when orton does on the ramp,this crowd is well into it,i cheer for edge,punk and kennedy,huge "kennedy!" chant starts in our section when kennedy does his thing on the mic

7.15pm the match starts and the crowd starts to sit down,doesnt last long as the ladder is brought into play fairly quickly,big "ooooh!"s for the spots,jeff climbs the super tall ladder and its only when i look at the screen i realise where edge is for the spot,massive "holy ****!" chant goes up after jeffs legdrop to edge,the refs make the X sign and medics come running down,judging from the replay its hard to say if edge is really injured but it looks serious enough. Hornswaggle appears with the stepladder to a big laugh and another huge holy **** chants starts after kennedy flattens him off the top of the ladder,big cheer for kennedy when he wins

7.45 Khali comes to the ring,i figure if there was ever a time for a toilet break this was it,wait for kanes entrance first,the heat off his pyros is crazy and we're a good hundred feet away,get to the top of the arena steps and people are chanting "boring",i dont think im missing much,make it back in time for khalis win,nobody cares

8.05 MVPs entrance is being set up while a video plays,cant stand this guy so dont bother taking and pics ,decent cheer for benoit,match is pretty good but nothing you dont see on smackdown every other week,benoit suprisingly retains

8.30 a promo for batista and taker plays,surely it cant be on this early?

8.35, teddy long announces it is time for the world title match,its clear now taker might lose as its this far down the card,batista makes his entrance to a mixed reaction,more boos than cheers.

8.40 the lights dim and the druids make their way to the entrance,there must be at least 20 of them,a "taker" chant starts in our section,then the undertakers music plays,the pop is huge and the entrance is the most spectacular one hes ever done,the heat off the flames is crazy and a big "woah!" comes from everyone around when the shoot out of the stage,you can feel the electricity in the air as taker makes his way to the ring for a good 10 minutes,that ramp goes on forever, the match is suprisingly good,big pops for the taker classics,walking the rope and the dive over them has flashbulbs going off everywhere,duelling chants of "batista rules and "batisita sucks" can be heard but its mostly kids rooting for him,huge pop when taker kicks out of the batista bomb and i admittedly mark out for the tombstone and pin,counting along with the ref,i hold the title belt up as taker does and older fans are high fiving each other and chanting "you're the man" a few rows in front

9.15 the ECW music plays and the originals are making their way to the ring through the crowd,everyone is looking around to see where but theyre on the other side of the arena,the new breed gets booed,the match is rubbish but rvd gets a big pop for the 5 star

9.35 promo for vince/trump plays,huge boos for vinces entrance and a few for trump too,money drops from the ceiling again as trump makes his way to the ring,decent pop for both umaga and lashley but austin gets probably the biggest pop of the night, the match is quite good,here comes shane o mac,hes wearing runners so a coast to coast is inevitable,which he does to a huge cheer,the whole head shaving segment gets laughs from the crowd, as does austin stunnering trump

10.25 the divas make their way to the ring,mickie and maria look great,ashley gets a half decent pop and so does melina,the match lasts less than either womans entrance,why was this on the card when there wasnt a tag team title defence?

10.50 video for cena and hbk,LOUD boos for cena, time to see if the can outdo last years entrances, a massive X on the stage lights up when DX music plays,huge cheer for Michaels,we see a ford mustang tearing around the streets of detroit which is supposedly cena arriving,the mustang shatters a pane of glass not far from where we are and cenas music hits to loud boos,he does that stupid marine salute and guys around us are throwing abuse at him like theres no tomorrow,all the kids and girls in the chain gang are trying to drown out the boos but its not working,theres some commotion as a fan jumps the guardrail and tries to get into the ring but hes pounced on by about 12 security guards who manhandle him up through the crowd,people are cheering as he is carted away,the match begins and is pretty slow to get going,why are the doing a work the leg style match at a wrestlemania main event,things get picked up nicely when michaels hits a vicious looking piledriver on the ring steps,the back of cenas head is busted,big pop for michaels' moonsault off the ropes to the outside,cread crowd heat for the finale of the match with big pops and boos for both men kicking out of 2 counts and reversing moves,michaels taps to the stfu and the crowd shower abuse at cena,the kids are going nuts

11.40 head as close to ring as i can get,a ref whose name i cant remember walks past and we get a pic,we grab a handful of the confetti falling from the ceiling and lillian thanks everyone for attending,the ring crew go right to work tearing everyything down for raw the next night

hurricaneronnie

My story from wrestlemania 25 and 26 are done in video. Just go to my youtube channel www.youtube.com/hurricaneronnie662 and click see all uploads and the videos are wrestlemania 25 trip in 11 parts and wrestlemania 26 trip in 19 parts. I have my whole weekend on tape the trip going and everything that went on. Im doing the same thing this year. Its a good way for people going to wrestlemania for the first time to see what its like.

Gambino Capo

Yea I peeped ur WM26 trip cause its da one I went to. Just wanna say u n ur mans represented. Yall did it how its supposed to b done. Go BIG or go home is what I always say. Keep doin ur thing son, catch u in ATL

hurricaneronnie

thanks man, lets meet up in atlanta

Gambino Capo

Thats cool with me. I'm on my slow phone right now but when i get off i'll hit u with a private msg wit my e-mail so we can get this ball rolling

RKJ_force

any1 wants to describe hes experience this year at wrestlemania 27?

The Fly

Overall another great trip :-) Things all went smoothly and enjoyed the events. Being a big HBK fan I almost didn't book this after he had retired but glad I made the trip now.

Atlanta: Nice enough city, decent enough weather. Pretty moden city centre actually. Airport with two lots of baggage collection was a joke though. Very handy how Mania/Raw/HOF and Axxess were all literally next to each other. My hotel was connected to CNN centre so didnt even need to leave to go Philips Arena. Most convenient Mania in that respect by far!

Axxess: Already posted a lot in the Axxess thread, but had a fun time there. Really gets you in the mood for Mania. Plenty to do, much more fan friendly than in the past allowing photos and time spent with wrestlers. Still too big queues tho! Spent more time at the ring this year which was quite fun too.

HOF: Philips Arena was very nice, great seats. Was a bit far back but was a decent enough event. Thought LOD speach went on a bit long tho. HHH/HBK were pretty funny, would have liked Shawn to be on a bit longer tho... he didnt write a speech so that probably was why. Flair coming to his seat with an arena full of Wooooo's was funny :-)

WrestleMania: Slighlty further back seat this year - row 30 lower tier - but still a good view. Probably the most impressive stage set up, looked really nice in person. Seemed to come accross well on TV. Got into a lot of the matches, esp the HHH/Taker match which exceeded my expectations and did well to follow on from the two HBK matches. Really believed it was over at the HHH tombstone! The event dipped afterwards.... think expectations for the rock's involvement were probably too high but still decent enough.

Raw: Always a bit of an anticlimax really but still decent enough show. Was very happy they are saving Rock/Cena for Mania so I get to see it. After all the hype for Mania 27 does feel like we deserve to see that match in person rather than it getting put on a smaller PPV next month. Nice way to end the trip!

Just about recovering from jet lag now! Roll on Mania 28 :-)

Kane-N-Nite

Really don't know where to start.

First off I met so many great new people on this trip.

I got in on the Tuesday and went to Hooters for the first time. not a bad start.

On Wednesday I went to WrestleMania Art. It started off slow, but got pics with Daniel Bryan, Natalya, Beth, JTG, Melina, John Morrison, Vickie, Heath, Ezekiel, Ryder, Alicia, Tyson & DH Smith. Everyone was nice except for Santino. Who just would not stop eating or start making phone calls when we were near him. Dunno if I would do VIP again, but it was a great day to start off the festivities.

The next day I had VIP Axxess, got to meet Orton. He was very cool and had time for everyone. Also met Michael Cole that night, he was pretty cool. Off the top of my head I can't remember who I met at all Axxess sessions but all were cool.

Same story on Friday, met John Cena for the first time, least favorite VIP guy I met.

Saturday kicked ass. Skipped morning madness with Orton and wet non Vip to Axxess where I got to meet Kane. So happy he signed my jersey & I got a pic with him. Also met Paul Bearer that day. 2nd Axxess, Got to meet The Undertaker. He was the best. Didn't think he would come across so...normal. Completely surreal moment. He was the 50th signature on my jersey.

I will say the majority of wrestlers commented on how cool my jersey was. Pat Patterson asked what do I do with it on the off season.

Later came the Hall Of Fame. Incredible to attend live. Loved everyones induction and I loved Kane inducting Drew Carey, and I got some tv time at some stage. So alls good.

Sunday morning, more VIP Axxess, met HBK, another cool guy. Didn't go to the 2nd Axxess, opted to go back to the hotel and get ready for Mania.

My seat for Mania was great. Right beside the barricade. Brought my Irish flag too. I haven't watched it all back, but I'm told I got plenty of tv time. Makes 3 out of 3.
I loved Mania so much and I was like a child during HHH v Taker. I marked out so much. Loved Taker winning.

Monday went to Raw, got tv time again and loved the announcement at the end. Came out of the Philips arena to a huge thunderstorm. Saw lots of bolts of lightening. The storm passed and all was ok. Switched hotels on Tuesday and kept it lazy.

Left on Wednesday night, got home on Thursday morning, & I've been sleeping since pretty much.

I went to the coke factory, CNN headquarters & the Aquarium. All were really cool.
Overall Atlanta was great. I got more done there than any previous Mania trip. I got asked for money nearly every day, but that didn't affect the trip. There were lots of cops around & never felt un safe.

I will try and aim for a package for next year, but some other factors apply first. The hotel was a great location this year, all within walking distance, and by 2 days I was familiar with the city.

Best Mania Trip yet.