WrestleMania 36 starts tonight. Yeah, that 'fake' stuff.
I have been an avid fan of WWE and pro wrestling since I was very young and have watched WrestleMania, WWE's biggest annual event, live since WrestleMania 20 in 2004. Memory lane, let me stroll upon thy avenues and boulevards...
I remember watching WrestleMania 20, my junior year of high school, at a friend's house. He lived out in the country and had satellite TV. Our worry was the heavy winds that day were going to affect the feed as WWE's twentieth annual "Showcase of the Immortals" emanated from Madison Square Garden, but it all worked out. That was one of many pay-per-views we watched there in high school and I will always have fond memories of those times.
I still regularly chat with my friend who hosted those gatherings. We just talked last night about life, teaching, and of course, wrestling. I don't keep in touch with many of those high school friends like I used to, but hopefully our journeys will intersect again down the road.
Likewise, I remember hosting a gathering of college friends for WrestleMania 25 in 2009. I had just secured by post-college job as a first grade teacher and was celebrating that weekend. Many of my 'wrestling friends' in college happened to be theater majors, and several of them that had graduated the year before returned to town and stuck around to cram into my hole-in-the-wall apartment to watch the show.
There was such a lack of seating to the point that many of us sat on the floor, but really, we were all out of our seats anyways as we took in what I consider to be one of the three greatest WrestleMania matches of all time: Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (the others being Hogan vs. Rock from WrestleMania 18 and Austin vs. Hart from WrestleMania 13).
Again, I don't keep up with those college friends much anymore, except for one, who has been a great sounding board in recent years, as he became a college professor years before I did. He and I have been to three WrestleMania events together and have plans to do so in a few years when times are safer (and they hopefully hold it in the new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas or in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, since we both will be living in Georgia).
I have attended five WrestleManias in person, most recently last year in New York City.
The plan was to make a two-day trip to New York City last April. We knew I would be finishing my doctorate in 2020 and we planned to have a second child between then and now, so this was a good chance to get out of the house for a few days in advance of all of that.
We ventured downtown to see a Broadway show and have dinner. The next day, we went to the original Carlo's Bakery from the show Cake Boss and meet up with some of her college friends that live in Hoboken. The rest of the day was spent at Metlife Stadium for WrestleMania, which featured female performers in the main event for the first time ever: Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lunch for both of the WWE Women's Championships.
As a matter of fact, I was there for four of the past six WrestleManias.
I traveled with my wife to Dallas for WrestleMania 32 in 2016. She was a few months pregnant with our first daughter. My focus was very much still on the show and the big matches - Shane McMahon vs Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell, Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch for the newly-minted WWE Women's Championship, and an appearance by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - in front of a WrestleMania record crowd of 100,000+; however, I was also concerned that the ticket scanners weren't working at the entrances of AT&T Stadium during warmer weather. Our first stop when we finally got in was not our seats or the merch stand, but rather, to the concessions to get my wife some water and make sure she was safe. Priorities change in old age, yes?
So yeah, it was already going to be weird to be home and not in attendance in Tampa Bay this year, but what with moving across the country in the next two months and the birth of a second child three weeks ago, we thought it best to stay put this year. #AdultDecisions
With the bans on large gatherings, this year's WrestleMania will obviously not be taking place in front of a sold-out stadium crowd, but rather, on a closed set at WWE's Performance Center in Orlando, FL. They supposedly followed all CDC guidelines and sent home or barred talent that were unhealthy or at risk, taking everybody's temperature before entering the building (though that's not a foolproof way of seeing of someone has COVID-19 from what I have read).
I am grateful that WWE is still putting on WrestleMania and their weekly programming (i.e., Raw, SmackDown, NXT, The Bump, podcasts, social media, etc.). This year, for the first time ever, WrestleMania airs over the course of two nights, taking a page out of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's book with their two-night card for Wrestle Kingdom in January.
Shouts out to All Elite Wrestling, my other pro wrestling go-to, for airing Dynamite each Wednesday during this crisis.
We missed a lot of annual sporting events and content, most recently MLB's Opening Day festivities. Having no WrestleMania would have been tough for me to swallow.
But let's be honest - it's just entertainment. They could have cancelled it and I would have been fine. My family and friends are healthy and we have food on our table. Suffice to say, WrestleMania is just an event and will go back to it's normal format in the next year or two (hopefully). This weekend, it is a much-needed distraction from our current reality and I highly recommend it if you are in need of live (well, recorded live at least), original sports entertainment. Predictions below in red:
WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg (c) vs. Braun Strowman
WWE Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Shayna Baszler
NXT Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina Snuka vs. Naomi
Last Man Standing Match: Edge vs. Randy Orton
Firefly Funhouse Match: 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena
Boneyard Match: Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
WWE Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: Street Profits (c) vs. Angel Garza & Austin Theory
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: Kofi Kingston vs. Jimmy Uso vs. John Morrison (c)
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship: Kabuki Warriors (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens
Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
Elias vs. King Corbin
Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley
Natalya vs. Liv Morgan
Cesaro vs. Drew Gulak