WrestleMania 23 Trip
Spent last weekend in Detroit enjoying WrestleMania 23 and its festivities. I arrived in the Detroit area Friday night on March 30th and took it easy, getting ready for the next 2 days. On Saturday, I headed to downtown Detroit to take in some sight-seeing.
Next, I stopped by Ford Field to enjoy the pre-WrestleMania Fan Axxess session.
This restaurant had some super tasty Greek food. The lamb was delicious.
After dinner, I headed to Fox Theatre to attend the WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony. It's an annual tradition held the night before WrestleMania that honors influential legends who have helped to pave the way for the business. It was nice to see everyone all dressed up and all the wrestlers enjoying themselves and relaxing with their families 24hrs before the big event.
Each induction was special in its own way. Don Muraco shared some great road stories as he inducted Mr. Fuji. I really enjoyed Steve Austin's speech as he introduced Jim Ross. Jim was very open and honest in his emotional speech.
Baseball great Wade Boggs had the distinction of inducting his good friend, the late Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig. Wade shared a story of a hunting trip he took with Curt and how Mr. Perfect saved his life. Wade was bleeding profusely at the time and would have bled to death if not for the aid and bravery of his friend.....this was echoed by members in the audience that shouted "The Perfect Friend".....haha!
Things were also kept a bit lighthearted when members of Curt's family came out to give a speech, as shouts of "The Perfect Daddy" and "The Perfect Family" could be heard throughout Fox Theatre. Hennig was very much loved amongst his peers and fans and is greatly missed. I'm very honored to have met him shortly before his passing, and his match at SummerSlam '91 against Bret Hart still remains one of my all-time favourites.
The American Dream Dusty Rhodes was inducted by his sons Dustin and Cody. When Dusty came out, it was the first time that he and his two sons were seen together onstage so they shared a very special moment. Rhodes had a fantastic speech that helped to show why he's hailed as one of the greatest talkers in the business. Many standing ovations were had as he acknowledged some other greats in the crowd such as Harley Race, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, and Triple H.
I had a good sleep and woke up Sunday morning ready for one of the biggest events I've had the opportunity to be a part of.....WrestleMania 23. It's what everyone in the industry works for, the culmination of 364 days of hard work to get to this one special day.
Arriving at Ford Field shortly before doors, the streets were completely packed with people that came from all over to witness WrestleMania. In total, people traveled from all 50 U.S. States, 9 Canadian provinces, and 24 countries around the world to be a part of this event. I met some great people including Sign Guy Rick, some guys from the Okanagan and Alberta, two guys from Toronto dressed in Canucks jerseys, some folks that flew in from Germany, and a guy that was given tickets on last minute notice and drove across 3 states to catch the annual spectacular. The total attendance for WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field came to 80,103 people!
Once inside Ford Field, I could clearly see the enormity of WrestleMania 23 first hand. The production on this event by far exceeded any other concert, sporting, or entertainment event I've attended before. The set design was the end result of months of intense planning and coordination, built by around 300 staff members working from close to 40 semi-trucks. Huge props to everyone involved, from the stage hands, to the lighting people, to the writers, to the producers, to the people in the truck.....they did a fantastic job and it definitely showed.
The set and entranceway for the wrestlers was crazy. It's the tallest entranceway they've had at over 100 ft and the set was designed to morph accordingly to each particular wrestler's entrance. As a production point of reference between a weekly Raw show compared to WrestleMania.....Raw uses 24 LED boards compared to 414 boards on this show. For pyro, Raw uses about 65 concussions compared to over 400 for WM 23. For a normal PPV, they use about 6 searchlights compared to 56 used on this evening. In addition, there were 35 gas heads used to produce 30 ft high and 6 ft wide flames, and over 50,000 ft of cord used to set off the pyro.
Shortly before the PPV went live, they had a tag team lumberjack match featuring Carlito-Flair vs. Helms-Guerrero.
Everyone stood as Arethra Franklin came out to sing America The Beautiful and as the WrestleMania intro vid played and the insane pyro display went off.
The 8-man Money In The Bank Ladder Match opened the show with a bang. Many crazy spots including Jeff Hardy leaping off a 15 ft ladder onto Edge, who was laying on a ladder himself. That ladder broke and Edge had to be carried off on a stretcher. Thankfully, he was okay.
Kane always has a unique WM entrance with flames going off.
I was quite impressed with the technical wrestling ability that MVP displayed in his match against Benoit. A lot of nice counters and reversals.
Undertaker and Batista put on a solid match for the Heavyweight Championship. Taker had an excellent entrance with the druids and the bursting flames, and is now 15-0 at WrestleMania.
It was nice to see Dreamer, Sandman, and Sabu make their WrestleMania debuts after so many years in the business.
The Battle of the Billionaires Hair vs. Hair Match was entertaining, featuring Austin as a special guest referee and a surprise appearance by Shane McMahon. Shane pulling off the Van Terminator in his suit and tie was great to watch.
Vince got his head shaved bald in the ring after losing the match. Trump also took a Stunner from Austin.
Lumberjill match for the Women's Championship.
Cena and Michaels did a fantastic job headlining the event. Shawn had a nice pyro display during his entrance. They told a great story in their match that went back and forth with many near finishes. The piledriver on the ringsteps was a memorable spot, as was watching Michaels trying to battle out of Cena's STFU at the end. It's become my favourite match I've seen live.
Overall, I had a tremendous time at WrestleMania 23 and the city of Detroit played a great host.
Next, I stopped by Ford Field to enjoy the pre-WrestleMania Fan Axxess session.
This restaurant had some super tasty Greek food. The lamb was delicious.
After dinner, I headed to Fox Theatre to attend the WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony. It's an annual tradition held the night before WrestleMania that honors influential legends who have helped to pave the way for the business. It was nice to see everyone all dressed up and all the wrestlers enjoying themselves and relaxing with their families 24hrs before the big event.
Each induction was special in its own way. Don Muraco shared some great road stories as he inducted Mr. Fuji. I really enjoyed Steve Austin's speech as he introduced Jim Ross. Jim was very open and honest in his emotional speech.
Baseball great Wade Boggs had the distinction of inducting his good friend, the late Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig. Wade shared a story of a hunting trip he took with Curt and how Mr. Perfect saved his life. Wade was bleeding profusely at the time and would have bled to death if not for the aid and bravery of his friend.....this was echoed by members in the audience that shouted "The Perfect Friend".....haha!
Things were also kept a bit lighthearted when members of Curt's family came out to give a speech, as shouts of "The Perfect Daddy" and "The Perfect Family" could be heard throughout Fox Theatre. Hennig was very much loved amongst his peers and fans and is greatly missed. I'm very honored to have met him shortly before his passing, and his match at SummerSlam '91 against Bret Hart still remains one of my all-time favourites.
The American Dream Dusty Rhodes was inducted by his sons Dustin and Cody. When Dusty came out, it was the first time that he and his two sons were seen together onstage so they shared a very special moment. Rhodes had a fantastic speech that helped to show why he's hailed as one of the greatest talkers in the business. Many standing ovations were had as he acknowledged some other greats in the crowd such as Harley Race, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, and Triple H.
I had a good sleep and woke up Sunday morning ready for one of the biggest events I've had the opportunity to be a part of.....WrestleMania 23. It's what everyone in the industry works for, the culmination of 364 days of hard work to get to this one special day.
Arriving at Ford Field shortly before doors, the streets were completely packed with people that came from all over to witness WrestleMania. In total, people traveled from all 50 U.S. States, 9 Canadian provinces, and 24 countries around the world to be a part of this event. I met some great people including Sign Guy Rick, some guys from the Okanagan and Alberta, two guys from Toronto dressed in Canucks jerseys, some folks that flew in from Germany, and a guy that was given tickets on last minute notice and drove across 3 states to catch the annual spectacular. The total attendance for WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field came to 80,103 people!
Once inside Ford Field, I could clearly see the enormity of WrestleMania 23 first hand. The production on this event by far exceeded any other concert, sporting, or entertainment event I've attended before. The set design was the end result of months of intense planning and coordination, built by around 300 staff members working from close to 40 semi-trucks. Huge props to everyone involved, from the stage hands, to the lighting people, to the writers, to the producers, to the people in the truck.....they did a fantastic job and it definitely showed.
The set and entranceway for the wrestlers was crazy. It's the tallest entranceway they've had at over 100 ft and the set was designed to morph accordingly to each particular wrestler's entrance. As a production point of reference between a weekly Raw show compared to WrestleMania.....Raw uses 24 LED boards compared to 414 boards on this show. For pyro, Raw uses about 65 concussions compared to over 400 for WM 23. For a normal PPV, they use about 6 searchlights compared to 56 used on this evening. In addition, there were 35 gas heads used to produce 30 ft high and 6 ft wide flames, and over 50,000 ft of cord used to set off the pyro.
Shortly before the PPV went live, they had a tag team lumberjack match featuring Carlito-Flair vs. Helms-Guerrero.
Everyone stood as Arethra Franklin came out to sing America The Beautiful and as the WrestleMania intro vid played and the insane pyro display went off.
The 8-man Money In The Bank Ladder Match opened the show with a bang. Many crazy spots including Jeff Hardy leaping off a 15 ft ladder onto Edge, who was laying on a ladder himself. That ladder broke and Edge had to be carried off on a stretcher. Thankfully, he was okay.
Kane always has a unique WM entrance with flames going off.
I was quite impressed with the technical wrestling ability that MVP displayed in his match against Benoit. A lot of nice counters and reversals.
Undertaker and Batista put on a solid match for the Heavyweight Championship. Taker had an excellent entrance with the druids and the bursting flames, and is now 15-0 at WrestleMania.
It was nice to see Dreamer, Sandman, and Sabu make their WrestleMania debuts after so many years in the business.
The Battle of the Billionaires Hair vs. Hair Match was entertaining, featuring Austin as a special guest referee and a surprise appearance by Shane McMahon. Shane pulling off the Van Terminator in his suit and tie was great to watch.
Vince got his head shaved bald in the ring after losing the match. Trump also took a Stunner from Austin.
Lumberjill match for the Women's Championship.
Cena and Michaels did a fantastic job headlining the event. Shawn had a nice pyro display during his entrance. They told a great story in their match that went back and forth with many near finishes. The piledriver on the ringsteps was a memorable spot, as was watching Michaels trying to battle out of Cena's STFU at the end. It's become my favourite match I've seen live.
Overall, I had a tremendous time at WrestleMania 23 and the city of Detroit played a great host.
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