My Orlando Weekend Adventure
Sorry I didn't do this sooner, but it's been both a physically and emotionally exhausting weekend. The highs were very, very high; and the lows were as low as you could get. As Bryan Alvarez said...FUCK ORLANDO~! I haven't been there since I was eleven, and now, I may not be back until I have kids of my own. Anyway...
At around noon on Friday, Mark and I departed for Orlando from my condo in Tequesta. I gave him driving duties, since he is more experienced than I with long distances. Almost immediately, accident #1 happened when we weren't paying attention, and cracked off the drivers side mirror. If it had just been me, the trip would've been off. But thanks to Mark's cracker-jack skills, we reached the Turnpike pretty easily. After a little while, a tread blew off one of my tires, just north of Mile Marker 189. We weren't in a good postition to put the spare on ourselves, so we were stuck waiting for the State Farm Road Rangers for almost two hours. Despite the wait, it was free, and the guy was friendly and nice. So we stop at the next service station, where I spend about $99 for a new tire. We're back on the Pike for a bit, when we have yet another blowout! After a three hour wait this time, we decide to get to the hotel and replace the tire in the morning. Our GPS led us directly to the Citrus Bowl, so we had a hell of a time driving through the worst looking neighborhoods, and having to backtrack along the highway, to finally reach our hotel at around 10:30 pm.
Saturday was Hall of Fame day. We decide to head to the Florida Mall to drop the car off at the Sears Auto place. I never want to see the Florida Mall in Orlando ever again. About three hours and $700 later (tires and axel replacement, and alignment), I get a call from our third guy, Jason, who tells me his flight was delayed, and he'll probably be late for the HOF. He tells us to leave his ticket with the front hotel desk, and he'll meet us there as soon as possible. So, we arrive at the Amway Arena around 5:30 pm or so, all decked out in our good clothes. We're let in around 6:00 pm, and as soon as I walk in the door, I see a mob of people swarming a familiar red hat. It's WWE Sign Guy Rick Auchberger. He's super nice and friendly, even after I lamely say "Good job on Deal or no Deal!" As Mark grabs our food, a fellow fan and I trade cameras, and each get a picture with the guy.
As for the ceremony itself, the only parts to write home about were The Rock's appearance and of course, Flair. There were some microphone problems to start, so people in our section kept chanting "We can't hear you" as Rocky tried beating on the mic. Finally, after the volume was restored, Mark, being the wiseass that he is, shouted at the top of his lungs "Now repeat everything you just said!" He then manages to start a chant of "Start All Over!" It'd be funny if that makes it to the DVD version. Jason arrives just before the Flair induction. I stood in the aisle just soaking up everything Flair was saying. I understand that the near-two hours he talked for was reduced to ten minutes for the USA broadcast (or so my mom told me). It was a surreal experience, to say the least, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.
We hit an all night McDonalds after the show, and meet two similarly dressed gentlemen. We were all at the same place and ended up talking wrestling. They came from San Fran, and Darryl, a tall, black gentleman, tells us he used to wrestle for APW. I tell him a buddy of mine did color in the early 2000s for some of the home video releases. He tells me the broadcast position is the same and Roland's still an A-hole. I ask him if he remembers a magazine called "World of Wrestling" He says "Yeah, I wonder what happened to that?" I tell him I was the A.C.E., and his eyes get wide. He grabs my hand and enthusiastically shakes it, as if I discovered the cure for the common cold. "Thank you...that was a great magazine!" he says. :)
Wrestlemania Sunday. This time there's three of us, and the car, although ugly, is drivable. We decide to drive back to Amway Arena, and hop the WM shuttle to the Citrus Bowl around 2 pm. The Fan Axxess stuff is set up across the street. Throughout the day, I'm complimented by various people on my cool-looking WM 11 LT t-shirt. Mark does his own thing while Jay and I stick around the main booth. It was hotter than hell, and we were trying to find things worth doing, when suddenly Jimmy Hart comes out of nowhere, and we end up following him to the main booth. We planted ourselves behind the stage area, and everytime Hart came around, everyone would wave certain crap in the air, in hopes he would sign it. I just wanted him to notice the fact that I had a copy of the original WWF wrestling album. As he made his way around, he saw it, and said: "Oh my...Is that? Oh wow..." He jumps off the platform, grabs it from me, runs back onstage and tells everyone "Hey...this is the original Wrestling Album!" A round of "Country Boy" breaks out. After, Hart comes back, and signs my CD for me. Later on, I would get pictures with Hart, Candice Michelle, and Hillbilly Jim. Jay and I waited till the very end so I could get Hillbilly to sign my CD as well. Yeah...I'm a mark :)
Shortly after, we find our seats, and meet up with Mark. The atmosphere of the Citrus Bowl was freaking awesome. We were facing the cameras, but we were on the top row, which meant directly above us was all the pyro. Not good, especially when windy and drizzling. The reports of some of the pyro coming loose and burning fans, it happened in the same row, but on the opposite end of the arena. Two minor pyro mishaps happened when a remnant fell into Mark's iced tea, and I was singed pretty good by Floyd Mayweather's entrance.
Other than that, the show was awesome. We took restroom/food breaks during Batista-Umaga and the Bunnymania deal. Floyd-Show was actually pretty entertaining for what it was. Mark almost creamed himself when CM Punk won MITB. Flair versus HBK was perfect, and may even replace Benoit-Angle from Rumble 2003 as my favorite live match. Everyone was shocked when Orton retained the title, and Edge-Taker had me hooked in with every move. One of my favorite parts of the night, actually, may have been the Santino/Festus/Snoop Dogg/Foley segment. I actually LOLed at that, and I don't often do that nowadays for wrestling stuff.
We made it back home the next day, and I can't wait for the DVD release. After witnessing all the Flair stuff first hand, I can die a happy wrestling fan.
At around noon on Friday, Mark and I departed for Orlando from my condo in Tequesta. I gave him driving duties, since he is more experienced than I with long distances. Almost immediately, accident #1 happened when we weren't paying attention, and cracked off the drivers side mirror. If it had just been me, the trip would've been off. But thanks to Mark's cracker-jack skills, we reached the Turnpike pretty easily. After a little while, a tread blew off one of my tires, just north of Mile Marker 189. We weren't in a good postition to put the spare on ourselves, so we were stuck waiting for the State Farm Road Rangers for almost two hours. Despite the wait, it was free, and the guy was friendly and nice. So we stop at the next service station, where I spend about $99 for a new tire. We're back on the Pike for a bit, when we have yet another blowout! After a three hour wait this time, we decide to get to the hotel and replace the tire in the morning. Our GPS led us directly to the Citrus Bowl, so we had a hell of a time driving through the worst looking neighborhoods, and having to backtrack along the highway, to finally reach our hotel at around 10:30 pm.
Saturday was Hall of Fame day. We decide to head to the Florida Mall to drop the car off at the Sears Auto place. I never want to see the Florida Mall in Orlando ever again. About three hours and $700 later (tires and axel replacement, and alignment), I get a call from our third guy, Jason, who tells me his flight was delayed, and he'll probably be late for the HOF. He tells us to leave his ticket with the front hotel desk, and he'll meet us there as soon as possible. So, we arrive at the Amway Arena around 5:30 pm or so, all decked out in our good clothes. We're let in around 6:00 pm, and as soon as I walk in the door, I see a mob of people swarming a familiar red hat. It's WWE Sign Guy Rick Auchberger. He's super nice and friendly, even after I lamely say "Good job on Deal or no Deal!" As Mark grabs our food, a fellow fan and I trade cameras, and each get a picture with the guy.
As for the ceremony itself, the only parts to write home about were The Rock's appearance and of course, Flair. There were some microphone problems to start, so people in our section kept chanting "We can't hear you" as Rocky tried beating on the mic. Finally, after the volume was restored, Mark, being the wiseass that he is, shouted at the top of his lungs "Now repeat everything you just said!" He then manages to start a chant of "Start All Over!" It'd be funny if that makes it to the DVD version. Jason arrives just before the Flair induction. I stood in the aisle just soaking up everything Flair was saying. I understand that the near-two hours he talked for was reduced to ten minutes for the USA broadcast (or so my mom told me). It was a surreal experience, to say the least, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.
We hit an all night McDonalds after the show, and meet two similarly dressed gentlemen. We were all at the same place and ended up talking wrestling. They came from San Fran, and Darryl, a tall, black gentleman, tells us he used to wrestle for APW. I tell him a buddy of mine did color in the early 2000s for some of the home video releases. He tells me the broadcast position is the same and Roland's still an A-hole. I ask him if he remembers a magazine called "World of Wrestling" He says "Yeah, I wonder what happened to that?" I tell him I was the A.C.E., and his eyes get wide. He grabs my hand and enthusiastically shakes it, as if I discovered the cure for the common cold. "Thank you...that was a great magazine!" he says. :)
Wrestlemania Sunday. This time there's three of us, and the car, although ugly, is drivable. We decide to drive back to Amway Arena, and hop the WM shuttle to the Citrus Bowl around 2 pm. The Fan Axxess stuff is set up across the street. Throughout the day, I'm complimented by various people on my cool-looking WM 11 LT t-shirt. Mark does his own thing while Jay and I stick around the main booth. It was hotter than hell, and we were trying to find things worth doing, when suddenly Jimmy Hart comes out of nowhere, and we end up following him to the main booth. We planted ourselves behind the stage area, and everytime Hart came around, everyone would wave certain crap in the air, in hopes he would sign it. I just wanted him to notice the fact that I had a copy of the original WWF wrestling album. As he made his way around, he saw it, and said: "Oh my...Is that? Oh wow..." He jumps off the platform, grabs it from me, runs back onstage and tells everyone "Hey...this is the original Wrestling Album!" A round of "Country Boy" breaks out. After, Hart comes back, and signs my CD for me. Later on, I would get pictures with Hart, Candice Michelle, and Hillbilly Jim. Jay and I waited till the very end so I could get Hillbilly to sign my CD as well. Yeah...I'm a mark :)
Shortly after, we find our seats, and meet up with Mark. The atmosphere of the Citrus Bowl was freaking awesome. We were facing the cameras, but we were on the top row, which meant directly above us was all the pyro. Not good, especially when windy and drizzling. The reports of some of the pyro coming loose and burning fans, it happened in the same row, but on the opposite end of the arena. Two minor pyro mishaps happened when a remnant fell into Mark's iced tea, and I was singed pretty good by Floyd Mayweather's entrance.
Other than that, the show was awesome. We took restroom/food breaks during Batista-Umaga and the Bunnymania deal. Floyd-Show was actually pretty entertaining for what it was. Mark almost creamed himself when CM Punk won MITB. Flair versus HBK was perfect, and may even replace Benoit-Angle from Rumble 2003 as my favorite live match. Everyone was shocked when Orton retained the title, and Edge-Taker had me hooked in with every move. One of my favorite parts of the night, actually, may have been the Santino/Festus/Snoop Dogg/Foley segment. I actually LOLed at that, and I don't often do that nowadays for wrestling stuff.
We made it back home the next day, and I can't wait for the DVD release. After witnessing all the Flair stuff first hand, I can die a happy wrestling fan.