My Behind-The-Scenes Access At WrestleMania 31

The WWE Universe witnessed an amazing seven-man ladder match, Sting in a WWE ring for the first time, John Cena defeating Russia, The Undertaker return, Ronda Rousey, and a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion come out of nowhere. But I’ll touch on that later.

There is no bigger spectacle in sports entertainment than WrestleMania. Some may say the Super Bowl is atop of the ladder when it comes to showmanship. Psst. When have you ever seen Tom Brady come out during an introduction dressed as The Terminator? You haven’t and you won’t, sports fans. When it comes to knowing how to put on an incredible show, WWE is second to none.

I was lucky enough to get to travel to San Jose for WrestleMania Fan Axxess and the WWE Hall of Fame before ultimately finishing up my adventure at WrestleMania 31 at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday. What I experienced was the moment of a lifetime.

The 13-year-old kid in me cheered as I marked off an item that is ranked on every sports entertainment fan’s bucket list. I was thrown into the whirlwind and was finally going down the rabbit hole to see what WrestleMania was all about and as The Rock says, it was electrifying. 

WrestleMania Fan Axxes

Fan Axxess was held at the San Jose Convention Center and the layout was phenomenal. Upon entering you had to first travel through the WrestleMania Superstore and it was like entering Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory for WWE fans.

This place had everything you could dream of and fans were crawling on top of each other as if it were Black Friday. This was not your typical merchandise you get at a WWE live event. They had everything featuring your favorite WWE Superstars, whether it be shirts, action figures, posters — and if you wanted to avoid hard work and feel like a champion, you could purchase every single championship belt in the history of WWE. 

But the fun stuff was inside. 

There were so many attractions. If you were a WWE history buff and feeling nostalgic, you could check out the authentic memorabilia and attire from some of the biggest stars ever. The Macho Man Randy Savage’s outlandish outfits and sunglasses were among my favorites, as well as the Ultimate Warrior’s Intercontinental championship belt and his ridiculous jackets. I actually, saw Linda McMahon and her grandkids looking around in that section so that speaks volumes. If you wanted to take a break from that, you could get in the Elimination Chamber structure with one of the WWE superstars for a photo-op to boast about your courage of going one-on-one with a WWE star. 

NXT, WWE’s popular developmental system, had a ring set up presenting live matches throughout the night while fans waited in long lines that rivaled something you would see at an amusement park, to meet current and past WWE superstars. A lot of the hardcore fans were dressed as their favorite WWE Superstars even wearing ring attire when it wasn’t flattering. I’m talking to you chubby Macho Man. 

All of the old school legends were there. The immortal Hulk Hogan had an autograph line so long that it appeared as if someone had announced free money was being given away at his table. Ric Flair had fans posing for pictures and flashing The Four Horsemen symbol. Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Sting, Scott Hall, Ricky Steamboat, Vader, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, and many more rounded out the old school icons in attendance. 

The current class of WWE and NXT Superstars had some of the most impressive showings especially those considered ‘Premium VIP’ like John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Triple H, etc. The popular Diva, Paige, had a ridiculous amount of males in her line as she verbally jousted with The New Day, which got the attention of the crowd.

One of my personal favorite interactions was with The Miz and Summer Rae, who were signing together to promote their new film The Marine 4. Taking a pic with those two and chatting them up, you could tell they enjoyed their craft. I had to make sure The Miz personalized a poster for the wife just to offset the solo picture with the WWE Diva….no, not The Miz. We’re talking about Summer Rae. 

While Finn Balor was having a match in the NXT ring, Roman Reigns appeared for his meet and greet session and his cheers were remarkable. Contrary to the angry men who act like bratty hipsters and boo him out of some sense of desire to be cool and rebel, Reigns has a huge fan base. The No. 1 contender had kids, women, men, and the elderly all anxiously waiting to meet the star. At one point, Reigns actually got up and greeted an elderly woman in a wheelchair and wished her “Happy Birthday.” Watching the kids meet him was the most entertaining. They saw him as a superhero and one little girl cried because she was so happy. That kind of put it into perspective for what WWE means to fans.

I had the opportunity to talk with Reigns about some previous interviews we had, wished him luck, and got the down-to-earth superstar signed a WWE championship belt for my man cave before I headed over to check out Hogan.

The following day at Axxess, the most sought out stars were John Cena and Triple H, but not surprisingly Dolph Ziggler and the Divas were a huge hit. If they were not forced to leave from their two hour signing session, they would probably still be there due to the high demand. Ziggler just oozed a sense of coolness that has not been seen since Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid. He’ll most certainly continue to sell a ton of t-shirts.

However, as popular as those guys were, the Divas had a ridiculous showing of fan support ranging from little girls to grown men fawning over them. The Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie) proved they are still the most popular. I even witnessed a kid propose to Nikki. The rest of the Total Divas cast was not too far off though. Natalya had a great outing and Eva Marie, my wife’s favorite, was perhaps even more impressive. It was a pretty cool to see her and my wife chat about both of them living in Orange County and then watch her flirt with my son as his eyes enlarged out of excitement. There will be even more of those days, son.

The Hall of Fame 

This was my first Hall of Fame and the atmosphere had an Academy Awards type vibe but less pretentious. The 2015 inductees included The Bushwackers, Rikishi, Larry Zbyszko, Alundra Blayze, Connor “The Crusher” Michalek, Tatsumi Fujinami, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Randy Savage, and Kevin Nash. It was quite the class. The speeches were heartfelt and often humorous. My only complaint is the mass amount of morons in the audience who have zero social awareness or respect by hijacking speeches. To the four guys in section 203, who appeared to be 40 years old yet acted like they just tasted beer for the first time, everyone hates you.

With that said, Alundra Blayze stole the show with her speech. She will always be known as the woman who went on WCW Nitro and threw the WWE Women’s championship in the trash but her speech was genuine and she made amends when Natalya brought out a trash can for Blayze to reach down and pull the title out and return it to its rightful place.

WrestleMania

I have attended Final Fours, college football national championships, bowl games, NFL, NHL, and MLB postseason games — nothing has ever come close to being as fun and entertaining as WrestleMania. 

I was fortunate enough to be invited to sit in the press box for the event as 76,967 fans from all over the world filled Levi’s Stadium. The atmosphere was intoxicating. The stage design was beautiful, the ring apron had digital graphics, and the crowd sounded like hooligans at an intense soccer match. I was amped and ready to see what WWE had in store for us so I grabbed some catered grub and went to ‘work’ while the fan in me was ready to burst out.

The 7-man ladder match to open the card set the tone for the rest of the show. We all knew there was going to be some high flying and big bumps but what I and some of my colleagues took away from this match, was the incredible pops Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, and Dolph Ziggler received. After Bryan had won the Intercontinental title, it was hypnotic seeing the entire arena throw their hands in the air in unison while chanting, “Yes!” 

After Randy Orton delivered the best RKO in the history of time on Seth Rollins, most of us in the press were blown away. However, the 13-year old boy in me, freaked out during the Sting Vs. Triple H match due to the showmanship and nostalgia. Seeing Sting get in a WWE ring for the first time was a special privilege that I’ll brag about forever but it is still a distant second to the entrance of Triple H. It ranks as one of the greatest entrances of all time when he appeared at the top of the ramp as the Terminator. Everyone in the press box was clapping and cheering and professionalism was officially, out the window. Degeneration X and NWO interference was executed to perfection. Their appearance was as if they were saying, “This is WrestleMania. We’re about to make you crap your pants. This just happened. You’re welcome.”

I was already hooked but word got out that The Rock was backstage. We thought there is no way. Then in a spot where no one expected it, “If ya smell…” blasted through the speakers and fans erupted like The Death Star had just been destroyed. His verbal jousting with Triple H and Stephanie was great but then at this point, he stops to talk with the most dangerous woman on the planet, Ronda Rousey, sitting ringside. We thought “No. No way is this happening.” Then The Rock motioned for Rousey to jump over the barrier and step in the ring. I lost it. Is there anything WWE won’t do tonight?

Related: ICYMI: Ronda Rousey Crashes WrestleMania 31 With The Rock

As I’m watching this monumental showdown occur down in the ring, WWE Hall of Famers, Bob Backlund and Sgt. Slaughter are going around the press box putting headlocks on the media and posing for pictures. What kind of bizarre world is this? Am I dreaming? This was really happening. WWE, you never cease to amaze me.

The main event was finally upon us and I didn’t want it to end. The night was way too fun. Like a party that is exceeds your wildest expectations, no one in Levi’s stadium wanted to go home.

The WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns was finally here. The pyros and entrances were out of this world. I knew something big would happen but didn’t know what exactly nor did anyone else. Like most of you saw, the physicality was full force and to the point, that some had to turn away. Reigns was getting suplexed everywhere for what seemed like forever and shades of SummerSlam 2014 came to mind. Then it changed. Reigns busted Lesnar open on a ring post and blood started running down his face. Things just got real.

Reigns evened the odds and seemed ready to win the WWE title until Lesnar hit him with an F5 causing both guys to fall to the ring in exhaustion. At this point, neither a single person in the press box nor the 76,967 fans in attendance could have predicted what happened next. Seth Rollins theme hit and the crowd went bonkers. Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, putting himself in the match. I along with other members of the press was silent for the first time Sunday night.

Rollins would win the title after an incredible ending leaving all of us trying to wrap our minds around what had happened. We all like to act like we know what’s going to happen but then WWE comes along and laughs and says,“You don’t know anything. 

As the sneaky Rollins stood atop of the ramp, slinging the championship belt in the air like a rally towel, I turned to the person next to me and uttered three words…

“Best WrestleMania ever.”

Last week will go down as my most enjoyable experience in covering sports and sports entertainment. There is nothing that comes close to WWE’s show of the year. If you haven’t experienced WrestleMania, do everything you can to make it happen. You will not be disappointed.

Next year WrestleMania will likely break attendance records when its held at the Cowboys’ home, AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Knowing WWE, they will probably top this year’s show.

I’ll see you there.

Joshua Caudill is a writer for CraveOnline Sports, a surfing enthusiast, WWE fan, an unhealthy sports fanatic, and an expert on all things Patrick Swayze. You can follow him on Twitter @JoshuaCaudill85 or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.