WrestleMania 42 for fans was a hit or miss

WrestleMania looks perfect on a highlight reel. Experiencing it in person is a different story. We’re fresh off WrestleMania Weekend in Las Vegas, and our guest Zay breaks down what it’s really like to do the full Mania Week grind from Thursday to Tuesday, including the price tag, the pacing, and the moments you only understand once you’re in the building. 

We get into Night One’s biggest problem: matches that feel like they’re finally getting going and then suddenly end, plus the “Ad Mania” reality of a modern WWE PLE. Zay also talks about dropping $425 on floor seats and still spending time watching the screen because sightlines can be rough, especially when celebrities stand up at the worst times. And yes, we unpack the post-show chaos of fans rushing to grab WrestleMania chairs, why those chairs cost so much, and how security handled it. 

Then we zoom out to the real secret of WrestleMania: WrestleMania Week. Vegas turns into a wrestling family reunion with meet-and-greets at WWE World, random run-ins with talent, indie shows, rap shows, and watch parties that sometimes hit harder than the stadium. Zay shares stories from Mark Henry’s DJ event, Fremont nights at Nerd Bar, Joey Janela’s Spring Break, and the match that literally made a pool party go quiet: CM Punk vs Roman Reigns. 

If you’ve ever wondered whether WrestleMania is worth it, this conversation gives you the checklist, the budget mindset, and the fan etiquette that makes the whole week better. Subscribe, share this with a wrestling friend planning a trip, and leave us a review with your best live event tip.

Transcript

Welcome And Weekend Hot Takes

SPEAKER_04 0:10

Welcome to another episode of the Big Brothers of Destruction podcast. Two boys, the Master Coop.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

And that's your boy, Slack Switch, in the building.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Oh, excuse me. I'm just I'm grabbing a drink out of the fridge. I I know my role now. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

Already, my drink.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

This guy. This guy.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

Well, you still got to give the intro, bro.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

And we went. It's your favorite stab, boy Lord's Day. How y'all doing?

SPEAKER_04 0:40

There we go. You're gonna be a part of the pro you want to act like it, damn it.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

So the first time we let you be able to be in the kitchen and you out here smelling shit. Like, come on now.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

The drink is nice, all right? Drink is healthy. H2O. Apparently.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Hell hydrate.

SPEAKER_04 1:01

So you said hell hydrate, I'm dead. Anyway. But yes, we're just coming off of like the crazy weekend that was WrestleMania. We say

Night One Recap From The Arena

SPEAKER_04 1:10

crazy as in night one was trash and night two is salvageable. And uh we actually have somebody here who actually went to WrestleMania. And while we have talked about our experience in the viewing aspect from the home and getting commentary, everything else, we have somebody who was there who actually put their ass in one of those expensive ass seats and got the chance to enjoy uh WrestleMania as a full experience. So, Zay, tell us, man, how was the entire weekend for you, dude?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

The entire week, uh, because I was there from Thursday to Tuesday for Mania Week. Oh. Uh yeah, I was there for a minute. Uh the entire week was amazing. Uh I unfortunately went to night one. Uh I bought my tickets before the card was announced. Uh you want me to get into night one or you want me to talk about Mania Week?

SPEAKER_04 2:07

We're gonna shoot the shit. Matter of fact, we can shoot it about our thoughts about night one, and then you can tell us the perspective that you also had while being in the arena. So, night one, if I recall, what was matching?

SPEAKER_03 2:21

That's what you should recall. It was ass.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Well, yeah, that but the match was uh the first match was Uso's LA Night versus I show speed and division. That was the first yep, you're right, absolutely right, actually. Yeah. Uh as someone who was there for it, uh uh Mega Ran asked for my immediate thoughts afterwards of the mania, and I gave it like a six out of ten. After I had time to like stew on the fact, boy night one sucked compared to watching night two. I mean, I had fun because I always believed that wrestling is great with the people you're with. 100% the people that you're with will always make an event better. So the actual event, being there with uh Mega Ran and the homies from the Bump and Bruises podcast, uh my boy Derek Renum, that was awesome to be there with them. Now, especially the my match of the night, Seth Rollins and Gunther. Cause Derek was going for uh Seth and I was going for Gunther, and we had that going, that always makes a match better. Uh but the rest of the night, I felt like every time a match was about to get like into the second year, it was over. Like I couldn't process any match. Uh like literally, like, what was it? Stephanie Vacur or Liv Morgan match. I understand there was a concussion issue or whatever. But I was like, oh man, the match is starting to get going and we're done. Okay. Don't know how we fam.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

That was that was easily for me the most painful bit about night. Honestly, both nights, but specifically for that jump off night one. Now, something I I I definitely need to know. Cause for us who sat down and watched this at home for the comfort of free, depending on what or or uh or or whatever the price of uh uh a VPN

Floor Seat Prices And Bad Sightlines

SPEAKER_03 4:30

and uh uh goddamn um Netflix is you want to know how much I paid for my seat? How much?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

I was on the floor, uh it was one of the bad floor seats, so I was always you know, you couldn't really see the ring that well. So I was $425 for my seat, which it's not the worst because I checked my seat the next night and it was double the price for night two. Uh when did you did you did you buy the did you buy them seats when uh Pat McAfee put out the uh no so no uh I bought my seats right before they announced the discount for no uh taxes or whatever, no fees. I was so mad. I literally bought my seat an hour before they put out that code. That was the most painful I wanted to flip chairs at that moment. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

No.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Oh man. That's rough. That's rough, but you know, that's that's that's how I run the game. Listen, I was actually talking to uh I was talking to Bazaku talking about how like with Backlash showing up, I was like, you know, I almost got half on mine to just drive to Tampa, night of, and as the opening bell is happening, see what the ticket prices are at the door.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Don't do

Night Two Watch Party Vibes

SPEAKER_00 6:00

it. We were trying to do that for night two. Uh they weren't budging until after the bell rang. So night two, I ended up uh at this hotel uh poll party uh that had like it's called Stadium Swim, that had this giant uh projector uh that showed WrestleMania, and then whatever commercial was happening, a DJ will play. And that was pretty cool because a lot of AEW wrestlers were there. So like I got this uh see Action Andretti. Um what's the Kevin Knight before he won the title? Yeah. Uh who else I see in there? Uh Leo Rush. Shout out to Leo. I hung out with Leo a lot that week.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Um Bro, with how his gimmick is low-key, I understand it's a gimmick, but I feel like nowadays he might be doing that shit in public. Was he doing that shit in public?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

No, when I talked to Leo, he was all right. So, one thing about Leo is he's actually very chill in person. He uh he's very, very low-key, which I think that's what makes the gimmick really funny to me. Because you meet him, he's always hiding in the cut somewhere. He is not out.

SPEAKER_03 7:10

This is this this is true. When uh when they had Battle Rumble here in Orlando, like Leo Rush, like while he was there, fam, like he he was like in like the little like the what did they call that room? The little room area. It's like he was he's like for most of the time you like you see him in the green room, kind of like, you know, to himself, chilling. You know, if you see him out the green room, he's like in the dark corner talking to like two fans. Like Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

Leo, Leo's chill. He processes his wrestling different, man. When he's there, he he has to get in his own, maybe, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

At Stadium Swim, he was definitely in the VIP booth in the in the corner of the VIP booth in there. So like like Leo just hides. So I think that's just hilarious compared to his character. But Leo, shout out to my boy Leo. He was cool. I did uh I did a show with him uh on Monday night at Fandom Bar. So good people.

unknown 8:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Shout out to Chris Bay, too.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

You was out here, so who was because and I mean we out here going all over the place, I realize, but like you bringing up the fact because I saw the photos, I was like, oh my man got got himself got a little spot on the stage. Okay, who else was performing there?

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Uh so this was the 10th year anniversary of Matt Mania. Uh Rand's uh first wrestling project. So I remember that. Actually, nine years ago, which was funny, I went to the first one in Orlando. And uh nine years later, he asked me to be on the card. So it was myself, O Super, uh T Call, Leo Rush, Chris Bay, a bunch of other talent I can't think off the top of my head, top of my head, but uh it was a great great night. Uh shout out to Phantom Bar. Phantom Bar is a really good venue over there.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Phantom Bar.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

It's like right.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

It's nice. So, so Swag, you know, one thing I just to kind of bring back to like wrestlers like that, um, you know, you was picking at me for a while back, and then we were spinning over everywhere. You was picking on me before when I was bringing up my name and kind of coming up with the Sugoy Monsaku. One of the biggest things I I do enjoy about uh Chris Bay is he has one of the coolest uh catchphrases. He's like, your favorite girls wrestler, the ultimate finesse. I was like, ah man, a lot of my inspiration, my lot of my inspiration was trying to find something just as cool as that. Because there's nothing more cool than that.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Like bro, Chris Bay is so cool. Yeah, he's totally to like chop it up with him. He is so chill, so cool. Very humble, dude. A lot of these guys are extremely humble compared to the characters on TV, extremely humble people. I don't think that's a better interaction with a wrestler that week, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Which is good to know. That is really good to know to kind of know the space and atmosphere itself. And I know everybody's like it's WrestleMania week and everybody's out there. I remember Bobby Lashley was saying something about that too. I ran into him. People get booked, everybody's there in some way, shape, or form. It's not just it's just not a WWE event, it's an everybody event. It's like a family reunion.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Yeah, it's a wrestling event.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

I got to a point where I ran into so many wrestlers, I got numb. It was just like flex. Um well we'll go more about Mania itself before I talk about Mania Week. But compared to being there, like I was just going back to that, for my seats, the price I paid was not worth it, honestly. Uh, because half the time I was staring at the screen, George Kittle kept standing up,

The WrestleMania Chair Scramble

SPEAKER_00 10:50

and I couldn't see goddamn rain because of George Kittle.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

That's such a crazy problem to have.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Yeah, the celebrities in WWE.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Some damn celebrities. Uh it wasn't a look, I kept running into George Kittle too. That was weird.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

But she got autographs on, bro.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Nah, not at that point. But the the maniac of like being there was cool, but like we we were shocked at how fast it finished. Like, we left and it was still daylight outside.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

Bro, we were talking about that. Because for us, we finished like when it was done here, like night one, it was done. It was 10 o'clock.

SPEAKER_04 11:32

We're like, well shit, we still was like nine.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

Bro, we finished night two was nine. Like night two, it was WrestleMania, night two WrestleMania was done like nine, nine fifty, like nine forty-five or something.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

Bro, could you imagine that as kids? Remember how we used to have to beg our parents to stay up to watch the wrestling matches back in the day? And to think, like, are these still school hours? Like, I can still do shit.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Bro, we came out and we're just like, okay, like we had plans that night, but we're like, oh, what are we gonna do from this period until we have to host this event? Like, that's literally what we were trying to figure it out. It was so surreal. Like, I will say the mad dash for uh the mania chairs was also hilarious. There's people getting hemmed up.

SPEAKER_04 12:25

Oh, for people like grabbing the chairs after the show?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Bro, it was Was there that many mania chairs that were just unused and left?

SPEAKER_04 12:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

That's funny.

unknown 12:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

Which is weird because I always remember um WWE used to charge you as well for the chair. They still got Oh, they still do. Oh, they still do. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

That's why security was. I saw one person boom against the wall for their chairs. Like they chairs were no joke.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

How much I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

A couple thousand.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

Couple. Fuck God. Bro, bro, chairs, mania chairs cost people sell those on eBay, bro. People sell those. Matter of fact, say anybody sells a chair from an event, you can go on eBay right now, eBay right now, and look up just chairs from different pay-per-views. It's it's a thing. See that.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

I had my on one chair for like 10 minutes and I it was not worth the process. After I started doing him up, I was like, nah, we're just gonna leave it.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

Homie got homie got collared, bro.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

Think of the event itself. Uh, would you want to say, bro, I still got WrestleMania 42's chair?

SPEAKER_03 13:43

I almost got chokes playing for a WrestleMania 42 chair.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

The one thing, I don't know, maybe I will say, like, being on the floor of WrestleMania, it's insane. The energy is crazy. That I this is where there's benefits and negatives of that night one. Night one was the show itself kind of stuff, but the environment was really cool. I will say the stage itself was kind of lackluster. I don't know. Maybe because like I'm comparing it, because I've only been to one out of WrestleMania, which was in Orlando. So, and that stage is iconic. So maybe in comparison, I don't

Ad Mania And Short Match Frustration

SPEAKER_00 14:20

know. It doesn't compare. It it's bring back Vince.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

Bring back.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

I'm not saying that. No, we monkey pawed. We monkey pawed that.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

I'm talking about well, true. But I'm just talking about the sense of like, bruh, at least my man gave us stages, goddamn it.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

I mean, the stage for mania last year for Vegas was really good. I will I will give him that. I don't know. Everything about night one felt like they had to do it. It didn't feel like mania.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

They wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Listen, like even the color scheme was like, because I watched night two in the like the blue pop more. Everything felt bigger about night two, and I was literally there the day before. You know, like there was that's like a weird difference.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

That's that is kind of a that's a weird that is a weird situation to be like, alright, so so night one, you guys are really just giving me slop right now. And then on night two, oh, now you want to razzle dazzle me.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

And it's not even just that, it's just to think about the simple fact that the second car was better, so obviously that's why the energy was better.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

I'm just I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

No, the second car was definitely better. Uh, I know people who got food and because they got food missed two matches. That's how fast the matches were going.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

Yes. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

That's that's and a four-card pay-per-view. Oh, excuse me, PLE. We we forgot we don't say PPV over here anymore.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Yeah, we've we've we had the the realization that there is a difference. Like, like we didn't want to make the change, but like after WrestleMania, it's all like, you know what? No, we can't call those pay-per-views anymore, legitimately, because there's a big difference between a pay-per-view feel and what we're getting as PLEs.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Brother, it was it was so blinking you miss it. Like, again, that's my biggest complaint about night one was like every time a match felt like it was about to get in second gear, it was over. Uh the only match I went on too long was Cody and Randy. I don't know, they never went into second gear.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

So they yeah, they give me like since you was there, like, because I do get the fact that like being because I like and and the way that you scored it is exactly how I figured it would be. That instant feeling of just being at the event, being amongst the wrestling cr, you know, crowd and stuff like that, and just the energy that everyone gives, it's like it could turn an absolute shit show, which was what night one was, and make it feel like it was actually something special. But and then, but then afterwards when you really realize, like, you know, you know, they did actually really just kind of have me sitting here watching shit.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

I want to know for you, especially because this was like the big match, what was the energy like in there for that night one main event? Cody versus Randy.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Cody versus Randy. Energy was very much of kind of confusion of how we got there very fast.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

They're like, wait, blink, blink. This is the main event already? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

But being there, it felt like a bunch of people that were trying to have a good time still. That was the best way.

SPEAKER_04 18:01

Like you were kind of you you were you were aware of the fact that you're giving shit and yeah, but the crowd was trying to pull something good out of this.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Everybody, no one in that arena would be sitting there was like, oh man, this sucks. No one said that out loud sitting there. Everybody just kind of went, oh, that's over. So like we were trying to pull something from this. Brother, thank God for Stefan Gunther, because that gave us something. We we will force something out of that match.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

So something.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Well, a lot of people left before Randy did the fucking punt kick. Uh people were like, oh, it's over, we're gone. Like big stands are like great.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

You know, it's funny because I remember kind of like peeping the fact of like like match ended and like people like, all right, let's get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

It was the quickest, like, all right, we just go. That was best. It was one, two, three, people going for chairs. You're not waiting for the angle to finish. It was go chairs, get out. That was it. Damn. I mean, and that's kind of almost like the most action that night was people going through chairs and the fights between security cards. I swear to God.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

That's crazy. I'm still blown away that they make you pay for the chair. Could I not even gonna say could you imagine? Because for all this purpose, has it really? It's really I had no idea.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the first few chairs you have to pay for, and the rest are regular chairs. So it's always been a thing.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

And this is after the fact that you dropped all the grands for sitting in the chair. And then when you leave, for the chair.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

It's supposed to come with your ticket. So you with the people that bought that chair, you get a special wristband saying, hey, I'm leaving with this chair. I paid for this. Now, the problem is that mania didn't sell out. So there was a bunch of chairs available. So there's at least two, three rows available on these chairs. So a lot of people in the crowd. So a lot of those people that didn't have those wristbands were like, I'm leaving here with something after that. So they went straight for them. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

That is all right. Wow. I'm leaving here with something is crazy. At least now I know because I probably would have been the same motherfucker trying to. I would have been the one getting snatcher by his dreads.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Yeah, I pay for shit. I pay for shit.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Oh yeah, bro. It was getting ugly. Uh, but that was my night one. Night two, again, different experience. I did it at the Stadio Swim, much cooler vibe. Honestly, a watch party was kind of where it was at. Uh, I mean, it cost me 40 bucks in there. I got this giant ass drink uh of some type of liquor. Uh uh and then I hung out. I got to see a bunch of AW wrestlers in there. It was kind of funny seeing Action Andretti uh acknowledge Roman Reigns. He's out there pointing out the ones when Roman's coming through. Uh hilarious to see the DJ playing music while Hulk Hogan's thing that's happening on screen, so we're not paying attention at all to any of that. Yeah. It was a DJ the entire time. Uh we didn't get any of those advertisements. We didn't get any of those advertisements at the event, by the way. I didn't know Hulk Hogan was happening. They didn't share that on the screen at all.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

So that was actually something I was going to ask. Because me and Moz here are sitting. I was sitting at his house and we're at we got to a point where we were timing it. A match would happen. Three commercials would happen. After those three commercials, we would get with we'll get hit with a four-minute, we'll be right back, Netflix, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

And so every type of commercials out there. We were just it was a lot of us just sitting, just talking.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Okay, so y'all was just getting straight commercials.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

Were they W was it WW Relay or just like just random shit?

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Whatever sponsors are happening and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Oh God. Fam, Ad Mania. This, like I said, as we called it Ad Mania, aka the most corporate WrestleMania we've had thus far. That's it's so it's so bad. Because it's like all that time, those those eight-minute matches that we had, all those all the that the those 20 minutes of ads that came up after those eight-minute matches, easily could have gone. We could have had another match if we wanted to. We could have had our EO and goddamn, you know, like we could have had those. We could have had that.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

In between, like when I was telling you if people were missing matches, getting food, that's how long these matches were.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

That's crazy. To miss to think about the fact that that is even the show itself, like to experience that live, I feel like that would be that would be like the I won't say a worst WrestleMania experience, but I wouldn't know how to feel after that as a wrestling fan.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Well, I will preview this.

WrestleMania Week Matters More

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Anyone who goes to WrestleMania will tell you that WrestleMania Week is not about WrestleMania. It's about the events that you do around WrestleMania. So I could pivot into that. That was my little segue, but shout out to all the events around WrestleMania because that shit was dope. Especially in Vegas.

Mark Henry DJ Night Backstage

SPEAKER_00 24:05

So like when we when I got there, the first I literally hop off the plane, dropped my bags off in the hotel, and the first thing we were going to do is Mark Henry's DJ event.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

I was literally that's crazy. I was literally going to ask you about that because I saw the picture and I was like, once again, I like like I've already thought I've already told you in the text, I was like, listen, I've never been more happy and jealous for a friend.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

Because I'm watching, like, oh shit, look at him with man, man, fuck this dude, dog.

SPEAKER_03 24:39

I was the biggest hater, bro.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

I kid you not. We hopped, I literally hopped off the plane, and it was like, all right, we're gonna go see Mark Henry. We're gonna go do this show. Because Rand was performing at that, and I was just part of Rand's Honour at that point. So, excuse me. Excuse me. Literally, we get there and I'm backstage before the event starts, and I'm just trying to process the fact that I'm backstage at this pretty cool event. Here comes Mark Henry, chill as all could be, and I gotta pretend like that's not Mark Henry, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 25:14

That's just any wrestling fan in general, is whenever you see talent walking past you. I mean, like shit, whenever I tell swag that I I used to go to the same barber shop as Bully, and I'm like, I'm sitting in the chair, I'm like, let's fucking bully over there. Holy shit. So then, like, to not acknowledge them and treat them as human, you know, treat them outside of the talent. But yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

No, brother. Like, then fucking D Lo Brown comes through. I'm a big D'Lo Brown guy. Please understand this. Big D Lo guy. And D Lo comes through, it's like what's up. I'm like, what up, D'Lo? You know, for like, you know, buddy.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Like, like, like y'all been in the friends or something.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

Did you know that he actually was in uh a faction with Newjack back in the day?

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Yes. I personally did not know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

Until recently, actually.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

It was in Dark Side of the Ring.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Apparently, I've gathered a nickname uh Encyclopedia Z because of all the random wrestling stuff. I've I just know. So uh that's the nickname I got, Mania Week. Uh but we were just hanging out and he gave that to you with Mania.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

Nice. That's at least they see they see you for the fan that you are now.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Yeah. Uh we were hanging out in the green room, and it was Mark Henry, AJ Francis, myself, T Call, Mega Ran, O Super, Test Blizing Tony. Shout out to him. And we were just shooting shit. And I got to hear some stories from Mark Henry. I am not allowed to share publicly. Uh Mark Henry is a great human, funny as all can be. So shout out to Mark Henry. And the event itself was pretty dope. It was just, they're just spinning wrestling tracks. And the crowd was just singing along and having a good time. And that shout out to Mark Henry's DJ. But you have a chance to go through that, go through that.

SPEAKER_04 27:08

I've seen some clips of it, and it does look pretty dope.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

It was a lot of fun. Then we pivot, and then literally we finish that and we head off to Fremont. And the first wrestler

Nerd Bar And Fremont Wrestling Chaos

SPEAKER_00 27:20

we see in Fremont, you're gonna like this. This is a wrestler by the name of uh Nick Nemeth. You ever heard of him?

SPEAKER_02 27:28

I like that guy.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Yeah, literally, first person we run into. Literally, first person we run into is Nick Nemeth. And then we go out to this uh this bar. Shout out to Nerd Bar. Also, Nerdbar on Fremont. Uh they took care of us. I didn't have to pay for a single drink that whole week while I was there. Shout out to Nerdbar. That's where we hosted our trivia night, Acromania Night One. It was insane. But we get there and Nerd Bar is hosting a uh Sabu Battle Royale Memorial. So you get there.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

A Sabu Battle Royale Memorial.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

Well, I think it would be.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah, Memorial Battle Royal.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

Yeah, they were just doing it as memory. Oh like so was there Bob Wire involved or no?

SPEAKER_00 28:16

They debuted. Uh so this bar was Sabu's favorite bar to go to. So apparently Nerd Bar is where all the wrestlers go.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

Oh Snowden.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Yeah, literally, I that's where I got there and I ran into uh what's the I forget his name. Usi, the biggest uh Five Tube brother. He he's uh Tongo not Tonga uh not Tongo, uh he's still independent. I think his name is Usi. Saw him, he's big as hell. Cam this end.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Oh, you mean um Zilla?

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Not Zilla. He hangs with him. He's a big thing.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

I think his name is Usi. I don't remember his name, but I remember his face.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

He was there, but we get to the battle royal and just being in Ranis crew, we get to cut the crowd and go ringside, literally ringside. Like past the guardrails, we're drinking, and then the main event was Beast Mortos versus Willie Mack. Beast Mortos? Yeah, bro. Beast Mortals came out, adapt them up. I'm like, yo, what is life right now? But we had to leave that match to go upstairs because the venue next over to Nerd Bar was hosting WrestleLit, which was a bunch of wrestling rappers. So Leo Rush, Mylon Reed, uh from The Rascals, um, Chris Bay. I'm trying to remember who else was in there. Swerve was in there. Any AEW wrestler you could think of was in there. So that was also pretty lit. Ran into Braun Strowman, saw Melo. Uh, who else did I see in there? Uh there's too many people in the name.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Melo Hayes, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Yeah, Carmelo Hayes. Yeah. Saw him in there.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

Okay, it's making sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Yeah, we did our VIP. We went in there. That was lit. Uh, no pun intended. Uh hang out on VIP and then go back in the room or drink. That was my night one, brother. Like that was insane.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

That's that's that's that you met the equivalent of a possible main event already.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Like a literally we went back to Nerdbar and hung out with Trey McGill for a little bit. Uh Trey McGill was in there. So shout out. I've met most of the rascals that weekend. Good people.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Nice. So at least night one, outside of the actual main itself, sounds like it was a good time.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

Well, no, this was like you said this was Thursday, because you said you dropped it Thursday, right?

SPEAKER_04 30:47

So this was Thursday. Oh, this was Thursday night. Okay.

WWE World Meet And Greets

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Friday morning, I got a uh wake-up call at 9 a.m. I think I was sleeping like for a couple hours at that point. Uh Rand's like, hey, you want to go meet Trick Williams at 9 a.m.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

So why? 9 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

You want to meet Trick Williams?

SPEAKER_02 31:10

Yeah, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

Brother, uh let me get my lemon pepper steppers on.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Bro, I got dressed so fast, and then the hilarious part was I didn't know what shirt to wear. So we were going to WWE World at this point. Uh a friend of ours in the Bumper Bruises podcast, they had somebody drop out. We had to take their ticket to for meet and greets. It was really dope. Shout out to them. Uh but I had a I didn't know what shirt to wear, so I just grabbed my AJ Lee shirt and I went to wear it. They didn't think anything was gonna happen with that. Met Trick Williams, he was dope. The meet and greets are very short, but they're still fun. They were rushing people through, but Trick was cool. Got to say good birds with him because he used to play for the Eagles and all that. But I'm wearing this AJ Lee shirt, and I don't know the itinerary for the day. WWE World is a lot happening. You know, you got the entrance rep, you got the top spoof, you got the action figures, you got the WrestleMania store. It's a full-blown convention. But I didn't know who else I was meeting that day, and they go, Oh, by the way, we got tickets for Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. I'm like, oh mind you, I'm wearing an AJ Lee shirt. Uh so we go in, I'm we go in, and Rand's wearing this really cool uh Ray Mysterio shirt, and Seth goes, I like your shirt. And then Seth looks at me and goes, I don't like your shirt.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

Got him. Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

But fast forward, we also have an autograph session with them. So I didn't know I was doing any of this stuff, so I didn't have anything planned to bring for autographs. So I had Becky sign the picture we just took. And again, I'm wearing an AJ Lee shirt, and I go up there and Becky was getting to Rand, I like your shirt. Your shirt sucks. And I actually went semi-viral on Instagram because Rand recorded the interaction. Oh, uh Becky is roasting me for my shirt, scratching out the logo of AJ's shirt. Oh my god, autographing it. I could send you the video of that. But yes, that you say she autographed the shirt? She she didn't autographed the shirt. She autographed my picture, it scratched out my shirt.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

That'd have been the biggest heel thing to do. He'd be like, you know what? Just so I could put some actual real thing on your shirt, like a real star on your shirt, boom. Bro, she'd have done that.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Legendary. Bro, so plot twist, the next people we're meeting is AJ Lee and CM Punk.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

After I just had a shit look. Just imagine she would have signed it and you went up to AJ Lee and be like, Becky Lynch here, sir.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Bro, AJ was talking shit about Becky. That was funny. I told her what happened, and she's like, she would do that. She started going, which was cool because I got to unlock different interactions with people. So, like, I guess is where if you're gonna meet somebody, just wear their op. You'll get where the ops there. Yeah, where the ops is crazy. Where the ops. Um, but yeah, shout out the whole thing. I also got to meet Shawn Michaels that day too. So shout out to people Munster Bruce's podcast, man. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, yeah, they took care of you, bro. Well, we took care of it.

SPEAKER_03 34:43

Hey, put in a good work for us.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

I definitely shared your Instagram with them. So hopefully I need to collab with you guys in the future. But uh I want to give a quick shout out to Xavier Woods. Uh or Austin Creed. I mean, Austin Creed. Yes, uh brother Xavier Woods right there. Uh never met, I met Woods in person before, but never like as like, you know, just chilling. Uh Woods brought us backstage just uh to shoot the shit for a bit. Uh I got to meet Woods' entire family. His children are adorable. Woods is very, very good people. So like I'm thankful for that memory as well. So shout out to Woods.

SPEAKER_03 35:22

Uh I mean that does make sense because you're also, you know, you're also kicking it with the guy who literally did their theme song.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

Which I'm butt. Which is super dope. And it's like for Mega Rand, you know, knowing how big of a wrestling fan that I know that he is, and to have himself be a really good group of wrestlers, some really dope wrestlers, this the new day to be their theme song and his voice be it, because that's in games now. Like that's immortalized.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

That's forever. Forever.

unknown 36:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

And so I'm like, man, that is that's dope. Although now that they're gone, it's all like, ugh. It was a good run, at least.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

It was. Wherever they go, wherever they go, man.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

I feel like they they'll make their next one, whatever the promotion or the name is. I feel like Megan Ran will probably make the next one too.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

I'm not preview to say any information I know.

SPEAKER_04 36:26

I mean, likely, that's what I'm saying. You know, as a as a person who has done the music and has uh been in communication with people about making music for their freaking um their podcast, which was the um Happy Induce podcast that we I actually made their theme song like forever. They still use it to this day.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

So I think I'm trying to remember the name of my friend's podcast. Uh they used my theme song as well. Actually, this uh the track me and you did swag uh Mega Powers. They still used that as their podcast.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Uh Mega Powers, nice.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Yeah. Uh I'm trying to think what else happened at night. Oh, we went to uh Swerve had a show that night as well at the same bar. It was just a Swerve show. Uh so went in there, went back into VIP, ran performed at that. And uh Mama Wayne in person, I get it now.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Oh, you're talking about Nick Wayne?

SPEAKER_04 37:24

Nick Wayne's mom, yeah. Mama Wayne. Bruh, bruh. As a man who uh definitely dabbles in the MILF, we we we completely understand that.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Bruh, I walked into that shit and I was just like, oh, oh, I get it. You are stunning in person. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 37:44

And uh lucky man.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

I I again I had to do one of those things like pretend like I didn't know who you were because she was also hanging out with JoJo, Oprah Wise uh widow. Uh I have no idea why they did this. It was a beautiful moment, but I have no idea why they did this. Uh, after Sware performed, Sword was DJing, and they had Jojo go on stage. It's not a real stage, you have to like climb this DJ booth to stand up. And uh JoJo was intoxicated, as she has every right to be, but they played Braised Theme, and I'm like, why are we doing this towards the end of the night where now you have to cry? Now the whole audience is crying. Oh no. And I'm just like, bro, it was beautiful. I was glad to like experience that, but my god. Uh but cool moment, nonetheless. Cool moment nonetheless. So shout out to Swordshow as well.

SPEAKER_04 38:43

Can I ask, was it his newer one or was it the newer one?

SPEAKER_02 38:48

The newer one.

SPEAKER_04 38:49

And I feel like the the older one would have hit a little bit better though. Like it's uh, but that's just me personally. Anyway, uh, so your experience overall, you could say, from Thursday all the way up to the end of the week was some kind of iconic moment. And you know, we still want to also talk about the actual wrestling itself, because uh I would like to get your opinions on you know specific matches of night one, night two as well.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

So I mean, oh I

Sandman Last Match At Spring Break

SPEAKER_00 39:15

was also there for Sam Man's last match at Joey Janella's spring break. I was also there for that.

SPEAKER_03 39:21

Ooh, tell me how about because like he was he went up against the invisible man, right?

SPEAKER_04 39:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Yes. Okay. Uh so we we we make it a spring break. Spring break itself is just a clusterfuck of cool shit. That's that's the best way I could put it. Especially uh like the Jungle Boy entrance where he he pulled up in the truck and the doors came out, and he came in, the whole crowds were rushing him. Uh so all the matches itself were were were fun. The latter match in the beginning, when he broke the ring belt, the top rope somehow, and he started to do this whole match. Insane. Uh but going for Sandman's last match in particular, the energy was better than anything in night one. I'm not even lying.

SPEAKER_04 40:11

So we actually hear the answer to the Sandman theme? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

They played it four times.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 40:18

Bro, I I was I got a video, I was doing it with him. Sandman's here, I got a beer in my hand. I'm fucking doing the entrance with Sandman, bro. This was insane. So shout out. The match was the most overbooked craziness I've ever seen in my fucking life. The pop when Mick Foley came out was insane. Yes, Mick Foley came out.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Yeah, bro. And sold for the invisible man was insane.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

So I don't know, maybe if you watched on TV, the match was stupid. Just being here live and just like enjoying it. Cause you gotta remember, wrestling is dumb. And then in the day, wrestling is dumb and fun. And we 100% got to got to fucking watch Sandman's last match, and then I got to party with him at Nerd Bar afterwards. So shout out to that.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

Oh man, yeah. Ooh, that's oh yeah. That's listen, the jealousy doesn't end, huh?

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Bro, if you are a wrestler and you're going to Vegas, go to Nerd Bar. They will take care of you. Top ten menu I've been I've been to. Sandman was there, MVP was there, uh Wesley was in there at that time as well. Rob Van Damme was there the other night. We went after uh night two. It was just insane. Insane bad.

SPEAKER_03 41:50

So you really uh you so you saw is right, but you didn't get pictures with everyone, I'm I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

I didn't get pictures with everybody just because they're chilling too. At some point. Yeah. Uh I gotta I gotta chop it up with Enzo. Got a picture with him. Uh you know my history with Enzo. Yes. You know my history with Enzo. Got to tell him the time by cosplaying them all and that. That's talk football. It was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Oh man, you should have sent you should have sent him the song.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

I should have, but in that moment, uh again, he's chilling.

SPEAKER_04 42:24

Yeah, you want to respect the fact that he's chilling.

unknown 42:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

A lot of these guys are just chilling. Uh MVP, he's a really cool dude. Just uh make sure you say please. Anything you want for MVP, he will do it if you say please. If you don't say please, MVP will not entertain you. Just listen learn. So at a he taught he taught me that one. Uh trying to remember who else, brother. I it literally got to a point where I was just numb. I got to hang out in the micro wrestling ring.

SPEAKER_03 42:58

The micro wrestling ring.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

You know the the the the Danhausen micro the Oh okay.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

Oh they wrestled over there.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

They have a wrestling ring in the back, and he wrestled in Nerd Bar. So they were all there.

SPEAKER_04 43:12

It makes sense why they were at me.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Yeah, they their home base is there. And they're literally all in a Danhausen gear still around the bar.

SPEAKER_03 43:21

Oh, that's that's dope. Hell yeah, for that WrestleMania payday for them. Oh yeah. Well deserved.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

Oh yeah, 100%. Uh Jacob chilled off for like two seconds, it dipped out.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

I was about to say, I'm pretty certain that he actually uh like literally in the midst of that, like that little segment with Dan Housing and all of them. Like the one who like punched what's his name in the nuts, like I think he actually like name name dropped him. Like I I think he said the guy's name, like his actual like working name or something.

SPEAKER_04 43:55

He was like, Oh, it's Dan Houser?

SPEAKER_03 43:57

Yeah. I I'm pretty certain he did. It was specifically the one who like him and he was like so-and-so.

SPEAKER_04 44:06

I didn't catch it. I mean, maybe I didn't know that was working. So I think we knew what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

But yeah. Yeah, bro. There's just so much wrestling happening there. Uh, because again, we walked back at Fremont and they're still doing a they're doing a Sabu Memorial that whole weekend. So like Joey Chanello was there, and we came back and Top Flight was having a tag team match. Just walking. You just walk out of the end of Fremont and then you just see Top Flight having a match in the ring. So Top Flight? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:38

Oh, yeah. And this was all in all this is before the actual WrestleMania.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

Yeah. Uh before and after, yeah. It was insane. Insane. Um Russell Khan was also pretty lit as well. So on Sunday before Mania, Russell Khan is free. Just a heads up. You can get into Russell Khan for free before uh because it's it's shorter. So you can you can walk in and meet a bunch of people. So I got to that's why I got to talk to Enzo, Thunder Rosa, Will Osprey, uh Melina.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

Oh, spray, oh

WrestleCon Runs And Budget Tips

SPEAKER_02 45:15

spray.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

And uh have my moment with Melina. Shout out to Melina.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

Shout out to you getting that. See, I I was I was too uh I was too scared the the look the last time I was uh face to face with Melina. Brother because he was there, he was all like, bro, go do it. I'm like, I don't know, bro.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

I don't brother, me too. Uh shout out to my boys. They they knew somebody that knew Melina. They had had Melina stop and we shot the shit and took a picture with him.

SPEAKER_04 45:51

Yeah, I was saying uh Swag may not see this photo, and he did.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

Listen, listen, I'm already a hating ass nigga as at in regards to his experience. Like I I made it very clear, and I was like, hey, yo, listen, don't take it personal. I'm just a jealous guy. I'm and I'm it's just it's gonna be that way for like a couple of weeks. Just I'll get back to being your friend and loving you afterwards, but for now, like, fuck you.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

Just uh this is what I was gonna say about mania. It's it's it's more or less about the actual main event of Mania and going around and seeing everything else. There was there was a map of everything that you could do, and it was insane how much you can do that week. So that's what you get your money's worth. Now for WWE World itself, I feel like you they were charging $385 for five days. For um, and that's not including uh, you know, photo ops with people. Like they would it was for extra except for the except for the free there's free people there, but it was literally all the free people were the people that were uh released afterwards, so that was kind of sad.

SPEAKER_03 47:07

That's actually crazy. Now you said it was five days?

SPEAKER_00 47:12

Yes. So it was Thursday, uh, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. So Okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:20

Well, now now when you think of it that way, it's that's not that in itself isn't too crazy, especially with how much money I know you and I spend on like cons.

SPEAKER_00 47:32

I will say you kind of get your money's worth really quickly. It because you for you to get a lot of stuff done in WWE World, you you really have to hang out the entire day there to see stuff.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

Uh I mean like I hung out to the end and and Undertaker was doing a podcast with John Cena there. So that was cool. But you just you really have to like devote your whole day to WWE world to get your money's worth. Um because you could do everything in a single lap. The it was, you know, it was photo op areas areas, the top booths were pretty cool. You get free tops cards, and we were handing out free drinks and stuff like that. But after you did like one lap, you kind of saw it all.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

I see.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

So like you you really wanted to like hang out by the ring to to watch. Like the 2K uh thing was pretty cool. Tyler Breeze was playing 2K against kids at the booth, so like that was pretty cool to see at the end.

SPEAKER_03 48:33

Um did you do the chair shot game?

SPEAKER_00 48:37

No, no, I did not. My friend uh Derek broke his hand on the punching game. They had like a UFC punch dummy. And uh so Derek is a big dude. He looks like Oba Femi, I kid you not. Like height and build. And uh he had the high score last year, and then this year he did it again, and uh wanted to do the high score again and continue with his punch and hit the metal. So he had the high score, but his hand was definitely definitely bruised up. Uh the there was no chance of you getting the picture of like they had a picture where you had to jump off the top rope into a ring, and it'll give you a trading card afterwards. There was no shot of you doing that. They capped that line off every single time. You had to be there right when they opened. Damn.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

That would have been dope. That's kind of dope.

SPEAKER_00 49:35

Just do a Yeah, they capped that off really fast. Me as a nerd, as an action figure nerd, I enjoyed the Mattel booth and seeing all the figures that are coming out. So that was cool. Uh the superstore itself was intense. The only thing I left with was his WrestleMania jacket, which the prices in there are insane. This was $65. That's that was why I decided.

SPEAKER_03 50:01

I mean, $65, that's kind of standard hoodie price. So I can't, I'm not mad at it, but I also ain't buying it.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

This is the only one I wanted because I literally uh I got the one from Tampa in their superstore. I didn't get the one in Orlando, and that was like my biggest regret. So I'm like, all right, anytime there's a medium nearby, I'm grabbing this jacket. I just love the little emote thumb holes. And this jacket still has the headphone like hider where we used to put the cables in the back. That's what's I've always loved this jacket. What's up?

SPEAKER_03 50:40

You and is this your second WrestleMania?

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Yes, I did not go to the one in Tampa.

unknown 50:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:48

Because I did the events around I did events around Tampa. I went to Blood Sport and stuff like that, but I didn't go to Mania itself.

SPEAKER_03 50:55

Yeah, because that was also during the COVID times. And I do remember the fact that you did do those things and I wanted to, but uh I had a very fresh tiny human at the time, and uh I couldn't run the risk.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

Man, I'm running the risk now, bro.

Talent Hotel Swarms And Fan Etiquette

SPEAKER_00 51:10

I came back that flight home, I definitely nothing says back to reality than being sick. Oh, I guess I should talk about the controversy with the host hotel. I was there. The talent hotel.

SPEAKER_04 51:23

Wait, which one are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 51:25

The MGM. Where CM Punk got that. I I wasn't there for the CM Punk part of it, but I definitely ended up in the host hotel for the talent is uh to hang out with our homie uh Antonio. Um and then hang out with Woods uh for a bit, because every woods came down. And then uh shout out to Kofi's brother, Kwame. Love that guy. Kofi's brother is really cool, people. Uh but bro, the way these fans were swarming talent was insane. Bro, I Charles Robinson stopped for a second to talk to us, and that one second that he talked to us, that turned into Charles Robinson being there for 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 52:14

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

And I'm talking about and Charles Robinson was so nice. He was taking he's taking pictures, like doing pinfalls for people and all that, all 10 yards. Bro, Lyra Valkyria was walking by us and she was swarmed. And like it was insane how these people were just swarming talent. Like Woods had to come like incognito to see us. So like he just popped in and kind of like hung in the middle of us just to hang out, and then Woods, like, alright, I gotta go.

SPEAKER_03 52:49

Yeah. Before he gets caught. Man, that's crazy. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 52:52

I'm surprised nobody didn't go like face mask and like try to be the super discreet, but I mean, how discreet can you be before people just chase you down?

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Bro, uh the person who handled it the best to me was Jay Cargell. Because she walked by me, didn't entertain a single fucking person, just kept going.

SPEAKER_04 53:11

I mean, in character, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

Oh, and oh in in pure aura, I'm like, oh my god, Jade, yes, just keep going. But a lot, a lot more talent were coming to like you're trying to be incognito as possible. Like I saw Mia M walking through, and she was like kind of high her head down, and I didn't want to blow up her spot. I was like, all right, you just hi. You know, just keep on going.

SPEAKER_03 53:35

I think when it comes to like people like the three of us, like which like goes into that whole fact of like, you know, we don't go and we ask for pictures, and you know, whenever we do see these people, we we try to approach them as as nor uh we try to approach them as normally as we possibly can, knowing how big of an impact on our lives they make. You know, it's like but I think if it be if only others could keep that peace in mind. Energy, bro. Like if if because like if they could keep that kind of because when you keep that kind of peace in mind and you approach someone in like, you know, in that kind of a way, or you know, like not over crazy, not being overstimulated, like nine times out of ten, sometimes they'll be all like, so you want a picture?

SPEAKER_04 54:29

Y'all you want to like hey, yeah, like you treating me like a human. And I think that's just anybody in general, where if you remember that yes, they are a talent, but they are a person behind that. And so many of my experiences as a wrestling fan, shit, when James Storm was I was working at Universal Studios, and that was when TNA, well, TNA is somewhat still there, but I backstage and James Storm's like, hey man, could you give me an ride? I said, Yeah, give me one second. Boom, we got in the ride. And afterwards, he saw me, he was shooting the shit with me for a second. He said, Hey you want a beer? I said, I'm on the clock, no? And then he and I was like, I'm a big fan, and you this is now. Oh, you want to photo? I can't, but cannot do this shit. And I remember sending it to the group chat and just meeting Cody Rhodes, meeting Seamus, meeting Roman Reigns, and I'm like in front of a uh actual ride, and all of a sudden, it's fucking Roman Reigns. Holy shit. And he was like, hey, can I come through? Yeah, big man. Yeah, go ahead. Go, go ahead. And just keeping calm, but like, again, remembering they are still people.

SPEAKER_00 55:34

There's a there's a five balance you gotta have. You gotta remember that they're human, but don't get too comfortable with them. They're not your boys, you know. You'll don't go up to one of the Usos and be like, what's up, Joshua? Like, don't follow by the street. I see if the rand told me somebody did that.

SPEAKER_03 55:51

Oh, that's anyway. That's how you get that's how you get busted in your face, dog.

SPEAKER_00 55:56

So like there's a fine balance, treat them like they're there's normal dudes, but like even when I was hanging out with Woods, I was like, I don't know if I should be calling you Xavier because that's my name. We had a moment, but someone said Xavier, and we both looked, which was pretty funny. That's great. And I was like, which Xavier on that point? But like, you know, like there's but you gotta have that balance. Like, you gotta treat it like, yo, there as performers ourselves, you know, once we get step off the stage, we need that 10-second break of like, hey, energy high, I'll meet you in my merch booth. I never want to stop when I get off stage. Get me to my merch booth, and that's when I can turn back on. So I can't imagine a wrestler coming off that bigger stage like that, just trying to get to their hotel room. Like, they need a moment to be off the clock. Yes, and and I the fact that we knew where the talent was staying at, that's not cool, man. I mean, I was there to see one friend, I wasn't there to swarm talent. It was kind of cool when it was like, oh, hey, that's cool. You know, that was BFAP. Oh, that's dope. Let her keep walking. Like it that's how I kind of treated that situation.

SPEAKER_03 57:11

But actually made me think about uh when we went to uh the River City uh show.

SPEAKER_02 57:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:21

And just so happening, we were actually staying in the hotel that hosted like all the wrestlers. So we're standing in line trying to get our keys, and like Kurt Angle comes in. Um uh a little person boogeyman was in there acting a fucking fool, might I add. God damn. Damn, that was a blur, bro.

SPEAKER_04 57:43

Like that was like three years ago. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 57:47

Listen, it was damn, that was three years ago. We're gonna we're gonna have to we gotta figure out another way to get it.

SPEAKER_04 57:51

We gotta get out there again, man. Riverside, yo, if you wanna if you wanna get us in that uh media, allow us to interview some people, that'd be great. You might have to apply for that, really. We tried that. We tried. We tried. Especially for the most recent one. But I think what I need to do is I might have to do a little bit of digging, like in my current bookings that I'm currently taking. Uh, I had to do some digging. Now I'm going to Minnesota, uh St. Louis, not St. Louis, yeah, St. Louis, Missouri. Um, and I'm going back to Chicago again. So I'm just my bookings is I'm I'm gonna be around. So I think I'm gonna have to try to find the same similar method that I was doing for what I'm currently doing for the pod, possibly. But um, you know, and say I appreciate you telling us your experience as a fan going to Mania. And I was telling Swag, I feel like a bigger flex would be going to Russell Kingdom on you. You'd be like, but how many motherfuckers is doing this though? And uh I I

Future Mania Plans And Saudi Talk

SPEAKER_04 58:50

would just say in general, you said what?

SPEAKER_00 58:53

That's the goal next right there.

SPEAKER_04 58:55

That is the goal next, yes. That is the brass ring to me. And even if the even if the wrestle kingdom isn't that crazy, it's just but the bitch, I was there.

SPEAKER_03 59:06

I mean, that's actually a real that would be actually a really cool goal to be like, you know what, for the main promotions, I need to go to the WrestleMania's. That's we gotta hit those.

SPEAKER_04 59:14

Ooh, like at least one every promotion. Look, I'm definitely doing stardom if that's the case, bro. I I there oof, after seeing what um Oakir, the uh the queen, what's her name? Um why can I not think of her name right now? Oh the main star of stardom right now, the not Phoenix Queen. Is it Phoenix Queen?

SPEAKER_00 59:39

Uh you lost file. I don't know Josh like that. Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_03 59:42

Huh. I can't think of I can't think of the person you're specifically.

SPEAKER_04 59:45

I can't think of her name. And it's so and it's so bad because I should fucking know her name. But I can't think of it right now.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

But her thing is part of we'll we'll we'll ABR this part with the name.

SPEAKER_04 59:56

Nah, fuck that. Uh, first off, I'm the new Japan guy. I'm not the stardom guy, okay? That would be our boy Grizzly FOG. He is the stardom guy. He'd be watching that video. Shout out to Grizz.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

I actually ran into him. I ran into Grizz at uh at Nerd Bar in Vegas. Wow. Damn.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:12

Yeah, yeah. I saw you was there too.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:14

Talk about some small world shit then.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

Yeah, I ran into Grizz. That was that was fun. Uh shout out to Grizz. He was cool. Uh he was there for uh our trivia night. We got the host. That was pretty lit. Nice, nice, nice.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:26

But I think you could cap off everything by saying Mania Weekend was fun, even though the first night wasn't that great, but at least the Mania Weekend was an experience.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:37

It was, I don't know when, if I ever do it again. At least I got to do it. Because I always said, like, my first mania, I didn't know better. I didn't know about the events outside of Mania. I only went to WrestleCon and Mania itself. But if you go to WrestleMania, go for the week. Go, don't just put all your bags into the WWE event and stuff at all. There's a lot of great indie wrestling that's happening, a lot of great just talent, period. From musical performances to wrestling to podcasting, there's so much that you can do to go check out. Insane. 10 out of 10. Will I be going to Saudi Arabia? Fuck no.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:19

Because we don't got that A-Ray money. No.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:24

I'm good. I'm good. Not just that, but there's a lot of stuff going on over there. That too.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:29

That too. I mean, I don't know. I don't know where I'm gonna be future manias. If this was, you know, the ad mania of it all is losing his luster with that. Especially they they blocked out uh like Raw. You couldn't watch Raw at a sports bar. That's it. So we're literally watching Raw on our phones. Um there's a lot of money with Mania, but just budget it out and make a list of what you want to do. That's that's my only advice I can give. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:10

It makes me wonder what they're going to do for next year. Since WrestleMania is over there, like, is there going to be like a wrestling event in this?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

What I know, uh Russell Khan is not going over there. Yeah. Uh I don't know if they're doing something here. But I would assume. I would assume.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

But then it's like if they do something. But what the question would be, where do they do it?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:35

A lot of this mania felt like uh hurrah, the last hurrah for a lot of these events. Bloodsport, that was our last one in Vegas this time. Okay. So it you definitely got the sense of we are all going out big here. That's what everybody felt like that week. We were all gonna have a great time. We're going out big. It felt like a season finale almost, a media week. Weirdly enough.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:04

So probably uh we you have to see where they would probably do it at, but it is a good thing to kind of keep in mind because yes, they probably still would do WW World over there because they already have their um memorable area where all that stuff people can go to.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:20

So I I definitely would be curious, but I mean like all the other events, because I know ain't nobody else. Like it's funny because when I think about it, there's a part where I feels like everyone who's gonna be in Saudi Arabia for next year's WrestleMania are just going to be everyone who is WWE. Oh, that's like I don't like I don't imagine other wrestlers are gonna be like, yeah, sure, I'm gonna go fight I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:50

There was a viral video from the Royal Rumble I saw on TikTok where somebody bought a ticket for the Royal Rumble, and the ticket was like $18 for the seat. It was more expensive for the flight because how Saudi Arabia is priced differently and how they pay for it all. So like the tickets ourselves to the event is pretty cheap. It's just getting there. So take that as you will. I'm not going.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:15

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:16

No, no, I'm I'm not going, but uh no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:21

Nope. Especially no new day. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:26

RKO yourself. Like, come on. Yeah. I like that. I'm stealing that. There's there's a there's a picture. There's a picture, I'll send it to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:39

Oh my god!

SPEAKER_03 1:04:42

There's that one. There's also there's also delete yourself like this. Yo, that's 2000 like 13, my nigga. That's just crazy, bro.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:53

RKA2 yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

Now of of the two nights, like, so I know you said what saved things

Night Two Match That Stopped The Party

SPEAKER_03 1:05:00

for you for night one was the uh was Gunther and um Seth and Seth. All right. So what was your match for night two?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:13

Um CM Punk and Roman. I that whole that whole watch party was quiet watching that now. You know what it is to get a Vegas party to all just be yeah, no, that's that's that's intense. Bro, the whole Vegas watch party glued in people were like cheering for like kickoffs and shit like that. That match was insane in the intensity of like again, I'm at a fucking pool party, my guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:48

Like we're supposed to be like splashing around, whatever, no, everyone getting lit, everyone's like at the uh at the edge of the pool.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

Happening right now, bro. Real craps. Like that match was that.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:05

That's crazy because I know I know for me, out of all the matches in the pay-per-view, um at the very beginning, that match was the absolute least like the the one match that I had absolutely no care about. Like I when they when they were saying like, oh, these two are gonna go up against each other, oh fuck this match. And then out of all the match buildups that they had, somehow, and I won't even say somehow, because let's just be real. I'm gonna call the spade the spade. CM Punk is just good at what the fuck he does. And Roman Reigns did a fantastic job of at least matching the energy in his way with CM Punk to make this match go from who cares, this feels like it's just meant to get my money, to alright, maybe I will spend the money. Because they made it important. Because they, for me, they took nothing and they really made it something. Which literally is something that WrestleMania used to be really, really good at. Because the person who runs the wins the Royal Rumble oftentimes has absolutely nothing to do with the person who they're about to have this title match with, usually, or they may not have like some any kind of like past, you know, correlation or history with each other. But in the event like how I wished the Stephanie Vacare and uh and Liv Morgan match was, like how that kind of came to be, and then like the buildup for it, the build-up for it, uh, it kind of missed. They tried to pick it up the pieces at the end to make me care, and they almost had me carrying, and then they shot on in at the actual match. Literally. But this Roman Reigns one, they they did everything, and then by the time it got to the main to the actual match, it was literally at that very moment, I'm like, damn. So WrestleMania just started.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:22

This is when I actually cha-ching.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:25

This is where the money is. That match, again, that match was just on a whole nother level. I don't know. I can't imagine watching it somewhere else. So, like, again, party environment, everybody stopped. Like, I think even the DJ at that point was just locked in. Like it it it was insane. Uh the Oba Brock match was also really dope because uh we didn't make it to the party yet. We had stopped in a on a random floor that had a bunch of the screens going. So we were watching it with no sound. So the only sound came from us. Just like what the fuck is happening. So that was also like a second hide for me right there.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:03

But I was I'm that is wrestling now. That is the beauty behind wrestling.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:07

So yeah. I I just I feel like you know, sorry. Um you are familiar with the Power Rangers movie, right? The originals uh Rand ruined the song for me. Uh you remember the song Uh-oh, we're in Trouble?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:24

Yes. That's Liv Morganstein. Not really, uh oh.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:34

He's listening back and forth like the energy of it both before. Oh travel, travel. No.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:45

Oh. Because we were at I forgot where we were at. We were at um the Gold and Silver Pond for Pond Stars, and we were playing the song. And I was like, oh yeah, I'm sticking to the song because I love this song. And Rand goes, isn't it just Lip Morgan's theme? I'm like, is that why I kind of like Lip Morgan's theme? Fuck. That's why. Sorry, I it was ruined for me. I have to ruin it for everybody else.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:11

Oh yeah, no, that's the that's the thing we always do in every situation.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:15

If I had to see it, nigga, you do too. I'm disgusted.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:19

Uh like the uh one thing I showed swag recently, where it's just like one guy who like somebody presents a food, swipe his arm of uh trays off the table. So stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:33

But um overall, I'm glad that you my brain right now just there it's you clipped that one. There you go. Take that.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:45

Apparently.

Listener Stories And Subscribe Push

SPEAKER_04 1:10:46

But um, we we definitely want to say we appreciate you coming to the pod and giving us your experience and even other wrestling fans who might have been curious about like how is WrestleMania weekend and should I attend? Well, obviously, don't 10 43, but if you're gonna attend in the future, here's a good reason why. And as always here at the Big Brothers of Destruction podcast, we just ask that you, if you have any of your own personal experiences from different WrestleMania, uh please comment below. And please, if you haven't yet, show slam that like button, tombstone that subscribe button, because again, we are always here with new content every week. And Swag, I think, has to mention something that we did get the chance to talk about what uh what is coming up soon.

Upcoming Interviews And AEW Plans

SPEAKER_03 1:11:29

Oh, yes, yes, because uh I'm I'm glad you did that, because I was just gonna interrupt you in the middle of your speech. Uh I know. So just to throw it out there, you know, for the next couple of weeks coming up, because we've been cooking, we've been doing a lot of talking, we got some interviews coming in. You thought Ray Zion's was uh was great. We got some fantastic indie wrestlers that are going to be coming through, sharing their uh stories, giving us some insight, shoot, even preaching to us a little bit. You know, it's uh there's we've had some and we got plenty on the way. We already got a couple in the chamber. We will be seeing those coming up real soon. And then uh somewhere in the midst of that, we're finally going to have that AEW episode. It's overdue. And AEW, we haven't we we haven't been able to talk about it a lot because, well, you know, we gotta get the WrestleMania stuff out the way. You're evolving also. But but now, AEW, it's finally time for us to it's time to have that conversation. So it's coming. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:40

Absolutely, absolutely. And Zay, as well, thank you for coming by and hanging out with us again. Just make sure you clean up your message. You're gonna go through our fridge and whatnot. But don't worry, don't worry.

Final Sign Off

SPEAKER_04 1:12:52

Until next time, like I said before, uh, the ring is sacred. The questions are real, and the destruction is guaranteed. So uh, for here with the Big Brothers of Destruction podcast, it's your boy, Sugoy the Monster Coup. And it's your boy, Swag Switch, in the building.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:10

And it's your favorite sad boy, Lorzay. Thank you guys for having me.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:14

Absolutely. Until next time, guys, have a good one. We'll see you soon.