Taylor and Hardcore Holly autograph
One of my tickets to WrestleMania
One of my tickets to Fan Axxess
This page will include the story of the trip I take to WrestleMania. I'll put up off camera notes, what happened at Axxess, and who I saw there. I'll be sure to put up pictures that I took myself from Axxess, and from WrestleMania as soon as I get back, as well as pictures of any autographs I get. If anyone ever wished to go to WrestleMania, this page is to try to let them know what it is like.
On March 17, 2002 I will attend my first live WWF event in at least 7 years. I have never gone to a RAW, Smackdown, or PPV before in my life and have only seen the WWF in a small local gym. Going from a local gym to the Toronto Skydome for the greatest WWF PPV of all time is a huge step and I am overwhelmed.
This is something I have been waiting for, and on the 15th, my sister, April, and I are heading to Toronto from North Adams, MA. She is 19 and I am 16 and this is the biggest trip we have ever taken (without our parents). My expectations are very high, and I'm sure the whole weekend will be amazing.
Right now I am planning to attend Axxess on Saturday, therefore we would have to leave North Adams on Friday and stay overnight in Toronto on Friday night, Saturday night, and finally Sunday night as well. We will miss school on Friday and Monday (I miss high school and she'll miss two days at UMASS).
I first got the idea about going to WM when I heard it was coming to Toronto. When visiting a college in Pennsylvania we stopped at Niagara Falls, Canada on the way back. When I heard WM was coming to Toronto, I knew it wasn't much further than that. I decided that it was a possibility and went along with it. Even though we only went 5 minutes into Canada, it was pretty cool, and I can't wait to return, this time to Toronto. I also knew that it would only be a 10-12 hour drive (I can't believe I said only a 10-12 drive).
I put all of my energy into this trip, as well as my money. As soon as I heard about WrestleMania possibly coming to Toronto, I wanted to get tickets. I researched everything about WM, until November 2, where I heard that there would be a special on sale for special customers. I was one of those customers and was able to get ringside seats before the tickets officially went on sale Saturday, November 3rd.
I planned on getting two tickets for ringside. The tickets I wanted were not the very front rows, but the section behind them. I got two tickets for Section Flr b10 (click here for a floor seating chart). The tickets were app. $172 each (US dollar), and I paid for both, but I don't mind. I also am paying for the hotel, food when we get there, supplies, as well as anything else. I told April that this is my trip and I will pay because she doesn't even like wrestling so she just went so that I could go (my mom or dad can't stand it). I have already spent about $700 and we havn't even got on the road yet. I really don't care about the money because this is something that I have always wanted to do, so I'm not going to hold back. I am also trying to find someone to tape the event for me, so that I don't have to wait until it comes out on VHS or DVD. Even though I will be there live, it will be a thrill to see how it came across on TV, with the announcing and up close camera shots, things I will miss. I'll definately want to buy the DVD when it comes out, as well as maybe the VHS version. I'll also want to buy any other extra little things that they end up selling (like for WM X7 they sold a plaque of Austin with a piece of the mat in it). The best part of this trip is that I will never forget it. I can always look back and say I want to WrestleMania X8 at the Toronto Skydome, no one can take that away.
This trip is gonna be 3 full days of mayhem, but I will love every second of it. I can't wait and hope nothing goes wrong.
I plan on bringing numerous one time use cameras, probably 5, to use for Axxess, then I will also bring one camera and a lot of film for WrestleMania. This is a once in a lifetime chance and I don't ever want to forget it, so the more pictures, the better, in my opinion. I want to bring food to eat so that we don't have to spend any extra money on food when we get there. I really don't want to spend any more money than I have to, since the cost of the trip was underestimated by me by a lot. For a sign, I'm still not sure what sign I want to bring to the event. I plan on bringing one if I can think of anything to put on it. I don't want anything negative and I want something that thanks the superstars. They put their bodies on the line in every match, just watch the Desire videos to find out what I mean. I may bring a "Hogan made Wrestling" sign, but I'm not really sure. Either that or something that shows my love of wrestling would be good. I always remember a sign a long time ago on WWF TV, it was sometime in 1998 I think on RAW is WAR, and it said "Give me Wrestling or Give me Death." I would really like that but I don't want to steal someone else's idea. If you have any good ideas for a sign, send them to my e-mail address, which can be found on the main page.
Make sure to check back after WM, because I will tell about my experience and how everything went. Thanks.
-John
