Wrestlemania Week in Las Vegas

Over 30 years ago I attended my first ever Wrestlemania at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. It was a memorable event for many reasons. As Wrestlemania grew bigger and more grand over the years I waited for them to bring it back to Vegas. And though the WWE would come through town every couple of years, they kept bringing the Showcase of the Immortals to the same cities year after year. Finally, the announcement came that Wrestlemania 41 would be held in Sin City at Allegiant Stadium and they'd be bringing all the bells and whistles with it. To say I was excited was an understatement!

Here is my first-hand account of Wrestlemania week in Las Vegas.

Vegas is my hometown. I'm a native, born and bred. There aren't many of us left. So, when I tell you my town transformed into wrestling central the week of Mania, believe me when I say it transformed! Hotels that weren't even hosting wrestling related events were smart enough to promote the event. Wrestlemania was on track to bring in thousands of visitors and quite a bit of money for the city.

We started our adventure at WWE World, the convention that follows Wrestlemania like a traveling circus. To be honest, this is what I was most excited to see...almost more than the matches themselves. Because WWE didn't start making this an annual thing until Wrestlemania X, which means I missed it by one year! It didn't disappoint and that first day the place was packed!

It actually took a couple of days to see everything because there was always something going on that grabbed our attention. On day one it was the appearance of my favorite growing up, HBK Shawn Michaels. When his theme music hit unexpectedly, I turned into a child again! I felt that same way when Stone Cold Steve Austin surprised everyone at the entrance area to instruct fans how to properly enter for a match.

It was also incredibly special to watch the Slammy Awards live. I've been following WWE for decades and the Slammys used to be THE award show until they started the Hall of Fame. Speaking of which, that was another highlight of the week. At first, I wasn't sure I would make it to the Hall of Fame after WWE moved the event from the stadium hosting Smackdown to the Fontainbleau. Again, I know Vegas and traffic sucks at that time of night. So getting from Tmobile to Fontainbleau in time was going to be a chore. But I couldn't stand the thought of missing Triple H get inducted that year and I'm glad I chose to go.

Wrestlemania itself wasn't without its problems. Whoever designed the arena seating messed up everything by using moveable riser seats and butting them right up against the area where I'd bought my tickets. Trying to get that fixed was a nightmare and I wound up missing part of night one. Honestly, it tainted my Wrestlemania experience and for the amount of money they charged for tickets, someone should be held accountable. I've never had a good experience at Allegiant Stadium.

Fortunately, the rest of the events turned out to be a blast. The RAW after Wrestlemania is notoriously one to remember and it had a great deal of fun surprises. We wrapped it up with the NXT TV taping which brought us up close to all the action.

All in all, I am happy to have crossed this experience off my bucket list. If WWE brings Wrestlemania back to Cyn City, I'll be doing things alot differently. But, we live for experiences and this is one for the books.

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Cynthia is a multi-award winning author and fitness writer. Contact me today for editorial content and media strategy that captivates your audience and compels them to take the desired action.