| From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com Mike Rickard Wrestlemania Weekend kicked off on Friday in Detroit, Michigan at the Marriot Hotel at the Renaissance Center. Thousands of fans from around the world checked into the hotel Friday evening as part of the WWE’s Wrestlemania Travel Package. The travel package included tickets for Wrestlemania, hotel accommodations at the Marriot and access to various Wrestlemania weekend events. While the registration lines were long, they moved quickly and the registration process was quick and painless. Fans were treated to a welcome package which included a souvenir book, a Wrestlemania travel bag, a Wrestlemania teddy bear, and a Wrestlemania CD case.
Friday evening saw the first official event of Wrestlemania Weekend, the premiere of the new WWE Films feature The Condemned starring “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. The world premiere was held at the historic Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan and was open to anyone who purchased Wrestlemania travel packages from the WWE. WWE superstars were on hand to screen the film including John Cena, JBL, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, and Kane (to name a few) as well as WWE Legends like Arn Anderson and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. The rowdy crowd seemed to enjoy the film and they definitely enjoyed Stone Cold’s performance. After the film, Austin came out to thank the audience for their support throughout the years and he finished the evening by indulging in his traditional nightcap of beer.
On Saturday morning, the WWE held its Mid-Day Madness event, an autograph session where fans can meet with some of the WWE superstars (as part of the Wrestlemania Travel Package). There were two separate autograph sessions held. According to people who attended the first session, Ken Kennedy, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, and Torrie Wilson.
The session attended by yours truly featured Kane, Candace Michelle, William Regal, and Randy Orton signing autographs. WWE television announcer Todd Grisham was floating around in the line signing autographs and chatting up with fans. After the autograph session, fans were invited to have their picture taken with Rob Van Dam, Lillian Garcia, and Sabu. A complimentary Polaroid was given in a WWE cardboard frame.
Kane and William Regal were especially cordial to the fans and Kane inquired about my World Wrestling Insanity sweatshirt, asking me what Radio Free Insanity was. As he glared at me menacingly, I explained that RFI interviews wrestlers. Just before Kane could chokeslam me, I told him I enjoyed See No Evil and he shook my hand. Kane is huge in person and one of the nicest wrestlers I have ever met. Randy Orton seemed more concerned with chatting with Candace Michelle than acknowledging any of the fans (but in fairness to RKO, I would have done the same thing given the outfit Candace Michelle was wearing and Orton was very cordial with one of my nephews who attended the autograph signing).
The autograph session was well run and things moved quickly despite some very long lines. The wrestlers did not sign personalized autographs and they only autographed the official souvenir book provided to fans at registration. This helped keep the line moving. I didn’t arrive at the autograph session until around 9AM (the official start time) but I only had to wait roughly ninety minutes for the very lengthy line to move. All of the wrestlers were polite to the fans and Todd Grisham went out of his way to keep the fans entertained while they waited in line. When I asked Todd why he had only a half page photo in the souvenir book, he jokingly pointed to a picture of Roadkill and asked “Who is this guy?”. My Audio Update production assistant Mighty Mel remaked on how friendly Grisham was.
Tonight the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Fox Theatre. Inductees include “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, the Wild Samoans, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Mr. Fuji, and Jim Ross. World Wrestling Insanity will have inside coverage of the event so check back later for a report on the show.
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