PS8j - WrestleMainia XVIII (X8)

Sunday morning. I sleep in, then get out of bed to discover that Ruth-Ann and Alex hadn't returned from skiing yet. Well. I give Mike a call, and before I know it I'm on the 88 to St. Clair station, then I'm on the Younge line to Bloor, then I'm on the Bloor line to St. Andrew, then I'm on the Spadina line to Eglinton West, then I walk six blocks east on Eglinton West only to discover that Mike gave me bad directions, then I double back to go west on Eglinton West. As complicated as this sounds, it really wasn't a long trip.

Mike and the gang stayed at their grandparent's about half a kilometre away from the Eglinton West subway station. Mike's grandmother was very kind to me, she fed me quite well and we had a cup of coffee together and a great chat. From left to right: Paul Fox, their grandmother, Michael Fox (you can tell he's a sharp wrestling fan just from the Bret Hart gear), their grandfather, Steve Fox.

The new joker in the middle with the rattlesnake is Joey Campbell, first cousin of the Fox children. Apparently their grandmother is also a Stone Cold fan.

Digression: Horseshoe Lodge and The Descendants

So here I am in Toronto Saturday evening and I call Mike and he suggests we go see Joey's dad and his band preforming that night. Sure, sounds great, so Mike and Joey Jr. pick me up and we hit the 400, and - wow! We're going past Barrie?! (nearly one hundred kilometres up the road) It was a neat trip, on the way I was paying attention to the signs where the road forked, and suddenly we're on the 11, and I say to Mike, "Mike, are you aware that we're going onto the 11 now? Aren't we supposed to stay on the 400?" Then Mike says, "#@%&," so we get to the next exit, turn right, go all the way back into Barrie (this is at nearly 11 o'clock, too), look and drive and look and eventually I manage to get us out of there and back onto the 400. It was epic. But the misadventures didn't end there...

We got to our exit (by now the 400 had degraded from a multilane expressway into something more resembling a "dual cartpath" than a "dual carriageway"), and we drive into a small village, one consisting of an intersection and five buldings - you know the kind of thing I'm talking about - and then we keep going, and apparently we're looking for - well, who knows. We drive clear out past the Horseshoe ski resort complex, too. Then we turn around and go back to the village, and look around the other roads a bit. By now Mike is wondering if Joey Sr. wasn't just playing some big old joke on us. So Mike decided to read Joey's chicken-scratched directions for himself, and he notices something unintelligible scrawled in the corner that wasn't analyzed earlier... Horseshoe Lodge! So we do end up making the show.

We go in, and the place is rockin'! Joey Sr. is the lead singer of a group called The Descendants, and boy, do they know how to get a place moving. Joey Sr.'s a good singer, and he's really sharp, too. He plays the crowd with all kinds of little witticisms, and he's really intelligent and funny all-around. I also met Joey's aunt who was really funny - one of the most beautifully intelligent, candid, and frank women I've ever met - I'd share some of her wisdom with you, but there will be children reading this. =)

It was a blast. Danced a lot, didn't drink much, but I didn't really need to. I could have stayed there all night, but after one o'clock Mike and Joey kind of wanted to go back to Toronto. That night has remained one of my fondest memories of the whole trip, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Here I am wondering why the heck someone would purchase an imitation belt made out of foam.

A short while later, we were at the SkyDome! We got down there shortly after five o'clock. Little did we realize how much time we would be spending outside to get into an event with "doors opening at 5:30."

At the SkyDome, you can just turn your head, and there it is: The CN Tower. Architects will debate about whether or not it qualifies as a 'building' - if it is, it's easily the tallest in the world - or a 'freestanding structure' - even just as that, it is only dwarfed by a television broadcasting attenna in North Dakota. Funny, this photo doesn't make the CN Tower seem all that impressive. I guess it's because you can't see anything much else in the picture, so you're lost for a sense of scale.

Well, we're all set. In for the long haul.

Time: 5:30pm. People are starting to yell "Let us in!" and "Bullshit!" and like things.

That's the route we would eventually traverse to get to our gate. That portion of the walk went quite quickly, actually. The rail tracks below us carry GO commuter trains, VIA rail trains, and CN freight trains towards Union Station to the east.

Time: Around 6. We've made it to the area in front of Gate 14, where we have to enter. To try and see what the holdup is, I resort to using my binoculars. (Always bring your binoculars when travelling!)

Time: Around 7:30pm. Keep in mind the main show starts at 8, and Sunday Night Heat went on the air at 7. The natives are getting restless, and that isn't the first sign they've pulled down this evening. At least they parked a heater truck nearby so we wouldn't freeze, but that did nothing to help the people who periodically yelled out, "I gotta piss!" The sign says, "No audio or video recording devices permitted."

Time: Around 7:45pm. Yes! Made it inside! Now we can say that we were "there" for WrestleMaina XVIII, though we might not have necessiarily seen anything. By this time Mike and Paul and Joey have gotten way ahead of Steve and I.

Time: Ten to eight. This is what happens when I take an overexposed shot while running up the entrance ramp. After a surpsingly quick 'search' of my belongings (I mean, given the insane length of time it took to get in), the floodgates were opened before me.

Here you can sort of see the way they sort us people out - that ramp on the left came from a different gate and probably leads to a lower level of the stadium. Lucky. But I got my binoculars, so everything's cool.

Digression: SkyDome, WrestleMania XVIII

Apparently, WrestleMania XVIII set a new SkyDome attendance record of something north of sixty-eight thousand (68,000) people. Also apparently, the SkyDome entrances were not designed to function smoothly with quite that many people. I'm not complaing too much though, given that I did catch the last minute of Heat and I did see the main show in it's entirety (except for a quick bathroom break during the Austin / Hall match, which I wasn't really that interested in), but I really feel sorry for those poor folks who came down close to seven o'clock - they probably missed the first hour of the show.

All in all, I have to say that the bulding was designed very well. The washrooms were very handy, and exceptionally spacious and expansive (we're talking like fifty urinals here). =)

I actually don't have that much to say about the event except that it was very good. The energy levels in the crowd were extreme, especially during the Rock / Hogan match (as the intelligent Canadian wrestling fans decided to cheer for heel Hogan over the babyface Rock!! Although, much as I tried to convince people around me that that Kurt Angle was the way to go, I was the only one I heard going "Angle!" instead of "You suck!" so maybe Canadian wrestling fans are only intelligent to a certain point.)

The Rock beat Hogan, but what happened afterwards is what will live on forever in wrestling. Hogan made his gestures to indicate that he respected the Rock, they shook hands, the crowd was nuts for Hogan and The Rock - it was a level of sportsmanship unseen for many years in the WWF. The moment will live on forever - the only problem was that when the real Championship match came around, nobody up in the rafters (where the energy levels have to be higher to keep people into it) cared anymore!

Here's the crew again. Will someone tell Joey that the phallic gesture is only funny the first time, no matter how much you like Steve Austin?!

These next few shots will give you an idea of the sheer immensity of the place.

Imagine how long it took to set up all those lights and speakers. Must be dangerous work, too - all that stuff is WAY up above the ground.

Christian! At last, you're on your own! =)

What the ring looks like from the SkyDeck. Hope you brought binoculars!

After the championship match (which went to Triple H), the place emptied pretty bloody quickly. I hung around for a few minutes to take pictures and gather up my stuff, and before I knew it, some members of the SkyDome staff were asking me to leave. Man!

Joey: "Who stole my popcorn?! What?!"

Joey, what's wrong with looking normal for a photograph? =)

Just to prove to you that, yes, I was actually there. =)

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