By Shawn Valentino, PWTorch specialist

WWE's Extreme Rules 2014 event is now behind us, and I am sure many of us caught it on the WWE Network. You may consider the Network the ultimate wrestling experience, but to really live the fan’s dream is to enjoy WrestleMania Week in-person. It is more than just WWE’s biggest event of the year, but it has become a week-long immersive experience.

I have been to 11 out of the last 12 WrestleManias, and even more exciting than the shows have been the weeks leading into the Showcase of the Immortals. My friends and I stay at the WWE hotels every year, and it is truly out of this world. Here are some notes from behind the scenes at WrestleMania 30.

- The Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria was simply a stunning, luxurious hotel and it was a perfect setting for a vacation, footsteps away from Bourbon Street. It was a surreal experience seeing all of these larger-than-life figures amidst an opulent gold-plated lobby.

- The tone was set on the first night when my friends and I walked across the street to Bourbon Street and ran into Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns for a chat. So, our first outing to one of the biggest party streets on earth literally began with me asking two of WWE’s biggest future stars if they wanted to accompany us to a gentleman’s club.

- You would imagine that wrestlers know how to party, but that week, my group of friends brought the excitement to the hotel. We were having a model search for my company, and the parade of contestants that walked with us through the hotel even made the WWE Superstars turn heads. Thank you to the lovely Southern girls for the hospitality!

- We saw Hulk Hogan numerous times. He was walking gingerly, but he still looked like the Hulkster. Hogan looked like he was in his prime in comparison to Mick Foley, who appeared to be really struggling with his every movement. In contrast, Bruno Sammartino and Larry Zbyszko are much older, but looked fantastic for their age.

- Mr. T was very friendly and took photos and spoke to every fan in the lobby and bar. Thankfully I met him before what I felt was an atrocious Hall of Fame speech, so it actually felt nostalgic.

- Wrestlers could be spotted in various bars on Bourbon Street throughout the week.

- The last time I was in New Orleans was for Mardi Gras, and it was one of the craziest party atmospheres I have seen. While not as debaucherous, it was amazing to see the streets lined with wrestling fans. The wildest scene was when a drunken fool gave a Tombstone Piledriver to his friend on the cement. I had to wince at that one.

- Another classic Bourbon Street memory was when a bicycle cab tried to charge us a ridiculous fare and then started threatening us when we refused to pay it. Sammy Zayn was right there and asked us what was going on and he agreed that it was ridiculous. It was his presence that scared the biker away. NXT to the rescue! When we saw the same biker later he said that we didn’t have any wrestlers there to protect us!

Of course, I could have also used a "bodyguard" when I started talking to a girl at a table and suddenly someone started threatening me to leave. My friend talked some sense into him. Later, I found out that it was MVP.

That paled in comparison to my friend’s Bourbon Street experience. He was at one of the hot spots when a fight broke out allegedly involving Hurricane Helms and Carlito. He tried to help break it up, and he ended up in jail for the night for his troubles!

- We did not even have to go to Bourbon to enjoy the WWE party experience because many of the Superstars were in the hotel bars until late night. The funniest encounter was with The Miz’s dad, the guy that looks like he was transported in time from the '70s. I told him he needs to become a regular on the show. In my opinion, he could not possibly be worse than his son has been the last year or two.

- One of my friends, a superfan known as WWE Superman, walked around the lobby in his Superman costume with the WWE logo. Vince McMahon came up to him and said, “That is awesome.” Mark Henry did not feel the same way because when he asked him for a photo, Henry said, “No way. I’m not posing with you wearing that!”

- The week ended in style as I walked into the end of the exclusive WrestleMania after-party in the posh ballroom of the Waldorf. Interestingly, most of the biggest stars, such as Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Hogan, etc. did not attend the festivity. We did meet Scott Hall, who looked great. We saw him a few times throughout the week, and it was refreshing to see him completely sober despite all the temptation surrounding him.

- The mood after WrestleMania was festive because it was a great show, but the overall feeling was that people were really upset that The Streak ended, especially in the lackluster fashion that the match went down. It was not so much that Lesnar won, it was that something so special finished in anti-climactic fashion.

- Once again, the crowd at Raw the following night was even more prime for the occasion than the night before, and WWE delivered an amazing showcase, and sadly in retrospect, the Warrior’s farewell. The city was also a star of the week because it really helped that all the events were within walking distance so fans could drink all day and night and still easily get to the shows. It was the perfect host city for WrestleMania. Thank you, New Orleans, for one of the greatest weeks of my life!

- OVERALL: It was an amazing week, and it shows that WrestleMania is more than just an event, it is an experience. We were in New Orleans for a week, and there was not a dull moment. From the hotel to the Hall of Fame, and from Bourbon Street to the Mania after-party, it was the ultimate wrestling experience. Sadly, we did not see Ultimate Warrior on his last week because he was not staying at the wrestlers’s hotel, but it is somehow fitting that one of wrestling’s most enigmatic legends remained elusive to the end.




Please send questions, comments and feedback to shawnvalentino@gmail.com and check out my book "The Showstopper Lifestyle" on Amazon. Feel free to add Shawn Valentino on Facebook.

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