Wrestlemania XXV - Halifax Style

370 days.

That's how long Alec waited for Wrestlemania XXV.

Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

370 days of anticipation.

He has been following WWE Wrestling for about a year and a half now, and has been looking forward to this event for much of that time.

It's a pretty big deal in the wrestling world.

There is even a website dedicated to The 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania.

It promised to be a good show.

All the boys favourites were in attendance, an explosive main event, and even a Hardy brother against Hardy brother extreme match was on the card.

And for all of us in the crowd who still think 'Old School is COOL!' , some of the Legends returned to grace the ring once more.

Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, Ric Flair, and my personal favourite ...

Rowdy Roddy Piper!

Then

Pic courtesy of 411mania.com

Now

Pic courtesy of PWTORCH.com

MMMMMM. Ever the Hot Rod!

I remember the first Wrestlemania.

Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

I didn't get to watch it that night.

You could only see it either live, or on pay-per-view back then.

And dad wasn't about to pay whatever it cost at the time for a wrestling pay-per-view.

I did get to see it all eventually, and was sucked in. Completely.

Alec got the Wrestlemania XXIV DVD for a grading present last year.

Pic courtesy of Amazon.com

And even before XXIV aired, he was counting down to XXV.

On Sunday, April 5th, from 8pm to 12am the anniversay show was taking place in Dallas Texas.

Since we couldn't all fly to Dallas for the event, we did the next best thing and watched it on the big screen at Empire Theatres, with about 100 of our closest friends ... as opposed to 77,000.

This was part of the boys birthday presents.

The little Wrestlemaniacs in their wrestling attire - hat, t-shirts and most importantly ... BELTS!

We arrived an hour early, because there were LIVE wrestling matches scheduled to take place in the lobby before the show.

Wrestlemania is a four hour super show.

Yes people, that meant FIVE HOURS of wrestling!

FIVE!

Sigh. The things we do for our kids!

We watched for a couple of minutes, went into the theatre and grabbed PRIME seats in the very back row, then went back out to watch the 'matches'.

Couldn't tell you who these guys were. I think I heard the announcer say one of the guys was from Alberta?

Whoever they were, the kids in the audience LOVED them and were right into the whole show.

Bee Dude makes his entrance. Boys were sitting on the ledge, along the widow for most of the show, and had a great view.

The Blue Dude was intense! So was his hair!

When the kids along the ropes yelled at him, he yelled right back LOL

Check out Dude's hair! It should be an illegal weapon!

OUCH!

Suddenly, the two guys from the previous match came out, and then there were four ...

These wrestlers were no Batista, or Triple H, or Undertaker ... but the kids who were there were completely into it, and cheered them on as if they were WWE Superstars LOL.

The boys got to shake the Bee Dude's hand when he left the ring.

In the 'real' pic, you can see their faces, so it's a nice shot :-)

Just before eight, we headed into the theatre, where we saw this ... which was pretty cool ...

While waiting for the show to start, there was a video game on the big screen.

Some guy was walking around the theatre, giving a controller to two kids, and letting them play.

The boys got to play against each other :-)

The boys with one of their friends, waiting patiently, and playing the video game that was on the movie screen.

On the way out, after the show, we stopped and took a pic by the ring.

My future WWE Superstars!

The boys had a great night! And were absolutely exhausted.

We didn't get home until after midnight, so the next morning, I worked from home, and let them sleep in.

When they woke up on their own, I took them down to school, and went into the office.

And that, my friends, is how we celebrated Wrestlemania XXV - Halifax style!

And the countdown to XXVI is on ... Ring that bell boys!

K