Did Miami do a good job as host?
Pretty much yes, the experience was great and the crowd was on fire when it came to the big matches.
Did you attend any other events?
No, I was only there for a day and half for the sole purpose of Wrestlemania. However thanks to some Youtube wrestling mark I was aware that there were plenty of independent events going on at this time of year in Miami.
Yep, about 3 hours before the event began I went to the bayside area. It was gorgeous and a heavenly place to shop and eat. We drove around the city for a bit and to my surprise saw many Wrestlemania promotional posters. Of course 50% of them featured Cena and or Rock but there were others on some of the posters as well.
In reference to the city it was easy to get around. To the arena on the other hand it was more difficult. Through "underhanded driving tactics" we managed to get there before a majority of the others. There were cars lined up for a mile or more all headed to the Sunlife so you can imagine traffic was enormous.
Did you see or talk to any wrestlers or celebrities?
No.
How was getting in and out of Sun Life?
Getting in was fairly easy, since our seats were high up in the stadium we had to walk up this spiral sidewalk of some sort (watching our fellow fans chant FRUITY PEBBLES!). Getting out was the tough part, unpleasant at times. There was this huge crowd trying to get into the elevators after the Rock left, and the compaction of bodies had me scared that there would be some sort of incident. Lucky for us we went passed the elevators and straight to the emergency stairs which was far more convenient and safe. It took us about 40 minutes to get to our car in the craziness outside but we managed.
Were there a lot of long lines?
You bet your ass there were. Of both cars and people when entering and exiting the stadium. Takes a lot of patience to get there and back.
Hell of a lot better than I was expecting. We got a great view of the ring and stage, so much that we didn't even have to use our binoculars that much at all. One thing to note was that during the final Rock celebration some of the fireworks sparks landed near me, hurt a bit but nothing lethal. We were on the highest section so I was expecting a far away view, fortunately I got a lot better than that. We really got the feel of the atmosphere with our seats.
What were the crowd reactions like?
Fantastic. This guy that sat next to me for the duration of the show practically made even better. He was going ballistic with chanting and prompted everyone in my section to do the same. As you can imagine the reaction to Rock/Cena and the Hell in a Cell match were off the charts, considering how good those matches were. They were nearly silent for the Team Johnny vs Team Teddy match after being exhausted by the Hell in a Cell match, and to unfortunately remained that way for the first ten minutes of the WWE title match. I even heard a couple of people say that they didn't care about Punk vs Jericho.
Any interesting chants or cool signs?
Well there were conflicting Cena chants all night long of course. When he was going for the 5-knuckle shuffle the other side of the audience began chanting (reminiscent of One Night Stand 2006) "Same old SHIT!" "Same old SHIT!". Behind there was a "WE WANT LESNAR" chant that lasted from the Taker/HHH match to the end of the show. As far as signs goes there was this guy at the end of the show during the exiting problems that held up a "Cena ruined wrestling" sign. This was the same guy that took off his shirt when Rock beat Cena. I didn't see any other noteworthy signs.
Did you get a feel for the demographics of the attendees (Floridians vs. Out of towners, kids vs. Adults)?
Most of them were Cena haters/fanatics. Before the event began I saw many kids going into the stadium but I couldn't quite feel there presence because of the loudness of the fanatics. There was this kid that started dancing in front of our section when Brodus Clay came on (hilarious).
What were the people like in your section?
It was a mix of Team Bring it guys and quite parents that didn't know much about wrestling. There were a few kids there that liked Cena but they were drowned out by the Cena sucks chants. I can say that the enthusiasm was obviously there, they were fun people for the most parts.
Anything happen after the show?
A couple of guys were drinking next to their cars waiting for traffic to clear up. I saw plenty of impatient people attempt to cut people in the traffic line which was a bit amusing. These 2 guys had the Rock's theme music blasting out of their car with a celebration in there.
How long did folks stick around?
Some of them stayed very long but most rushed to get out of there within an hour. That ended up in some pretty long lines of cars. We were one of the lasts to leave so it would be easier but that just involved sitting in the car doing nothing.
