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WrestleMania 24 News: More in-person notes from the Citrus Bowl including TNA presence, pre-show dress rehearsal, more Mar 31, 2008 - 1:48:56 AM
Longtime PWTorch.com reader Alfonso Castillo of Newsday.com/prowrestling sent the following notes from attending WrestleMania live that are also available on his blog at Newsday...
- The Money in the Bank participant rehearsed their match in their street clothes in the ring about an hour before the doors opened up. At the same time, John Legend rehearsed his performance.
- A few of Mayweather's dropped currency made it all the way to the upper level seats on the opposite side of the stadium, including one bill that I missed by a few feet.
- Despite the sea of humanity, I was able to be on the I-4, cruising back to my hotel, within about ten minutes of the show ending.
- The streets surrounding the Citrus Bowl were filled with residents selling parking spaces for $20-$25 in their backyards, behind churches, in the parking lots of private businesses, and everywhere else. I got there early enough that I didn't need to go that route, but I imagine a lot of locals made some good change tonight.
- Rev Theory, the band that performed the WrestleMania theme this year, played a concert at the Fan Axxess across the street from the stadium a few hours before the show. Fans really got into their music, despite the copious dropping of the F-bomb in front a crowd filled with kids.
- Despite some speculation, TNA never flew a plane over the Citrus Bowl, although there were no shortage of annoying aircraft hovering above. One advertised a strip club and beared the suitable message, "Wooo!"
- I read something about a fireworks accident at the end of the show. I didn't see it for myself, but I can attest to an ambulance racing through the crowded streets on its way to the Citrus Bowl immediately after the show ended.
- TNA set up a small area across the street from Citrus Bowl before the show where fans could take pictures with the X-Division Title belt. There were also TNA flyers littered around the stadium.
- WWE made the wise move of opening the doors to the stadium more than two hours before the show. In other years, they've cut it pretty close. This gave the fans plenty of time to file in.
- The sun was shining almost to the minute that the show went on the air, and then became completely overcast and started raining. The showers were light and sporadic throughout the night, but never much of a problem. It did get quite chilly, though.
- The power outage during the women's match really affected the live fans' enjoyment of the WWE title three-way. After the lights went, the giant screens over the ring soon followed, making it hard for many fans to follow the action in the ring.
- Despite WWE making it look awesome, the Citrus Bowl, by no means, is a nice building. In fact, it's rather beat up and gross. Most of the seats were uncomfortable, backless bleachers, and the mens' room urinals consisted of long, open tubs with no dividers for all the gentlemen to share, shoulder to shoulder. I wish I had skipped that second Miller Lite.
- What're more, the immediate area surrounding the Citrus Bowl was quite blighted and desolate; not at all the Disney World-Orlando you may be used to, and offering few options for pre-and-post game activities for fans.
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