Weekend Plans Post: WrestleMania Weekend
WrestleMania is pretty much my Superbowl.
I watch the Superbowl every year (or watch Google’s live updates of the play-by-play, anyway) and watch it with people who are big Bronco fans (defined as “they watch several Broncos games a year and whether the Broncos win or lose has an effect upon their mood for, like, a day or so”). I am not someone who is a big fan of football. I played Fantasy Football with the fine folks here for three seasons and did pretty well, all things considered, and learned a lot about the game (compared to knowing diddly squat) and so, now, I am capable of having football discussions with my Superbowl buddies.
“Rush 4, Drop 7.”
“These referees are awful.”
“They should do the Statue of Liberty play.”
WrestleMania is different. I know what has happened all year, I know who the big players are, I know who the small players are, and I know WHY I am cheering for this guy and booing that one. (I mean, seriously, most years the Superbowl is the Green Team vs. Purple Team. If you don’t have a regional connection to one of the teams or a regional reason to hate the other, who do you root for? “I just watch for the commercials”, I guess.)
Well, at WrestleMania, we’ve got Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston. Kofi Kingston showed up in the WWE 11 years ago, busts his butt in all of his matches, is funny as heck when he cuts a promo (gives a speech), and always manages to pull off an amazing move during the Royal Rumble that is always one of the highlights of the show. Daniel Bryan cheats occasionally, berates the audience for being insufficiently virtuous, and claims to be vegan. He even changed the championship belt from being made out of leather, metal, and gemstones to being made out of hemp, wood, and turquoise.
I am looking forward to cheering Kofi on even though the eco-friendly title belt IS kinda funny. (Someone pointed out that if he had to put up with the John Cena spinny belt for 5 years, we could put up with a hemp one for a year or two.)
Now, much like the Superbowl, WrestleMania usually isn’t the best PPV of the year (I normally think that that is the Royal Rumble) and it doesn’t always have the best match of the year (the best match always sneaks up on you and it’s a pleasure when it shows up in one of the less BIG PPVs) but it’s always the biggest spectacle of the year. Special guest stars to sing The National Anthem, entrances that have you drop your jaw and question whether the ‘E’ in WWE stands for entrances, and a big finish that is very likely to send you home happy.
So we always get wings from Wingstop and have a feast and yell at the television and sink back into our chairs happily at the end of the night and, yeah, I requested Monday off all the way back in January.
And I can’t wait.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is one of the official WrestleMania 35 promotional images from the WWE itself.)
I’m debating getting the PPV just to see the main event. Haven’t watched a Wrestlemania in at least 20 years but I have been lightly following the WWE since Ronda came over.Report
“Haven’t watched a Wrestlemania in at least 20 years but I have been lightly following the WWE since Ronda came over.”
Which is exactly why WWE hired her.Report
Absolutely. It was a brilliant move. If her mic skills ever catch up to her wrestling skills she is really going to be something.Report
I am shocked at her wrestling skills.
I suppose I shouldn’t be, but she can bump, she can sell, and she can communicate to the cheap seats. Not a whole lot of UFC made that transition effectively (who is next best… Ken Shamrock?) and she is driving it like she stole it.
As for her promos… We have managers for a reason.
Give her Paul Heyman.Report
Or study with Arn Anderson. Maybe the best ever IMO.Report
Arn got fired a few weeks ago, so she probably will not have that opportunity anymore.Report
If the Alicia Fox thing is true, I’m going from “How could they get rid of Arn?” to “yeah, Arn needs to be a story that Agents tell each other when they are driving together to the next town…”
(Arn allegedly let Alicia Fox wrestle despite showing up to the venue under the influence. You can’t do that. (I almost said “you can’t do that anymore”.))Report
“Anymore” is accurate. Before, wrestling under the influence was the standard way to do it.
I have not heard anything disputing the story. It sucks, but I do not disagree with letting him go.Report
“Special guest stars to sing The National Anthem” America the Beautiful is not The National Anthem.
I am not as excited about this Wrestlemania as I have been in the past. I cannot say there are too many matches I am really looking forward to.
I would not be surprised if Kofi wins to give us a feel-good moment, but I doubt he will hold the belt for long.
I am tired of Brock.
I miss John Cena.
If I never see Shane jump off of something really tall again, it will be too soon.
I guess I am holding out hope for some big surprises that suggest a change in direction, but my expectations are low.Report
My favorite WrestleMania National Anthem is Mean Gene Okerlund’s.
It’s not particularly technically skilled… he’s an enthusiastic amateur who gives off the vibe of “your uncle got asked to do it” and it culminates in him yelling out for everybody to join in the big finish…
https://www.wwe.com/videos/mean-gene-okerlund-national-anthem-performance-wrestlemania-1
But, dang. He’s awesome.Report
I am conflicted.
On the one hand: I really really really need to work, I am so far behind on stuff it’s not funny.
On the other hand: I almost started crying at my desk this morning over trying to schedule a meeting with two students at the same time (they seem to have diametrically-opposed work and class schedules) and I can FEEL that I am just worn and close to the breaking point.
I need to take time off, yet I also feel like I cannot.
And I don’t work in a position where one could easily or graciously take a mental-health day, and especially this time of the semester? I can’t miss any classes.Report
If you don’t take a vacation day from time to time, you’re going to need to take sick days.
Be the person who picks the day that you take off and then take it off. Don’t let your body make the choice for you because it is a lot less interested in timing or convenience.Report
I made a giant, terrible, boneheaded mistake today, which is probably evidence I need some time off. Still not sure if I can take it though. Academic culture is such that if you’re not literally coughing up a lung or are hospitalized, you are at work, even if you’re not really that functional.Report
I was a big wrestling fan as a child watching in the 80s with my dad, and then again around college (went to a few Raws and at least one PPV). I so vividly remember Hulk Hogan body slamming Andre the Giant. It seemed like a super human feat.
Anyway, my mom gave me her old air fryer so I’ve got big plans for Final Four snacks. My youngest has his first baseball game of the year in the morning so I’ll
suffer throughgo watch that. Also I need a new pair of black heels so there will be some shoe shopping involved.And grocery shopping and house cleaning.
That’s about it.Report
You can pick up a gift card for 3 months of the WWE Network at Wallyworld for $30…
(Heck, if you’ve never had it, you can get it for First Month Free if you provide your deets. If you’re scrupulous about cancelling, you can get Wrestlemania for the cost of a handful of minutes of your time.)
I mean, if the fam isn’t doing anything Sunday night.Report
I am finishing up my Spring Break vacation this weekend. No more significant time off until July. We are entering the busy time of year at work. Lots of projects popping up that will have my group pulled in 5 different directions. It will be Labor Day in a blink.Report
Let’s wander through Memorial Day first!Report
I don’t watch WWF, and I am unlikely to start now. My life is already full of things I enjoy. At the same time, I kind of love your posts about it.
For me, I will probably finish off my quest to watch every single MCU film in preparation for Endgame this weekend with Antman and the Wasp. In that vein, I note that another Endgame trailer just came out, and it tips its hand so much, is so spoilery, that I am suspicious that it is a misdirection of some kind. I will say no more.Report
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THE BASEMENT FLOODED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAReport
Seriously? Man-made or natural?Report
Water heater broke outa nowhere. Poor Jay is spending his Friday night interacting with service / insurance professionals (I’m still at work).
Blech.Report
And was it a dank stone and concrete horror movie type basement, or a nice finished one?
Where I used to live our basement flooded several inches deep several times a year anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered if a water heater broke. There was a washer and dryer down there, but they were up on pallets to stay above the usual flood line.
I could’ve easily plugged the leaks and stopped the flooding, because you could see where water would enter in streams worthy of a drinking fountain, but the landlord was a rich crack head (sesriously, he smoked crack) who was convinced that the leaks relieved the pressure, and if I stopped them up the walls would literally implode.Report
Oh no! That’s horrible.
Best of luck with it.Report
Okay. Everybody’s gone.
I have a new water heater.
I have several industrial “air movers” in the basement. Thankfully, this happened at some point in the last 16 hours and not more than that so we don’t need new drywall and new carpet, just well-moved air.
And the basement looks trashed because I had to empty bookcases and move furniture and everything out of the little storage area under the stairs.Report
My hero. (Seriously y’all, he did an amazing amount of unplanned for physical labor this evening. Wore me out just checking out what he had to do.)Report
Tankless heater?
I was going to pop in and sagely advise never to let a crisis go to waste… but it seems I am late.
We ditched our standard water heaters after they also started spewing water into our unfinished basement… figured the Tankless tech had been perfected (or nearly so) by now and can report 100% satisfaction.
Alas, probably not an emergency option with only one tank, though.Report
It’s a tanked heater. But it’s got the new fangled bladders and whatnot so it should last longer than the last one did and it seems like the last one lasted 17 years or so.Report
It seems like by now they could make the tanked heaters at least have some sort of safety where a break doesn’t equal flooding. We had a similar problem a few years ago, which I luckily caught pretty quick. Also why I refuse to have a finished basement. I’m just too paranoid about damage. Glad to hear yours was not more severe.Report
Sure, Water heaters are fire-n-forget for the most part – right up until they decide shooting out skalding water is better than exploding – tankless is purely a QOL improvement… but only if you view showers as an Event… like, cool, time for that Shower I’ve been carving out time for. If you view a shower as some sort of Victorian duty, then yeah, probably no real benefit.
And, with 8 people in the house… the benefits of endless hot water reach almost mythical heights.
I hear some people “save money” with them, but that is hardly a calculus for us (we? they? them’s?) “shower is an event” people.
Somethig to put into your 10-year “I wonder what new water heating tech they”ve come up with” folder. We’ve all got one of those folders, right?Report
I have a tankless now. (Long story, but: it was actually CHEAPER than a new tanked would have been, given the code updates I’d have had to have endured).
Can confirm: showering becomes an Event; you turn the water on, you wait. Sometimes you jump in too soon and (if you’re me) go “Oh no, did THIS heater fail now?”
Even washing your face becomes and Event, because of the wait time for hot water.
I mean, on balance I’m happy because once the heater is going you have hot water for as long as you need it, but…they warned me about the wait time but I didn’t really appreciate how long that couple of minutes can be when you just want to get into the shower.Report
Interesting… there’s no difference for us between the wait with a tank and the tankless… there was always lag. Not sure if that’s a well-pump thing vs. town water thing?
I read a lot about people who were designing from scratch building insulated re-circulation loops and I suppose that might be cool… but I can’t help but feel that I’ve always had to wait for hot water, and what’s all this new-fangled instant hot that everyone’s whinging about?
Plus, doesn’t that mean we’re heating the water to circulate in pipes as they lose their heat… how is that better than heating them in a tank? Isn’t that just a really long vertical and horizontal inefficient tank?
I also read about the “cold-water sandwich” effect, but ours has engineered that out.
Possibly we have fewer issues because having 8 folks and having acquired a “farmer’s” view of machinery I may have engineered our home system with the water heating equivalent of fighter jet engines.Report
For us, today is the day we start milking our goats… the (goat) kids get the first 10-14 days and then they are sufficiently strong to share. Also have to castrate the males before they are too hard to chase down. It’ll be a handsy sort of day.Report
First really warm day here in Chicago, so I spent it cycling around doing errands. Hit my favorite record shop to pick up the new Son Volt album. Got home and baked Zic’s apple pie to bring to a gathering of friends tonight. If you haven’t tried it, search “apple pie” here. It’s worth it for the filling alone. You can thank me later.Report
I’ll probably repeat this when there’s a ten-shot or a post about the new Shazam movie… but my very strong reaction and counter-intuitive thought for the day: Not every Super-hero movie needs a Super-villain.
Shazam is ruined for not understanding this.Report
But how do you give someone an arc without letting them punch someone in the beans?Report
Arc or Nadir?
But the answer is clearly, “shoot him in the face”
All the cubits you need for that arc.Report
Aaaaaand I just sent off the pictures of the brand new Carbon Monoxide detectors so we can pass inspection.
Whew. Now we’re done except for the carpet cleaning and the insurance issues.Report