We finally got there, Vic, we finally made it.
After all of the trials and tribulations of the last year,
the excitement was palpable.
And we got to kick off WrestleMania in a very,
very unique way that I don't think anybody will anytime soon forget.
>> It's cool man.
It really is because there's that small group of us that
are the only ones that are gonna ever experience that
moment on that day that time, it can never be duplicated.
Which is rare I think in life.
And so when I was in Gorilla, the gorilla position we were going through,
you could start feeling that energy, that raw emotion, and
this isn't me overblowing it for the people that are listening.
I have never experienced anything like that in my life, and
then when you walk through the curtain, and I went to the left.
I think you were on the other side.
>> I went right, yes.
>> I didn't see it.
To hear the crowd just chant WrestleMania, this is awesome,
welcome back, whatever it was.
I mean I even just got goosebumps thinking about it.
It's something that I will never forget in my entire life, and
definitely one of the top moments in my life and in my career.
>> It was the moment actually leading up to us walking out on stage where
the excitement really began.
As you can attest, gorilla position,
the whole entire hallway leading up to gorilla was just chock-full of superstars.
And everybody became 12 years old again.
>> Yeah. >> We're standing there,
I remember I was standing next to Lana and Carmela.
And AJ Styles was making his way up the tunnel toward the front because obviously
AJ was gonna be in the front of the of the group.
And AJ stopped and he paused and he looked at me, and
right then the crowd began to rumble a little bit.
And he grinned to me from ear to ear as big as I've ever seen AJ Styles smile
about anything.
And he goes, did you hear that?
And then he strutted the rest of the way up because everybody knew that we were
moments away from having a reaction from a live crowd for
the first time in what felt like forever.
And man, I would go on the record as saying there was not a superstar or
person on that stage or probably even surrounding the stage backstage that
didn't have a giant lump in their throat when they walked out there.
And heard the reaction from the crowd and
the fighter jets flying over the stadium and God bless America.
Man, if you ever wanted real emotion, that was it.
That was the most intense moment I think all of us felt, and
it carried through the weekend.
Because that happened, we all got a little bit of a taste, just a moment of.
They weren't even cheering for anybody in particular, they were cheering for
normalcy, for WWE, for WrestleMania, for all of us, for
everybody in the back that has kept going through this pandemic.
It was just that genuine connection with every person in that stadium,
which I thought looked amazing despite only having a portion of the capacity.
I think hats off to our production crew and
Jason Robinson that makes all that happen and everybody in the truck.
We were up against it, it was not as easy.
It looked beautiful on television, but
there was a lot more this year that went into it.
And I'm sure there are a lot more people that are that are more qualified than you
were I to really discuss the ins and the outs.
But I can say on Friday at the production meeting, we were told there's
a possibility of rain on Sunday but we've got contingencies in place.
We're ready just in case the sky decides to open up, and we were ready for Sunday.
Little did we know that the weather patterns were going to completely change
and we were about to have a party on Saturday with more rain than I think I've
experienced in quite some time.
>> So so nobody knew Saturday on Friday, cuz you see the weather, we even looked,
Saturday's gonna be great.
>> Right.
>> Sunday's a little rocky.
>> Right, we were all we're all worried about Sunday, but then Saturday was like,
well good thing we've got these these measures prepared for
what could potentially derail the biggest show of the year.
>> Two years really if you think about it, the biggest show in two years.
>> Yeah, and as we went out there,
everybody is on cloud nine after that intro, seeing the boss come out and
welcome everyone to WrestleMania >> On behalf of our entire WWE family,
we would simply like to say thank you and welcome you to WrestleMania.
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Man,
if you didn't feel that in your soul, you don't have one.
That was absolutely awesome.
And then right as everybody's just rip roaring ready to go, the heavens opened.
I've never experienced that, I don't believe to my knowledge there has ever
been a weather delay in the history of WrestleMania.
>> I was speechless when it happened.
>> But this time at least in the short term, Mother Nature won that round.
>> Yeah, Mother Nature kicked our ass.
Let's just call it what it was.
>> So everybody shuffled backstage, and to say there wasn't a bit of a feeling of,
I don't wanna say panic, I would just say uncertainty.
Because, again, the safeguards were in place to make sure that this was gonna run
as smoothly as possible and it did.
But Vic, we actually had some of our ATB crew members on the ground in Tampa,
was able to capture some of the uncertainty in the moment.
Here's Drew McIntyre, MVP, Sami Zayn, and Drew Gulak with our own Vic Joseph.
>> Well the rain is gusting down, my tuxedo is drenched with water.
I can only imagine what the ring feels like at this moment.
Take a look around, lanterns, wires, lights, flags,
everything moving in this gusting wind.
I mean you can even see trees on the outside of the arena going back and forth.
You got to imagine, I mean I don't have it clocked in, but 15,
20 miles an hour maybe of these wind gusts.
It's an absolutely amazing situation here,
as well might have a delay on WrestleMania.
>> Is this Drew McIntyre's fault?
>> Last year I go for
my first ever Heavyweight Championship we end up in a worldwide pandemic.
And the second year [LAUGH] Drew McIntyre is fighting for
the title are we gonna get rained out?
Is lightening gonna strike?
I'm starting to feel like I'm at blame for all this.
But yeah, honestly everyone's hustling around, being ready for anything.
But it's on Mother Nature for this one.
I'm hoping we're gonna have a happy ending by the end of the night and
we get to go ahead WrestleMania, entertain the fans.
I know they're gonna be fine come rain, shine, Tampa weather, lightning,
it doesn't matter, they're gonna be loud as hell.
We just need the weather to work with us here.
>> Well I grew up in South Florida and we have a saying,
if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes, it'll change.
You get these hurricane type storms that blow through, there's chaos, and
an hour later it's like nothing happened.
So worst case scenario, maybe there's a delay to start the show,
as long as there's no lightning we're good to go.
And Bobby will kick Drew's ass, and
he'll keep the title, and everything will be wonderful.
>> So I was backstage, I had no idea what the weather looked like outside.
And then when I walked by one of these gate exits to the field,
I saw like a torrential downpour.
I looked outside and it is pouring rain.
It looks awesome though.
However, I wouldn't want to be sitting in a in the audience soaking wet for
about three hours.
But the WWE Universe, they're super passionate.
They're unlike anybody else in the world, and
it's the first time back at WrestleMania.
So it's crazy man.
I'm forever impressed, unprecedented.
We spent a year trying to get back to this point and then it's like, hey, by the way,
it's gonna rain really hard.
I have wrestled in the rain outside a few times in my independent wrestling career.
WWE has been pretty good about having us under a roof most of the time.
Sorry, it's bad bunny's truck back here, super scary but also very dry.
>> I'm scheduled for night too and tonight's one, and
the time is currently 6:45PM and it's still pouring out there.
So it's pretty crazy, and actually I was watching it and it was a crazy visual to
see this elaborate production and all this stuff only for it to be rained out and
the fans are waiting in concourses, so it's just is very surreal.
But you know what, given the last year that we've heard,
I almost wouldn't imagine any other sort of way than some crazy curve ball.
One more crazy curve ball, we're not out of the woods yet are we.
So it's crazy, it real is, but
then the though that crossed my mind after the initial shock of watching that rain
was then the realization that it's pretty amazing this hasn't happened before.
In a way we've been playing with fire because we've done WrestleManias in
Orlando a couple of times, Tampa, Miami.
These are areas where around April it's raining and
there's thunderstorms every day.
So it's pretty remarkable that with all the outdoor stadium stuff we've done over
the years this the first time I think it's ever happened, at least to my knowledge.
I am cautiously optimistic, I think everything will,
it'll work out somehow and it'll be memorable for sure.
>> I mean it was chaos.
I wouldn't say it was fun chaos, but Corey, if there's anything like it.
I was standing there, of course you heard from Drew McIntyre,
MVP, Drew Gulak, Sami Zayn, all had their own thoughts on the process.
I couldn't figure out why I was walking around in slush,
because when you're walking around in the back of Raymond James Stadium.
You know where the the entryway was for us to get outside of the four corners onto
the field, but in between then you saw water running down the wall.
I mean that's how much rain came down, was it literally was water seeping
through the concrete in a steady flow coming down the side of the wall.
And then puddles everywhere, and there's trash cans and
it's like an obstacle course to get to catering or get to make up or get to TVL.
It was unbelievable how much rain came down, but
it also is credit to Drew McIntyre's, the MVP's, the Drew Gulak's,
Sammy Zayn's, yourself included, Michael Cole.
The list goes on of all the talent that stayed ready and stayed prepared.
Because it was easy to get deflated and, man, but everyone stayed calm, cool, and
collected.
>> And again, it was more the tangible excitement, it wasn't a question of if,
it was, okay, we're gonna make this happen, it's gonna happen,
it may take 20 minutes, it may take an hour.
But we're here, WrestleMania is going down.
I think that kind of kept everybody same, kind of got everybody through the chaos.
And again, I'm gonna say it ad nauseum, credit to our amazing crew on the ground,
the guys and girls behind the camera who don't get the love and
the adulation of the WWE Universe.
But you better make damn sure you're thankful that we have them because without
them WrestleMania might not have gone off without a hitch.
>> But- >> I got a question for you.
>> What? >> What do you think was going through
the minds?
I don't want you to speak for them.
>> Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley,
they're getting ready to open up WrestleMania night one,
WWE Championship match, off the emotion we've already talked about.
And then you hear Mike Rome's voice of saying, there's a weather delay.
I mean I can only imagine, cuz I saw Drew in that moment, and
it was like you just angered a lion at the zoo somehow and he wants to feed but
there's no meat around [LAUGH] >> Both Drew and Bobby were pacing,
it was a great analogy, like caged animals pacing back and forth ready
to tear the house down, but the weather was put under control so to speak.
It was knocked into submission and WrestleMania finally got to start,
got to begin properly, and boy did it ever.
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