It’s been a week since I left Las Vegas. I’m a big de-loader; it typically takes me a few days to readjust after a long trip. I didn’t unpack my suitcase until yesterday. I think the biggest change after a trip is finding your schedule again. Not just work and meals, but exercise, television, hell, even writing has to be reintegrated into your thought process. It was my third time in Las Vegas in the last year: Of course WrestleMania week last April, but I also covered the first UFC event under the Paramount Plus banner. It’s not really my kinda town, especially at this advanced age, as I don’t gamble, and I don’t wanna party until 4am. But, in spurts, it has the things I tend to enjoy. I’ll take you through my six days in Vegas and how every WrestleMania week stands on its own as something brand new.
Thursday: The Show, The Afterparty, The Hotel
Working in the American College System tends to give you opportunities to take vacation whenever you choose (outside of August, what are you thinking?) and my school’s always supported my media career, so I was able to get a week off for WrestleMania. The lady and I arrived in Vegas Thursday morning at 10am and went straight to the New Texas Pro Wrestling show at The Bizarre Bar, which hosted events all weekend.
New Texas is my local promotion of sorts. While based out of Houston, they’ve built a strong relationship with Austin’s Inspire Pro Wrestling, so they share talent and promoters regularly. We’re there with all our luggage, sitting on the upstairs patio. Bryan Keith, AEW talent and former NTP World Champion is a bit out of sorts- he knows he’s about to have a wild 20 minute match with current champion Danny Orion, but doesn’t have the fuel his Texas Engine requires. He asks for a banana, and Rose, who happens to be on her way to the corner store, grabs him four. While I’m waiting for her to come back, Keifer Bartek, the NTP mastermind, greets me and asks, “hey Cam, you wanna do commentary?”
In my mind, he’s not asking to do me a favor. It’s clearly needed (bro Righteous Reg is RIGHT THERE and he’s REALLY GOOD AT THIS but I get it, home team home team) so of course I say yes. So, there I am, thrust into work on (a work) vacation. It was absolutely incredible. The rush of having to make the movement in front of you exist in another way, to tell the stories of the people I’ve watched, the people I’ve broken bread with, the people who celebrated my 40th birthday with me, and hell, people I’ve only seen on old WCW reruns like Dragon Kid! It was great to be asked and great to see. My favorite thing about New Texas is the talent will pull you aside and ask a fan’s perspective on how they can better present what they’re trying to put across. A hungry, curious locker room is the best kind.
After settling into the hotel, it was basically time to do the next thing: The WrestleLit party. I’ve told this story on podcasts, on streams, and a few features (even that fantastic Pro Wrestling Illustrated trade, thanks Kev) but without Walemania, I wouldn’t be doing the things I’m doing now. Kazeem, Sparks, and Shoemaker, each in their own way, brought me into the fold, let me help put on wrestling’s biggest party for four straight years, and join their ranks as someone with a voice in wrestling media. With Wale choosing to end the annual event, there was room for a “Thursday before mania” event, and WrestleLit filled the void. The premise was similar: rent out a venue, invite a bunch or wrestlers people would want to hang out with, get a cold ass DJ like Danny Ocean, and sell tickets to be there. I have to say, it was nice just getting to kick it and not have to run around half the night making sure wrestler x is in spot y for segment z. It’s also that really necessary reminder that all the guys and gals for WWE, AEW, TNA and wherever else all hang out, drink together, laugh together, and way too much is made out of where they work. I don’t normally get star stuck, but standing with The Godfather, and having a laugh about his gimmick never, ever going out of style was a cool moment for a 90’s kid who was on the Ho Train with no ticket.
Friday: Of Weights and Werewolves
When you get home at 4am from a night in Las Vegas, the last thing you wanna do is pop up at 9am to lift some damn weights. But, when you’re called upon, you have to answer. My internet pal Ben, known affectionately as “BostonNooga” on Twitter (years ago, I asked my buddy Steve what that was about, he assured me it wasn’t… ya know…) was in town to support the indie shows, and we’d been talking about getting a lift in while we were in the same space. He’d been killing his weight loss journey and far be it for me to throw that off. My hotel had a nice gym and as we started to warm up, independent talents Lucky Leone, Reckless Calli and their pal Dr. Mark De Gruchy came in, and what do you know, the weights started moving really easy! But seriously, it’s always cool to see people in the wild that you’ve only seen on the socials, and we all took turns goofing off between sets.
We’d make our way back to the Bizarre Bar — this time for the Action Pro Wrestling show. I finally, finally got to see my longtime internet friend/ wrestling/ is he Roddy’s brother/ baker Erik Stevens wrestle, in a 6 man match teaming with Jonathan Gresham and Zack Sabre Jr against Minoru Suzuki, Fuminori Abe and Adam Priest. Backstage, I ran into Athena and The Demand, and well, hung out and drank tequila for a while. Paul Walter Hauser was there, and I fought off saying “boy you played a great racist in ‘The Blackkklansman.’” That ended up being THE DAY, as last night’s events caught up with me. That night, we ordered pizza from a flyer they left in the room. As we waited, a door dasher showed up with a HUGE what-a-burger order. Before I could ask Rose who she thought it belonged to, a large man in a Nike Tech suit sauntered by and accepted it. It was Jacob Fatu and when I yelled “all that’s for you?” He turned, laughed, dapped me up and said “nah this for my pops!” I looked at Rose and said “baby, this is why I missed the plane in Philly!” Jacob, not totally getting it, retorted “Don’t blame that shit on me!” Sparing a few details, we were at the talent hotel bar together in Philly after WrestleMania night and came up on a few free drinks. That turned into me waking up in my hotel after the plane had left the next day. To his credit, about a minute later, he tells me “oh yeah. I remember Philly.”
Saturday: Just Keep Swimming
There are absolutely positives about WrestleMania being two nights and none of those positives affect me directly. That’s a lot of damn wrestling to go to, man. And it’s not like going to your local bar, it’s the drive or the wait, it’s moving through the big crowd, it’s finding your way home. All that. What’s nice about Vegas is you can find fun ways to split it up; Kel Dansby, Uncrowned’s social media manager, rents out a cabana at Stadium Swim with his wife each year, and invites us to drink his booze and share his space. This year, everyone’s favorite wrestling news person, Sean Ross Sapp, had a Cabana as well, so it was fun moving back and forth between crews. Admittedly, it’s hard to “review” WrestleMania when you’re in a social setting, so hey, night one, I enjoyed it. What was difficult would happen hours before the event, when ESPN’s Andreas Hale tweeted out that he’d been denied credentials. I don’t want to speak on anyone’s behalf, or rehash something that’s been squashed (he was invited to post-mania events) but it absolutely put a damper on the weekend. But maybe the biggest plus about a west coast Mania? The sun’s still up when the show’s over. We were able to get back to the room, shower, hit the mall and procure one of those Fat Tuesday steel mugs — a win if there ever was one. Again, my age really did a number on me, as those texts from this wrestler/ that manager/ this creator were met with a thumbs up and a “have fun”.
Sunday: Road Tripping and Trainspotting
After working my way through a mixup that only existed in my head, I started the 2.5 mile trek from the hotel to Allegiant Stadium. I wasn’t alone: There was a sea of thousands all forgoing those impossible ride share surcharges to get from the room to their seats. Having done it last year, the process was pretty easy: Southwest gate, show ID, get the badge that your girlfriend will steal, go up the elevator, find a seat. Me being me, I stopped to shake hands with everyone I’d ever met, and found a seat next to my good pal Keith Elliot Greenberg, who I met at my very first WWE press box assignment, the 2023 Royal Rumble in San Antonio. Keith is one of the prominent talking heads in Netflix’s Hulk Hogan doc, so when I saw him, I said “hey Hollywood” and he had no idea what I was talking about. I told him I’d seen the doc in advance, and he said he hadn’t started it, he’d been too busy. “I’ll take a look at it when I get home”. I’d love that kind of patience, but if I was in that thing? I would have watched it 8 times that day. He’s always a pleasure to sit with, asking questions about any and everything that comes to his mind. I’d leave the box and walk the stadium, going through suites seeing friends, taking the occasional picture with someone who recognized me, and really, trying to wander off to spots I’m not allowed. I was able to get directly to the side of the entrance ramp, so I got to send Trick a video of his never-ending train (Way to go, Sway) then catch the rest of the show in the press box. Yes, I’m not saying what I thought of the show on purpose because, I mean, you know it was good. I don’t need to break that down, it’s already in a million pieces. I’d make it back to the room in time to catch the second half of the Spurs-Blazers game, and we’d go over to Planet Hollywood for dinner and a little gambling. It was great to see fellow Spurs fans had made the trip, so we took a few pictures with them before retiring for the night.
Monday: Netflix and.. Jeff, Chill!
Netflix throws one hell of a party. Last year, they had brunch at their MGM Grand Installation, complete with food, drinks, and a small orchestra playing the Stranger Things theme off to the side. Talent, execs, and celebrities all pulled up. This year, they threw a pool party at LIV with an open bar and a brunch buffet. It started at 9 and I sauntered in at 11, because reasons. I got there just in time to see a live recording of the Club 520 Podcast, an NBA/ Lifestyle show headed by former player Jeff Teague, and his pals AJ and B. Hen. One of my favorite shows. It’s funny, informative, and has that feel of authenticity that’s lacking in so many similar outlets. Their guests were Jade Cargill and Je’Von Evans, and at one point, they asked the pair about the wildest thing a fan has done/tried.
Jade said a fan tried to spit on her, and I made a face. Jeff caught it, looked at me and said “he’s over there like, ‘yup’.” and I prayed that EVERYONE understood I was not suggesting ANYTHING, only that yeah, fans are crazy. After fearing for my life for a sec, I caught up with all my media pals I’d met over the years, and eventually, made my way back to the room before heading to the T-Mobile arena for Monday Night Raw. Once again, Netflix went that extra mile and got a media suite, complete with appetizers, chicken strips, fries, and a showcase of Shake Shack burgers that would make J. Wellington Wimpy catch the Holy Ghost. After Raw, I’d ride with the great Adrian Hernandez to a bar about 15 minutes away to see Mega Ran, Teek Hall, Chris Bey, and Lio Rush run through their rap catalogues, then head to the room to prepare to fly out the next morning.
Tuesday: No Viva,Vamonos!
After five days, it was time to get the hell up outta there. It was a nice treat seeing Bayley at the airport and talking a bit about the feature we did for Cena’s last match. I knocked out the entire flight, again, reasons, and was happy to touch down, and lay down. It was a new experience; I didn’t do WWE World, I didn’t do any interviews, I’d done a few features prior to getting there, and as much as I love watching folks like Adrian, Adam Barnard, MuscleMan Malcom, Emily Mae Heller and the like go after it, I find I learn and absorb just as much watching them and the ways they make things happen. It’s going to be a real adjustment not attending Wrestlemania next year, but hey… I’m sure I’ll have a good story for you all then, too.
Tell us your favorite WrestleMania week event! Comment!
Subscribe to the Brass Ring Media Newsletter HERE.
Follow Cameron Hawkins on X HERE.