10 Fun Facts About My Trip To WWE WrestleMania XX
4. Being In The Meadowlands
The first video tape of wrestling I ever got was SummerSlam 1989. I remember everything from that event, from Tony Schiavones commentary to the cheesy intro video with women and kids on the beach while Dusty Rhodes and Boss Man dished out punishment in the ring.
That show took place in The Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. By 2004, the arena had changed to the Continental Airlines Arena, the site of the post-WrestleMania RAW. I was pretty pumped to go to the building where the first pay per-view Id ever seen took place.
Sure, the name had been changed to a crappy corporate-sponsored arena but it still looked the part, had a great energy to it and was crammed with thousands of rowdy wrestling fans fresh off an exciting WrestleMania. After a huge weekend of meeting Sensational Sherri, seeing Bobby Heenan inducted into the Hall of Fame and being at a WrestleMania, it was a good conclusion to be able to go to the Meadowlands and see a show there just one time.
Incidentally, Continental Airlines Arena is a crap name. So is the IZOD Center, which is it would become after that. Its The Meadowlands, folks, and it always will be.