I began watching the WWE in January of 1991. I'd seen it plenty of times before, and I fondly recall a Sunday when the entire family went to my aunt and uncle's place to watch Wrestlemania III, but it was in 1991 when I became hooked. Sergeant Slaughter had just defeated the Ultimate Warrior for the championship, and all eyes were directed towards Wrestlemania VII in Los Angeles. American patriotism was at an all time high because of the Gulf War, and Hulk Hogan was going to take the Iraqi flag and shove it right down Slaughter's throat. The build up for that match was insane and I was greatly anticipating it. Ok, and I was also looking forward to the blindfold match between Jake "The Snake" Roberts and The Model Rick Martel, which is probably the most hyped match in WWE history, because I'll be damned if Martel didn't spray Jake with Arrogance several months beforehand.

Regardless of whether it was Saturday, Sunday, or Monday (during the Prime Time Wrestling days), I was glued to the television, and I more than welcomed these larger than life personalities into my living room. But the problem was I wasn't getting the full experience, and God help me if I missed one of the year's four PPVs because I would be banished to Saturday afternoon hell as Mean Gene Overland discussed three of the 12 matches with cruddy still shots to boot. Old school WWE was decent, but times were definitely hard.

With that being said, it's been a dream of mine to take part in Wrestlemania weekend, and I'm not just talking about the show. I had always heard stories about the festivities that occurred several days prior, and I gawked at magazine photos of hundreds of people lining up to take part in such things as THQ's Superstar Challenge and the official Wrestlemania press conference, but they were just that. Stories.

My dream finally came true this past week, when I had the opportunity to fully immerse myself within the WWE Wrestlemania 22 extravaganza, and this is a diary of my memorable experience.

Wednesday, March 29

I officially arrived in Chicago, and this marks the first time that I've actually left O'Hare airport. I've been there several times but always because of connecting flights, so it was good to actually walk outside of the terminal.

It was dark but I could already tell that Chicago is a gorgeous city, and you know what, I was very surprised by this. Since I'm from New Jersey, I've developed an enormous amount of pride because New York City is right in my back yard, and each time that I travel I compare cities to NYC and they just don't stack up. Ever. But Chicago...it's got a vibe all its own and I respect that. Hell, many of its bars stay open until four, sometimes five in the morning.

Checked into the Hard Rock Hotel and I dig it here. The rooms have soft pillows, and that's always a plus.

Took a quick walk around the block and it was obvious from the get go that Chicago has gone WWE crazy. Passed by this store that still has tons of WWE shirts in the window. My brother asked me to pick up an Undertaker shirt for him, I suppose to commemorate Taker's 14th Wrestlemania victory. Ok, he hasn't won the match yet...but come on! Mark Henry beating the Undertaker? I wish Las Vegas took bets on professional wrestling.

Thursday, March 30

The WM22 festivities officially kick off this afternoon with the press conference and I've decided to attend. The event is being held at the Chicago Theater which is about four or five blocks from the hotel. I left around 11:30am, pausing to take some shots of this gorgeous city. Found a really cool looking alley and snapped some photos. For some reason I'm fascinated by alleyways.

You know something is potentially bad when you see the line before the venue! I hadn't even made it to the theater and I could already see swarms of people. Of course, they could have been waiting for something else, because after all, humans will stupidly form lines for no logical reason, but I knew that this wasn't the case. They were definitely here for some WWE action.

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