— The author of a WWE backed book Creating The Mania: An Inside Look at how WrestleMania Comes to Life, Jon Robinson, recently spoke to Thewrestlingestate.com about his experiences backstage and writing the book and all the fascinating details he observed. Some of the highlights are below, including how there were pitches or plans for matches such as Kevin Owens vs. Vince McMahon, Kurt Angle vs. Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose.
On how the concept of the book was created:
“WWE came to me to write it, saying I’d be the perfect guy. I loved the concept, but I was a little leery of WWE actually giving me the access I needed in order to write the book. I really wanted the assurances that I’d have behind-the-scenes access, and access to not only Superstars but also the creative team. And I wanted everybody to be honest with me. WWE was like, yeah, we’re 100% down for this book, just give us a list of people you want to interview. I don’t think they expected my list to be as extensive as it was. I threw out a list of 50 names, everyone from Roman Reigns to the head of creative to the mayor of New Orleans. The mayor turned me down, but everyone else talked to me.”
On how he was surprised at how open the wrestlers were talking to him
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“I was, and I think the wrestlers were even taken aback. I remember really early on in the process talking to Jinder Mahal. He started answering a question and then he stopped. ‘Do you want me to talk in character or answer for real?’ I was like, I want the real answer. He was like, ‘alright. Forget what I just told you. Let me tell you the story behind what happened.’ Road Dogg was like, ‘am I going to get fired for saying this?’ (laughs) It’s a pretty unprecedented book and I’m honored to be the one to be able to write it.”
On the fascinating plans and actual end result of the WrestleMania 34 card
“Look at the Usos. In character, they’ve always wanted to be on the main card of WrestleMania, but in real life, it means so much to them, especially with the legacy of their father. They pushed so hard throughout the year to be able to get to WrestleMania. There were so many matches being pitched behind the scenes. New Day and Usos were hoping for some kind of TLC match. Kevin Owens was hoping to wrestle Vince McMahon after the headbutt incident. There were a lot of matches in play that could have completely changed the card. And then you hear from creative about injuries affecting things like Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose, and then Ambrose got injured. They were also trying to do Kurt Angle vs. Jason Jordan, but then Jordan got injured.”
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