11. Wrestlemania XVII

Sounds silly I know, but hear me out here…

I hadn’t thrown a pay-per-view party in years. And by years I’m talking easily a decade.

Back in the 90’s and first couple years of the 2000’s, I had gatherings for every major wrestling pay-per-view. We had bootleg cable back then so it was easy.

Lots of people would come through; my bestie Jonelle along with her cousin and some other chick we were rollin’ with at the time, my sister was always there of course, my boys Ty and Akie would make an appearance here and there, my first fiancee came to a couple along with his brother. Shit, even Jonelle’s boyfriend from Italy, Paolo,  showed up for Summer Slam 2001.

The WWF (yeah, I said it) was in my blood since before I was born. My mom and her brother grew up on it.  When they were younger, grandma and grandpa used to take them to MSG to see the shows live.

When I was growing up, things weren’t much different. We all lived together (me, mommy, uncle Wayne, my sister and grandma) and on Monday nights, best believe we were all watching the same thing (and having in-depth analytical discussions about it afterward because that’s just how we roll). It was our version of family time and I loved it.

I fell off wrestling after I moved out of the house.

I don’t quite remember what it was that made me start watching again. My personal life was in somewhat of a shambles and so maybe I was reaching for something familiar. In any case, it didn’t take me long to get back into the groove. And once I did, it was like I’d never stopped.

When I found out The Rock was going to be at Wrestlemania, there was really only one thing I could logically do.

Throw a party.

I sent out a tweet and before the night ended, the party was set. My sister was down, of course. Akie, too was up for a trip down memory lane. My boy JB (who would later become my man JB) tweeted back and said he’d roll. I didn’t even know he was into wrestling like that until then.

 It was just like old times, the four of us crammed into my living room. It was nostalgic, silly, fun.

It was familiar.

I had a blast.