WWE WrestleMania XL

Aug 29

This is WWE logo used to be on the stage in the mid-2010s.

The annual pilgrimage to WrestleMania took me to the East Coast and the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia. Since this is the closest WrestleMania has been to where I live (Columbus, Ohio), I knew I had to be there to witness history. This was my 7th time attending WrestleMania and the 4th in a row. I’ve been to every WrestleMania since it has become a two-night event and I can give my experience on how exciting (and exhausting) the showcase of the immortals can be in person. Below, I will break down the costs of the trip in five categories: transportation, lodging, entertainment, food, and miscellaneous. Then, I will give my experience visiting Philadelphia from April 4th - 8th. DISCLAIMER: This breakdown is about 95% accurate as I threw out some receipts and lost track of some items paid in cash.

Transportation ($295.39)

Penn Turnpike Toll: $153.80
Ohio Turnpike Toll: $7.00
Gas: $38.55, $39.50, $23.54, $33.00

Lodging ($363.78)

Airbnb: $363.78

Entertainment ($1,521.10)

WrestleMania Saturday: $514.20
WrestleMania Sunday: $639.70
WWE World at the Philadelphia Convention Center: $71.10, $71.10
Battleship New Jersey Dry Dock Tour: $225.00
Flight 93 National Memorial: Free

Food ($173.34)

Burger King in Somerset, PA: $9.85
Food at WWE World: $7.00, $15.40, $16.00
Dunkin’ Donuts: $7.52
Chickie’s & Pete’s: $31.00
Max’s Steaks: $23.00
Carmen’s Cheesesteaks: $23.29
Cleavers: $15.09, $6.50, $3.50
Chris’s Pizza (cheesesteak): $9.31
Sunoco in Plainfield, PA: $5.88

Miscellaneous ($345.79)

Photoshoot via Airbnb: $99.00
Parking at Lincoln Financial Field: $70 ($35 each night)
Parking at Liberty Place: $50.00, $44.00
Shirts for friends at WWE World Superstore: $80.00
Ibprofen at CVS: $2.79

ESTIMATED GRAND TOTAL: $2,699.40

Let’s put the numbers into context. With transportation, I drove to Philadelphia from Columbus which took about 10 hours with an impromptu pit stop in the middle (more on that later). I hate the Pennsylvania Turnpike and their tolls as I was hit with a $153.80 bill. That’s what happens when you go almost the entire length of the turnpike round trip. After WrestleMania, I drove to Cleveland to visit my family, see the solar eclipse, and attend the Cleveland Guardians’ opening day against the Chicago White Sox.

For lodging, I stayed in an Airbnb in West Philadelphia near the University of Pennsylvania. Parking was a little bit of a challenge to find, but it was a nice place to stay and not too far from the convention center.

The main reason for the trip was to attend WrestleMania. However, I do like to visit tourist attractions and take a break from wrestling. One of those places was the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, PA. This was the impromptu pit stop that I mentioned earlier as I saw a sign for the memorial on the turnpike. The site had a large footprint at the crash site of Flight 93 and it is a well-designed memorial honoring the victims and heroes. Being at the memorial brought back memories from September 11, 2001, as I was 11 years old when our school principal came to classroom to tell us what had happened. I spent two hours exploring the visitor center, the flight path overlook, the wall of names, and the crash site.

Another non-wrestling place that I visited was Battleship New Jersey. The World War II battleship is the decorated ship in US Navy history and it’s normally moored on the waterfront in Camden, New Jersey as a museum ship. This experience was unique as the battleship just begun a two-month stay at the Philadelphia Naval Yard for repair and restoration work. A limited number of dry dock tours were offered to the public and I took advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity. The dry dock tour lasted about an hour as our tour guide gave us an in depth history on the battleship and explaining what work was going to be done to the ship over the two-month stay in dry dock. This was my favorite part of the trip as we got to go down into the dock and marvel at the size of the propellers, walk along the length of the ship, touch the hull, and walk underneath and touch the keel. Now, I have to make another trip to Philly to visit the USS New Jersey in its normal status as a museum ship.

Friday, April 5th was my first full day in the city and it started off with a photoshoot. I wanted to get some cool pictures for social media and my website and spent about 90 minutes getting some cool shots. Below are some pictures from the photoshoot:

The next stop after the photoshoot was WWE World at the Philadelphia Convention Center. I will have another blog post later this week with a more detailed experience, but below are some pictures from WWE World:

WrestleMania XL took place at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia at the sports complex. I always liked that three of Philadelphia’s sports venues are in the same area and parking for both nights was reasonable at $35 per night. Getting into parking lot was not too much trouble, however, leaving the lot after the show both nights was a nightmare. I spent at least 1.5 hours in the parking lot after the show each night. The weather for both nights was crisp as you need a hoodie or jacket as the temperature dropped throughout the night. Saturday was cooler than Sunday and by the end of the Rock/Roman - Cody/Seth tag team match, most fans were ready to leave and get warm. For WrestleMania Saturday I sat in Section 137, Row 22, Seat 15 and for WrestleMania Sunday I sat in Section 137, Row 18, Seat 15. I spent a little over $1100 on tickets because I am a certified seat snob and I don’t like sitting in the upper bowl at a stadium or arena. I also wanted to get a good view of the stage and the ring with minimal obstructions.