One Monday night we had the opportunity to attend a WWE event in Detroit, and we took along our 13 year old nephew who is one of the WWE’s biggest fans. This kid knows so much about the wrestlers, we knew it would be a night he would not forget.
Con & Uncle Jimmy - so excited to get in to see WWE!
But what would we think of the WWE event?
Truth be told, Jim and I have watched wrestling on TV for a long time. Since we were dating back in the 1980’s we enjoyed seeing the entertainment and following the careers of some of the favorite superstars. Now, there is a new mix of superstars on the circuit including big names like John Cena, The Big Show, Mark Henry, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Sheamus, CM Punk and more.
The event was packed, and as it turns out we later found out the arena was sold out – so that means that over 13,000 people attended the 3 hour live TV taping event. We had awesome seats and the entertainment did not disappoint! We really like that the WWE has realized the importance of Family Friendly Fun and that all the WWE programming is rated PG. This means that you don’t have to be worried about extreme violence or adult only language. There were many, many families there with children and you could see the excitement in their eyes as the stars emerged to compete.
According to the WWE, their audience is widespread, with 35% being female; that is not surprising to us at all because there were a lot of females in attendance. In fact we saw quite a few Mommy led groups of kids entering the arena that night.
One of the cool things that was broadcast on a huge screen during one of the breaks was the Salute to the Troops videos. Each year the WWE entertainers perform for our troops overseas. We just love that they realize the importance of giving back. You can see that both the entertainers and the military personnel get a lot out of the tours.
Another thing that we like about WWE, and that we feel is really important to the child fans is their participation in the be a STAR campaign. be a STAR is an anti-bullying alliance co-founded by The Creative Coalition and WWE. Its mission is to ensure a positive and equitable social environment for everyone regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation through grassroots efforts beginning with education and awareness. In this day and age of bullying, we LOVE that the WWE has realized the importance of sending a message that it is not OK. You can see commercial messages about the program during the television broadcasts of the WWE shows including WWE Raw on Monday nights and WWE Smack Down on Friday nights. When kids visit the be a STAR site they can take their own pledge against bullying.
One of our favorite wrestlers, John Cena, happened to be celebrating his birthday the night of our event. After the event was over and the final match had been completed, it was awesome to see the entertainers come back out to the stage and serenade him with a Happy Birthday song. You could tell that this was not a rehearsed skit – it was genuine and fun to be a part of. John Cena seems to have a genuine heart and a commitment to helping the community. He is one of only 4 celebrities to have granted over 250 wishes for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Someone that gives that much of him time to help people has a high ranking in my book!
So in summary, we wanted to share our experience with you in case you have a child in the family that is interested in the WWE. If you are on the fence if it is worth it to attend a live event I would strongly say to go for it. It’s a fun night of Family Friendly entertainment!
