The Greatest Sporting Event I Ever Went To

They say a childhood is priceless and quite frankly I concur with that statement. Growing up in South Florida as a kid I was deeply rooted in the sports scene. I had so many exciting times following the Marlins,Dolphins,Heat and Panthers. Everything was great from watching Dwyane Wade dunk on people to Pavel Bure scoring 60 goals a year to Miguel Cabrera hitting home runs into the upper deck, all of it was great. I had a blast watching stuff like that but nothing compared to what I witnessed on January 29^th 2006. You see before I liked any sports I was a HUGE WWE wrestling fan. Around December 2005 I had told my dad how badly I wanted to go to the Royal Rumble in Miami and I don't know how he did it but he got the tickets even though they were sold out. So here I was a wide eyed 11 year old kid going to the American Airlines Arena not to watch Dwyane Wade and Shaq but to watch the likes of John Cena, Rob Van Dam, Rey Mysterio and Triple HHH. I was beyond excited.

Everything was fantastic in my opinion as far as themes for pay per views go I think the 2006 theme for the Royal Rumble with the whole Roman Coliseum set up and the Julius Ceaser promo was great. I wonder why the WWE hasn't used it since. Anyway my father and I had seats all the way up in the nose bleeds (Where The Real Fans Sit) but it didn't matter to me I was just happy to be there.

The Royal Rumble is one of the biggest pay per views every year for the WWE. The Royal Rumble match features 30 WWE superstars who get a number and come to the ring in that order. The objective once they start fighting is to throw the opponent over the top rope and when they touch the floor they are eliminated. The winner gets a #1 contenders spot which guarantees them a shot at the WWE or World Heavyweight title at Wrestlemania (The Super Bowl Of Wrestling)

So as I am sitting in my seat anxiously waiting for the match to start I ask my dad who he though would win the Royal Rumble match he said Big Show and I said Rob Van Dam. Turns out we were both dead wrong as the shortest guy in the ring in Rey Mysterio won the Royal Rumble outlasting other superstars and breaking the record for lasting the longest in a Royal Rumble match at 1:02:12 breaking Chris Benoit's record set in 2004. At that Particular time the now legendary Eddie Guerrero had just died and Rey said he payed tribute to him by winning the match so it was a great gesture. Mysterio went on to Wrestlemania 22 and defeated Kurt Angle for the World Heavyweight tittle.

The match after that featured John Cena vs Edge in the midst of their little rivalry for the WWE championship. Now I remember bits and pieces of the match and John Cena once again beating Edge to retain his title but I will never forget his entrance. He came to the ring on this platform raised above the ground, I can't really describe it so just watch the video below to see what I am talking about.

The Main event took place between Mark Henry and Kurt Angle for the World Heavyweight championship. It was the first time in the history of pro wrestling that 2 Olympians would fight for a world title so some history there. The match was very eventful featured lots of chair shots and Kurt Angle eventually wound up winning the match but that s not why I remember the match. Shortly after Angle arose victorious from his title defense the lights dimmed and the Undertakers music came on. In summary the a bunch of fireworks went off and the ring collapsed, pretty scary stuff for an 11 year old kid.

The 2006 Royal Rumble was over and to this day after going to my fair share of sporting events it remains the single greatest event I have ever attended to this day.