Childhood dreams come true at record-breaking WrestleMania 32

The atmosphere was festive outside the AT&T Stadium in Texas

It was on our old Betamax machine where I watched the reigning World Wrestling Federation champion Hulk Hogan bodyslam the legendary Andre the Giant on to the canvas in front of thousands of screaming fans.

It was WrestleMania 3. The venue was the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan. Attendance was a record-setting 93,173 fans.

I knew back then that I have to see this sports entertainment extravaganza. Somehow. Someday.

But then, you know how childhood dreams go. You grow up and go to college. You find a job, get married and have kids. And eventually, it gets to you when people call “pro wrestling” fake and staged, and you find yourself losing interest.

The Undertaker's entrance was epic, as always — even on the giant screen

But it turns out, my own childhood dream eventually became my son’s dream. He became a wrestling fan — by now, it was called the WWE — and he wanted nothing more than to see Wrestlemania live. With a scheduled trip to the United States scheduled, I thought about making a side trip to Texas.

Which how, almost three decades later, I found myself in Arlington, Texas to live out what had once been a long-forgotten childhood dream.

It was WrestleMania 32 and the experience was magical, with the WWE’s biggest superstars in “the grandest stage of them all.”

We lined up for more than two hours under the sun just to get inside the gargantuan AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. The atmosphere was festive and the people were friendly. Fans would get into it whenever a group started a familiar WWE cheer, chant, or yell.

Inside the arena, the atmosphere was about 10 times as festive. It brought chills to us, seeing the entrance stage for the first time, the screaming fans. And the massive jumbotron — perfect for nosebleed ticket-holders like us.

The record crowd at WrestleMania 32

The energy did not let up and was electrifying from pre-show to main event. Highlights of the epic night included five championship matches (including the pre-show), a Hell in a Cell match between Shane McMahon and the Undertaker, appearances by celebrity guests Shaquille O’Neal and Snoop Dogg, and WWE’s veteran superstars Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

And remember Wrestlemania 3’s record-setting attendance that I mentioned in the first paragraph? Forget about that because WrestleMania 32 smashed it with 101,763 people in attendance, the highest ever announced for a WWE event.

Let’s see if that holds up until next year’s WrestleMania 33, already set for April 2, 2017 from the Orlando Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Bring it on! —JST, GMA News