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WWE PRESS CONFERENCE RECAP FROM NEW ORLEANS

By Dave Scherer on 2013-02-18 12:45:54

The announcement video opened with Rock doing a promo talking about how special winning at the PPV last night was.  He put over CM Punk as a great champion.

Alberto Del Rio talked about how he beat The Giant and how he has no issues with Jack Swagger.  You know that is going to changed.

Kaitlyn talked about defending her Divas Title and how she was drained.  She is going to celebrate with some peanut butter or maybe go to Chilis.

Miz talked about giving Antonio Cesaro a few shots to the groin.

They had Zeb and Swagger on next.  They will be delivering a Presidents' Day State Of The Union speech. 

Dolph Ziggler complained about not being on The Elimination Chamber.  They asked Big E about killing Kofi.  He said he had his fun.  That is all we need to know.

Alberto Del Rio joined Matt Striker and Josh Mathews, who were playing hosts.  Alberto talked about how he is going into WrestleMania as the World Champion.  Striker asked ADR if he was worried about Ziggler cashing in.  ADR is not.

Finally, the press conference started.

It started with a video about WWE of course.  There was no sound at first, then they fixed it.  We got to hear all of the great things about WWE.  John Cena said they are TV PG because all of the people between 15 and 35 determine what's cool.  Yes, he said that in the video.

After the video, the live part started as Brodus Clay came out and danced with the Funkadactyls.  They had on their blue outfits.  WWE sure is different with how they present themselves.  They got modest applause as it seemed most people there were like what the hell is this.

John Saboor, new SVP of Special Events, basically shamed the audience into applauding for Brodus.

Saboor introduce New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu.  He thanked WWE and its stars, and a bunch of other people.  He talked about all of the great things his city has done, typical political promotion.  He announced that New Orleans will host WrestleMania 30 on Sunday April 6 at The Mercedes Benz Superdome.  Mitch talked about the money that Mania will bring into his city (and Mike Johnson, yes he mentioned Mike by name.  OK, he didn't).

Landrieu introduced Vince McMahon, who he really gushed about.  They shook hands as Vince's music talked about crooked politicians.  I found that funny.

Vince talked about how great the WWE product is and how WrestleMania personifies it.  New Orleans is the perfect city.  He put over that WWE is fun and he was happy to be coming there.

Next up was New Orleans Saints honcho Rita Benson Leblanc.  She was shocked that she got entrance music.  She is very happy that they are bringing WrestleMania to the city.  She said that when the music played backstage, she and Vince were dancing.  Vince is a fun guy. She talked about how great New Orleans is (and I agree with her, I love the city).

R-Truth came out and did a live version of What's Up.  Some of the people at the press conference were looking around like what the hell are we attending?  It was pretty funny.

Saboor brought out the GM of the Superdome and the New Orleans Arena, Alan Freeman.  He thanked WWE and is happy they are coming.  He thanked them for bring "over 13,000 fans to the building".  I guess there were a lot of comps since WWE said it was over 15,000.  He talked about how important the event is and they have been bidding on Mania since 2009.  There are a lot of partners in the city that helped in the process.  He explained the process of getting Mania.  They got it 15 months ago and the caveat was that they couldn't say anything until now.  It was hard.  They expect at least 70,000 people.  He thanked Vince.  He said they will put on a great event.

Saboor said that they will be doing a lot of positive social things during the week and brought out Stephanie McMahon-Levesque.  She was funny in stating that her "All Grown Up" music is updated.  She talked about social media and how 9.5 million people checked out Drew Brees' tweet about Mania coming to New Orleans last Friday.  She talked about how important it is for WWE to give back to the community.  They will be doing that during Mania week.  She talked about the many things WWE will do in the community that week.  They will bring smiles to peoples' faces and it will be a big party.

Next out was Steven Perry.  He is the President of The New Orleans Visitors Bureau.  He put over his city, of course.

The Rock was next.  They pushed GI Joe before he came out.  He talked about his history in the city.  He wrestled there.  He filmed GI Joe there.  He played for the national championship in college there (they lost, he still isn't over it).  He talked about how fun Mania is and he is happy and proud to bring it to the city.  He sang a little "When the Saints go marchin' in".  He got that crowd to sing along.  Of course he did!

The final guest of the show was John Cena.  He thanked everyone for being there.  He put over how New Orleans over adversity.  WWE runs parallel with New Orleans because they do the same.  He put over the city and the people there clapped.  He promised to leave them with a great story.

Rock came out, and he and Cena shook hands in a photo op.  Yep, the main event for Mania 29 is locked in now for sure.

After that many superstars came out on stage, out of character.

 

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