The hype before the big show

With just a week to go before WrestleMania XXVI, I’m what you, the fans, think of the hype so far?

Having gone to a number of WrestleManias in recent years, I’m usually super-excited about the big show by now, and anxiously awaiting my annual trip to the Mania host city, where I try to take in some local culture before delving into the WrestleMania weekend festivities.

But as a fan taking in the WrestleMania hype much the same way as most fans this year – over my TV – it’s hard to say whether WWE’s done a better than usual or worse than usual job of building this year’s event.

I’m leaning toward the former. Whereas WWE has often waited until the waning weeks before WrestleMania to even announce some top matches, the hype for most of the big matches on this show began months ago.

WWE’s recent ratings have also been strong as of late, even up against “competition” on Monday nights from TNA Impact.

I’m curious what the mood is like in the Phoenix area. In recent years, I’ve seen some cities take to WrestleMania like the Olympics were in town (you couldn’t walk by a storefront that didn’t have some kind of WrestleMania sign up in Detroit three years ago.)

And I’ve also been in some cities where you wouldn’t have known that such a major event was going on there if you didn’t have a ticket (There was nary a reference to WrestleMania anywhere in the city of Houston last year until the day of the show.)

So if you live in Phoenix, know someone who does, or are traveling there to see the show, drop me a line at ACastillo@newsday.com to let me know what the scene is there.