I don’t know about you, but I’m still catching up with the flood of cross-promotional videos WWE gave us on the Road to WrestleMania (registered trademark). After all, I almost missed Daniel Bryan wanting a dream match with Shinsuke Nakamura, so just about anything can slip under my radar at this point. In any case, it looks like one of the cool gems I missed is over on the HowStuffWorks channel on YouTube. This 10-minute video is a pretty cool look at the work that goes into setting up for WWE television; in this case, a SmackDown taping. Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Natalya, and Seth Rollins all make appearances, along with referees Charles Robinson and Chad Patton.
[protected-iframe id=”99e209a4636977a28cc9d4eb23376dcb-60970621-19917426″ info=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/pqUOCizANn8″ width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]
Judging from the comments he left on this video, HowStuffWorks host Jonathan Strickland is a WWE fan who was pretty excited that he finally got to present a wrestling episode. Take it from a guy who was just at Monday Night Raw this week, there is no exaggeration when it comes to how many vehicles they need to transport all this gear. I didn’t know the set was so modular, so that probably makes things a bit easier.
Speaking of Raw, this video actually addresses a question I left with as I exited the building after recent show in Austin. As you might recall from the latest Best and Worst of Raw, Brandon had floor seats right next to the entrance ramp. I was in that section as well, and at the end of the night I saw Charles Robinson head straight to the ring and start taking down the ropes. At the time, I just wondered why an employee with such seniority had to bother with such a tough job, but now I see that he takes his duty as head of the ring crew very seriously and prefers to get hands-on. That’s the mark of a real company man. Hats off to you, Lil’ Naitch.
