As the curtains fell on WWE's foray into the Welsh capital it was left to one of wrestling's most recognisable faces to have the final word. "I want to thank the community in Cardiff and the government," stated Paul Michael Levesque, better know as Triple H, one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and the head of creative and chief content officer for WWE. "This has been an unbelievable experience for everyone involved.
"I stated earlier that this would be a memory that would last a lifetime event for 62,000 fans here. But this has also been a memory that will last a lifetime for every talent, employee and crew member. Personally, for me as well, it's a night I'll never forget."
On a night when the stars of wrestling left Cardiff with memories they'll cherish forever a whole generation of Welsh wrestling fans finally got to see something they perhaps never imagined they would. In the process of doing so the city once again proved it can play host to sporting events like few places can.
READ MORE: Tyson Fury just wowed at WWE's Clash at the Castle with epic intervention
Now, let me preface this piece with an admission. My knowledge of wrestling is akin to my knowledge of the plot of Gremlins 2.
In the sense that I know Hulk Hogan was involved somehow, but I'm a bit fuzzy on the rest of the details. So in that case, I probably wasn't the target audience for the first major WWE event held in the UK for 30 years.
But even with my subpar knowledge of wrestling – once you know Giant Haystacks once appeared in Pobol y Cwm, what else is there to even know – you could tell that for four hours on Saturday night the home of Welsh rugby, and in fact the city as a whole, was transformed by a world unlike any other it had really seen before. A world once populated by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, John Cena and, yes, Muppets in Space's Hulk Hogan.
Starting with the action inside the stadium, much of it felt like a wonderful fan service to British fans – many of whom likely hadn't seen a show of this magnitude before. While there wasn't Welsh interest on the card, although Brynmawr's own Adrian Street and wife Miss Linda were ringside as special guests, there was at least some Celtic interest.
Granted, neither Sheamus or Drew McIntyre won – with the latter's defeat to Roman Reigns in the main match via a cameo from karaoke singer-cum-boxer Tyson Fury seeming to particularly deflate the home crowd that longed for a fairytale ending – but it's rare you'll hear an Irishman or a Scot cheered so loudly in the Principality Stadium. So, small blessings and all that.
Elsewhere, appearances from fan favourites like Rey Mysterio and Edge provided even myself with some recognition factor. If only the bloke who'd played Thunderlips in the third Rocky movie had turned up too.
With a giant castle hanging from the ceiling, above a ring and a walkway made to look like stonework and fire because 'castles, people', it was only slightly more surreal as a stadium experience than the last time I was there and Italy scored a last-minute try to beat Wales. Although, speaking of British sports, there was a wonderful disconnect between the showmanship of the wrestling on display and the peak football chanting ringing around the ground.
Quite how often 'F**k off Roman' or 'Roman is a w****r' is heard stateside when Roman Reigns takes to the ring is one thing. It's even less likely that Gala's Freed from Desire – or that Will Grigg chant that everyone loved in 2016 – is belted out back in America for Drew McIntyre's matches. 'Drew McIntyre, your defence is terrified,' isn't the sort of songwriting chops to get Paul McCartney – or indeed Will Grigg – too worried.
Outside of the stadium that same sense of two worlds colliding became more apparent. Inside St David's shopping centre WWE took the ideology of long queues and, in pure American style, supersized them. Given the sheer numbers around the WWE's official merchandise shop it's any wonder people managed to buy things.
But the amount of people walking around in official T-shirts or carrying replica belts suggested the queues were moving fast without ever really dying down. The same goes for the scenes outside the pubs. Cardiff as a matchday atmosphere is a unique one.
There's a stereotype of a typical rugby night out in the capital and virtually every bouncer in the city could likely tell you at least one tale from a Six Nations weekend. How refreshing then to see a spot of impromptu wrestling around the city. The personal favourite being the match outside the Queen's Vault, won by pinfall by the lad in the Welsh bucket hat.
It was just in the nick of time as well as there was another even smaller lad loitering with a steel chair in the background. Just like Rey Mysterio, it's always the diminutive ones you need to keep an eye on.
The weekend even brought up old archival footage from S4C's Heno from 1993 (still no clips of Giant Haystacks marching around Cwmderi but we can dream). A young wrestling fan from Powys being given the chance to meet one of the sport's biggest stars.
Some 29 years later, that young wrestling fan – albeit three decades older – finally got to see the sport they loved in their homeland. It's a moment he'll never forget.
The same goes, as Triple H put it, for virtually everyone who witnessed WWE come to Cardiff this weekend. The city's seen a lot but perhaps nothing quite like this before.
As for the wrestler in question on Heno, it was Hulk something or other. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.
READ NEXT:
