Entertainment
Making WrestleMania: WWE veteran set designer reveals Star Wars inspiration, production secrets and plans for 2021
With just weeks to go until WrestleMania 37, WWE veteran set designer Jason Robinson has revealed the work that goes into the annual extravaganza.
The action inside the ring is always the focus, but fans around the world eagerly await that first glimpse of the stadium to see what the production team has conjured up each year.
Jason – who started with WWE back in 1995 in charge of the lighting console – became lighting designer in 1997, and the following year he designed the WrestleMania 14 set.
The rest is history, with the company veteran taking inspiration from all areas of entertainment including the likes of Metallica concerts and the MTV Music Awards to create something special.
Jason said: ‘Star Wars was a big influence for me, the unique shapes and the bright lights and the colours. I wanted my lighting to look like that.
‘One of my favourite colour schemes that I use was inspired by Empire Strikes Back, the deep blues, purples and orange backgrounds during the lightsaber duel between Luke and Darth.
‘That’s one of my favourite colour combinations. I bet we get fans looking out for the colour combination in WWE now that they know!
‘Even now, sci-fi is an influence.
‘The curves on the SmackDown! set that create the forced perspective were inspired by a sci-fi spaceship drawing found during some creative research.’
When it comes to WrestleMania, Jason and his team start designing the set ‘around six months’ in advance, and their work begins with simply sitting in the empty stadium to see what they’re working with before inspiration strikes.
WWE set designer Jason Robinson’s favourite WrestleMania sets
#4 WrestleMania 34, New Orleans: ‘Man, that big Mardi Gras mask on stage, taht was the “aha! moment when it came together as the flavour of New Orleans.’
#3 WrestleMania 24, Orlando: ‘The South Beach hotel set. There was literally nothing in that stadium space, it was completely open at the end, so we build a 10-story art deco set.’
#2 WrestleMania 33, Orlando: ‘There was that moment when I said, “We’re going to make a theme park”, and everybody went, “You’re going to do that?” And we did.’
#1 WrestleMania 29, New York: ‘The Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. When we first walked into MetLife Stadium I said, “I’ve got a great idea. Let’s put the Brooklyn Bridge right here”. I think everybody went, “you’re nuts.” And then we did the design, everybody saw it and went, “That’s it. You’ve got it.” ‘
‘My favourite thing is carrying Post-It notes around with me and sketching ideas. And those ideas sometimes come at three in the morning or in the show,’ Jason admitted, adding that once he has an idea, it’s up to Kevin Dunn to greenlight it.
‘As soon as i know that I’m in the right direction, that’s where the work because really fun.’
During WrestleMania week itself, Jason – whose job title is production designer and lighting director – has ‘a lot of hats to wear’, and he’s constantly running up and down the huge ramp during rehearsals, as well as sorting out the ‘set moves’.
‘My favourite part of the whole design process is the night before WrestleMania’, he revealed.
‘When it’s all quiet, we’ve taken months and months to design and fabricate the set.
‘I’ve done many site surveys and hours of planning. It’s 1am in the morning, all the rehearsals are complete, the stadium is quiet.
‘The lighting guys still have all the lights on and the programming is finished, and we get to quietly look around at the final design before going on air the next day.’
So what about WrestleMania 37, with the world watching weeks after Raymond James Stadium in Tampa was the home of the Super Bowl?
‘A lot of sports fans around the world have just seen the stadium,’ Jason acknowledged. ‘So they know what it looks like.
‘Now it’s our turn. We’re going in there to do something different.
‘I don’t think it matters whether fans are seeing it again after the Super Bowl or for the first time with WWE, they are going to love what they see.’
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