Edited by Sean Fitzgerald

It’s Dec. 5, 2024, and I just logged out of work after 5 p.m. ET.

I’m not going to lie to you; I originally had no plans of  writing a narrative for 2024. In 2022, the narrative was based around my journey of growing my podcast, Brandon’s World, and finding full-time employment after graduating from Kent State the prior spring. For 2023,  that covered my roller coaster journey through the game called ‘life’ and the emotion I felt losing my father to cancer before turning 25 years old.

Things changed. My colleagues at Voltage Live – including our Co-Founder Jenn Noga, my ‘Championship Rings’ co-host Josh Ungar, and my friend Sean Fitzgerald (who is now a Voltage Live contributor) – talked me into writing a narrative this year. I told them I didn’t have any amazing stories this year, and each of them responded, “Isn’t that a good thing?”

I started to wonder: Why was 2024 such a good year? Why do I sit and think about what I would tell my dad every day, as if he was still here on Earth? The answer was simple. This year, at least for my entertainment, was magical.

Those of you who’re reading this know I am the biggest WWE fan. Can you think of a better year to be a fan of the product than 2024?! 

I mean, The Rock came back as the FINAL BOSS, swearing with every fiber of his being! Cody Rhodes Finished The Story and ended the greatest championship reign in the modern era. 

The Tribal Chief returned to his throne at SummerSlam in Cleveland (I was there) before embarking on his current three-month war with his Bloodline. Meanwhile, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and Sami Zayn are currently ensnared in a hate triangle. Perhaps the craziest moment of all was seeing  Liv Morgan KISSING Dominik Mysterio (!) and now they’re (somehow) dating!

To piggyback off of that, the JudgMent Day is in its THIRD act! Not only that, but The Ring General has put on an oscar worthy performance inside the squared circle, and the damn WYATT SICKS are literally murdering people backstage!

How about the National Football League?! Dan Campbell is going for it on every fourth down because he can, Philadelphia Eagles fans hate their coach even though he does the same exact thing Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers is out here taking drugs and making the Jets an even bigger disaster than the FREAKING CLEVELAND BROWNS (!), with the latter rostering a quarterback nobody but the front office wants back in the building! 

On paper, the Chicago Bears could have been the most fun team to watch in the NFL with newly appointed franchise savior – Caleb Williams. Instead, their former head coach didn’t know the concept of “timeout.” The Falcons look smarter by the day after selecting Michael Pennix in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft while Bo Nix, Jayden Daniels, and even Drake Maye – to an extent – are making this quarterback class look like a historic one in the making! 

How about Major League Baseball! More specifically, my Cleveland Guardians! My G-Men (yes, I’m taking the nickname!) made baseball fun to watch again! With a rookie manager and the youngest team in the league, those boys were a few bad calls and a few misplays in the infield away from a date with Shohei Ohtani in the World Series (congrats Dodgers, btw)!**Fitz Editor’s Note: Brandon knows how that 3-2 strikeout call against Lane Thomas in the ALCS was total bullcrap. The ball was way outside and even if the Guardians don’t go to the World Series, New York should have had to go back home and fight for the Fall Classic trip.The Guards efforts, combined with the Mets’ run to the NLCS and an incredible comeback in Game 5 of the World Series made this year’s postseason a lot of fun to watch! And who could forget the AL Central saw THREE teams qualify for the playoffs, and the Twins weren’t one of them! Also, Terry Francona… to CINCINNATI?!

**Fitz Editor’s Note 2: THE TWINKIES BLEW OUT LOL!!Boy, that came out of left field! Juan Soto landed a $765 million mega-deal over the course of 15 years from the New York… Mets?! Ok, Steve Cohen! I guess money is just an object to you, sir!

How about College Football?! Expanding the Big 10 and SEC definitely worked, but what about this 12-team playoff?! Now, we have a system where BOISE STATE and ARIZONA STATE get BYES, Clemson is ranked 16th but gets into the Playoff because of the Conference Championship, and Alabama has THREE LOSSES?! Speaking of the Crimson Tide, the advent of Name, Image, and Likeness – along with the Transfer Portal – messed the sport up to the point Nick Saban RETIRED! Even crazier than that is seeing BILL BLEEPING BELICHICK RECRUITING HIGH SCHOOLERS AS THE HEAD COACH AT NORTH CAROLINA?! WHAT??? 

How about Survivor? Two PHENOMENAL seasons in 46 and FORTY SEVERAL (if you watch the show, you know the reference) back-to-back this year. From idols in pockets, to hide and seek, people making BIG MISTAKES, and a villain potentially costing a great player $1 million, 46 had it all! 

I did not think 47 could top it. Then, there was an individual named Rome, an individual named Andy, a crazy Tribal Council where no one was listening, an auction with an advantage slipped in between french fries, an Operation: Italy, an incredible fire making challenge at the final four, a war of words at Final Tribal Council, and a deserving winner in Rachel.

How about America’s newest popular game show, The Floor?! The show that is hosted by Rob Lowe that features 81 contestants on a 9*9 grid (100 contestants on a 10*10 grid in Season 2) competing for $250,000. Each contestant has a specific category they are an expert in.Categories include things like stocks, spin-off bands, girl groups, international foods, and failed political candidates. The game starts with the randomizer selecting a participant. The selected  individual can then challenge anybody to their left, their right, behind them, or in front of them to a “duel” in the category of the person that got challenged.It’s become one of the more addicting shows my family watches, as we try to compete with each other to see who knows the most. We hope that one day we can compete on the show.

How about country music?! This year was a BIG year for new music in my favorite genre. There was too much good music to count this year that I have officially determined I do not have a favorite country artist.

How about the returns of Jon Cryer and Reba McEntire to the sitcom world?! Two and a Half Men is my favorite sitcom of all time, and Reba is definitely up there for me. Both of those stars made their way to NBC, as Cryer starred in a new show titled Extended Family, which saw his character Jim share custody of a house known as “The Nest” with his ex-wife Julia (played by Abigail Spencer) and Trey (played by Donald Faison).

The show only lasted one season – to my disappointment. I thought the show was funny and had good enough ratings on NBC to at least give it a Season 2. Nonetheless, the cancellation of Extended Family made way for McIntyre’s new show, Happy’s Place, which also features her former Reba star Melissa Peterman. Happy’s Place is a mix of Reba and Cheers to me: A show based on a bar in Knoxville, TN, but has the humor of Reba. The show recently got greenlit for a full season and is the best streamed new comedy on Peacock ever! McEntire’s comeback to the TV world is a success for not only me, but many others.

How about the debut of Ted the show on Peacock?! Ted and Ted 2 are among my top movie favorites. I wasn’t sure about how funny the prequel was going to be and how factual it would stay to the original movies, but the show was hilarious, and a Season 2 is coming in January. Needless to say, I’m excited for it.

Then, there’s the NBA, LOL!

I hope you see why I’m saying 2024 was magical. The what-if’s, the storylines, the moments. Sports. Non-sports. This was a year to remember!

Before I leave this narrative until 2025, I have a little story for you: SummerSlam 2024.

As mentioned above, I was at the Biggest Party of the Summer at what was then known as Cleveland Browns Stadium on Aug. 3, 2024, but the weekend really started the day before, as WWE had events going on all weekend.

My story begins on Aug. 2, 2024, at 10 a.m. Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s paratransit system picks me up and takes me to Agora Theater near downtown Cleveland so I can watch WWE Superstar and then-World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest appear live for a Q&A alongside his then-JudgMent Day stablemates in Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio to kickoff SummerSlam weekend. The intimate setting inside of the theater -- which featured approximately 2,000 ravish wrestling fans -- also featured the premiere of Priests’ documentary. 

Once the documentary and Q&A concluded – followed by surprises by WWE Superstars CM Punk and GUNTHER – I exited the Agora to a pouring rainstorm. I waited roughly 10 minutes till paratransit scopes me from the Agora and transports me in front of Progressive Field (the home of the Cleveland Guardians) in downtown Cleveland, where I then travel in the downpour with my power wheelchair to Tower City, which connects Progressive Field and Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (RMFH), the site of SmackDown later that night.

At this point, it is 2:45 p.m. I am soaking wet, hungry and thirsty. I stop at Dunkin to secure a french vanilla iced coffee before heading over to the WWE Superstore, where I splurge on merchandise galore, including t-shirts and a hat.

At 3:45, I meet my best friend Andrew outside of the Superstore, we grab food inside the concourse before heading outside to a now steamy downtown Cleveland.

We walk (or ride in my case) to the parking lot outside of RMFH to witness the SummerSlam Kickoff show before SmackDown with a bevy of passionate wrestling fans. We were entrenched in an incredible atmosphere and got to see up close the likes of WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Leveague, Michael Cole, Pat McAfee, Liv Morgan, Ripley, Priest, Punk, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins.

Once the kickoff show concludes, me and my friend head back to Tower City and back to the Superstore, where he buys his first merchandise and I grab another shirt I did not see before. We stopped to grab some waters before heading through the tunnel in Tower City to RMFH.*******

Inside RMFH, SmackDown delivered. The crowd was packed to the ceiling. They were loud, rowdy, and rambunctious all night long. We saw the final staredown between Rhodes and Solo Sikoa, LA Knight and Logan Paul, plus a Tag Team Championship match featuring Cleveland’s own Johnny Gargano, and two fun dark matches after the TV show went off the air, including one featuring the crowd YEETING non-stop to “Main Event” Jey Uso.

I was away from my residence for nearly 12 hours on Friday. Needless to say, I was all jacked up and didn’t get to sleep till 2 a.m. Come Saturday morning, it was time for I wake up all jacked for “The Biggest Party of the Summer”, my first WWE stadium show.

My brother and I left home that afternoon at Me and my brother leave our house at 3:45 p.m. to go pick up my cousin, and then Andrew. Once we made our way toWe get downtown to Cleveland and Huntington Bank Field (AKA Cleveland Browns Stadium) near Lake Erie around 5 p.m. with traffic… this wasis where my experience gotgets turned upside down!

Full disclosure: I am part of the disabled community, hence I need ADA seating for events. When I secured my original SummerSlam tickets, all ADA sets were sold out, so I got what I could, hoping to exchange my tickets prior to the event.

When I called Browns Stadium, they offered me an incredible deal: For the same price as my non-ADA tickets, I could get Field Level seats, plus all you can eat food and drink, and a parking pass. I would be too stupid to not take the deal.

When we got down to the stadium, the West 3rd lot where our parking pass was located was blocked off. Turns out the city closed the lot at 1 p.m. and nobody was aware. My pass did not work in any other lot, so I had to pay $50 for parking.

Once inside the stadium, we follow the directions I was emailed by the stadium staff. We take the elevator across from the SW 102 section downstairs to the field level where we are supposed to be escorted to our seats. Only, the security guard down there tells us there’s no seats on that level, and we have to go to section 136 back upstairs!*******While waiting for the elevator to go back to section 136, I meet play-by-play announcer for WWE NXT and fellow Clevelander Vic Joseph, a surreal experience. But wait, this story gets better!

When we reach section 136, the staff tells us to go back down to the Field Level where we just were (and this was after fighting thousands of people through traffic)! I flip out. At this point, I’m exhausted; I’ve walked around that stadium twice, and I wasn’t about to go on a wild goose chase, and I just want to get to my seats for the show.Eventually, security takes us to the Field Level and escorts us to our seats. However, before we get to our seats, security takes us the WRONG WAY to the field, and I end up going downstairs to…the WWE Backstage Area!

At this point, it's it’s close to seven and the show had just started. approximately 7 p.m. The show just started, and I’ am walking in the WWE Backstage Area, where I see Ripley, Mysterio, and Rhodes, and Punk walks right past me!The sSecurity down there tells the staff where they are taking us throughus is through the locker room, and we can’t go through the dressing room. S, so we have to go back upstairs – and go through the other side of the field level – to get to our seats. While on the floor of the Browns Stadium, Cleveland’s own The Miz walks right by me, and country music star Jelly Roll, who was performing, rides past me on a golf cart.

We finally gotget to our seats at 7:15, more than two hours after we entered that stadium. After the incredible show, which featured the return of Reigns, we waited 45 minutes while staff secured a manual wheelchair for me to get through the people at the end of the night.Me, my brother, Andrew, and my cousin literally witnessed EVERYTHING at WWE SummerSlam at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Aug. 3, 2024. We were lost, we were backstage, we were on the field, we cheered, we booed, we cried, and we witnessed the set get taken down!******* 

Most of the staff told us they were from out of town and never worked the stadium before. I’m not blaming WWE; I’m blaming the Browns Stadium. It was a circus and completely unorganized. Not one of the 15 staff members we talked to from 5 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. knew where our seats were!

We had an incredible time! I have no complaints about the results from the show and being in a stadium for wrestling was surreal. The whole weekend was one of the best of my young life. It will be a story I will tell my entire life.

So, that’s my 2024. 2025 should be exciting!