Would you let your wrestling-mad kid stay home from school on a Monday?
That’s the dilemma facing thousands of Kiwi parents this afternoon, when WWE’s WrestleMania takes place in New Jersey.
Having wagged many a day myself - from school, that is, not work (it just occurred to me my boss is reading this) - I can understand the craze young wrestling fans will be experiencing today, with the Mecca of sports entertainment mere hours away.
- WWE legend attacked in ring by fan
- No surprise 'humble' Rousey making history
- Crowning moment for women's wrestling 'well deserved'
Do they fake a sickness? Do they come clean to mum and dad?
Do they hide under the house and then sneak in when the folks are at work (sorry mum) or do they risk watching it after school, knowing that spoilers will leak out onto the internet?
Trust me, there is nothing worse, as a wrestling fan, than knowing the result of a match when you've invested four months into the storyline.
For Australian WWE stars, the IIconics, coming clean and telling mum had mixed results.
Peyton Royce, a lifelong WWE fan, missed countless WrestleManias, because she was attending class.
By comparison, best friend and tag team partner Billie Kay got a scheduled day off school every WrestleMania.
“I watched it with my brother, who got me into wrestling," Kay told Newshub.
"We used to take the day off school - don't do that, kids - because it's Monday in Australia and New Zealand.
"But yeah, my mum would let us. My teachers even knew, 'Oh, pay-per-view's on, she's not here'.
"I don't need to know 4x12, mate - I need to see 'The Rock' win.
"We used to sit down in the lounge room, it started at 9am, and we would just scream and shout, and they were the best times I had with him."
That's a fact not lost on her school buddy.
"Her mum would give her the day off school once a year!" Royce told Newshub. "My mum would never, not even for WrestleMania.
"She would never let me have the day off school and every year I would think, 'Are you kidding me, this is WrestleMania!'"
But the pair have the perfect solution for all the Aussie/Kiwi kids dealing with the WrestleMania conundrum - an official 'Mania Day' holiday.
"I think so, especially in countries where it doesn't fall on a weekend," Royce grinned.
"There needs to be a special clause for a wrestling day. Take the day off work, day off school - this is the time to be home with your family friends."
Kay added: "Just 9am-1pm even [Australian time]."
The IIconics are 12 months into their WWE main roster careers, after making the jump from the development brand, NZT last year.
The Sydney natives have their shot at history on Monday, when they compete for the WWE women’s tag-team championships in a 'Fatal Four Way' match.
For Royce and Kay, a win would cap off a great year for the two Aussie girls, who shared the same dream of being WWE superstars.
"I feel like there were so many first-evers, especially when we were in NXT and it was like 'Oh, we're missing out on all these first-evers', because we weren't on the main roster yet," Royce said.
"So we were thinking, what possible first-ever could we be apart of? Well, the first-ever women's tag-team championship match at WrestleMania.
"And that's such a dream come true for us, because we've wanted to help pioneer this division since before we were in NXT.
“This is everything for us."
WrestleMania streams live on the WWE Network from 11am. Brad Lewis is in New York courtesy of WWE.
