Jason Robinson, a WWE set designer since 1995, recently spoke with METRO UK about the process of building the set for WrestleMania, and how the Show of Shows in the past have been inspired by the Star Wars franchise. Highlights can be found below.
On his favorite color schemes being inspired by Star Wars:
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.
Says the original SmackDown set was based off a spacecraft:
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.
On his process of sketching ideas at all points of the day:
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.
How his favorite part is the night before:
My favourite part of the whole design process is the night before WrestleMania. 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.
Says that fans are going to be wowed by the Mania 37 design:
A lot of sports fans around the world have just seen the stadium. 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.
Check out the full interview here.