Gronk, WWE stars rock the house at ‘WrestleMania After Dark’ party on Strip

Rob Gronkowski approached the red carpet at Gronk Beach Party at LIV Beach on Sunday night and announced, “No questions about tariffs! No tariffs at Gronk Beach!” Minutes later he threw several T-shirts, we expect made in the good ole U.S.A., to fans packing the Fontainebleau party platform.

This scene was the culmination of “WrestleMania After Dark,” held nightly at Fontainebleau during WrestleMania 41.

Gronk can still rock the house and power the party. One of my favorite fun facts about him is that he and Travis Kelce are the same age, 35. Gronk says he’s not coming out of retirement, and why would he? But I’d sign him as a free agent.

Gronk been playing basketball to keep in shape. He can shed the beach shirt and model a WWF title belt (which happened). He still has the athletic acumen to toss a tied-together T-shirt some 60 yards over a pool deck (this also happened).

WWE stars Damian Priest and Tiffany Stratton were the represented the in-ring community. Stratton was still sporting the mark on her forehead from her encounter with Charlotte Flair during Saturday’s WrestleMania. The stage bounced with performances Flo Rida, Valentino Khan, DJ Irie, Myles O’Neal, DJ A.J. Thomas and an unbilled but welcome pop-in from Flavor Flav.

Fontainebleau was WrestleMania’s official host hotel. The event delivered energy and the masses. Across from LIV Nightclub and LIV Beach, “The Roast of WrestleMania Featuring Tony Hinchcliffe & Friends” was held at BleauLive Theater.

The event was not broadcast, nor will it be streamed. Reports from those in the show report Paul Heyman, manager of Bron Breakker and Seth Rollins; Paul “Triple H” Levesque; Pat McAfee; R-Truth; The Miz; Sami Zayn; Braun Strowman and Nia Jax all took the mic.

Former WWE promoter, current Department of Education Secretary and Vince McMahon’s wife (though the couple are separated), Linda McMahon; and Luxor prop comic Carrot Top were on hand. Separately.

Hinchcliffe become a lighting rod of controversy after he sparked worldwide controversy at Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in October, referring to Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage” during his stand-up appearance. He’s also the host of the popular “Kill Tony” podcast, and — for some local color — headlines Resorts World Theatre on May 10. The venue has had success with Theo Von, another podcaster who has crossed the chasm to a theater-headlining gig.

Our WWE moments

During Monday’s “WWE Raw” at T-Mobile Arena, Mark Nash — Mark Shunock outside WWE duties — was summoned to the ring by John Cena for a more grandiose introduction.

The outgoing champ handed Nash a slip of paper, from which to read. complied, “With deepest apologies, I have been informed that my introduction has been deemed disrespectful. Ladies and gentlemen! Please welcome, the greatest of all time! … ” You know where this was going.

Shunock soon swung into his regular gig at Mondays Dark at The Space, after what had to be a 6-minute sprint from T-Mobile. MD was a night of Beatles music honoring Once Upon a Room Las Vegas, which decorates pediatric hospital rooms at Sunrise Children’s Hospital. An only-in-VegasVille doubleheader for Shunock, who in 11 years has never missed a Mondays Dark.

About those belts

I spotted a couple of young women, likely in their late teens, at the Starbucks at Park MGM prior to Monday’s “Raw” show. Both had bulky, bedazzled souvenir WWE championship belts slung over their shoulders. I asked why they didn’t just buckle them around their waists, as it seemed every fan who bought a belt carried them this way.

“It’s in case something happens and you need to throw down,” one said. “Or you can use it as a weapon.” That’s how WWE champs do it.

Great Moments in Social Media

Catch Stone Cold Steve Austin slamming his ATV into a barricade before announcing the attendance from Sunday’s WrestleMania 41 inside the ring. He nearly hit a woman while cruising the perimeter of the ring for multiple laps. Austin inadvertently drove into the front row barricade as he was about to slow down and nearly hit a woman standing at ringside. As is the case with most of the WWE events, it was not immediately apparent if this was part of the script. It wasn’t.

Part of the show

I’d not seen a WWE show prior to WrestleMania weekend, and had never covered the sport at this scale. It felt very much like Super Bowl Week in Las Vegas, with all the peripheral parties and huge turnout at T-Mobile and Allegiant Stadium. The numbers announced over the five live events — “SmackDown,” “NXT Stand & Deliver” and “Raw”at T-Mobile and two WrestleMania 41 cards at Allegiant Stadium — were about 182,000. Those are WWE numbers.

The shows were packed. But there is some grumbling the crowd did not spend money in the casinos as a Super Bowl crowd would. They are more interested in merch. Belts, for instance.

Cool Hang Alert

Siegel’s Bagelmania hosts “The Bagelmania Backroom” at 8 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.) Thursday. The series is hosted by Las Vegas touring comic Noah Gardenswartz. She’s joined this week by top pros Chris Clarke, Kitty Pineapple and Lauren Rochelle. The whole schmear is for ages 18 and over. Special menu available, $20 tickets, go to siegelsbagelmania.com for intel.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.