UPDATE: NJ Transit blames WWE for delays.

And, WWE says ‘it wasn’t our fault.’

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It’s a common phrase or banner among professional wrestling fans: If something happens they don’t like, fans scream, "We riot!”

Typically, they don’t, of course. But as I stood outside MetLife Stadium in the pouring rain early Monday, more than two hours after WrestleMania 35 ended, and heard the cry from somewhere ahead of me in the soaked mass of humanity, I must admit – I thought it might happen.

"No train, we riot!”

Only 10 more minutes, buddy.

Actually, you should probably make that 20. Or 30. Because to the annoyance of all and, in hindsight, the shock of no one, NJ Transit … NJ Transited.

***

The plan seemed solid: Park the car at Secaucus Junction, take the train to the Meadowlands, cover WrestleMania, leave and get back on the train, return to Secaucus, drive home.

SEE THE PHOTOS FROM WRESTLEMANIA 35

NJ Transit said it would be running trains every 10 minutes until the crowds were gone, parking would be half the price at the stadium and there would be no hellacious Meadowlands traffic to deal with once you left the lot and got onto the Turnpike.

Alas.

The show ended at around 12:30 a.m., which does appear to be later than NJ Transit expected, considering its pre-show information blast promised the last trains would leave no earlier than 1 a.m. But considering the WWE Network had 1 a.m. as the end time on its own programming schedule, the length of the show wasn’t that big a shock.

Moreover, unlike a football game, you really can’t leave WrestleMania early. So I give NJ Transit a smidge of understanding there. And it was, supposedly, the biggest crowd ever at the stadium (unfortunately we can’t OPRA Vince McMahon’s ticket scan reports to confirm).

But come on.

I’m not one to complain, and I’ve actually rarely had many issues with NJ Transit. But be better.

***

I got in line somewhere between 12:45 and 1. At first, it seemed like the line was moving well. I was optimistic. But then I realized the outside side of the loop was pretty condensed in terms of the width of the line, while things got much wider on the other side. So we were just filling in space to stand in it.

Around 1:45 a.m., the rain started falling. At first, a few drops. Then a drizzle. Then pouring. And the line was still going nowhere.

“This is bulls--t! This is bulls--t!”

“F--- New Jersey!”

And those were some of the less offensive things being said by the fans stuck in line. I mean, one group of guys started singing “All Star” by Smash Mouth a cappella.

Eventually, a train arrives. It filled up – security was not allowing people onto the track until the train arrived, and there was too much lag time before people could go up – and then it just sat there. It finally rolled off at 1:59 a.m., revealing … another train just sitting there. But not being used.

OK, anyway, the train will be back in 10 minutes, like they said, right?

More like a half-hour. The next herd – I was thankfully part of it – didn’t load on until about 2:30 a.m., leaving a few minutes later, two hours after the show ended.

Someone in the security tent had a radio tuned to WFAN and the “Kars 4 Kids” jingle was blaring as we walked onto the platform because, I guess, God decided he wanted to make the whole experience 20 percent more hilariously awful. Then some kids started singing the “J.G. Wentworth” jingle, and I thought “Celino and Barnes” (or is it just Celino now?) was next and please please get me out of here.

Throughout this whole time, there were no explanations or updates offered by security, NJ Transit employees or police. If there was an understandable reason for the mess, no one seemed to know about it. The NJ Transit Twitter account was responding to angry tweets for a period, but it was seemed focused on the holding of trains coming out of Penn Station due to Secaucus Junction being overwhelmed.

Also not helping the situation: Many of the people using NJ Transit were from out of town or even out of the country, and surprisingly few riders appeared to have parked in Secaucus like I had.

They needed to catch Ubers – which was also a mess – or catch trains into Manhattan. But many did not know if those trains were still running, since the NJ Transit app schedule was already looking ahead to the first train for Monday’s morning commute. And when NJ Transit pulled the PATH cross-honor lever – which is basically them admitting they are screwed - that did not mean much to people unfamiliar with the system. It just added more confusion to the situation.

I considered myself blessed I just needed to get to Secaucus as I helped explain to one English woman how to get to Manhattan, and what her family’s backup plan should be. A young couple said they needed to get to Brooklyn – good luck. A guy and his son in front of me said they needed to get to Penn and then hop on the LIRR to get home. I assume they’ll get there by maybe Tuesday.

But then, mercifully, we left. Secaucus was a madhouse right before 3 a.m. when the train arrived. Sbarro was even still open and serving pizzas, because they like money and figured out there would be a ton of people flowing through. But not NJ Transit, I guess.

The scene inside Secaucus Junction.

I walked to the lot, paid the parking machine – I got charged $12 extra because, thanks to the boondoggle, I ended up being parked just over 12 hours, which killed the event rate – and got my drenched butt the hell in my car. I arrived home at 3:37 a.m., three hours after I got in line.

I don’t think we’re getting another Super Bowl. Or another WrestleMania. But maybe we’ll get it figured out by that World Cup final in 2026.

Or maybe that one will actually lead to a riot.

James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.