Legends Of The Ring 2014 - Full Report With Photos (LONG)
Sept 20, 2014 23:34:49 GMT -5
Nick Maniwa, King Silva, and 7 more like this
Post by Flair Forever on Sept 20, 2014 23:34:49 GMT -5
What a day! While I've been to many individual autograph signings over the last several years - I've never been to a wrestling "convention" - so I figured I'd take the wife along with me (for moral support, and maybe to help carry my stuff) and head up to Monroe, New Jersey for the 2014 Legends of the Ring fanfest!
Nice hotel.... a little smaller than the place where they had "Monster Mania" a few weeks ago....
The wife was hungry and needed coffee.... I figured it might be easier to find a Dunkin' Donuts or a McDonald's...... except that we couldn't find one. So we decided to just suck it up and try the hotel restaurant..... and the story of what happened next will be told in my family regularly until I'm dead & in the ground.
The Breakfast of Champions
NOTE FROM AUTHOR: Out of respect for the wrestlers who were trying to eat breakfast, I did not take any photos inside the restaurant - I was trying to be respectful. However - I must admit that I hardly noticed what was on my plate - my eyes were as big as saucers just staring at all the wrestling legends who came in & ate breakfast after we had already sat down....
As we got our table, we noticed "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase sitting a few tables over, chatting it up with some of the staff. Then - Hacksaw Jim Duggan walked in and got a table of his own! He greeted Dibiase, and sat down to eat....
NEXT - In walked Teddy Long! He passed through the restaurant, casually passing around fist bumps with customers saying "Holla!" to various customers... I almost fell out of my seat!
BUT THEN: Tony Atlas arrived - and greeted everyone in the restaurant, EXCEPT Hacksaw! They must dislike each other for real.... But I thought that stuff on Legend's House was fake!
THEN - In walked BIG VAN VADER! I am proud that I can now say I have now shared a buffet line with Vader - and I still got some food! Vader then sat down with Duggan!
OVER IN THE CORNER: The Killer Bees finished their meal, got up, and left!
AND THEN - In walked Sunny! I must admit, I hardly recognized her.... she looks a bit..... different then she used to.
AND FINALLY: EC3 and Jinder Mahal came in! The waitress tried to sit them by the door - they kindly asked for "something a bit more cozy." EC3 went through the buffet - and I kid you not when I tell you he took the ENTIRE PAN OF EGGS & Bacon! The dude downed a POWER BREAKFAST! Curiously - they sat with Sunny!
Sorry guys - but I've never eaten a breakfast and been surrounded by such star power - Today's breakfast will forever be known (in my house) as THE GREATEST BREAKFAST EVER! I wish I had pic.... but it wouldn't have been right! It'll live on in my memory forever though!
I was exhausted already - and we hadn't even started yet!
When we first went into the main convention floor.... we were greeted by various merch stands..... fortunately, I'm pretty caught up on figures right now.... but lots of good stuff (for very high prices).
Also, a bunch of inter-web guyz podcasting.....
The first star we found was Howard Finkel.... had a nice visit with "The Fink". He gladly signed my 8X10 from the last time we met!
Very cool moment when Tito Santana arrived & had a few words with The Honky Tonk Man..... the two former Intercontinental Champions spoke for a few minutes, they seemed like good buds....
Strangely... Honky had a longer line than anyone else at this point.... and then, Val Venus showed up to speak to HTM as well! Seems like Honky is a popular guy around here!
I finally got my chance with Honky.... had him sign a pic from when we met him last year. He actually remembered the event - he said "it was a good event - but the match SUCKED." I was impressed that he actually remembered - YES, the match DID suck.... nice signature on my pic, though...
Hey, is that Ernest Miller over there?
Why, look! That's Joey Styles!
Ray "Doink" Apollo with Earl Hebner?
Ashley!
I guess EC3 finally recovered from that LUMBERJACK breakfast..... he was quite funny. He kept yelling out "HEY,IS THAT EC3 OVER THERE? HE'S AWESOME!" I actually really enjoy EC3's work & I predict he may be a huge star soon - so I decided to get a photo with him....
No autograph necessary... because when he goes to WWE to find superstardom, he'll probably have to have a different name anyway.... but I wanted that photo!
Next up, IT'S TIME! IT'S TIME! It's..... time to get stuck in the crowd.... we had to wait a few minutes for Vader, the line kind of got messed up at this point..... well worth the wait, though. The dude in front of me actually put the famous "MASK" on his head.... I had no desire to do that - but I asked if I could hold it.....
Of course - Tony Atlas photo-bombed my "mask photo".... oh, Tony... you and your stupid outfit.
While I did not have any desire to put that thing on my head (I've heard the rumors about Vader's hygiene) - I did ask if I could hold the mask.... they said "sure." So, like a fool, I decided to help myself - bad idea. "WAIT!" bellowed Big Van Vader, right at the moment this photo was taken.... and I believe I may have crapped myself a little.
I think he was just messing with me, though - we got in close together (I didn't smell anything from him, so the rumors are false - at least today). And I really LOVE THIS PHOTO!
Also had Vader sign one of my favorite magazine covers of all time..... good stuff. No, GREAT stuff....
While we were stuck in this corner of the room - figured we might as well get X-Pac out of the way.... Now, I don't want to accuse anyone of anything.... let's just say that X-Pac was a bit...... "Happy" today?
We had to wait for him to finish his conversation with Sonny Onoo.....
Then, he chatted my ear off for a few minutes..... c'mon, let's just get the signature! I actually felt "X-Pac Heat" while talking to X-Pac today!
Very happy today..... huh....
While we were STILL stuck in this corner.... figured we'd get Sunny (oh, not that way.... you know what I mean). It was a little awkward, but I applaud her attempts to "upsell" a photo to me (I just wanted an autograph today). I kindly explained that I'm on a budget today - and I needed to spread my cash around! What I didn't tell her was - I'd rather have a pic from the 1997 Sunny..... you know, the one on the front of this magazine!
I give her credit - it's a beautiful signature! My wife said she later ran into her in the ladies room & chatted with her a bit more.....
Shoot, I just realized I didn't get any photos of Sunny.... here's one from the event I just borrowed from Hacksaw's facebook page....
Hey - that's Yoshi Tatsu!
And that's Axl Rotten!
Always nice to see Greg "The Hammer" Valentine...... he doesn't usually miss these things.
We also grabbed a quick signature from "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase.... he was a little quiet, kind of like my last "meet" with him....
One of my FAVORITE signatures of the day! Looks AWESOME!
Now we get to the controversial "meet".... from one who I never would have expected. Tito Santana.... dirty old man?
When we placed our photo with him, he got a strange look on his face.... and asked my wife "where would you like me to sign this? How about I sign it right here?" And the area he was pointing to on the photo was her chest.... I swear I am not making this up!
She said she didn't really care - that would be fine - I was shocked that she said this, is this really happening? Is Tito flirting with my wife, or is this just some kind of weird misunderstanding.... Is she okay with this?
??
Here's the photo.... draw your own conclusions..... this encounter was downright strange, though..... the strangest one we've had since Virgil flirted with her in 2004.
As we walked away, my wife said "well Tito Santana is a dirty old man!" She thought it was funny... no harm done..... and a hilarious story (with photographic proof).
OKAY, on to the next meet.... wait, is that The Dudley Boyz? Or Team 3D? Or Devon & Bully Ray, or whatever they're called nowadays?
And there are the Impact Playerz, Lance Storm & Justin Credible! How cool is that?!?!
Man, I'm a little overwhelmed with all this talent in one room! I then had an uncomfortable moment.... Nikolai Volkoff arrived - and Tony Atlas was so happy to see him, all I heard was Tony Atlas shouting "NIKOLAI! NIKOLAI! NIKOLAI" As I was then sandwiched between the two legends, and I think Tony Atlas nearly fell on top of me.... that was enough for me - I was ready for a break!
At this point - we kind of had all the autographs I was hoping for from the morning crew - and it was only 10:15!!! This is so awesome! We decided to take a break out in the lobby and regroup....
As we were taking a breather - we realized that they were now accepting General Admission folks in the line for RVD..... since we have about two hours to kill - WHY NOT?
We waited about a half an hour for RVD.... had some nice chats with other fans in line. There was a blind fellow in front of us - he told us that his parapalegic friend makes greeting cards for the wrestlers using only her teeth - and he delivers them for her. Nice..... he showed us the stack of greeting cards he had meticulously prepared for the wrestlers today....
RVD was very patient with the guy.... it was cool to see.
I must say.... I noticed as we got closer to RVD - he was very chatty with the people. Since I wasn't really expecting to meet RVD today, I hadn't really thought about what to say to him.... my wife and I agreed that she would be doing this photo on her own. When I pointed out to her how chatty he was being - she wasn't sure what to talk about with him either.
As we approached the table - I decided to ask him if the ECW TV Title Belt he was carrying around was the real deal - not a replica? He claimed that it was the real deal! I asked if I could hold it, and he said that I could - as I picked it up - I immediately knew he was telling the truth - this thing must have weighed 25 pounds!
Anyway - mission accomplished, I was able to chat it up with RVD about the belt while he signed my Mattel figure.... and he signed it in a GREAT WAY! Must have been my wife's charm.....
What an awesome signature - my favorite of the day! And the pic with my wife came out great, too!
What a great event..... hey, wait! Is that who I think it is? I feel like such a "plebian"....
And who is that guy? Oh, right....
An unannounced appearance by the Spirit Squad.... here's Kenny Dykstra:
Even though Ricky Steamboat had not arrived yet, we decided to try to get in line for him - we figured, if he was on time (12:30 PM) we could probably squeeze him in before the afternoon VIP session - I had some prepaid tickets for two of those guys. We waited a little while until Steamboat arrived.....
The girl in front of me had a bit of trouble with her cell phone.... it was kind of embarrassing.... Steamboat looked a little annoyed....
At this point - I asked Ricky Steamboat, point blank - "Are you currently working for WWE?" He replied "Yes.... someone put something on the internet a few months ago - none of it was true. Don't believe all that you read." So, there you have it.... Steamboat was never fired..... interesting.
Here's my Legends figure, with a gorgeous Ricky Steamboat signature!
Okay, at this point - I realized we almost forgot Tommy Dreamer..... so I went up to his booth. And he was busy - being a jerk to the guy in front of me, who was getting some ECW belts signed. "This is the Television title - I never held the Television title!" Dreamer was saying to this guy. "I know...." the guy replied..... it was very uncomfortable....
Anyhoo...... he didn't have much to say to me, either, I'm pretty sure he was muttering under his breath as he quietly scrawled his John Hancock right on our photo from our last meeting (when he was kind of a dick then, too).... whatever - keep living the dream, Tommy....
At this point - I was out of money - and the ATM was broken, which the attendant claims happens every time they have "Legends of the Ring".... my wife said it was probably just out of money...... Which means for me, I couldn't get my JAKKS Classic Haku figure signed..... darn. Oh well, if I had to skip one guy..... sorry, Haku! Maybe next time! Please don't rip off my nose!
After getting TONS of autographs in just a few short hours - we now settled in for a long wait for the afternoon.... as we didn't have a superticket - so we had to wait for all those VIP people to go through before we could go in and get the only two I purchased individual autograph ticket for - Eric Bischoff & Road Warrior Animal.
Fortunately - as we were waiting - Hacksaw Jim Duggan came along - the crowd gave a couple weak "hooo's"... he shouted "NO! You have to all do it together!" And he the led the entire crowd in a LOUD "HOOOOOOO!" You could say I totally "marked out" at this point..... what a great moment....
THEN.... Ricardo Rodriguez passed by (I think we were waiting in line near the bathroom the wrestlers were using). In a touching, yet hilarious moment - a gentleman in a wheelchair attempted to do the famous Ricardo Rodriguez announcement "RICARRRRRRDOOOOOOOO......" it was really funny.....
We also caught a glimpse of Torrie Wilson passing by.... is it me, or does she look slightly "unhealthy?" Not sure.... take care, Torrie....
Also spotted Bill Apter..... greeted by Teddy Long..... they had a short (Long) discussion.... man, NOBODY knows how to work a room like Bill Apter - he seemed to know EVERYBODY! I mean, the staff, the fans, he seemed to know who everyone was. I heard Bill Apter say he was releasing a book next year about his life in the business....
Whew.... it was getting kind of late at this point.... oh, wait - there's Glacier!
And.... bathroom break for Glacier....
NOTE TO BRODUS CLAY - if you don't like doing this autograph thing - just stop. It's very rude to have your headphones on THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ARE SIGNING!
Oh, look - there's Drew McIntyre!
Finally..... we'll get our Bischoff & Road Warrior Animal signatures... and get outta here!
I must admit.... I was pretty spent by this time - I pretty much just asked Bischoff to "sign it".... he did a great job!
And, finally.... Road Warrior Animal.....
Special thanks to my wife - she's a very special lady who agreed to come with me on this journey & help me carry everything - and she also admitted to having a GREAT TIME! You can't ask for a better woman than that.... Since she was such a great sport, I let her have the Animal photo on her own.... hey, it's boring when I'm in every picture. You gotta mix it up....
So, after an entire day of awesome meets..... fabulous autographs.... and THE BEST BREAKFAST OF ALL TIME..... it was time to go home. We were both pretty tired.... but it was an awesome day, money & effort well spent - my collection got a HUGE boost today!
Special thanks to my wife, who was patient, helpful, and I think she had some fun, too!
Hey, wait.... who's that in the parking lot smoking cigarettes......? Hey....that's X-Pac & Val Venis! *Ahem.... those ARE cigarettes, right?
THANKS A LOT FOR LOOKING! I will be attending this event EVERY TIME from now on!
Notably absent today.... I didn't see "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, or Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart..... no shows? Or maybe they just got there later & I didn't see them....
Nice hotel.... a little smaller than the place where they had "Monster Mania" a few weeks ago....
The wife was hungry and needed coffee.... I figured it might be easier to find a Dunkin' Donuts or a McDonald's...... except that we couldn't find one. So we decided to just suck it up and try the hotel restaurant..... and the story of what happened next will be told in my family regularly until I'm dead & in the ground.
The Breakfast of Champions
NOTE FROM AUTHOR: Out of respect for the wrestlers who were trying to eat breakfast, I did not take any photos inside the restaurant - I was trying to be respectful. However - I must admit that I hardly noticed what was on my plate - my eyes were as big as saucers just staring at all the wrestling legends who came in & ate breakfast after we had already sat down....
As we got our table, we noticed "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase sitting a few tables over, chatting it up with some of the staff. Then - Hacksaw Jim Duggan walked in and got a table of his own! He greeted Dibiase, and sat down to eat....
NEXT - In walked Teddy Long! He passed through the restaurant, casually passing around fist bumps with customers saying "Holla!" to various customers... I almost fell out of my seat!
BUT THEN: Tony Atlas arrived - and greeted everyone in the restaurant, EXCEPT Hacksaw! They must dislike each other for real.... But I thought that stuff on Legend's House was fake!
THEN - In walked BIG VAN VADER! I am proud that I can now say I have now shared a buffet line with Vader - and I still got some food! Vader then sat down with Duggan!
OVER IN THE CORNER: The Killer Bees finished their meal, got up, and left!
AND THEN - In walked Sunny! I must admit, I hardly recognized her.... she looks a bit..... different then she used to.
AND FINALLY: EC3 and Jinder Mahal came in! The waitress tried to sit them by the door - they kindly asked for "something a bit more cozy." EC3 went through the buffet - and I kid you not when I tell you he took the ENTIRE PAN OF EGGS & Bacon! The dude downed a POWER BREAKFAST! Curiously - they sat with Sunny!
Sorry guys - but I've never eaten a breakfast and been surrounded by such star power - Today's breakfast will forever be known (in my house) as THE GREATEST BREAKFAST EVER! I wish I had pic.... but it wouldn't have been right! It'll live on in my memory forever though!
I was exhausted already - and we hadn't even started yet!
When we first went into the main convention floor.... we were greeted by various merch stands..... fortunately, I'm pretty caught up on figures right now.... but lots of good stuff (for very high prices).
Also, a bunch of inter-web guyz podcasting.....
The first star we found was Howard Finkel.... had a nice visit with "The Fink". He gladly signed my 8X10 from the last time we met!
Very cool moment when Tito Santana arrived & had a few words with The Honky Tonk Man..... the two former Intercontinental Champions spoke for a few minutes, they seemed like good buds....
Strangely... Honky had a longer line than anyone else at this point.... and then, Val Venus showed up to speak to HTM as well! Seems like Honky is a popular guy around here!
I finally got my chance with Honky.... had him sign a pic from when we met him last year. He actually remembered the event - he said "it was a good event - but the match SUCKED." I was impressed that he actually remembered - YES, the match DID suck.... nice signature on my pic, though...
Hey, is that Ernest Miller over there?
Why, look! That's Joey Styles!
Ray "Doink" Apollo with Earl Hebner?
Ashley!
I guess EC3 finally recovered from that LUMBERJACK breakfast..... he was quite funny. He kept yelling out "HEY,IS THAT EC3 OVER THERE? HE'S AWESOME!" I actually really enjoy EC3's work & I predict he may be a huge star soon - so I decided to get a photo with him....
No autograph necessary... because when he goes to WWE to find superstardom, he'll probably have to have a different name anyway.... but I wanted that photo!
Next up, IT'S TIME! IT'S TIME! It's..... time to get stuck in the crowd.... we had to wait a few minutes for Vader, the line kind of got messed up at this point..... well worth the wait, though. The dude in front of me actually put the famous "MASK" on his head.... I had no desire to do that - but I asked if I could hold it.....
Of course - Tony Atlas photo-bombed my "mask photo".... oh, Tony... you and your stupid outfit.
While I did not have any desire to put that thing on my head (I've heard the rumors about Vader's hygiene) - I did ask if I could hold the mask.... they said "sure." So, like a fool, I decided to help myself - bad idea. "WAIT!" bellowed Big Van Vader, right at the moment this photo was taken.... and I believe I may have crapped myself a little.
I think he was just messing with me, though - we got in close together (I didn't smell anything from him, so the rumors are false - at least today). And I really LOVE THIS PHOTO!
Also had Vader sign one of my favorite magazine covers of all time..... good stuff. No, GREAT stuff....
While we were stuck in this corner of the room - figured we might as well get X-Pac out of the way.... Now, I don't want to accuse anyone of anything.... let's just say that X-Pac was a bit...... "Happy" today?
We had to wait for him to finish his conversation with Sonny Onoo.....
Then, he chatted my ear off for a few minutes..... c'mon, let's just get the signature! I actually felt "X-Pac Heat" while talking to X-Pac today!
Very happy today..... huh....
While we were STILL stuck in this corner.... figured we'd get Sunny (oh, not that way.... you know what I mean). It was a little awkward, but I applaud her attempts to "upsell" a photo to me (I just wanted an autograph today). I kindly explained that I'm on a budget today - and I needed to spread my cash around! What I didn't tell her was - I'd rather have a pic from the 1997 Sunny..... you know, the one on the front of this magazine!
I give her credit - it's a beautiful signature! My wife said she later ran into her in the ladies room & chatted with her a bit more.....
Shoot, I just realized I didn't get any photos of Sunny.... here's one from the event I just borrowed from Hacksaw's facebook page....
Hey - that's Yoshi Tatsu!
And that's Axl Rotten!
Always nice to see Greg "The Hammer" Valentine...... he doesn't usually miss these things.
We also grabbed a quick signature from "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase.... he was a little quiet, kind of like my last "meet" with him....
One of my FAVORITE signatures of the day! Looks AWESOME!
Now we get to the controversial "meet".... from one who I never would have expected. Tito Santana.... dirty old man?
When we placed our photo with him, he got a strange look on his face.... and asked my wife "where would you like me to sign this? How about I sign it right here?" And the area he was pointing to on the photo was her chest.... I swear I am not making this up!
She said she didn't really care - that would be fine - I was shocked that she said this, is this really happening? Is Tito flirting with my wife, or is this just some kind of weird misunderstanding.... Is she okay with this?
??Here's the photo.... draw your own conclusions..... this encounter was downright strange, though..... the strangest one we've had since Virgil flirted with her in 2004.
As we walked away, my wife said "well Tito Santana is a dirty old man!" She thought it was funny... no harm done..... and a hilarious story (with photographic proof).
OKAY, on to the next meet.... wait, is that The Dudley Boyz? Or Team 3D? Or Devon & Bully Ray, or whatever they're called nowadays?
And there are the Impact Playerz, Lance Storm & Justin Credible! How cool is that?!?!
Man, I'm a little overwhelmed with all this talent in one room! I then had an uncomfortable moment.... Nikolai Volkoff arrived - and Tony Atlas was so happy to see him, all I heard was Tony Atlas shouting "NIKOLAI! NIKOLAI! NIKOLAI" As I was then sandwiched between the two legends, and I think Tony Atlas nearly fell on top of me.... that was enough for me - I was ready for a break!
At this point - we kind of had all the autographs I was hoping for from the morning crew - and it was only 10:15!!! This is so awesome! We decided to take a break out in the lobby and regroup....
As we were taking a breather - we realized that they were now accepting General Admission folks in the line for RVD..... since we have about two hours to kill - WHY NOT?
We waited about a half an hour for RVD.... had some nice chats with other fans in line. There was a blind fellow in front of us - he told us that his parapalegic friend makes greeting cards for the wrestlers using only her teeth - and he delivers them for her. Nice..... he showed us the stack of greeting cards he had meticulously prepared for the wrestlers today....
RVD was very patient with the guy.... it was cool to see.
I must say.... I noticed as we got closer to RVD - he was very chatty with the people. Since I wasn't really expecting to meet RVD today, I hadn't really thought about what to say to him.... my wife and I agreed that she would be doing this photo on her own. When I pointed out to her how chatty he was being - she wasn't sure what to talk about with him either.
As we approached the table - I decided to ask him if the ECW TV Title Belt he was carrying around was the real deal - not a replica? He claimed that it was the real deal! I asked if I could hold it, and he said that I could - as I picked it up - I immediately knew he was telling the truth - this thing must have weighed 25 pounds!
Anyway - mission accomplished, I was able to chat it up with RVD about the belt while he signed my Mattel figure.... and he signed it in a GREAT WAY! Must have been my wife's charm.....
What an awesome signature - my favorite of the day! And the pic with my wife came out great, too!
What a great event..... hey, wait! Is that who I think it is? I feel like such a "plebian"....
And who is that guy? Oh, right....
An unannounced appearance by the Spirit Squad.... here's Kenny Dykstra:
Even though Ricky Steamboat had not arrived yet, we decided to try to get in line for him - we figured, if he was on time (12:30 PM) we could probably squeeze him in before the afternoon VIP session - I had some prepaid tickets for two of those guys. We waited a little while until Steamboat arrived.....
The girl in front of me had a bit of trouble with her cell phone.... it was kind of embarrassing.... Steamboat looked a little annoyed....
At this point - I asked Ricky Steamboat, point blank - "Are you currently working for WWE?" He replied "Yes.... someone put something on the internet a few months ago - none of it was true. Don't believe all that you read." So, there you have it.... Steamboat was never fired..... interesting.
Here's my Legends figure, with a gorgeous Ricky Steamboat signature!
Okay, at this point - I realized we almost forgot Tommy Dreamer..... so I went up to his booth. And he was busy - being a jerk to the guy in front of me, who was getting some ECW belts signed. "This is the Television title - I never held the Television title!" Dreamer was saying to this guy. "I know...." the guy replied..... it was very uncomfortable....
Anyhoo...... he didn't have much to say to me, either, I'm pretty sure he was muttering under his breath as he quietly scrawled his John Hancock right on our photo from our last meeting (when he was kind of a dick then, too).... whatever - keep living the dream, Tommy....
At this point - I was out of money - and the ATM was broken, which the attendant claims happens every time they have "Legends of the Ring".... my wife said it was probably just out of money...... Which means for me, I couldn't get my JAKKS Classic Haku figure signed..... darn. Oh well, if I had to skip one guy..... sorry, Haku! Maybe next time! Please don't rip off my nose!
After getting TONS of autographs in just a few short hours - we now settled in for a long wait for the afternoon.... as we didn't have a superticket - so we had to wait for all those VIP people to go through before we could go in and get the only two I purchased individual autograph ticket for - Eric Bischoff & Road Warrior Animal.
Fortunately - as we were waiting - Hacksaw Jim Duggan came along - the crowd gave a couple weak "hooo's"... he shouted "NO! You have to all do it together!" And he the led the entire crowd in a LOUD "HOOOOOOO!" You could say I totally "marked out" at this point..... what a great moment....
THEN.... Ricardo Rodriguez passed by (I think we were waiting in line near the bathroom the wrestlers were using). In a touching, yet hilarious moment - a gentleman in a wheelchair attempted to do the famous Ricardo Rodriguez announcement "RICARRRRRRDOOOOOOOO......" it was really funny.....
We also caught a glimpse of Torrie Wilson passing by.... is it me, or does she look slightly "unhealthy?" Not sure.... take care, Torrie....
Also spotted Bill Apter..... greeted by Teddy Long..... they had a short (Long) discussion.... man, NOBODY knows how to work a room like Bill Apter - he seemed to know EVERYBODY! I mean, the staff, the fans, he seemed to know who everyone was. I heard Bill Apter say he was releasing a book next year about his life in the business....
Whew.... it was getting kind of late at this point.... oh, wait - there's Glacier!
And.... bathroom break for Glacier....
NOTE TO BRODUS CLAY - if you don't like doing this autograph thing - just stop. It's very rude to have your headphones on THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ARE SIGNING!
Oh, look - there's Drew McIntyre!
Finally..... we'll get our Bischoff & Road Warrior Animal signatures... and get outta here!
I must admit.... I was pretty spent by this time - I pretty much just asked Bischoff to "sign it".... he did a great job!
And, finally.... Road Warrior Animal.....
Special thanks to my wife - she's a very special lady who agreed to come with me on this journey & help me carry everything - and she also admitted to having a GREAT TIME! You can't ask for a better woman than that.... Since she was such a great sport, I let her have the Animal photo on her own.... hey, it's boring when I'm in every picture. You gotta mix it up....
So, after an entire day of awesome meets..... fabulous autographs.... and THE BEST BREAKFAST OF ALL TIME..... it was time to go home. We were both pretty tired.... but it was an awesome day, money & effort well spent - my collection got a HUGE boost today!
Special thanks to my wife, who was patient, helpful, and I think she had some fun, too!
Hey, wait.... who's that in the parking lot smoking cigarettes......? Hey....that's X-Pac & Val Venis! *Ahem.... those ARE cigarettes, right?
THANKS A LOT FOR LOOKING! I will be attending this event EVERY TIME from now on!
Notably absent today.... I didn't see "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, or Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart..... no shows? Or maybe they just got there later & I didn't see them....
