Hi Wrestling fans;

This week-end I had the privilege of attending one of the biggest meet-and-greet event in the world of pro wrestling. The big apple, and more precisely The La Guardia plaza Hotel, was hosting ''The Big Event IX'', where more than 70 wrestling stars were on hands.

I decided to go as soon as Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham Missy Hyatt and Taz were announced. I already had purchased my online tickets when some incredible names were added, namely King Tonga, Ronnie Garvin, Dean Malenko and Tonga Kid. Those were wrestlers I had been dreaming to meet for decades. 

The trip was brutal tough, as we left home at 2h30 in the morning, arrived at 9h00 and left right after the convention was over, at 2h00, straight back up to Canada. 13 hours behind the wheel in the same day with not much sleep is tough, but we made it ! At least the weather was perfect, and my friend Bert along with my son were great road companions.

After driving for the first time through New-York (I was glad it wasn't downtown) we encountered a little parking problem. Indeed, the barricade of the hotel parking wouldn't open, and a car was honking like crazy just in front of it. After a while, with no employee coming out, the helper's door opens up. Who come out of the car but Ronnie Garvin ! What were the odds ? We soon learned that the parking was full, so we left and finally parked on the 29th ave.

As we reach the building after a pretty long walk, we see Chris Masters coming out the door, so we already know there will be some unannounced wrestlers. Hopefully our friend Roger from the Montreal commiccon is right there, telling us where to get our tickets. Without him, we would have waited in line for nothing as we had to buy the tickets before standing in line to get in, and it wasn't indicated anywhere. Some vendors, like Highspots, April Hunter and others, were set up in the lobby. We already saw some of the stars walking toward their tables in the lobby, such as Jim Neidhart and Ted DiBiase.

The line was pretty big, but we didn't have to wait to much, as the doors opened about 10 minutes before 10h00 and we got in. There were many vendors inside as well, selling mostly action figures and DVD, but there were also some magazines, photos, belts etc, along with some really beautiful paintings. For as many vendors as they were, I was surprised that there were almost no t-shirts whatsoever, and not too many books either.

We had purchased the 4 horsemen photo-op, with the Barry Windham version. Since I had met Flair this past summer, my quest for the Horsemen was now completed. And the act Flair was not in the picture actually made it less expensive for sure. At that point, there were way too many people everywhere, making it hard to enjoy that great moment with my teenage heroes. I still could shake Arn, JJ and Barry's hands, and chat a little bit with Tully, telling him they were the greatest heel tag team I ever saw. Tully seemed  genuinely happy to be there.

After the Horsemen, we tried to find were the showstopper was located, as Shawn Michaels wasn't anywhere in sight. We were told he was in a private setting, so we went for it, as he was the main reason my son made the trip. We splitted the combo, as I thought 120$ was pretty expensive, especially in Canadian money as it came up to 166$! So I had my chair from the Montreal 1997 Survivor Series signed (Bret already had signed it, and some fans thought it was so cool they took pictures of it) while my son Mathieu got to have his picture taken with Shawn. It took us no less than a full hour to get to him, but once the VIPS were done, it went smoothly. We were in for a surprise though...

Indeed, as we were about to leave the room, We saw none other than the other half of the Rocker, Marty Jannetty ,slowly coming up the steps towards his former tag-team partner. He clearly was in bad shape, as he needed help to climb the few steps. It was an eerie moment, as the room went quiet while both men slowly reunited and shook hands. The people applauded that unlikely but historic meeting. They talked for a few minutes as people snapped pictures.

As we left the conference room, the line for Shawn was twice as long as when we got in, so we made a wise decision to get there early.

From there I got to chat in French with Ronnie Garvin, who had one of the most remembered feud in Quebec wrestling history when he teamed up with his ‘’brother’’ Jimmy to face the Rougeaus. He was on the very first live card I ever attended in my hometown back in 1985, and I still had the poster to show him! I took the opportunity to remember him that on that night, he had thrown a full row of four chairs to Jacques Rougeau, who was running for cover to the locker room. But the funny thing was, at the same time Road Warrior Hawk was watching the matches, and as he saw the chairs flying toward him, he had to duck just in time to avoid being clobbered !

My next stop was King Tonga. He pretty much was the guy I had most wanted to meet literally for years, as he, too, was one of Montreal’s top headliners in the mid 80’s. I didn’t know what to expect, since most wrestler are cordial, but some can be rude to fans. Boy, was I in for a threat ! King Tonga (or Haku/Meng) has to rank in the top 10 of the most sympathetic wrestlers I ever met. Luckily there wasn’t much of a line for him so we could chat for a good 5 minutes, and he has good memories of his years in Québec. He said the people and the food were great, and it was where he had the most fun in the business. He was on top for 3 years and had great success both as a heel, freshly arrived from Puerto-Rico, and later on as a babyface teaming with Dino Bravo. He was on my first card poster too, and as he signed, he showed it to his cousin Tonga Kid (Tama), who was also in it, just 30 years younger! Tama had a blast looking at it and even photographed it with his phone. He said Montreal was his first territory as he was 19 at the time and had fun learning the ropes. I really had a blast with both of them and definitely got more than my money’s worth. I left by promising to bring Haku a poutine the next time we meet!

Then it was Bob Backlund’s turn! I had met him in 1994 when he was a heel, and if you remember, at the time he was asking anyone who wanted an autograph to name him all the Presidents of the USA before he obliged. Well, at the time he told me since we were in Canada, he couldn’t do that, so he would rather ask me to name all 9 planets of the solar system ! Well, I did, and he took the picture with me, adding how proud he was of me! What a memory. So anyway, this time he signed my 2 pictures and my copy of his book. It took forever to get to him even if I was second in line, since the guy before me had him sign literally a whole stack of cards. Backlund had lots of energy, as he was lifting kids in his arms and putting people in chicken wings left and right. And just like he said in his book, I can testified he had hard boiled eggs and  Brussels sprouts in a Tupperware with him!

After Backlund cam the Suplex Machine, Taz! He gave me a few autograph along with a promo card, and explained to me how I can listen to his podcast. We took a picture, and I must admit he was a lot more friendly than I thought he would be.

Next was Missy Hyatt. I was intimidated by her, as I definitely had a crush on her when I was young. She was very pleasant, and when I asked he about her second book, she said there would not be any, as the project fell through. I had seen different pictures of her throughout the years where she looked quite different, but she looked great this week-end, with her hair in full WCW mode! I had her sign her biography, on which she added a kiss, which was really cool.

Among the many Girls that were there, we met with Gail Kim, who was very nice, and took a picture with her title belt for my son. He also got to meet (again) with Brooke, who is just stunning in person. It must have been hard for most of the women to make money as there were so many of them and just so much money people can spend, especially with bigger name like Chyna and Torrie Wilson in the house. In that area, my son also got his picture taken with Low-Ki, who was cordial and thanked us for stopping by. I was surprised he remembered where my picture with him was taken, in Toronto 3 years ago, as he was facing El Generico.

For as many announced talent (over 70) there were almost no no-show. I don’t know if Candice Michelle was there, but I never saw her, same with Bobby Lashley. But besides, everybody showed up. And like I said with Chris Masters, some came in unannounced, like Ashley and the monster Abyss.

Then I had the pleasure of shaking the hand of none other then Mr PWI, Bill Apter, who was selling hi new book, ‘’Is wrestling fixed?’’ He was selling it signed for 25$. I’m sure it will be a funny book. Like he always does when we meet, he said I look just like Rick Martel. This time I responded that if I continue to go to these conventions years after tear, one day I may end up looking like Ox Baker instead! Time went by fast, and it was really hot in there. We had to make sure to meet everybody we needed to see before 2 O’clock, so with so many people running around, there was no time to loose.

Another great I got to meet was Dean Malenko. He was very patient with us, as for some reason it took us 4 tries to get the camera to work properly. And even then, we had to come back later to take another one. The fact there was a window behind him didn’t help for sure. I took the opportunity to say how much I liked his matches with the late Eddy Guerrero. Dean was cordial but not in a talking mood it seemed. Billy Kidman was just beside, and unfortunately I never saw anyone going for him during the day. And on the other side was the famous referee Earl Hebner ! He was the third and last person I needed to sign my 1997 Survivor Series chair, and he did.

As the day was coming to an end, I went to see Jim Neidhart. He had just left when I came, so we lost around 10 minutes waiting for him to come back. His handler was starting to worry he wouldn’t return, but he did. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait for Bret Hart, whose line was huge. Neidhart was probably the least pleasant of the wrestlers I met at the event. He wouldn’t offer a handshake nor chat whatsoever. He still had the beard and the great ‘’Anvil look’’, tough. Next we went for Scott Hall. His line had cooled off since I had had first considered going for him, so I decided to go. I was ready for pretty much anything considering his reputation, but he looked perfectly straight. I shook his hand and told him to take good care of himself. He seemed touched and seemed to enjoy himself all day. I went at just the right time since he left just a couple of minutes after that.

As the day was coming to an end, we went looking for merchandise, and I bought some old magazines and photo books, and my son finally found the Samy Zayn figure he was looking for. I would have loved to meet some more wrestlers, most notably Tajiri, Chyna and Steamboat for example, but I had to make difficult choices, as far as budget goes. At last it was time to leave, and we made the most of what we had, as we left the Plaza at 2 O’clock even. What a day!

All in all, I can say I’ve been to more organized signings, but none had that many wrestlers in one place, even at WrestleMania 29. So I understand it was chaotic sometimes, but it could have been worse. One point I liked was the wrestlers pictures were on the walls above them, so you always knew where to stand to meet a particular guy. The hotel was very big and suitable for all the wrestlers and their tables, but it still wasn’t big enough for that many fans. The prices were OK for most wrestlers, and there was a lot of merchandise. We never had a problem getting our pre paid tickets, and 95% of the people (fans, sellers and workers) were friendly and happy to be there. So I really recommend any serious wrestling fans to attend an event like this. Indeed, it was a ‘’Big Event’’

Thanks for reading!

Frank