PWHOF REPORT & PHOTOS
- 05/18/2009 (10:07:42 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
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My PWHOF Report & PhotosThis might have been the longest drive I have ever made for a one day signing. I was definitely wondering if this was worth it when I woke up at 5:15 am. I arrived at LatinoHeat's place about 6:30ish and by 7:00 am, we were on the road. While en route, I received a text from Woodmo telling me the rumors were that Captain Lou and the Samoans were not going to show. This would be devastating to LatinoHeat who can’t seem to finish his Sika items up. I was looking forward to having them sign my encyclopedia, and coupled with our knowledge that Superstar Graham wasn’t attending, the day was not off to a great start.
Fortunately with no traffic, what was expected to be a 3 hour plus drive was done in about 2 1/2 hours.
We arrived at the hotel in the 9:30 am range and ran into Woodmo and WeWant Flair, as well as fellow board members, Stylesfan, Mooch, the Abos (Rockersfan), Zig and his adorable son (makes me wonder if I will still be doing these shows when my son is old enough to appreciate them like Zig's son is), etc. Some dude I had never met was almost gleeful to approach me to tell me that the Samoans, Lou, Graham, Destroyer and one other would not be appearing. Don’t you love people like that? Fortunately, he was wrong about the Destroyer, who did show and was awesome. Unfortunately, he was right about Cap. Lou and the Samoans.
This is a whole different experience than what I am used to and I was able to justify this trek based on the experience of going to the HOF. (First time I realized this was a different animal was when we pulled into the hotel parking lot, which appeared full, but walked into the lobby and it was empty.) What is very cool about this show was how laid back everything was. The legends would walk around or hang in the lobby and be happy to take photo opps and sign autographs. Not sure if the official meet and greet would be stand up photo opps or over the table shots, we realized we should try to get as many photo opps done before the actual meet and greet. In the lobby, we were able to get decent photo opps (as well as autographs) with Mae Young, Donna Christanello, Angelo Savoldi and Chief Jay Strongbow. Luckily we got Savoldi at that time because even though we expected him to be at the meet and greet, he was not there. Zig gave us excellent advice to get him in the lobby while he was there. Strongbow just sat in a chair in the lobby and signed whatever you wanted. I got 5 things signed by the Chief with no problem (considering at a Pa show a few years ago, his price was pretty high, this was a very cool situation for us).
We went into the vendor area set up around 10:00 am. It was a very small room, a few wrestlers selling their autographs, etc., and some vendors selling magazines, etc. It was cool to see Mombo and Bud Carson set up. Delaney, Snuka and Beefcake were set up (I had Beefcake sign my encyclopedia). The Destroyer Dick Beyer was selling bobble heads, shirts, etc. but even if you did not buy anything from him, he was happy to sign your own item for free, as well as take a picture with you for free (and you could go behind the table). Butcher Vachon did the same, and insisted that you take 3 pictures with him, 1 shaking his hand, 1 of him giving you a headlock and the last of you giving him a headlock. A really, really nice guy. As a result, I got some great pictures with Butcher and Destroyer.
After we finished staking out the lobby for a few minutes, we headed over to the actual Hall of Fame. I have heard different things about the Hall but I really thought it was a cool place. Lots of plaques, pictures, figures, posters, records, ring worn costumes (Grand Wizard, Orndorff, Hogan, etc.). While walking around the Hall, I was able to get stand up pictures and autographs with Baron Mikel Scicluna and Nick Bockwinkel. Scicluna was my main want of this show. I have been asking some of the Jersey promoters to bring him in for years but no one ever did. I have a MSG program from 1981 from the 1st wrestling show I ever attended with lots of signatures on it and Baron is one of the few left that I was finally able to add to it.
After spending some time taking pictures in the Hall, we headed over to the Meet and Greet, which took place in what might possibly be the emptiest mall I have ever been in. It was like a ghost town in that mall. An L shaped table was set up in the main hallway in the mall for when the wrestlers would appear. There were maybe 15 people ahead of us in line and by the time 1:00 pm came around, there must have been at least 100 people behind us.
The meet and greet consisted of Hank Garrett, indy wrestler Scott Campione, Jimmy Snuka, Cousin Luke, JJ Dillon, The Destroyer, Ray Apollo (Doink), Butcher Vachon, George Steele, Colin Delaney, Baron Scicluna, Pete Sanchez, ref Billy Caputo, Paul Orndorff, Mae Young, Donna Christanello, Red Bastien, Jay Strongbow, Nick Bockwinkel, Johnny Rodz, Billy 2 Rivers.
A meet and greet ticket got you 1 photo opp and 1 autograph. A bunch of us had bought extra meet and greet tickets just in case Inoki or Savage were going to show up (obviously didn’t happen but there were a few people we needed extra items for). There was no going behind the table for photo opps so we had lean in, over the table pictures for all of them. I was worried the photo opps would be horrible but they were not as bad as I expected. To get all of our items signed and get our photo opps done (we were our own cameramen so to speak), it probably took us at least 45 minutes to get through the line. Unfortunately for those behind us, the line was pretty much at a standstill until we cleared it. The staff was generally pretty nice with us but a few times we were told to hurry up along. There was nothing we could do about it though.
The wrestlers were all pretty cool, seemed grateful to be there and that we wanted to meet them. I saw Woodmo get a signature from Killer Kowalowki’s widow and was somewhat surprised that he had her sign his book but after reading the nice way she signed the book, I had her do the same for mine.
If the HOF was a little closer, it would be a no brainer to attend every year since I liked the casual atmosphere and thought the HOF had some great items in it. I wasn’t as impressed with the meet and greet set up but was happy to have had the opportunity to meet Scicluna, Destroyer, Mae, Bastien, Butcher, Savoldi, etc. Had Graham, Samoans and Albano showed up, the day would have been tremendous. Without them, it was still a very positive experience and a thumbs up.
OldSchoolWWWF
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