San Francisco CONvention weekend review

http://blog.myspace.com/thebluemeanie

**WARNING!!! NAUGHTY LANGUAGE THRU OUT BLOG!!**

Well THAT was interesting!!...........I got home yesterday and spent the last day and half or so digesting all that has happened over the weekend. A lot of you may or may not know all that happened in San Francisco this past weekend at the 2007 at the Wrestle Fan "Fest". They called Wrestle Fan Fest but what most people who experienced it refer to it as "Cluster Fuck 2007"

On March 7th I was messaged on myspace about doing this pro wrestling/mma convention in San Francisco for this October. It sounded interesting and since I hadn't been to Cali in forever I really hoped it was the real deal.  I was told:

"The event is scheduled to have over 40,000 fans, and we have major sponsors like Gatorade,BMW,Red Bull and a few others.

We have about 100 or so wrestlers lined up for this event and around 150 vendors scheduled for space. We have sold 1400 tickets in two weeks for the event. I think if nothing else, you would like to attend!

Our goal is to make this the most comprehensive weekend in wrestling entertainment, providing the fans a show like no other. Again, this would be a great opportunity to have you put into the limelight of a true National Convention atmosphere."

So we negotiated what it would take for me to agree to appear. I was offered either a) a flat rate for my appearance or b) a percentage deal. I opted for the percentage because there's been plenty of times where I have taken a flat rate and kicked myself because I realized I could have maybe made more by doing a percentage rate. I also asked if they could agree to fly Tracy out since they were saving money by me taking the percentage rate. They said yes, so this sounded good if all was indeed going to happen.

So I was emailed a contact to appear. No prob. It was very self explanatory as to what we had agreed to. Time goes by  I noticed I wasn't on their site anymore. So I called to make sure if everything was ok.  I got in touch with "Chris Salisbury". In hind site it's weird that his email was signed  "Chris Salisbury" and the email was [email protected], yet the name that showed up in my email box as coming from Robert Cramer. Anyway, I talk to "Chris Salisbury" and he assured me I was still on the show. His webmaster was updating the site and di in in sections and I will be back on the site. Eventually I am put back up.

Talking to the guy he sounded like he had his shit together. He told me he had some probs with different people which could be understandable. I had them when involved with running 3PW. So up until now things seem ok. The only thing that had me wondering was the fact that I got my plane tickets a month after he said he bought them. But looking at the purchase date it added up with when he told me he was bought them. So again, there weren't any real warning signs until. He told me on the phone he had presold 19,000 tix which was the only true "yea RIGHT" moments I had.

The day comes and me and Tracy go to the airport last Thursday the 18th. We run into Francine at security and we waited for her on the other side. We went to the gate to get in line. We're on Southwest Airlines so I made it a point to check in and print my tickets online because Southwest is open seating and they board by groups A, B, C. We're in group B which isn't too bad. Sandman joins us soon after and we waited at the gate. The best part of waiting to board was that the guy making the announcement legit sounded like the teacher from "Charlie Brown". "Weh WAH WAH WAH". We all look at each other to see if this is really happening. Tracy had the best line saying that this HAD to be a "Saturday Night Live" skit! HA!

As we're handing the tickets to the "WAH WAH" man I whisper to Francine "She sell sea shells by the sea shore" to make her laugh which only half popped her. Me and Francine got a text from our friend Amy Lee that warned that Jim Neidhart was no showing because he hadn't receive a deposit and that Dan Severn was advertised even though he wasn't booked. Francine called her and got the info on what was went down.

The biggest rib with this trip out west is that it went from Philly to Raleigh, NC. Then Raleigh to Nashville and Nashville to OAKLAND. NOT San Francisco where the actual SHOW AND HOTEL were. But OAKLAND. Oakland is nothing but I skip over the bridge but it turns out our hotel is a literally less than 5 minutes from San Frans airport. The flights was brutal length wise. luckily I only had to be smushed in the middle for the Raleigh to Nashville part. I made sure Tracy had a window seat because this is the her second time ever flying and she wanted to look out which was no problem. Actually I adored watching her look out the window.

We land in OAKLAAAAND and we're starving! Southwest doesn't have a meal service. Not even one you can buy! We get down to the baggage claim and trying to play the "figure out who is there to pick us up" game. Beside the shit route of a flight we took the initial "Spinal Tap" moment came when the guy who was picking us up was holding up a sign with me and Francine's last names it and mine is spelled wrong. Fortunately I noticed "Fournier" because I had no idea who Brian "Herron" is. All I could think of was the sign in the movie "Spinal Tap" where there limo driver held up  the sign "Spinal Pap" @ the airport.

Another bad sign is that Sandman's name wasn't on the sign because this was also the first sign of how unprepared they were. Because after we got our bags went to the car to find out that they had a Hummer come pick us up. Now, the hummer isn't the problem as much as that they sent THREE guys to pick up FOUR people at the airport in a truck that could comfortably seat MAYBE five. Plus the trunk area that we were supposed to put out our luggage was filled with boxes of energy drinks. Let the CLUSTER FUCK begin!!! So me, Tracy, Sandman and Francine and one of the picker upper guys squeeze in the back seat.

I tried to keep the mood lite by cracking jokes. The someone says "yea, they sent a stretch Hummer limo for Piper". Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE Piper!! Piper DESERVES a limo!! He DESERVES a stretch Hummer limo!! But do the fucking math here. Send 3 to pick up 4 in a 5 seater yet send a car that could easily seat 11-12 to pick up 1 person. We get to the hotel to check in. We meet "Chris Salisbury" and his wife Jasmine in the lobby. They check us in. Give us our keys. The rooms they gave us were SWEEET. They bed was comfortable as all hell. Huge flat screen built in the wall. Seeing that kinda took the edge off a 10 hour trip from Philly that entailed 2 layovers and a 30 minute fucking clown car ride from OAKLAND to San Fran where we were 5 fucking minutes from San Fran's. OH! and YEA! "Chris Salisbury" informs me that Hall and Nash aren't coming which made me flinch a tad. According to "Chris Salisbury" they weren't coming because "they asked for a deposit even though they hadn't asked for one until the day before". I'm paraphrasing but that's the gist of it. We went down to the hotel restaurant which was nice...............and over priced. A cheesburger was $16 for chrissakes!! We had dinner and Tammy Sytch and her boyfriend come into our area. First of all Tammy looks fantastic!! We catch up with each other and I get to meet her new man who is a really cool dude.

We were supposed to go to some after party but we were way too tired. Turns out this night is the last time we would hear about this "after party". ESPECIALLY since no one had any clue how we were going to get there Tammy's bf told us he heard it's a $50 cab ride! FUCK THAT! Francine said she was told that "Chris Salisbury" was going to be coming room to room to give us an itinerary. Me and Tracy went to our room to unwind and wait for the itinerary. I nodded off about 8 o'clockish. I woke up off and on all kinds of jumpy worrying whether I missed "Chris Salisbury's" knock at the door so we can see what we were doing. Turns out neither "Chris Salisbury" or anyone from his staff came to drop it off until the next morning. Al Snow gets to the airport with his fiance' Cindy (aka Bobcat). We went down to the restaurant to grab something to eat with Al, Cindy and Francine. Later on DDP comes down to our area and joins us as well. We all catch up with each other and then go grab our bags to go to the building. Tracy and I jump in a limo with Scott Norton, Mrs. Norton, Larry Zbysko, April Hunter and JD Michaels. Talk turns to wondering how the crowd may respond to no Hall and Nash. I quipped that maybe they could do a last minute booking of Hall and Oats.

We get to the building and there is no one there to greet us to tell us what we need to do or where we need to be. There IS an area for talent but it's for those who took the flat rate. The site eventually advertised me as a "Vendor Guest" and said that vendor guest were paid what they sold etc. So know one told me where the vendor guests were supposed to be. Finally someone comes. I think his name was Jay. I asked him where I was supposed to be and he looked at me as if I just cupped my own fart and ate it in front of him. Which is something I would NEVER do..................in public. So he wonders off WHILE I'm expecting some kind of answer. After he told me he needed to talk to me separately. 10 minutes later he finally gives me some kind of attention and take me to what I would later find out is "no man's land". I am no where near the other wrestlers yet I am closer to the playboy models and David Faustino (aka Bud Bundy). The only person wrestling related near us was Dawn Marie and Gail Kim. Dawn Marie came over to chat and take pics. The attendance for Friday is what you refer to as typical for a Friday convention. Most people are working etc.

7pm rolls around and I head to the back for the wrestling show part of the convention. I find out it's me and Al Snow vs. Luke Hawx and Alkatraz. This match was alot of fun. The crowd was really vocal and we had a lot of interaction. We went roughly 10 minutes. Me and Al won with a combo shot with "the head" to Luke's head and I came off with a "Kamala" type splash. We were on third which was nice because I go to change early and watch the rest of the show. After the show we wait for a ride back to the hotel. My friend Kevin Gill was there which is awesome because I haven't see him in years. He gave Tracy, Francine and Bobcat a lift in his car while me, Al and Larry Zbysko waited for the limo. You know.... THE STRETCH ONE we could used at the airport in OAKLAND?! Ha! We file in and are joined by Steve Corino, Chavo Guererro and a couple others. We get to the hotel, drop the bags off at the room and went to them bar. The bar is full and unfortunately there is ONE bartender. While trying to make my way to order a drink I realized there food in the other section for the boys. So I opt to eat first since I was starving. Me, Tracy, Al, Bobcat and Francine  sat at one table. Sharkboy comes over to the table next to us. Abyss came over just to shoot the shit. I love Abyss. He is one of the coolest guys in the biz and he is worth taking a booking alone just to hang out with.

I went to the bar to grab some beer for dinner and it took a good 20 minutes just for the bartender to make his way to our side of the bar. So I decided I may as well grab doubles to save me from making the trip and waiting again. The food was reeeally good. Maybe it had to do with it being free as opposed to over priced fancy shmancy shit that were serving in the restaurant. We mingle around after they announce the bar was closing at 1:30 am..........1:30am? WTF?! Oh well. Some people had there own cases of beer out in the hall/lobby area. I wonder out loud "isn't there a beer sponsor for this weekend" to which Kevin Kleinrock graciously leads me to a gentleman from "Firemans Brew" who has 2 cases of his companies beer. SCORE!! We get our drink on and notice the guys from "Cryme Tyme" are hanging out. Shad walked past me and I introduced myself to him. He remembered me from my last run in the WWE which is cool because I didn't want to assume anything. My buddy Kevin stopped by too to hang. Tracy and I call it a night and went to bed because we want to get some sort of early start the next day.

We got up and did our morning get ready thing and went downstairs to eat. We came out of the elevator area to go to the restaurant. I look down towards to the lobby and see a lot of the boys down there hanging out. I figured they were waiting for there rides to the building. So after breakfast we go to the lobby to say our hellos and find out that everyone is waiting for "Chris Salisbury's" wife to come pay everyone. Francine told me she was down there for 3 plus hours. First they said the wife was going to get the money. The she was "on her way back". The she got "pulled over" and it that why it was taking so long.I saw Molly Holly in the lobby and said hey. I smartened her up to what was going on. Finally "Chris Salisbury's"  wife makes it back and goes directly to their hotel room. One of the guys find out where they are staying and the rest of the boys follow up to the room. Word started to spread that they were paying people by check with was not a good sign. So I figured the best thing to do would be to go to the arena appear at the convention. We hopped in the limo with Molly Holly and Tracy to go down to the Cow Palace. Christian was signing down there as was Goldberg but I missed them.

Saturday had about as many people as Friday. Word amongst some people was that Austin wouldn't be there Sunday. Don't ask me where because I have NO IDEA but it made the rounds. Piper came out and did a Q&A which awesome. He was lead out by pipers to his theme. He did it for well over a half an hour. After this days convention me and Tracy hoped in my friend Kevin's car with his friend Dave. Kevin was going to show us around and we were gonna go out to dinner with his gf Barbara. We dropped Dave off at his house and went to Kevin's for a couple Heinekin's and chilled with Barbara. We walked over to this little italian restaurant called "Ristorante Milano" that is  kinda hidden but was REALLY good. It reminded me of a legendary Italian restaurant my friend Mike took me and Tracy to in South Philly call "Ralph's". Same size and the food was tremendous.  After some a great dinner, a bottle of wine and some desert we waddled our way back to Kevin's............AFTER we went to the beer store and grabbed a case! HA!I mean the bar at the hotel was cool but they were raping us for $4 a beer! At least Jesse James had a gun when he fucking robbed people.

We stopped at Kev's for a little bit. I have to say Dan Fran is really cool but GOD DAMN are those hills a bitch to climb! If I lived there I could EASILY lose 40lbs. in a couple weeks. I smarted Kevin up to Rock Hard Killer's band "Nitty Gritty" and played him the "Hitting Bitches With Pans" song and he played his friends band "No Redeeming Social Value" from New York. Both bands are fun to listen too. We took our case and hiked to Kevin's car to go back to the hotel. When I got back I heard a lot of shit I missed. Apparently, Dog The Bounty Hunter's kid Leland is trying to get into MMA. Him and his posse came over from Hawaii for the MMA show. What I didn't find out until later is that the MMA card got canceled. The excuse was that the Athletic Commission said that the ring the MMA people were going to use wasn't up to par. But I also heard that they had only sold 27 tickets. The Wrestling portion sold about 400. So I'm guessing that the athletic commission is just an excuse to cover up for the low ticket sales.

So back to Leland and the MMA guys met up with the promoters to try and work out some kind of compensation. Tempers flared and before you know it Leland's bodyguard took a swing at UFC legend Don Frye. Frye leg dove on him and pounded away. The cops got called and things were broken up. Everyone was down in the lobby when tempers between Fry and the bodyguard flew again and as Frye was going out side to confront Frye the bodyguard sucker punch him again giving Frye and shiner. The cops were called AGAIN! The hotel threatened to throw everyone out of the hotel if shit didn't settle down. In the mean time "Chris Salisbury" totally skipped out of the hotel and no one knew where he went! Alot of you may wonder why I have been saying his name as "Chris Salisbury" with the quotes. Well THAT'S because I went online to read about what people were saying about the convention and people were reporting "Chris Salisbury" as Chris Cramer! "Chris Salisbury" wasn't even his real name!

So we finished the night and beer and went to bed. Next morning we went to go eat but saw some pople in the lobby. We went to see what was going on. Mike Lano who had been helping all weekend was trying to get the boys to the building and tried to help salvage what was going on. We went to the building. Around 1pm Steve Austin DOES show up. I really didn't have any doubt that he would show up because Steve is a pro. The crowd was buzzing that he was there. There were A LOT of people there which was refreshing given the prior 2 days. I went over to say hello and grab a quick pic. He had a lot of people waiting for him so I didn't want to cut into the fans time with him. I went over to Steve Williams table and grabbed a copy of his new book "How Dr. Death Became Dr. Life". I got him to sign it which I marked out for. I was such a HUGE mark for Watt's UWF and Dr. Death. So I went back to my table and chilled. Francine set up behind me. Her Tracy hung for most of the day which was cool that everybody likes Tracy. It's refreshing to have a girl in my life that no one hates! *SWOON*

After the convention closed down me and Tracy went over to the ROH show in the main arena. The ROH guys did great. It was a fun show. While we were there I got a text from Francine say she was locked out of her room!! I started kinda worry because I didn't know if the same would happen to me. Did "Chris Salisbury" screw the hotel and did they try to kick everyone out?!? Turns out that WASN'T the case. Just a screw up on the hotels part and Franny got back in her room. After ROH I met up with Kev and Barb to go back to the hotel. We hung for a little over some beers. While we were at the bar I tried to figure out how in the hell we were going to get to Oakland the next day!! "Chris Salisbury" bounced, his dad which turns out was one of the limo drivers took off!! Kevin couldn't help because he had to work and plus he had done so much for us that weekend I didn't want to be a burden. Kev said that Oakland was about a $60 cab ride. Barb said there was a public trans system that ran from San Fran airport to Oakland but I didn't want to risk that because I wouldn't have times it right.

I asked around to no avail. Turns out that April and JD were in the same boat. So we talked about split a cab. April HAD been talking to some who's aid he could give her and JD a lift the night before but the guy fuckin flaked out. He was no selling her calls and letting it go to voice mail. Sunday me and Tracy had breakfast/lunch. We grabbed out bags and went to the lobby. April and JD came down and we called for a cab. After that Luke Hawx came down. He was flying out of San Fran and had someone coming to drive him to the airport. He heard about our situation and offered his ride up to us and he offered to take the SHUTTLE!! How awesome is that!?! I always thought Luke was a cool dude anyway. He lived with my friend Mike and Sunday night he bought me Wendy's to save on having to order over price hotel shite. Luke's friend Yvette arrived right before the cab and she was cool with giving us a lift to OAKLAND since she lives there. She had a truck so we could fit all our bags in there. It was a little tight since she had a child seat in the back but it was no where NEAR as bad as the ride FROM Oakland airport.

We get there and we went to curb side for Southwest. We printed out out boarding passes on their site and just need to check our bags. I was checking 3 this time around since I NEVER check my gear bag flying TO a town I'm working. Because if they lose my bags AT LEAST I have my gear and can still work. On the way home I can check them no prob. One time in the WWF the airline lost the ENTIRE planes baggage by putting it on the WRONG plane. EVERYONE had to wait at baggage claim for over an hour for their bags. We check in and rush to security. April and JD are farther up the security line than us and let us but in with them because we cutting it close to our flight. I said "OOOH THERE YOU ARE!?!? I THOUGHT WE LOST YOU!?!"  No one questioned it. We grabbed some stuff for the plane like cross word puzzles and trail mix. We Left Oakland for our ONE and ONLY layover in Las Vegas!! We land and noticed we had a half an hour before the connection loaded. So I was like "wanna hit some slots" because there are slots IN the airport!! So I put $5 one in a machine and bombed. I went around to a "Wheel of Fortune" slot with $5 and hit for $54.25!! WOO HOO!! Lucky trip SO FAR right!?!

So we wait to get on for Philly after our connection was delayed getting in. I was lucky a far as having a row to just me and Tracy the whole trip. We took off and I busted out my PSP and played some Madden. The flight went QUICK luckily. We go to baggage claim. Our flight came into "D" terminal but they told us we had to get out bags in "E" baggage claim!! OF COURSE!! Not like we could be lucky and get right to our bags and go home. It's ONLY 1am! lol. We could be any more luckLESS when I found out that the AIRLINE LOST MY MERCHANDISE BAG!!! All my t-shirts! 8x10's!! My SIGNED Dr. Death book!! LOST!!  We went to look for the tags that they bell captain gave us when we checked in the bags and there was ONLY two when I KNOW I checked in three! I file a report. Describe my bag and ALL the contents. My bags is pretty unique because Tracy drew all over it with a silver marker making it uniquely mine.  We went home tired, worn out and sick. We felt like SHIT!! We had a cough and our throats were sore. Still are as a matter of fact.

We went to bed and fell asleep with no prob.We had stopped and picked up some Robitussin and some water to drink. In the morning the phone rang but it was a number I didn't know. I WON'T pick up for any unknown 's. I check my voice messages and it's SOUTHWEST! They FOUND my bag. Turns out that the jerk off bell captain never put a tag on it. They said they were sending it out on the next flight. I was gonna ask them to send me back the $10 that I tipped the CRUMB who forgot to tag my bags. I came home tonight and TADA! There it was. Everything intact. What a surreal weekend. It was crazy and sad all at the same time. I REALLY feel for the fans who got screwed. Especially the ones who bought the VIP packages for hundreds of dollars. I heard so many stories of what happened over the weekend and the stuff I experienced myself was only a fraction of what happened! Hopefully justice AND karma get served because this is what kills towns for the fans and kills the trust between wrestlers and promoters. This guy had SEVEN months to promote this event and from all accounts he only ran ads the week OF the show!! To those fans I met I wish it could have been better for those of you who got severely ripped off. Shout outs to the love of my life Tracy, Francine, Sandman, Al Snow, Bobcat, DDP, Mike Lano, Dr. Keith, Kevin Kleinrock, Dave, Kevin Gill & Barbara, Luke Hawx and Yvette, Ricky for the pizza, Molly Holly, Bud Bundy, Steve Austin, Steve Williams, Gangrel, My boy Roy Damm and his woman Xtine, Tammy Sytch and her man. Chyna, Crime Time, Tonga Kid, Barbarian and Warlord, Animal, Shark Boy, Abyss, Muta, Mr and Mrs. Scott Norton, Larry Zbysko, Alkatraz, Jimmy Snuka, Sir Samurai, Billy Kidman, April Hunter & JD Michaels, Gabe, Carey and the ROH CREW! It was a crazy weekend BUT you guys were the bright spot! Love you all!!

MEANIE