CENA/MARIA AUTOGRAPH SIGNING REVIEW
- 04/15/2006 (5:02:28 pm)
- Mike Siciliano
…..
The Quest of meeting WWE Superstars has continued yet again, and this time, the ship has been righted, in a big big way. If you'd like some explanation about the quest, visit my myspace page, and let me know, and I'll put it on my blog. So many people have heard me crow about this that it's kind of ridiculous to put that info back up here.
Anyway, friday night, RAW Diva Maria Kanellis and WWE Champion John Cena, quoted to be the best babyface AND heel currently going today in WWE came in to Massapequa, LI, NY at New York Sports Works in the Sunrise Mall for an autograph signing. The crowd, well, let's see how I can describe the crowd.
We arrived for the signing, scheduled for 6pm, at around 1. Yes, I am that nuts. At 1pm, the crowd was in the neighborhood of probably 50 to 75 people. By 5pm, when the crowd began to increase, that number could be estimated in the 5 to 7 hundred range. By the time the signing began, and we had completed our turn in the barrel, and were heading out the door, there was close to 1 hundred people waiting just TO BUY TICKETS to get upstairs to the signing area.
Well, the champ came in to a thunderous ovation from the crowd. Truth be told, Maria snuck in out of my radar, I never saw her come in at all. But, she was there, all smiles, and ready to go. The crowd was jacked in their usual big, big way.
We were second in line, believe it or not, even for being there 5 hours ahead of time. Special shout out hello's go to Cathy, Brandon, and Johnny. I hope they had fun, and we thank them for helping pass the time much quicker than 5 hours would normally feel. I hope they had fun at this signing too. I sure as heck did.
We went up, and said hi to the champ, and sure as hell, he recognized us. He took the time to speak with each of my kids, accepted a birthday wish from my wife, and a good luck wish from me at Backlash as my kids and I posed for a very well shot Polaroid that I had signed by both talents. The picture was tremendous, thank you Alex. (More on that in a minute.)
John made sure to take the time to say thank you, and seemed genuinely impressed that my crew has been out to see him on so many different occasions. It continues to absolutely boggle my mind how insane a crowd can be for someone of John Cena's magnitude, and yet, he can be so down to earth, amiable, and pleasant toward a family of five that has little to no recognizable traits except for the fact that I am large, not in charge, and I have three little ones who have their faces plastered in portable video games for the entire time they were there.
Anyway, I can't thank John Cena enough. It is such a treat to be able to rub elbows with the celebrities of the WWE, and know that they genuinely seem thankful for the response, and the loyalty shown them by the fans of the product, no matter how insane, or inane may be the appropriate word, that I think the product is.
Quickly, and I don't mean to disparage her in any way, Maria was all smiles throughout the time we were there. I had the pleasure of speaking with her twice, and I think it flustered her, because she seemed to be a little confused that I approached her on two different angles. I don't know, I just wanted to make sure that I tried to convey how grateful I feel that these guys take time out of their insanity they call a life to make someone else's life, which is just as nuts for different reasons, a little more pleasant. Huge kudos go out to Maria because I guarantee you this. 99.9% of that crowd was not there for the Raw Kiss Cam hostess, and she still was absolutely charming to speak to.
Closing this piece out, a special thank you and excellent job goes out to the staff of New York Sports Works, headed up by my friend Alex, and the compatriots of the security force at the Sunrise Mall. During the last time I wrote about a session I attended with Kurt Angle, I wrote some, bluntly, scathing remarks about the general populus of the crowd and how poorly they behaved. Truth be told, it was chaos, and it was dangerous back then. Well, they stepped it up, in a big way. A presence was on site at all times, the setup was such that it was impossible to rush ahead of the line to get a glimpse of the talent's arrival, and the overall atmosphere of the entire event was much more controlled. I know in these types of surroundings you're going to have chaos, but this time out, things went, from my point of view, absolutely smooth as silk. I am jacked up for the next event to come down from how positive the experience was on Friday night.
Speaking of next time, June 10th, one day before ECW's One Night Stand, and here is the irony, one of the main opponents of ECW's manager is going to be in the Mall to sign autographs, and that being Jillian Hall. Also, along with Jillian, and here is the true irony of this appearance, one day before what everyone thinks will be his cashing in and taking a shot at the WWE or World titles, Mr. Money in the Bank, Rob Van Dam. It's been almost two years since Van Dam came to Long Island, and I am looking forward to having him sign MULTIPLE BELTS. Intercontinental and World Tags are probably going to be the choice. So mark this person's word, the quest continues. I hope to see you there. If you come, look for the big guy in the jersey and shorts, and come up and say hello.
Ok, that's it for now. My 100th column is taking shape. Information about what I am going to do for that is on my myspace page. Here are my closing links.
First, to check out New York Sports Works in depth, visit their website at www.newyorksportsworksinc.com . And quickly, to the boss man, Alex. Thank you. Your efforts are recognized by this family. I guarantee it.
Lastly, drop me a dime via email at [email protected] .
Enjoy your holidays, ladies and gentlemen. See you next time. Sorry this was late. I was due to release this yesterday but my computer burped. Doesn't that stink?
Beaucoup Cenabling!
Tags:
