HULK HOGAN SIGNING A FEW MORE THOUGHTS
- 01/21/2007 (6:16:45 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
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Hi Georgie,
After reading a few stories about the Hogan signing on wrestlingfigs.com, I thought I would add mine if I may. We got to the Roosevelt Field Mall yesterday at about ten am for the Hulk Hogan signing. I took my nine year old daughter, Taylor with me who is a big wrestling fan, old school of course. She usually attends all the conventions and signings with me. When we got there we were directed to a big hallway where there was about 200 hundred fans waiting. Got on the back of the line and quickly made a few friends and we all began to reminisce about the Hulkster. What I enjoy about these signings and conventions is that you meet people and make new friends as you wait for the signings to start. At about twelve ten the man himself the Hulkster entered through a back door to the chant of the crowd which was awesome! Just like old times. At about twelve thirty the line began to move and in forty five minutes we were at the front of the line ready to go to another small line of ten people who waited in front of the store. After roughly about ten minutes on that line we were lead in to see the Hulkster. My daughter went first and the Hulk greeted her with a handshake and a hello. He then greeted me shook my hand and asked how long I was a wrestling fan. I told him I was a fan a bit before his Sterling Golden days on TBS and he laughed. I then began to give his handler items I bought for autographing. The Big Red book, The new wrestling pictorial, and two early wrestling poster pullouts from PWI. Hulk was very cordial in signing my items and after seeing the items commented on me being an " old" school fan and even shared a few stories with us as he signed the items which was awesome. After Hulk signed all my items I asked Hulk if we could take a Polaroid with him. He said" sure brother"and had one of his body guards take the photo. I asked Hulk if it would be ok to get the Polaroid autographed and he said absolutely. We both shook Hulks hand and he thanked us for coming out to see him. As we left the store we couldn't stop talking about how great it was to meet Hulk Hogan. A true thrill. A few comments on Steiner and how they handled the signing. I felt that up to the point that we went in everything was handled very well. I can't comment on afterwards of course. The lines were pretty well roped off and moved well. The staff themselves were very cordial and helpful from star to finish and we were very well treated. I myself would definitely attend another Steiner signing as we were very satisfied and can't thank Steiner enough for bringing the Hulkster to Long Island. Remember Hulk was supposed to sign for an hour and a half but stayed till five so kudos to Steiner and Hulk for that too. Also special thanks to you Georgie for the heads up on the Hulk signing and all you do for us fans THANK YOU and keep up the great work.
Ray and Taylor Dutczak of Yonkers NY
P.S. Being a Cablevision subscriber we now have WWE 24/7 ( of course I got the scoop on Wrestlefigs.com) I don't want to leave the house anymore lol.
Old School Wrestling 4 EVER!!!!!
Georgie - I just read the other account of the Hogan signing yesterday. I agree that the staff of the Hall of Heroes weren't exactly cordial and social with everyone.
I understood why because of the magnitude of the signing they were about to have. I personally asked a couple of the employees and the security guards questions and they answered as well as they could. I agree that the last 25% of the crowd were somewhat snubbed of the full Hogan experience but they probably weren't on time enough to get a good place in line.
I saw people still checking in for their tickets around 1:30. If you know Hulk Hogan starts signing @ 1pm and you want to have a fighting chance of meeting him personally, you dont arrive after 1pm. If I had spend over $400 dollars, I would have gotten there @ 8am when the mall opened. My friends and I live in Poughkeepsie and its almost 2 hours to Long Island. We left my house @ 6am because we wanted to be ahead of the chaos. It was kind of good that they started 30 minutes early but to wrap up at 5:30 is insane. I bet Hogan was tired but just the fact that he actually went down the rest of the line and signed everyones stuff shows his true character. I've been to signings where the athlete refuses to go 5 minutes over their alotted time and leave. A real snub is getting 5 people away from the person you've been waiting for hours only to see them walk away and only get a refund.
The moral of the story is for any signing whether it be for Joe Nobody to someone of Hulk Hogan's status is to get there really early. Its much easier to be pissed off for standing on line for 6 hours than it is to get there later and be pissed off at yourself when you are shut out.
Joe D from Poughkeepsie, NY
Thanks for posting my comments Georgie. I agree that Hogan is a very fan friendly person. I in no way blame him for what happened. One fan yelled out "How could you do this to your fans!" He responded and said that this wasn't his doing, that the people that were running the show were to blame.
The signing was supposed to be from 1-2:30pm. So it was totally wrong for them to sell 500+ tickets, knowing that there was no possible way they could accomodate that many people. I still saw people getting on line after 2:30 when the session should have ended. All they cared about was the money.
The worst of it for me is that I was the 7th person to buy presale tickets, the number was right on the envelope when I picked it up. I think they were lucky the Hulkster kept signing till 6pm to finish the line. He's still one of my all time favorites and I hope I can meet him again and get the opportunity to shake his hand and take a pic with him. Thanks again.
David J of New Jersey
David J of New Jersey
For any of you Hogan fans who couldn't make the Hogan signing, check out this link for a very special MAGAZINE signed by Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart and Razor Ramon. A great piece of Nostalgia, not easy to find.. Click here: eBay.com Seller List: bobmul345 Along with some other great items, including some very young promos of Missy Hyatt.
In Memory of Scott " Bam Bam" Bigelow
My heart aches to write that my longtime friend, "Bammer", has passed away. To see it in print makes me realize that it is not a dream and that yet another great person has gone home before his time.
I have great memories of "Bammer" going back to as far as the 1980's when we first became friends. Bammer spent countless nights training at my Wild Samoan Training Center. In the early stages of his career, I would have him stand in front of a mirror in the dressing room for 40 minutes before his match making ugly faces because he was such a kind soul and didn't know how to be mean.
We traveled up and down the highways together spending so much quality time together during our careers. He was one of the first names that was booked on my oversea tours and its a blessing for me that we shared so many special times. Our families spent holidays together and "Bammer" performed on several of my WXW events throughout the years.
For a man of his size, he could move like a lightweight and was a fan favorite. He gave his all in the ring and fans appreciated his athletic talent.
It is a gift for me to know that Bammer felt that I was a Pops to him because I always thought of him as one of my kids. He will be missed by many people and I am definitely one who will remember "Bammer" for the person he was in and out of the ring.
If I would have a chance to say good-bye to "Bammer", here is what I would tell him: "have a safe journey home, son, and you will be in good company with all of the others who went before you. Rest in peace and we will meet again. I love you son."
Your Pops Afa "The Wild Samoan"
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