I went to the South Jersey Wrestling fan Fest run by J&J Collectables, on Saturday, July 26.  The event was held at the Holiday Inn in Cherry Hill, NJ.  The event was set to begin at 9am.  At that time not many of the vendors were set up and only few of the Superticket guest were there.  At that time Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, Tom Brandi, and Tito Santana were there.  Brandi, Tito, and Tammy were just talking and laughing. 

            After twenty minutes, no one running the signing came into the room to make sure the signing was going on.  I started talking to Tom Brandi and Tammy’s boyfriend John.  Tom was saying that his Classic Figure was set to come out in a few months.  He said his figure will be based on the Salvatore Sincere promo photo.  It will have the pink and white shorts and the classic white Sincere hat.  He was not sure if the figure would have the jacket.  (I hope the figure does have the jacket.)  Brandi asked me if I had anything I wanted signed since the signing started.  I had my own photo and I took the photo that J&J were giving out.  Tom Brandi took his time, talked about different things going on.  Brandi is always a class act.

            Tammy “Sunny” Sytch was at the next table.  Sunny always looks amazing.  We talked about different things.  Tammy is a real sweetheart.  She could not be any nicer.  I had a photo that was the used for ads promoting WWF live events.  I had to ask John, her boyfriend, to take a picture of me and Tammy since no one from the J&J was there to take pictures.  John was joking about the fact we had to move tables so the people could get behind the tables to take pictures with the talent.  John is a real nice guy; he was laughing say he did not think he would have to take photos like he normally does.

            Tito Santana was next.  Tito has his book in front of him.  I had my trading card to be signed by him.  Tito asked if I had a ticket or something.  I had a Superticket that I should him.  Tito said something on the lines like someone from the signing should be there.  Tito Santana is great, always good to see him.

            About 45 minutes after the signing started Chris Masters arrived.  Chris came in with the person running the event; the guy should Chris to his table and walked away.  I went up to Chris with my photos and he asked me if I had a ticket or so something.  I should him my Superticket, Masters laughed and asked was he taking it or what the Superticket people got.  Tito was sitting next to him and Tito told him the all the Superticket got anything they wanted.  Masters said something like what Tito said earlier, that someone from J&J should be there.  Masters was real nice.

            All the talent was extremely nice.  They were all friendly with the fans.  It seemed like they all took there time with each of the fans.  Now that the talent was great, it is hard to say bad thing about the people running the event.  The people running the autograph session really had no control.  The autograph session was to start at 9am but it official started somewhere about 9:20am when the first fan asked for an autograph.  There was no real line; people would just walk around getting anyone they wanted.  It was very much a cluster of people in front of the signers.  Fans had to hand off there cameras to other fans so they could get photos with the talent.  I saw Mambo from Wrestle Reunion and Tammy’s boyfriend taking pictures for the fans.  The superticket came with photo ops but with everyone getting photos ops.  I thought at least the Supertickets would get an additional Polaroid to be signed, but I did not see anyone from J&J with a Polaroid camera.  People seemed just to be walking up to the talent with random things to be signed.  Within no time most of the talent was finished signing and just sitting there.  Off and on a fan would go up to on of the wrestlers with something to be signed. 

            At some point Brian (Adam Bomb aka Wrath) Clark arrived.  From what the web site said he was a vendor but there was no one with him.  He was just signing what ever was put in front of him and taking pictures with fans.  Clark was a real nice guy and seemed to really enjoy himself.  I don’t know if he was ever added to the Superticket.  Clark and Brandy seemed to get along real good since they talked most of the time.

            There was a very large window between the Superticket signings.  Almost 3 hours.  There were not many vendors.  You had people signing loose Hasbro figures, WWF LJN figures, a booth of WWE figures, signed photos and someone selling purses (that is right someone was selling women’s handbags at a wrestling trade show, they got more laughs then anything else.)  Only good vendors (in my mind) were RF Video and Mambo’s table.  During the window between signings I had the chance to talk with T and James from Legends of the Ring.

            Also during the window there were a few vendor guests around.  For most of the day Wrestling Mark had Blue Meanie.  Wrestling Marks had okay photos of Meanie, nothing great.  I meet Meanie in the past so I did not get anything signed but he was a nice guy.   Mambo had Doug Somers.  Mambo had really nice 8x10 glossy photos.  Somers had a few of his ring worn tights.  Somers was before my time and I only seen a few things that had him, so I passed.

            MGM Collectibles had a signing set with Traci Brooks starting at 11am.  Before the signing MGM set up there table.  They had at least 5 different color 8 x 10 photos.   They were the real professional photos, they looked great.  In place of the going out of business Polaroid, they had the instant digital photo machine.  MGM had 3 people working with them, one guy to taking photos, one for selling tickets and 8x10’s, and the last to be with Traci to be sure things were all set.  Very much a professional group.  I have been to a few of there signings when the do the Woburn, MA card shows so I knew they would run things smoothly.  Right at 11am Traci arrived.  She looked great.  MGM had great prices that would not break the bank.  Traci took her time with the fans.  She was great and a real sweetheart.  MGM really knows how to pick talent to use.

            Next to MGM was a new vendor 3B Wrestling.  3B Wrestling is a new autograph dealer run by everyone’s favorite Dan the mark.  3B was set for a signing at 1pm but arrived early with former WCW and ECW star Gorgeous George.  3B Wrestling had a number of great glossy photos.  George was a real nice young lady.  You could tell she wanted to be there to meet the fans, and from what Dan told me she wanted to meet the wrestlers as well.  It is always good when someone in wrestling wants to meet people that came before them, a real class act.  George was real happy to see Traci Brooks and the Blue Meanie.  Chris Masters who was just walking around after his signing was over really wanted to meet her.  I was close to Masters when George came in and asked me for any info I knew about her.  Masters had no idea who she was; he just wanted to go up to her.  3B did a great job with their pick of talent.  I hope Dan the best of luck in anything he does in the future, he knows his stuff and will do great things with his new company in due time.

            After a while it was time for the second signing to start.  It was set to start at 1pm but it started late.  Plus the when the wrestlers arrived for the signing people had to wait for the photos.  It took a while, but finally they arrived.  Then once again came the madness, but it seemed to have at least a little order.  This time the wrestlers had someone at each table checking for tickets.  But I still did not see any Polaroid camera and had to hand off my camera to others fans.  There still was no order when it came to lines.  Fans group around different tables jump around to get whatever they could get autographed.

            Brutus Beefcake is always a great guy.  He told me about the upcoming Hogan CCW television show.  He said it was really good, better than he thought going into it.  He said it would be ready to air sometime early September.  Gorgeous George was very happy to see Brutus.  I am thinking they knew each other from WCW.  Beefcake looks in great shape once again and had his hair dyed blond.

            Greg “the Hammer” Valentine was at the next table I went to.  He is a good guy.  He did not say much, but real good to the fans.

            George Steele is great.  He joked around with everyone.

            Jake “the Snake” Roberts was mobbed.  The group around him was large.  He was very friendly.  He joked around with everyone.  This was the second time I meet him and he seemed real happy to be there.  It was great to see Jake.

            In other notes, members of TNA street team where there and had fliers for Hard Justice and the New York City house show around the convention.  I saw that Gary Wolfe arrived after I left.  After I got Jake I just wanted to get out.  I was annoyed about the way the convention was being run and just wanted to leave.  I never meet Gary Wolfe and when I found out he arrived I wished I stayed a little longer just so I could have got a photo with him, but things happens.

            I just wanted to thank Georgie for the tickets.  I am sorry to say that J&J Collectibles South Jersey Wrestling Fan Fest was poorly managed.  This was the stores first time so I can say that they really did not know what they where getting into.  They should do a few more smaller signings and try to run them more like MGM Collectibles runs their signings with a large staff, professional grade 8x10’s, and with photos ops before they try another wrestling convention.  I have been to many different wrestling conventions and I would say this was poorly run compared to the others I have been to.

Once again thank you Georgie for this opportunity:

Chris S. from Boston, MA