LEGENDS OF THE RING 4 AN AWESOME CONVENTION
- 04/28/2007 (9:29:38 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
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Thanks Ray for your great report, as usual.
Hi Georgie,
Today the day finally arrived, Legends Of The Ring 4 convention in Carteret NJ. All the hype was over and it was show time. We arrived at the hotel at 830 AM and already a line was forming. There was a line for ticket pickup, and another line for photo purchases which was great. We had our tickets already so we went over to the photo area and purchased the photos we needed of the wrestlers that we were going to get autographed. The photos were high glossy prints, real beauties and various poses of each wrestler so you had a nice choice to choose from. There was even a Leatherface photo for Kirshner, kudos to Terrence and James! We picked up our photos that we needed and headed in to the dealer room to look around as the autograph session would begin at 10 AM. Once in the room we were greeted warmly by James and Terrence the two promoters of the convention. We did a little shopping and by the time we knew it, it was time to start lining up for block one. There was a number system in place which was a fantastic idea. One through twenty were called and I had number thirteen so life was good at this point. As the line moved on it was our turn next. My daughter Taylor was a big help as always as she helps get our items signed and has the autograph system down pact. At the first block, the order of wrestlers were Brooklyn Brawler, Harvey Wippleman, Sherry Martell, The Mountie, Big Bully Busick, VKM, Bart Gunn. All of the wrestlers were very friendly and signed everything we had. It was nice that we weren't rushed and got to spend a few minutes with each. My personal favorite in this block was The Mountie. I really enjoyed chatting with him and am a big fan of the Rougeau Family . I asked him how Raymond was and how they both should do an autograph session together. He commented how that would be a blast and all was fine with Raymond. I had him sign my IC Title belt and he commented that he had the shortest IC run, one day lol. As we got to the end of the line I had to to get a polaroid with Billy and Bart Gunn. Smoking Guns were always one of my favorite tag teams. I remarked to Bart on how I remembered him and Billy pre WWF down in Orlando Florida wrestling for a promotion called the IWA which was based out of Universal Studios much like TNA. After our conversation with Billy and Bart we were at the end of session one and had walked the line and decided to pay a visit to Sunny ( Tammy) who was sitting at a table close to the autograph line. Tammy looked great, a lot like the old Sunny days. Beautifully dressed and had a warm glow about her as she greeted us. Tammy was charging five $ for your own item and ten for her photos. A real bargain for the Diva that started it all. I had two items signed paid Tammy and off we went. I couldn't stop thinking about how I would always see Tammy with Chris at these conventions and how he would have been sitting right by her side at this one. Chris would always take time for the fans and was such a joy to chat with at these conventions. Not to be mushy but, Chris was definitely in my heart today, I still can't believe that the Lord called on him at such a young age but God works in mysterious ways. By the time we knew it session two was about to begin and it was time to line up again. Session two much like one began with ticket numbers 1 - 20 lining up first. The line went pretty quickly and we were up front and ready to get our items autographed. The Nasty Boys were seated first and very friendly. After the Nasty Boys were Demolition. Demolition was awesome! First time meeting Barry Darsow and he was everything I thought he would be. Very friendly and spent some time chatting with us as did Bill Edie. Demolition was one of the main reasons I attended LOTR 4. After Demolition was CRPL Kirshner, again, very friendly, he even brought his Leatherface mask that he held up for the Polaroid opt. Very nice guy. After the Corporal was Captain Lou Albano who was a replacement for Greg Valentine who had to cancel. Anyone who knows Lou from the autograph conventions knows how much fun Lou is. He was a great addition to the convention and as always a pleasure to visit with. Old school all the way! Never get tired of seeing the Captain. Last but not least was Chris Jericho. He was seated away from the rest at the end of the line. Taylor sat down next to him for the Polaroid and James who was helping with the line for Jericho propped up my Championship belt that Jericho signed so it could be in the photo. Thank you James! As we finished with the autographs we walked around a little more and made our final purchases. You never buy enough DVD's at these conventions. The delers were loaded with them. We said our goodbyes to some of our friends and made our way back up the Jersey Turnpike to NY. We couldn't stop talking about what a great time we had today at LOTR. A few thank you's are in order. A BIG thank you goes out to Terrence Brennan LOTR and James Sobasis from Three Count Promotions. You guys broke your butt's on this show and delivered everything promised which was a great time. Everything was very well organized and ran very smoothly. Can't thank you guys enough and look forward to the next one in August. Also want to thank Dan and Dave LOTR staffers for all their help with everything today. Always a pleasure seeing you guys. Also must thank ALL of the LOTR staff as they were right there to help with any questions we had. The staff were on top of things which makes attending a pleasure. Also was nice seeing my buddy Bud Carson from Pro Wrestling World, Mambo and his family from Wrestling Reunion, and also Greg Price from The Legends Fan Fest who came in from Charlotte for the show. In closing I just want to say if you have never attended a LOTR convention, make plans to attend the next one. Keep checking the LOTR website for more info http://www.legendsofthering.com/ on the upcoming August convention. Lots of great surprises in store.
Best,
Ray and Taylor Dutczak
Yonkers NY
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