Hi Georgiann,

With everything that happened at the WrestleFanFest this weekend I felt that I needed to write down my experience.  First let me say, I had a great time and the trip itself was all that I had hoped for.  Unfortunately, the majority of the people who went can not say that and I feel bad for them.

As I write this, I think that it is important to start my story two weeks prior to the event.  I was sitting at home preparing to go when I was on the WrestleFanFest website and noticed there was a discrepancy in the information regarding what package Kevin Nash, Christian Cage and Kurt Angle fell under.  Because of that I went to the WrestleFanFest forum to see if I could get some clarification.  On the message board I found the WrestleFanFest hotline and called it. 

Now keep in mind, I made this call at 12:30am and to my surprise someone answered the phone.  It was the promoter Chris.  I introduced myself and began to ask Chris questions about the event and as any promoter would, he answered my questions.  However, one question I asked drew the ire of Chris.  I asked Chris if the Great Muta was really coming.  Chris told me he was, but wanted to know why I would ask that.  I informed Chris that his show had received a tremendous amount of bad press and I was concerned. 

Chris and I talked for nearly two hours about the issues surrounding the WrestleFanFest and what he was doing to make sure all things would work out.  I told him that I wanted to see his show be successful because we don’t get shows like this in California and I wanted this to be an annual event.  Chris agreed and after two hours offered to upgrade my Weekend Warrior Pass free of charge to the VIP Premier Pass and all he wanted in return was for me to be a consultant based on my experience of going to fan fests on the east and west cost. I thanked him and accepted his offer. 

Now I know what your thinking because I was thinking the same thing, but who could blame me for accepting his offer.  I had nothing to lose.  Either way I was going and I had already bought my pass, so I knew I was going to get at least what I paid for. 

So on Thursday at around 3:00pm, I began my four and half our trip to San Francisco.  I arrived at the hotel around 7:30pm and the first person I saw was Ray and his daughter and little did I know that Ray and I would team up during the course of weekend. 

After checking in, I went to my room and prepared to meet Chris and to get ready for the weekend.  As soon as I was settled in I called Chris, but his wife answered the phone.  I introduced myself, but she had no idea who I was.  After talking for a few minutes she agreed to take me to Chris.  When I met Chris, he was friendly enough, but I could see that he was already overwhelmed on Thursday night.  After some small chitchat, Chris as he promised gave me my upgraded VIP Premier Pass along with my 3 extra Great Muta tickets (I paid for them) and then we parted ways agreeing to meet later.

The rest of the evening I sat in the lobby talking with Ray and getting a few extra autos from the likes of Scott Norton (He is a great guy), Sunny, Dawn Marie, Barry Darsow, and Gene Okerlund.  I also saw Lex Luger come in on crouches but I was not sure why.  Unfortunately, I never saw Luger the rest of the weekend.  I hear he is doing better.

Later that night things started to unravel as fans and wrestlers were escorted to the after party and apparently were left at the club, which happened to be closed.  I am not sure what happened as I was not with them, but I did see several very unhappy fans and wrestlers.  Some people where already demanding there money back, which happened to be the cry of the weekend.

When Friday afternoon rolled around, things started to really unravel as wrestlers and fans waited around for hours waiting for the promised shuttle which only arrived to take wrestlers not fans.  I had to take a cab to the arena, however, one of the promoters paid for it.  On my way to the arena (late) all I could think about was Chris had told me they had sold around 20,000 tickets and I am thinking there is no way I am going to be able to meet my favorites.  Well to my shock, I arrived at the arena and there could not have been more than 75 cars in the parking lot.  I was shocked to say the least.  There was no more then 300 to 350 people at any given time at the convention on all three days.

When I entered the arena, there were several vendors and only 4 wrestlers signing.  Of course there was Virgil prostituting himself as usual along with Larry Zybysko, Gene Okerlund, and Scott Norton.  No offense to those guys, but that was extremely disappointing.  Rumors began circulating that wrestlers had not been paid and were refusing to come out.  However, by about 5:00pm most of the scheduled wrestlers appeared and were very gracious to the fans.

As a VIP Premier Pass holder I was able to attend the Eric Bischoff dinner and even though this was unorganized, Eric was charming and very interesting.  He was more than willing to sign autographs, take pictures, and answer questions.  Meeting Eric and sitting through the question and answer session is something I will never forget.

Later in the evening the matches began, but because of the no shows of Nash, Hall, and Vicious the card had to be rearranged.  I only watched one of the matches because I chose to take advantage of my backstage pass.  Back stage was incredible.  Watching the wrestlers intermingle was great.  It was also another opportunity for me to take photos with the wrestlers and get autographs.  It was also here where Chris came through once again and provided myself and Ray the opportunity to have a private autograph signing with the Great Muta and it's something I will never forget.  I have to thank Chris for that.  Thanks, Chris!

As great as things were for me, things were not that good for many others.  Unfortunately, as the weekend progressed more and more fan became upset as several wrestlers refused to take part in the autograph sessions.  However, there were several wrestlers who did such as Piper, Austin, Goldberg, Steve Williams, BabyDoll, Sunny, and many more.  Each of the wrestlers was great and did their best to make the fans feel special, however, because they were not getting paid, a number of the wrestlers began charging for autos and photos.  This was disappointing, but how could you blame them. 

In the end, I had a great time and Chris came through for me, but it is terrible that he could not do the same for everyone else.  As one wrestler said, they had the keys to the kingdom and they blew it.  It's too bad because this show had the potential to be something really special.

From:  David E. Porto

www.TheWrestlingFanatic.com