REPORT & PHOTOS FROM HARDCORE REUNION
- 03/29/2009 (9:36:16 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
…..
 | Hi Georgie! Big Chad coming to WrestlingFigs with another Big Time exclusive! The Big king and I traveled to Allentown for the Hardcore Reunion featuring the many heros of the original ECW. Here is our report. FRIDAY: The Big King and I got to the hotel around 6, and after dinner went back to the hotel for the Q&A session back at the hotel.(which I won free admission thanks to Georgie at Wrestlingfigs.com and Wrestlingmarx.com). Who is the first person we see in the hotel lobby? Of course, Wild Willy Apter! Bill is always a great guy, and anyone who knows him knows he is just chock full of fun. No question that he is a welcome guest at ANY convention. The Q&A was something, Many great tsories were told and heard. Unexpected appearances by Dick Kroll, Kid Kash, Terry Funk, and...yep...Scott Hall. Everything went off without a hitch and was a really great time. I loved hearing about the road stories and ribs pulled on by The Boys. Terry Funk, however stole the show with a speech about life in which he said "keep your world small" which captivated everyone in the room which ended in a masive applause. You could hear a mouse piss on cotton, it was so moving. Scott Hall came in as he said "as a fan" to watch his friends. After a thunderous applause the panel ended, fans said their thanks to the legends. Scott Hall openly welcome autographs and photos with fans. He seemed to be doing a lot better than the last time most of us had seen him. The Q&A went a little over an hour and a half than it was supposed to be, which didn't matter to any of us. We were having a great time The legends were on their way out. I got to finally meet, Raven who was a big influence when I was a teenager. The character was someone who I looked up to and someone I admired because he had been through everything I had and was saying everything I wanted to say. I got to shake Scotty's hand and tell him, and he was really flattered. The Big King told him "you have no idea what a fan he's been of yours for years". So, he said thanks and shook our hands again and headed out. After greeting and thanking Mr. Funk and Kash we were out too. SATURDAY: We arrived rather early. I thought the show was 9, so we showed up around 8:45 am. We were among the first if not the first fans there. Familair faces would show up though. I saw many convention regulars, such as Dana Woodmo and Marc of Signamania/Georges Collectibles. The Big King were playing many wrestling themes off my iPod shuffle in the parking lot for fun. Little Guido, who had shown up and parked next to me, actually asked me what I was playing at one point and came to look at my iPod collection. The show started off pretty well. I have a few complaints, but that will wait I guess. We were given our tickets and scoped out the area. Not many vendors came in with too much outside of Classic Superstars. I saw of course B Brown and his collection of dvds and George Mayfield with his Japanese merchandise. Personally I thought the photos the show had were pretty good selection. That's just me though.They had many too choose from. A lot of Tommy Dreamer photos. There was a show that night in the same place, so a ring crew was maintaing it all day. The show OFFICIALLY started when we heard the ECW music from back in the day. Out of the entrance came...JOEY STYLES!!! We all started chanting JOEY JOEY JOEY!!! He said "It feels so good to hear that music, you have no idea". He introduced ECW wrestler after wrestler with their own music as the came through the entrance way. Now it's time for buisness to pick up! LIST: Doring and Roadkill: Great guys. I had asked Doring to inscribe it "Sugarmask". And he said "I don't know who that is, but I'll put a maybe!" So I have it as DD: "Maybe Sugarmask?" lol. FBI: Guido and Sal were really great. Guido said "Guy from outside!" He signed my figure as did Sal. When it was time for a photo op I said "Let's make a good photo for Mamila to enjoy!" He thought I said "Mamaluke". I said, one of my best friend's Italian, I know not to say that. All three of us laughed. Mikey Whipwreck: It had been a while since I had seen Mikey. He was looking pretty good. I really hope to see him come back soon. I asked him if he talked to Steve Austin, and he said "I'll get an email everyonce and a while". Raven: As I said I'm the biggest Raven fan on the planet. I had him sign an old WCW promo that I recieved from the company back in 1999. I also had him sign an ECW figure. We talked about comics and movies. I also requested we do the "Raven Pose" and he obbliged. He also told me to tell Dreamer that I'm the biggest Raven fan. Which leads us into... Tommy and Beaulah: I'm never gonna get her name right I have a feeling. Sorry! Tommy was great. He really had a great time seeing The Boys and his fans. I told him that Scotty told me to tell him I was the biggest Raven fan, to which he and Bealuah and him laughed. Tommy said "That's ok, I beat his ass out of WWE". Beulah signed my pic, she really liked it. Tommy signed an old ECW figure, and we got a pic of all three of us. Tommy and I pointed to my Raven shirt. It's a great photo, check it out! Joey Styles: Didn't hear him say "OH MY G!D", but I brought him a figure of himself and asked if his kids had one. He told me "My kid is 5, and I asked him if he wanted a daddy doll and he said yes". We laughed and got a great photo. That was the first block, in order I believe. I waited for the next block. In the meantime The Big King met Tommy Dreamer. The big reason he came on this trip with me. He was not disapointed. He told Tommy about a match he had with Justin Credible at the MCI Cneter in 2002 where Tommy grabbed a fan's Cracker Jack and dropped elbows on Justin while eating. Tommy and Beaulah laughed at it said "Yeah I probably got in trouble for it". They got a photo op which was turned out really well. I met vendor guests. Terry Funk and Chastity. Chastity's son played on one of my best friend's team with his nephew. We chatted about it, and talked about Maryland.Didn't even mention wrestling once. I prolly held up the line, but that's ok. We were talking like we were old friends. it was great. Terry I had to meet, and tell him how much his "Keep your world small" speech meant to me. He said thank you and proceeded to tell me how true it is, and that because I'm young(I'm 25 btw. lol) that it's very important to keep myself focused on what's important and not to worry about what others are doing and thinking. It was quite the honor to get advice from an icon like Terry. The Big King, had a great time talking to Scott Hall again. BigKing is a big fan of the Bad Guy, so he enjoys any opportunity to talk to Razor! Now, the second signing block was kinda confusing to me. Kid Kash arrived late and left early, so I didn't even get a chance to get him. I'm big fan of Kash too. Luckily, I got to talk to him the night before as I ran into him in the elevator. But, I was rather disapointed in the fact I could get my program and get a photo op, which was replaced with two autographs of Tammy Sytch, after asking the promoters. The second block was also kinda messy as far as Supertickets. As soon as everyone sat down, a crowd formed around the gaurdrails seemingly a free for all. But, ST numbers were called, but just barely. Joey came out for the second ST block again. But, he was interrupted by Joel Gertner with the famous "WELL WELL WELL...". It was great to see them again. The BWO came out as well after their introductions. Joey told them, jokingly "do your damn gimmick already". Meanie got on the mic and said "Say hello to Da Blue Guy and everyone roared. Scott Hall was also in the crowd, which made everyone go crazy because we knew what would happen. He did the D-X Crotch Chop at meanie who did his "Blue Guy" poses and then Meanie threw him a tshirt, and it seemed for one night only, The Bad Guy and Blue Guy were of the same team. Everyone was applauding and cheering as Scott held his BWO shirt to his chest. It was great. Shane Douglas came out with Francine to announce the final November To Remember this year. SECOND BLOCK: Joel "Why am I in Allentown, when the water is dirty and brown and where the women know how to get down" Gertner: He looked in great shape. He lost a lot of weight. He was telling me how it was the first time since 2005 he'd seen Joey. You wouldn't be able to tell, because they both still had it. From Joey's reaction to him coming out, to Joel's famous...uh...introductions. Chris Chetti: I had always heard of Chris, unfortunatly, I never saw many matches, but he was such a nice guy. BWO: I asked Stevie if he knew any good therapists around and all three started laughing. Meanie was great, Nova didn't really want to be there though. Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten: They were both extremely nice. Balls had to run out to get a new shirt and apologized for holding up the line,. He saw my figure and asked to see it. Well, he's the hardcore chair swinging freak, so I'm not going to say no! lol. He held up and and said to everyone "I HAVE A BUNCH OF THESE FOR 10 BUCKS EACH IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED". I thought it was pretty cool. Axl, was pretty cool as well. I told him a story how I met him in Aberdeen years ago. Suprise, Suprise! Tommy and Joey showed up again!!! They graciously signed more for the fans, which delighted so many people. They both signed my program. Tommy wrote "EC F'N W". I also took advantage of the photo ops again. I joked with Tommy that I didn't have my Raven shirt on. He laughed.(I had to make a quick change after the first block.) Sandman, was totally out of it. Plain and simple. Next. Justin Credible, was nice but I was being rushed so quick I barely had time to talk to him. Tammy was great as always! I snapped a phot of her for my own collection and I told her I look forward to her being at Wrestlemania! We posed for a photo with my CS figure. Shane Douglas and Francine were great too, but I was cut in front of by some indy wrestler who needed advice from Shane( which I thought was totally messed up. I don't care if your an indy wrestler, get in line and wait.) so I just put the figure down for Shane and my program down for Francine. Francine loved it and showed her husband saying "My 6 months of fame". After that, I was done. I check out Bud Carson's store, where I took pictures of all the neat memorabilia he had. He even had Raven's Jacket and one of Demolitions outfits! I was in such awe! I caught up with Sean Carlucci to chat and waited for the Big King to get his Tammy sigs and photo op. We had a great time, but here's my only complaints: Crowd Control: As I said on the Shane Douglas, line order was out the window on the second block. I mean, you guys need to keep your stuff together and be able to play wardon for a line of fans. That's your job. Jake didn't show up. Not really suprising. srsly. Vendors: I would prefer to see more than just Classic Superstars. Note to vendors: Pleas bring more merchandise than just CS!!! NO AC: I know it's a flea market, but man it was blazing. More fans should have been set up. I prolly on saw 1 fan and that was next to Francine. Superticket on the second block. It seemed like the second block was rushed, big time, and you didn't get as much time to speak with The Boys as much as you did in the first one. It was like one big gooblygook. Staff: Not all, but some staff seemed more interested in talking to the wrestlers instead of doing your job. Specifically one held up the Francine/Douglas spot, and one held up Terry Funk's line.It seemed a few staff members didn't really belong there. THANKS: WRESTLINGMARX: Other than the things I stated, the show was great. For their first show, I put it on par with Signamania and NWALegends. Georgie: For my tix to the Q&A session. That was terrific! Bud Carson: To any fan who hasn't been to his store, make the trip. It's like a wrestling museum. I had a great time looking at all the neat stuff! The Boys and everyone: Couldn't have a show without wrestlers right? SEE EVERYONE AT SIGNAMANIA 4!!! |
Tags:
