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FRIDAY April 4th
I am up at 6:30 AM eating breakfast with my good friend Graham Cawthon. We've had Graham on the site a lot as he runs TheHistoryofWWE.com and has released a series of awesome books about WWE and NWA history. He and his wife are great friends but since they are in NC and I am in NYC, we don't see each other that much. We specifically plan to share a room this week so we can hang out and record some audio and have fun, but as life would have it, my schedule and his schedule don't coincide that much. So, we hardly see each other, but this AM, we are heading to the same place and traveling together - The Mid-South Legends Fanfest.
Put together by Matt Riviera's Traditional Championship Wrestling, the Fanfest is an awesome idea, bringing in a group of Mid-South legends - from Bill Watts to Kamala to The Midnight Express and beyond, at the Sigur Center in Chalmette, LA. The venue was a regular stop for the old Bill Watts promotion, so from a historical POV, it makes sense to run there. I think they may have been a little too far out from New Orleans (it's only really a 20 minute ride but everyone seemed to want to be where the AXXESS area was) but I loved the concept.
Driving to the venue, we have to go through the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. For those who aren't aware, this is where the levees broke during Katrina, flooding up to 30 feet of water and killing a great amount of people, many of whom had remained because they couldn't afford to leave. Even now, almost ten years later, you can see houses with X's spraypainted on them and you heart drops as you can see what has and hasn't been rebuilt and what was lost. It was a sobering experience as you just mutter, "Oh my God" over and over as you drive through. You can't help but feel broken-hearted for what people lost and I make an extra mental note to appreciate what I do have in life, because it can be gone in a flash.
When we arrive at the Sigur Center, I am amazed at it. The venue is huge and gorgeous and I wonder how the hell TNA never found this place to run TV in. It was that great. The convention is in full effect and everyone seems to be absolutely happy. Bill Dundee, the treasure he is (Dundee is one of my favorite personalities of all time, for the record) is walking around wearing a suit jacket. On the back is an airbrushed photo of himself and Elvis Presley that reads LEGENDS OF MEMPHIS. I love it. It's so 80s wrestling.
I get the chance to talk with Matt Riviera and Mike Weber, formerly of WWF/WCW/TNA PR who helped put this together. The backstage scene is among one of the most organized I've ever seen with signs explaining where everything is. TCW is on point when it comes to the production as everything runs smoothly. I even see Ronnie Lang's Atlas Security, making me wonder for a second if I am actually in Philadelphia. Riviera is really high on his promotion - as he should be, it's his, and wants to make a statement with his show feeling that Southern Wrestling should be represented better with fans online and with fans in general. I can't argue with him at all, since the majority of the coverage comes from stuff in the Northeast, where there is a huge concentration of fans.
There is an awesome Q&A with Jim Cornette, The Midnights, The Rock N' Roll Express and Bill Dundee that blows my mind. It's crazy to see that much genius and talent sitting in one room. Later on, there is another great Q&A with Cornette and Watts.
The star of the convention, however, is Kamala. Making his first appearance since his health issues caused the amputation of his legs, he's in great spirits and wears his facepaint as well as a Kamala t-shirt. Of everyone I ran into this weekend and had the pleasure of speaking to, no one was happier than he to be around the boys and the fans. I am genuinely happy for him. He wrestled Hulk Hogan in the first show I ever attended in 1986. I hold that memory in high esteem and I wish him nothing but the best. If you can, go support him and buy one of his t-shirts at ProWrestlingTees.com/Kamala.
After a few hours at the convention, during which I posted photos live to our social media accounts (something new we had never done before during a Wrestlemania weekend, but given the response, something we will undoubtedly do again), I head out for Ring of Honor. ROH is running at the John A. Alario Sr. Event Center at the Bayou Segnette Sports Complex in Westego, LA, an old ECW TV venue. I really wanted to stay for TCW but with ROH having one of their biggest shows of the year, and it not being on iPPV, I had to go to what the greatest concentration of readers would want to see covered - and that was ROH, live as it happened.
The venue is awesome and ROH, as always, was nothing but accommodating, making sure that we had a clear line of vision to the ring and a place where I could run my extension cord (yes, I travel to all these shows with 30 feet of extension cord. I bet that doesn't end up in your suitcase Wrestlemania weekend!) to plug in. Steven Wright shows up to shoot ringside photos (still waiting for those Steven!) and Andru Edwards, who we had on our Network Talk audio and has been an Elite for years, sits down and joins the group. Elite after Elite after Elite show up to say hi as I am doing coverage, which I later figure out is because Andru has posted where we are, the sneaky bastard. It's always great to talk wrestling with people who love it and tonight is no exception.
It's a great show from ROH. They have really rebounded in the last year after a rough start to the Sinclair era and I really feel that if you aren't watching the TV or going to the shows, you are missing out on some awesome freaking wrestling. Kevin Steen vs. Michael Elgin blows my mind. Jay Lethal turns heel for the first time, really, ever, and I am excited to see what he can pull out of that. Jay Briscoe bleeds a gusher as he and Adam Cole have an insane ladder match to determine the true ROH champion.
No one is happier during the show than ROH head Joe Koff, who may be the only promoter to come to me multiple times during a show to ask me if I need anything and if everything is going OK. Sinclair sometimes gets painted as this villain that owns ROH but the reality is that they kept it alive and they are finally, hopefully, seeing the rewards of that as the crowd are up, the creative is solid and New Japan shows are on the horizon.
As it turns out, Luke Hawx does wrestle tonight, winning a four way bout to open the show. He gets a nice reaction from his hometown fans. He's then off as he's also promoting the DGUSA show taking place at the same time.
When it's over, I check in the locker room to make sure there are no injuries to report. Thankfully, there are not. I grab Adam Cole for a photo of him with the two ROH titles and it's time to head back to the hotel, but not before stopping at this greasy gas station where I am told by locals the best Po-Boys are. I can't say with certainty it's the best but my God, it was awesome.
I return to the hotel and begin putting up photos on the site and writing up material that will go live the next day. I lose track of time and it's 5:30 AM. Holy sh**. I need to sleep!
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