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SATURDAY April 5th
This day is going to suck. I am on three hours sleep but I am awake. I stagger through breakfast and head for AXXESS, where I check in with WWE (who had been overly accommodating to the site over the last year and we thank them for it) and I wander through the event. It's pretty much what it always is, only bigger. There are ten different signings going on at once for the general admission fans plus a VIP signing for fans who paid for that feature. NXT is well represented with a booth pushing that brand and up to four talents signing at once. The WWE's different community outreach programs and the WWE licensees all have different booths.
My personal favorite is a room featuring 30 years of memorabilia, including just about every WWWF/WWF/WWE championship ever used, tons of wrestling gear, props, marketing material and even New York State wrestling licenses. For someone like me, who lives and breaths wrestling history to a ridiculous degree, it's absolutely awesome. Equally awesome is the statue of Andre the Giant. I make a mental note to do pictures live tomorrow on social media as I walk around. AXXESS is so well put together, its ridiculous.
I head across the street to Wrestlecon to see what the hell is going on over there as I am getting texts and emails that it's chaos and that seems to be very out of character for something run by Highspots.com. As it turns out, they are completely overwhelmed by the amount of people there. Those who pre-ordered are having to be checked in and the walk-up line is beyond insane, even for something across the street from AXXESS featuring a slew of WWE legends and other massive names like Goldberg, Piper, Hall, Nash, Hart, etc.
I walk in and it's obvious the staff is overwhelmed. A few readers have asked me to get a comment but now's not the time. They are trying to get everyone through and eventually, they do but the situation had to suck for all involved. To make matters worse, some of the vendors with name talent have either disorganized lines or have oversold their autographs. I hear lots of complaints about Edge and Roddy Piper being done before everything was signed. That's not on Wrestlecon but the local promoter, but Wrestlecon will no doubt, unfairly be blamed for that as well.
Wrestlecon itself is a blast to walk around in. It was a great way, for me, to network with a lot of people we have on the site regularly, like Cliff Compton and Colt Cabana or to catch up with some talents I haven't seen in awhile. An Elite asks me to film Greg Valentine putting him in a shoot figure four. Who am I to say no? I catch Tommy Dreamer caning a fan, at his request as well. I even have the chance to talk a bit with Bully Ray and we joke about how much we used to dislike each other. Time heals all wounds, even in pro wrestling.
Jeff Jarrett and his wife Karen show up at 2 PM. We are scheduled to meet so I head over. Jarrett has the biggest smile on his face and says that the first real announcement for his promotion is coming Monday. He says that he's got lots of stories to tell and can't wait to start relaying them. I ask him if he's still partial owner in TNA. He says he is. That will be a pretty crazy story to follow. There's a long line for him so he tells me we will talk this week and that he's as excited as he ever has been.
Before I head out of Wrestlecon, I return to Jarrett and tell him I have a surprise for him - I've brought over long-time NYC wrestling superfan Vladimir over to see him. Jarrett, who suffered endlessly at Vladimir's hands from the front row in MSG for years, pops huge and takes a photo with Vladimir. That ends up on our social media along with a ton of other photos. Overall, I thought the Wrestlecon experience was great and hope that everyone that went felt the same way.
As we are leaving, Mickie James is giving a concert. She's playing "Knocking On Heaven's Door" and asks the crowd if there are any Guns N' Roses fans out there. I bemoan the fact that no one knows it's a Bob Dylan song and feel very, very old for a second.
We stop at Mother's, an amazing local institution, for lunch. I have the greatest ham I've ever had. I can't recommend the place enough. We liked it so much that we decide we are coming back the next day.
After a stop at the hotel to put photos on the site and answer some emails, we put on dress shirts and pants and head to the WWE Hall of Fame.
The Hall is without a doubt my favorite WWE event of the year. I love the history of pro wrestling and this is the night where WWE really embraces it. We get there early to see what the red carpet broadcast will be (not much of anything for the live crowd, but I whip open the Network on my iPad and think the show it a great idea for TV). An Elite, Geoff, comes by to say hello and we talk for a good amount of time about how crazy it is Warrior is going in. Hell freezes over again. If and when they put Chyna in, just about everyone who left on bad terms would be back in WWE's graces.
I know there was a lot said about the Hall and I intend to discuss it in great detail in the Elite section, so here's just an overview of my thoughts, given that this was the first time since 2005 that I actually got to just sit there and enjoy (and do some live Tweeting) as Dave Scherer graciously covered the event since it was on the WWE Network.
Lita: An awesome speech. She pretty much covered her entire career and thanked lots of people for helping her along the way. You had to love the shout outs for Rayo de Jalisco and Manami Toyota. I thought that of all the women who I've seen inducted over the years, Lita had my favorite speech.
Jake Roberts - This felt like it was an exorcism and confession as much as it was a celebration of his career. DDP's induction was great. I hope that this brings Jake peace that he was never able to find during his career and it was hard not to be emotional about what he said about his family. This was off the charts.
Mr. T - I really, really, really f***ing hated that WWE pulled him. It was obvious that T realized this was the biggest audience he was going to have watching him in a long time and he wanted to preach his message to them. While some were snickering and laughing at him, I loved all of this. It was the same message he tried to send out there when he was a huge star and it was uplifting during a time period in life and culture where there isn't a lot that is. I understand why WWE pulled him but at the same time: YOU OWN YOUR NETWORK, WHY DO YOU NEED TO RUSH? For everyone who complained T didn't talk about wrestling, well, he was never given the chance. Oh and don't forget to love your mothers. T was awesome.
Oh, by the way, hated all the comedy bits on the Hall. Go classy, not goofy with this night, WWE.
Razor Ramon - Kevin Nash was great in his induction but of everyone, this felt like the most "creatively scripted" speech of the night as opposed to something heartfelt. I am sure that the time was cut but at the time same time, beyond the Kliq that changed wrestling in the 1990s all appearing together for the first time ever on camera together, I felt like this was missing something.
Paul Bearer - Absolutely perfect. Kane's induction of his storyline father was great. I was happy to see that they mentioned Percy's wife Diana, who he truly mourned every day after she passed away. Undertaker paying tribute to him was perfect as well. They paid tribute to the man and the character. I loved it. We still miss you Percy.
Carlos Colon - How awesome was Carlito shooting on creative? That was great. Epico and Primo were good and showed they can speak and hopefully WWE gives them a chance to do that as well. Carlos' speech was fine but you can't tell the story of wrestling in Puerto Rico without thinking of Bruiser Brody's death and that cast a pall over the proceedings for those who know the story.
Ultimate Warrior - This was something to behold. This was obviously why the majority of the fans came as there were lots of people wearing the makeup. Unlike most inductions, where it feels like we are celebrating, this felt more like the last step in a healing process. Warrior didn't mince words over his anger about that Self-Destruction of Warrior DVD from years ago, warned the wrestlers of today to prepare for tomorrow, pushed WWE to honor those who work backstage, joked about Jerry McDevitt getting his ass kicked by the World Wildlife Fund and more, but the true essence of the speech was that he believed in the Warrior character and what it stood for and he was humbled by those who fought for it to be remembered the way he wanted it to be remembered. You could see that it meant a lot for him to have his children see his success and the Warrior you saw on stage - well spoken, sometimes all over the place, but completely passionate...that's the Warrior I met years ago. This was a hell of a way to close the night. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for these two sides working together.
I stumble back to my hotel, ready to desperately sleep. A hot shower, a check of email and I am unconscious.
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