Old Wrestling Con/Signing Lineups

Discuss general topics dealing with the hobby.
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mrira
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Re: 1991 Weekend of Champions Convention

Post by mrira »

Jason1980s wrote: December 19th, 2018, 3:40 pm
prowrestlingmall wrote: December 18th, 2018, 5:26 pm I'm trying to remember who else was there as Arezzi had one every year for a few years starting in 1989. Names during those three years included Eddie Gilbert, The Original Sheik, Sherri Martel, Kerry Von Erich, Lou Albano, Liger, Bruno, Terry Funk, Sting, Sabu, a rookie Tasmaniac, 123 Kid and SOOOOOOOOOO many more. What great memories! I wish digital cameras were around back then!
This is from the 1992 show. Jimmy Valiant has this photo on the wall of one of his school buildings.
Killer Kowalski and Bruno were Nikolai's personal heroes, you can see how happy he is to be with them.

CIMG8441.JPG
Who is the blonde? Nancy Benoit
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Re: 1991 Weekend of Champions Convention

Post by prowrestlingmall »

mrira wrote: December 19th, 2018, 6:04 pm
Jason1980s wrote: December 19th, 2018, 3:40 pm
prowrestlingmall wrote: December 18th, 2018, 5:26 pm I'm trying to remember who else was there as Arezzi had one every year for a few years starting in 1989. Names during those three years included Eddie Gilbert, The Original Sheik, Sherri Martel, Kerry Von Erich, Lou Albano, Liger, Bruno, Terry Funk, Sting, Sabu, a rookie Tasmaniac, 123 Kid and SOOOOOOOOOO many more. What great memories! I wish digital cameras were around back then!
This is from the 1992 show. Jimmy Valiant has this photo on the wall of one of his school buildings.
Killer Kowalski and Bruno were Nikolai's personal heroes, you can see how happy he is to be with them.

CIMG8441.JPG
Who is the blonde? Nancy Benoit
The blond in this photo is Wendy Richter
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Re: 1991 Weekend of Champions Convention

Post by prowrestlingmall »

AJLe wrote: December 18th, 2018, 7:04 pm Arezzi's twitter is great for old pics - he posted this shot of the Original Sheik from his '93 show. Hearing how completely devoted to kayfabe he was (He supposedly wouldn't answer to his real name, even when talking to people in the business, and allegedly carried identification that read "A. Sheik", lol) I would have loved to see how he would interact with fans in a setting like this.

Image
True about the Sheik...At this show his wife was sitting next to him...She'd ask your name and would Write "To xxx...Best in Sports" and then hand the item to Sheik to sign. He didn't speak a word. When it was time to take the (Poloroid) pic he would hit the table with his sword and look up. That was it. Great memory of a true legend.
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Re: 1991 Weekend of Champions Convention

Post by mrira »

prowrestlingmall wrote: December 19th, 2018, 6:50 pm
mrira wrote: December 19th, 2018, 6:04 pm
Jason1980s wrote: December 19th, 2018, 3:40 pm
prowrestlingmall wrote: December 18th, 2018, 5:26 pm I'm trying to remember who else was there as Arezzi had one every year for a few years starting in 1989. Names during those three years included Eddie Gilbert, The Original Sheik, Sherri Martel, Kerry Von Erich, Lou Albano, Liger, Bruno, Terry Funk, Sting, Sabu, a rookie Tasmaniac, 123 Kid and SOOOOOOOOOO many more. What great memories! I wish digital cameras were around back then!
This is from the 1992 show. Jimmy Valiant has this photo on the wall of one of his school buildings.
Killer Kowalski and Bruno were Nikolai's personal heroes, you can see how happy he is to be with them.

CIMG8441.JPG
Who is the blonde? Nancy Benoit
The blond in this photo is Wendy Richter
Would not have guessed that from the angle.
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Jason1980s
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Re: 1991 Weekend of Champions Convention

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prowrestlingmall wrote: December 19th, 2018, 6:54 pm True about the Sheik...At this show his wife was sitting next to him...She'd ask your name and would Write "To xxx...Best in Sports" and then hand the item to Sheik to sign.
I had seen a photo or two like that on google images and thought for sure it was a fake. But interesting to know he at least signed the autograph.
I wonder what it was like to deal with him for the promoter or if he had to go through his wife.
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Re: 1991 Weekend of Champions Convention

Post by prowrestlingmall »

Jason1980s wrote: December 19th, 2018, 7:46 pm
prowrestlingmall wrote: December 19th, 2018, 6:54 pm True about the Sheik...At this show his wife was sitting next to him...She'd ask your name and would Write "To xxx...Best in Sports" and then hand the item to Sheik to sign.
I had seen a photo or two like that on google images and thought for sure it was a fake. But interesting to know he at least signed the autograph.
I wonder what it was like to deal with him for the promoter or if he had to go through his wife.
Agreed Jason...The only thing I had signed like that was the poloroid...All of the other photos I had him sign were just his signature. To boot, his wife had a black sharpie and he had a blue so it looks really off. The guy ahead of me in line had like 15 things for him to sign and he (Sheik) got through like 6 and shook his head no. The guy balked and said "I paid for them" and his wife looked at him (Sheik) and said "just sign what he has". Sheik did as he was told...Happy wife, happy life. LOL
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Re: 1991 Weekend of Champions Convention

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A look at the hobby in the 90s

Post by ICW »

I was looking through Class' nearly decade old post about wrestlers who had fallen into the "Savage realm" -- wrestlers who rarely (or never) made any appearances at autograph signings/conventions -- and it made me regret not taking up this hobby sooner because I missed out on some pretty great names.

With that post in mind, I eventually made my way to F4W and Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter archive. They have a search engine within the archive and decided to do a very general for search "autograph." The results went as back as far back as January of 1991 and, to my pleasure, I found a couple of hobby-related stories that made their way to the WON.

I'm going to summarize those stories from 1991 and might continue going back through the years to see how the hobby was evolved:

---

February 18, 1991 WON:
Dave reports on an incident that occurred on February 2 following a WCW houseshow in Philadelphia. Sting and the Steiner Brothers were slated to appear at a local telethon for a national charity that worked with disabled children. ~150 people arrived to the telethon with the money they spent on combos going to the children of the Delaware Valley. Dave estimates that this autograph appearance would've raised $2,000.

The crowded waited for 40 minutes until Todd Gordon (described as a Variety Club staff person. I'm not sure if this is the same Todd Gordon who would run ECW) told the crowd that Sting and the Steiners wouldn't be appearing because they had decided to drive to Baltimore in order to catch a flight. The crowd was understandably upset as many of them ended up waiting well past 11 PM for Sting and the Steiner.

There is a small silver lining to this story: Ric Flair, Bobby Eaton, Curtis Hughes, Ron Simmons, Barry Windham, Terry Taylor, Tracy Smothers as well as road agent Terry Allen, decided to visit a young wheelchair-bound boy at the local hotel everyone was staying at. Still, all the other fans were not as lucky.
---
April 15, 1991 WON:
Dave reports that John Arezzi is doing an autograph show on 4/27 at Colonial Bowling Lanes in Staten Island. Admission was just $5 and included autographs from Paul Orndorff, Lanny Poffo, Boris Zhukov, Cactus Jack, Sonny Beach, and Barry Horowitz.
---

June 24, 1991 WON:
Another story that makes Sting look bad. Dave reports that WCW made their St. Louis debut on June 24th but they didn't draw very well. They did advertise an autograph session advertised with Sting but he ultimately refused to honor the appearance.
---

August 21, 1991 WON:
Dave reports on a major 2-day convention run by John Arezzi. The convention would be held at the Ramada Hotel near La Guardia Airport and was held from 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM on both days. Admission was $5 for adults, $3 for kids, while an autograph pass was $10.00. The autograph pass granted you an autograph from every single guest. The guest list? Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino, Lou Thesz, Buddy Rogers, Superstar Billy Graham, Fabulous Moolah, Rick Rude, Jim Cornette, Johnny Valiant, Woman, Cactus Jack, Lanny Poffo, Angelo Poffo and Paul E. Dangerously!
---

November 25, 1991 WON:
We'll end this with a rather humorous story from a reader in Chicago. The WWF had partnered with the Cook County Republican Party for a fundraiser on October 22. Tickets were $35 and included:
  • Combos from Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jim Duggan, and Sgt. Slaughter
  • Main floor tickets to the show that afternoon
  • Free hotdogs and soda with wrestlers present
So he confirmed with the venue that this was happening and all was well. He shows up day of and a police officer tells him that he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about and forces him to park in a lot for $6 (they advertised free parking as part of deal). The meet and greet was scheduled from 12:00 - 1:30 PM but started at 12:50 PM...and it featured Virgil and Jim Neidhart. Fans only received a rushed autograph from each (no photo op) and that was that.
Last edited by ICW on April 23rd, 2019, 5:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: A look at the hobby in 1991

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I can't even imagine my reaction to paying to meet Hogan & Savage in 91, and getting Virgil & Neidhart instead. I'm a pretty laid back, non-aggressive guy, but I very well might have gotten myself arrested in that situation, lol.
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Re: A look at the hobby in 1991

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To be honest AJ, that kind of stuff happened ALL THE TIME back then. I recall going to many sports meets where you really were never quite sure if so and so would actually be there, ha ha. We went to I think Nobody Beats The Wiz one time for Derrick Coleman (NJ Nets) and he bailed or something and they got a bench scrub, ha ha. Even beyond sports, so often what stores advertised was not truthful, simply in what you were buying.

Back then, our main source were the newspapers. We had the Star Ledger at home, while my father would often pick up the Daily News or NY Post at work, and I'd rifle through it page by page. We'd show up with a bunch of balls to get signed, and mainly were happy to get anybody who was a pro because inevitably they'd sell. So many times people would show up, shake the athletes hand, take whatever promo was being signed, and go home. The players frequently were amazed we had something to be signed.
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Re: A look at the hobby in 1991

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I just think back to being a pre-teen back in the WWF "glory days", and thinking that meeting Hogan and Macho Man would have been like Superman and Batman showing up to me, so seeing two lower midcarders instead would have been completely devastating.

It would have been like going out to that Arnold event, and having somebody come up to the podium and say "Well, Arnold couldn't make it today...but here's John Connor's foster parents from T2 if any of you want photos with them". Not exactly a fair and equitable substitution, lol.
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Re: A look at the hobby in 1991

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Ha! I was at the Colonial Lanes show in Staten Island in April 1991. Came across the autographs a while ago and was trying to place when exactly that was. So thanks for clearing that up!

Jason Hervey was at that show too, with Missy Hyatt. And X-Pac when he was still the Lightning Kid (I had no idea who he was, but I did have him sign the back of a flyer). Had Missy sign a bunch of things and got Hervey on a WCW 8x10 he provided.
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Re: A look at the hobby in 1991

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AJLe wrote: April 23rd, 2019, 11:40 am I just think back to being a pre-teen back in the WWF "glory days", and thinking that meeting Hogan and Macho Man would have been like Superman and Batman showing up to me, so seeing two lower midcarders instead would have been completely devastating.
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Re: A look at the hobby in 1991

Post by ICW »

billysparrow wrote: April 23rd, 2019, 11:55 am Ha! I was at the Colonial Lanes show in Staten Island in April 1991. Came across the autographs a while ago and was trying to place when exactly that was. So thanks for clearing that up!

Jason Hervey was at that show too, with Missy Hyatt. And X-Pac when he was still the Lightning Kid (I had no idea who he was, but I did have him sign the back of a flyer). Had Missy sign a bunch of things and got Hervey on a WCW 8x10 he provided.
That's incredible! Did you get any pictures with them, too, or was it just autographs? Also, any chance of posting pictures of them?
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Re: A look at the hobby in 1991

Post by ICW »

I'll update this thread with more stuff but, man, there were a couple of golden opportunities to score guys like Undertaker, Hogan, and Savage.
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