Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Convention

[cawthon777 0]

I got back from the weekend-long Mid-Atlantic Fan Fest in Charlotte, NC last night and wow ... what an experience.

 

I don't have the time to go into everything now but just wanted to hit a few key points.

 

- Rob Feinstein from RF Video was there shilling his tapes as well as Scott Teal (author of the History of MSG book, Whatever Happened To?, and Ole Anderson's new book).

 

- Both Jim Cornette and Ole had late night Q & A sessions Saturday for the fans with VIP tickets. Ole didn't come across as bitter, as he's been described since the book came out, but he was set in his ways. Cornette's session was gold and, even though it started at 10pm (and I woke up that morning at 2:30 to get ready to drive down), it was impossible to not be entertained by his giving views on Bischoff, Russo, Vince, Montreal, and road stories (including a classic about a SMW trip to Dairy Queen). The session was joined by Bobby Eaton, referee Tommy Young, Les Thatcher, and a surprise cameo by JJ Dillon. Oh yeah, and some unruly ICP fans showed up as well before Cornette told them off and had them kicked out. That scene was incredible in itself.

 

- Legends on hand for autograph signings included JJ, Cornette, Eaton, Ivan Koloff, Blanchard, Ole, Arn, Steamboat, Ron & Jimmy Garvin, the R'n'R Express, David Crockett, Bob Caudle, Les Thatcher, Dusty, Tony Atlas, Jimmy Valiant, Larry Zbyszko, Sensational Sherri, Buddy Landel (who was drunk ... LONG story there), Greg Valentine, the Masked Superstar (Demolition Ax), Dory Funk Jr., and many many others. The only major name missing, IMO, was Ric Flair who was at a wrestling meet for his son (hope he doesn't get fired again).

 

- I brought along printed results from my WWF site running from 1963-91 (my ink ran out; I would have gone further) to get signed by the guys. Several of them were impressed including Supestar and Atlas. I had JJ sign next to the single MSG card he worked in 84 - which he took an interest in and even asked for a photocopy since he forgot who all was there. I gave him my web address.

 

- Aside from the guys (and ladies) that signed the record book, I also brought along two Crockett video covers - Starrcade 86 and Crockett Cup 87. Starrcade ended up being signed by Bob Caudle, David Crockett, Dusty, Tully, Ole, the Rock 'n' Roll Express, Cornette (who got a kick out of it as he blew out his knees at the show), and Eaton. I had Magnum TA sign the Crockett Cup tape as it featured a retrospective on his career (he can't use his right hand at all, which I was unaware of).

 

- There were vendors all around the bottom floor of the Charlotte Hilton, selling t-shirts, figures, videos (including bootlegs, NWA footage, and WWF footage that McMahon would have flipped over had he known about it), posters, 8x10s, books, and more. It was overwhelming.

 

I took plenty of pictures that I'll post soon enough. Just wanted to give a quick recap of the event and urge all of you guys to look into going next year - the $100 VIP ticket was more than worth the price.

 

I'll be back later with more details on the convention.

[cawthon777 0]

The two big stories coming out of the legends convention were the late night sessions and the Buddy Landel situation.

 

I'll start with Buddy. Buddy was the last to be introduced for his panel and was booed by the fans in attendance, simply for the fact he used the name 'Nature Boy'. It was all in good fun, though. However, once the lines started moving and the signatures were made, Buddy started becoming a bit ... loud. He was singing and being a bit obnoxious, but I didn't realize until I got closer and saw his half-empty bottle of beer that he was drunk.

 

Arn Anderson, who was on the same panel, took exception to Buddy's behavior and repeatedly told the security staff to shut him up (they were on opposite ends of the table). I don't know if that was what Arn was talking about when I got up there but whatever the case, he was anything but super happy when I shook his hand.

 

When I moved down to Buddy, he got up and left for no apparent reason. So I stood there a moment, puzzled, and followed him off the stage. Moments later, I found some friends chatting with Buddy upstairs in the bar. At one point, Buddy pointed to a female nearby and said (and I quote) "Her ... whore" while making fisting motions with his hand (not punching motions, fisting as in sexually). There are few things funnier than hanging around a drunk wrestler. He did eventually sign the program for me but did so by putting an "i" in his name (I can only assume it was an "i" since it was dotted).

 

Later on, there were rumors that he got into a fight with either a fan or a cop. It turned out to be a disgruntled husband after hearing Buddy made some disparaging remarks about his wife. Not sure what the consequences of that incident were but he obviously wasn't around for Sunday's festivities.

 

Now for the late night Q & A's.

 

Ole's came first, at 8pm, and was hosted by famed PWI editor Bill Apter. Scott Teal, the co-author of Ole's book who I met earlier in the day, was also involved and helped with some questions. Ole was asked by those in attendance about his favorite era of his career (no, the Horsemen were very much not it ... he went with his tag team days with Gene), his relationship with the original Horsemen (doesn't talk to them much for various reasons), what he thinks of the product today (mentioned Kurt Angle but said the guys today with an amateur background can't go like the guys from his day), Black Sunday and his thoughts on the Briscos selling their stock to Vince, being the voice of the Black Scorpion, and working with Eric Bischoff and Jim Herd while in WCW (obviously not a fan of either man), among other things. Ole's hearing is really bad so Teal had to help out a bit. Afterwards, he stuck around to sign copies of his book.

 

After a short break, giving me time to head up to my room and throw water in my face to wake up, Jim Cornette's segment began and ran from about 10:30 to nearly 1am. Sitting directly in front of me, and I didn't even realize it for a few minutes, were Sensational Sherri and Bambi (sadly, I have to report that Sherri was wearing a wig while at the convention earlier in the day ... her hair is only to her shoulders but still looks good). Cornette immediately woke the crowd up and asked our permission to cuss ... which he did quite often. Sitting with him was Bobby Eaton and Tommy Young, with Tommy fielding questions from the crowd for Cornette.

 

Cornette was magnetic and answered all types of questions from the crowd - about his first impression of MSG (he didn't appear there until WrestleMania X and the experience left him preferring the Charlotte Coliseum), his thoughts of Vince Russo (Cornette gave him a call after Russo went to WCW and told him what he REALLY thought of him and couldn't say when they were both employed by the WWF ... when Cornette was trying to give him his # for Russo to call back later, Russo hung up on him), and a ton of other topics. Not a personal fan of Paul Heyman due to Heyman lying to both him and his friends - but respects him immensely as a talent. Talked about the fact he no longer flies to shows (mentioned IYH Buried Alive and how there was a horrible storm in NY which cancelled the World Series game ... Cornette drove to Indy and got there before JR, due to Ross being rerouted and having flights cancelled on him).

 

Pretty soon thereafter, Cornette went to the restroom due to having a random nose bleed as a result of medication. So Les Thatcher temporarily took over. When Cornette returned he soon brought JJ Dillon up on the stage (JJ was in the back row and not too many people had noticed him until that point). Cornette spoke about the time in Philadelphia after Arn and Tully left for the WWF and, as a result, the two managers were forced to fight each other in a steel cage match - with JJ getting the credit for making the match passable. JJ spoke about his one spot at MSG in 84 against Tito Santana and how it was always a dream of his to work the Garden.

 

There was one story Cornette told about being in a van full of Smokey Mountain guys (Chris Jericho and Jimmy Del Ray among them) and driving up to a Dairy Queen. After giving a huge order, they got up to the next window where the woman working there was surprised to find out the order was legit and not a prank. Cornette, furious at this point that the food wasn't even prepared, went apeshit on the window and said (and I quote) "LISTEN, YOU STUPID CUNT ....". Jericho responded with, "You know they're going to spit in it now." Apparently one of the guys in the back of the van had a video camera and recorded all of the incident, which eventually got out into the tape market (I'd love a copy).

 

His view on Montreal was that it was Vince's belt and since the belt was never really won, then it couldn't really be lost either - as wrestling is a staged performance. He had nothing bad to say about Vince as Vince had never lied to him (I saw Sherri shaking her head in agreement, so I'm guessing that was her view as well).

 

Said the 1998 NWA invasion was thought of by Russo just to make Cornette look like an ass and, when it started getting over, Russo had everyone doing weely jobs until it turned into a joke. The Brawl for All fight between Holly and Bart Gunn was a sign that it was all over.

 

Be back with more on Cornette later ...

[Guest Astro]

I'm sure you know this but

 

Arn is/was in AA and had his own demons to fight, so he probably didn't want Buddy stirring things up.

 

---

 

I've seen the SMW DQ Video listed at various tape sites...I'm sure if you look around you can find it rather easy

[cawthon777 0]

Here are some of the better shots I took from the weekend.

 

Crowd Shot

 

Dory Funk Jr., Sir Oliver Humperdink, and more sign autographs

 

Bobby Fulton of the Fantastics

 

Jim Cornette half posing / half caught offguard with a mouth full of soda

 

Bill Apter begins Ole Anderson's Q&A

 

Don Kernodle says hi to Ole as Scott Teal and Apter look on

 

Teal, Ole, and Apter

 

Jim Cornette's Q&A begins

 

Bobby Eaton, Les Thatcher, and Tommy Young

 

JJ Dillon joins the panel

 

JJ finds a chair

 

Bill Apter about to do his Dusty Rhodes impression

 

Cornette and Eaton confront the disruptive ICP fans

 

The ICP fans

 

Larry Zbyszko signs autographs while Sensational Sherri does the same (she's blocked)

[Guest JumpinJackFlash]

Damnit! I really wanted to go. I wanted to hear from Cornette. It sounded like a great time. How late did the Q and A session go on? And what about Ricky Steamboat? I heard he was supposed to be there.

[cawthon777 0]

Everything during the weekend started late, and that actually began with Saturday morning's registration. So Cornette was supposed to start at 10pm but didn't get up there until 10:30 (Ole's started late which was the reason why). So he was there until about 1 if not a little past. I didn't get to bed until 3am.

 

Steamboat was there but I totally missed him. Being that I woke up at 2:30am Saturday morning to drive down to Charlotte and didn't get to bed until 3am, I ended up sleeping late and missed my chance to go through the line. I caught everyone else in the VIP room but Steamboat never went in.

[BifEverchad 0]

Sounds like a great weekend Cawthon. It must have been great to see and hear what all the old school Legends had to say. I bet Cornette was classic. Some friends and I, met him at Axxess 2 years ago and he was a riot.

 

You can see the pic on the bottom of my Links page here.

 

I'd love to check out a fan fest like that again.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Hey Cawthon, did you pick up some cool stuff at the vender area?

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Lucky Bastard...thats all I can say. Sounds like a great time for old school fans.

[cawthon777 0]

Hey Cawthon, did you pick up some cool stuff at the vender area?

I picked up a few things; couldn't quite afford the more rare items for sale. Over at one table, there was an assortment of compilation tapes from around the world - best of Superstar Billy Graham, the Bulldogs, Hollywood Blondes, Backlund, etc all caught my eye. There was even a recording from one of the WWE shows held in Japan shortly before WrestleMania X-8.

 

In the hallway, there were several WCW pay-per-view posters for sale - Bash 91 (with Luger vs. Flair advertised), SuperBrawl 1, Music City Showdown, Starrcade 88, Beach Blast 92, Starrcade 92: Battlebowl, etc. They were plenty big but a little ragged around the edges and the asking price was $50 so - as nice as they were to look at - I passed.

 

I ended up getting Souled Out 2000 for $6 (had to see Benoit win the title) and some newsletters for $10. The vendor I bought both from ended up giving me another $15 in newspaper clippings and PWI Weeklies since he was such a big fan of my site.

 

There were plenty of action figures, loose and carded, and as I said before RF Video was there so they had a huge selection of shoots and compilations. Highspots.com was also in attendance but their better tapes were gone by Sunday; they had a 3 for $20 sale on most selections.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Hey Cawthon, did you pick up some cool stuff at the vender area?

I picked up a few things; couldn't quite afford the more rare items for sale. Over at one table, there was an assortment of compilation tapes from around the world - best of Superstar Billy Graham, the Bulldogs, Hollywood Blondes, Backlund, etc all caught my eye. There was even a recording from one of the WWE shows held in Japan shortly before WrestleMania X-8.

 

In the hallway, there were several WCW pay-per-view posters for sale - Bash 91 (with Luger vs. Flair advertised), SuperBrawl 1, Music City Showdown, Starrcade 88, Beach Blast 92, Starrcade 92: Battlebowl, etc. They were plenty big but a little ragged around the edges and the asking price was $50 so - as nice as they were to look at - I passed.

 

I ended up getting Souled Out 2000 for $6 (had to see Benoit win the title) and some newsletters for $10. The vendor I bought both from ended up giving me another $15 in newspaper clippings and PWI Weeklies since he was such a big fan of my site.

 

There were plenty of action figures, loose and carded, and as I said before RF Video was there so they had a huge selection of shoots and compilations. Highspots.com was also in attendance but their better tapes were gone by Sunday; they had a 3 for $20 sale on most selections.

That sounds awesome. I REALLY wish that I could have made it down there for this one. It would have been amazing to be somewhere with all the legends there. It would have been a good time.

[Guest Miss Indy Queen]

This convention was awesome from top to bottom. I have to give it up to Greg Price and his security because for it being the first time, things went pretty smoothly. Only real pain was the constant waiting on the lines but even that didn't bother you after a while. Then again with the group of guys I was with, they decided to bring chairs on the line and move the chairs along the line. Pretty funny at first but by the end of the weekend we saw other people doing the exact same thing. I would recommend buying those stool chairs for conventions like these because you will be standing for hours.

 

I know they're thinking of doing the next one later this year (rumored around thanksgiving weekend) which i'm hoping they decide to move because I would love to go to this again.

 

Nice pics cawthon btw.

[Slingshot Suplex 0]

They're talking about Thanksgiving weekend? That just seem kinda strange to me. But I'd still go as long as I get some advance warning.