Post by ssteward on Aug 16, 2006 13:28:57 GMT -5
okay, here is my official recap. Take a deep breath.
**************WEDNESDAY**************
My plane arrived in Dayton, OH where Aaron picked me up, wearing his iron-on Mick Foley shirt that he told me he would. We drove to Springfield, where he lives, and I unloaded my stuff.
We watched UFC 46 on dvd, as well as the Bobby Southworth vs Sam Hoger match from the season one Ultimate Fighter dvd, which I brought down. We grabbed some Hung Lung chinese and went to his parents house and ate with them. When we got back to his place, we watched another UFC show, but I forget which number of show it was.
*****************THURSDAY**********************
We got up pretty early, about 5am I believe, and got ready for our long road trip. We stopped at a McDonalds for lunch on the way. We managed to get to Rockville, MD without a problem, though there was a bit of confusion when we tried to locate the Doubletree hotel once we got there. We had started on the road about 7 and made it there about 4. Checked-in, at which point they sprung on me a $50 deposit fee that they didn't previously warn me about. When I stayed at the Hilton last year, the fee was optional. Here it wasn't.
Our room was pretty nice. We were a little dissapointed that they didn't get SpikeTV, as we had planned to watch UFC that night.
Some of our friends arrived later than expected, so we ordered some Papa Johns and had it delievered. Finally, people started showing up. Bobby (bobby R. yates) and Jeff (Stingmark) tried to come into out room, because they got their room confused with ours. I heard someone fussing with out door, and checked it out, and it was them. It was great to see them. We were worried that Michael (sittingstill) would not be able to make it, since he was coming from England, and this is when all of that crap was going on. Luckily, he made it, just later than expected.
A group of us (me, Aaron, Bobby, Matt (GarvinStomp), Phillip, Graham, Becky, Jeff, Tracy (brunogod), etc) went to Fuddruckers. I just got a vanilla shake and a soda, since I wasn't too hungry after the pizza. The shake was good. After retiring back to the room, I think this might have been when me and Aaron started watching a UFC Greatest Hits dvd, which we finished during a later day.
********************FRIDAY**************************
This was the first actual day of the convention. There had been talk of all of us getting together for breakfast, but it ended up being just me and Aaron. The breakfast buffet wasn't that great, not worth the $13. We picked up out VIP passes and materials at noon. We were numbers 34 and 35.
Jeff had called me the previous day with the bad news that Ricky Morton would not be there. Since he's always been my favorite wrestler, it was dissapointing that his appearance was cancelled, but it didn't bother me too bad since I got to meet him at the previous two conventions I went to. Superstar Billy Graham also had to cancel, which was another minor dissapointment for me. I didn't care at all that Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater weren't there.
Went and checked out all of the vendor tables. I always spend a lot of time browsing the merchandise that is for sale. Virgil had set himself up a table near the entrance. He is a real pushy salesman, as I had heard previously. He'll just start talking nicely to you like you're old friends, and then put you on the spot, trying to get you to buy stuff from him. Twice he called out to me, as if he knew me, but both times I just told him I'd "be back around later." During the weekend, he would go up to people and sign their stuff, and then ask for $20, even though they never asked him to sign it. It sucked to have to walk past him all weekend. I agree with those who don't want to see him back.
Anyway, our group went to On the Border for some good mexican food. Me and Aaron ditched the group though soon after we ate, as we wanted to get back in time for the opening ceremony with Bobby Heenan and Jim Cornette.
The Bill Eadie Q+A session was pretty decent. I managed to get a pic with him at some point.
The Jim Cornette and Bobby Heenan Q+A was really good. I knew it would be, and it didn't dissapoint at all.
**********************SATURDAY***************************
We got up around 8 I believe. Me, Aaron and Bobby went to IHOP for breakfast. My first time at one. Although I ordered an omelete, I enjoyed the pancakes more. Toward the end of our meal, Robert Gibson walked in and was seated a couple tables away from us.
During the day, I got 8x10 pics taken of me with Robert Gibson, Abdullah the Butcher (who put me in a headlock and has a stiff grip), The Midnight Express (both versions with Jim Cornette), Hart Foundation and the Heavenly Bodies (Lane + Prichard with Cornette). The photo sessions went pretty smooth and the pics all turned out well.
Me, Aaron, Bobby and Shockey went to Hooters for lunch. It was my first time ever at a Hooters restarant. It's definitely a "different" type of place, that's for sure.
The two autograph sessions went well. I had a nice little chat with Jim Cornette while I was going through the panel, before Timber (the security guy) told me to keep the line moving. Rockin Robin actually looks better now (with blonde hair also) than she did back then.
The Q+A session with the Hart Foundation was good. It was followed by another really good Q+A with Stan Lane, Dennis Condrey, Tom Prichard, Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette. This might have been my favorite of the weekend. I don't think any of us will forget the story Dennis told about him and Phil Hickerson....
After the Q+A's, myself, Aaron, Jeff, Tracy, Becky, Mike (Tracy's friend) the two guys from Canada (sorry, I don't recall that I got your names) went to Bennigan's with The Midnight Express (Eaton and Condrey). We were later joined by Jim Cornette and Synn, which made it even better. We were there past the closing time of 2am. Me and Jeff picked up the tab for Bobby + Dennis. It was the least we could do, as we are both big fans of them, and it was an experience that we'll never forget. Bobby Eaton is just a super nice guy, I can't say enough about him. He must have hugged me 2 or 3 times before he left for the night. I also got some hugs from Jim Cornette (which surprised me) and Synn. I had went up to Synn earlier in the day during the MX autograph session and talked with her for a little bit. A really sweet lady, and I look forward to keeping in touch with her and hopefully seeing her next year in Charlotte.
*******************SUNDAY***************************
Me and Aaron had planned to check out the worship service with Ivan Kolloff, but when the alarm went off, neither of us wanted to get up, so we slept-in.
The final autograph session was at noon., during which I had a little chat with Bret Hart about his dvd, and the possibility of a second one. Tony Atlas joked to me that he wasn't having a good time, because he couldn't find any 400 lb. women and he was horny. The Patriot was pretty friendly also. I snapped several pics of him, as I wanted to get them for my friend Dan, who is a fan of his.
After that session, me and Aaron went back to On the Border for another good lunch.
Because Fanfest was closing, a lot of the people in our group were going to leave, so we set a 5pm dinner time for all of us to get together one last time. Me, Aaron, Matt, Bobby, Phillip, Jeff, Becky, Alan, Brad, the canadian guy, etc. ended up going to Hooters. It was fun. We took some group pics and said our goodbyes.
Me and Aaron went back to our room and watched Family Guy.
Overall, it was great weekend. It had been 5 years since I had hung out with Aaron (as opposed to daily emails) so that was great. It's always great to see Bobby, Jeff (thanks again for the shirt and Volkoff figure), Brad, Matt, Steve Frye, Michael, JimmyKimmel, Greg Price, Sam Finlay and Alan (thanks again for the RNRX pics). I was glad I got to hang out with Phillip, Michael (sittingstill) and Graham more than I did last year. They were all fun guys. It was nice meeting Tracy, Mike, Becky, Bradshaw, Shockey, Peggy, dawizard (sorry, I don't recall your real name, but I enjoyed talking with you) the guy from Canada (sorry) and the guy from Canada's friend.
**********************MONDAY*****************************
We slept in until 11, because we knew we wouldn't be getting any sleep for a long time.
We got lunch at Fuddruckers. I had the 1/2 lb. burger and tricked out nachos. I didn't realize how large the nachos would be, so Aaron helped me eat them. He also managed to successfully eat the 1lb. burger. Quite impressive.
It took us 2 1/2 or 3 hours to get to Salsbury, MD for the nights ECW wrestling event. Since we were there early, we decided to see a movie. We wanted to see Clerks 2, but it wasn't playing, so we saw "The Descent" instead. We both enjoyed it.
Went to the ECW show at 7. I bought an ECW hat and Aaron got a Sabu shirt. We had pretty good seats. The show appeared to draw about 1,500 people. Balls Mahoney pinned Rene Dupree. Okay opener. The FBI defeated O'Reilly and Nerkik. Kurt Angle squashed Danny Doring in about 15 seconds. Kelly Kelly defeated Francine in a bikini contest. This led into Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman beating Test and Mike Knox, with Sandman pinning Knox. It was okay. The highlite was Sandman starting his entrance just a few feet away from us in the crowd. CM Punk made Stevie Richards tap out in a decent match. Rob Van Dam pinned Kevin Thorn, in what I thought was the best match on the card. Big Show pinned Sabu in an "extreme rules" match that went about 5 minutes. Sabu's only offense seemed to be chairshots. It was fairly competitive, but ended with Show chokeslamming Sabu through a table. Earlier, Sabu had put Show through a table in the corner with a diving bodypress off of a chair. Overall, we enjoyed the show, and it was paced well (2 hours, 15 minutes).
So at 9:30 that night we began our long drive home. We stopped for chinese on the way for dinner. The actual drive to Springfield, OH took probably 9 1/2 hours, as we arrived about 7:30am. We managed to squeeze in a brief 90 minute nap before he took me to the airport. I sure was glad when the plane hit the ground for the final time in KC, as I HATE flying. I did manage to finish the Shawn Michaels book during my flights. It's a good read.
**************WEDNESDAY**************
My plane arrived in Dayton, OH where Aaron picked me up, wearing his iron-on Mick Foley shirt that he told me he would. We drove to Springfield, where he lives, and I unloaded my stuff.
We watched UFC 46 on dvd, as well as the Bobby Southworth vs Sam Hoger match from the season one Ultimate Fighter dvd, which I brought down. We grabbed some Hung Lung chinese and went to his parents house and ate with them. When we got back to his place, we watched another UFC show, but I forget which number of show it was.
*****************THURSDAY**********************
We got up pretty early, about 5am I believe, and got ready for our long road trip. We stopped at a McDonalds for lunch on the way. We managed to get to Rockville, MD without a problem, though there was a bit of confusion when we tried to locate the Doubletree hotel once we got there. We had started on the road about 7 and made it there about 4. Checked-in, at which point they sprung on me a $50 deposit fee that they didn't previously warn me about. When I stayed at the Hilton last year, the fee was optional. Here it wasn't.
Our room was pretty nice. We were a little dissapointed that they didn't get SpikeTV, as we had planned to watch UFC that night.
Some of our friends arrived later than expected, so we ordered some Papa Johns and had it delievered. Finally, people started showing up. Bobby (bobby R. yates) and Jeff (Stingmark) tried to come into out room, because they got their room confused with ours. I heard someone fussing with out door, and checked it out, and it was them. It was great to see them. We were worried that Michael (sittingstill) would not be able to make it, since he was coming from England, and this is when all of that crap was going on. Luckily, he made it, just later than expected.
A group of us (me, Aaron, Bobby, Matt (GarvinStomp), Phillip, Graham, Becky, Jeff, Tracy (brunogod), etc) went to Fuddruckers. I just got a vanilla shake and a soda, since I wasn't too hungry after the pizza. The shake was good. After retiring back to the room, I think this might have been when me and Aaron started watching a UFC Greatest Hits dvd, which we finished during a later day.
********************FRIDAY**************************
This was the first actual day of the convention. There had been talk of all of us getting together for breakfast, but it ended up being just me and Aaron. The breakfast buffet wasn't that great, not worth the $13. We picked up out VIP passes and materials at noon. We were numbers 34 and 35.
Jeff had called me the previous day with the bad news that Ricky Morton would not be there. Since he's always been my favorite wrestler, it was dissapointing that his appearance was cancelled, but it didn't bother me too bad since I got to meet him at the previous two conventions I went to. Superstar Billy Graham also had to cancel, which was another minor dissapointment for me. I didn't care at all that Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater weren't there.
Went and checked out all of the vendor tables. I always spend a lot of time browsing the merchandise that is for sale. Virgil had set himself up a table near the entrance. He is a real pushy salesman, as I had heard previously. He'll just start talking nicely to you like you're old friends, and then put you on the spot, trying to get you to buy stuff from him. Twice he called out to me, as if he knew me, but both times I just told him I'd "be back around later." During the weekend, he would go up to people and sign their stuff, and then ask for $20, even though they never asked him to sign it. It sucked to have to walk past him all weekend. I agree with those who don't want to see him back.
Anyway, our group went to On the Border for some good mexican food. Me and Aaron ditched the group though soon after we ate, as we wanted to get back in time for the opening ceremony with Bobby Heenan and Jim Cornette.
The Bill Eadie Q+A session was pretty decent. I managed to get a pic with him at some point.
The Jim Cornette and Bobby Heenan Q+A was really good. I knew it would be, and it didn't dissapoint at all.
**********************SATURDAY***************************
We got up around 8 I believe. Me, Aaron and Bobby went to IHOP for breakfast. My first time at one. Although I ordered an omelete, I enjoyed the pancakes more. Toward the end of our meal, Robert Gibson walked in and was seated a couple tables away from us.
During the day, I got 8x10 pics taken of me with Robert Gibson, Abdullah the Butcher (who put me in a headlock and has a stiff grip), The Midnight Express (both versions with Jim Cornette), Hart Foundation and the Heavenly Bodies (Lane + Prichard with Cornette). The photo sessions went pretty smooth and the pics all turned out well.
Me, Aaron, Bobby and Shockey went to Hooters for lunch. It was my first time ever at a Hooters restarant. It's definitely a "different" type of place, that's for sure.
The two autograph sessions went well. I had a nice little chat with Jim Cornette while I was going through the panel, before Timber (the security guy) told me to keep the line moving. Rockin Robin actually looks better now (with blonde hair also) than she did back then.
The Q+A session with the Hart Foundation was good. It was followed by another really good Q+A with Stan Lane, Dennis Condrey, Tom Prichard, Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette. This might have been my favorite of the weekend. I don't think any of us will forget the story Dennis told about him and Phil Hickerson....
After the Q+A's, myself, Aaron, Jeff, Tracy, Becky, Mike (Tracy's friend) the two guys from Canada (sorry, I don't recall that I got your names) went to Bennigan's with The Midnight Express (Eaton and Condrey). We were later joined by Jim Cornette and Synn, which made it even better. We were there past the closing time of 2am. Me and Jeff picked up the tab for Bobby + Dennis. It was the least we could do, as we are both big fans of them, and it was an experience that we'll never forget. Bobby Eaton is just a super nice guy, I can't say enough about him. He must have hugged me 2 or 3 times before he left for the night. I also got some hugs from Jim Cornette (which surprised me) and Synn. I had went up to Synn earlier in the day during the MX autograph session and talked with her for a little bit. A really sweet lady, and I look forward to keeping in touch with her and hopefully seeing her next year in Charlotte.
*******************SUNDAY***************************
Me and Aaron had planned to check out the worship service with Ivan Kolloff, but when the alarm went off, neither of us wanted to get up, so we slept-in.
The final autograph session was at noon., during which I had a little chat with Bret Hart about his dvd, and the possibility of a second one. Tony Atlas joked to me that he wasn't having a good time, because he couldn't find any 400 lb. women and he was horny. The Patriot was pretty friendly also. I snapped several pics of him, as I wanted to get them for my friend Dan, who is a fan of his.
After that session, me and Aaron went back to On the Border for another good lunch.
Because Fanfest was closing, a lot of the people in our group were going to leave, so we set a 5pm dinner time for all of us to get together one last time. Me, Aaron, Matt, Bobby, Phillip, Jeff, Becky, Alan, Brad, the canadian guy, etc. ended up going to Hooters. It was fun. We took some group pics and said our goodbyes.
Me and Aaron went back to our room and watched Family Guy.
Overall, it was great weekend. It had been 5 years since I had hung out with Aaron (as opposed to daily emails) so that was great. It's always great to see Bobby, Jeff (thanks again for the shirt and Volkoff figure), Brad, Matt, Steve Frye, Michael, JimmyKimmel, Greg Price, Sam Finlay and Alan (thanks again for the RNRX pics). I was glad I got to hang out with Phillip, Michael (sittingstill) and Graham more than I did last year. They were all fun guys. It was nice meeting Tracy, Mike, Becky, Bradshaw, Shockey, Peggy, dawizard (sorry, I don't recall your real name, but I enjoyed talking with you) the guy from Canada (sorry) and the guy from Canada's friend.
**********************MONDAY*****************************
We slept in until 11, because we knew we wouldn't be getting any sleep for a long time.
We got lunch at Fuddruckers. I had the 1/2 lb. burger and tricked out nachos. I didn't realize how large the nachos would be, so Aaron helped me eat them. He also managed to successfully eat the 1lb. burger. Quite impressive.
It took us 2 1/2 or 3 hours to get to Salsbury, MD for the nights ECW wrestling event. Since we were there early, we decided to see a movie. We wanted to see Clerks 2, but it wasn't playing, so we saw "The Descent" instead. We both enjoyed it.
Went to the ECW show at 7. I bought an ECW hat and Aaron got a Sabu shirt. We had pretty good seats. The show appeared to draw about 1,500 people. Balls Mahoney pinned Rene Dupree. Okay opener. The FBI defeated O'Reilly and Nerkik. Kurt Angle squashed Danny Doring in about 15 seconds. Kelly Kelly defeated Francine in a bikini contest. This led into Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman beating Test and Mike Knox, with Sandman pinning Knox. It was okay. The highlite was Sandman starting his entrance just a few feet away from us in the crowd. CM Punk made Stevie Richards tap out in a decent match. Rob Van Dam pinned Kevin Thorn, in what I thought was the best match on the card. Big Show pinned Sabu in an "extreme rules" match that went about 5 minutes. Sabu's only offense seemed to be chairshots. It was fairly competitive, but ended with Show chokeslamming Sabu through a table. Earlier, Sabu had put Show through a table in the corner with a diving bodypress off of a chair. Overall, we enjoyed the show, and it was paced well (2 hours, 15 minutes).
So at 9:30 that night we began our long drive home. We stopped for chinese on the way for dinner. The actual drive to Springfield, OH took probably 9 1/2 hours, as we arrived about 7:30am. We managed to squeeze in a brief 90 minute nap before he took me to the airport. I sure was glad when the plane hit the ground for the final time in KC, as I HATE flying. I did manage to finish the Shawn Michaels book during my flights. It's a good read.
