Featured Guests for next Charlotte Fanfest

[tafkadixie]

I have been a vendor at all 3 Price events and honestly I think the whole MACW/JCP theme has run its course. I would MUCH rather see the number of names cut in half and double the caliber of starpower on stage. Didnt Mr Wrestling 2 have to fly in from Hawaii? How many tickets do you actually think he sold? Sure he may have added to the mix but I doubt more than 3 people were put over the top for buying tickets by his addition. I'm not really singling out Mr Walker, just using him an example. Cut down on all the jobbers/mid carders and shoot for the top. We dont need to see Penny Banner, Gary Hart, Humperdink, Assassin, Tony Romano, etc. They sold ZERO tickets. If those guys want to attend for free, then sure.....come on down! Concentrate on the TOP guys from ALL territories. Just my 2 cents hearing feedback from LOTS of the attendees first hand over the 3 weekends.

[bobbyryates]

MAN!!! that's cold sam.
who says that the guests are there JUST FOR THE FANS?? they come in for each other as well. sure they are getting paid to be there, but they still are doing more than getting a quick payoff. maybe the ones you mentioned didn't sell tickets. i doubt anyone is polling the guests drawing power at the fanfests. so what if you are right, it's not bad. i never heard of tony romano until this was announced. but i enjoyed talking with him for the brief time together. HE WAS HAVING A GREAT TIME. he told me that. RIP HAWK WAS HAVING THE TIME OF HIS LIFE. rip told me that.
who doesn't want to see humperdink and gary hart? funny how they were never alone the whole weekend. hart was one of the main reasons I HAD TO BE THERE. as for the rest, they seemed to be pretty popular with fans as well.
think i need to explain this to you. a wrestling show consists of all these things:
1. promotors
2. opening match guys
3. mid carders
4. upper mid carders
5. main eventers
6. referees
7. announcers

well, that list of 7 kinds of people are who should be guests, regardless of drawing power. anyone who was part of the show, should be able to be there as a guest.

[eagle6894]

My list

Kabuki
Barry Windham
Sting
Abdullah The Butcher
Terry Funk
Kevin Sullivan
Buddy Roberts
Chris Youngblood
Lex Luger
Michael Hayes
Sid
One Man Gang
Manny Fernandez
Stan Hansen
Baron Von Rashke
Barry darsow
Hector Guerrero
Chavo Guerrero
Mike Rotundo
Woman
Dark Journey
Doom ( SImmons & Reed)
Ron Garvin
Dr Death
Teddy long
missy hyatt
slaughter
Ron Bass
Black Bart
Blackjack

[Baltimore Jack]

I have to strongly disagree with Sam, too. I think the event is made stronger by a complete mix of upper, mid-card, and underneath talent, along with the managers, referees, announcers, etc.

Everybody has different perspectives on who the top guys are. It's funny Sam brings up Mr. Wrestling II. I would be at Greg's shows regardless, but the addition of Mr. Wrestling II made it a MUST ATTEND event for me, especially given he lives so far away and will not make many of these things.

And guys like Oliver Humperdink make these events special. The time that man spent with fans in addition to his booked time was amazing. He so clearly loves the business and the fans. I can’t imagine these things without him and guys like him. And you might get arguments that Sir Oliver isn’t in the top group anyway. Again, we all have different perspectives. That’s mine.

[tafkadixie]

You guys are correct on all counts.........as fans. I was looking at it through a PROMOTERS eyes. Are you telling me you wouldnt attend if the number was cut in half, but the names were twice as big?

I didnt mean the comment about Sir Oliver as it sounded. I thought he was GREAT and love reading his posts on the KM boards (and here as well). I merely meant it again from a promoter's stance. He simply probably sell more than 5 tickets. In Fayetteville, Sting sold tickets. Foley sold tickets. These are names that sell tickets to the more COMMON fan, who wouldnt necessarily attend otherwise. These guys are household names even to non wrestling fans. I'm talking guys like Hogan, Piper, Flair, Rock, Austin. I'm not expecting these guys at FanFest, just giving examples of people who sell tickets to the non-diehard fan. Face it, everyone who posts on these boards and lives remotely close is coming to the shows regardless of the roster. To be a true financial success, I think you have to get the "common man" in the doors.

I dont want to start a war of words here, especially since I think we are both right coming from two sides of the spectrum.

[bobbyryates]

no problems here. we are, like you said, coming for different perspectives.
i can see your point here. but the formula in which you are giving here is one of the reasons i hate the currrent product. you say to bring in all the top dogs that sell tickets. well, that is the entire RAW roster. none of them are theoretically "jobbers". but they all beat or get beaten by everybody else on the roster every week. seems that if they have a big program, they win, if they don't they get squashed by the ones that do.
i hate that formula. everybody is not or never will be a star. everybody has their place. the current stuff just gives us the big names losing to the bigger names. funny how when we had the socalled "enhancement talent" that places like greensboro would draw around 5-9,000 fans every other week with two or three main events with maybe 7 matches. RAW comes in with ALL the top draws and the last time or two they came to greensboro, they barely had 8,000 in the seats and that was with heavy papering.
so with all the top draws they have on their roster, how come they brought them all to town and didn't draw the crowd, by using the formula you have presented?
without the jobbers and the midcarders, we lose interest in the long term. we need those guys to make those top draws look good. even at fanfests.
i bet you are right, tommy angel probably never drew a single person to fanfest. but i bet somebody that went saw him and fondly remembered tully blanchard kicking his a**. and enjoyed telling him about it with fond memories. but that fan coldn't have done that if angel weren't there.

[loony]

bobbyryates said:

without the jobbers and the midcarders, we lose interest in the long term.

Mulkeymania is still running wild!!!!

[HardcoreHeroes]

TAFKADixie said:

You guys are correct on all counts.........as fans. I was looking at it through a PROMOTERS eyes.

In Fayetteville, Sting sold tickets. Foley sold tickets. These are names that sell tickets to the more COMMON fan, who wouldnt necessarily attend otherwise. These guys are household names even to non wrestling fans.

To be a true financial success, I think you have to get the "common man" in the doors.

I dont want to start a war of words here, especially since I think we are both right coming from two sides of the spectrum.

In a friendly conversational tone.....

Sam, I couldn't disagree with you more.

WCW went broke trying to market to the "common man" and WWE is just about in the same boat. The "common man" sees WWE for the farce it is. And it shows in their gates. Sure, those TV shows look packed, but 75% of it is paper (ie: freebies). You want a real idea of what WWE would draw if not for the abundance of free tickets for TV tapings? Look no further than the shows they did at the old Charlotte Coliseum and the Township in Columbia awhile back. Jeez. Columbia was scary. And Charlotte wasn't much better.

You are dead wrong about Sting and Foley drawing in Fayetteville. I cannot argue that they're not "names" the "common man" recognizes, but that recognition doesn't translate into ticket sales. I know firsthand. And that's not a knock against either personally. They're both great guys.

The core audience for fanfest is diehard wrestling fans, most of which long for the bygone days. There are some, like yourself, that still like or watch today's product, but I'm sure that's only because there's no other wrestling to watch.

[ncjames]

Two of the guests I was most, thats MOST, excited to see were The Assassin and Gary Hart this time and Sir Oliver was the first time. I understand where your coming from Sam but I really couldnt disagree with you more on this one. And then suggesting they come for free.......gee how much stuff did you give away at your booth Sam? Same concept.

[bluedevil71]

Hardcore, you couldn't have said it any better. But, if I may, let me add to this.

I see where Sam is coming from, but there's one other point that I don't think was mentioned here that needs to be. The finances of this. There's no doubt that a lot of money gets shelled out for these events. Now if Greg were to just concentrate on the top guys and say he brings in 15-20 guys, instead of 30 or 40 overall. Well, I would be willing to bet that those 15 to 20 guys would cost just as much, IF NOT MORE, than the 30 and 40 based on what they would charge to show up.

I doubt some of the previous names mentioned charged as much, but then again, as was mentioned, they probably came in not just to meet the fans but to mingle with each other as well, as evident by all of the guys meeting up in Charlotte this past time.

From a promoter's aspect, if you only bring in big names, well, let's just say you'll be out of money pretty quickly. Sure, you may bring in a few more fans, but you are shelling out a lot more money in the process. And there's no guarantee you would get more fans.

[jblcenafan]

Really , I agree with Sam. I went to all 3 fanfests and it really needs some serious revamping for me to go again. RNR Express , Ivan and Nikita , George South , have all run their course. I would really like to see the number cut in half and trim the fat for both fan and promoter. I assume you had to lay out the bucks for the movie screen room as well as the room with the wrestling ring in it. While they looked good on paper both of them were rather pointless. Also I really think the vendors need to be checked as well. I mean for goodsakes that guy with the $3 "autographed" magazines seemed a little more than shady. Did he happen to get 35 autographs from Kurt Angle one day? Or how about the guy selling Helen Hunt t-shirts and old music tapes? Or the photo copies of legit WCW 8X10s? I mean I realize everyone wants to make a buck but god this isn't a thrift store. How aobut cut 10 legneds and get Roddy Piper? I remember Greg Price working with RVD in the past , couldn't you get RVD for a song? This is too exclusive to old school people. Old acts get that one time huge Nostalgic draw and then usually it drops next time around which was proven already. This fanfest is no different then WWE beating to death Austin vs Macmahon with 10 different people over the years. It is people striking gold and refusing to change things aroung and trying to strike oil again and again. Also please get rid of the heckler guy everyone said looked like Tom Green..... oh and that Timber guy.

[ncjames]

Just consider the user name guys. He is obviously just in the wrong forum. You go watch Smackdown and leave the Fanfests to people who can appreciate them.

[bobbyryates]

thought the same thing a week back james.
no offence guy, but if you want to see all the new alledged "wrestlers" on the shows now, maybe these fanfests aren't for you. if you have that little enjoyment out of them, well it's like going to the movies. one comes your way you don't like, you stay at home, right?
i understand what you and sam are saying about trimming "down the fat" and bring in the bigger names. but i doubt the piper would use the time that so many of the other guys have used to talk with us directly off the stage. so many of these guys you don't want to see again spend countless hours with us, the paying fans, in the bar, the hotel lobby, and in the restaurants talking to us. treating us like people. do you really think piper would do that? in my opinion, if he wanted to be around us fans to begin with, he wouldn't be over charging himself to do ANY indy show. but for an event like this, he would be mobbed. so him hanging around the hotel lobby for us hardcore fans is one thing i doubt he would do, much less us and all the casual fans off the street too.
i want to meet piper one day too. but the fanfests are doing just fine as they are. cutting back on some of the talent is one thig, but to sacrifice some of your big draws that interact with the fans is not the method needed. that would just kill the show i think.

[jblcenafan]

Well that's a great comeback. You have no opinion on anything so you simply insult me. I could shred you with logic but all we would get is another 2 sentence reply. Anyway , excluding Piper because he might not hangout with you in the bar makes no sense from a "trying to make money and recover lost money" promoter view. Was Greg Valentine amazing during his Q&A? Yes , but pretty much he was jerky the rest of the weekend. Now maybe his dog ran away , he lost his keys , whatever. But would I ever post , "don't bring back "The Hammer" because he didn't play pool with us? No , that wouldn't be a good reason. The problem is people want to change with the times on their own terms. You might dance around and think I suck for wathcing current wrestling and wanting "old school" till the cows come home. But fact is "old school" means no cellphones , no internet , no shoot interviews , no fanfests. So don't blast me for enjoying a 2005 show when here you on web boards that weren't around when Ricky Steamboat turned on Paul Jones.

[Flair4theGold]

I think the entire spirit of something like the Fanfest is that you get to see guys you would not ordinarily get to see. If someone wants to see RVD, go to the WWE website and find out when he's signing next or go to his comic store. He's regularly available because WWE pimps him. But when you say Fanfest is geared toward older people, I think it is done so on purpose. If you watch and enjoy the current product, good for you. I watch it also, but I have zero urge to meet most of those guys. They bring back no thoughts about the "good ol' days" for me or a lot of people that attend these cons. It's just the way these Fanfests are put together. It's neither right nor wrong, but bringing in a bunch of the current crop of guys changes the entire tone of Fanfest. For me personally, I prefer the old school guys, the jobbers, the refs, the announcers, the main eventers, or the mid-card. When the shows become cost-prohibitive, I guess they'll go away. Nothing lasts forever, which is part of the reason the Fanfests were created anyway.