Post by Flair Forever on Apr 8, 2013 21:16:50 GMT -5
I was fortunate (or diligent) enough to get VIP AXXESS tickets for Shawn Michaels for the 12:30 - 4:30 WWE AXXESS. Getting the tickets was a pain, as you all may remember - I believe I sat here by the computer and kept trying through all the "technical difficulties" but kept trying until I finally was able to purchase two tickets, one for myself, and one for my friend Dan. He had gotten the Wrestlemania tickets, so getting the AXXESS tickets was my job - I guess I came through!
It was pretty well organized as far as the VIP line went - they let us in before the others so we could get in line to meet HBK... saw several costumed fans around as well.
Walking in was pretty cool - I'd never been that close to the RAW stage before...
While we were pretty far back in our VIP line, I found that they really kept it moving pretty well... made me kind of nervous, I was afraid they'd rush me through too fast... I snapped a few shots of HBK while we were in line...
When it was my turn, I walked up to Michaels, and said "My wife didn't want me to come to this - but I did anyway." He laughed and said "I hope you're not in trouble..." I said "Well, I am in trouble, and you are her favorite wrestler - so could you hold this up for her and get me out of trouble?" The crew got a laugh out of this.
And so did my wife, when I uploaded it from WWE.com a few minutes later and texted it to her... she said she actually got a little teary that I thought about her....
I had him autograph my Jakks Exclusive HBK Wrestlemania 12 figure.... which I later took a photo of with HBK's Wrestlemania 12 gear.... neat.
Next up, the "backstage tour"... I wasn't sure what to expect from this, good thing my expectations were fairly low... it wasn't much to see.
Here's me, in that "General Manager's Office" or whatever they call it... kind of neat to see.... it went downhill from here.
Next stop, the "Locker Room"... I'm not sure if the wrestlers are really getting changed in a room this small or what... I yelled "Look, it's Titus O'Neil's drawers!" That made the girl guarding Titus O'Neil's drawers laugh... it was kind of cool to see CM Punk's kickpads though. A little bit silly, really staged...
After the next "attraction" I decided it was time to move this thing along...to the "makeup room." I told the guard that it was like getting an inside peek at.... my wife's bathroom. He got a chuckle out of that....
Alright, I didn't pay 150 bucks to see a sloppy ladies room.... this was so "exciting", I'm surprised they didn't take us into the boiler room....
Also saw Mr. McMahon's office, complete with his butler & ugly suit coats - not to sound stupid, but does he really have a butler at Raw? Is it really necessary for that? Or was it just part of the tour?
Next stop was the famous "Gorilla Position." Kind of cool to see... my big takeaway from this was learning that the Raw screen is nothing but a bunch of small flatscreen TV's linked together. Huh, I never knew that. Here's what the Titantron screen looks like from the back:
Next part was the real treat - getting to walk out on the Raw stage. That was a cool feeling.... so great my buddy and I broke out into the DX chops.... this was one of the highlights for me.
As we walked off the Raw ramp, there were NXT matches taking place. Kofi Kingston was also out there with some of the guys from that show Psyched, or whatever it's called.... I got bored with this pretty quick - I wanted to find the autograph booths!
Made a quick stop at the Mattel booth - what a disappointment to see nothing that my local Toys R Us doesn't have... why set up a booth and go to all this trouble without showing anything new, or selling anything exclusive? What is the point? I was mad that I wasted time in here... WWE/Mattel could have easily sucked a few more dollars out of me here... instead I felt like I wasted my precious time.
I came prepared for the autograph sessions - I had grabbed pages out of WWE magazines for the last four months and kept them in a folder which I brought along - I weeded out ones I knew wouldn't be there. It paid off well..... first up was Antonio Cesaro....
We got in line, they sat us in the arena seats, then took one row at a time to meet Antonio. It actually moved very quickly...
When my turn finally came, I told him I really enjoyed his match with Sin Cara on Main Event a few weeks ago... his response - "Just the one?" This guy is HILARIOUS!
He also liked the picture I had selected from the magazine to have him sign. I'm framing it tomorrow, as well as all the pictures I got signed at AXXESS....
Next, I really wanted to find some legends... I had brought my Dusty Rhodes Jakks Classic Superstar - but someone told us Dusty finished signing while we were still with HBK in the VIP area. Oh well, we looked for a legend and found Ricky Steamboat...
His line had just been cut off. Steamboat looked generally miserable - I tried to get a shot of him smiling - this was the closest I could get:
Oh well, I'm sure the other legends will be in a better mood, right? Oh look, there's Harley Race!
His line was actually still open, but he looked meaner than Steamboat, and I didn't really have anything for him to sign... so we kept moving along... how about Rikishi?
This was the most I saw him smile too, and his line was closed too.... guess we'll keep moving.... Mil Mascaras?
I've honestly never watched one of his matches and would have felt a little guilty getting the autograph, so I didn't bother...
So the legends were a total bust... until I saw the one... the only... the Living Legend, Larry Zbysko! And hardly any line either... when I handed him an old wrestling magazine cover I had grabbed he was genuinely surprised and happy.... "Look at this!" he said. He seemed really happy that I was a fan of his. "He's still alive, and HE's still alive," he said pointing to the pictures of Hogan and Flair. "And I'M still alive!" he proclaimed.
I had thrown this old, rather unique magazine cover in with my others when I heard Zbysko would be at the Hall of Fame... didn't really expect to need it! Let's face it, you don't see Larry Zbysko on the cover of too many magazines...
"Larry, it's all about the 'Game of Human Chess,' I said to him.... "Yes.... the Game of Human Chess." he smiled as he said that back to me. "So, when are you going into the Hall of Fame?" I asked him. He looked me directly in the eye and said "I really think it's going to be next year." You heard it here first...
Checked out some of the displays next.... here are a few that stood out to me as special:
As we walked around we figured we were done, and then I saw it... the sign said Dibiase! And son! He is on my autograph "want-list" big-time... but they had just cut off his line. I begged the guy to let me in... he said to check back in 10 minutes. So I basically stalked the guy, and they eventually let 10 more people in.... and I was one of them....
But no more posed photographs, they said. I could deal with that...
"Look at this young man!" Dibiase said when he looked at the WWF magazine cover I placed in front of him.
As Dibiase was talking, Ted Jr. cut him off angrily - I thought I did something wrong. "This is not story-time, Dad!" Ted Jr. said jokingly... it was all in fun. The Million Dollar Man and I finished up... the two were really great guys...
When we finished up with the Dibiases, the workers were pretty much kicking people out - I guess AXXESS was over. We hit up some merchandise stands and picked up a few things....
I also picked up a program, and tonight at home I cut the cover off and framed it for my "Hobby Room" wall....
And I took my digital photos from WWE.com to a local photo printer and had professional copies made, which I also hung up next to my figure displays:
So my overall impressions of AXXESS were positive. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much without the VIP pass to meet HBK - however the backstage tour kind of sucked. Getting to walk on the Raw ramp was incredible!
Every superstar I interacted with was fun and pleasant. The legends that were signing looked miserable, but maybe they were tired because they've been doing this all week.
Definitely an experience I would recommend! But go in with a gameplan - know what you want to do/get and how/where it is going in. I bet we could have gotten 2-3 more autographs if we had known to go up to the third floor right after we finished our VIP session - instead, we wasted precious time at the Mattel and Fruity Pebbles booths trying to figure out where to go...
It was a little disorganized in certain areas, but for the most part it was fine. My friend and I had a great time!
Thanks for looking!
It was pretty well organized as far as the VIP line went - they let us in before the others so we could get in line to meet HBK... saw several costumed fans around as well.
Walking in was pretty cool - I'd never been that close to the RAW stage before...
While we were pretty far back in our VIP line, I found that they really kept it moving pretty well... made me kind of nervous, I was afraid they'd rush me through too fast... I snapped a few shots of HBK while we were in line...
When it was my turn, I walked up to Michaels, and said "My wife didn't want me to come to this - but I did anyway." He laughed and said "I hope you're not in trouble..." I said "Well, I am in trouble, and you are her favorite wrestler - so could you hold this up for her and get me out of trouble?" The crew got a laugh out of this.
And so did my wife, when I uploaded it from WWE.com a few minutes later and texted it to her... she said she actually got a little teary that I thought about her....
I had him autograph my Jakks Exclusive HBK Wrestlemania 12 figure.... which I later took a photo of with HBK's Wrestlemania 12 gear.... neat.
Next up, the "backstage tour"... I wasn't sure what to expect from this, good thing my expectations were fairly low... it wasn't much to see.
Here's me, in that "General Manager's Office" or whatever they call it... kind of neat to see.... it went downhill from here.
Next stop, the "Locker Room"... I'm not sure if the wrestlers are really getting changed in a room this small or what... I yelled "Look, it's Titus O'Neil's drawers!" That made the girl guarding Titus O'Neil's drawers laugh... it was kind of cool to see CM Punk's kickpads though. A little bit silly, really staged...
After the next "attraction" I decided it was time to move this thing along...to the "makeup room." I told the guard that it was like getting an inside peek at.... my wife's bathroom. He got a chuckle out of that....
Alright, I didn't pay 150 bucks to see a sloppy ladies room.... this was so "exciting", I'm surprised they didn't take us into the boiler room....
Also saw Mr. McMahon's office, complete with his butler & ugly suit coats - not to sound stupid, but does he really have a butler at Raw? Is it really necessary for that? Or was it just part of the tour?
Next stop was the famous "Gorilla Position." Kind of cool to see... my big takeaway from this was learning that the Raw screen is nothing but a bunch of small flatscreen TV's linked together. Huh, I never knew that. Here's what the Titantron screen looks like from the back:
Next part was the real treat - getting to walk out on the Raw stage. That was a cool feeling.... so great my buddy and I broke out into the DX chops.... this was one of the highlights for me.
As we walked off the Raw ramp, there were NXT matches taking place. Kofi Kingston was also out there with some of the guys from that show Psyched, or whatever it's called.... I got bored with this pretty quick - I wanted to find the autograph booths!
Made a quick stop at the Mattel booth - what a disappointment to see nothing that my local Toys R Us doesn't have... why set up a booth and go to all this trouble without showing anything new, or selling anything exclusive? What is the point? I was mad that I wasted time in here... WWE/Mattel could have easily sucked a few more dollars out of me here... instead I felt like I wasted my precious time.
I came prepared for the autograph sessions - I had grabbed pages out of WWE magazines for the last four months and kept them in a folder which I brought along - I weeded out ones I knew wouldn't be there. It paid off well..... first up was Antonio Cesaro....
We got in line, they sat us in the arena seats, then took one row at a time to meet Antonio. It actually moved very quickly...
When my turn finally came, I told him I really enjoyed his match with Sin Cara on Main Event a few weeks ago... his response - "Just the one?" This guy is HILARIOUS!
He also liked the picture I had selected from the magazine to have him sign. I'm framing it tomorrow, as well as all the pictures I got signed at AXXESS....
Next, I really wanted to find some legends... I had brought my Dusty Rhodes Jakks Classic Superstar - but someone told us Dusty finished signing while we were still with HBK in the VIP area. Oh well, we looked for a legend and found Ricky Steamboat...
His line had just been cut off. Steamboat looked generally miserable - I tried to get a shot of him smiling - this was the closest I could get:
Oh well, I'm sure the other legends will be in a better mood, right? Oh look, there's Harley Race!
His line was actually still open, but he looked meaner than Steamboat, and I didn't really have anything for him to sign... so we kept moving along... how about Rikishi?
This was the most I saw him smile too, and his line was closed too.... guess we'll keep moving.... Mil Mascaras?
I've honestly never watched one of his matches and would have felt a little guilty getting the autograph, so I didn't bother...
So the legends were a total bust... until I saw the one... the only... the Living Legend, Larry Zbysko! And hardly any line either... when I handed him an old wrestling magazine cover I had grabbed he was genuinely surprised and happy.... "Look at this!" he said. He seemed really happy that I was a fan of his. "He's still alive, and HE's still alive," he said pointing to the pictures of Hogan and Flair. "And I'M still alive!" he proclaimed.
I had thrown this old, rather unique magazine cover in with my others when I heard Zbysko would be at the Hall of Fame... didn't really expect to need it! Let's face it, you don't see Larry Zbysko on the cover of too many magazines...
"Larry, it's all about the 'Game of Human Chess,' I said to him.... "Yes.... the Game of Human Chess." he smiled as he said that back to me. "So, when are you going into the Hall of Fame?" I asked him. He looked me directly in the eye and said "I really think it's going to be next year." You heard it here first...
Checked out some of the displays next.... here are a few that stood out to me as special:
As we walked around we figured we were done, and then I saw it... the sign said Dibiase! And son! He is on my autograph "want-list" big-time... but they had just cut off his line. I begged the guy to let me in... he said to check back in 10 minutes. So I basically stalked the guy, and they eventually let 10 more people in.... and I was one of them....
But no more posed photographs, they said. I could deal with that...
"Look at this young man!" Dibiase said when he looked at the WWF magazine cover I placed in front of him.
As Dibiase was talking, Ted Jr. cut him off angrily - I thought I did something wrong. "This is not story-time, Dad!" Ted Jr. said jokingly... it was all in fun. The Million Dollar Man and I finished up... the two were really great guys...
When we finished up with the Dibiases, the workers were pretty much kicking people out - I guess AXXESS was over. We hit up some merchandise stands and picked up a few things....
I also picked up a program, and tonight at home I cut the cover off and framed it for my "Hobby Room" wall....
And I took my digital photos from WWE.com to a local photo printer and had professional copies made, which I also hung up next to my figure displays:
So my overall impressions of AXXESS were positive. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much without the VIP pass to meet HBK - however the backstage tour kind of sucked. Getting to walk on the Raw ramp was incredible!
Every superstar I interacted with was fun and pleasant. The legends that were signing looked miserable, but maybe they were tired because they've been doing this all week.
Definitely an experience I would recommend! But go in with a gameplan - know what you want to do/get and how/where it is going in. I bet we could have gotten 2-3 more autographs if we had known to go up to the third floor right after we finished our VIP session - instead, we wasted precious time at the Mattel and Fruity Pebbles booths trying to figure out where to go...
It was a little disorganized in certain areas, but for the most part it was fine. My friend and I had a great time!
Thanks for looking!
