JBL and Aliyah Autograph Signing Report (11/03/2024)

Nice stuff from Kozlov.

His signature is really good. More current stars should try to have some pride in theirs...

Great report buddy.

Show us your face coward....

Joking! I love reading these

Another quick report. Tye Dillinger was in Mississauga, ON last night for Destiny Wrestling.



Bell time was 8pm so I get there 45 minutes before. There was already a huge line because Marty Scurll was also scheduled to be at the event.

Doors opened at 7:30 and I’m inside the venue at around 7:45. I make my way to the merch area where Tye is out signing. There is about 10 people in front of me. With it being close to showtime, I thought I might not be able to get to him before the show; however, at just past 8, I’m at the front of the line.

We start off with a handshake and I ask for six autographs and a photo with him. In response he says, “we’ve got one of those [fans] here!” He then tells me his price ($10 per), and we agree on it. I pay him then he starts signing the the three programs I brought. He signed the first one, but before he signed the second program, he said “oh sorry! I should have asked you what name you wanted! Do you want ‘Dillinger’ on this one?” I told him I wanted Dillinger on all of them. He then comments on the fact that I had all the pages marked: “you’re a professional! You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” I tell him that I go to these shows all the time because I’m a big fan.



I then ask him to sign the encyclopedia as Gavin Spears.



Then, I have him sign two figures in different paint markers, personalized. The NXT figure was already signed (though poorly, and on the card - I quickly met him before an NXT show when he was in a rush. I wanted a nicer, proper autograph and one that was personalized so I got it signed again).



I wanted to talk to him more but the show had started which meant that he had to go backstage. After he signed my stuff, we took a photo together. For every photo, he would get up from his chair and walk around the table for a proper standing photo. A lot of wrestlers don't do that, so this was great. He then thanked me, shook my hand, and said “appreciate it!” While my meet with him was quick, it was a good one. Thanks for reading! I'll be at the annual Hamilton Comic Con next week, so look out for a report Saturday night!

Shawn Spears is a great guy to meet. Glad he signed each item according to the name printed on!

The annual Hamilton Comic Con takes place this weekend which includes a Legends of Wrestling Reunion.



Brutus Beefcake, Ted DiBiase, Godfather, Terri Runnels, Mick Foley, and Ricky Steamboat were schedule to be a part of this reunion. I wanted to meet all names, but Mick Foley was pricey (and he’s around often anyway) and Godfather cancelled. The convention made the announcement regarding Godfather about two hours before the con started and said that it was due to a “scheduling conflict”. You would probably think they’d knew that beforehand but failed to mention it. This con has had done some shady stuff in the past (this con is ran by the same people as the Niagara Falls Comic Con), so I wouldn’t be surprised if they held off telling people about Godfather’s cancellation to sell more tickets. Anyways…. I get to the con at about 11:15am and make my way to the autograph area.



Brutus Beefcake had the shortest line and contained only two people, so I decided to get him out of the way first. I pay the handler the autograph fee (didn’t need a photo as I’ve met him several times before). I then shake Brutus’ hand and give him a marker and my magazine to get signed. I tell him that it is nice to meet him again and he returns the thought. Also, although I don’t remember a single thing from his speech, I tell him “I really enjoyed your Hall of Fame speech this year!”. To which he smiles and thanks me for. After he signed my magazine, we shook hands again and he thanked me for coming out. A nice and simply meet and greet with a nice guy.



I then join the next shortest line, with that line being Ricky Steamboat’s. Just as I joined the line, Mick Foley comes out and starts signing. Before he does so, he goes to Ricky’s table and greets him. One volunteer suggests to fans, “take a pic of them together!”. Some fans do, including myself, then another volunteer says “no pictures please!”. Ummm.. okay. Steamboat and Foley seemed quite enthused to see each other.



It takes me about 15 minutes to get to the front of Ricky’s line. I pay the handler then give Ricky my marker and magazine to get signed. Before he signed it, he took a look at it and shows the handler “see, this one is was done by Pro Wrestling Illustrated” (even though the magazine was a Sports Review Wrestling issue, it is affiliated with PWI). Ricky then begins to sign it. As he signs, I point to Lex Luger’s autograph and tell Ricky: “I met Lex a few months ago. He made fun of your picture. He said you look like a crybaby!”. Ricky then starts laughing. After he signs, we shake hands and thank each other.



I then join Terri Runnels’ line, which was the priority for the day because she was the only one in the lineup whom I’ve never met. This line was a bit disorganized. There were about three or four volunteers organizing Terri’s line, and two of them didn’t know where the back/front was. On top of that, the line was spilling into Brutus’ area, so it began to seem like we were lining up for Brutus. They eventually did get things organized. While in line, I recognize marklud about 7-10 people behind me in line. We chat for a bit and catch up – always great seeing you! Terri’s line moved extremely slow. I wasn’t too far from the front, but it took me 30 minutes to get to the front of Terri’s line. The line moved slow because of how talkative and friendly she was with everyone. She was also really particular with the photo-ops. Anyone who needed a photo would need to turn the flash on so that the photo looked better. No big deal, or so I thought. Anyways, once I get to the front of the line, I pay for what I need, then meet Terri.

We start off with a handshake and I tell her it is nice to meet her. I then hand her a magazine and a marker to use. She gets really excited to see the magazine cover, and holds it up, saying: “this was the day I only had a scarf to wear!”. She then puts the magazine down and looks at it for a few seconds and asks if I wanted it personalized, which I didn’t. She then says: “when my mom saw this cover, she asked me ‘didn’t you have anything else to wear other than a scarf?!”. I laugh and ask, “what did you say to her?”. Terri replies, “I told my mom that the scarf was the only thing satisfying!” I then tell her “very true!”. As he signs, I take a photo of her signing (like I always do), but on the note about using a flash, it turns out she’s not only particular with photos, but she’s very particular with photos. She asked for my phone so that she could see the picture: “I think I was talking in that one”. She looks at the photo, zooms in, then says “I’ll let you keep that one. I only like nice photos with me smiling.” I’ve done countless meet and greets (as you guys know) and this was the first time there was an issue like this. Terri was not rude or anything though, this was just different. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.



I then open up the encyclopedia and get her to sign the two entries she is in. I tell her: “you were the one I was most excited to meet at this event”, which she thanks me for. When I flipped to her individual entry, I noticed she began writing on Terry Funk’s entry. I was a bit puzzled, but actually wrote “My Favorite Terry!!!” on it, which I thought was unique and cool.



After she signed, we took the photo-op. Once the photo was taken she tells me to check the picture, “make sure you’re happy with what you see!”. The picture was great, and I tell her that and thank her. I also tell her, “enjoy Canada!!” and she replies, “I will!”.

The next and last line I needed to join was Ted DiBiase, who didn’t have many people in line. It took just a couple of minutes to get to the front of Ted DiBiase’s line. I pay the handler for two autographs then shake Ted’s hand and hand over the first figure with a yellow paint marker. I tell him that it is nice to meet him again and he returns the thought. I tell him that I met him at his storytelling show in Toronto a while back, to which he replies, “oh yeah!’.



I then hand over the next figure: the Battle Pack with Andre. Because Andre can’t sign the figure, I had to think of something to fill the Andre’s space so as to not look incomplete. I, therefore, tell Ted: “I have a special request for this one. Because Andre is no longer with us, I was hoping you could sign the set like this: .” Ted was very cool with it. In white, I had him personalize and sign it. Then in blue, I asked him to inscribe: “Money isn’t everything. It’s the only thing”. Ted made it even better by writing the word “only” in all caps, and adding his signature laugh at the end. The M on ‘Money’ did smudge a bit as he is left handed, but I’m not complaining because I think this turned out really well. Once he finished with the inscription, he says, “here you go, buddy!” and smiles. We thank each other to end the meet.



After meeting Ted, I look around at the vendors and didn't see anything too special. I did run into marklud who was letting his stuff dry, and we chatted for a while before I had to leave.

And that’s this year’s comic con! A few hiccups (especially Godfather’s cancellation – I wanted six autographs from him lol), but everything turned out well. Thanks for reading!

Love the report!

Haha when I met Terri at wrestlecon she did the same with me about the photo. It HAD to have the flash! She's awesome. Did she call you "sweety" a million times like she did to me?

Maybe she just wanted some of the ol tennis racket if ya catch my drift 😉