Two reports in one post tonight.
James Storm - Oct. 8, 2021First, James Storm was in Toronto on Friday night for the international premiere of his movie The Reenactment at the Toronto Indie Horror Fest.
Tickets to attend were $10 and once I heard that James Storm would be attending the screening, I jumped at the opportunity as I had a magazine with him on the cover that I wanted signed. The venue was Eyesore Cinema, which is a horror DVD rental store (I honestly didn’t realize DVD rentals were still a thing) which had a small “theatre” in the back. I have “theatre” in quotes because all it is is a really small room with a projector. I arrive there around 8:30 hoping that Storm would be there already. I honestly do not care too much for movies (I usually fall asleep in them), so I was hoping I would get him to sign my stuff and then leave. However, he was not there yet. We are let in about 15 minutes before 9 and I find a seat in the very back row. I chose to sit in the back row such that I could see when Storm arrives and where he sits. About 20-25 people was at the screening in total. A third of those people were involved in the movie itself as well as the short the was presented before the movie.
A minute before 9, Storm arrives along with two of the directors of his movie. Storm walks in, laughs and says “better late than never”. The trio order their popcorn and soda. The popcorn was still being popped so they sat down as they waited. They looked around the room to find a good spot to sit and ended up choosing to sit in the row I was in. Storm entered my row first, noticed my Impact Wrestling shirt, and greeted me by asking how I am. I told him that I was doing good and returned the question to him. He sits down with a two-seat gap between us to reserve the spots for the directors. I continue “I have a magazine with you on the cover. I would appreciate it if you could sign it after the movie. I’m a huge fan”. He said yeah and that it would be no problem. Although I wanted to get him to sign my stuff then leave, the fact that he and the directors were sitting right next to me led me to not ask him to sign yet. This is because I felt that if I got my stuff signed and then left right away, it would have been rude given that they’re literally sitting right beside me.
Anyways, The popcorn finishes popping and Storm gets back up to get his popcorn. He returns to his seat and sits down kinda abruptly to the point where some of his popcorn fell out of his bag. His directors start laughing at him while Storm jokes “you’re the worst best friend I ever had”. Storm clearly was in a good mood. A few minutes later, he gets back up and asks the popcorn guy as to if there is an outlet anywhere such that he could use to charge his phone. There is an outlet behind my seat which the popcorn guys alludes to, and Storm jokes with me: “you’ve been keeping this for yourself?!”. I laugh and joke back, saying I was hiding it from him. He plugs in his phone and then rests it on the empty seat next to my right. He asks if I can cover his phone with my bag such that if the phone goes off, it won’t cause a distraction.
Around 9:30, the screening actually starts. First, Storm and the directors are called up to the front and talk a bit about the movie. They thank everyone for coming out and Storm shares a story. He talks about a scene where he had to throw someone through drywall. He told the production crew to make sure to score the walls such that its easier to break so it won’t hurt as much. During the filming, he apparently whispered to the guy he was going to throw through the wall “this is only going to hurt a little”. The guy was supposedly terrified. There were a few other scenes that contained violence and because of Storm’s wrestling background, he was able to make his scenes look so realistic to the point where the directors would yell “cut” to ask if the person Storm was fighting is okay. Storm would say “yes he’s okay! I’ve been on TV for 23 years pretending to hurt people! I was made for this!”. He laughed and said that he had a good time doing the movie.
The movie starts and it was good for what it was. Again, I’m not a big movie guy. The crowd seemed to love it as once the movie ended, people were complimenting the directors as they were leaving. Once the movie ended, I got my markers out as well as the items I wanted signed. Without having to ask, Storm comes to me and I hand Storm a blue paint marker, which he gladly takes and signs a magazine for me. As he signed the magazine, I told him “I met you at a TNA show here about ten years ago”. As I said that, he paused to stop signing so as to give me eye contact while I was talking. I continue “I had to be around 14 at the time so its nice to be able to meet you again.” He says “well, thank you for making me feel old” and laughs. I then have him sign an 8x10 I had previously printed out. Since there is no WWE-related Storm merch, I printed out a photo from his NXT run that lasted a few seconds. As he signed I said “I was surprised you didn’t sign with WWE at the time”. He replies “yeah, I had family stuff going on.. family always comes first, especially before this wrestling stuff”. I agree with him and thank him for signing the two items.
I have him switch to a regular blue sharpie and have him sign a program. As he signs I ask how long he’ll be in the city for. He tells me that he’ll be here until Sunday and that I reply by saying I hope he has a good time while he is here.
After, we take a photo together. Storm takes his mask off briefly for the photo, so I do as well. Once we take the photo, I thank Storm for this and that I appreciated it. He thanks me as well and I call it a night. Storm was very friendly.
Bushwhacker Luke - Oct. 9, 2021On Saturday, Bushwhacker Luke appeared in Woodbridge, ON at a Thanksgiving event.
This weekend is Canada’s Thanksgiving and an organization was giving out free turkeys. They had Bushwhacker Luke as part of this and a few days before the signing, I reach out to the organizer and ask if there is a cost to meet Luke. The reply I get was that there is no cost. A free signing sounds a little too good to be true. I speak with
josecalderon and learn that he received the same information as well. I doubted the validity of the information but prepared for the signing with the assumption that the information was accurate. As you will see, I’m definitely glad I did that.
Luke was supposed to be signing between noon and 2pm. Not wanting to wait in any lines, I planned to get there around 12:30. I was running late and ended up getting there at around 1:30. There were a bunch of people there, but it was more for the Thanksgiving festivities rather than to meet Luke. He was standing under a tent to protect himself from the rain. There was one fan there getting autographs so I waited a few minutes before I could meet him.
I approach Luke, shake his hand, and tell him it is nice to meet him again. Luke replies “oh yeah, you were just here”. I wasn’t, so I told him that and so did one of the organizers. I reply “that wasn’t me, but I did meet you years ago at the El Mocambo”. He said “oh I remember that event”. I tell him I’m a big fan and pull my stuff out.
I start with the Mattel Battle Pack. My intention was for him to sign over himself, and then inscribe “WWE Hall of Fame 2015” over Butch. I wanted him to do that because I thought I might not ever get Butch and so I would want the set to look complete. I figured that if Butch does end up doing an appearance, I could easily remove the inscription. He tells me: “This is actually Butch’s side [telling me that I got them mixed up in the set, even though I don’t think I did] and he’s coming here, so I don’t want to sign over him”. I say “he’s coming? I didn’t know”. He replies that Butch will be coming but is not sure when. He then signs the Battle Pack. Although I believe Luke is on the left side, he believed otherwise and signed the right side. I think he signed it incorrectly, but whatever, Luke was realy cool and asked what colour I wanted because I had a blue and a yellow on me. As he signed, he did inscribe WWE HOF 2015 and mentioned to me that he’s got the ring on right now.
Once he signed that, I pull out a cardboard sheet with four trading cards and a flattened VHS tape cover/sleeve. I ask him to sign using my blue paint marker, which he does. As he signs, one of the organizers ask how i found the event. I tell him that I found this through Instagram.
I then tell Luke “thank you for doing this”, and Luke jokes “you got me at the right time because I’m doing this for free. Down the road, autographs are extra”. I tell him “well whenever you do come back down the road, I’ll be sure to meet you again”.
He then talks more about the show at El Mocambo. He talks about how different the value is now and asks “did you know that Chris Mysterion runs those shows”. I tell him that I do, and then turns around, points to a guy, and says “that’s his uncle”. The uncle replies “I do not claim nor deny that” and laughs. Luke then signs a book with him on the cover.
I then pull out another sheet of cardboard, this time with an 8x10 on it. I figured that I have a bunch of Bushwhackers autograph and that it would be nice to at least get a Sheepherders autograph. I got this photo printed along with that Storm photo in the previous report. He sees the picture and he says “ah, the Sheepherders. He tells me ‘did you know were were inducted into the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2020 as the Sheepherders?’” I did not, but I pretended like I did. Also on that sheet of cardboard was another trading card that would not fit on the other sheet. He says “Bushwhackers on this one!” then signs.
Lastly, I had him sign two photo-ops with him from our previous encounters. He takes a few seconds to look at them. I point to the one at the El Mocambo and tell him that’s where that was from. I then point to the second photo and tell him that that was at another indy show he did east of Toronto.
Then, we pose for a photo. I kept my mask on for the photo but then I realized that since we’re outside, I ask if I can take it off. Luke was cool about it and said that he was tested and will be tested again when he gets back. After the photo is taken, I thank Luke and the organizers before calling it a day. Really smooth and easy signing. Luke was great to meet.
Thanks for reading! Three signings in since the pandemic and all three have been solid (and very cost-friendly!). Let's hope this trend continues.
I dont know good luck 
