Today was quite a busy day - two events in one report this time.
First, the annual Niagara Falls Comic Con takes place this weekend.
This con typically has a strong wrestling presence and this year was no exception. Jesse Ventura, Bret Hart, Tito Santana, Trish Stratus, Lita, Wendi Richter, Alundra Blayze, and Ric Flair were all scheduled to be at this convention. My plan was to get all of them except for Hart, Santana, and Stratus. Although I do want to meet Hart again, I’ve met him many times before and for cheaper, so I thought it was more worthwhile to use my time and funds elsewhere. I didn’t have anything for Santana to sign having met him before. As for Stratus, I had initially planned to get her here and have her sign the Battle Pack but ended up getting her a few weeks ago. Flair ended up canceling at the last minute. My biggest want overall was Ventura.
The doors were to open at 10 and I get there around 9:10. At around 9:40, the line starts moving. Surprisingly, doors have already opened and people were being let in. By the time I got into the building, it was exactly 10am, which was ahead of schedule which is something I really needed. I go straight to Ventura’s line to see about two dozen people and join it. Bret’s line filled up first and quickly so I was definitely glad I did not plan on meeting him.
It is not until 10:40 that Ventura comes out and starts signing. I had a General Admission ticket which does not grant me any special privileges when it comes to lines. The con offers a Speed Pass which allows you to bypass the line and many of these passholders started coming through so it took a while for us regular folk to get through. At almost 11:30, it is finally my turn to meet Ventura. He is $100 per autograph, $90 for a photo, or $150 for a combo. I was initially planning on getting three autographs and a photo, but with Flair’s cancellation, I decided to get a fourth autograph. I tell the handler what I want and he tells Ventura. First, we exchange pleasantries then he notices my “To Alex” note on my Wrestling Album LP, confirming if wanted it made it to Alex, to which I told him I did. As he signed, I told him that he was the guest I was most looking forward to meeting today, which he thanked me for.
We then moved onto the encyclopedia where he is in three times. The handler noticed my tabs with Jesse’s name on it and helped me flip to the appropriate pages. The first was The Body Shop entry, which he signed twice for some reason. He then signed the East-West Connection entry. This was the entry I decided to get done at the last minute as a result of Flair’s cancellation. This entry is so small and is therefore, not a priority for me and I told myself I would get him to sign it next time I meet him. Given meet and greets with him are so scarce and given Flair’s cancellation, I had him sign it. Lastly, he signed his main entry in the book. After he signed all these, he joked “I should have gotten royalties for this!” because of how many times he’s featured in the book. I joke back saying “you’re getting them today!” because I’m paying him to sign the book.
We then pose for a picture and thank each other again. Ventura was very cool.
After meeting Ventura, I find a spot to make sure my autographs are dry and to put them away. As I was doing so,
ARUN bumps into me and we say a quick hello to each other. Although it was quick, it was great seeing him. At this point my Ventura autographs were put away, and I make my way to Wendi Richter’s line which only had one person. Richter was $50 for an autograph, $40 for a photo-op, or $75 for a combo. It only took a few minutes for me to get to her. We start off with a handshake and ask each other how we are.
Me: “How was it like working with Cyndi Lauper?”
Richter: “Like a dream!”
Richter explained to me that Lauper was her favourite singer at the time and that Girls Just Wanna Have Fun was her favourite song. She didn’t realize Lauper was the voice behind that song so when she worked with her it was like a dream come true. She signs my Network Spotlight figure in white.
We then move on to my encyclopedia. She asks if I want my name on that too, to which I said yes. She also asks if I’m from the area and I told her I’m from Toronto.
Once she signed, I tell her that I actually had plans to see her at the 80’s Wrestling Con in New Jersey but plans fell through. In response, she told me “oh I was so busy there! It seems like nobody knows me here!” I say, “well, I do!”. She then comes out from behind her table and stands beside me for a photo. After the photo was taken, we thank each other and I move on to my next want: Alundra Blayze.
Blayze had a few people in line and it only took about 10 minutes to get to the front of the line. As usual, we start off with a handshake and ask each other how we are. She as charging $50 for autographs but if you had an action figure it was $65. I pay the handler for just the autograph as I didn’t need a photo with her. She signs her elite made out to me in yellow.
Me: “I saw you 5 or 6 years ago in Toronto for Monster Jam”
Blayze: “Oh wasn’t that crazy?”
Me: “It was! Are you still involved with those shows?”
Blayze: “I retired in 2020” and she says something about missing it.
Me: “well, you gotta come back then!”
Blayze: “They haven’t called me! Did you have to wait in a long lines that day for like three hours”
Me: “The only reason I attended that show was to see you. I was probably tenth in line so it wasn’t that bad”
Blayze: “Really?! There’s always these people that stand in line for hours at a time”
Me: “Yeah, I was there specifically to meet you”
She thanked me for these comments and at that point, she had finished signing the figure. I thank her for signing and tell her to enjoy her stay.
Lita was my last want but her area was quite congested has she had a decent line but was also in between Stratus and Hart who also had long lines. I walk around the vendor room to see if there was any merch to be bought but nothing caught my eye. I return the Lita’s line and ask the volunteer as to where the end of the line is. I was told to come back in 30-45 minutes as it’s capped. I come back just 5 minutes later, speak to a different volunteer, and he directs me to the end of the line. The line moved PAINFULLY slow. The speed pass holders kept trickling in which held up the line. It was 12:15 when I joined the line. Lita had a professional photo-op session at 2PM. It was approaching 1:40 and I still wasn’t at the front. She was going to get pulled from her table soon so I was afraid I wasn’t going to get her before she had to leave for her photo-op and would have to wait until she returned. Thankfully, the pace picked up and I was at her table within the next few minutes. She was $60 per autograph.
We shake hands and ask each other how we are. I then ask her to sign my Battle Pack in blue. She sees that Stratus’ autograph is in pink and asks if I want her to look for a pink instead. I tell her blue is fine and as I did, Stratus came to her letting her know that they both need to leave for their pro photo-ops in a couple of minutes. I wanted to say hi to Stratus but didn’t want to interrupt them. I simply smile at Stratus and she initiates the hello. I tell her I was the guy that met her a couple of times outside the television studios a few weeks ago. She looks at the Battle Pack, reads my name that she personalized back then and says “oh yeah, Alex! Nice to see you again! Thanks for bringing all that stuff!” I respond “huge fan!”. She then returns to her own table to sign the last few autographs before leaving. Lita’s attention was now with me and she confirms my marker choice once more.
She then signs a magazine for me. Before she did, we converse a bit.
Me: “It was so cool seeing you win the titles with Becky”
Lita: “Yeah! We gotta win them again for longer so we can actually defend them”
Me: “Whose idea was that?”
Lita: “Oh you know how it goes, we just find out the day of!”
After she signed the magazine, we thank each other and this ends the con for me. It is around 2pm at this point. I needed to get back downtown Toronto for a 6pm indy event. It’s a two-hour drive, so although there was enough time, I think it was a good thing that Flair canceled as that would have made things uncomfortably tight.
After a quick lunch, a stop at the thrift store, and a 20-minute rest break at home. I was back out again. Savio Vega, the Singh Brothers, and Masato Tananka were in Toronto tonight for Greektown Wrestling.
Doors were to open at 6pm and I get there 20 minutes beforehand. Doors open just a minute late and meet and greet ticket holders are let in. As I made my way from the door to the meet and greet area of the venue, I run into the promoter of the show who is also an indy wrestler. We’ve spoken a few times before so he may remember me, but he doesn’t know me by name. I say hi to him and let him know that I was hoping to get some extra autographs. He tells me that he’ll make sure I get what I want and asks me to line up and he’ll see me there.
I am second in line. The staff is doing last minute preparation of the meet and greet tables, as well as providing the markers. The promoter comes sees me again and asks me how many extras I want. I tell him 2 Tanaka and 4 Savio. He tells me they’ll be $20 each and he relays this information to the guy manning the line. Once the meet and greet does start, this guy confirms with me as to how many extras I want and I pay the $120.
The first table was with the Singh Brothers. I first shake their hands and tell them it is nice to meet them again. They are all smiles, very polite, and very appreciative. Typically, you can substitute a personal item in place of the provided 8x10. However, it seems the Singh Brothers weren’t doing that. They asked for a whopping $100 to sign my Battle Pack. I almost denied; however, indy shows are typically where autograph rates are cheaper. I was already there and I really wanted it signed, so I bit the bullet. I must say that they did a decent job at filling up the space on the battle pack. I tell them that I saw them at Summerslam 2019, and then before that, I saw them wrestle at TigerFest (which is a show put on by Tiger Jeet and Tiger Ali Singh). They were both very surprised at that and said “that must have been a long time ago!”. I say that it was about 10 years ago. They thank me for the support and tell me that they cannot do this without supportive fans like me, and that they look forward to seeing me out in the audience later tonight.
After they signed, we took a photo and they commented on the Battle Pack, saying that they sold out really quick. I say “oh yeah, I know.. I had to pay up a bit for this one online!”. I then move onto the next table which has Masato Tanaka.
Tanaka and I start off with a handshake and it seemed like there was somewhat of a language barrier so I didn’t speak much. I pull out my ECW title and a big smile forms on his face. He signs where I ask.
I then have him switch markers and ask him to sign a couple of ECW DVD covers.
Once he signed, we pose for the photo and thank each other. I find a spot to gather my stuff before moving on to Savio. Their social media guy and their commentator were helping me out by carefully moving my things and even offering to watch over it while I met Savio.
When I was ready for Savio, I walk up to his table, shake his hand and tell him it is nice to meet him. He returns the thought. I tell him that I paid for five autographs (i.e., one autograph included in my ticket, plus the four extra I paid). The social media guy tells Savio that I indeed paid for all that. They both then ask me if I want an 8x10. I tell them that I want four autographs in my book, and then an autograph on my figure, which makes up the five in total. Savio signed an 8x10 for me anyway, telling me it wouldn’t be extra. After he signed the 8x10, he signed a figure for me in blue.
I tell him, “it was so cool seeing you at Backlash! Were you surprised to get that call?”. He thanks me and says he was indeed surprised. I have him sign all four entries in the encyclopedia.
We then pose for a picture to end the meet and greet. I return to my pile of stuff and put everything away, thinking that this day went very well. I spoke too soon. To exit the meet and greet area, you needed to return to the front of the meet and greet line as that’s where the stairs that lead to the main seating area are. As I do that, the guy manning the line says to me “I saw what you did. That’s BS” and told me to never do that again. Confused, I asked him to clarify. He says that I should know what he’s talking about. He tells me he was watching me meet Savio and that I got 8 headshots signed. What?! He was accusing me of getting 8 Savio autographs and not paying for all 8. I told him that it wasn’t true and I tried to explain what I got signed but he wasn’t having it. He tells me “that’s f’n BS. This is how the wrestlers make their money. It’s an honest system. I know what I saw”. I tried to explain myself further but he cut me off and repeated his statement, and gestured for me to leave the meet and greet area. This was happening all in front of the fans still in line and the Singh Brothers. I do leave the meet and greet area, then find the promoter who is at his merch table to let him know what happened.
As I approach the table, before I even say anything, he smiles when he sees me and asks if I was able to get everything I wanted. I tell him that I did, but then explain the situation above. He wanted to know who it was so he could address it. He then asked me if I got what I paid for, and tell him that I got everything I wanted, but it’s just his guy that thinks I’m trying to pull a fast one. I wanted to talk to the promoter myself before he heard it from the guy manning the line because I can imagine his guy telling him about this and I wanted to make sure my voice was heard. I explained this and told him that the last thing I want to do is get on his bad side. He told me that I’m far from it. I tell him that I couldn’t even get 8 autographs from Savio even if I wanted to because I didn’t even have 8 items for him to sign. He understood and wanted to make sure my night wasn’t ruined and even offered me a drink. I told him that it’s all good and that I just wanted to make sure he and I are okay, especially if he were to hear this from his staff. He thanked me for letting him know. The promoter is always so friendly but the guy manning the line was quite unprofessional. I call it a day at this point.
Overall, it was a very successful day with many fresh names. Thanks for reading!
