Cesaro, Rusev, and Ember Moon are in London, ON this weekend for the London Comic Con.
This comic con was just slightly over two hours away from Toronto. Given I am huge fans of all three, and have figures of Cesaro and Rusev to get signed, I decided to make the trip. I initially didn’t have the Ember Moon figure I had her sign, but I did pick it up in preparation for the trip to make it more worthwhile.
With convention doors slated to open at 10am, I arrive at just before 9:30am to see a line of only about 30 people. I honestly expected a lot more people, so seeing this short line was a relief (because I really needed to use the washroom lol). At regular intervals, volunteers would check for VIP ticket holders (I was GA) since VIPs get early admission. Security also checked bags and cosplay weapons as people joined the line. This convention seemed really efficient as right at 10am, the doors opened. The door lady scans my ticket, I head to the washroom, then make my way to the second floor where the celebrities were signing.
The trio were seated in the same area. To my surprise, there were only about a dozen people in total gathered around the wrestlers, with a few fans at each guest table. My biggest want was Cesaro/Claudio because I had three figures for him to sign, and I needed a photo with him. Because of this, I went to join his line first. It only takes a few minutes for me to get up to the front of his line. I ask the handler if it would be possible to do a combo that consisted of two autographs. The handler turns to Claudio and asks if he’s okay with that. He happily says “sure!”, then I ask for two combos, consisting of three autographs and the photo-op.
We shake hands and I tell him it is nice to meet him again. He returns the thought to me. I first hand him a white paint pen to sign two figures with. He says, “ah you brought your own markers!”. I reply: “yes, and I also heard you asking how to spell names. Well, I have that ready too!” and point to the sticky notes. He signs my first two figures in white as requested. After signing the first one, he turns to Ember saying that these markers work really well, unlike her’s. Ember had her own paint pens that didn’t turn out so well on one of her photos. Ember says “it’s because of the type of print (i.e., type of paper)”. After making that excuse, Claudio looks at me and rolls his eyes, to which I laugh at. They were joking with each other back and forth regarding the marker situation, especially given that my markers were the same brand as hers. Ember concludes “I need to find a sharpie expert!”
I then have him sign another figure in yellow. As he signs this one, I tell him that I’m glad he’s here because the last time I met him, we took a photo together that didn’t turn out so well. He replies “oh no! Let’s make sure we get a good one today!”. I then ask him if he’s going to be at the AEW shows in Toronto next month, which he told me that he plans on being there. After he finished signing this one, he told me “I signed the first two as ‘Claudio’ and this one as ‘Cesaro’. I hope that’s okay”. On my sticky note, I wrote “Cesaro” hoping that he would use that name on all three, but since the ‘Claudio’ isn’t too legible anyway, I was okay with it and tell him as such. I give my phone to a volunteer to take the photo for us.
Once the photo is taken, Claudio asks me to check the photo to make sure it turned out well, which it did. We then shake hands and I thank him. He replies “thank you Alex! See you at the show next month!”. Claudio was awesome just like the first time I met him. I then went off to the side to let these dry before going for Rusev.
Rusev was my second biggest want because I had two figures for him to sign. I was in the vicinity of the wrestlers as I was letting my Claudio signatures dry. While letting them dry, I pull out the Rusev figures and get my markers ready. Once the Claudio signatures are dry enough to put in my bag, I do so, then approach Rusev. I believe he saw me prep my Rusev figures because I hadn’t yet approached his table yet and I got the vibe he knew I wanted to meet him.
We first shake hands and I tell him it is nice to meet him again. He returns the thought and I ask for a combo consisting of two autographs. He said he doesn’t mind it but he’s not the one that’s counting, so he asks his handler. The handler was cool with it and Rusev says “we’ll take care of you!”. He also asks what name I want on the figures (i.e., Rusev or Miro), to which I tell him I’d like Rusev. I first have him sign a basic figure in blue and we chat as he signed. These quotes aren’t verbatim as they usually are because of how much we talked:
Me: “I met you several years ago at the Real Sports store in the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto! It was a long line up but well worth it”
Rusev: “Oh I remember that! It was the Team store, right?”
Me: “yeah!”
Rusev: “yeah they gave me a jersey after that”
Me: “I hope they didn’t charge you for that”
Rusev: “they took care of me! What did I sign for you that day?”
Me: “more figures! I collect all this stuff”
Rusev: “How many do you have?”
Me: “Too many”
Rusev, laughing: “is there such a thing as ‘too many’”?
Me: “When people see pictures of my collection, they think it’s a store”
Rusev laughs some more.
I then have him sign the Fan Central basic in orange. As he does, he looks at the attire and says “this was a good time” and then he asks me what the accessory it came with was. I explain that it was a belt that you would put around your wrist.
Once he signed that, I pull up my instagram and show him my posts.
Me: “I pour so much time and money into this hobby”
Rusev: “but you enjoy it though, right?”
Me: “I do!”
We finally find the picture of my collection from years ago.
Me: “This picture is really outdated but this is how it was a several years ago”
Rusev, impressed: “how does it compare to Cardona’s?”
Me: “Well… I don’t have the same connections as he does”
Rusev, laughing: “I recently got into Storm Collectibles. I bought one, then another, then another”
Me: “it’s a slippery slope!”
Rusev: “I know. Next thing you know, I have a bunch”
Me: “are you going to me at the AEW Toronto shows next month?”
Rusev: “yeah! Are you? Both nights?”
Me: “yeah! Dynamite sold out FAST”
Rusev: “really?”
Me: “yeah, it’s Toronto so I guess that was expected”
Rusev: “Yeah I often go to Toronto. I was there recently with Lana for the film festival”
Me: “oh yeah, I saw that on your Instagram. How is she? Is she here with you again?”
Rusev: “She’s good! She couldn’t come because she has to shoot a commercial in LA. She might be with me next month though!”
Rusev, going back to my collection: “do you collect the old stuff too?”
Me: “I do! I love the old stuff. I didn’t grow up with the old stuff so I don’t have the same nostalgic feeling as other people do with it like my brother, but I love collecting the LJNs and Hasbros.”
Rusev: “oh awesome, it creates a bond with your brother”
Me: “yeah sometimes it’s hard because of the age gap”
Rusev: “how big is the gap?”
Me: “almost 20 years”
Rusev: “oh wow, but at least you have wrestling to bring you guys together!”
Me: “yeah, it’s great! Anyways, Rusev, thank you so much for your time!” I decide to cut the conversation there because there were a few people waiting behind me.
We shake hands and he thanks me as well. Rusev was very very awesome.
With how lengthy the conversation was, my autographs were already dry, but I pause to ensure that they indeed are. Upon confirming this, I put them in my bag and take out the Ember Moon figure. I walk up to her table, and pay the handler for an autograph. I tell her it is nice to meet her again and remind her about Summerslam weekend in Toronto, to which she says “Nice to meet you again!” She asks what colour I would like her to sign in. I forgot to take out my white marker, which I do so upon realizing. She test the markers and presses the tip on a piece of paper. This marker was already super primed, so the tip had more paint than necessary and if used, would show up as a blotch when signing with it. Thankfully she noticed before she signed and made sure to remove the excess paint from the tip.
Once she signed that, we thank each other to end the meet and greet.
And just like that, I got all of my wants needed and in record time. Based on the time stamps on the pictures, this took only 12 minutes. Much shorter than I expected, but I’m not complaining. All three were super friendly and so were the volunteers at this con. Great experience overall.
Thanks for reading!