Post by Snitsky on Dec 12, 2008 0:22:25 GMT -5
Dear Batista,
I used to consider myself a fan of you. I have been a 20-year tenaciously loyal fan of the WWE. I can say that without question, the WWE is one of the biggest passions in my life. I have attended over 25 live events in Buffalo, Toronto, Philadelphia and Rochester, purchased countless WWE DVD’s and box-sets (many on their release date), video games, memorabilia, clothing, and roughly $7000 dollars on pay-per-view events. I will never call myself a fan of yours again. Let's start at the beginning.
Prior to the main event, Armageddon featured a mid-card bout between You and Randy Orton. Me an avid fan of you lead my friends in a raucous chorus of victorious cheers to your entrance. We even dared to direct a naughty hand gesture to show you we cared (The same that mega-star Stone Cold Steve Austin used on television for years). Batista you made eye contact with me and my friends, and got right in our faces before ascending the ring apron. Due to the quality of our seats, this was clearly visible to fans at home as well as in the arena. I then received a signal from one of the cameramen working outside the ring. This WWE employee made the “slit the throat” gesture at me which universally means “cut it out”. I nodded in fear, and decided that he had expressed himself enough. Minutes later, approximately 8 imposing looking men dressed in gray suits asked if they could speak with me in the aisle .
I obliged and was then walked out of the arena, concluding in the gray suits tearing his ticket up in front of him. The explanation I was given was “Batista hated that the overwelming by the display of love was making him feel all warm and fuzzy inside and he felt he couldnt perform to the best of his ability had i continued being at ringside”. I had to spend the rest of the event outside in the freezing rain waiting for my friends who were still inside to drive me home. In the past, WWE has encouraged their fans to express themselves. Vince McMahon has encouraged fans to bring signs to their support, or anti-support of his performers. This leads to the question; why was I removed? I was not involved in an altercation with anyone performing at or attending the event. I was only intoxicated with the love i have for you,Batista.
Over time I've met quite a few wrestlers. You can click on the link at the end of my letter to look at my photo galleries and see all the wrestlers who have appreciated my respect for them and my willingness to be grateful for what they give to me. My only hope is that you Batista take a step back and think about how you treat other people. To my knowledge this is the first time I've heard of you not being nice to fans. I can only hope it will be the last. I can however tell you it will be the last time you are not nice to me. If I see you again, I won't give you the opportunity.
To the wrestling fans out there who are reading this and have a
different opinion of Batista, please share those stories. It could have just been a bad day for Batista and he decided to take it out on some unsuspecting fans. Or maybe not. We'll never know. But I have to believe that somewhere deep down inside that a decent human being exists inside of the people I watch on TV every week and love to meet in person...including Batista. And to Batista, I look forward to hearing what you might have to say about this incident. Maybe I am wrong. But if being respectful is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Tom Griffith
I used to consider myself a fan of you. I have been a 20-year tenaciously loyal fan of the WWE. I can say that without question, the WWE is one of the biggest passions in my life. I have attended over 25 live events in Buffalo, Toronto, Philadelphia and Rochester, purchased countless WWE DVD’s and box-sets (many on their release date), video games, memorabilia, clothing, and roughly $7000 dollars on pay-per-view events. I will never call myself a fan of yours again. Let's start at the beginning.
Prior to the main event, Armageddon featured a mid-card bout between You and Randy Orton. Me an avid fan of you lead my friends in a raucous chorus of victorious cheers to your entrance. We even dared to direct a naughty hand gesture to show you we cared (The same that mega-star Stone Cold Steve Austin used on television for years). Batista you made eye contact with me and my friends, and got right in our faces before ascending the ring apron. Due to the quality of our seats, this was clearly visible to fans at home as well as in the arena. I then received a signal from one of the cameramen working outside the ring. This WWE employee made the “slit the throat” gesture at me which universally means “cut it out”. I nodded in fear, and decided that he had expressed himself enough. Minutes later, approximately 8 imposing looking men dressed in gray suits asked if they could speak with me in the aisle .
I obliged and was then walked out of the arena, concluding in the gray suits tearing his ticket up in front of him. The explanation I was given was “Batista hated that the overwelming by the display of love was making him feel all warm and fuzzy inside and he felt he couldnt perform to the best of his ability had i continued being at ringside”. I had to spend the rest of the event outside in the freezing rain waiting for my friends who were still inside to drive me home. In the past, WWE has encouraged their fans to express themselves. Vince McMahon has encouraged fans to bring signs to their support, or anti-support of his performers. This leads to the question; why was I removed? I was not involved in an altercation with anyone performing at or attending the event. I was only intoxicated with the love i have for you,Batista.
Over time I've met quite a few wrestlers. You can click on the link at the end of my letter to look at my photo galleries and see all the wrestlers who have appreciated my respect for them and my willingness to be grateful for what they give to me. My only hope is that you Batista take a step back and think about how you treat other people. To my knowledge this is the first time I've heard of you not being nice to fans. I can only hope it will be the last. I can however tell you it will be the last time you are not nice to me. If I see you again, I won't give you the opportunity.
To the wrestling fans out there who are reading this and have a
different opinion of Batista, please share those stories. It could have just been a bad day for Batista and he decided to take it out on some unsuspecting fans. Or maybe not. We'll never know. But I have to believe that somewhere deep down inside that a decent human being exists inside of the people I watch on TV every week and love to meet in person...including Batista. And to Batista, I look forward to hearing what you might have to say about this incident. Maybe I am wrong. But if being respectful is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Tom Griffith
Dear CM Punk,
I used to consider myself a fan of you. Granted I had not seen a lot of
your ROH work, but that's mostly because I haven't seen much ROH at
all. But I had seen enough to know who you were during John Cena's
Wrestlemania gangster entrance. And when you finally made it to
television, I instantly became a fan. I was surprised, most pleasantly,
when you cashed in Money In The Bank and won the title. But over the
course of the last evening, I will never call myself a fan of yours
again. Let's start at the beginning.
I was at the airport this morning to try and meet some WWE wrestlers as
they flew out of Philadelphia after last night's 3 hour Raw. I had not
seen Raw, but from the way you were limping I knew you were injured. I
had told the other people around me that I saw you, and that I thought
you were injured. You saw me standing there with my camera and you shot
me quite a nasty look. I should have known how things were going to go
from that moment on, but yet I still believed that you would want to
talk to your fans. I have learned from numerous times doing this, that
as long as you are respectful to the wrestlers then they will most
likely be very cordial to you as a fan. So we all stood by and waited
until you were done checking in and doing what you needed to do before
we even approached you. Many wrestlers before and after you have
appreciated that common courtesy. Upon seeing you walk by us, one of
the people in my group asked if you would mind signing an autograph.
This was a common request we had made of wrestlers, instead of just
sticking something in front of their faces and expecting them to sign.
We were greeted by a barrage of comments, belittling us as fans. These
comments included such statements as "how about a how are you doing
punk?" I don't know you personally, and quite honestly had no intention
of asking how you were doing after the nasty look you shot at me, all at
the mere sight of me standing on the side politely waiting to approach
you. Then of course we got "maybe you should try saying please and
thank you instead of just shoving things in front of my face". Well I
think I already explained that we certainly didn't just shove something
in your face. As far as thank you goes, I challenge you to provide one
example of me not thanking a wrestler immensely for taking a picture or
giving me an autograph. You won't be able to do it because it simply
hasn't happened. I am more than overly appreciative of anything I get
from a wrestler, and I make sure that he or she knows it. Before
walking away from us, you stunned all of us by saying "I want to kill
half you guys". Self explanatory how that comment was uncalled for. As
you walked away, I politely asked you if you had time for a photo,
another common request I made towards wrestlers who never seemed to deem
it rude. "I'm not taking any pictures" was all the response we received
as got on the escalator.
I find interesting how after all of this you made it a point to say that
we were some how being rude to you. Seems to me like the other way
around. It's funny that you should mention saying please and thank
you. I've never once heard a wrestler ask me to please come to a show,
or to please buy a pay per view. It's just expected as a fan that I do
these things. But I don't complain. I pay the $70 to watch
Wrestlemania in HD. I pay the $250 to go to Wrestlemania XX in New
York. I certainly don't hold a grudge against any wrestlers for not
thanking me. The fans put you where you are today, and I think
someti mes you lose sight of that. You're title run was a disaster, so
it's obvious you didn't get there all by yourself. You became what you
are because of the support of your fans. And don't forget that those
fans can also take that away from you as well. Don't be rude to us
because you're injured, or you don't feel like talking to a fan. Do you
have any idea how far the approximate 20-25 seconds it would have taken
to take pictures with us would have gone towards your fans? Obviously
not. You weren't the only wrestler I met this morning. I met a few
others, all of whom were greeted and had their autographs and pictures
requested in the same way we did to you. The only difference is, they
were as cordial to us as we were to them.
Over time I've met quite a few wrestlers. You can click on the link at
the end of my letter to look at my photo galleries and see all the
wrestlers who have appreciated my respect for them and my willingness to
be grateful for what they give to me. My only hope is that you CM Punk,
take a step back and think about how you treat other people. To my
knowledge this is the first time I've heard of you not being nice to
fans. I can only hope it will be the last. I can however tell you it
will be the last time you are not nice to me. If I see you again, I
won't give you the opportunity.
To the wrestling fans out there who are reading this and have a
different opinion of CM Punk, please share those stories. It could have
just been a bad day for Punk and he decided to take it out on some
unsuspecting fans. Or maybe not. We'll never know. But I have to
believe that somewhere deep down inside that a decent human being exists
inside of the people I watch on TV every week and love to meet in
person...including CM Punk. And to CM Punk, I look forward to hearing
what you might have to say about this incident. Maybe I am wrong. But
if being respectful is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Ralph Hindmarch
rhindmarch@gmail.com
ralphhindmarch.myphotoalbum.com
www.czwfans.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=28158&highlight=punk
I used to consider myself a fan of you. Granted I had not seen a lot of
your ROH work, but that's mostly because I haven't seen much ROH at
all. But I had seen enough to know who you were during John Cena's
Wrestlemania gangster entrance. And when you finally made it to
television, I instantly became a fan. I was surprised, most pleasantly,
when you cashed in Money In The Bank and won the title. But over the
course of the last evening, I will never call myself a fan of yours
again. Let's start at the beginning.
I was at the airport this morning to try and meet some WWE wrestlers as
they flew out of Philadelphia after last night's 3 hour Raw. I had not
seen Raw, but from the way you were limping I knew you were injured. I
had told the other people around me that I saw you, and that I thought
you were injured. You saw me standing there with my camera and you shot
me quite a nasty look. I should have known how things were going to go
from that moment on, but yet I still believed that you would want to
talk to your fans. I have learned from numerous times doing this, that
as long as you are respectful to the wrestlers then they will most
likely be very cordial to you as a fan. So we all stood by and waited
until you were done checking in and doing what you needed to do before
we even approached you. Many wrestlers before and after you have
appreciated that common courtesy. Upon seeing you walk by us, one of
the people in my group asked if you would mind signing an autograph.
This was a common request we had made of wrestlers, instead of just
sticking something in front of their faces and expecting them to sign.
We were greeted by a barrage of comments, belittling us as fans. These
comments included such statements as "how about a how are you doing
punk?" I don't know you personally, and quite honestly had no intention
of asking how you were doing after the nasty look you shot at me, all at
the mere sight of me standing on the side politely waiting to approach
you. Then of course we got "maybe you should try saying please and
thank you instead of just shoving things in front of my face". Well I
think I already explained that we certainly didn't just shove something
in your face. As far as thank you goes, I challenge you to provide one
example of me not thanking a wrestler immensely for taking a picture or
giving me an autograph. You won't be able to do it because it simply
hasn't happened. I am more than overly appreciative of anything I get
from a wrestler, and I make sure that he or she knows it. Before
walking away from us, you stunned all of us by saying "I want to kill
half you guys". Self explanatory how that comment was uncalled for. As
you walked away, I politely asked you if you had time for a photo,
another common request I made towards wrestlers who never seemed to deem
it rude. "I'm not taking any pictures" was all the response we received
as got on the escalator.
I find interesting how after all of this you made it a point to say that
we were some how being rude to you. Seems to me like the other way
around. It's funny that you should mention saying please and thank
you. I've never once heard a wrestler ask me to please come to a show,
or to please buy a pay per view. It's just expected as a fan that I do
these things. But I don't complain. I pay the $70 to watch
Wrestlemania in HD. I pay the $250 to go to Wrestlemania XX in New
York. I certainly don't hold a grudge against any wrestlers for not
thanking me. The fans put you where you are today, and I think
someti mes you lose sight of that. You're title run was a disaster, so
it's obvious you didn't get there all by yourself. You became what you
are because of the support of your fans. And don't forget that those
fans can also take that away from you as well. Don't be rude to us
because you're injured, or you don't feel like talking to a fan. Do you
have any idea how far the approximate 20-25 seconds it would have taken
to take pictures with us would have gone towards your fans? Obviously
not. You weren't the only wrestler I met this morning. I met a few
others, all of whom were greeted and had their autographs and pictures
requested in the same way we did to you. The only difference is, they
were as cordial to us as we were to them.
Over time I've met quite a few wrestlers. You can click on the link at
the end of my letter to look at my photo galleries and see all the
wrestlers who have appreciated my respect for them and my willingness to
be grateful for what they give to me. My only hope is that you CM Punk,
take a step back and think about how you treat other people. To my
knowledge this is the first time I've heard of you not being nice to
fans. I can only hope it will be the last. I can however tell you it
will be the last time you are not nice to me. If I see you again, I
won't give you the opportunity.
To the wrestling fans out there who are reading this and have a
different opinion of CM Punk, please share those stories. It could have
just been a bad day for Punk and he decided to take it out on some
unsuspecting fans. Or maybe not. We'll never know. But I have to
believe that somewhere deep down inside that a decent human being exists
inside of the people I watch on TV every week and love to meet in
person...including CM Punk. And to CM Punk, I look forward to hearing
what you might have to say about this incident. Maybe I am wrong. But
if being respectful is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Ralph Hindmarch
rhindmarch@gmail.com
ralphhindmarch.myphotoalbum.com
www.czwfans.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=28158&highlight=punk