Okay, I had figured I'd wait for the digital images, since they're a higher quality than my cheap scanner will provide, but like a kid at Christmas, I just can't wait, so I fired it up and away we go:
with "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, who was in the main event of the first live show I ever attended. I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5.
And one with my dad, who took me to that show, and had watched Bullet Bob for years before at Southeastern shows.
with Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake. I liked him as a kid, and when Bobby Heenan had to cancel, I still wanted to throw a little business to the vendor who had booked him.
with Chief Jay Strongbow. He's a classic figure in wrestling, and as mentioned above, I wanted to throw a little extra business to the vendor.
with my dad and Les Thatcher, who wrestled and did commentary for the Knoxville territory in the '70s, and later did commentary for Smoky Mountain Wrestling. I believe they said he was celebrating 50 years in the business in one capacity or another.
with my dad (a gravedigger) and Paul Bearer. I was trying not to laugh because Paul had just said, "Please don't drop that damn thing on me." Then he and my dad started talking about vaults and how heavy a particular one is.
with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. I've heard people say he's unfriendly, but I've met him twice now and I've never gotten that impression.
with Harley Race. It's always cool meeting Harley, and even at his age and condition, he still has a presence that commands respect.
with the original Hollywood Blondes (Jerry Brown & Buddy Roberts) and Sir Oliver Humperdink. This was the first time they'd all been together in over 20 years.
with Jake "The Snake" Roberts. I'm happy to say that Jake was sober and was pretty much just like a babyface Jake on TV. So he wasn't overly friendly, but he wasn't rude, and he had that aura about him. I've heard people (including Vince on Beyond the Mat) that they couldn't tell when Jake was working and when he wasn't because they weren't convinced that there was any difference. I got that same feeling.
with "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. Nice enough guy, and seemed to enjoy meeting the fans.
with Kamala, who doesn't really look any different than he did on TV when I was a kid. As often seems to be the case when I meet wrestlers, he seems even larger in person.
with Larry "The Axe" Hennig. A very polite man who told me, "Thanks for remembering."
All the ladies love a Playboy...this is probably one of my favorite photo ops ever. Mae Young is cool.
with the managers - Cornette, Akbar, Pringle/Bearer, and Humperdink. Being a fan of managers and occasionally one myself, I don't think I need to tell you how awesome this was.
with Mickie James. I thought about passing on this one, because I'm not a huge fan. In the end I went with it because it's good for the gimmick and, I'll admit, I knew it would get a reaction when I posted it. Seemed nice enough, and like every woman in wrestling besides Mae Young that I've had a picture with, remarked that I'm tall. She sold a ton of photo ops, as you'd probably expect.
with "Nightmare" Ted Allen. Odds are good that if you're outside the Tennessee/Alabama area, you may not be too familiar with him. Odds are even better that you
are familiar with someone he at least helped train - Arn Anderson. Really down to earth guy, like talking to the guy from the gas station down the street.
with Nikolai Volkoff, who actually sang while signing my stuff. Very cool.
with Rick Martel, who also seemed to be a very nice guy.
with Kamala and General Akbar. Devastation Inc. in business again. I sat with Akbar at the Hall of Heroes, which was very cool.
with Sting. Nice enough guy, but I ended up being one of the last ones in the door, so by the time I got there he wasn't as talkative as he had been earlier.
with The Assassin, Jody Hamilton, and Mr. Wrestling II, Johnny Walker. Assassin seemed like a good enough guy, and II was easy to find all weekend, though he apparently had a mild heart attack at some point and is currently in the hospital. Here's hoping for a quick recovery for a class act.
with the Funks. Dory is pretty quiet and reserved, but pleasant enough. Terry, of course, more than makes up for it. He's the kind who will talk to you all day long if he's got nowhere to be and there's no one moving one of you along. Very nice man, and he'll crack you up.
with the Koloffs. Uncle Ivan is always a pleasure to meet, and though I'd heard some different things about Nikita, he seemed pretty cool here. I did hear that he bailed on the autograph session early with a promise to make it up later, but I've heard conflicting reports as to whether or not he made good.
with The Patriot (Del Wilkes, the original). I've always been a fan of masked wrestlers, and I remember watching the Patriot in the GWF out of Dallas.
with Tito Santana, who also struck me as a very nice man. I always pulled for "Chico" as a kid, so this was pretty cool.
with Tommy Young, in my opinion the greatest referee in the business. Pretty nice guy, too.
with Traci Brooks. This was another "it's good for the gimmick" as well as throwing some business to the vendor who had booked Heenan. And I had the TNA program, so I figured why not. She said, "If you notice, the top of my head's cut off, and so is Velvet's. It's so they could get our boobs in the middle of the page. Seriously, that's why." She said something that made me start to laugh right when the picture was taken, and I wish she hadn't. I actually don't like to fully smile in pictures, I just don't think it looks as good as a smaller one. Anyway, she also remarked on the fact that I'm tall.
Now for a few things I had signed:
8x10 of Billy Robinson suplexing the hell out of somebody. Robinson gave a great acceptance speech at the Hall of Heroes.
AWA program, signed by Billy Robinson. He seemed to kind of like both the picture and the program.
8x10 of Bob Caudle, in my opinion the most underrated announcer in the business.
8x10 of Caudle and Dutch Mantel, the Smoky Mountain Wrestling announce team. Bob pointed at Mantel and said, "That man right there is something else, I tell you." Bob's always one of the nicest guys around.
8x10 of Bruno Sammartino, Bobby Heenan, and Dory Funk Jr. I'd planned to get Bobby to sign it too, but of course that didn't get to happen. Maybe next year.
8x10 of Dan Severn, who was downright cheerful. It just seemed surreal coming from one of the best MMA fighters of the day. Seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.
One of my favorite items of the weekend, the April 1, 1957 issue of Sports Illustrated, signed by Danny Hodge. As far as I know, he's still the only collegiate wrestler to make the cover of SI.
8x10 of the Hollywood Blondes & Sir Oliver Humperdink
8x10 of Jerry Brown.
Another one I'd hoped to get signed by Bobby. I love this pic.
8x10 of Joe Blanchard, former wrestler/announcer/promoter and Tully's father
see above
This one was cool, since it had Percy Pringle and Paul Bearer both represented, and he signed it as both.
8x10 of Rocky Johnson
and an 8x10 of Skandor Akbar.
promo pic of Tommy Seigler, originally purchased by my aunt at a Southeastern show in the '70s. I told him about it, and he told me to tell her hello. Kind of neat.
Most of the guys, I had them sign the WWE Encyclopedia or "The Complete Book of Wrestling" (aka "the big red book") but I also had Terry Funk sign the book "Ten Pounds of Gold," which is about the classic NWA World title belt. I got Flair, Harley, Dusty, and Tommy Rich to sign it last year. With Jack Brisco passing away earlier this year, I now have all the living former champions.
I have replica masks signed by Mr. Wrestling II, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, The Patriot, and "Nightmare" Ted Allen.
I have a large Soviet flag signed by Ivan Koloff and Nikolai Volkoff. I'd planned to have Nikita sign it too, but that autograph session got called off as I was just outside the door.
And for $10, I bought one of Jim Cornette's ring worn ties, which he signed. What can I say, I couldn't help it.
I'll probably post some details of the weekend experience in itself later, but this feels like enough for one post, so I'm going to cut it off here.
