People with bad reps that you met and were nice?

[James Fabiano]

I forget if we did a thread about wrestlers who are legends/have good reputations but acted like jerks. Maybe it was on another board. Anyway, here's the opposite.

Mine would be Bill DeMott. I know about Those Stories (think some telling them are hypocrites, but been there done that), but he was civil and friendly the times I met him at conventions.

Jimmy Snuka was quiet but don't remember having problems at meet and greets with him.

[Deleted]

New Jack,Sunny and Austin Aries.

[mrpeacock]

Low Ki was super nice to me when I met him as a kid. Couldn’t have been a cooler dude in like 02/03.

[Spider2024]

Virgil. Met him in '02. He actually didn't try to nickel-and-dime me out of any of the cash in my pockets.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

I met TWERKIN' MAGGLE one time and we had a meaningful interaction where he didn't just post a gif or quote Invader Zim. Was great.

[thetower52]

New jack was super friendly.
Cm punk was nice

[floundertime]

Chris Benoit was nice to me when I met him

[Deleted]

I met Punk a few times and he’s always been a nice guy.

Batista was cool when I met him also.

[CMPunkyBrewster]

Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell are probably the 2 biggest for me.

I believe I've told the story on here before I think, so to summarize:

I was booked on the same show as these guys, had met Buff briefly before I had gotten into the business, had never met Scott.

Buff got there, we exchanged pleasantries, I directed him to the bookers "office". Scott walked in a few minutes later looking like a brick wall made of pissed off muscles. He introduced himself, talked a few minutes, he asked me about some things around town and about the show (I was local), then invited me to dress with him and Buff, which I agreed to in a flabbergasted daze.

I dressed and hung with him and Buff all night, soaked up every bit of knowledge I could, and was treated as a peer by 2 guys who had absolutely no need or reason to do it.

No matter what I hear about them otherwise, Scott and Buff will always be great guys in my book based off of how they treated a 20 year old scrub like myself that night.

Side note: This is also the night I met Jeff Hardy for the first time, and he could not be a cooler, more humble, more down-to-Earth person. This meeting is what led to me being invited along for a party at Matt's house a couple months later, but that is a whole other story...

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

I mean, some of these people have bad reputations for things unrelated to whether or not they're nice to fans face-to-face.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Beefcake. He was polite but not friendly. Didn’t try and sell me a fake Hogan autograph, so good for him.

[AwamoriRock]

Yoshiko, although my hot take is that her rep is largely exaggerated because people just made shit up. I completely understand why every other company takes her side and her popularity.

[Mozenrath]

Austin Aries and Brian Lawler were both pretty friendly in replying to emails to me, though the former was Austin Starr at the time and being semi in character.

Konnan was also fine, but very to the point. I asked him if he really taught Bret the sharpshooter, and said "yup lol". Which, answered my question, so I can't really fault him.

[jason1980s]

Jan 13, 2020 15:50:28 GMT -5 CMPunkyBrewster said:

Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell are probably the 2 biggest for me.

Great memories! I think most legends are pretty humble backstage to new guys wanting to become wrestlers or make it out of the indys. I think they are either humbled by from going to huge WWE or WCW crows to small shows or they may remember their beginnings of their career on small shows.

Also, I think the bad reps title applies more to guys like Greg Valentine who are usually totally miserable at autograph shows and less to the wrestlers involved in evils or criminal activities.

[toodarkmark]

Tessa Blanchard was really nice. So all this stuff coming out is surprising, but Im not someone she would deal with professionally.

[GuyOfOwnage]

I remember Zach Gowen supposedly having a bad rep for being a dick, but could not have been more gracious, personable, and accommodating when I met him at an indy show a decade ago.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Greg Valentine has always been cool with me. He has a very dry and gruff personality, but that can also be said about his sense of humor.

Also, if you approach him calmly and respectfully and not comparing him to a high school lunch lady or asking him where the Honky Tonk Man is, that helps a lot. My dad and I had a great conversation with him because I mentioned that I had seen that Greg and his dad were both being inducted into the Hall of Heroes at the upcoming NWA Legends Fanfest. That's all it took to get him rolling and how I got to inspect Johnny Valentine's Texas heavyweight championship belt.

[MolotovMocktail]

Juventud Guerrera was nice when I met him.

[brown bricks]

Jerry Lawler was extremely polite to everyone when I met him.

I've not met him personally, but I saw Buff Bagwell at an independent show and he went out of his way for some of the less fortunate kids there. Didn't charge a dime, either. He was also extremely friendly to adults there as well.

Ric Flair was also really cool to me. I had on a Randy Savage shirt and he proceeded to talk to me about their WM 8 match, which was awesome. He may have been drunk, but still.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Jerry Lawler is great. Met him 2 times now. First time ended up talking comics with him for a bit as he was waiting to get paid. Second time I was shocked he remembered me,it had been a year since I had saw him. He knew my face but couldn't remember my name.

Met Teddy Hart almost 4 years ago and he was amazingly nice. It was in DFW at a VIP show. Teddy wasn't booked but had shown up to hang out. It was intermission I had went to get all of us some water. Was walking back into the arena and a buddy called me over. Introduced me to Teddy. Then Teddy asked me to show him where the locker room was.

Ended up talking to Teddy off and on the entire show. Mostly about bigfoot.