Which wrestlers have you had the opportunity to meet? Was it a positive experience or a negative experience?
You’d be surprised how many wrestlers you can meet just hanging around the airport all day.
As a fan Ive met a few. Hogan, HBK, Big Show, Terri Runnels, Lita, and Booker T that I can remember.
Booker was great, Hogan was nice, HBK was nice, Terri was super sweet, big Show acted like he couldn’t care less as he didn’t even make eye contact or speak to me when he signed my book (granted this was at WM18 so he was young), and Lita was kind of the same way (this was in 2003).
In a gym setting I’ve met Rhyno who was awesome, he was one of the nicest giys I ever met in wrestling. Petey Williams and Tyson Dux who were super cool and helpful. Scott Damore who was alright, he’s a lot lol, but he was overall ok. Lastly, Alex Shelly……no comment.
I just remembered, I also met Disco Inferno at a BCW fan signing. It was in 2001 and he made fun of me (it was funny though).
I’ve met Chris Jericho a couple of times – super nice guy. Very smart too.
I had a rather interesting altercation with Brock Lesnar before he was famous. He was surprisingly very cool.
At official events: Steve Austin (and Tony Garea working security), Triple H & Chyna, Hercules Hernandez, Lou Albano, and the APA (wanted to meet Ron Simmons, incidental that JBL was there too).
Randomly
About a decade ago, Paul Roma and I lived in the same town in Connecticut. Saw him at the grocery store a bunch, only talked to him once. He was pretty nice once he realized I wasn’t going to be a pest about it – though I couldn’t resist telling him I had now met both members of Power & Glory. He said Hercules was a good guy but they weren’t that close.
Stevie Richards was an occasional customer at the video store I worked at in 2006-07 range. Only saw him once. Nice guy, didn’t really talk because we were busy. He paid his late fee without complaining (I had to charge him because my boss was right there).
So my basic takeaway was that wrestlers appreciate when you acknowledge that you recognize them but don’t make a big deal about it. Makes sense.
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Met Randy Orton after a show in 03, he was okay, not nice but not rude either. I met Batista at a bar in 04, he bought us beer! I met Mercedes Mone at an NXT show, super nice, she hugged me unprovoked lol at comic cons I’ve met Foley, Nash and Hacksaw, all really nice and engaging.
I’ve also met a ton of ppl through TNA shows as they make they’re wrestlers much more approachable and give the opportunity, in 23 alone I met Joe Hendry, Rosemary & Havok, PCO, Nick Aldis, then World champion Steve Maclin, Ace Austin, Chris Bey, Deonna Purazzo and Zack Saber Jr
Then there Bound for Glory 2010 where I met Ric Flair (and he yelled at us lol), James Storm, Kazarian, Tracey Brooks, Eric Young, Orlando Jordan, AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, the Beautiful People, Robbie E, Mr Anderson and Samoa Joe lol
Oh and almost forgot Stevie Richards, at said BFG I asked him why he didn’t do the Stevie Kick anymore he said he’d do one for me. So I assume the Stevie Kick on top of the cage that night was for me LOL
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I’ve been to one WrestleCon, one Starrcast, one WWE Axxcess and one AEW fan fest so got the opportunity to meet quite a few.
Jericho, Killer Kross and Ryback were three of the nicest. Just very friendly and wanted to chat a lot.
Schiavone, Red Velvet, the Acclaimed, Dante Martin and Sky Blue also all very nice. Schiavone in particular was awesome to talk to.
Booker T was great and so was Dana Brooke. Actually met Hogan, Angle and Christy Hemme at a TNA event. This was like 2013 and unfortunately Angle was very drugged out. Other two were great.
Also met Jinder Mahal and Harry Smith through my work - both excellent. Finn Balor and Shayna Baszler very cool too.
Lashley, Heath Slater, the Usos and Naomi and Corbin all came to my gym once. Lashley was cool, I spotted him on the bench because this was a mostly empty gym in the afternoon. That dude is so strong, very nice too.
Honestly, the only negative experience I’ve ever had meeting any wrestler is with Eric Bischoff. It was at a WrestleCon and it was obvious he didn’t want to be there. Signed my book and then ignored me lol.
Being from Calgary, I’ve had three sightings with wrestlers.
I spoke about my connection to Bret Hart in my Postmarks episode - I never spoke to him once despite seeing him semi-regularly on campus at Mount Royal University across four or five years.
When I was training in kickboxing and jiu-jitsu, Harry Smith used to stop by and roll with the BJJ class at Champions Creed MMA. Seemed friendly.
I saw Lance Strom at a very empty gym (we were the only two people there and I had seen him regularly for months at this point). I simply confirmed he was Lance Storm, said “thanks!”, and turned around and went back to doing clean and jerks. LOL.
Oh, and apparently (according to my Ma), I met Tito Santana when I was like five, which is why I had a Tito Santana shirt as a kid. So, I’m assuming he was a genuinely nice guy. Arriba!
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The majority of wrestlers I’ve met and spoken to have been at events. The few I’ve met out in public have been:
Roderick Strong after the last wrestling show at the inaugural WrestleCon in 2013, Seacaucus, NJ. I just noticed him looking at his phone, so I just opted to say hi. He said hi back and we fist-bumped, and I left.
Colt Cabana, briefly before a Lucha Va Voom show in Los Angeles in 2013. He was on his way to venue like I was, as he played Matt Classic on the card. I just said Hi, and he smiled and chuckled as he pointed out the Matt Classic pin I was wearing. I’ve met him a few times at shows before and after this, and he’s friendly.
Brody King, after the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden. We were both getting a hot dog outside the arena. I mentioned liking the event and gave him props for his match, but I expressed my bewilderment over Enzo & Big Cass showing up at the end of it, doing their own thing on the front row, not part of the actual show. Brody was confused by it too, thinking it was one of the Kingdom guys at first. Brody was chill.
My favorite experiences meeting wrestlers in a professional setting:
Paul London in 2009, doing a meet & greet at a store with April Hunter. He was very nice and I got to talk with him for several minutes. This was the night after Bryan Danielson’s final ROH TV match was taped, I attended it, and I ended up talking to him about it after saying my name, Brian, is spelled with an I and not a Y like Danielson. He daid he was friends with a lot of the guys I brought up, including Strong, who teamed with Bryan in that match against I think the American Wolves. I also asked how he was feeling, and he said he was doing good and may or may not do PWG’s BOLA (he did it the next year).
Chris Hero in 2016 or so. I’ve met him a couple times before this, but this was the best interaction, which I talked about on POST Marks. Hero is as big a fan of wrestling as any wrestler I know of, and we talked about the variety in certain match cards (I brought up the subject talking about a PWG DVD he was selling, he continued it talking about that year’s Wrestle Kingdom).