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Submitted by Zuma on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 7:22 PM EST
 VLL Special: The WrestleFestFiasco Special – A Fan’s Perspective (Results and Interviews too!) Welcome back to the column that will for the rest of his life have vivid memories of being chest to chest with Sunny, April Hunter, and Francine this past weekend – it’s Viva La Lucha!  April and I share a special moment. Thanks for the tongue… This is a special presentation that will be focusing on just one topic, and that’s this past weekend’s “WrestleFanFest” fiasco at the Cow Palace that yours truly was lucky enough to be able to attend. The event was held starting October 18th – which was last Thursday. Some would probably say that’s where the trouble began… This event has been labeled as “the biggest fiasco ever seen in a wrestling convention”, and even though I’m an extremely optimistic person – I can’t say I disagree. The event took place at the legendary Cow Palace, which is truly one of the most historical wrestling venues in the country. The wrestlers, and the promoter, were for the most part stationed at the nearby Sheraton Airport Hotel. The event promoters provided a shuttle bus for the many fans and vendors that were staying at the hotel – so that they could avoid paying for parking and driving in traffic, as well as just making it easy for everyone involved to be able to go back to the hotel at their leisure. What a great idea… what a bunch of smart guys, you’d think?  Hey... can I borrow your green card? Orale! Well… you’d think wrong. When I reminisce about this event far into the future, I’ll remember two things. The first thing that will come to mind is how AWESOME it was to meet all of these wrestling legends (and Maven.) I came away with amazing memories. The opportunities that I received this past weekend to spend time with some of the greatest performers that this business has ever seen was remarkable. Their openness, and their honesty in answering any question I posed was second to none. Every one of the legends I was eager to meet attended the event. Some were more accessible than others, but that’s to be expected when you’re dealing with so many different personalities. Taking pictures with these people, and receiving their autographs – as well as just spending a moment of my life in the presence of these legends (and Maven), gave me memories that I will never forget for the rest of my life. However… there is one more side to this event that I also will never forget. My experience with the ugliness started when I went to pick up my tickets on Thursday, which was the day before the event really started getting going. I had ordered VIP passes, and I was expecting a VIP pass, as well as my free t-shirts and tickets to the VIP question and answer sessions, plus autograph tickets and photo-op coupons. When I approached the desk, they asked me my last name, and then offered me a manila folder with some other person’s name on it and handed me their tickets. Lucky for them… I’m an honest person. I informed them of their mistake, and they looked for my name. They didn’t have it. I told them I had received a few tickets in the mail, but that I wanted my t-shirts and other amenities, which I had paid for. They told me that all I was getting were the tickets, and the rest I would get at the event. OK… I went home and checked the event’s website, as I knew the instructions I had read were to go to the hotel and pick up my extras. I was correct, and I printed out the page and decided that before we headed to the event on Friday that we would visit the hotel again. When we returned to the hotel on Friday, I was told that I would get my VIP Lanyard at the event site. None other than Chris Lansbury himself, who is the event promoter who was responsible for this entire fiasco, told me this. I spoke with him directly because I was arguing with the hired help who told me that now I would have to make a decision with my VIP pass – I can have either 3 autographs or 3 photo-ops, not 3 of both as I believed I had purchased. Lucky for me, I had printed it out, and showed them that fact on my paperwork. They called Chris, and he basically brushed me off and gave me what I wanted. No problem… whatever. We’ll get our lanyards at the event.  Roddy Piper, and his friends... which he apparently has none of. We get to the event, and there’s not much there. We came early for a “Learn the Ropes” event in the South Hall at 2pm. I was actually the second person through the doors, and my brother the 3rd. The event we arrived early for though? It never took place. We walked around and spoke with Virgil – who was about the only “star” there, and he essentially tried to mug us for $10. He came off as the most desperate of all the former stars there that weekend when we showed us a pic of “me with Andre and Ted.” He offered to sign it, I asked him for a picture instead, and he said that would cost us $10 as well. We kept walking… After walking over to the event organizers table, my brother and I realized that this event had the makings of a disaster. They had no idea what they were doing, and were ridiculously unorganized. We took advantage of that by getting more autograph tickets and photo-op coupons – hell, why not, right? They didn’t know we had just gotten our share at the hotel. Plus… when I asked about our free t-shirts, we were told that they were “already out of those.” Cool. Didn’t we order them by size on the website close to a month earlier? That didn’t seem to matter though, and we gave up on getting them at that moment. Once things started rolling though, we noticed that there were a good amount of stars there, and our first encounter came at the A.P.W. table where Ultimo Dragon was sitting. Awesome! Ultimo Dragon is considered one of the top workers of this generation, and I was more than willing to pay the $5 to take a picture with him and get his autograph. I noticed his handler spoke to him in Spanish, and I was able to have a word in my second-language with the Japanese superstar. What an experience! Situations like that would continue to occur all day Friday. My brother and I were able to meet some of the greatest legends to ever grace a ring, and people like Larry Zybysko and Harley Race were walking around all over the convention shaking hands and taking pictures – all for free. I had purchased a Mistico mask from the table next to Ultimo Dragon, and I started collecting autographs. I went over and got an autograph from Harley Race, Zybysko, Slick, One Man Gang, Greg Valentine, Dr. Death Steve Williams, and even Al Snow. Unfortunately, standing next to Al Snow was Maven. As Snow signed, the winner of Tough Enough leaned over with a pen and gave me his John Hancock. Before I could prevent him, he was done. The mask, which was meant to be signed by legends only at this event, was now to be known as “The Mask signed by a bunch of the Legends of Wrestling… and Maven.”  Maven ruining my mask. Thanks, dude. Friday afternoon led into Friday evening, and we had learned that the card for the “Malice in the Palace” PPV event had been drastically changed due to a number of the “headliner” talent not showing up. Kurt Angle was very sick. Hall and Nash had decided that they weren’t coming, even though they were sent tickets. (This is according to someone who worked for the airline, which held their ticket – a first person report. I’ll talk more about Hall and Nash after we talk about the PPV. Stay tuned.) My brother and I were able to get into the arena at a perfect moment, and we grabbed the exact two seats that we wanted to occupy – right in the first two rows on the rail next to the entrance ramp. These were perfect seats at any event, and we were lucky to grab them quickly and make a number of friends with everyone around us. Next to us was a young boy with his father. I can’t remember the kid’s name, but he was a huge John Cena fan. At one point, we had him convinced that Abyss was Kane’s fat twin brother, and that the ghost of Eddie Guerrero could pin Umaga any day of the week. Good times. The PPV started with a hot crowd, even if there was maybe – MAYBE - 250 people in attendance. Those that were in the crowd were very excited to see the event, and most were pretty well versed on who was who and why we should be excited to see such a spectacle. First down the ramp came “The Dudley Boys”, who proceeded to hop on the mic and establish that they were to be the heels in this match by making gay jokes about San Francisco. I told Bubba, very loudly to “Shut the Fuck Up” and he walked over near the rail and said “YOU shut the FUCK up” over the mic. I said “OK. You’re right” and I did. The crowd enjoyed it, and those in our section had a hardy chuckle. The Steiners came down to the ring to a round of applause and dog barking. The crowd was very excited that this show had finally started, and they kept up plenty of participation through chants and catcalls until the Dudleys finally lost to the Steiners. Next up came the women’s contest. Traci Brooks hit the ring first, but the cheers for her were drowned out by the addition of a local girl – Cheerleader Melissa – into this match. She was getting love from the home crowd when Gail Kim – the TNA Knockout champ – rushed down to the ring. All three really played the baby face role, and the crowd was enjoying this fast paced match when it ended pretty quickly with Gail Kim scoring the pinfall. All three women were absolutely gorgeous, and I was very impressed by Melissa’s poise while working with Gail Kim – who was by far the most ring savvy of the three. They gave us some great spots, and a couple really cool maneuvers, including a double snapmare/hurricanrana thing by Gail Kim. Thanks ladies. Next up were Luke Hawk and Alkatrazz versus the inseparable pair of Al Snow… and Maven. No… just kidding. No Maven this time! The Blue Meanie made his way down to the ring looking very healthy and spry, and when my brother started a healthy “We want head” chant, the Blue Man responded “Who Doesn’t?” They gave us something like 12 minutes of entertainment, and Luke Hawk definitely carried the match with Al Snow in the ring. That kid is someone to watch, and I wish him the best in the future. I had a conversation with him on Sunday, and he said that he was happy to be able to work with two guys that “are such veterans. Usually I’m the veteran in the ring.” He seemed to have a great natural heel charisma to him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows up on Smackdown sometime in the next couple of years. Poor kid lost the match though, and Al Snow and Blue Meanie beat Alkatrazz and Luke Hawk. Familiar music filled the main hall of the Cow Palace as Slick came through the curtain with Kamala and The One Man Gang following him to the ring. In the squared circle waiting were the team of The Warlord and The Barbarian, known to me as a kid as The Powers of Pain. These four legends are getting up there in age, and the One Man Gang and Kamala both show signs that father time is catching up with them. The Warlord and The Barbarian both look like they still receive Internet prescriptions in the mail, though. The old guys gave it their best in the ring, and Slick and the lovely valet that accompanied the PoP to the ring, really kept the match entertaining with their ringside shenanigans. In the end, the Powers of Pain were in much better shape than Kamala and Hakeem, and they won the match. Next up were Abyss and Sharkboy versus a pissed off Lance Hoyt and some French dude trained by Lance Storm. I can’t remember his name, and the announce probably butchered the shit out of it anyway. These four went a little longer than the other tag team matches, but it wasn’t any more entertaining. Sharkboy is always exciting though, and his work with the French Dude put a smile on my face. Abyss and Hoyt were both larger than I expected them to be, and they seemed very comfortable in the ring against each other. Sharkboy and Abyss FTW! After the great effort by the young guys from TNA, we were “treated” to Orlando Jordan, Gangsta X, and Vic Grimes losing to Rikishi, Black Pearl and Gangrel. I put “treated” because it seemed to me like Orlando Jordan, Rikishi, and Gangrel were absolutely not interested in being in this match. Luckily, the Black Pearl is very underrated and he really carried the match on his own. My brother started a “New Jack’s gonna kill you!” chant, and I think Vic Grimes thought he had something to prove, so he tried to murder himself by attempting a top rope moonsault. At close to 500 pounds, watching the big guy fly through the air was impressive to say the least. Thanks Vic, and thanks Black Pearl. They cleared out the ring and mopped up Gangrel’s blood before they announced a 32 man over the top Battle Royal! The announcer gave a little bit of history on the Battle Royal, and informed the crowd that it was actually invented in San Francisco, and that the first ever battle royal occurred right here at the Cow Palace. This match featured mostly local Independent talent, as well as various workers that had come in to see the show, as well as Chavo Guerrero Sr. – who gave me a hug at ringside when I started cheering for him in Spanish. I have to say that we saw some AWESOME work by all the Indy guys. April Hunter's boyfriend, JD Michaels, took a sick bump to the outside. I yelled "Get a Stretcher!" and the guy actually sold it like he had gotten knocked out. The ref believed me, and didn't realize I was joking so they actually brought down a stretcher. April Hunter came running down to ringside, and I’m pretty sure he whispered “I’m fine” so she made her way to the back after giving a rather embarrassed look for forgetting that anything can be a “work” in this business. Hilarious shit. Some guy with an MMA Gimmick won, and the crowd called bullshit. We wanted the Sexy Chino, at somewhere near 97 ½ pounds, to win. The event stepped up their game with the next match. First through the curtain was the legend of lucha, the Ultimo Dragon. Japanese photographers accompanied him and the “big match” atmosphere could be felt. The announced card had The Great Muta coming through the curtain next, to face The Ultimo Dragon for the first time in their careers. However… Billy Kidman was announced, and received a confused amount of cheering and whisperings of “what the fuck?” Most in the crowd weren’t too surprised, as nothing had gone the way we thought it would so far with this event, and this match not being as advertised only shocked those that were most gullible. The two men gave a 4 star match, and I was very happy to have a chance to witness it. Lots of back and forth catch as catch can. Kidman and Dragon are both still in GREAT shape. When this column was posted, I said that I recommend you download it if you ever find it. WELL... I'm going to save you the trouble, because thanks to The Wrestle Warehouse - we have it available right here to download and ENJOY! http://share.clickwrestle.com/channel_detail.php?chid=8 While seated in my seat, I was able to catch a conversation between one of the promoters and one of the Japanese photographers. Apparently, The Great Muta had “pulled some politics and went home” and neither man wanted to lose this match – so the match was scrapped. Of course, The Ultimo Dragon beat Billy Kidman after about 20 minutes. That left us with the Main Event. When I bought these tickets, I had expected to see an Outsiders Reunion vs. Psycho Sid Vicious and a “mystery partner”. What we got was Steve Corino coming down the aisle being accompanied by Francine. That was a good start, as I’ve always wanted to see Corino work, and most here know that I’m a huge fan of hardcore wrestling. Next down the aisle was the Hardcore Icon himself, the Sandman! He hopped on the mic and said he needed a lady to accompany him to the ring, if Corino had his “crackwhore”, so he called down “The Perfect 10” Baby Doll. She’s not quite a perfect 10 anymore, but she is looking… not half bad… for a woman who’s at least in her sixties. Would I hit it? A bottle of tequila might help. We thought that we were in for a hardcore fest between Sandman and Corino when, to everyone’s surprise, the music of The Great Muta hit. The Japanese hardcore maniac made his way to the ring, and cleared it when he spit his trademark green mist. The match itself was pretty well done, and Sandman took a vicious bump while laying on top of a guardrail set up between two chairs when Muta superplexed Corino on top of him! That was a great moment, but we weren’t done with starpower. Diamond Dallas Page came down with the run in, and hit Corino with a Diamond Cutter to secure a screw job finish. The Great Muta wins the match, but DDP ends up the most over man of the night. Thanks go to Steve Corino and Sandman for carrying this match, and putting their bodies on the line for what I hear was nothing in terms of a payday. Thanks, gents. So… the PPV wasn’t everything that we expected it would be, but it was a remarkable show. The 250 people in the crowd were treated to what was an intimate environment where some of the greats of the wrestling business put on a show for the love of the fans. By all accounts, these guys weren’t paid. I was able to have a conversation with Larry Zybysko about it on Sunday morning, while he finished eating his egg McMuffin breakfast. I asked him what he thought of the “organization of this event” and he said – and I quote - “This is just your grade-A fuck up. This guy over-promised and under-delivered, and I just feel sorry for all the fans that paid so much money and didn’t get what they thought they had paid for.” He went on to explain how “people did get paid. I got my money.” He went on, without me asking about them, to say “Screw Hall and Nash. Those two are very unprofessional, and anyone who has been in this business long enough knows that they are assholes. I wasn’t one bit surprised that they didn’t show, and I wish this guy had contacted me about this event earlier than he did. I could have given him some pointers.” Moments like the conversation I had with Zybysko weren’t hard to find if you were willing to take the time to ask a question of the stars. My brother and I, along with everyone else in attendance on Saturday, were able to attend a Q&A event with Roddy Piper. I was one of the lucky few to be able to ask him a question, and I asked: “Why do you believe that you were never given the chance to hold the Big Belt at either company?” and he went on to tell a great story about how “the boys” at the WWWF didn’t want him there when he first arrived, and how he never felt like he was “a company guy like Hogan” so they never trusted him enough to hold it. He didn’t answer the question directly, but by reading between the lines of his story, it was clear to me that he never felt that management of either company could trust him with the World Championship. The other fantastic conversation that I had was with none other than The Sandman. On Saturday morning, somewhere around noon, my brother and I found ourselves face to face with the Hardcore Icon. He was rather shit faced at the time, but what surprised me was how lucid he was while completely smashed off his gourd. I asked him about the bump he had taken during the PPV, and he said that “it felt like this” and he pushed me weakly in the chest. Then he went on to explain that if he didn’t know how to take a bump, he would have been out of this business a long time ago. He told me a great story about how “Tommy Dreamer and I made each other’s careers with that match.” – in reference to the Singapore Can match where he breaks Tommy’s nut sack. I asked him about the Sabu barbed wire match, and he said “Which one?” and we had a good laugh about how they had tried to kill each other various times with “crazy sharp barbed wire”. When I asked him about the event itself, and how some people were pissed about the payday, The Sandman responded, in a drunken slur: “Eh… see… I’ve been smart. Some of these guys are stupid with their money. I’ve been smart though. I pay my bills. I pay extra to the gas company, or the electric company when I have the money… like $1,000… so, I have credit with them…and these other guys… they’re idiots. They waste their money on booze and drugs when they have the money, and then they want to cry when they don’t get paid. Fuck man… nobody is here! Baaahh…how are they gonna get paid?”  Christian and Christian’s dad… The Sandman, of all people, was the one to really point out what had gone wrong here. Nobody had shown up. If the WrestleFanFest had the 10,000 fans that I’m sure the promoter expected to show up – EVERYONE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN PAID! However, they didn’t have that many people show up. Most would say that would be the fault of the promoter, who didn’t do nearly enough advertising in this area. I saw some commercials on the TNA broadcasts, and during ECW – but none during RAW or Smackdown, and I didn’t notice any advertising via any other means. A few people told me that they found out about this event via my columns…, which by my count means that Viva La Lucha was responsible for approximately 2.5% of all people that attended this event! I’m not sure if that’s something I should be proud of… or really, really fucking sad about. If more people knew about this event, then more people would have been able to be paid, and this “fiasco” might have just been a “clusterfuck” or could have even been downgraded to a “nightmare”. Whatever it was though… it was fun. Sunday really turned into the best day of the event. Ring of Honor stars were everywhere in the place. One of our local Independents – A.P.W. – put on a show at around noon in the main arena. We were treated to 4 matches, and each was really well done by the local talent. These guys worked their asses off for free, and the very small crowd (50?) enjoyed the heck out of it. Later that afternoon though, the real main event neared. I was able to have a conversation with two gents – I believe named Carl and Greg – who are the PR guy and the Bell guy for the Ring Of Honor promotion. They are also two of the people on their “executive committee” who make the decisions for ROH. I pleaded with them to come back, and Greg promised me that we would see “a heck of a show. We aren’t going to shortchange the fans one bit, even if we aren’t getting paid.” I told him that we as fans appreciate that, and that this area is starved for REAL wrestling. I told him that with enough promotion, Ring of Honor could easily see a capacity crowd in the Cow Palace when they return. He thanked me for coming, and said that they would try their best to be back “on their own terms.” The ROH show was by far the highlight of the weekend, and solidified the fact that those that paid money to have a “wrestle fan festival” where given something worth their hard earned cash. Ring of Honor put on an amazing show, and each and every one of their performers was a consummate professional who left everything they had in the ring. The crowd chanted loud and proud through every moment of the night, except when it was needed. During the Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries match, you could probably hear a pin drop while the crowd was fully enraptured in the grappling. Then they would clap at all the right moments, and show the two gladiators the ultimate respect of stopping their clapping and staying silent during their jousting. It was truly a remarkable display of respect for those two. The other ROH performers made it all worthwhile. Necro Butcher and Jimmy Jacobs stormed the ringside area via a side entrance while their “screaming lady” entrance “music” blasted over the speakers. They battled throughout the arena with Romero and Richards, and the crowd loved the interaction. Guys like The Human Tornado and Chris Hero and superstars in the making. Hero and Tornado were matched against each other in Human Tornado’s every first match for Ring of Honor, and it’s easy to see that these two young guys are destined for fame. Chris Hero belongs in a WWE ring with his gimmick and manager “Sweet and Sour” Larry Sweeney. The other standout of the night was Claudio Castagnolli, who was recently released by the WWE, and whom I believe will be back to make an impact on Monday night someday soon. If you have never ventured into watching an ROH DVD, I highly recommend you take the time out and being to learn about their promotion. It isn’t some “backyard fed with guys that get paid less than a Taco Bell worker” (thanks Slap) but a bunch of guys that really are the best Independent wrestling talent in all of the United States. Teams like Mark and Jay Briscoe, the No Remorse Corps, and The Age of The Fall are putting on some of the best tag team wrestling in the world. Bryan Danielson is well known as “The Best in the World” in terms of wrestlers who still lace their own boots. Delirious, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong entertain much better than anything put out by the ‘E on any given Friday night episode. You are only doing yourself a disservice as a wrestling fan if you continue to ignore these guys. Period. Especially the Briscoes… MAN UP, BITCH! I’ve read on the SLAM Sports website that ”Wrestle Fest 2007 should rank up there as one of, if not the biggest failures of its kind, and will undoubtedly be spoken of for years to come ... though, unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons. I, however, will always speak of this event as one of my fondest memories in life. Being able to meet these legends… and Maven… in person – was nothing short of amazing. I’d gladly pay the amount I paid again to attend an event where I was able to take the pictures that I took, the autographs I received, and the moments I shared with fellow wrestling fans and the amazing performances that I witnessed. This event might go down in business history as nothing short of a horrible, horrible fiasco – which in the end I’m sure it was. The dollars and sense of this event ended up being a tremendous disaster. Those professionals that showed up most likely didn’t get paid as much as they might have hoped, or were promised. However, as I true fan of wrestling I’ll always remember it as the day that I had to hold myself back from not slapping the hell out of Vince Russo for making himself the WCW Heavyweight Champion and killing that company. I’ll also remember it as the day that I was able to tell the great “Super Fly” Jimmy Snuka that my grandfather believes that the moment he jumped off that cage in Madison Square Garden was the moment that wrestling changed forever. Events like that are priceless, and I look forward to sharing those photos with my son one day, when he’s a wrestling fan and these legends are in that big wrestling ring in the sky.    No hoss of the week this time, because this column has gone on long enough. I will however have one, and only one, VERY SPECIAL Column of the Week Column of the Week The Death of a Wrestling Fan – My Final Column which is written by none other than the author of The Boss Report, Boss Foxx – who was a fellow main page columnist here at Lords of Pain until he decided that he had found Jesus… or a vagina… or – well, I’ll let him explain it to you. Click the link. I am more than spent. THANK YOU SO MUCH for being a part of this column with all your feedback, questions, comments, and just awesome interaction. You’re really the reason I continue to do this, so make sure to drop me a line. You can do that via email, or over at LOPForums. If you’re not a member yet, you really should join. If you are a member, be sure to leave some feedback in the Viva La Lucha Feedback Thread. If you’d like to see your artwork shown in this column, send me a banner at vivalalucha@yahoo.com and make sure to label it “Banner”. You can also click the link if you're an LOPForums member. Address all of your hate mail, fan mail, comments, questions, and sexual propositions to the address above as well. I’ll try and answer every one, as long as you label it “Feedback.” Before you go off into that crazy web without any supervision, why don’t you follow these links instead: LOP Columns Forum – the best wrestling related columns on the net. Period. The Movie Bar – music, movies, Monkeys, and reviews too! The Project Lives – creative writing, commentary and artwork. Plus, the HOME of MONDAY NIGHT COUNTDOWN! *NEW GALLERY* Go Directly to a RANDOM HOT BABE & DIVAS GALLERY! Check It Out!
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