My Day at 2012’s Bound for Glory Fan Interaction

Originally written October 13, 2012
I have to say, as many times as I’ve joked about TNA in the past, going to an event like this is one of the things to solidify me as a fan.  Everything was so much more organized and friendly than WWE stuff I have been to in the past.

I have a friend that I usually hit wrestling shows with but he didn’t want to take off work for the PPV and this, so I got tickets to this stuff and invited another buddy of mine who probably hasn’t watched a wrestling show in probably close to ten years.  He was familiar enough with a chunk of the guys and wanted to come, so I went and picked him up.  He went with a few goals: he wanted to meet and get the signatures of some of the guys he grew up watching like RVD and Hogan, he was going to get a few extra things signed for my collection on some guys and he also was going to get some of the 8x10s they were handing out signed for his 10-year old nephew, Angel.

We got to the event, picked up the passes and walked in and a good amount of people were present.  I grew up collecting cards and getting signed cards, so I put together cards of the entire roster in the weeks leading up to the show.  As we waited outside, people were getting excited and I did my traditional “I’m-at-a-wrestling-event” weirdo watch.  People were trying to watch for the wrestlers and James Storm came walking by as people freaked out and yelled.  Some old guy came walking by next in a pink shirt and I said “Look, Austin Aries!”  Girl in front of me got PISSED.  I told her I got thrown off by the pink but she didn’t take that well.  It was listening to “wrestling fan observations” while we waited to get in from there.  They had a sign now showing the first two sessions you could get two items signed per person but still one from Hogan.

We got inside the actual place and it was fairly crowded.  Session 1 had a larger group of the big names and there were huge lines for AJ, Angle, Storm, RVD and Aries.  The merchandise table was also super crowded.  We looked and they had the table for Chavo and Hernandez tucked in the corner, so no one saw it.  We waited there and after a little bit, JB came out to the main stage.  He did the big hype stuff and called out Christy Hemme and So Cal Val who basically hung out on the stage dancing and shouting and taking pictures with the people who came up front, which I will get back to.  They then had JB introduce each wrestler one by one, who came out to their theme music as they walked to their table.

I walked up to Chavo first, he started grabbing the 8 x 10s they had, but I asked if he minded signing my cards.  He told me he’d sign my cards if he could personalize them.  I know a lot of the guys who do that think they are preventing them being sold, but I said that was cool.  Gave him my name and that was kind of it with him.  I moved over to Hernandez and shook his hand.  At some point, people were yelling and he looked up and asked me what was going on.  I told him I had no clue and really didn’t take into account what the others were doing because they had just been chanting “Eddie” when Hector Guerrero was introduced.  Hernandez laughed and said something among the lines of “what retards”. Shook my hand again and I took off.

From there, we noticed the line for James Storm had calmed down some and was nearby, so we hopped in.  As we stood there, I noticed Pat Kenney off to the side.  I wasn’t 100% sure it was him and had a Simon Diamond card, so my friend offered to go.  He was pretty cool as my friend asked him if he was Simon Diamond and he said he used to be, but he’s just Pat Kenny now.  My friend asked him to sign the card and he said no.  After a pause he said “Wouldn’t that be weird if I said that?” and signed it.  After waiting for a little bit we got up for the Cowboy, I exchanged pleasantries and as he signed for me, I told him as much as I loved Beer Money, I was pumped for the match tomorrow night.  He thanked me and said he was looking forward to it because they loved “kicking the shit out of each other”.

Took off from Storm and started checking the lines.  With AJ, Angle, RVD and Aries, there were some guys that had almost no line, like Magnus, Ion and the Spanish Announce Team table.  We decided to go to Kurt Angle next, as after finishing the long line for Angle, you would easily pop right into the long line for Van Dam.  We waited and it got weird as you got closer to Angle.  My friend asked if I wanted a picture and I told him I didn’t think so.  You could tell he wasn’t all there.  I handed him the cards I had and he had this blank stare as I tried to talk to him.  He wasn’t mean or rude, just not present.  After he signed my “limit 2” cards, he signed an 8×10 and handed it to me, which I appreciated but was caught off guard, it was kinda freaky.

My buddy wanted to get his picture with RVD but we looked and Zema Ion had like four people in line.  My friend stayed in line while I went over to Ion.  I wasn’t gonna get a picture but he was letting everyone pose with the X title, so I ended up giving the girl for my camera.  He signed my cards and threw in an extra 8×10.  I told him I thought it was cool he was getting a big match with Van Dam.  He said “I know” like he was a little bit nervous with the pressure, so I wished him luck and joined back in the RVD line.

We got up there as I explained to people in line the finer points of “Wrong Side of Town”.  Standing in the Angle and RVD lines, we had a good view of the stage and had fun watching all the creepy guys going to take their pictures with Christy and Val.  So there was this one guy who looked somewhat like a giant baby but with some weird, patchy facial hair.  It was kind of weird.  But then set that on a 5’7, 400 pound body.  This guy was intense.  He got a picture with them once while we were in Angle line and then AGAIN in RVD line.  Kinda uncomfortable and set forward that “yeah, only the creepers are getting pictures with the women”.

We got up to RVD, who was pretty awesome.  He was taking his time talking to everyone and doing his signature pose for pictures.  At some point while I was talking to Van Dam, Christy and Val started shouting on stage.  He asked what they were doing because Val kept turning around and pretending to fight the big Aries vs. Hardy banner.  I told him they were taking pictures, mainly with the same couple guys who kept revisiting them.  RVD kinda chuckled and said, yeah, a couple of redhead bookends up there.  At this time, Val started pointing over at him as they gestured back and forth.

Time was winding pretty quick, so we got into AJ’s line.  AJ was another one taking time with everyone.  I saw him having lots of discussions with people.  It was suggested I do the same as Ion and hop in either Tessmacher’s line, which was about 10 deep, or Magnus, who was about 2 deep.  I went over to Magnus while my friend stayed in line for Styles.  Magnus and I said hello.  He asked me my name and started signing a photo.  I told him I had cards but he said no worry and would sign them all for me.  While he signed, I told him I was really hoping to see him win the belt tomorrow and he told me he appreciated it.

Got back in the Styles line, waited for a little bit and told AJ he’s been a favorite of mine for a while and I was looking forward to seeing him in person for the first time tomorrow.  He thanked me but it was pretty short and sweet.  At this time, we had about 40 minutes left and the only people left in this session I hadn’t met at tables were the Spanish Announce Team, Aries and Tessmacher.

The announce team line was short, so I went over. Dude in a suit looked like he was going to CRY when he met Hector.  I talked to them briefly but was unsure what to say.  They had a card together in one of the TNA sets I got signed.  Hector said the signature would be small but I said it was okay, just thought it would look cool.  Because no one was coming to them, they had a bunch of pictures pre-signed, so I got one.

The Aries line was suddenly super short, which it turned out it was because he was doing an interview.  This lady and her son, who was probably about eight, were standing in front of us.  The kid had purchased what looked like every action figure they had there, so he was lugging around a Jakks Pacific shipping box.  His mom started telling us about how this was his birthday present and they came from out of town.  It turned out they weren’t in line for Aries, but had found out Hardy was at that table next.  The kid was all about Jeff Hardy and was talking to me, when the mom started asking if she should get Jeff Hardy to sign around the tattoo on her arm, if it would look good tattooed.  I told her maybe, if she really liked him.  She then lifted up the back of the shirt to reveal another tattoo in the “tramp stamp” region and asked if it would be better there.  I told her more people would get to see it on the arm.  She then said one more thought and lifted up shirt, pulled down pants a little to show a blank canvas in that region somewhere between stomach and vag.  I kept as straight of a face as I could and told her it would probably be most special there, mainly because “she didn’t have any other tattoos there as a distraction”.  I talked to her son a little more as she told me maybe Jeff would be uncomfortable signing there and started showing me her neck.  At this point, Aries came back and she let us go ahead because they had him and just wanted Hardy.  The people in front of them were the same, so after some guy who looked like fat Dustin Rhodes got done talking about the indies with him, I got to go up to Aries.

Aries made some comment about Impact to me, which I wasn’t sure but I told him it was good to meet him and I saved my Austin Aries shirt for tomorrow’s show.  He informed me I had made a wise decision and shook my hand.

At this point there was 10 minutes left before they started the switch and I needed Tessmacher only.  I walked over to her and they told me she was done signing.  She would be the only person at the tables I didn’t get to meet all day.  Did not get the chance to comment on her spectacular heiny.

My buddy and I decided that it made sense to get in the Hardy line, as it was bound to get CRAZY once people found out that was where he would be.  We wound up maybe 10th in line, so that was cool.  I looked over and Big Baby, to no one’s surprise, looked to be first in line for Taryn Terrell.  Al Snow started floating around, so I walked up to him with a WWF card.  He signed both Al Snow and Head.  He didn’t say much to me but showed the card off to Pat Kenney, who was hanging out with him.  They were about to do the introductions again but this time we were up front to see everyone.  Right before, they brought out Dixie Carter and she gave a speech.  She walked off the stage and for some reason, out of everyone, she came up to me to shake my hand and ask me if I had anything for her to sign.  I had a card, so I got Dixie to sign.  Seeing as she didn’t make the show, they pulled Gail Kim from the announced talent and she was replaced by Bully Ray.

My friend went up and asked for his 8×10 from Hardy to be personalized to his nephew Angel.  Hardy asked him to spell out Angel.  They took a picture and when I got up, he was really cool, gave me a big greeting but then still questioning the spelling of Angel.  I told him it was “an easy one to mix up”, he said, yeah but if you go L-E instead of E-L, its ANGLE, like Kurt.  I said “Well, that works because I hear Kurt is an angel too”.  Hardy found that really funny and cracked up.  With that he put his arm around me to take a picture, so we did.

I wore a Bobby Roode IT Factor shirt, so we went to Roode next.  Roode was nice but really quiet.  I gave him my cards, he signed an extra picture and took a picture with me but not much was exchanged otherwise.

We went to Samoa Joe’s line next.  My friend wanted to get one for his cousin but one of his co-workers was a huge Joe fan.  To get 8x10s for both, we split up duties of each getting one of my cards and then his 8x10s.  He was talked to Joe and his friend goes by his initials, which were ET.  Joe asked if it was just ET or E.T.  I said you can’t mess around with the periods.  Joe told me I’d be surprised, you get guys named BJ and they get really weird about it.  I told him if their name was BJ, they had bigger problems, to which Joe smirked.  Talked to Joe briefly and then tried to make a game plan for the rest.  The Hardy line was still insane but the other lines were starting to fill up.

We chose Bully Ray next.  Waited through his line, he was pretty quiet and it was a mixture of being in character and kinda out of it.  I shook everyone’s hand but Bully was not shaking anyone’s hand.  He would do fist bumps.  He forgot what he was doing when my friend walked up.  He signed my cards and said “sure thing” or something when I thanked him.

From there, it was the Taz/Tenay line.  The line was fairly big, so while my friend stood in place, I walked over to the table that had the Hebners and some third ref, who did not have anything to sign, he just stood there between Earl and Brian.  Earl talked to me quickly about the Earl Hebner cards I had and I almost felt in an awkward spot of having to get a picture with them, so I did.  Took signed 8x10s of Earl and Brian, the other guy just wanted to be friends (bald ref, not sure of his name).

I rejoined Taz/Tenay line and the guy behind us was talking about partying with everyone at the hotel bar last night.  He said he got in town and was there when James Storm came in.  Said they were drinking all night and Storm was showing every woman that came by the Longnecks and Rednecks music video from his cell phone.  Talked about Tara bumming a cigarette off of him and then he got into talking other wrestling stuff.  At this time, they had something with some TNA British version of Tough Enough filming on the stage, where they had the finalists up front.  Not sure what was going on.  Two cute blonde twins and a couple douche looking tiny guys, I guess competing for a contract.  The announcers were both cool.  I asked Taz how many people try to get a picture of them in the Tazmission.  He told me it happens all the time but he isn’t allowed to do it anymore.  I said I could see people end up being stupid and hurting themselves.  He told me when he was in WWE, he did it for a kid at an appearance and the kid fell and cracked his head open.  He said it caused big trouble where the person tried to sue WWE, Taz and all sorts of places, so he can’t do it anymore.  We talked a bit more, they both gave me extra stuff too and I took off.

We walked over for Taryn Terrell next.  I had thought about joking that I hadn’t watched her on Treme because I felt if I saw her naked, she’d have to see me naked but that got squashed.  Some guy was taking a picture with her when Taryn tripped on her heel.  The Atlas security guy spazzed out on the guy and told him to watch out, even after Taryn said it was her own fault.  Figured with that guy around, I better not risk it.  She signed a picture for me (and gave me an exclamation point after my name that I did not see her giving to others).  I had a card of her from WWE and she asked me how I wanted her to sign it.  I told her whatever she was more comfortable with was cool and she said she rather sign it with her real name.  She admired her muscles on the card and said she didn’t have that anymore.  I agreed and told her I total wouldn’t bang her anymore because of that…  Well, I didn’t respond like that but it was one of those moments of how do I best react without sounding creepy?

We went over to get in the line for Kaz and Daniels.  Dixie had been going all over the place meeting everyone, with an assistant following her around with a stack of photos.  She pulled a bunch of us asking to take a picture.  I made a stupid face.  Then she took a second one and I whispered to my friend “Make a stupid face”.  She told me she heard that and had to inspect the phone because these were going to be tweeted.  She zoomed in on my face and asked me if I preferred stupid face number one or number two.  I told her one was more whimsical, as two looked like I was going to the bathroom.  She pointed out there was always one and said I would probably have to be cropped.  I told her I thought you always did the second photo “silly”.  She said that would be true if it was her six year old, but she said she’d try again and took a couple more pictures.

As we waited for Daniels and Kaz, the two guys in front of us were actually a couple of deaf fans.  I don’t know sign language but we had a little kind of conversation with these guys.  He had some programs for TNA and an old WWE one circa 2004.  One of the guys basically told me Bully Ray threatened to rip up his WWE one.  Ah, Bully Ray, most emotion of the afternoon was tormenting deaf fans.

When we got up to Daniels and Kaz, Daniels had his appletini.  I told him that I was glad he had his appletini while we were there.  I got my friend to get a Curry Man card signed, which Daniels seemed to react to.  All day, they had a weird play list.  They were playing themes past and present because I caught Brian Kendrick’s string instrument theme playing.  They also played some weird pop music and these weird mixes.  As we were up there, it was some current song mixed with Das EFX, so Kaz made a comment that all he wanted to do was a zoom zoom zoom in a boom boom.  I told him it was like he was reading my mind.  My friend and I took a picture with the World Tag Team Champions of the World holding their belts in front of us.

At this point, all that was left at the tables was Tara.  Tara was cool and signed a Tara and Victoria card for me and threw me a picture as well.  I told her I looked forward to seeing her get the belt back and she thanked me and called me baby.  When I started walking away she asked if we were going to do a picture and I said, I appreciated it but I didn’t have a camera prepared.

At this point, I noticed Val was doing an interview but figured I would try to talk to her and Hemme.  So Cal Val was awesome.  She was one of those girls that, if I knew her in real life and she really was the way she was all the time, I would totally have a crush on her.  Super sweet.  I asked her if she could sign for me and she said of course and was super playful.  She asked me my name and then decided to nickname me and give me another signature with the nickname.  At this time, Hemme was had kinda been blowing people off when she wasn’t being “on stage”.  She misplaced her iPhone and walked away from one of the deaf guys trying to get a picture.  I ended up saying hello and getting a signature but she didn’t seem as friendly as the others or as I expected.

We had a short break before the Hogan session for VIPs started, so we chose to go back to the main part of the hotel to use the bathroom and figured we’d get drinks from the gift shop.  They had a Starbucks area that was closed we sat in and I noticed D’lo Brown come up and look to see if Starbucks was open.  I didn’t want to bug him so I just made a face at my friend about how weird it was just seeing D’lo come up out of nowhere.  At the same time, Bully was at the check-in desk.

We got in Hogan line and after a couple minutes, an SUV drove up with Hulk in it.  Unfortunately, Abyss was not driving this time.

We waited in line and heard stories from people about how they overheard a TNA employee shouting at the hotel because one of their people just got there and was told there was no room available.  When they were asked for the name: Bruce Pritchard.  Talked with those people for a while who also told a story about going to a Smackdown in 2003 and seeing Ron Simmons in a bar.  Dude bought Simmons a drink and Simmons called his wife, gave her the I LOVE YOUs and then hung up and asked the guy how to get to the titty bar.  These guys offered to take Simmons and he was down to party but before they got to leave, two girls showed up, started talking to him and he took both girls upstairs instead.  Classic Faarooq.

As we stood in line, they started hyping they were going to reveal a second guest in the VIP session.  With the Hall of Fame that night, the crowd was going nuts and started chanting for Sting.  They had to sheepishly say it was not Sting and reveal it was Brooke Hogan.

 

They positioned Brooke in front and had the guard at her table if you want a picture with both or just Hulk.  Seeing she’s standing there listening, I felt weird saying just Hulk.  They were watching everyone close with their strict 1 signature per person policy with the Hogan’s.  TNA’s newest trading card set actually had a Brooke card that matched her promo so she was impressed that I had “a baby version” and she signed a photo for me too, just because the card was small.  She walked up to me and talked to me about the White Stripes song playing.  At this time, Hulk turned to me and extended a hand.  It’s one of those things, you think you are gonna act cool, but meeting Hogan, all the memories come flashing, way more than anyone else I had encountered.  We were about to take the picture, when I said “Wait, I wanted this in the picture” and pulled out my Hulk Rules CD.  Hulk kinda made an “Oh Yeah” comment about it.  He started signing my card and I said I had a hard time choosing getting my card or my CD signed.  He looked at me and said “I’ll sign your CD too, brother”, so I pulled out the liner.  Hulk signed that as a second item, told me to hang on, signed a promo and handed it to me before patting me on the back.  I was really surprised and showed my appreciation.  It was crazy.  The security guy even mentioned something that no one was getting more than one.

My friend and I took a quick break by grabbing some lunch and walking around a local Target, as they had a couple hours between show and Hall of Fame.  We got back early and in the lobby we found a little seat area.  At this point, Zema Ion was wandering in the lobby.  He looked over and the way he reacted, I think he recognized me from earlier and came over to us.  He came up and kinda sheepishly held out a tie and asked if we knew how to tie.  I can tie a tie, but I have a hard time explaining it.  I usually have to tie it on myself and then hand it off, so I told him I wasn’t so good but I could pull up something on my phone.  He told me he had tried and thanked us and walked off.  Heard him getting help from someone else.

As he started walking off, Angle walked through the lobby.  He looked like someone in extreme pain, barely able to move and out of it still.  I felt really uncomfortable seeing him go by and figured I would probably be cringing when he started doing crazy stuff in the tag match at the show the next day.

We walked over to the line and as we waited, Wes Brisco got in the regular line before someone grabbed him and took him with them.

We walked in and got some good seats as far as a good view without having to turn.  My seat was right next to the “TNA talent”, who would come out one by one.  The tables were set for 10.  5 spots were taken up by three guys from Busted Open radio on Sirius and two guys who won a contest for a Bound for Glory trip.  We talked to them for a bit and they started bringing out people.  Of course, with my luck, I got to sit with Willie Urbina.  As they announced people, there was an awkward silence at our table.  I tried making small talk by asking how the trip out here has been but somehow he thought I was asking about Bully Ray.  At first, I didn’t think he knew much English but I think he just was thrown off by all the noise.

Bully was at the table next to us, making everyone laugh.  The table behind him had Pat Kenney, so he started asking all the people how disappointed they were to get Kenney and how it is probably going to cause a lot of refund requests.  Tara and Brooke Tessmacher got in a shouting match and Tara threw a roll at Tessmacher, it went over Tess and I actually caught it, so I held it up like when someone catches a ball at a baseball game.

Willie warmed up a little and started telling stories about how he broke in with IWA in Puerto Rico around 1999.  He told stories about the Colons and mentioned when Primo and Epico were WWE tag champs, he worked a show with them in Puerto Rico.  Someone tried to take a picture of him in a TNA shirt with those two and I guess Primo freaked out, fearing he’d get in trouble.

Bully was wandering around, entertaining everyone around.  Leering at every woman who came by and even telling some woman his room number.  Eventually, So Cal Val came over and sat on his lap the whole show.  She was WASTED.  She was so clearly drunk and has probably been boned several times by Bully Ray while I sat here typing this up, wiping tears from my eyes and for one time in my life, wishing I was Bubba Dudley.

Hall of Fame was really well done.  Borash spoke, Tenay gave a history lesson, AJ had a really nice speech.  Luger spoke, but was in such bad shape he couldn’t even get on stage, he spoke in front of it.  Luger had the best speech of the night and got a standing ovation.  My favorite part was he talked about him being jealous of Sting when he showed up in WCW and nervous about his spot, so when Sting introduced himself and asked Lex his diet to get his conditioning, without looking at him, Luger stated “beer, cheeseburgers and peanut M&Ms”.  Hogan came up and told stories about Vince wanting to bring Sting in to WWF and Hogan being nervous he’d lose his spot.  Every person that talked basically said TNA wouldn’t be around today if it wasn’t for Sting.

Ceremony was really well done and it was a great night.  Kind of fading now with the details as it has been a super long day, but I had a blast and figured I could give my best report now while it was still pretty fresh.