I attended the final awards and dinner celebration at the Cauliflower Alley Club which honors people in the wrestling business new and old and it was a great time again.
Unfortunately I didn't get to attend the 3 day event like I wanted to - which is to say I wanted to be there all day long talking to people, getting autographs and collecting memorabilia. I did get to attend the two awards show's (one formal and one not so much) and had a great time.
Highlights of last nights fun was the whole event was MC'd by James J Dillon of 4 Horseman fame and Terry Funk! Two funny guys who really enjoyed themselves.
Sgt Slaughter came out and gave a nice speech to give Ricky The Dragon Steamboat his award. Steamboat's speech was by far the longest of the evening and it had some really great stories to it, mostly talking about how he came up in the business and how he earned his name.
Ivory accepted an award as did Wendy Richter and it was pretty cool to see a classic like Richter!
To end the evening Jim Ross went up and said some great words about the final award winner of the night, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin then talked for a while in and out of character and afterwards he took an impromptu QnA from the audience instead of just doing a long speech.
All in all it was a great night with great food, great company and I got to listen to some of my old favorites talk about wrestling days from back before I existed - and that's truly my favorite part of the whole thing.
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| This man is loved by most everyone in the business! |
He might have played a bad guy in the ring but outside he helped the young talent and helped the business to thrive and it's pretty awesome to hear everyone speak so highly of him!
All-time faves -- Baron Von Raschke, Billy Redcloud, Bobby Heenan, Rick Rude ...
ReplyDeleteBoth to meet heenan shortly before his passing. He was using a voicebox and skinny as hell but he was still funny and had great spirit.
DeleteGuys like that were awesome and now a days managers don't even exist anymore.
I live were the old days more than the new crap
That sounds like an awesome night. I would have loved to be there.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, how come every time I feed the fish, the 2 white ones seem to bully the colored ones to get the food. Do you think the 2 white fish are racist? LOL
-grouse
Yes, they are starting a fish Klan. They've already eliminated the black fish.
DeleteGrouse, that's Taco and Burrito. I asked Grrouchie for some special colored fish, they're supposedly light blue :/
ReplyDeleteLight blue???
DeleteNope. Sorry, those are white. In any case, they seem to bully the rest of the tank. I like Taco and Burrito.
-grouse
One is white, one is light blue. Both are bullies
DeleteI used to watch All-Star Wrestling when I was a wee lad back when it was Bulldog Bob Brown, Ted Dibiase (when he was a good guy with no real persona), Rufus R Jones, etc. Then in the mid-eighties I used to watch WWF when I was in college. My favorites back then were the British Bulldogs, Ultimate Warrior, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
ReplyDeleteI only attended a live event once. It was here in Des Moines at the old Veterans Memorial Auditorium on a Friday night. A friend had an extra ticket and invited me. When it was time for the event to start Mean Gene Okerlund's voice boomed over the loudspeaker "Good evening, Des Moines. I bet you thought it was Friday night, but it's not. It's really THE MONDAY NIGHT MAIN EVENT!!!" They unfurled the banner and the place went nuts. Every single star of the time was there. Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Junkyard Dog, Sgt. Slaughter, The Iron Sheik, Big Boss Man, Macho Man Randy Savage, Zeus...you name it. It was kinda awesome. It aired on Memorial Day in 1989.
Loved Mean Gene. Even ate at one of his restaurants that was in Rochester NY. Good burgers.
DeleteChief Jay Strongbow! Andre the Giant! I loved wrestling when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of Andre the Giant all I can hear is Jason Segal doing his impersonation of him in The Princess Bride: "Anybody want a peanut?"
DeleteI want WWF back....not WWE...I just saw the black fish....
ReplyDeletehow about the WWWF?
DeleteHonestly I don't care if they call it the bloody Vagina Federation - I just want good wrestling, good Mic Skills and good story telling.
Story telling has been lost for years and it's the thing that turns me off the most.
OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, YOU CAN FEED THE FISH!!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteLol - this gave me a laugh first thing in the morning!
DeleteI seriously wish I could say that I knew that before, but obviously... :)
Delete