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It was announced yesterday evening that The Big Event had booked a major guest, someone who has never done a Big Event convention before. Everyone is, of course, guessing like crazy just for the fun of it. But now you can actually win something if you guess correctly:
My guess was Christian.
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Exciting news from the folks at The Big Event:
Announcement should be coming shortly. In the mean time, any guesses?
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From the promoters of Legends of the Ring comes this bit of awesome news:
Please make sure you purchase your tickets sooner rather than later, especially by July 4th if you want to be entered in the “Mystery Discount.”
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Some exciting news out of the LOTR camp a mere hour ago:
Personally, I’m thrilled. I just met Steele this weekend and he was an awesome guy. I didn’t get a picture with him and Mine and I need him to sign the Oddities entry in the WWE Encyclopedia, Vol. 2. Awesome addition.
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A few days ago, it was reported that Dolph Ziggler had signed a multi-year contract to remain with the WWE. Unsurprisingly, that doesn’t appear to be true.
On this afternoon’s Chad Dukes Versus The World radio show, Ziggler revealed his contract is set to expire and he may leave the WWE for good:
“I’m thinking about it right now. I had a request for an upcoming contract that would end a few months from now, maybe two or three months from now, and they requested back what they would like, I countered another offer and we’re waiting to finalize some things. I love WWE and I can’t picture myself wrestling somewhere else but it’s also becoming now where that Wednesday and Thursday, I can’t just do that and get some outside live events for comedy and different movie and television options, which would only be to promote myself as a WWE superstar, to make myself a bigger star so I can advance more in WWE. So if I can’t find that happy medium, I might have to go away for a little bit. What I wanna do is make myself a bigger asset to WWE. If it involves leaving, that would crush me but it might.”
Personally, I hope Ziggler leaves. He’s a tremendous talent and I’m not confident he’ll ever reach the heights he deserves while with the WWE.
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So, a weekend wouldn’t be complete without attending an autograph signing. My usual go-to spot, the Wrestling Universe, didn’t have any booked and that’s with good reason: they held two amazing shows at the Elks Lodge in Elmhurst, Queens, NY, so they were a little occupied. I heard the shows were fantastic! Congratulations to them!
This time around, I wouldn’t be making the relatively pleasant trip to Queens; instead, I was going to take a VERY long trip to Fishkill, NY. For those of you who have no idea where that is: it’s VERY upstate New York. Luckily, my amazing girlfriend happens to live in the area and she graciously picked me up from the Beacon train station and drove me to Dutchess Marketplace where the legendary George “the Animal” Steele would be signing autographs from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
I hopped on a 10:43 AM train from Grand Central Terminal and arrived at Beacon at roughly 12:11 PM. My girlfriend then drove us to Dutchess Marketplace, which is a GIGANTIC indoor flea market.
Seriously, this place is something else. Vendors occupy the massive space and seemingly willingly to sell anything you can think off. Most of the stuff isn’t exactly brand new but you should be able to find something that piques your interest, like old action figures, DVDs, books, etc.
So, we finally find the spot where Steele is signing – The Collector’s Realm! – and there was a circle of people in front of his table. I quickly spoke with the vendor and handed him my $25 – a great deal, in my opinion. He quickly brought me to “The Animal.”
George greeted me with a hearty hello as I shook the legend’s hand. He immediately noticed my girlfriend, who was going to take the picture of George and I. “The Animal” looks at her and says, “You! Yeah YOU! What are you doing?!? Come here RIGHT NOW!” My girlfriend actually thought she offended “The Animal!”
Steele instructs her to sit next to him. He then looks at me and says, “You! Is this your girlfriend or wife?” I immediately responded with, “Uhh girlfriend!” He looks at me with a glimmer in his eye and says, “Alright. I’m gonna make you a hero today! Give me your left arm!”
I assumed he wanted me to put my left arm around my girlfriend but he stopped me with a loud, “NO!” I froze in place. He took my left arm and said, “Put it around my neck! And take your right arm and lock it up! Put me in a headlock!” Then Steele softly grabbed my girlfriend by the back of her head and the photo we took was AMAZING. I’m putting George Steele in a headlock!
Afterward, he made sure the photo came out well – which I did! – and he signed his entry in the WWE Encyclopedia. I thanked him one more time and shook his hand before leaving. AMAZING, AMAZING GUY!
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Man, the folks at Legends of the Ring are on a role today! It was announced earlier this afternoon that Gerald Brisco and Carlito were added to a very promising Super Ticket lineup. They decided to make one more announcement before the day’s end:
Muraco is an awesome addition to an absolute stacked Super Ticket lineup. I’m definitely getting the Super Ticket based on the names announced; of course, it’s a bit risky considering talent can always cancel either well in advance or at the very last minute but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
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TMART Promotions is offering an exclusive “Super Ticket” deal of their own for The Big Event IX. They’ve already announced 8 out of 10 names scheduled to appear and, just moments ago, have revealed the final two:
Other names on their “Super Ticket” include:
“The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase
Barry Windham
Koko B. Ware
The Sandman
The Berzerker
The Cat
James J. Dillon
Missy Hyatt
Pretty awesome of TMART, no? Click here to purchase tickets for their Super Ticket package and/or the individual packages they’re offering for their talent. The “Super Ticket” is only $170 until August 1. Only 50 tickets will be sold.
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Some pretty exciting news! Two new names have been revealed for the LOTR XXI Super Ticket:
Brisco was penciled in for LOTR XX but had to cancel due to prior commitments with the WWE; he was replaced by Kimberly Page. Brisco’s a rare name and a strong addition to the Super Ticket.
Carlito made an appearance at LOTR XII; I’m unsure if that was his last appearance. He’s another strong addition to a really stacked Super Ticket, that also includes:
-Vickie Guerrero
-Taz
-Mike Rotunda
-Barry Windham
-Lacey Von Erich
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Some pretty big news broke earlier today: the WWE has come to terms on a multi-year deal with Dolph Ziggler according to Mike Johnson of PW Insider.
It appeared that Ziggler would depart for the WWE and rumors of his next destination took the internet by storm. Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and even Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling reportedly had interesting in in the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
My take: I really like Ziggler and I think there’s still time to turn him into a major, major superstar but it needs to happen sooner rather than later. He’s tremendous in the ring, has a great look, and the support of the fans (although that seems to be waning with the internet crowd).
Fans desperately want a new face of the company and many believe Ziggler could be that guy. It’ll be interesting to see what the WWE has in store for him. Did they re-sign him with the intention of giving him a monster push? Or did they sign him out of pure desperation for not wanting to lose another ring general? Hopefully it’s the former option.
Ziggler could be money and the WWE needs to capitalize on him. Frankly, apart of me is a little disappointed that he’s staying because his tour of the Indy’s would’ve been off the charts awesome. A disgruntled Dolph Ziggler with zero restrictions in the ring? Yeah, that would’ve been phenomenal.
Either way, the WWE is still King of the Land in Sports Entertainment (by default more so than actual merit) and Dolph can be a mega star if the company fully backs him. Here’s hoping we’ll see The Reign of Dolph within the next few years.
Squared Circle Conventions 