The Road to Wrestlamania Report

Features

Last weekend, the WWE started the Road to Wrestlemania tour in their hometown of Stamford Connecticut. As I told the cameraman and interviewer for WWE television, this is the next best thing to going to Wrestlemania if you can’t be there. And here’s why…

Besides what they physically bring to each of the tour stops, the attitude of the workers for this tour was great. Everyone was excited and more than happy to talk to anyone who would strike up a conversation. This extends to the talent as well. Notable people on hand were Matt Hardy on Friday, Mark Henry on Saturday, Hillbilly Jim, who hosts the event, and surprise guests Todd Grisham and Howard Finkle.

Now let’s get down to what was there to do…



The empty main stage


The main stage was going all day with exclusive videos including Rey Mysterio 619, The Eddie Guerrero Story, My Name is Eugene, The Diva Search DVD, and various other promotional videos. This was a really nice touch because you could take a break from the booths and events and just sit down and watch some wrestling. As you can see, there was more than enough seating for about 2,000 people and it was more than full at times.


Pushups are fun when the National Guard is yelling at you to do more

This was also where Hillbilly Jim did his shtick introducing the day to the fans, and where the Army National Guard held their push-up competitions. Let it be known that I housed the guy I faced in the 30 second push up challenge. This kept people busy for the hour before Mark Henry was scheduled to be there, and the hour that we waited for him to get there. No one can blame him for being late, the snowstorm that blanketed the Northeast had started a few hours before and he was flying into the area. The National Guard guys were a bit pushy to get people involved, but the competitions were fun to watch while they happened.

I’ll make note now that everything (except the exclusive figures) was absolutely free.



Could you believe it, SHE was the one to finally pin HHH

All day you could have a Polaroid photo taken of you with some cut outs of the Undertaker, the Hurricane and Rey Mysterio Jr. and either the RAW or Smackdown! world title belts, or both if you’d like. They’d take the photo and put it in a cardboard fold-out frame for you. While waiting for Mark Henry, Hillbilly Jim joined in on the photo fun taking photos with whoever wanted. He’d also sign anything you wanted too.


Hillbilly signing a figure

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Hillbilly Jim taking the MC duties. Don’t mess with a country MC


This would be a good spot to talk about Hillbilly Jim. He was one of the nicest and approachable people I’ve ever met (this was a theme for the day as The Fink and Todd Grisham were also easily approachable) involved in wrestling. All day he was talking to people and signing anything anyone wanted. He started the day sitting at a table with some Hillbilly Jim exclusive Classic Superstars figures. They sold for $20 a pop, which seems high at first, but the money went towards a good cause. All the money they collected from selling the 5,000 figures would go towards the Circle of Champions. Hillbilly Jim would sign each figure sold and personalize it as well. Needless to say I picked one up and also one for wrestling figures guru PK and IP head honcho Weidro (I guess it was noisy and he heard me spell it wrong. Sorry Wids!). There was no limit to the amount of figures you could buy either. Hillbilly Jim was also kind enough to spend 15 minutes with me to conduct an interview, and you can only hear that interview here on Inside Pulse.

Look for that interview posted very soon.



Now can you dig THAT?

Also available all day was some displays that we’ve seen previous to this event. The Booker T mold that was explained on the extra features of the Wrestlemania 18 disc. I suggest you watch that as Booker T’s molding explanation is pretty funny.


Can YOU measure up?

Also on display was life size hand prints of the Big Show’s hands. This was on display last year at the Toys R Us in Times Square. I’m not sure if it was on display previous to that either.


That’s a jacket only Jimmy Hart would wear

Also was a display case showing some classic ring attire from some classic moments in WWE history, also known as “Ring Relics”. Included relics were Kurt Angles Singlet from his title win at 2002’s Armageddon, The Undertaker’s robe from Wrestlemania 15, HHH’s jacket from his return from his torn quad injury on January 2nd 2002, Jimmy Hart’s airbrushed jacket from the Survivor Series 1991, and a pair of Andre the Giant’s specially made boots. It would have been nice to seen this section be a little bigger, but I suppose the mall only has so much room for the displays.


Play Playstation OUTSIDE your home!

You could play RAW vs. Smackdown if you’d like, they had two stations available for people to play at their leisure. I don’t think there was ever not a line to play.


All the ladies like the “Diva” tattoo I’m told


I know, no “It’s not my fault” tattoos!


Next to the Playstation 2 booth was the Airbrushed tattoo booth. There was always a line for this booth as well, and there was quite a number of different stenciled tattoos to be had. The tattoos supposedly lasted a few days at most according to the staff. While I didn’t get a tattoo, I would have gone for the “Word Life” tattoo to show how street I am.


Take home a DVD for free.

Then there was the “Call A Match” booth. This was free keep in mind. You could call a match of a possible three matches. John Cena vs. the Big Show at WMXX, Eddie vs. Angle at WMXX or Booker T vs. HHH at WMXIX. You only got the last few minutes of the match but this was very cool.


Alongside Rob I’m Todd Grisham


Todd Grisham liked to make fun of the Coach


Todd Grisham was hanging around the event (his family lives close and his wife and kid were there as well). And was willing to commentate with me, so on MY DVD is “Alongside Rob I’m Todd Grisham.” Very cool and something I won’t forget anytime soon. I’ll also say this about Todd GRisham, he looks small a nerdy on TV, he doesn’t come across like that in real life. And the dude is tall too.

Another booth was a WWE.COM booth where you could surf WWE.COM or any of website of any of the sponsors. Also available at the booth was free copies of the Diva magazine which included the Diva Search DVD. A nice souvenir.

Other small touches were advertisements for the Royal Rumble everywhere, and placards for everyone inducted into the Hall of Fame giving their career highlights and listing any belts that they won during their career.



The Fink has a conversation with Hillbilly Jim

Also on hand was Howard Finkle who was talking to fans. He also lives in the area and he said he knew about the event and just figured he’d come by and help out. It was very cool to hear him say my name. We had a small conversation about what the Hall of Fame means and how glad he is the WWE brought it back. Finkle said that he doesn’t think he should be inducted yet because he still has a lot of work still to do with the company yet. Coming this June he’ll have been with the company for 30 years part time and 25 years full time. He also said there are many personalities that should be inducted before he does. I asked if being in the Hall of Fame means that your career is over and he said that it just means how appreciated you have been by the fans and by your peers. He pointed out Sergeant Slaughter still works for the company and was inducted last year. He said there’s nothing better than going to work everyday doing something you love.


The World’s strongest man gives the world’s strongest interview
He was insinuating afterwards that the interviewer was quite a party girl while on the road.

Mark Henry signed autographs for everyone in line and was a nice guy as well. He said that his shoulder is fully healed, but Vince “wouldn’t return my e-mails.” He predicted a Patriots and Falcons victory for the playoffs, but Finkle didn’t agree with that. Somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 fans were on hand to get autographs, which wasn’t bad considering the snow that was falling. Matt Hardy drew over 6,000 fans to the mall for autographs, which is phenomenal considering the size of the mall.

WWE cameras were around all day interviewing different people (including myself!) and the different talent as well.

The event was like a mini-Axxess festival. Two thumbs up.

Check out Hillbilly Jim’s website at www.HillbillyJim.com

The Road to Wrestlemania makes the following stops:
For full info click here.

Monday, January 24, 2005
New York, NY

Thursday, January 27, 2005
Philadelphia, PA

Friday, January 28, 2005
Media, PA

Saturday, January 29, 2005
Media, PA

Monday, January 31, 2005
Pittsburgh, PA

Thursday, February 3, 2005
Cleveland, OH

Friday, February 4, 2005
Strongsville, OH

Saturday, February 5, 2005
Strongsville, OH

Monday, February 7, 2005
Ann Arbor, MI

Thursday, February 10, 2005
Detroit, MI

Saturday, February 12, 2005
Troy, MI

Friday, February 13, 2005
Troy, MI

Friday, February 13, 2005
St. Louis, MI

Saturday, February 14, 2005
Chicago, IL

Wednesday, February 17, 2005
Chicago, IL

Thursday, February 18, 2005
Lincolnwood, IL

Friday, February 19, 2005
Lincolnwood, IL

Monday, February 21, 2005
St. Louis, MI

Friday, February 25, 2005
Des Peres, MO

Saturday, February 26, 2005
Des Peres, MO

Friday, March 4, 2005
Bloomington, MN

Saturday, March 5, 2005
Bloomington, MN

Friday, March 11, 2005
Mesquite, TX

Saturday, March 12, 2005
Mesquite, TX

Friday, March 18, 2005
Sugar Land, TX

Saturday, March 19, 2005
Sugar Land, TX

Monday, March 21, 2005
San Antonio, TX

Friday, March 25, 2005
Mesa, AZ

Saturday, March 26, 2005
Mesa, AZ

Monday, March 28, 2005
Phoenix, AZ

Friday, April 1, 2005
Culver City, CA

Saturday, April 2, 2005
Culver City, CA