Which Wrestlers Have You Personally Encountered?

[Montague]

A thread to discuss your experiences with pro-wrestlers:

[Playboy]

A thread to discuss your experiences with pro-wrestlers:

Excellent thread. I'll start.

Santino Marella. I went to highschool with him and partied it up with him many a time. He was always a comedian in school. Class clown so to speak. When he won the IC title in his debut he came home that weekend and he and a bunch of my other friends, we all got drunk in his backyard and my buddy's dad was running around the backyard hammered with the IC title. Funniest shit I ever saw  

Sid Vicious. I met him at a peeler joint back in 1996 after a house show here in Toronto. The guy was hammered out of his mind and staggering around all over the place. He was HUGE. When he pissed, he litterally took up two unrinal spots. That's how wide he was and he was tall. He had to duck under the doorway to get in.

Kevin Nash. Met him at an autograph signing. He was very laid back and very cool. He's another one that was very tall and huge.

Kane, Lance Storm & Trish Stratus. They were all working out at my gym (Gold's) the day before WM18 here in Toronto. Kane was huge. He was doing incline barbell presses with 315lbs for 10-15 rep sets. It was his "light day" because he didn't want to be sore and tired for WM18. Imagine that.

Trish was a doll. Very good personality and not snobby at all. She lives in Richmond Hill which is a suberb just outside of Toronto. She was smokin' hot and the TV didn't do her justice at all. She did about 1 hour of running on a treadmill.

Lance Storm was a very quite guy. He didn't mutter more then 3 words. He's just a quite guy who minded his own. He was training arms and was throwing some good weight around.

There's my list.  

[Montague]

My buddy got to see the Warloard train. I forget the exact numbers he threw up, but some of his lifts were easily 3-4x what the average gym guy “works out” with.

Most of the guys I’ve met were backstage at indy shows.
You would often see a few big WWF names from the 80’s & 90’s like Bundy, HonkyTonk, Foley, Lawler, etc.
I think I met at least a third of the original ECW roster - Douglas, Candido & Sunny, Balls Mahoney, Sandman, etc.
Also met a few TNA (at the time) guys – A.J., Punk, Sonjay, etc.

Most of them were polite and friendly.
All of them were respectful.
Except Virgil, who was – and is – a complete dick.

[Option D]

hulk hogan...at a kroger in atlanta...he got like 50 redbulls..

usually im the resident big guy...but this assclown stole my thunder when he went to the grocery store with a cut off..to beat him...i took my shirt all the way off..take that "hulk"

[Montague]

Hogan draws a lot of attention because he’s so well known, and, physically, he’s pretty hard to miss.

I think that’s one reason he loves Tampa. He lived there for so many years that people – and even a lot of regular tourists – have become pretty desensitized to him. He can buy milk & eggs at the store without hoards of people asking him for pics & autographs.

But, he’s usually nice to most of the people who do approach him – especially if they’re respectful about it.

My buddy went to FL a few years back. He ran into Hulk at some restaurant and asked if he could get his pic taken with him.
Hogan said, “Hey brother, I’ll tell you what – I’ve got to meet some people outside, but when I finish up I’ll come back in & take that picture.”

My friend thought it was just a polite snub.
About 20 min. later, Hogan came back in, walked over to my friend, and posed for a pic with him.

[Option D]

Hogan draws a lot of attention because he’s so well known, and, physically, he’s pretty hard to miss.

I think that’s one reason he loves Tampa. He lived there for so many years that people – and even a lot of regular tourists – have become pretty desensitized to him. He can buy milk & eggs at the store without hoards of people asking him for pics & autographs.

But, he’s usually nice to most of the people who do approach him – especially if they’re respectful about it.

My buddy went to FL a few years back. He ran into Hulk at some restaurant and asked if he could get his pic taken with him.
Hogan said, “Hey brother, I’ll tell you what – I’ve got to meet some people outside, but when I finish up I’ll come back in & take that picture.”

My friend thought it was just a polite snub.
About 20 min. later, Hogan came back in, walked over to my friend, and posed for a pic with him.

oh i was totally joking...he told me i had a good build and asked me where i was from (cali plates in atlanta) i told him i grew up in Venice ca...he said "man did i have some times there"

HE drove a black hummer

[Playboy]

Hogan draws a lot of attention because he’s so well known, and, physically, he’s pretty hard to miss.

I think that’s one reason he loves Tampa. He lived there for so many years that people – and even a lot of regular tourists – have become pretty desensitized to him. He can buy milk & eggs at the store without hoards of people asking him for pics & autographs.

But, he’s usually nice to most of the people who do approach him – especially if they’re respectful about it.

My buddy went to FL a few years back. He ran into Hulk at some restaurant and asked if he could get his pic taken with him.
Hogan said, “Hey brother, I’ll tell you what – I’ve got to meet some people outside, but when I finish up I’ll come back in & take that picture.”

My friend thought it was just a polite snub.
About 20 min. later, Hogan came back in, walked over to my friend, and posed for a pic with him.

Hogan was always good to the public. Constantly signing autographes and taking pics.

[wes mantooth]

My friends father used to do some promotion work with the (WWF) WWE back in the 80's. He lived about 4 houses down....So every now and again some wrestlers would come to the house, typically in a limo...and they would go out to eat or whatever.

So my friend would call me when they got there.....his parents would never tell him who was coming because they knew all the neighborhood kids would be in the streets....

So over time I was able to haul ass on the bmx bike and get down there in time to meet some of the legends....

hogan
piper
etc....

but the coolest was Big John Stud.....

this is when his gimmick was to carry a suitcase full of money (i believe $10,000) for anyone who could "slam" him


So I walk into the house and my friends dad says "there he is John"...soooo big john stud rushes to the door and grabs me under my arms (i was about 9 or 10) lifts me up so my head touches the ceiling and says "so youre here to take the challenge? U think you can SLAM ME BOY?" 


just about shit my pants...






he put me down and laughed...shook my hand.....and his fingers almost touched my elbow which everyone thought was pretty funny as well......

they left to go eat.....and i had a great story to tell the rest of the neighborhood the next day

[Option D]

Hey Piper was on the Radio yesterday...he was telling cool stories...

Sad story...he said that he had seen many people die..

he was in the hotel room in miami drinking with texas tornado (his leg was amputated he said) anyway...he and tornado had found themselves on the ledge and the window had closed...well mr perfect and his father (who was a wrestler or manager i think ) well they had come in the room and saw them on the ledge and opened the window and helped them in....Piper said they are all dead now except for him...

sad shit huh

[Montague]

...the coolest was Big John Stud.....

this is when his gimmick was to carry a suitcase full of money (i believe $10,000) for anyone who could "slam" him

I've never heard anyone say a bad word about John Stud. By all accounts, he was the complete & total opposite of his heel persona.
Bobby Heenan has said that, even while working heel, John would always stop what he was doing and sign autographs for fans, etc.

I think the only person who ever had a problem with Stud was Andre, and it went back to that “who’s the real giant in the WWF” angle.
Stud called Andre a phony in worked interviews, while claiming to be the real giant. Andre was always smashed and probably believed some of what Stud was saying, so he used to intentionally hurt John in their matches.

Have you ever gotten a potato from a giant?

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

Wow, where to start.....I used to watch wrestling all the time when i was kid and still sneak peeks every now and then these days on TV. Here's my list from as early as I can remember to as recently as the last 5 years:

Randy Savage: When I was 13 years old(1987), my father knew a friend who worked the lighting at events at the now defunct Cap Center in Landover, MD. It was a taping of "Saturday Night's Main Event". It was me, my father, and my little cousin. We got to enter through the backstage area and we were completely wide-eyed and blown away. Huge black limo pulls up and out pops the Macho Man with Elizabeth right behind him. He walks directly towards us and past us but looks down and says in his macho man voice, "How you all doin?" Awesome.

I also saw Tito Santana and Rick Martel(Strike Force--right before they beat the Hart Foundation for the Tag titles), Hacksaw Jim Duggan reading a news paper, the Ultimate Warrior who was pacing back and forth and pumping himself up(he was in the opening squash match.) Also saw Slick(the black manager of Sheik and Volkov). The biggest highlight was seeing Andre the Giant. Holy shit, he was the biggest human being I have ever seen up close, even to this day. He was wrestling Hulk Hogan that night in the main event.) He also had the biggest head I have ever seen.

In 1999, I was at an afterhours club in downtown Baltimore, fucked up on Ecstasy. It's 3am. I'm there with my girlfriend at the time and in walks the following: Rey Msyterio, Konnan, Brian Knobbs, and several Nitro girls. They were all fucked up out of their mind on X. I walk by Konnan and I yell, "K-Dog, what's up?" He slapped fives with me and smiled. I bummed a cigarette from Rey Msyterio and bullshitted with him. I couldn't believe how little he was. All of them were getting fucked up out of their minds and they had a wrestling show to do the next day. I asked Rey if he was going to have enough time to recover from partying to put on a decent show the next day. He said, "dude, I've been doing this shit since I was a little kid in Mexico. I can wrestle a great match with my eyes closed."

In 2003, I was working out at a Gold's gym outside of Baltimore. The WWE was in town for a PPV at the Baltimore Arena. There was about 20 wrestlers there working out. Dean malenko, Chris Benoit, Orlando Jordan, Albert(the bald dude w all the piercings. He's from Boston so we were talking about the Red Sox.) I also saw Rhino(super cool dude), Rey Msyterio(again), and Steven Reagal.

Got Benoit's autograph and he couldn't be any nicer. Feels kinda eerie thinking about it, considering what ended up happening to him.

There's all of the wrestlers I've encountered.

[Option D]

In 1999, I was an afterhours club in downtown Baltimore, fucked up on Ecstasy. 

thats what im talkin bout

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

thats what im talkin bout

Oh yeah...the love drug. I fucked so many different hot pieces of ass that I probably didn't deserve to fuck because of X. Haven't touched it about 6 years, though. X mixed with a little bit of Special K and marijuana....good stuff.


Also...met Tom Zenk, Ron Simmons, and Rick Rude back in 1992 at a hotel bar outside of Baltimore. Rick Rude was arm wrestling some big ass dude that challenged him and Rude demolished him. This guy had an easy 70lbs and 3 inches of height over Rude but he got absolutely crushed.

I think I read somewhere that Rick Rude was an arm wrestling champion back in his hometown of Minneapolis. Made it look easy. Nice guy, too.

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

God Damn.....I keep forgetting the other memories.....

While working out at Kevin Levrone's World Gym in Severna Park, MD I met a few lucha libre wrestlers from WCW. Psychosis and some other guy that is completely masked but played the air guitar with a steel chair. Who was that guy? I forgot.

Met Bill Goldberg at World Gym. Got his autograph. Super nice guy. too. This was the day after his Starcade 98 match against Kevin Nash in DC where he lost his first pro match. On his autograph, it read....'Bill Goldberg 175-1'. Still got the autograph, too.

WCW had a Nitro Show at the Baltimore Arena the next night. I asked him if he was wrestling. He said, "no, tonight I think I have the night off."    I said, " good thing because the Baltimore Arena is a real shithole." Goldberg said, " you're right, it is a fucking shithole!'


We shook hands and off he went to train. The embarrasing thing was that later on, some fucking juiced up tool with bad genetics was walking around with a tank top and sporting the exact same tattoo on his delt that Goldberg had. He keep trying to bother Bill while he was working out until the gym manager told him to stop.

[Montague]

...and some other guy that is completely masked but played the air guitar with a steel chair. Who was that guy?

La Parka?

You've got some cool-ass memories, brother.

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

La Parka?

You've got some cool-ass memories, brother.

Thanks, Buddy.

Yup! La Parka....He wore that Skeletor outfit.

Pro Wrestling has always been a guilty pleasure for me. I've been watching it since I was a kid. I seriously hate pro wrestling of today. I can stomach TNA(better athletes and talent pool), especially with Hogan on board but that's it. WWE makes me ill.

[leonp1981]

I'm afraid I can't compare to any of these encounters!  The only guy I've met was Shirley Crabtree aka Big Daddy.  I went to a show to see him and managed to get his autograph afterwards.

[Montague]

Was that in his brother Max's promotion?

I know at one time, all (or most) of the siblings were involved - Max owned it, Big Daddy was the "star," I think [his name was] Brian was a referee...

Talk about keeping it all in the family...
Sounds like UK's version of Stampede!

[leonp1981]

Was that in his brother Max's promotion?

I know at one time, all (or most) of the siblings were involved - Max owned it, Big Daddy was the "star," I think [his name was] Brian was a referee...

Talk about keeping it all in the family...
Sounds like UK's version of Stampede!

I honestly have no idea!  I'll dig out the autograph some day and have a look.

[Playboy]

These are all great stories. 

I love the Piper stories...lol...never a dull moment with him. He could out drink anyone under the table.

[Option D]

These are all great stories. 

I love the Piper stories...lol...never a dull moment with him. He could out drink anyone under the table.

man...he was telling all types of stories ...he was doin promo on the radio and the host said that was absolutley the best guest ever on the show


Piper was telling his stories here in LA at a comedy place. I wish i could have gone. When he told the story about Mr Perfectm he got a bit chocked up. He said he saw over 70 wrestlers die!!!!!!

[Playboy]

man...he was telling all types of stories ...he was doin promo on the radio and the host said that was absolutley the best guest ever on the show


Piper was telling his stories here in LA at a comedy place. I wish i could have gone. When he told the story about Mr Perfectm he got a bit chocked up. He said he saw over 70 wrestlers die!!!!!!

Ya, Piper was really close with Mr.Perfect. Sad shit to see how young some of these guys were that died. That's "the life" for you. Constantly on the road. Constantly taking bumps. WOrking out all the time. Working around injuries. Partying to try and for get. Rec drugs, booze. It all catches up to you after a while and if one is not carefull...

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

can't believe Piper is still alive and kicking considering how hard he's lived his life.

[Option D]

Ya, Piper was really close with Mr.Perfect. Sad shit to see how young some of these guys were that died. That's "the life" for you. Constantly on the road. Constantly taking bumps. WOrking out all the time. Working around injuries. Partying to try and for get. Rec drugs, booze. It all catches up to you after a while and if one is not carefull...

Im not gonna lie...i actually got chocked up and a tear might have fallen when bam bam bigelow died...I loved him as a kid and one time i went to the LA sports arena to see WWF and i met him ( i was hella young...couldnt have been over 10) and he picked up...my mom has the pictures at her house...

I just dont get it.. Its not just the drugs...because its shit like suicide and just bizar circumstances...dude look at texas tornado...man, look at his whole family (david mike and chris) man thats some willd shit..then you add in the mr perfects, rick rudes...man did any of them live to 50

[regmac]

A thread to discuss your experiences with pro-wrestlers:

Hogans and the late Big John Stud at THE MECCA.  My co-worker ran into Savage and company when the WWF circus were flying out together to Cleveland. According to him Tito Santana was pretty much the one resposible for the travel and Savage was mentally lost even out of charachter.