Sci Fi Con, Legends of the Ring, KISS Expo, and NYC

Initially I was planning to ride up to Sci Fi Con in Altoona, PA with Joresky, but this changed due to a conflict of interest. Namely I wanted to attend Legends of the Ring, which meant I couldn't do Altoona on Saturday. Joresky had no interest in Legends and could not get off his night job Friday. Additionally, Joresky wanted to attend the convention in CT but given the distance and names that were there, I had little interest in that. The last time I attended LOTR was October 2013. So I was pumped to make my return and get a bunch of names I needed, which as far as wrestling cons go is very rare for me these days. 

So I head out Friday to Altoona, which would be a huge regret of mine. I will reveal why later. My objective is three Back to the Future guests and one Pirates of the Caribbean guest. Sadly when I arrive Donald Fullilove AKA Goldie Wilson is not at his table. I get a photo op with Jeffrey Weissman AKA Fake George, a fully suited Harry Waters Jr, and Kevin McNally. Now I get NYC info for Sam Elliot, a huge want of mine. If I leave PA soon I can make exits. But sadly no Goldie around. Harry talks to Goldie via cell phone and apparently he has no plans of coming till his 6:30 panel. PUNCH! So I leave for NYC, make it there, park for free, and wait for exits. We are 4 people. Sam comes out and does nothing for no one, even the security guard stops us and tells me I should stop "crying" as I'm a "grown man". These people truly don't know what these things mean to us and the effort we put for them  to make matters worse EVERYONE in NYC got him the past couple of days but when I try I fail. What a HUGE PUNCH. In hindsight I wish I came here for entries where he stopped and skipped Sci Fi con altogether. Ugh! All I got from this spot was a picture with director Brett Haley. 

I then join Vanessa the Jersey Shore Stalker at a spot for Orange is the New Black folks where I also see and . But that spot is pulling teeth for very little as most were not stopping. I go to a spot for Oscar Issac but find out the info I read was misleading. He is apparently doing rehearsals but not actual shows. Meaning we don't know when he will be at that spot. Another PUNCH. 

Thanks to a tip from Greg I then move to a spot for Devin Ratray AKA Buzz McAllister from Home Alone 1&2. I am joined by both Greg and Suzanne. He arrives and is as nice as can be. Greg gives me his ticket to the event and Suzanne gives hers to Vanessa. We go in and eat some pizza, drink a little beer, and leave. 

I try a spot for randoms. Upon arriving we see Natasha Lyonne who blows us off (but I had her already). But sadly don't see much else after that. I then head out to NJ for Legends of the Ring, park my car, and sleep. 

Harry Waters, Jr

Full list of PA and NYC photo ops


Wake up and it felt good to be back at Legends of the Ring. Saw Terence, Ken and Steve, Bill Paley, Lucas, Old School Mike, Ira, Ray Duct and his daughter, Chris Collector, plus more. Felt like old times. On the valid side both Ashley Massaro and Lanny Poffo recognized me from previous shows and told me hello. 

First stop was an upgraded Kevin Sullivan. He was wearing a hat and spectacles so I asked him to remove them (after all I want an UPgrade here). He did so. First shot was invalid so I got a redo. 

Next up, Los Boricuas. I loved the DOA/NOD/Boricuas feud, and I have photo ops with every living member of those factions except the 3 members of Boricuas. So I rectified that at Legends. I also got Savio Vega in the group shot though I have him. But honestly those 3 members are such lower names having them in any form besides the group op is pretty pointless. 

There were lots of barely valid indy workers charging $20 for a photo op. Since I didn't want to pay that kind of money to roll the dice, I decided to just get Deonna Purrazzo who seems pretty flamboyant as she worked for ROH, TNA, and WWE. Then I got to the La Resistance table. Rene and Sylvain Grenier were there but I already virgilized Sylvain in the past. I got the Rene combo and Sylvain was about to pose but the promoter said only Rene. Sylvain acted half offended but I explained that I got him before and shook his hand and he laughed and said "good seeing you again". Got Rene to complete my La Resistance 2 pack. 

Next up, the main reason I came to LOTR and the only guest I was getting from the superticket line up, Tony Schiavone. I got a photo op and had him sign my WCW trading card already signed by Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay. I ended my time at LOTR with a Barry O photo op. I wanted to get Jake Roberts to sign my Beyond the Mat poster, but he wanted $200 (at least it went down from $500 a few years ago). 

Tony Schiavone

Full list of Legends of the Ring photo ops

I then drive to KISS Expo in NYC. My main reason to be there is to upgrade my Peter Criss photo op. While there I get a photo op with former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick. He was in the band when they played "God Gave Rock and Roll To You" which was at the end of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. 

Now I am standing in line for Peter Criss. I am about an hour into that line then by chance I am chatting with Ray Ric via text and he tells me no table ops! WTF! To boot I was lucky enough to get that info shortly before the last pro op session. The web site spelled out table ops but that apparently changed. So I quickly moved to the pro op line. I got my photo op but sadly the photo op isn't very good. First off they were uploaded to dropbox and resolution was low. I was writing an email to the photographer (which I made sure to obtain before leaving the con) but then I figured out how to download the full rez shot from dropbox. So I deleted my email. Sadly even at full rez the photo didn't look too good because of both the quality of the camera used and the distance from which the photo was taken. Another PUNCH.

Sadly no email raising hell is going to fix this problem as the damage is done (cause as I said I figured out how to get the full rez shot). To illustrate I will post near full rez shots of both my photo ops from KISS Expo. Very furious how Peter Criss came out. 

Bruce Kulick

Peter Criss


After this I call some NYC combo hunters to see what's cooking, I get a tip for Heidi Klum at a spot. Additionally it's a spot where randoms could show up. I arrive and one combo hunter already waiting there tells me Usher is here. So I pull up an 8x10 that is in my car. It's off to a good start as Heidi is nice as can be. I get a photo op. Bill Hader shows up and I get an upgrade. We see Usher and ask initially he ignores. Then he sees my photo and signals for the pen. I run and hand him the sharpie he does one each. Since I have a photo op and he was wearing a hat I had no reason to ask him for another shot. 

At one point I see a short brunet and point her out to a combo hunter. I say who is this, is she anyone. She is standing there texting. Then her car comes up and all of a sudden the combo hunter goes "it's Demi Moore" as she is almost in the car! Another huge PUNCH! WTF! I was pointing her out to him for minutes and he said nothing. Well now the game has changed. I was planning to check out other spots now I gotta wait for Demi to come back. 

While doing so a car pulls up, and the combo hunter says it's Robert Deniro. We have stuff for Robert, he eventually goes into his car but denies. Leaves his car to go back inside, says he is "off duty" and doing nothing. Vanessa eventually arrives. While waiting we also see Harvey Keitel and I upgrade my photo op. Eventually Deniro leaves and again says he's doing nothing. Finally Demi comes back, we are 3 people and she ignores! Wow that rejection hurt like a mother fucker! 

Wait for a bit at another spot in the hopes of randoms, but nothing. While I had info for the next evening I knew the crowds would be insane I decided to simply leave the city and use info I had away from NYC. Stay tuned for my next report. I even took a different route to reduce tolls even further than I normally do (paid only $4 in tolls total). May have to use that in the future. 

Full list of NYC street shots

Legends of the Ring autographs and Usher autograph