Wrestlemania week would be 7 days of grueling non stop grinding and very little sleep. I would sleep in the car for almost all of those 7 days. And in between I would step away from Wrestlemania and go for a major actor I never got before. I would get many fresh names and some of those I would upgrade later in the week.
Throughout the week I would be joined by former markedout board members heelorton, Chris Collector, and Lucas, current board members Bobby, Jwill, Oldschool Mike (plus son), board admins woodmo and wewantflair, Vanessa the Jesey Shore stalker, and lots more.
I shall split it to 2 parts. First part is almost entirely at the airport. Second part is various different places and almost no airport.
Day 1
Arrive in the evening at the airport. I had AOP flights earlier in the day, but I knew better than to waste my time on them (and indeed they were horrible). First get is Tiffany Stratton (fresh) plus autos. Then Alba Fyre (fresh) who is super nice and LA Knight (repeat). Then I get a rather unique name. Rey Mysterio's wife Angie Gutierrez. She was involved in storylines on TV so a rare valid name right there. Then got Isla Dawn (fresh) who is super nice, Odyssey Jones (Fresh), Tyler Bate, Cameron Grimes, and Karrion Kross. Scarlett said she doesn't do ops at the airport but thankfully I had no need to ask. Kit Wilson and Elton Prince are there, both big wants of mine I have Kit but I never got Elton cause he got injured. So it was fantastic to get the dual shot and complete my items and they were super friendly and super happy to stop. Also got a solo Elton since I have a solo Kit.
Grayson Waller who I never got was there but refused to stop at the airport. I begged, I pleaded, even followed him outside away from everyone but he would not budge. Big blow for me at the time but spoiler alert I would make it up later in the week. Ended my evening with a photo op with Santos Escobar
Tiffany Stratton
Pretty Deadly
Full list of Day 1 photo ops
Day 2
The day starts of early, and also exclusively at the airport. And it is off to a fantastic start. As soon as I get there I randomly see Mace and Mansoor! Score because when I got them with WWE they didn't take off masks for the photos. Now I got a dual shot no mask. What a great win right there! I consider both of those fresh names since mask ops are the same as not having the op.
Next up is a mass NXT flight. I clean up well here. First I get a rare name in Ryan Katz. Then Cora Jade, Brooks Jensen, and then Bron Breakker who was a huge want of mine. Heard some bad stories about him to I feared the worst but he was super nice and signed. Then Kiana James, Fallon Henley, and Norman Smiley (repeat). Got Norman to sign encyclopedias. Also on the flight was a very rare WCW name, namely Robbie Brookside! Got the op.
While walking see Zack Ryder randomly and get the op and auto. Next up to the international area where more people are coming. But I really don't know who most of these people are. One person who was flying in from abroad by coincidence was markedout board member Bobby. So I was apparently waiting for him as well! Got Ricky Knight Jr (Paige's nephew), Kid Lycos, Rhio, and Alexxis Falcon. Stepped away from the international area and got another op with Jade Cargill. Back to the international area and get Alexander Wolfe again plus auto.
Had the flight for Brandi Rhodes, wife of Cody Rhodes. She was not too accommodating. As she was walking and being whisked away I got her on two encyclopedias. Thankfully I didn't need another op which she wasn't trying to do.
Another flight was hall of famer Bull Nakano coming in. She is nice as can be and signs and does ops despite no make up. I also get announcer Alicia Taylor. Then to another area where I get some other names I'm not too familiar with. Lana Austin, Spike Trivet, Luke Jacobs, Lee McAteer.
One big blow for the evening was the cancelation of a flight that had a whole bunch of NXT names. This meant we didn't know how these people are coming in.
Towards the end of the evening, while walking around randomly see The Tonga Twins, Kaoz and Kona. I get dual and single shots. For the final wait of the evening I get Top Dolla, Nikki Cross, and Nick Aldis, all repeats. Nick refused to sign as did Booker T. Final op for the night was Stephanie Vaquer (who has since signed with NXT). Michael Hayes had a flight that got delayed till like 4am. While I needed autos, I was afraid to wait only for him to be in a bad mood that late. So I called it a night and got some sleep.
Bull Nakano
Full list of Day 2 photo ops part 1
Full list of Day 2 photo ops part 2
Encyclopedia autos obtained:
WWE_E V4
Alexander Wolfe
Norman Smiley
Brandi Rhodes
Bull Nekano
WWE_E V3
Norman Smiley
Brandi Rhodes
Bull Nekano
WWE_E V2
Bull Nekano
WWE_V V1
Bull Nekano
Day 3
This would be my first day that wasn't a full airport day. But first spot was the airport, mainly for a 20+ NXT motherload flight. First op of the day was Sumie Sakai (ROH). Then get Candice LeRae, Xia Brookside, Gary Wolfe, and Noelle Foley, all repeats. And Noelle's boyfriend Frank the Clown. Then get updated ops from Eddie Kingston and Dean Malenko. Wanted some autos from Dean but he wouldn't sign. Then get Rocky Romero (ROH) and Diamond Dallas Page who signed one per.
Next we all wait for Hall of Famer Thunderbolt Patterson. He is nice as can be but sadly has lazy eye so had to do several ops to get a couple of passable ones.
Head to the motherload flight, and on the way see Jazz and I get a photo op. Now the NXT flight, chaos ensued. It was very tiering, and I was running around everywhere but I managed to get everyone. Most were fresh but some were repeats. Terry Taylor (who I have) declined but everyone else didn't. Although in the coming days I would get better ops with many of them at other spots and events (and they would remember me from the airport). Here is the list of ops I got:
Jakara Jackson
Chip Danning
Shawn Spears (repeat)
Lash Legend
Oney Lorcan
Ridge Holland (repeat)
Jacy Jayne
Lyra Valkyrie
Adriana Rizzo
Dallas Irvin
Axiom
Joe Gacy
Riley Osborne
Luca Crusifino
Andre Chase
Izzi Dame
Nathan Frazer
Thea Hail
Ilja Dragunov
Noam Dar (repeat)
Oro Mensah
Duke Hudson (repeat)
Kelani Jordan
Carmelo Hayes
Roxanne Perez
Besides this, got autos from Jeff Hardy and Jimmy Hart. Didn't need ops. Saw Hornswoggle and got an updated photo with him. Got updates from Haku, Gerald Brisco, Bo Dallas, and Ahmed Johnson and some autos from Bo Dallas and Ahmed Johnson.
Saw Japanese legend Minoru Suzuki who was a complete dick. Would have been nice not to have to go to Battleground Wrestling at the ECW arena for his signing, but I guess you can't win them all. Also saw Trish Stratus but she was really fast getting into the cab and no one really asked her.
The second and final spot for the evening was a party event. Saw lots of people. The Tonga Twins remembered me from the airport the day before. One of them even burrowed my jacket since it was raining. Got an update op with Carlito.
Got Adriana Rizzo and Tony D'Angelo dual op. Then got updates with Skye Blue, Tasha Steelz, and Big E. Got Shazza McKenzie, Nixi XS, and updates with Gail Kim and Joaquin Wilde. Went up to Joaquin and he actually remembered me from an airport months ago. Told him hello and said let's do a non-airport shot. Then got a Kiah Dream and a cool dual op with Samantha Irvin and Ricochet. Then got Aleah James, Noam Dar, and all of Aleah James, Noam Dar, and Oro Mensah in one shot. Noam Dar said he admired my dedication at the airport. Got Vic Joseph (update), Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo again, and a dual shot with Luca Crusifino and Channing. Luca also remembered me from the airport earlier and commended me. Saw Carmelo Hayes and he declined another op with me saying he got me earlier at the airport. I guess no Carmelo upgrade for me tonight. I simply thanked him for the op earlier.
Never heard of him but I got rapper Beanie Sigel. Got a rather cool and novel group shot with Rob Van Dam and his wife and girlfriend (Jennifer Barlow and Katie Forbes). Got updates with R Truth and Ivy Nile, upgrade with Odyssey Jones, and a fresh op with Trick Williams as my final photo op for the evening.
MVP did not want to take a photo with me and got upset when I got the camera in front of him. It's ok I have him. Would have been an update from many years ago. Saw Bobby Lashley but didn't need another op so I just said hello to him. A notable blow off was The Rock's daughter Ava Raine. She declined me both going in and leaving. I tried my best to plead even telling her that I met her father and grandfather and showing her my photo op with Rocky Johnson. But she would not budge.
Encyclopedia autos obtained:
WWE_E V1
Diamond Dallas Page
Ahmed Johnson
WWE_E V2
Ahmed Johnson
Jimmy Hart (Mega Powers entry)
Jeff Hardy
WWE_E V3
Jimmy Hart
Bo Dallas
Jeff Hardy
WWE_E V4
Jimmy Hart
Bo Dallas
Jeff Hardy
No comments:
Post a Comment