Strange Encounters with Wrestlers

[Kaz Hayashi]

2 hours ago, King Coconut said:

This thread has finally stabilised at around a 27% chinny reckon quotient. 

Me up mt. Fuji, my ticket stub from the Osaka show with the figure I picked up. 

But yes, Beardo in Greggs was full on chin as you could imagine.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Went to a House Of Hardcore show in Sydney last year. After the show, got talking to the Spirit Squad- Kenny, Mikey and... Randy, who is a new addition on the Squad on the indy scene. One of my friends is an indy wrestler and got along with them. So we were all going to get some food after the show, but Randy wanted to go back to his hotel room for 5 minutes to change clothes. So we all went up to his hotel room, and he was rooming with Lance Archer for the night. Archer was already in bed snoozing. I was dying to take a piss, so I asked to use the bathroom. Was terrified of Archer waking up, interrupting me mid-slash, and wondering who the fuck is this kid pissing in my hotel room.

We went to a pie shop, being the only thing open in the area past midnight. Al Snow was in there enjoying a pastry with his wife. My wrestler friend asked, "Do you wanna meet Al?" I did, but I didn't want to be the asshole fan interrupting Al while he was enjoying some pie with his wife, so I left it.

[simonworden]

Some fairly mundane stories here

A friend of mine used to be part of Fozzy's tour management when they came to the UK. Just before leaving the country for good, I got to go to their gig in Reading and afterwards was invited backstage by Rich Ward from Fozzy along with my friend's family and a few other mates from this group. We hung out with the band members having a beer for a good couple of hours while Jericho refused to come out and join in as he was listening to a podcast. He eventually did come out, had a chat, laughed when I said as I couldn't play an instrument or sing the best way for me to get groupies was to move abroad and teach English and then he hopped onto his bus. In a similar vein a friend of mine stayed in what sounded like a horrifically rundown Travel Lodge in Nottingham where he met the band members sans Jericho who was staying someone much fancier while the others on a budget had to rough it! As this mate isn't a wrestling fan or a Fozzy fan it apparently took a good way through  the joint to join the dots.

If anyone remembers the ill fated NCW promotion whose first show was at the River mead leisure center in Reading in 2003, they had Shane Douglas on their first show. He wondered out of nowhere behind me in the queue causing me to be starstruck (first big wrestling name I had met) dropping my coffee all over the place. He completely no sells it, says "Hi i'm Shane Douglas, thank you for coming out to see me" shakes my hand and continues to order. Although it might have been clear it was his fault I dropped the coffee I wasn't wearing anything and didn't do anything to particular give away I was a wrestling fan, I might have been there for the family fun swim. Maybe I fit a stereo type in those days...maybe I still do now.

A friend of mine i've since lost contact with trains on and off with The UK Kid and VPW (if they are still going). They were testing the waters in Southampton by running a small sports hall way out from the city centre around 2011-2012. One of the shows had Billy Gunn in a non-wrestling appearance (this was after 1PW fucked his visa), I didn't interact with him as such but as I sat with my mate and the other trainees it turned out one of the guys in our group was future IWGP champion Jay White, much stockier than now my friend seemed to do most of the talking to him while Jay said very little apart from shouting Italian stereotype things at his mate in one match.  Definately didn't think I was sat next to a future NJPW main eventer at that time.  

 

[Lord-Mountevans]

On 8/28/2019 at 9:38 AM, BomberPat said:

My only run-ins with Alex Shane have been completely positive

I fear you may be in the minority here? 😢

[Stinky Dad]

I remember heading over to Doncaster for one of the early 1PW shows and going for food in the pub near to the Ice Arena before the show. I decided to wander down to Asda to get some post-show cans and stumbled upon Christian and Christopher Daniels signing autographs sat in one of the covered shelter things that usually house trolleys. That was a bit randomly mad. 

Also, my mum has made bacon butties for Chris Masters and Tommaso Ciampa. My mate used to run a couple of wrestlers from one show to another, we'd been at PCW but I had to come home the next morning where as they were heading down South. They were lovely blokes and didn't mind at all the detour to mine so I could get out. I'd phoned ahead and my mum, bless her, had made a load of bacon on toast and wrapped them in tin foil for them to have on the rest of their journey. Got a tweet from Ciampa later on thanking my mum for the food. I was so fucking jealous the bitch. 

[Maikeru]

Was at a convention in London a few years back and decided to pop into the Wetherspoons next door for lunch and pint. As it would turn out, so did Jim Ross, Typhoon, Papa Shango, Ron Simmons, and Demolition (who sat a few tables away). I happened to leave around the same time to go back to the venue next door, and overheard Ax ask the hotel reception for a cab to Heathrow in the morning. 

I had gotten a pic taken with Ax and Smash earlier in the day, plus an autograph afterwards when I told them enthusiastically that I'd come out just to see them. Ax was polite and asked how far I'd had to come..... felt a bit awkward answering "er.... South London". So after seeing them for a pic, then for an autograph, then in Wetherspoons, then at the hotel reception, I ran into them a fourth time when they were on their way out of the convention hall and stopped to check out a really impressive fan artist's work. I already was feeling a bit paranoid at this point that they'd think I was stalking them. I hurried to the lift after that to go up to the ground floor (convention was in the basement of the hotel). Just as the doors were about to close, in walks Jim Ross and........ Demolition. I pretended to be completely uninterested and kept my eyes fixed on my phone. In the process I inadvertently forgot to press the button for the ground floor, and ended up going to the 7th floor with the three of them, who then got out to head back to their rooms. I didn't lift my head once. 

I worked ring boy jobs here and there for a few promotions when I lived in Japan from '07 to '08. At a NOAH show in Kyoto we were setting up the ring a few hours before bell time and Kenta Kobashi walked in and started lifting weights right there in the venue hall. 

Chris Hero was lurking at the back of the crowd after his match at one of the other NOAH shows watching the rest of the bouts and came up to speak to me (curious as to what this white guy was doing checking tickets in a random Japanese city) - his opening line was "you don't look very Japanese!". I explained I'd gotten the gig via involvement in the local university pro wrestling society (yes those are a thing in Japan) and he was like..... "oh cool". He was a gent and best part of it was I got to ask him a burning question I'd had for ages that only a foreign wrestler in Japan could answer - "given few of the Japanese wrestlers speak much English, how do you communicate in the ring?". He had no issue breaking kayfabe in explaining that it's generally ok because most wrestling moves/sequences are intuitive, "just as long as you don't do anything complicated!"

Taiyo Kea approached me for the same reason before an All Japan show I worked at in the same venue. Said his Japanese was still so-so after all his years there and that mine was probably better. Nice and humble bloke. 

Taru and Brother Yasshi (from Dragon Gate) are in all the time at a wrestling-themed pub in Kobe at which I was regular for the years I was there and still visit when I'm in the country. I once asked Taru to chop me and he had no hesitation in obliging. He let me reciprocate (I'd had about six pints by this point) and thankfully made it out in one piece. He told me he was returning to All Japan a few years ago (but it ended up falling through). Yasshi is a gent and pretends to be impressed watching me sing karaoke in Japanese. His family are in the gravestone making business and he plans to retire to that at some point. 

[Ironic Indie Lad]

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 9:24 PM, Maikeru said:

I worked ring boy jobs here and there for a few promotions when I lived in Japan from '07 to '08. At a NOAH show in Kyoto we were setting up the ring a few hours before bell time and Kenta Kobashi walked in and started lifting weights right there in the venue hall. 

That is amazing.

I would love to lift weights with the great Kenta Kobashi.