Wrestling Hangover

"Jessie" and "Vince"

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Obviously I'm a wrestling fan. None of us would be here if I wasn't. My wrestling hangover adventure started on March 29. That was the debut of the From the Rafters Radio. It's a weekly collaborative show with Chad and my other wrestling brethren, Adam Testa of the Baltimore Sun Ring Posts blog, Chris Hagstrom who is Executive Producer for All American Pro Wrestling, and "the Wrestling Roommate" Aaron Heller.

Following the debut show, I packed my bags for my weekend getaway to Miami, site of Wrestlemania 28 and a lot of other wrestling activities.

PAC vs. Lo Ki at Dragon Gate USA

Chad and I opted to go to the Dragon Gate USA show. It was a $65 cab ride, so you know we mean business. This was my first experience with DGUSA, but I was familiar with some of the talent. The show was really good I thought, particularly the PAC vs. Lo Ki match. I'm partial to PAC these days, after meeting him at AAPW Main Event earlier this year. The set up was great and there were random wrestlers walking around the hotel lobby (which was the venue). I got a chance to talk briefly with another guest of Main Event, the one and only Colt Cabana. I like that about Indy shows too. The talent is able to talk with the fans.

Ready for the Hall of Fame

Saturday saw a bit of downtime for us until the evening. We suited up (or shirt and tied it up) for the WWE Hall of Fame. It's always a highlight of the weekend. I love hearing from legends as they receive one last shout out for their accomplishments. Seeing the Four Horsemen go in was a highlight, but I think ALL of this year's inductees were worthy. Another note, JBL gave the best induction speech of the night. (He inducted Ron Simmons)  The stories told by the inductors and the legends gives us a glimpse behind the curtain so to speak.  It allows us to see another layer and learn that these men and women are human too, but have defied the odds and made something extraordinary out of themselves.  This year I think there were less cat calls, which made the experience more enjoyable.

Sunday of course was the big day.  We got up bright and early to head over to WrestleReunion.  Chad and I had VIP tickets, which meant we got to met and get photos with about dozen superstars from the past (and one who's still on the rise, Harry Smith)  We ran into D'Lo Brown, who I interviewed on the morning show that I anchor last summer.  We've kept in touch and I was pleasantly surprised that he remembered me.  We chatted for a few minutes and headed around the rest of the room.  Vader, Lex Luger, and the Honky Tonk Man were just a few of the legends we met.  It was surreal and awesome, especially considering we were dressed like Jessie the Body Ventura and Vince McMahon circa 1986.

Keeping them apart

From there we hit Axxess and did most of the activities there.  We posed in between the Rock and John Cena (or at least a couple of replicas), with the Money in the Bank briefcase (a new addition this year) and hung out in the Undertaker's graveyard.  I even attempted to rap Cena's entrance music.  Look for that video later.  We were also able to meet more wrestlers and legends and pose for pictures.  Once WWE gets them upload, I'll share those as well.

One of the other fun aspects of Axxess and even the hours before Mania outside the stadium is meeting up with other fans.  Because Chad and I always go in costume, folks come up and talk to us and ask for photos.  This makes for a good opportunity to promote My 1-2-3 Cents.  Hopefully some of you met us Sunday and are reading this for the first time.  If so, thanks so much, please come back.

I don't plan on getting into a big review of the show.  Some people hated it.  Some people loved it.  I'd say I was in the middle.  My biggest pet peeves though were the 18 second (although I think it seemed even shorter) world title match, the concert like intros for Rock and Cena, and Funkasaurus dancing.  Don't get me wrong, I love Brodus and have since the start of this gimmick, I feel like that took valuable time from the World title match though.  Check out our review below.  We forgot to mention Punk and Jericho, which I thought was a pretty solid match.  Glad to see Punk come out on top.

Don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel, like us on Facebook, and check out From the Rafters Radio.  Thanks for reading, watching, and listening.