TNA Lockdown Weekend Fanfest Recap - Day 2
Credit: Gregory Davis & PWInsider
Here is my recap for Day 2, Saturday, of TNA Lockdown weekend.
The day began with the traditional Fan Interaction event. Unlike past events, there was no seating chart, so you had to look at the booths to see where to go.
Today, Don West offered us the "Red Bag Special." This had 4 DVDs, the choice of one of two T-shirts, including a Jeff Hardy shirt that was never publicly released ( and won't be after this weekend), Pope glasses, and an in-box AJ Styles figure, for $30.
The new program guide was available. I thought it was better than in the past. One change is that instead of the wrestlers being in alphabetical order, it was pretty much in order of importance. And guess who the first three were? Hull Hogan, Ric Flair, and Eric Bischoff.
Jeremy Borash, SoCal Val, Christy Hemme and Don West took turns hosting the event.
The official rules were that you could get one official 8x10 signed (they were included with the purchase), one of your own items and get a photo with them. The 8x10 rule was sparingly enforced though, but that was no biggie.
On the stage, which had a steel cage replica, you could get a professional photo with various stars, including Val, Christy, Mickie James, Velvet Sky, Mr. Anderson and Matt Hardy, for a cost of $10 per photo, which included a 4x6 printout.
I don't have everyone's name in front of me at the moment, but I'll instead point out some notables.
Fortune were together as a group. Christy and Val would wander the floor for photos and autographs. Interviews were being conducted for both live on the website and for DVD using the Reaction cameras. No Alex Shelley, as he's still recovering from injury. Eric Young still had the old World Championship. Rob Van Dam was wearing his new shirt, and yes, it was spelled correctly. Mexican American were having the most fun, making good natured jokes of and with the fans. Bully Ray got a huge amount of heat when he came out. While being interviewed for the website, the crowd was giving it to him and he dished it back. He pretty much abused the fans at his signing station as well. No Cookie, as she noted on Twitter that she had issues getting a flight to Cincinnati. All rivals were pretty much kept apart. The Pope was doing his heel bit as well. He kept acting like he didn't want to be there, but once someone came up, he'd put a smile on. Well, I hope it was a bit anyway! I'm not sure who was Suicide, but he was completely silent as always. No Dixie Carter on the floor as in the past, obviously playing up the current storyline.
After that, they cleared up room out, and rearranged the chains to create one large line for the Main Event. All four were introduced, including Eric Bischoff, for some reason. While waiting in line, Jason Hervey would interview fans for the new Hulk Hogan website. Everyone got one autograph and one photo with the stars. Everything was moving slowly, as we ended up in line for two hours. We also got the new Foley DVD. The stars were mellow, but by no means rude.
And finally we had the VIP cruise. Due to the weather, the ship was docked. Among the stars there were Jeremy Borash, Jeff and Karen Jarrett, Christopher Daniels, Mickie James, So Cal Val, Christy Hemme and the British Invasion. There was no official plan, as we simply had a dinner and access to a bar and before and after we got to hang out with the stars. There was a live band that was pretty good. I found it hilarious that the crowd would chant at the band when they took a break and returned. Magnus had the captain's hat on, go figure. The wrestlers, and thus the fans, tried to get the Jarretts to do some swing dancing, but they refused! Must have been sober. We had some dancing from the rest and good times were had by all.
Before leaving on the bus, Daniels popped in joke around how he couldn't drive them back, but to ultimately thank everyone for coming out.
I didn't attend the Beer Money signing as it overlapped with the cruise.
All in all, I ended up with 40 signed 8x10s and a bunch more in my program guide. A great weekend thus far. The last VIP benefit it to get in the doors early Hopefully Lockdown will be a great show.