Another Fan Report From Bound For Glory Weekend
Mike K sent this one in:
Saturday, my company's' Willow Grove bank branch had Kurt Angle and Mickie James scheduled for autograph signings. I drove down from the Wilkes-Barre area to help that branch for the day. When I got there the manager of the branch said Angle got hurt and they pulled his personal appearances. In his place, they sent Mickie, Traci Brooks, Bobby Roode and Kazarian. I said that is great but people are going to be upset that Angle won't appear but lets make this fun. And fun it was. Those four people were great ambassadors for TNA. They came to our branch and greeted each and everyone of the staff. It appeared they were happy to be there and greet the fans. Once they got settled in at the table, they really interacted with the fans. They took the time to listen what the fans had to say, took a lot of pictures with the fans. Kazarian while giving out Ric Flair key chains would throw a zinger out there such as to a 9 year old " This is Ric Flair... He wrestled Shakespeare". Bobby Roode looked like he hung on every word a fan said, while interacting with the ladies and Kazarian. Mickie and Traci looked to have fun with the fans. They were having fans come behind the table for pictures. The few fans that were upset Angle wasn't there were very pleased after going through the line.
The next day, I ended up going to Bound for Glory. I was sitting on the camera side of the center. Most of the people I was with had won tickets in some fashion. They, like me never seen TNA. They cheered for the ones they knew, During the Angle-Roode match it was like a scene from Rocky. Angle got cheers in the beginning. Half way through Roode started getting cheers. At one point the section next to me alternated chants for the both. In the end, Roode had the fans. Was it a great ending, no it didn't seem like it was right as right after the match the ref did the "X" sign for Angle and they got him out of the ring.
This morning, at work, people within our company were talking TNA and the event Saturday. The manager who held the event called me and was telling me the MSG's he got. TNA got people talking about them in a good way. From reading the site I see why people are upset with Roode not winning. However, if TNA was smart they have a great person to be an ambassador. You don't need Hogan and GMA or Today. The interaction with the fans that I saw, will go a lot further and the people who didn't know who Bobby Roode was, are glad they met him. That is good marketing.