Wrestlemania 30 Week Part III: Axxess, Wrestlecon,Shimmer & more (2014)

o after the crazy events of yesterday we slept in a bit, but then headed right back across the water and actually ended up right back to Tulane University where we just left less than 8 hrs prior.

Day 3 – April 5th (Daytime)

We hadn’t had alot of sleep and it was also very rainy today that made us want to stay in even more but we had alot to do and were very excited about.
Today we will go over the culture at dueling fan conventions that were right across the street from each other Pat & Gino’s style as well as sampling a little bit of what New Orleans’ culture had to offer as well. The theme of today is the women of wrestling. –

WWE Fan Axxess & Superstore –  Ernest N. Morial Convention Center – New Orleans

We actually paid a quick visit to the Convention Center the first day we got here but didn’t go into Axxess yet, we just scoped out the Superstore at the entrance.
Everything about WWE Axxess is huge from the ceiling-to-floor banners that line the walls of the entrance way, to the Hall of Fame exhibits, to the life-sized replicas of different props and sets over the years. It took us three visits over two days to see it all.

In addition to the exhibits there are 10 autograph stations,  where fans can line up to meet members of the entire roster, and many of the company’s legends.
I talked a bit in the last blog entry about fandom vs. cynicism in my view of Fan Expos – I’m not a cynic or a critic but just honest and want to give a clear distinction of what the culture was like.
Personally for me, I’m not a picture/autograph guy – nothing against those that are but I have to admit that I just don’t get it.
Sure I would love to geek out on comics with A.J. Lee, or hang out with Kane or talk music with Renee Young but only as contemporaries & that’s not what happens at these things.
What takes place is that you stand in line for an unhealthy amount of time and then your experience is processed assembly-line style and you have about 90 secs to gush whatever prepared platitude you are convinced will have an impact that is essentially identical to what the 30 people ahead of you said – & the object of said gushing is completely desensitized to it as they’ve heard the same thing for hours today, yesterday & everyday after that.
The most puzzling/humiliating thing is when I see people do what I call “the lean” – That is when they take that embarassing photo where they lean across a table (where there’s still a good 3 ft between you and the person) and tell all of there friends “Hey look! I met Triple H!” – You didn’t meet Triple H, you paid money to stand in line to lean against a table that he happened to be on the other side of in a completely forgettable exchange. Unless your under 18, Why is this enough for people?

Maybe I’m just a prideful asshole that doesn’t know how to relax & have fun but after years of being on the road with musicians I know that fans are not looked at by those they are fans of as equals or even worthy. Sure, they depend on your money & support so their happy to smile and take pics for a few hours but trust me behind closed doors they are laughing at you. If you are willing to stand in line to lean against a table you are a mark and their isn’t anyone they respect less than a mark.

If all that weren’t enough to seperate you from your money, there are plenty of opportunities to show even more support for the company,  as the connected Superstore includes several hundred different types of merchandise, from T-shirts, toys, and trinkets, to expensive collectibles like replica championship belts and statuettes.
Let me tell you something, witnessing a sea of grown men taking over a city walking around like their the champion is the most expensive & darkest side of cosplay I’ve seen yet.

 

Who has this much expendable income? – Answer = People from the U.K.
The WWE is more popular in the UK that its ever been and its fans greatly (and mostly positively) impact the experience during the Wrestlemania week as I mentioned at Jim Ross’s show on Thurs and will comment further about the now tradition of the post-Wrestlemania RAW being the wildest show of the year due to their attendance.
While being entertained by all of the over-priced merchandise and the fools that were scooping it up – we did enjoy the incentive in place to get people to shop with an appearance by two of our faves Fandango & Summer Rae –

If you’ve only seen Summer on TV, she’s even more impressive in person.
I was thinking of buying a program but when I opened it, again all it was, was a layout for you to get autographs. No thanks.
We then head into Axxess proper and though I have no interest in autographs/humilating myself there were lots of things here to enjoy.

Legends House living room set
w/ Howard Finkel & my all-time fave wrestler,
Rowdy Roddy Piper – 

Exhibits – 

Meanwhile, the NXT ring is being used to put on matches with full entrance ramp and TitanTron,  from some of the company’s top future prospects, or for even more interactivity in the form of in-ring Q&A sessions.

Paige vs Shanna

A.J Lee having some fun with Tamina Snuka

….and being the geek she is, giving a very funny & candid interview with Marvel

Okerlund of course needs no introduction and is probably the most likeable & instantly recognizable persona from the 1980’s (especially the work he did with Hulk Hogan). Everyone that has followed him has had their work cut out of them because they all make you miss him, that is until now – Renee Young, who is relativly a new-comer is the first one in my opinion since Okerlund that is a total Grand Slam.
Yes, she’s good-looking & wonderful to look at but more importantly she has the most pleasant personality and edgy spirit of anyone (including Okerlund) they’ve ever had. She makes you want to listen and is just fearlessly cool.

Like I said the theme of today is the women & between Summer, AJ, Paige & Renee they are dominating (the cast of Total Divas excluded).

Wrestlecon – The Sugar Mill – New Orleans

Right across the street from Axxess was Wrestlecon a dueling Fan Expo. Compared to the big money & glitz of the WWE this was very low-rent in the same vein as yesterday’s Mid-South event.  Though most of my faves were across the street the vibe here was very indie to the WWE’s uber-mainstream feel.
Again cynical for idealism – on one hand Axxess was the Mall of America compared to the outlet Mall in bumfuck Wyoming feel of Wrestlecon, but that’s kind of the charm of it.
Thank gawd for our press passes because the organization of this was so blundered, giving its ability to compete less steam by the second.
There was a line stretched around the corner and I heard that some waited for close to two hours to get in. In their defense they did issue an apology letter with a full explanation on their website about the weather being a factor. Cue – Blame it on the Rain
Cynically this is the scene in the Wrestler where he makes an appearance at that old armory where old dogs go to die and any wrestler here knows that.
Ideally, however I am older so there were far more wrestlers that I watched growing up here than over at WWE.

As I mentioned above about the embarassing photo op situation, when it comes to one at this level theirs an added uncomfortable exchange, each wrestler actually charges you for their autograph. Could you imagine charging someone for you to sign something? If you wanted a clear-cut example of how you are seen as inferior – look no further. The sad thing is that guys that are at this level are hungrier for the attention & also more in need of the cash so it creates this odd culture that people feel like they want to support them so the wrestlers have to give them the girlfriend experience and these dudes think their actually friends with these wrestlers.Then since each wrestler sets their own price of what they charge, then it creates an even more uncomfortable hiearchy of who can charge the most among a sea of people trying to cling to some kind of dignity.
It wasn’t all bad – there were some top guys there that didn’t have to be there (or were paid handsomely to be) as well as some other great attractions & an amazing wrestling card that I’ll speak of in the next installment following the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.

The Hart Foundation –
Bret Hart & Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart

Kurt Angle & Al Snow

 

Mickie James who was also at the Mid-South Fanfest yesterday but unable to wrestle due to her pregnancy, unbeknownst to me is pursuing a career in music and has released two LPs already. She gave a brief, but fun performance –

She sings really well & despite her sitting during the show, most of the songs were uptempo that showcased her strong voice, especially one in particular Goin’ Fast that was co-written with The Civil Wars’ John Paul White.

I’m just now learning who Colt Cabana is and all of his ambitions. For those of you rolling your eyes reading this right now, please know that after Mid-South folded in 1987 I only watched WWE and I even stopped watching that for almost 10 years. Since 2001 I’ve only paid attention to WWE and have literally no knowledge of any independent promotions (even ECW) & their talent (and yes as I’m learning that is greatly my loss for which I’m trying to learn and catch up on).
Cabana is a wrestler but also a comedian and entrapeneur who does a weekly podcast with his friends called the Art of Wrestlng & one of the attractions was they recorded live here at the fest.

As fucking nerdy as it gets, but Cabana was very funny & likable. He kinda reminds me of Kevin Smith in a way and his podcast would appeal largely to the same fan base.
These wrestling podcasts are becoming addictive – Their so easy to produce & a great revenue stream so alot of wrestlers do them. Then the shows book themselves as they all just appear on each other’s shows. But when done right, it feels like your getting to sit down with someone you’ve always wanted to talk to and hear real stories that will captivate you. I find myself listening more to podcasts than music when I drive, which is rare because I’m such a music guy.

Goldberg also participated in a Q&A – Now again I never watched WCW so quite frankly his career never meant shit to me but this is the kind of stuff I can get into. Leave with something real and useful other than an autograph.

Topics covered:

– On the Hall of Fame: Said he doesn’t think it will ever happen, but I think he was mostly just being humble.

– On coming back to WWE: Said it may happen someday, but that there was never any real offer to return.

– On Chris Jericho:  Said people are gullible if they believe Jericho actually took him down in the WWE locker room. Said he had to be careful when he came in to WWE because he was newly signed. But he also said the situation in WCW with Jericho was his (Goldberg’s) fault. He bought into his hype and the backstage politics.

– On William Regal: He said about 3/4ths through the match he knew Regal was legit shooting on him and trying to make him look bad.

– On Wrestlemania 20: Said he wishes it had turned out better, but the news of both his and Brock’s departure really hindered the match.

Freret Fest/Crawfest + Shimmer Women Athletes – Tulane University – New Orleans

After leaving the fan fests we were hungry and had several hours to kill before heading to the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.
We have been attending wrestling events non-stop for since we got here three days ago and were going to another one tonight and the next three nights as well. So in order to take a break and enjoy the local culture we headed back to Tulane University (where we just left at 3am the previous night after attending the insanity that was the Kaiju Big Battel).
In spite of the rain, there was alot going on today with two more dueling festivals, beginning with the Freret St Festival which is the Kick-off to the Festival Season, usually held the first Saturday in April.
In Part I of this series I talked a bit about my historically bad luck in New Orleans which is odd because the exports this city is known for should be right up my alley:
Music, Madness & Crawfish.
So today on the campus to kick off the season they were having Crawfest, one of the biggest events of the year.

I’ll talk a bit more about Freret & Crawfest in a later non-Wrestling themed entry but for now let me tell you what happened after we ate and walked around a bit.

We got to see the campus during the day when it was a little less menacing (& gorgeous) and walked by McAlsiter Auditorium where the Kaiju thing was last night – only to discover that another wrestling show was about to start……and it was an all-female promotion!! I told you that the theme of today was the ladies.
Poor Jess was probably already wrestled-out and still had a long way to go but she’s always up for something new & loved the idea so inside we went.
Here is what we discovered:

SHIMMER, a Chicago-based indy promotion that features women wrestlers exclusively. And it was tremedous!
It was great on its own terms, as an afternoon of top-notch pro wrestling by women, & thankfully unlike Kaiju, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Despite having a rich history as part of pro wrestling, women’s wrestling these days mostly gets treated as a sexy sideshow. This is in large part because the decision-makers at WWE haven’t given a shit about their female athletes for a long time, and for better or worse, WWE defines for the whole world what pro wrestling is. Though there are standouts— notably as I mentioned, AJ Lee as well as Summer & Paige but largely WWE’s female roster is crowded with swimsuit models instead of wrestlers.

This is not to say the women of Shimmer aren’t attractive, just that the focus is on kick-ass wrestling, and the wrestlers on its roster were amazing. They’re dynamite in the ring and their heels in particular talk smack to the crowd with a naturalness that’s all too rare in independent wrestling, which tends to privilege technical ability over charisma and mic skills.

Though the in-ring action was five-star, the presentation was no-frills; a little more pageantry wouldn’t have hurt.
Here are the matches we saw and quickly got a lesson and tried to learn as much as we could –

Neveah & Sassy Stephie defeated Heidi Lovelace and Solo Darling

This was a great opening match, with some great tag work from both teams.

Solo and Lovelace are great together as a team, while Stephie and Nevaeh were excellent heels.

Leva Bates defeated Veda Scott  

Leva Bates, dressed up for this New Orleans show as the Louisiana-based X-Men superhero and weekly-paper Gambit.

A short but solid match with decent back-and-forth offense. Leva got the win with over Veda Scott a top-rope Pedigree. Veda was really entertaining & she’s working that nerd angle but like AJ I’m sure its genuine & she’s got that whole indie-rock vegan thing going and was one of my favorites of the whole show.

Kay Lee Ray defeated Vanessa Kraven

As the six-foot Vanessa Kraven threw around her spirited but diminutive opponent, Kay Lee Ray, a Ray fan in the audience shouted, “You’re a bully!” Kraven, who had just hoisted Ray’s limp body up to shoulder height, smiled. “Damn straight,” she said, and dropped Ray spine-first across an upraised knee.

The best match of the night by far, Kay Lee really impressed me in my first exposure to her, & so did Kraven with some great powerhouse moves. Kay Lee picked up the win countering Kraven’s powerbomb attempt with a sunset flip for the three count. She is also crazy attractive and my favorite of all the girls on the card.

Ivelisse defeated Kimber Lee

A great performance from both women. Ivelisse Velez was the only wrestler I recognized (remember we didn’t even know of the existence of this promotion a few hours ago), you might remember her as a contestant from the 2011 season of Tough Enough & she was on NXT briefly.

In the end, Ivelisse landed her finisher,  a Code Red on Kimber Lee for the victory.

Athena defeated Candice LeRae  

This was a great match between Athena & Candice LeRae – both tremendously talented & put on a superb match. Athena is from Dallas so we were rooting for her.

And speaking of AJ Lee, clearly her influence is felt everywhere (as it should be) as you can see Candice performing AJ’s finisher the Black Widow above.
Athena won with a  top-rope stunner she calls the O-Face and totally kicks ass.

Mercedes Martinez defeated Courtney Rush  for the NCW Femmes Fatales International Championship  

Mercedes Martinez comes out and issues an open challenge for the NCW: Femmes Fatales International Championship. Courtney Rush comes out to answer the challenge, and we have a match.

Mercedes Martinez is this crazy, awesome looking mad women, covered in these gnarly tattoos who seemed like a legitimate tough chick. I mean their all tough but like truly scary but also very sexy. Lots of back & forth until Mercedes rolled her up for the win to claim the belt. I was totally into this match.

Hikaru Shida defeated Evie  

Another fantastic match. The pair threw literally everything at each other, and earned the second “this is awesome” chant of the night.

Global Green Gangsters (Kellie Skater & Tomoka Nakagawa) defeated Madison Eagles & Nicole Matthews  for the Shimmer Tag Team Championship

This is getting ridiculous now, I’m running out of adjectives to do these matches justice haha
The tag-team of Kellie Skater & Tomoka Nakagawa known as the Global Green Gangsters put on one hell of a show.

It was brilliant. Slater got the win after hitting her finisher called The Hangover on Nicole Matthews following miscommunication between her & Madison Eagles.

Cheerleader Melissa defeated LuFisto – Two out of Three Falls match for the Shimmer Championship

It took twenty minutes for the first fall to take place, with LuFisto (a name that we laughed about and made reference to the rest of the weekend) hitting her finisher, the Mangalizer for the three-count.

Mercedes & Melissa celebrating with their title wins in the ring to end the show.

There are a lot of things WWE does better than anyone else could ever hope to, and there are things WWE does terribly. By taking female pro wrestlers seriously, promoting them as stars and worthy pro-wrestling attractions rather than decorative nonsense, SHIMMER gives audiences something different from what they’re used to, and it’s refreshing. That’s really been AJ’s triumph is that she has forced the powers that be to take her & the female division seriously and that’s why their getting the attention they deserve finally. Any one of these ladies would be a welcome addition to WWE programming in my opinion.

Stay tuned for Part IV where we go to the WWE Hall of Fame & Ring of Honor After-Party!

Photos – 

Roy Turner
Paul Mahling