We woke up around 5 AM and took a 6:30 train two stops to Secaucus. It cost me...once again, $12.50. From Secaucus Junction, we took a bus over to the IZOD for WWE Axxess.
We stood outside in 30 degree weather for maybe 30 minutes while waiting to enter the arena. I figured the best idea was to go for autographs and I went straight to the Daniel Bryan line. The way they did it was they sat us all in various sections throughout the arena. Daniel Bryan had one section, Paul Heyman had another, Vickie Guerrero, Damien Sandow, JTG, and Matt Stryker all had theirs as well. I hd no idea that Damien Sandow was going to be signing. If I had, I would have definitely wanted to meet him. I find his intellectual character so entertaining, it's one of the absolute best in pro wrestling today.
Well, we didn't exactly get the luckiest seats to sit in. There was a big black curtain used for the entry way and that blocked our view of over half the ring. The Miz came to the ring for a Q&A which I could have done without. Had his fiancé showed up, well, then that would have peaked my interest.
We waited a full hour for the autograph signing to begin, and during tha titme several matches went on. One of them was a tag team match that had El Generico and Pac teaming up. Even though Generico is now known as Sammi Zane, and he no longer wears that mask, that didn't stop hundreds of people from chanting "Ole!" I'll miss chanting that at every ring of Honor show. And Brodie Lee was one of their opponents, that was cool too. After an hour of waiting, I got Bryan to sign my DVD cover and I had my picture taken with him. Such a thrill for me, to me, as much as I respect CM Punk, Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson really is the best wrestler in the world.
Some of the WWE personalities signing autographs during our session included Jim Ross, Diamond Dallas Page, Lita, Tamina, Rosa Mendes, Pat Patterson, and Billy Gunn. I also saw a lot of great memorabilia including the WWE title from 1962, Andre the Giant's ENORMOUS sneakers, and ring gear worn at WrestleManias by both Triple H and the Undertaker. We were about to leave when I saw that US Champ and former ROH star Antonio Cesaro/Claudio Castagnoli was signing. Sure the lines for almost every autograph were long, but I knew I had to least get his sig. Indeed I did get it. The Swiss superstar saw my Rangers T-shirt and told me he was more of an Islanders fan. I asked why and he said he was a Mark Streit fan. I couldn't blame him for that! Within an hour, my twitter blew up as I found out WWE Magazine selected my photo to get tweeted to the entire world. They have 224,000 and who knows how many of them saw me posing with Antonio Cesaro. That is such an exciting, humbling, and cool thing to think about! I can't help but smile!
We had to head out to NYC for the Mets game. We took the bus back to Secaucus and took the NJ transit one stop to Penn Station before taking the LIRR to CitiField. We collected our calendars and I headed down the field concourse towards the left field corner. I checked out a few souvenir shops, but nothing really suited my interests/budget. For food, I had the Mex burger. It's a 6 oz Brooklyn burger with Monterrey and jack cheeses, bacon, guacamole, chipotle aioli, and jalapenos on a sesame roll with Wise potato chips and a cherry Tootsie pop. For $11.50, that's not a bad buy for a ballpark. The burger was juicy and I loved the combination of toppings. The only the burger could have been better is if they had warned the roll up first. I would definitely consider ordering this again.
We sat in the left field stands and thankfully, we sat in the sun. I was even more thankful for the Mets winning the game over Miami 7-3. John Buck had 4 RBI and David Wright added three hits for the good guys. After the game, we took the LIRR back to Penn Station and walked over to Molly Wee for some grub. The prices were much higher than we anticipated and that was with Dad getting soup, CI just getting a salad, and me getting a salad and chicken fingers.
We had some spare time so we headed to the Irish Times, a bar aross the street from Madison Square Garden where CI was planning to watch the Rangers vs. Hurricanes game with some other ladies who are also Rangers fans. I finally got to meet Amy Ernano after three years of waiting. I saw Helen, Emily, and Eve again and I also met Trish as well. Unfortunately, I left before my Family Feud pal Laurel arrived. I was told twice by the owner, not asked politely, but told, to move because I was blocking the entrance to the bathroom. I was standing on the corner of the wall, but I was never standing in the hallway, I knew better than that. Then after standing for about a half hour, I decided to leave. So I walked over to my father and we began discussing which trains we'd take back to NJ that night. Within 20 seconds, the owner storms over and yells at us, telling us we have to move out of the way now. I wasn't even standing close to the hallway and the owner had the gall to yell at me in front of my friends and family. I told him I was walking out on the spot. He said "Good. Go." And I did just that. What a classy guy. Until he's gone, there isn't a chance I will ever step foot in that restaurant ever again.
Actually, the owner's rudeness turned out to work pretty well in our favor. We stepped outside and right across the street, buses were dropping WWE wrestlers, legends, and their families off at the Garden for the Hall of Fame ceremony. I saw the Iron Sheik, Mark Henry, Miz and Maryse, and the Big Show. Show was funny. I look towards him and I see a sea of people and cameras and then there's one big bald head above all of them. Around 7, we went inside. We weren't planning to eat, but we passed a stand and saw hot dogs for $6.00 or foot long hot dogs for $6.50. That's a no-brainer. Fifty cents for twice the dog!
Our seats were in Section 210, which would be near center ice/court. We watched Mick Foley, Trish Stratus, Booker T, Bob Backlund, Donald Trump, and Bruno Sammartino all get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. After the great Terry Funk did the induction speech, Mick spoke for about 50 minutes and was incredibly funny, as I figured he'd be. Trish was okay, although I had fun booing her husband along with 10,000 other men. Booker was tremendous. His brother and former tag team partner Stevie Ray told great stories of them growing up and Booker topped it off with a spin-a-roonie. Maria Menounos inducted Bob Backlund and it was a nightmare. I still have no idea what Backlund was talking about. Trump was booed vociferously, but he handled it well, and kept his speech short. Arnold Schwarzenegger was hysterical as he inducted Bruno. I was proud to see Sammartino get inducted, albeit 20 years later than he should have. I left the speech a few minutes early to go see CI and say goodbye.
Then I took the 12:38 am train from Penn Station back to Newark, where I grabbed three hours sleep before heading back to Newark Airport the next next morning where I caught an 8 am flight back to Chicago, landed at 9:30, went to the grocery store, Wal-Mart for a new car cell phone charger, home to unpack, and shower, Fil's house in Streamwood for our small group party, downtown for a WrestleMania party with my friends at The Squared Circle, only to leave at 10 pm for an hour drive back home.
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