AS I SEE IT 3/8: WWE, ROH, and FANSLAM come to NYC for Wrestlemania weekend
by: Bob Magee The eyes of the wrestling world are focused on the New York City area, as Wrestlemania weekend hits the area this coming weekend; with WWE events directly tied to Wrestlemania, the major Ring of Honor show in Elizabeth, NJ and the FANSLAM convention in Totowa, NJ....all happening this weekend in the New York and New Jersey area.
(NOTE: This column was largely written prior to the events of March 3rd, where Rob Feinstein was implicated in an online sting operation undertaken by an advocacy group and the Philadelphia affiliate of NBC, WCAU TV.
Feinstein has stepped down from his roles as part-owner of Ring of Honor and President of RF Video as of March 4. Ring of Honor, as well as the associated RF Video company (which is to be re-named)will be operated by Doug Gentry, long-time employee of both companies who was named to the post Friday. Feinstein has been officially removed from any ownership or operating role in either company effective March 5.
I believe the event is worthy of the support of those who were planning to attend it, and I hope you'll join me in attendingout of support for the men and women who work for Ring of Honor, both in the ring and behind the scenes...all of whom deserve it, especially under these circumstances.
It's very easy to support a promotion when it's the darling of the Internet. It's much harder to do so now for some for obvious reasons. That's why the workers and staff of the promotion emotionally and financially need the support of those who've claimed to be their fans...now more than ever.
CM Punk said it well in an interview on Chicago Wrestling.com on March 4: "It's going to be hard due to the amount of people who have always wanted to see ROH fail, but ROH isn't the one that needs to be punished.").
Here's the complete run-down with lineups, ticket information, and directions to all the weekend's events:
The event, part of the FANSLAM series of fan conventions, will be held as a special "Tribute To WrestleMania 1". Many of the legends that made the first WrestleMania event possible will be present at this FANSLAM event.
Noted vendors already confirmed for the event include Highspots, George Mayfield's Mayfield Mayhem, the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, Sports Publishing, Champions of The Galaxy, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and the Mid Atlantic Legends Reunion and Fanfest, and over 30 other vendors from all over the United States.
In addition, Satterfield Entertainment will be having four autograph/photo tables, bringing "The Living Legend" Larry Zybszko, Sherri Martel, and Bill Eadie to FANSLAM, with Eadie doing half the day as The Masked Superstar and the other half as Demolition Ax. Sports Publishing will also be appearing at FAN SLAM!, to sell copies of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan's new book "Chairshots and Other Obstacles." Once you purchase the book for them, you will have the chance to get it autographed by "The Brain" at FAN SLAM!
Gary Michael Cappetta will be at FAN SLAM! selling copies of his book. He will also be signing autograph photos. Gary is the voice of the new Showdown: Legends of Wrestling video game. These fees are seperate from the official FAN SLAM! guests.
Schedule Information
Doors open for the FAN SLAM! convention at 8:00 am. Fans can begin purchasing merchandise from various wrestling vendors from all over the country selling a wide variety of wrestling merchandise.
Here is the schedule:
Price Information
Note: You will not be able to be a part of the Question and Answer Sessions without a Golden Ticket or All-Day Access Pass.
The official FAN SLAM! Website is located at FanSlamWrestling.com. For more information or to order tickets, contact Tommy Fierro at: FANSLAM@aol.com.
Advance tickets have already been sold to fans in 17 different states and seven different countries. The list includes Japan, Australia, Poland, Germany, England and Scotland.
Event schedule/Afternoon
Matches announced for the afternoon show:
Tickets are only $5 (fans that have purchased front row, second or third row tickets for the night show get in for free).
Event schedule/evening
Then, at 7:30 pm...Ring of Honor presents its evening show. Here are the matches currently scheduled:
Also appearing are Rowdy Roddy Piper plus Jimmy Rave, Matt Stryker, Xavier with Prince Nana, Slyk Wagner Brown (with April Hunter) and others...
Tickets
Tickets for the Ring of Honor events are on sale online via these links:
Evening show tickets are General Admission $20/Reserved $30 (Reserved available only through Ticketmaster), and can be ordered:
Transportation
Mass Transit
NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor train line from Manhattan has a stop at Newark Airport. Walk up off the train to the entrance for the Air Train (a shuttle train around the airport) through Newark Liberty Airport.
Take the Air Train to the stop for Terminal A. Walk to ground level and look for the bus stop outside, where the New Jersey Transit #62 (Woodbridge Center/Perth Amboy) bus goes directly to Ikea/RexPlex from Terminal A at the Airport.
The schedule for Route 62 (Woodbridge Center/Perth Amboy) is at this link (Adobe Acrobat required).
Fans will be able to travel back to Manhattan after the show, as NJ Transit buses leave Rex Plex (look at the stop on the schedule marked IKEA, which is across the street from the Rex Plex) at 10:44 pm and 11:39 pm on Saturdays. You can either go through the Airport as listed above, or take the #62 bus all the way in to Newark's Penn Station, and make connections to Manhattan.
Bus trips
New York
New York City fans can travel to the show via WrestlingBusTrips.com for a trip combining Scramble Cage II and the Convention.
Pickup Times are set to ensure everyone will be arrive early enough to Elizabeth by 11:30 AM.
The buses will have stops at:
BUS A - 8:00 AM The Modells behind the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst, Queens
BUS B - 9:00 AM The Manhattan Center in Midtown Manhattan (West 34th Street and 8th Avenue)
BUS C - 10:30 AM The Manhattan Center in Midtown Manhattan (West 34th Street and 8th Avenue)
BUSES A, B, and C will ALL return to NYC at the same time AFTER the evening show concluded. You will be informed of which bus you are on after you pay for the trip. Those of you who have paid will receive an email no later than Monday morning, March 1.
The trip will cost $50 and will include round trip transportation on our luxury bus complete with video monitors and a bathroom, tickets to ROH's Do or Die II (2 PM) and tickets to that evening's ROH event (7:30 PM). We are working on some additional surprises as well. Come and join fans from seven countries (and counting!) with us for a huge ROH event.
DUE TO THE HIGH DEMAND OF INTEREST, WE WILL NOT BE TAKING ANY PAYMENTS ON THE DAY OF THE TRIP. NO EXCEPTIONS. ALL PAYMENTS ARE DUE BY MARCH 5th VIA PAYPAL.COM OR MONEY ORDER-- WE EXPECT A COMPLETE SELLOUT SO DO NOT DELAY!!
You may send payments via Paypal.com to AGENTCLPT@aol.com. Please include an additional $3 for paypal fees. You may also pay via money order, but must e-mail for information. Please note in what you send that payment is for the March 13 event.
If you already hold tickets to ROH and wish to come on the trip, email AGENTCLPT@aol.com for pricing.
Boston
Fans from Boston, Providence and Connecticut can travel to the show via Pro Wrestling Tours. The cost is $100. For information or reservations, e-mail ProWrestlingTours@hotmail.com or go to Pro Wrestling Tours. Payments can be sent to James Quinlan, 162A Sheridan Avenue, Medford, MA 02155.
Baltimore/Washington/Philadelphia
Metropolitan Wrestling Tours will take fans from the Baltimore/Washington and Philadelphia areas. The price for round trip service to and from the show, along with tickets to the pre-show convention and convention card, and General Admission tickets to the massive pre-Wrestlemania Ring of Honor show is a grand total of $75 ($60 from the Baltimore bus stop).
The trip will leave the Washington area at 8:30 am from the parking lot of Outback Steakhouse at Prince George’s Plaza, located at 3500 East-West Highway (MD-410) Hyattsville, Maryland. For those wishing to use Metro to this pickup location, the Prince George’s Plaza stop on the Green line is only 10 seconds away from the departure point. Also, covered, secured free parking is located at the Metro parking garage at the Prince George’s Plaza station.
The Baltimore area pickup point will leave at 9:30 am, from the Baltimore Travel Plaza, located at 5625 O'Donnell St. in eastern Baltimore.
Philadelphia fans will leave at 11:00 am from the Murphy Recreation Center former Philadelphia home of Ring of Honor, located at 4th and Shunk Streets in south Philadelphia. For $45, Philly area fans get the opportunity to jump aboard a trip on a luxury bus with comfortable seating and restrooms available, viewing arguably the greatest matches in Ring of Honor history.
For information and reservations, e-mail MarcNova21@verizon.net or feel free to AIM MarcusKDowling for more information.
Driving directions
For those driving to the show, the Rex Plex is directly next to the Elizabeth, NJ Ikea superstore seen in the graphic.
Here are more detailed directions:
New York City: Take the Lincoln Tunnel into New Jersey and follow NJ Route 495 to the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 16E. Then, take the New Jersey Turnpike southbound, until you reach Exit 13A (Elizabeth/Elizabeth Seaport/Newark Airport).
Get off the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 13A, and follow signs for Ikea (Center) Drive-Elizabeth Seaport. As you follow these signs you will be crossing over the Turnpike, and continue traveling on this road until you see the signs for Ikea, Toys R Us and RexPlex. Make a left onto this road (Ikea/Center Drive). Follow this road around until you see Toys R Us on your left, Ikea ahead of you and RexPlex (red building) on right. Park in front of the building.
From Western New Jersey: Take I-78 East, US 22 East or 24 East. Follow the Newark Airport and US 1/9 signs. At Newark Airport, follow the US 1/9 signs south to Elizabeth/North Avenue East/Seaport. Follow signs to Seaport and Ikea.
From Northern New Jersey/directions 1: Follow Garden State Parkway south until Union Tolls. Follow I-78 East to Newark Airport, then take US 1/9 South to Elizabeth/North Avenue East/Seaport. Follow signs to Seaport and Ikea. (An alternative is to take Route 17 South to I-80 East to the New Jersey Turnpike.) Get off at Exit 13A, and follow sign for Ikea (Center) Drive-Elizabeth Seaport. As you follow these signs you will be crossing over the Turnpike. Continue traveling on this road until you see the signs for Ikea, Toys 'R Us and RexPlex.
Make a left onto this road (Ikea/Center Drive). Follow this road around until you see Toys R Us on your left, Ikea ahead of you and RexPlex (red building) on right. Park in front of the building.
From South Jersey: Take the New Jersey Turnpike northbound to Exit 13A. Get off the Turnpike at Exit 13A, and follow sign for Ikea (Center) Drive-Elizabeth Seaport. As you follow these signs, you will be crossing over the Turnpike. Continue traveling on this road until you see the signs for Ikea, Toys R Us and RexPlex. Make a left onto this road (Ikea/Center Drive). Follow this road around until you see Toys R Us on your left, Ikea ahead of you and RexPlex (red building) on right. Park in front of the building.
From Newark Airport: The Rex Plex is across the New Jersey Turnpike from Newark Airport. Follow the mass transit directions provided above.
From Brooklyn and South Shore Long Island: Take the Belt Parkway to Verrazano Bridge (Staten Island) to the Goethals Bridge into NJ. Take the exit from the Goethals Bridge onto the New Jersey Turnpike and go one exit north to Exit 13A. Get off at Exit 13A, and follow sign for Ikea (Center) Drive-Elizabeth Seaport. As you follow these signs you will be crossing over the Turnpike, and continue traveling on this road until you see the signs for Ikea, Toys R Us and RexPlex.
Make a left onto this road (Ikea/Center Drive). Follow this road around until you see Toys R Us on your left, Ikea ahead of you and RexPlex (red building) on right. Park in front of the building.
From The Bronx, Queens, and North Shore Long Island:Take the Throgs Neck or Triboro Bridge to the George Washington Bridge to the NJ Turnpike southbound to Exit 13A.
Get off at Exit 13A, and follow sign for Ikea (Center) Drive-Elizabeth Seaport. As you follow these signs you will be crossing over the Turnpike, and continue traveling on this road until you see the signs for Ikea, Toys R Us and RexPlex.
Make a left onto this road (Ikea/Center Drive). Follow this road around until you see Toys R Us on your left, Ikea ahead of you and RexPlex (red building) on right. Park in front of the building.
For information on the venue, you can go to the Rex Plex website at Rexplex.com.
The following W/WWF performers will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on that evening: Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Superstar Billy Graham, Harley Race, Sgt. Slaughter, Don Muraco, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Big John Studd, Tito Santana, Junkyard Dog.
So...for all of you WWE fans looking for something to do that evening...check out the Ring of Honor event across the river.
The event, however, is sold out.
Matches and buildup for the event will actually start at 6:00 pm ET, as Sunday Night Heat will be broadcast live on SPIKE TV.
The matches scheduled for this year's Wrestlemania are:
PWBTS will have results for WWE Wrestlemania, live from Madison Square Garden next Sunday night, immediately following the PPV between 11:45 pm-12 midnight (9:00 pm PDT for our west coast readers, and 5:00 am UK time for our UK readers).
If you're not able to get this event on PPV (NOTE: which begins at the special time of 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT), are not able to go to a "WWE Blast Area" (officially sanctioned WWE PPV bar/restaurant), to order the event via webcast at here, or view the show at a local bar or friend's house, come to PWBTS.com between 11:45 pm-12 midnight to get the results of matches including:
Until next time...
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If you have comments/questions, or if you'd like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com)