Will you ever forget the first time you walked into the old Boston Garden? The fans...the sights...the sounds. Picking up your program before the doors opened up. Rushing up the ramp to be the first in line against the baricade to see your favorite superstars enter the dressing room. Who will ever forget the taste of having a slice of fresh, square Garden pizza? Many fans would come to the Garden several hours before the events began...to see old friends, talk wrestling...live the experience that is Boston wrestling. Sadly, since the Boston Garden became the FleetCenter...since professional wrestling took on the "sports entertainment" moniker, that aura is gone to many. Fans of yesteryear long to relive the
proverbial good old days...
I fell in love with Garden
wrestling on Saturday,
November 4th, 1978.
Who could forget Bruno
Sammartino clashing with
"Superstar" Billy Graham
in a battle of former
WWWF Champions? Or
current champion Bob
Backlund battling
another former champ,
Ivan Koloff to a draw?
From the first time I
walked into the Garden, I
felt the magic and the
decade upon decade of
history. Over 25 years
have passed since my
first Garden event...and I
haven't missed one since.
But like many of you, I too
miss that feeling.
Over the past few months, I've been hearing about Fan Slam and the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Reunion. These conventions have been
wildly popular and I thought to myself "why not Boston?" BostonWrestling.com has been a success right off the bat, but instead of just writing about the good old days, why not attempt to
re-live the good old days? That, my friends, is where the idea of WrestleFest came from.
On Saturday, October 2nd, a wrestling fan's greatest wish comes true...an event where you just don't get to see the stars, you get to
meet the stars! Early in the day, hundreds of fans will come to
Suffolk Downs in East Boston, MA. Some will drive, some will take the T, as if they were going to the Garden. When entering the building, there's a concrete ramp with an almost Garden like look.
Once fans enter the WrestleFest area, there will be dozens of TV's on, showing classic wrestling of the past and stars of the future. Vendors from all over the country will be on hand with merchandise you might not even know existed...video's, t-shirts, books, pictures, actions figures, posters. Soon, superstars from every era of Boston wrestling will be on hand to sign autographs for you and pose for pictures. To top it all off, this Christmas-like day
will conclude with a Question & Answer session hosted by Chaotic Wrestling's own Rich Palladino, where you can ask these superstars any question you might have. It's going to be a wrestling wonderland. Look around the site, all the info you'll need is here. If there's something you'd like answered, e-mail me direct and I'll personally respond to you as soon as possible. Also, make sure you hit the message board and toss around ideas with other fans. There is no doubt about it, WrestleFest is for THE FANS! We want to know what YOU want to experience!
Like WrestleMania, if BostonWrestling.com's WrestleFest is a success, you can count on many more taking place down the line.
The more fans that purchase tickets in advance, the more superstar guests we'll be able to bring in for you to meet...it's that simple.
Thanks to my friend the late "Boston Bad Boy" Tony Rumble, I was
fortunate enough to enter the world of professional wrestling, providing commentary for CWA, NWA New England and present day MWF broadcasts. One thing never changed though...I'm still a fan. And from one fan to another, if you come to Suffolk Downs, you will have the time of your life, seeing old friends and making new ones. We can't go back in time and re-live our memories, but on Saturday, October 2nd we'll be able to create new ones.
The Jackal
BostonWrestling.com
