| My Trip to the F1RST WRESTLING Show in Minneapolis, MN on 5-20-07 |
| Writing this on Sunday afternoon: It seems odd to be going to a show on Sunday night but I'm here and I expect to be treated to F1RST WRESTLING's finest in and out of the ring. What doesn't seem odd to me is the way that I went about getting here. I won't bore you with the details this time but suffice it to say that Mapquest.com doesn't provide any better directions once you get to town than AAA.com does. After my past experiences of traveling alone to other cities and states I wasn't familiar with I decided to come up a day early so I didn't have to sweat it out trying to find my motel and the place the event was in with 5 minutes to spare. That turned out to be very smart because I'm staying in Roseville and the 1st Avenue club is in Minneapolis. In my effort to get all the maps and directions I needed, I discovered that I printed only the map for getting from my motel to the event and only directions for the return trip. I couldn't believe it when I looked for the directions to get to the event so I had to study the map and I did figure it out. When I saw what I was dealing with I decided it would be a good idea to make a dry run to 1st. Avenue to find the place and to scope out parking so I wouldn't have to drive all around once I got there and end up with that same old 5 minutes to spare. That turned out to be a good thing but while I found the place and parking it was the wrong time to do it because there was a big event at the Target Center across the street and traffic was nuts! Police were directing traffic and all I could do was wonder how I got myself into such a silly-azz situation. I did manage to figure out what and where to go and hopefully the traffic will be better tonight and hopefully I'll find my way back to my motel in the dark! lol! Writing this on Monday morning at 1:30 before going to bed: Sunday is sort of a blur to me because I'm up verrrrry late! Finding my way back to Roseville in daylight is a lot different than after dark and just one wrong turn in Minneapolis was all it took to mess me up. I lost all sense of direction and covered most of that city after dark until I accidentally stumbled onto a road that lead me to the exit I needed to get to the Interstate again. So guess what I bought today? A map of Minneapolis. lol! To start with I went out for a late breakfast Sunday and then came back to the motel to just chill until it was time to go to the show. I ended up napping a while and when I woke up I felt like I had the beginnings of a headache. It turned out that I got one at the show but I still really enjoyed it. I had no problem finding the place again and was able to park really close�for a price. I was there from 5:00 until 10:00 and paid $9.00. I don't mind, I'd do it again. The only disappointment for me was that Jerry still didn't have his T-shirts but he's found someone to deal with so in time he'll have some. I did buy a couple of great pics of Jerry that he autographed (only $5 a piece and the autographs were free) and a pic of the two of us. I know I have more than I need of both but according to his schedule I may not see him again until some time in July and so I needed something to tide me over. lol. He didn't mind and when I said that to him he said maybe he would be filling in his schedule a little more so I'll have to take a look and see if he comes anywhere near me again before then. One other item I asked him to sign for me was an old poster with him on it from when he wrestled in Minnesota in the early 1990's. He got a kick out of that and showed the people at the table. I've got the poster in my profile pics as one of his promo pics. It now has his autograph so I'm going to try and get it laminated to preserve it. The show was very good and I saw two wrestlers that I recognized from the Iowa shows in April and the Elk River show in February. All of the matches were so good but of course the one I was most interested in was Jerry's match vs. Arik Cannon (a.k.a., The Anarchist.) I've started to become a little more familiar with Arik since I am in his Yahoo group for F1RST WRESTLING. The good news was that Jerry won that match and I do hope to get the Full Force DVD when it comes out. Besides enjoying seeing Jerry again I saw him come in with someone I recognized from his Myspace friends space. That was a lady who has known him for more than 20 years, and after I had found my ringside seat and tested out my camera settings I went over and introduced myself. I had hoped to meet her sometime because I enjoyed the comments she has left at his profile that told me that she was a very good friend to him. I had also hoped to meet Jerry's younger sister which I did at the end of the evening. I was talking to him and she came over to say goodbye to him. I recognized her immediately and we introduced ourselves. She is a very sweet young woman and we have shared e mails privately and in Myspace so I felt like I knew her a little. She is already in my friends space and so it was very nice to meet another new acquaintance that I only knew on line up till now. Jerry's daughter Erika was there with two of her friends but I didn't meet her. I should back up a little and say that when I was waiting outside of the building Jerry, his daughter and his friend walked by and someone I was talking with recognized him and called out his name. I looked his direction and he said hi to me as he smiled and waved. I hadn't told anyone yet that I knew him or that I was there to see him because they are all local wrestling fans of the guys who are just independents. They're probably fans of Jerry's too but they go to these shows to give their support to the lesser known wrestlers and I was only going there because I knew Jerry and also because I'm in Arik's group and have talked to him. I do wish I had gone when Tyler Black was there but I didn't know about him then so I missed out. We all waited for an hour and ten minutes to get in and when we did we staked out our seats. As I was figuring out my camera settings I felt someone come up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned around in my seat and received a hug from a super sweet blond guy who was on his way to the back to change into his wrestling gear. I asked if he knew where Jerry was. No wait that was Jerry. lol. That was so nice and he didn't have to do that as I hadn't seen him in the building yet but he did and we talked for a minute or two. That was the last time I saw him until intermission and that was when I started snapping candid pics of him. I got some of him and the others and some of the show though I think I'll find out if I can get the pics from his match from the photographer. I think he might be the same one from the Elk River show so I know how to contact him. Jerry's match was the first one after the intermission so he had to go back and get ready before the intermission was over. As always he looked great and put on an amazing match! I never tire of watching him but I wasn't really sure whether or not he got tired of me showing up so as we were saying goodbye he said he might have some more shows to fill in his schedule so I should check it again. I said I hoped there would be more before and after the one in July but I didn't know if he was tired of seeing me at them and he said not at all and he's always happy to see me at his shows. So we hugged each other goodbye and we left it that maybe we'd see each other again before too long. I hope that is the case because I've become so spoiled! I never saw Jerry or heard of him before 2004 when I finally got to watch his matches from 2002 in TNA. Then in 2005 I met him in Orlando. A whole year later we met again in Detroit but since then I've seen him at four Indy shows in about four months time and each time is nicer than the last. The picture below is the one taken after the show. |
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