Wrestling MarketWatch: WWE Hall of Fame 2017

WrestleMania weekend is upon us. The grandest stage of them all has become much more than just the show on Sunday, and has even stretched beyond the borders of WWE, for better or worse. Regardless if the main featured content is up your alley or not, there truly is something for everyone. For many of us, the highlight is the WWE Hall of Fame. There's enough debate elsewhere on whether or not the WWE Hall of Fame is "legit." Around these parts, we simply enjoy it for what it is: a celebration of the past.

This is not the first time that the WWE Hall of Fame and our recurring Wrestling MarketWatch feature have come together. The last time was in 2013 for the Hall of Fame ceremony that I had the honor of attending in person. I'm still biased toward that class, headlined by Bruno Sammartino, as being the best, but 2017 is very solid. The names include Kurt Angle, The Rock N Roll Express, Teddy Long, Diamond Dallas Page, Ravishing Rick Rude, and Beth Phoenix. All of the stars have plenty of memorabilia, and as always in MarketWatch we're about to take a look at the recent auction selling prices for some of those items.

*Holla Holla Holla! Teddy "Peanuthead" Long has had a long career in the business performing just about every duty aside from being an actual wrestler. I was always a fan of Long as a manager in WCW. When his run there came to an end, I never imagined that he would almost completely restart in WWE, but after a return to refereeing Long once again became a villainous manager. Arguably, Long's biggest fame came as the long-reigning general manager of Smackdown. His best piece of merchandise commemorates that run, in the form of a Mattel WWE Build-A-Figure. That figure, with all pieces included, has been selling for an average of $30.

*Another man who made his name in WCW and only later joined WWE is Diamond Dallas Page. A "late bloomer" in wrestling, Page became one of the most popular names in WCW during the "Monday Night Wars" and is fondly remembered by even casual fans to this day. More recently DDP has earned real-life kudos for helming his DDP Yoga wellness program and essentially helping to save the lives of many people including Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Scott Hall. DDP also holds the distinction of appearing on the cover of the final issue of WCW Magazine, cover dated May 2001. That edition recently sold for $15.

*When you're talking the tag team ranks, you have to mention Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson. The Rock N Roll Express have been thrilling fans for over three decades with no end in sight. If you haven't heard a pop for the "R N R X" with your own ears, what are you waiting for? Their battles with the Midnight Express are legendary, but it always seemed that manager Jim Cornette was their true nemesis. One of the biggest highlights of Mania weekend will be seeing, and hearing, Cornette induct Morton and Gibson into the Hall of Fame. As for merchandise, the Express saw loads of it. Their only action figures came under the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars banner. Notorious for having the boys hair colors swapped, the figures are still high in demand. A carded set recently sold for $140.

*Another highlight of the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will be the return of Kurt Angle to the company. Sure he's going into the hallowed Hall, but what will his future hold from here? A regular return to WWE programming? Maybe a match or three? Time will tell, but this fellow Pittsburgher is simply happy to see Angle back "home" where he belongs in WWE. Another star with endless merchandise, Angle should be receiving more in the coming months. Mattel figures from all eras of Angle? Yes, please. Angle is also a gracious signer, and a signed Impact Wrestling 8x10 promotional photo of the Olympic medalist recently sold for $20.

*A long time coming, the WWE Hall of Fame is about to get a Rude Awakening. Posthumously, Ravishing Rick Rude will be inducted this year by WCW nemesis Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Rude is still rather underrated in my book. Do enough searching and you can watch his work in and out of the ring get better and better as he floats from the territories, Jim Crockett Promotions, WWF, and WCW. His WWF-era promos were as believable as any wrestler to come along, despite the over-the-top gimmick. That gimmick has given way to a number of great action figures. Even though the first was more of a statue than a figure, it's part of the infamous WWF Wrestling Superstars '89 series, the last group of the legendary LJN line. That figure recently sold out of package for $87.

It's a stellar group of names that actually fills some gaps that fans have complaining about for awhile now. Will Cornette's return open the door for a Midnight Express induction in 2018? Will Angle make an impact on WWE's future? Will Theodore R. Long book a tag team match? There's only one way to find out, playa.

Wrestling MarketWatch: The Publications of Jim Crockett Promotions

It's almost the Fourth of July! This time of year always gets me to thinking of the magic of Jim Crockett Promotions. It may be true that a lot of the territorial wrestling promotions looked to summer as a time when business was down due to other activities taking up the evenings of the money-paying fan, but JCP changed that. The company and its talent took those long, hot, summer nights and created events that many remember to this day: The Great American Bash. It was a summer get together. Bring the kids! Bring grandma! Bring the beer and brats! It was music, food, the great outdoors, and hard-hitting wrestling action.

In this edition of MarketWatch we'll look at some of the most treasured memorabilia featuring The Great American Bash and other Crockett-promoted events: the publications. JCP produced some very nice all-slick, sometimes even all-color, programs and magazines that showcased their stars in a way that the WWF would later become famous for. The rough, often bloody, action that took place in JCP rings came through the pages making them highly collectible today. If you're a longtime reader, you've seen some of these items before. This time we'll look at some recent selling prices for them. As always, the prices given are for un-autographed copies.

*Jim Crockett Promotions history of high-quality color spectacles in publishing goes back to the legendary Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine. Nearly all of the big stars of the promotion made the cover at one point or another as the production carried on into the 1980's. Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, Dino Bravo, Blackjack Mulligan, The Mighty Igor, and Greg Valentine are just a few of the names who found themselves on the front page, but none may have looked more menacing than Ole Anderson. The notoriously gruff grappler was featured on the cover several times, but the Volume 4 Number 6 issue has Anderson, by himself, in a full color photo. A copy of this issue recently sold for $30.

*As mentioned earlier, The Great American Bash may have been the signature event for the company. While Starrcade was positioned as "The Granddaddy of Em All," The Bash, for me, signifies what Jim Crockett Promotions really stood for. In its original form, The Bash was a tour rather than just one event. Many cities and towns, large and small, got to taste live, summer, wrestling action. There will never be wrestling tours of that magnitude again, so taking in as much as we can about "the glory days" from both the wrestlers and the fans who were there is how we can still connect to that era. The '86 Bash tour is still fondly remembered as one of the best. The program from the tour recently sold for $25.

*Speaking of tours, The Rock & Roll Express even had their own offshoot, "The Summer Sizzler Tour." That tour produced its own publication, as did Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson themselves. Jim Crockett Promotions knew that many of the wrestlers had large female followings and produced what could almost be described as photo albums for some of the stars. The Express even had a fan club for a time with high-quality bulletins. One of the publications featuring Morton and Gibson was "The Rock & Roll Express: Solid Gold." This magazine, featuring photos of the boys in and out of the ring, recently sold for $20.50. It should be noted that the sold example had major cover wear. A copy as pictured here would likely fetch a bit more.

*Another signature JCP event was The Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament. More commonly known as simply "The Crockett Cup," the event was completed in two shows and held from 1986 to 1988. The winners were predictable, but it was still a chance to see interesting match-ups and wrestlers from outside the promotion. Many are hoping that the shows in as complete forms as possible will end up on WWE Network. It could also be said that The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is a successor to the Crockett Cup. The program from the final Crockett Cup tournament held in 1988 recently sold for $60.

*Jim Crockett Promotions, and many fans, definitely looked at Starrcade as the biggest event of the year. It certainly came before WrestleMania as the industry's biggest supercard, but often had endings that weren't quite as final or conclusive. Some also point to Starrcade being moved out of its original home of the Carolinas as the beginning of the end for the promotion. While I find the latter to be a bit dramatic, something just seems right about Starrcade and Greensboro, NC. After the move to Chicago in 1987, Starrcade came to the more fitting Norfolk, VA in 1988. The program from that event, subtitled "True Gritt," recently sold for $175.50.

It wouldn't be a Fourth of July for me without celebrating Jim Crockett Promotions a bit. Maybe I'll pull up a classic show on WWE Network, schlepp out the programs and magazines, perhaps even the Wonderama trading cards. I'll wrap a Road Warriors or Four Horsemen bandana around my head and cue up "Rock & Roll Is King." It's a great time to revisit that era. It may gone forever, but that's what's great about the kind of memorabilia that we look at here each week. It lets us hop in that time machine for a quick spin without ever leaving our seats.

The Fallout Of Fanfest 2013

Just when we all thought that it couldn't be done, Greg Price and his staff did it again.  Fanfest 2013, this past weekend in Charlotte, NC, was one of the best wrestling events that I've ever attended.  Needless to say, that covers a lot of ground.  As a collector I love the autographs and photos, but Fanfest is so much more than that.  Celebrating wrestling the way we all wish it still was, meeting new people, renewing old friendships, and just simply having a blast.  That's what Fanfest is all about, and I hope that my words here can even somewhat properly convey those feelings.

As has become tradition, Fanfest began with two Q&A sessions on Thursday evening.  The first was a celebration of the infamous Starrcade '85 "I Quit" cage match between Magnum T.A. and Tully Blanchard.  For over three hours, the two legendary NWA stars took any and all questions regarding their long running feud, the business at the time, and even how their lives intertwined beyond the ring.  Any fan of the classic Jim Crockett Promotions wrestling product will want to go out of their way to see this.  The second Q&A was yet another hilarious couple of hours with Jim Cornette.  Always controversial and uncensored, Cornette debuted a new, slimmer look in what is said to be his only wrestling-related appearance of 2013.

Friday kicked off the new addition of a wrestling training camp for up-and-coming stars of the business.  Dr. Tom Prichard along with Les Thatcher, Leilani Kai, Tully Blanchard, and Gerald Brisco instilled their knowledge to a number of hopefuls while fans were invited to view training matches.  Autograph and photo op sessions took place throughout the day and the vendor room was absolutely buzzing.  In recent years, vendor rooms at conventions have been notoriously disappointing.  Table after table of new DVDs, new action figures, and overpriced pre-signed photos have become the norm, much to the chagrin of serious collectors.  The vendor room at Fanfest 2013 was decidedly different.  Deals on great items were to be had throughout the weekend.

My two favorite tables had me stopping to chat as much as I did to shop.  New to Fanfest this year was the booth run by Pam and Robert Allyn.  You may not recognize the names, but you definitely saw them at the 2008 WWE Hall of Fame as well as WrestleMania 24.  They are the daughter and son-in-law of the late Gordon Solie.  The Allyn's are two of the nicest people that you will ever meet.  They greatly miss the late "Dean of Wrestling Broadcasters" and have much respect for the business that he thrived in for so long.  Pam and Robert had a huge number of items from Gordon's personal collection for sale at extremely reasonable prices.  They explained to me that they want the items to go to collectors that will cherish them.  With the amazingly fair pricing, I was able to add several of these treasures to my own collection.  One of these items was an authentically signed picture of the legendary wrestling broadcaster.  Pam and Robert made sure that I did not leave Fanfest without this, and I cannot thank them enough.  I'm hoping that they return to Fanfest 2014 just so that I can talk with them more!

My other favorite table is one that I always seem to leave a bit poorer albeit with a huge smile on my face.  Ever since Jim Cornette decided to downsize his own collection a few years ago, my stash has become all the better.  The Cornette's Collectibles booth was on my agenda before I even arrived at Fanfest.  This was so that I could pick up his latest book, "Rags, Paper, And Pins."  The book, co-authored with Memphis wrestling historian Mark James, is a beautifully published volume covering the merchandising of that famous territory.  Since the book will be front and center here on the blog in a few weeks, highlighted in this entry is another item from Cornette's Collectibles.  For sale was a 1962 issue of "The Rassler" program from Texas signed by the legendary Lou Thesz.  Thesz signed the program in 1978 and inscribed it to the winner of a W.F.I.A. (Wrestling Fans International Association) raffle.  Just who was the winner of that raffle?  Jim Cornette.  How could any collector pass that one up?

Friday night witnessed yet another grand Hall of Heroes banquet and ceremony.  My group was honored to have 2013 Hall of Heroes inductee Magnum T.A. at our table.  The NWA legend was gracious enough to answer and discuss any questions we had, including info regarding his unproduced Mattel action figure.  It doesn't take much to correctly guess just who asked about that!  Also honored were Les Thatcher, Danny Miller, Lars Anderson, and both The Rock & Roll Express and the Midnight Express with Jim Cornette.  It was touching to see the always boisterous Cornette choke up a bit at the honor.  In addition, it was comforting to see "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton happy and smiling the entire weekend in light of recent health issues.

Saturday saw more autographs, photos, and elbow rubbing with the stars, including some unannounced surprises.  Former WWWF Women's Tag Team Champion Princess Victoria came to Fanfest with her friend, featured guest Susan Green.  I keep in contact with both ladies, but had yet to meet Victoria in person.  I was glad to learn that the Native American Princess whose career was cut short by a neck injury is just as fun and amazing as she had been in all of our correspondence.  I was also able to acquire one of Miss Green's vintage original ring vests.  It is one beautiful item that I unveiled on our Twitter feed shortly after I picked it up

Saturday night featured a card of wrestling matches that were absolutely the best yet to be presented at Fanfest.  The match of the night may have been perennial Alabama Junior Heavyweight Champion "Action" Mike Jackson pitted against Bobby Fulton of "The Fantastics."  A highlight for many of us in the audience was Fulton's young sons taunting the crowd and doing it better than many talent that we see on tv week in and week out.  I should mention that the boys were probably between 11 and 13.  Possibly a new generation of "Fantastics" for the future?  Fulton and his sons performing "The Fargo Strut" at the end of the match was a particularly cool moment.

The main event of the evening was D'Lo Brown and D.O.C. (Festus/Luke Gallows) in a tag team match against The Rock & Roll Express.  With Tommy Young refereeing and "Rock n' Roll Is King" blaring over the sound system, 1985 had suddenly returned in the ballroom of the Charlotte University Place Hilton.  Ricky and Robert took the victory in a hard fought battle which proved that even after thirty years, rock and roll is indeed king.  The team was not shy in sharing that they had the time of their lives over Fanfest weekend, and it showed in every interaction with the fans.

Sunday wrapped things up with more signings, photos, and another trip around the vendor room for some great last minute deals.  Fans that were able to stay for the afternoon were even treated to a second live wrestling card.  Due to a very, very long ride home, it is always best for us to begin the long trek right after the final signing.  Although it was difficult to leave beautiful North Carolina, is was nice to be able to settle back and take in all of the autographs, photos, and memories once again collected at Fanfest.  It's amazing to think that all of that could be accomplished in what now feels like the blink of an eye.

Thanks to Greg Price and his crew, the 2013 edition was the smoothest run Fanfest yet.  If there were any issues, the average fan was completely oblivious to it.  Word has been around for awhile now that the 2014 Fanfest will be the last.  Does that mean that it's the last "Mid-Atlantic Fanfest?"  Does that mean that the event will be moving locations?  Perhaps it is indeed the final one altogether.  Time will tell.  What I do know is that following this weekend, I'm going to have a very hard time even considering skipping the 2014 edition.  If we could only freeze time next July 31-August 3, Fanfest could go on forever...