NWA Legends Fanfest 2009: The Greatest of All-Time

When one anticipates a period of time or event, often a great disappointment follows. After all, time marches on. With an event like the NWA Legends Fanfest, however, the days, weeks, months, and years that follow are just as exciting as the days a fan will spend there. That's because the event is all about one thing--making memories that will last a lifetime.

Three of my friends and I have been looking forward to the event for the better part of a year. It's a huge undertaking for both the folks involved in making the weekend happen and the fans themselves. For us, an eight-hour drive and four full days isn't easy. We're not rich, just a couple of guys looking to celebrate the sport we love and the hobby that grew out of it. Saving the money for the tickets, spending money, lodging, food, and travel expenses is no small chore, but I think we can all agree...it was 110% worth it.

Ric Flair. Harley Race. The Four Horsemen. Dusty Rhodes. These are names you think of when you think classic NWA Wrestling, and these are names that converged on Charlotte, North Carolina this past weekend for Fanfest.

Fanfest is more than just autographs and photos. Fanfest had question and answer sessions with Flair and Race, as well as legendary manager/promoter/booker/announcer Jim Cornette. Fanfest had two southern-style wrestling shows. Fanfest had the Hall of Heroes banquet and ceremony where we had the opportunity to see Lance Russell, The Fargos, Wahoo McDaniel, Nelson Royal, Gary Hart, and Blackjack Mulligan inducted into the Hall by their peers, friends, and family. Fanfest is the all-inclusive package.

While I'd love to go on and on about Fanfest, the name of this blog is Wrestling Memorabilia, so that is what I shall give you. Keeping to the topic, in this entry I shall present to you my top five favorite items I had signed and/or purchased at Fanfest.

NUMBER FIVE--The Glamour Girls & Jimmy Hart Photo

This item is the most personal to me, most likely because I made it. For a number of the NWA Fanfest guests, there simply isn't a lot of merchandise out there. While I go out of my way to find items for most of the guests, this year I went a different route for some and made my own photos. With each guest on the main Fanfest lineup, you receive two autographs on the autograph stage. While many of the guests will sign other items for you during the weekend, it is limited to two on the stage to ensure that all of the guests get at least two from each star.

When Judy Martin was announced for the lineup, I was elated. I've taken a particular interest in the '70s and '80s women's wrestling stars in the past few years, and Miss Martin was always one of my favorites. She was always believable in the ring, produced hard-hitting entertaining matches, and is even rumored to be one of the first to do the powerbomb on American soil. In the late '80s in the WWF, the Japanese Jumping Bomb Angels took the WWF woman's tag team ranks by storm. Their main opponents were Judy Martin and Leilani Kai--The Glamour Girls--managed by "The Mouth of the South" himself, Jimmy Hart.

Despite their great matches and popularity, neither team got much recognition as far as merchandising. A promo photo of the Girls and Jimmy does exist, but due to its rarity even I could not locate it. In lieu, I did the next best thing. I found a small copy of the photo, and that, coupled with seperate photos of Martin and Kai put together a photo I felt would look great signed. Despite promoter Greg Price's best efforts, Kai could not be found to complete the reunion. Martin, however, was my favorite of the team and did not disappoint. Both her and Hart gave me contact information to obtain copies of my work for themselves, and we "recreated" the picture in my photo with them.


NUMBER FOUR--Fanfest Event Programs

Each year, a host of items commemorating the Fanfest weekend are available. From photos of the stars appearing, to posters, to t-shirts are the norm, however this year fans were treated to the return of the NWA Fanfest program. Make that...programs. A beautiful full-color program was produced for each days events, as well as a special fourth program dedicated to the Hall of Heroes event. Each individual day book featured pictures of the legends who would be signing autographs that day, as well as other classic action photos. I will treasure my full set of these as much as I would a vintage program. I made sure to have my Hall of Heroes program signed by one of the inductees, in this case, the voice of Memphis wrestling himself, Lance Russell. (Thanks, Rick!)

NUMBER THREE--Inside Wrestling March 1979


Originally, Blackjack Mulligan was scheduled to attend Fanfest and be inducted into the Hall of Heroes in person. This was not to be, however. Nonetheless, I found a way to ensure Blackjack sign a few items I had specifically for Fanfest.

This magazine has in my opinion one of the greatest "Apter Mag" covers of all-time. Mulligan and Harley Race in a bloody battle for the ages. Mr. Race signed it at the event, and it's become one of my all-time favorite signed magazines.

Please say a prayer for Mr. Mulligan, as he is not in the best of health right now.

NUMBER TWO--Starrcade '86-The Skywalkers Event Program

From one great collection to another, I acquired this item at the show from Mr. Jim Cornette himself. It is signed by Mr. Cornette and Midnight Express members Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey. Normally on an item like this I would try and get as many autographs on it as I could from the stars within, however I believe I will let this one remain as is. Nearly everyone who paid to see Starrcade '86 paid to see Cornette and MX get theirs in the infamous scaffold match. The program included the original lineup sheet (with info on the next month's show at the Atlanta Omni) and inset is a picture of Mr. Cornette and myself with the piece.

NUMBER ONE--AWA Remco Ric Flair vs Larry Zbyszko Action Figure Set

In all my years of collecting, I've never actually owned a carded AWA Remco action figure. Most of them came in two packs like these, and cost in the three digits to purchase. When I saw this one only a few minutes after entering the vendor floor, I knew I had to have it. The price, which I will only say was a bargain, motivated me as did the fact that I could have Flair sign it just a few hours later. Getting Zbyszko to sign it should be relatively easy as well, and I'll be very happy once it is a "complete" piece.

Next time--My Top Five Items Of My #1 Favorite Wrestler!

...till then..."Dream" about it!

NWA Fanfest & The Horsemen Reunion Is Only Two Weeks Away!

August is near, and that means it's time for the annual NWA Fanfest in Charlotte, North Carolina. This year my crew and I will be returning for what is already the biggest Fanfest of all-time. With over EIGHTY wrestling superstars appearing over the four day event, some who have done little to no appearances in a convention/fanfest/signing atmosphere, this will be an event long remembered.



While Fanfest always causes a major buzz among wrestling collectors and convention goers, this years event is garnering even mainstream wrestling coverage due to the COMPLETE reunion of the Four Horsemen, more notably the ORIGINAL Horsemen. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson and manager J.J. Dillon will all be appearing at the event, not to mention later Horsemen members Barry Windham and Lex Luger as well as their valet Babydoll. For a myriad of reasons, not one hyperbolic, this could very well be the last time all of these stars appear in one place.

Add to that the names of Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Austin Idol, "Purple Haze" Mark Lewin, Jackie Fargo, The Steiner Brothers, Bob Backlund, Vader, Diamond Dallas Page, Jeff Jarrett, The New Age Outlaws, Sunny, Abdullah the Butcher, Sir Oliver Humperdink, Jimmy Hart, "Number One" Paul Jones, "Glamour Girl" Judy Martin, Jerry Jarrett, The Killer Bees, The Nasty Boys, Haku, The Barbarian, Jim Cornette & The Midnight Express, Susan "Tex" Green, Bugsy McGraw and legendary announcers Bob Caudle and Lance Russell among many others and it truly is an event like no other.

Fanfest, however, is more than just autographs and photos. It's also wrestling matches, question and answer sessions, and the Hall of Heroes banquet and induction ceremony, where promoter Greg Price will induct a handful of wrestling legends into the NWA Fanfest Hall of Heroes.

Perhaps the one event I myself am looking forward to the most is the "25 Years After Starrcade" question and answer session. This session will see Ric Flair and Harley Race up on the stage taking questions from the convention goers. Folks, I think I can truly die a complete wrestling fan after this one.

I get no kickback for this, but if you are a fan of wrestling, you owe it to yourself to join us at this once-in-a-lifetime event. It's an eight-hour trek for my crew, but we always said we would return to the NWA Fanfest when the stars aligned, and there is no better year to go than this one. Tickets are still available at NWALegends.com. You will not regret it.

I've peppered this blog entry with some of my favorite autographed Horsemen-related items from my own collection. I'm sure there will be a few more in two weeks!





Pictures Include: Horsemen signed photo, WWE Hall of Fame 2008 signed program, Starrcade '88 program signed by Flair, Luger, Rhodes, signed WWE Classics of Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, Luger.

June Update

Long break between posts, but that doesn't mean I've disappeared!

Due to a couple of no-shows not everything in the last entry ended up getting signed, but I still came home from the Legends of the Ring convention with more autographs than I bargained for and some new items to boot!

For the figure collectors out there, Jakks released some of the final series lineups before they cease production on the WWE line. The good news...Jack Swagger WILL get a figure. The bad news...it seems the Blackjack Mulligan Classic figure has been canceled.

My friend and reader Big Chad has requested an entry on my top five favorite Dusty Rhodes collectibles, after he asked me how many total I had. While a few have already been seen in here, that's upcoming!

Now, it's off to Charlotte, North Carolina in August! For those of you into the autograph world, you may be interested in joining us. It's the NWA Legends Fanfest, and this year it will be the place to meet some of the truly, truly classic wrestling greats that you may never get another chance with. Blackjack Mulligan, Barry Windham, "Purple Haze" Mark Lewin, The Fargo Brothers, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Big Van Vader, The Steiner Brothers, Magnum TA, Harley Race, Judy Martin, and many, many more! Check out NWALegends.com for more details.

Legends of the Ring VIII Prep

This weekend, for my crew, the Spring wrestling convention season ends with Legends of the Ring VIII on Saturday. Legends of the Ring is in Monroe, New Jersey and will feature a plethora of stars including (but not limited to) Pat Patterson, Eric Bischoff, Lex Luger, Taz, Hillbilly Jim, Zeus, Kurt Angle, and many, many, many more.

Tonight is loading up the gimmicks for the big trip tomorrow, and below is a picture of some of the items I will be bringing. Some items you may have seen before, some you may not have known even existed, but once they are autographed, many will find themselves part of entires on this very blog.

If you're going, see you at LOTR!

Signed Classic Superstars

Since the line began in 2004, Jakks WWE Classic Superstars collection changed the entire landscape of wrestling collecting. Some collectors who had never entertained the notion of collecting "toys" suddenly changed their tunes. After all, who would've thought old school wrestling legends such as Bruiser Brody, Harley Race, Ron Bass, The Midnight Express, and The Rock & Roll Express, to name a few, would be made into action figures in the new millenium?

Say what you want about the company, Jakks Pacific changed that. Getting off to a rocky start in this collectors opinion, as each new series was announced, thoughts of future figures to be produced began forming in the heads of fans everywhere. "If such-and-such gets a figure, why not this guy?" Into 2005 it was clear that the lame initial lineup featuring stars who'd already had a host of figures produced, not to mention many product inaccuracies, was not going to be the standard.

Hundreds of figures and five years later, we are nearing the end of the line. It's uncertain as to whether or not Mattel (who will take over the WWE line) or Jakks (who will start producing TNA Wrestling figures) will try to tackle or some sort of "Legends of Wrestling" series.

One major concept that came out of the Classic Superstars lined was getting the figures autographed. While getting items signed is obviously nothing new, getting the Classic Superstars signed has been a goal of many collectors. Personally, I have around one hundred of them signed, and I've always felt one of the appeals of getting them signed is the visual aspect. There's no question as to WHERE these things should be signed. The plastic bubble or window encasing the figure is the end-all be-all spot.

For examples, I've peppered this entry with various examples of a few signed pieces from my collection. I hope you've enjoyed this very brief history of the line as well as the photos, as I plan on doing a lot more features on the Classic Superstars in the future. And now, onto my personal favorite...as if you had to guess by now...

I have all of the Dusty Classic figures signed, but this, by far, is my favorite because of the signature. It's the full Dusty signature and is also personalized to me, both concepts that used to be fairly rare in a Dusty autograph.

Again, like you had to guess?

Other Pictures Include: Superstar Billy Graham "Black & White" Exclusive signed, Akeem & One Man Gang signed, Demolition Tag Team Set signed (the singles are more visually appealing, however this is the first one that Bill "Ax" Eadie had ever signed), and "The Outlaw" Ron Bass signed (one of the ones I never thought would get a figure, and was very pleased about).

I Love Memphis Wrestling

Of the old school wrestling territories, Memphis ranks among my top favorites. While the wrestling may not have been "scientific" enough for some fans and the characters and feuds too "goofy" for others, to me Memphis had a perfect blend of everything I look for in wrestling.

And "The King."

A package full of old Memphis wrestling items came in the mail today, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about it. This stuff is great, and I even got some things I didn't bargain for. One of which, was this...

It loses a LOT in the photo (it's a bright yellowish gold with an almost psychedelic '70s effect to it), but I've never seen one of these before. How cool is that? Some of the other items fit into categories of separate entries I've been planning on doing, but I promise a lot more of these great Memphis items will show up here. So for those of you Lawler, LeDuc, Idol, and Jimmy Hart fans out there...stay tuned!

Wayne "The Fonz" Farris, anyone? :-)

A Signamania Signed Goody...And A Lesson!

As promised, a look at one of the pieces I had signed at Signamania IV. Arn enjoyed seeing and signing this figure, and even showed it off to Dean Malenko. He commented that they "got the right bodytype," which I took as a jab at the slightly over-buff Arn Anderson Classic Superstars figure which he had been signing throughout the day.

At first glance, this is like any other WCW Galoob figure released in the United States. As any collector worth his or her salt knows, in 1990 Galoob released a series of 12 WCW figures in the United States. The series included Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious, Sting, Lex Luger, Ron Simmons, Butch Reed, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Brian Pillman, and Tom Zenk. The figures were also released in two-packs as seen below.

Later on, a second series was released in the United Kingdom only. This series included Big Josh (Matt Bourne--the Original Doink), El Gigante (Giant Gonzales), Dustin Rhodes, Michael PS Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, and Sting and Luger in entrance gear. Different colored variations of the United States released figures were also released in the U.K.

The lesser known variant on these figures was actually a part of the original United States release. Infact, the Arn Anderson figure above is a variant. Can you spot it?


In the lower right corner of the packaging, the card reads "Presents Superstars of the NWA" as opposed to the MUCH more common "Presents Superstars of the WCW."

This variation has been little-talked about over the years in discussions of this line among collectors. The printing of these cards had to have been relatively short, as every example I can remember seeing and opening back in the early '90s read "WCW."

On this carding, in theory, this is the ONLY NWA action figure line featuring a cast of the classic NWA wrestlers.

In this collectors opinion, the NWA carded figures are much more desirable then their later altered counterparts and will undoubtedly rise in popularity as the years go by.