“Hey, Eric!”

That was the beginning and end of my conversation with Eric Bischoff. Oh relax, he wasn’t being a dick. Eric waved and smiled, but had that universal expression of running late and not knowing which direction to go. Sort of a perfect metaphor for WrestleCon. The Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, Texas was as much as a host as it was a transit station. Fans and the wrestlers themselves were coming and going to a myriad of shows, signings, podcasts, and merch stands over the course of a couple of days to cram in as much professional wrestling as possible.

Being permanently anxious that we were missing out or somehow not going to get in to the show, we walked up to the ticket table for the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Super Show suspiciously as a line began to form to get in. Whilst waiting, we saw Low Ki peek out. Ishii was pacing. John Morrison lugged his travel bags behind him. The Rock ’N’ Roll Express were casually in their ring gear, making you believe they’d stay in their gimmicks for days on end. And my favorite, Jushin Thunder Liger with his mask, wig, and puffy cape all on to take a whizz.

Like a lot of wrestling fans, you’re excited to see the performers, but you also want to give them quiet dignity in their privacy, as it was far too easy to believe other fans would never leave them alone for pictures and hugs like they were costumed characters at Disney World. That being said, a few quick exchanges were noteworthy: I got to say hi to Bret Hart, my favorite childhood wrestler. At the time, we were sitting in the back row of the Memorial Super Show in the Fairmont and Bret was being escorted discretely in. I said hello to him and we made brief eye contact, but my saying hi to him got others to notice and you saw his face light up as he felt the appreciation by the fans. Bret was “The Special Ambassador” for the show and said hello to the crowd and left all of 20 minutes later. Hey, if he got a good payday for that, more power to him. “Speedball” Mike Bailey I didn’t meet per se, but I was right by him, fucking oblivious that I was standing at the time right near the front of his meet and greet line. I got out of the way for a little boy who wanted his autograph but was very shy to do so, and Mike went out of his way to call the kid back to give him a fistbump and make the kid feel like he got more time with Speedball. And finally, we met DDP. He happened to stay at the same hotel as us. DDP shared an elevator with Sean, and made a point to shake our hands and ask for our names when we chatted for a millisecond. Nice guy.

The shows all had high quality. I loved Bloodsport for it feeling different than all the other attractions and it being not unlike what I imagine wrestling was like in the 1920s when a suplex got a huge pop and every blow felt like it was real. The Memorial Super Show was a shitshow but a charming shitshow, as Colt Cabana stole the show with riffing on the ring apron with Robert Gibson and Barry Horowitz (poor bastard was the only performer to make Vince look credible that weekend). The NJPW show was great in that we sat right at the entranceway and got close to the performers—even if Switchblade didn’t give me a five when I had his fucking gimmick on. Oh well. He was great anyways. We split early to hit the ROH Super Card, hence us missing some of the matches from our ratings. That was clearly the best show of the weekend, with the match of the year in FTR defeating The Briscoes.

Along with our star ratings are some pictures I took. Looking forward to Los Angeles next year!

GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8

Dallas, Texas—Fair Park

3.31.2022

Masha Slamovich def. Janai Kai: ★
Ninja Mack def. Yoya: ★★
Royce Issacs def. Bad Dude Tito: ★
Alex Coughlin def. SLADE: ★
John Hennigan def. Simon Gotch: ★
Marina Shafir def. Zeda Zhang: ★★
JR Kratos def. Timothy Thatcher: ★★
Yuya Uemura def. Mike Bailey: ★★
Josh Barnett def. JONAH: ★
Jon Moxley def. Biff Busick: ★★★★
Chris Dickinson def. Minoru Suzuki: ★★★

WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial Super Show

Dallas, TX—Fairmont Hotel

3.31.2022

Bandido def. Mike Bailey: ★★★★
Mia Yim def. Athena: ★★
Tomohiro Ishii def. Timothy Thatcher: ★★
Taya Valkyrie def. John Morrison: ★
Lardeo Kid, Michael Oku, and Rey Horus def. Ace Austin, Black Taurus, and Josh Alexander: ★★
Minoru Suzuki def. Biff Busick: ★★
Atsushi Onita, Colt Cabana, Juice Robinson, and The Rock ’N’ Roll Express def. PCO, Fandango, Jimmy Wang Yang, nZo, and Barry Horowitz: ★
The Briscoes def. Homicide and Low Ki: ★

During the We Watch Wrestling podcast show, the infamous shot, Malort, was mentioned. For the uninitiated, Malort is exactly what it would taste like if you mixed black licorice, pencil shavings, car tires, and swished it down with Lucifier’s urine.

..and beyond annoyed that I bought it for them.

NJPW STRONG Lonestar Shootout

Dallas,Texas—Fairmont Hotel

4.1.2022

Ren Narita def. Rocky Romero: ★★
Clark Connors, Karl Fredricks, Mascara Dorado, and Yuya Uemura def. David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Daniel Garcia, and Kevin Knight: ★★
Jay White def. Mike Bailey: ★★★
Tomohiro Ishii def. Chris Dickinson: ★★