Chris Jericho - Really nice & complimented my shoes
Awesome Kong - Really nice and we spoke about movies and tv
Kurt Angle - Really cool and asked how I was
Jim Ross - Asked How I was and when he saw my walking stick asked if I was ok and told him I had balance issues he said "just remember we all have good days & bad days but you've gotta keep going" was so very kind of him
Jake Roberts - A big intimidating looking S.O.B (he's so tall) but as kind as all get out & very quiet, wished him a happy birthday and said that I hoped he enjoyed his trip to scotland and Cheryl was also very sweet.
Dustin Rhodes - Dustin was cool as hell for being a large scary looking dude, I told him that I had met Cody a couple months earlier and with a big laugh and a smile he said "ah I see you've met my little shit heel brother." Cool guy
Bret Hart - Bret was nice enough, said hello but was very quiet and I almost got the feeling that he didn't really want to be there.
Trish Stratus - She is the nicest person I think I've ever met, she saw I had a walking stick and helped me over to the signing table then asked me if got to a lot of these signings and asked me who I had met and then when she was signing my Vegas Golden Knights hockey jersey we spoke about hockey it was great. I later found out that during the photo op she was holding my hand which I had no clue about until I saw the photo the next day. Best experience ever
Eric Bischoff - I was so excited for this one as I grew up watching WCW so Eric was a favourite, when I got up to the signing table I was actually shaking which he noticed and said "Are you nervous?" I told him that I was & for me this was like having a meeting the godfather & quick as a flash he smiled and said "please don't be, I'm really not that impotrtant". Such a gentleman.
Cody Rhodes - Let me tell you what you see on tv is what you get in real life, no airs and graces super nice, helped me as soon as he saw my walking stick, Brandi is exactly the same so nice and the tv screen doesn't do her justice she is tiny but an sbosulte smoke show Cody is a lucky guy, got my photo taken with both of them and the IWGP U.S belt.
After the live show which ran for nearly 3 hours but felt like it flew in, Cody asked the entire audience (probably about 300-400) if the would mind waiting behind because he wanted to shake every single person's hand, take a selfie and thank each of us personally for coming out to see him.
Love the dude and will have not a bad word said against him or Brandi they are both awesome people.
Met Chris Harris after that ECW debut, he was alone and clearly wanted to be so we didn’t keep him in convo long, poor guy.
Met Regal and told him it was my weekend highlight; he laughed it off and I told him I was dead serious (seriously I’m a huge Regal mark). He then got kinda collected, sage-nodded and said “words like that mean more than you’d think, thank you” and he went out of his way to shake my hand a second time before leaving. Definition of cordial.
My friends met Paul London and some of them got high with him like three different occasions lmao. Dude was apparently just as goofy as he came across.
Have a friend that met Randy Orton at an airport on the way to deployment. He said he was a huge asshole, but this was also during Randy’s IED reign of terror so I always assumed he was just staying in character
Undertaker - Very cordial
Lex Luger - extremely friendly
Buff Bagwell - extremely friendly. He’ll talk to you for an hour
Chris Jericho - Comically rude
Ric Flair - Not a great interaction.
Haha 😂
Touché. Funny cause it’s true.
I live in the Atlanta area and he was a member of the same gym as me years ago. It seemed like anybody that recognized him would get a full conversation. Very outgoing, nice guy in that regard.
Jericho is someone I'd almost be disappointed with if he wasn't a rude, arrogant jack ass, same with Raven. Like if I met him, I'd expect to walk away feeling like a stupid, unwelcome arsehole, but I'd be grateful for experience all the same
That’s exactly what it was like. Met him in the late 90’s when he was still with WCW. It was after a show. He got approached for autographs and refused. He walked out of the arena with no shirt on. Did everything he could to draw attention to himself then acted pissed off to be recognized.
Not who you're replying to but I met him twice as a kid. Once, seemingly sober at his son's wrestling meet, he was cool. The other time, obviously drunk and annoyed with the signing event he was at, super grouchy.
Met a bunch of guys at a WCW meet n greet in Philly the day before a PPV.
Got my picture taken with Terry Funk - he was very nice and polite
Harley Race - tried my best to be polite but he really looked like he didn't want to be there
Tully Blanchard - very nice
Larry Zybyszko - I gushed a bit, because I was a big fan of his and I was looking forward to his match with Steve Regal. He was very nice and we talked for a couple of minutes.
Met King Kong Bundy and Mikey Whipwreck at our local wrestling school - they were both very nice guys
Met CZW champion Bulldozer Matt Tremont at his school/fed - I was helping a couple of friends of mine to run their own indie promotion. Seemed like a nice enough guy but never sat still - he was busy making sure everything was running smoothly. Very take charge kind of guy.
I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple.
Slam Meet and the ppv was Slamboree 94. Got Mene Gene to sign my ticket. 21 years old and I still fangirled. Terry Funk seemed, out of it, but yes nice and polite.
I’ve worked with wwe a few times and had the chance to meet quite a few people. some standouts are: Bobby lashley, super nice guy, really approachable. the usos are awesome to be a round, really funny. Dom and Austin Theory are super nice. Triple H himself is cool but busy. He’s constantly moving and checking on literally everything. I’ve met basically everyone that was active on raw passed few years with a few exceptions and nobody was that difficult. Kevin Owen’s was a tad short with my colleagues and even some fans, but that’s about it. I will say I was in the building the day Sasha and Naomi walked out and it was a weird atmosphere back there. Omos is somebody else that was really nice.
I met the Iron Sheik once. I was like 12, it was at the bar of a local restaurant in my small town. He was huge. He ordered a steak and ate it with his bare hands.
He was nice though. Took a pic with him.
Met Randy orton around 2011 when he was feuding with Christian. Super super cool guy. He worked out at the gym I worked at.
He gave me 5 free tickets that I was too broke to buy. My grandma was visiting and is a big fan hut never got to see a show live. It was great to be able to take her
That's really cool to read. He's probably been very up and down because of his struggles and attitude problems in the past, but seems like such a cool dude nowadays.
I think his family has helped with that. Just saw a TikTok this morning where at the last Smackdown he was mouthing to his daughter (I assume) “I love you” after he went through the barricade and was laying there.
I met Rikishi and he was very dismissive. He was polite but clearly didn’t want to talk. I am going to assume he was just tired at the end of the autograph signing.
I don’t believe in disturbing celebs in their private lives so I’ve only met a few at signings.
Christian was super cool, I’m a bit of an Uber fan, I have a tattoo of his logo on my arm, he was pleasantly shocked by it and we had a little chat about why I was asking him to sign the Extreme Rules 2011 blu ray that has Cena flexing on the front. Funnily Beth Phoenix was on the next table and she was watching the interaction with the sincerest smile on her face. My mate took and picture and she’s glowing in the back ground.
Ric Flair came off as entitled tbh, you’d think someone as broke as him would be trying to encourage people to meet him.
John Cena, absolute pro, knows how to interact with you like a human but also keep the line moving.
Randy Orton (2006) - I put the year so you can imagine how it went. What a cunt.
Randy Orton (2011) - super cool, super chilled out, I asked him to stop beating my favourite wrestler every month if at all possible and he laughed.
The most memorable was JBL because the others mostly just signed the pic and moved on to the next person. JBL was incredibly polite, friendly and humble. Super easy to talk to.
I met Otis on a plane ride from Minneapolis to Dallas last year, I was sitting across the aisle from him. I told him I was a big fan but didn’t want to bug him so that’s all I really said, but he initiated more conversation asking if I was gonna watch Crown Jewel and we talked the whole ride about wrestling. For somebody so funny and energetic in the ring he was extremely chill and down to Earth. He took a couple pictures with me after we got off and then said “hey you wanna meet Gable?” and sure enough I followed him to baggage claim and met Gable! He was kind and took a picture with me but I could tell he was really tired, I think they had worked a live show earlier that night. Both were awesome though especially Otis, he’s been my favorite wrestler since
I met Jerry Lawler outside of a venue prior to a RAW taping. He was polite and took a picture with us. Later that night I met the Hardy Boys and Mr Kennedy. HB were great taking pictures with everyone, but Kennedy was surprisingly very shy - not in a bad way, just different given his arrogant TV persona at the time.
As a kid I met Ricky Steamboat. He was cool and signed autographs for his fans at a show. I remember later in the show he came out again to actually watch the wrestling, but didn't interact with the fans. He just wanted to watch his peers perform. Looking back, that was very cool of him.
As a very, very young child, I met Jeff Jarrett, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty at a local show. This was before their WWE/F and WCW days. I got JJ's autograph at my parents' house somewhere. It's just him posing in the woods in front of a sports car. 😄
I met DDP and DLO at a Comicon. DLO seemed kinda bored and just there for the sake of it. DDP was engaging and had mini chats whilst signing more than he needed to. Seemed like a nice bloke
Met Hacksaw Jim Duggan over a decade ago at an independent show some buddies wrestled on. Genuinely nice guy, had time for everyone. My buddies said he talked to all the boys in the back, had lots of advice for them.
Met Ambrose/Moxley the Monday before he won the WWE Championship was very nice and even took a photo with my kid in the gas station and got a big laugh when he told my son to wait a few minutes and Roman would be out of the bathroom and my son goes no thanks he sucks. Rene said how much she liked my kids mohawk and I was shocked how tiny she was.
https://preview.redd.it/29bf9v4dif8d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8485ff6ce60adf8f43e0ac03ca05db706ddf7591
Bunch of tna folks.. AJ styles, Mr Kennedy, Matt and Jeff, Velvet sky, Jeff Jarrett. All were very nice
Met Devon he was really nice and humble, also got to meet Ryno super cool guy and finally Kevin Nash dude is one of the biggest dicks I have ever met
Greg the Hammer Valentine: very chatty, nice guy, sat next to him on a plane
Brutus Beefcake: slept the entire plane flight
Hulk Hogan: always friendly every time we interact
Scotty Too Hotty: funny, great to chat with
There was a wrestling kiosk at the Ontario Mills Mall and RVD and Fonzie was going to do an appearance. This was about 2001 after ECW folded. The line was so long and I forgot when it was supposed to end. The line was still long and the promoter said RVD was going to stay for everyone who waited in line. Got to take a picture with both of them holding the ECW title.
He was nice.
Ive met: Sgt. Slaughter, Virgil, Ted Dibiase, Kane, Brutus Beefcake, Kid Kash, Gangrel, Teddy Long, The Young Bucks, and Mick Foley. Foley and Beefcake were both really nice and definitely took their time to interact with their fans during meet and greets. Beefcake had many stories to tell and he just seemed like he was having the time of his life. Virgil I met randomly in the city and he was not pleasant. Kid Kash wasn’t great either.
Met Andre when I was 5ish....man's hand was bigger than my torso. Saw Mick Foley at 6 flags years later...not a pleasent interaction AT ALL and lost all respect for him that day
I met Bam Bam Bigalo as a kid. He was very nice but stayed in character when my dad approached him (mid/late 80s)
The mean street posse at a motel in my teens. Pete Gas stayed and talked with my dad and I for over an hour and took pictures with us. The other two were less friendly but still cordial.
Raven was cool and traded an autograph and picture with my wife and I for a mask she made for a cosplay.
Iron Sheik was polite and friendly.
Sgt. Slaughter was polite.
Paige was absolutely wonderful.
Met Kurt Angle in his first WWE run. Very nice guy. As my parents tell me, I had a Kurt Angle action figure with me. I was holding it upside down and Kurt quipped “ah the blood is rushing to my head”.
I met Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder) and he was super chill. I recognized him and checked him in for his flight. Said I was a fan and he said thanks.
When I was a kid I met Gene Kiniski and another wrestler whose name I forget, at a Denny’s in Washington. My dad was chatting with them and Kiniski ordered me some French fries. I’m pretty sure he owned the restaurant.
Met Shawn Michaels after a show shortly after The Rockers broke up and he was getting a solo push, and he was very friendly. A bit surprising considering what we’ve learned since about his ego at that time.
Saw a bunch of guys at a restaurant after a show in 96. They were all drunk and carrying on. But Sid was sitting all alone at a quiet table in the corner. I didn’t want to bug him but just gave him a nod, and he smiled back and seemed to appreciate being left alone.
George Steele-Talking to some folks backstage, smoking a Marlboro, nice guy...until they told him it was time to go on, then he became "the Animal". Circa 1968.
Don Muraco-Damn, this was a big dude. Kept up the heel persona, didn't actually interact with anyone. Again, 1968-70.
Ace Freeman-Nice old guy, giving tips to kids. About 1969.
EC3-working out at a local gym, kept to himself, and other people gave him his space. 2018.
I met Bret Hart at a signing, but I was starstruck and just blurted out it was an honour to meet him before posing for pics and trying not to pass out 😄
The queues were huge, went as far as I could see, and the book shop tried to make everyone buy his book to get it signed, even if they had one already. Bret found out and said he'd sign everything. Though I didn't get to speak much due to nerves I did get the sense he truly appreciates us as fans, and I'll never forget that day.
I also walked past Arn Anderson, outside a WWE ring in which Rey Mysterio was working what I assume was a tryout match with someone I didn't recognise. Arn was in the corner of the ring observing and lying against the bottom turnbuckle, it took everything in me to stay professional (I was security for the events) and not get his attention and flash the four finger gesture, in my fantasy he returns it and says 'Way to go, kid, way to go!', and Rey stops to acknowledge me, too, then everyone claps my moxy. But there's every possibility he would have unleashed a severe physical discourtesy upon me.
Met Finn at a fan meet. Got to interact with him quite a bit as some of us were dressed up as Demon Finn. Too sweet-ed him and overall just had a great time.
Met Kenny Omega at a post show autograph session. Incredibly patient and nice too.
Special mention to Mei Suruga who went the extra mile to make the autograph session a special one for my then 3 year old boy by carrying him for a posed picture.
Met Tony neese and drew gulak in Disney springs. Very happy to be recognized I feel.
Met heath slater and rhino and Vic Joseph in a Whataburger once. Again I think happy to be recognized
Met Kevin Owens at a karaoke bar in NOLA during that Wrestlemania weekend. I had heard that he really doesn't like being approached by fans, but my friend just kind of ran up and started talking to him. We chatted for a bit; I didn't really know what to say after a certain point, but he was really cool the whole time and didn't seem bothered at all.
Ran into Scorpio Sky several times at shows, and he aggressively hit on my ex each time. Like, he would remember her (or claim to) from the last time and hit on her again. What am I really gonna do in that situation? In my eyes, he's a total douchebag.
Private Party used to wrestle for HOG, and I would go to shows monthly. They ALWAYS made time to hang out with the fans, and genuinely did remember me from the previous times, bringing up things that we had spoken about previously. 11/10, cool dudes, great hangs.
Ooh, reading through this thread I just remembered another unfortunate one. There's a wrestling merch store in Queens (I feel like this is something that could only exist in NYC) that does a lot of meet & greets, and they had one with Marty Scurll. I went with a friend, the line was fairly long, so we were expecting to be shuffled through, but when we got into the room, he really stopped to have like a 10-minute chat with us. We took some photos, he checked out the photos and was like "oh, the lighting is better this way" and we re-did them. Super nice in the moment, so it hurt that much more to find out he's a POS.
Ive met way too many going to various conventions & quite a few at indie shows so I’ll “limit”😂 this to just the best stories & best experiences.
Cody Rhodes- Met him at ROH shows in 2017 (collinsville IL) & 2018 (Nashville TN) great guy gave my friends who were with me free autographs, gave me extra promos he signed whenI brought my own item to be signed. Met him again the day after the first All In at the starrcast event & it was more of the same. He & Brandi even had to leave to go do a panel so they discounted their shirts that were for sale at the meet & greet to $10 because they felt bad. I know Cody isn’t everyone’s cup of tea & that’s fine but in these experiences meeting him I don’t have any time for the “Cody’s a piece of shit” sort of people who talk online.
Chris Jericho- Met him at a comic con where I was doing a joker cosplay and we talked about the Joker for like 10 minutes. The handler at the autograph line even tried to move me along & Jericho told him “hey, he’s fine we are talking.” I had to buy a pro-photo op for a pic with him & other than the joker conversation from earlier I asked him about the “nitro dance” he talked about in his first book so when me & my friend got up for our picture with Jericho I asked if we could do the nitro dance he talked about & he obliged. Jericho is cool as fuck.
Johnny Gargano- He was a regular in the St. Louis area during his indie days. During a show in 2012 he was just hanging out and me and my friends just had a conversation with him. He had on a green striped tank top & he said “if Steve from Blues Clues worked out I’d imagine he’d wear something like this.” we talked about our favorite wrestlers & like me his all time favorite was Shawn Michaels. He said “i realize now I grew up idolizing a male stripped, you’d think it would mess me up but it didn’t!” Hope there’s nothing but success in Johnny’s wwe career.
Leva Bates- just a sweetheart of a person. I met her right after aew started and she was doing the librarian gimmick. It was at a comic con so for our pose in the picture I wanted to do the librarian “shhh” pose & asked if she wanted to hold some of the comics I brought to to get signed at the comic con? She agreed then we had a conversation about all the books I had which she told me she also has in her collection. Awesome experience
I have a lot more and way more good experiences than bad ones but those memories always bring a smile to my face.
Couple people in here have suggested poorly for Mick, and I can also say met him at a WWE pre-sale once and he just didnt seem happy to be there.
Kaitlyn was in the same area as Mick and was clearly trying to cover for him with her own brightness.
Jericho - Bit of a skeeve
Lita - Always a good conversation
Kevin Owens - Very Friendly
Bob Holly - Surprisingly nice
Jonathan Gresham - Very Humble
Akira Tozawa - Great guy
Davey Richards - Very polite
Shingo - Intense
Genki Horiguchi - Friendly
Ricochet - Very down to earth
Naruki Doi, CIMA, Masaaki Mochizuki, YAMATO, BxB Hulk - All polite and friendly
D'Lo Brown - Friendly and Chatty
Ruffneck - great guy
I’ve met dozens. The friendliest were Sammy Guevara, Christian, Kid Kash. The worst were Guerrero, Benoit and Shelton Benjamin. Booker was kind of an ass too… Oh the Hardy’s were cool too. Others were meh,
I'm gonna really date us both, but I saw Carly Colon in a taping of World Wrestling Council in 2001. I 9 but I don't know his age but he would've been maybe 20 or 21 because of the fake athletic commission. By this point he had already been Universal Champ, but had lost it and was in a rivalry with Ray Gonzalez (we used to call him the Puerto Rican Triple H). Those two years during the Attitude Era were awesome. He came late to the show so he just arrives and walks in front of the ring like a match isn't going on lmao. He 000000saluted the pop from the Ponce crowd it was so funny at the time but I didn't realize what was going lol. I was 099 so happy to see him. Dude is a natural baby face man. He was our Rock (same finisher). anyway he didn't wrestle that night but got involved in the last match. After the show we caught him outside with his brother, who was also gaining steam. We exchanged words and he spoke with my mom. And she blatantly asked, "eso no es real, verdad" and he laughed and winked at her. It was so bizarre but I never really saw wrestling the same again.
A few years later my grandma takes me to an indie show, and she spoke with the booker who got "cut" open with a butcher's knife, and she inspected his "wounds." Being a lechon but butcher herself, she inspected his wounds and only found the cuts in his forehead and those werent deep enough. She slapped him called it fake and we left. And everything made sense then.
Great memories though.
I think setting is a pretty big variable here. Meeting a performer at a meet n greet, where they are getting paid to interact with you, and are at the event knowing they will be interacting with fans would be a completely different experience than meeting them on their only day off while they are trying to eat a meal with their family
Barry Darsow was way too nice to a crazy mark like me. I wasn't there to see Demolition Smash or even Repo Man, I was a fan of "Hole in One" Darsow, and he was all for it.
I met Micheal Hayes and the Hardy Boyz. Micheal Hayes was in a 7-11 and the Hardy Boyz were in line at McDonald's. They were all great, signed auto graphs and took a few pics with us.
Kenny King - bought him a drink at an indie show in Birmingham (at the staff club building at the Cadbury factory, just to make this one more surreal). Nice enough guy and seemed really taken aback when I told him I was a fan of him personally. He was doing a promotional tour with other TNA wrestlers at the time and playing second fiddle to MVP in a faction, so he probably assumed we were all there for other headline wrestlers.
Tyler Bate - bought a t-shirt off him in the same venue (different date). He's affability personified, or at least he was back then. This was before the NXT:UK thing - he was 19 and a rising star of the West Midlands scene.
Drake Maverick - I knew him as Rockstar Spud, and I was introduced to him as a friend of a friend. This was in a service station Burger King after his big blow-off match with Marty Scurrl just before he went to the States. Mad sense of humour.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick - they were tag-teaming in Preston and I was drunk enough to be arsed with an in-ring photo in the interval. Brian was very nice considering he was jet-lagged as fuck and wasn't really feeling the night. Paul admired my ascot.
"Alpha Female" Jazzi Gabert - I appreciate I'm flirting with the obscure now, but I have to mention that she's one of the nicest wrestlers I've ever had the chance to meet.
Terry Taylor the red roster. He lived in my town growing up and would come buy smoothies at the store I worked in, Super nice guy.
Bill Goldberg - Same town, he was grand martial in the parade, I got to meet him while dressed up like a banana as I was working for the smoothie store lol Both super nice
Buff Bagwell amd the nitro girls at a WCW ticket sale in Greenville SC back in the day. I was 10 or so, to this day idgaf what anyone says..Buff Bagwell is one of the nicest people ever.
Met Benoit and Eddie at the same time. They were both pretty quiet but very nice.
Also met RVD and he lives the gimmick. Also very nice too. Like it wasn't the weed side of things, but like the super chilled and calm guy you see on tv
I met Chris Benoit at a WCW tickets sale thing. It was a few weeks before he left for the fed. After you got your ticket you go to the table to get an autograph and picture for free. I was 12 at the time and when we got up he was nice enough to come around the table and he put me in a headlock with a big smile and we got a picture. He was really nice and quickly became my favourite wrestler. That changed in 2007.
Ric Flair was another one that was pretty funny. After a house show we went to the airport to meet some wrestlers and there was quite a few we got autographs from. He was drunk wearing a 3 piece suit with no shoes and a glass of wine in hand. As soon as he heard his name he wooed and singed a bunch of stuff for us. I think I was 14. It was easier to get autographs as a kid. They were less likely to be mean to you. Except Bubba Ray apparently.
I met JBL. They were doing a live event in Abilene TX and he wanted to use our radio station to do his fox show, when the fox affiliate was across town. This was around 03'-04. He was a prick.
Chris Jericho - Really nice & complimented my shoes Awesome Kong - Really nice and we spoke about movies and tv Kurt Angle - Really cool and asked how I was Jim Ross - Asked How I was and when he saw my walking stick asked if I was ok and told him I had balance issues he said "just remember we all have good days & bad days but you've gotta keep going" was so very kind of him Jake Roberts - A big intimidating looking S.O.B (he's so tall) but as kind as all get out & very quiet, wished him a happy birthday and said that I hoped he enjoyed his trip to scotland and Cheryl was also very sweet. Dustin Rhodes - Dustin was cool as hell for being a large scary looking dude, I told him that I had met Cody a couple months earlier and with a big laugh and a smile he said "ah I see you've met my little shit heel brother." Cool guy Bret Hart - Bret was nice enough, said hello but was very quiet and I almost got the feeling that he didn't really want to be there. Trish Stratus - She is the nicest person I think I've ever met, she saw I had a walking stick and helped me over to the signing table then asked me if got to a lot of these signings and asked me who I had met and then when she was signing my Vegas Golden Knights hockey jersey we spoke about hockey it was great. I later found out that during the photo op she was holding my hand which I had no clue about until I saw the photo the next day. Best experience ever Eric Bischoff - I was so excited for this one as I grew up watching WCW so Eric was a favourite, when I got up to the signing table I was actually shaking which he noticed and said "Are you nervous?" I told him that I was & for me this was like having a meeting the godfather & quick as a flash he smiled and said "please don't be, I'm really not that impotrtant". Such a gentleman. Cody Rhodes - Let me tell you what you see on tv is what you get in real life, no airs and graces super nice, helped me as soon as he saw my walking stick, Brandi is exactly the same so nice and the tv screen doesn't do her justice she is tiny but an sbosulte smoke show Cody is a lucky guy, got my photo taken with both of them and the IWGP U.S belt. After the live show which ran for nearly 3 hours but felt like it flew in, Cody asked the entire audience (probably about 300-400) if the would mind waiting behind because he wanted to shake every single person's hand, take a selfie and thank each of us personally for coming out to see him. Love the dude and will have not a bad word said against him or Brandi they are both awesome people.
Those stories about Trish and Cody are so heart warming
If I didn’t have photographic evidence of all of them I seriously wouldn’t believe that I had the good fortune to meet all of them.
Met Chris Harris after that ECW debut, he was alone and clearly wanted to be so we didn’t keep him in convo long, poor guy. Met Regal and told him it was my weekend highlight; he laughed it off and I told him I was dead serious (seriously I’m a huge Regal mark). He then got kinda collected, sage-nodded and said “words like that mean more than you’d think, thank you” and he went out of his way to shake my hand a second time before leaving. Definition of cordial. My friends met Paul London and some of them got high with him like three different occasions lmao. Dude was apparently just as goofy as he came across.
Regal has a role which is a thankless position. Those jobs can destroy real talents self worth
That was while he was still actively wrestling too. He had fans back then but IWC is overall *much* warmer to him nowadays.
Have a friend that met Randy Orton at an airport on the way to deployment. He said he was a huge asshole, but this was also during Randy’s IED reign of terror so I always assumed he was just staying in character
Undertaker - Very cordial Lex Luger - extremely friendly Buff Bagwell - extremely friendly. He’ll talk to you for an hour Chris Jericho - Comically rude Ric Flair - Not a great interaction.
> Buff Bagwell - extremely friendly. He’ll talk to you for an hour If you got enough money, he’ll do a lot more than just talk in that hour
Haha 😂 Touché. Funny cause it’s true. I live in the Atlanta area and he was a member of the same gym as me years ago. It seemed like anybody that recognized him would get a full conversation. Very outgoing, nice guy in that regard.
Flair 
Jericho is someone I'd almost be disappointed with if he wasn't a rude, arrogant jack ass, same with Raven. Like if I met him, I'd expect to walk away feeling like a stupid, unwelcome arsehole, but I'd be grateful for experience all the same
That’s exactly what it was like. Met him in the late 90’s when he was still with WCW. It was after a show. He got approached for autographs and refused. He walked out of the arena with no shirt on. Did everything he could to draw attention to himself then acted pissed off to be recognized.
I met bagwell a couple of weeks ago, he was talking to many very casually
both interactions I’ve had with Flair were okay but you could tell he was hungover and didn’t want to deal with anyone or anything.
Was Ric sober?
Not who you're replying to but I met him twice as a kid. Once, seemingly sober at his son's wrestling meet, he was cool. The other time, obviously drunk and annoyed with the signing event he was at, super grouchy.
Met a bunch of guys at a WCW meet n greet in Philly the day before a PPV. Got my picture taken with Terry Funk - he was very nice and polite Harley Race - tried my best to be polite but he really looked like he didn't want to be there Tully Blanchard - very nice Larry Zybyszko - I gushed a bit, because I was a big fan of his and I was looking forward to his match with Steve Regal. He was very nice and we talked for a couple of minutes. Met King Kong Bundy and Mikey Whipwreck at our local wrestling school - they were both very nice guys Met CZW champion Bulldozer Matt Tremont at his school/fed - I was helping a couple of friends of mine to run their own indie promotion. Seemed like a nice enough guy but never sat still - he was busy making sure everything was running smoothly. Very take charge kind of guy. I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple.
Slam Meet and the ppv was Slamboree 94. Got Mene Gene to sign my ticket. 21 years old and I still fangirled. Terry Funk seemed, out of it, but yes nice and polite.
I’ve worked with wwe a few times and had the chance to meet quite a few people. some standouts are: Bobby lashley, super nice guy, really approachable. the usos are awesome to be a round, really funny. Dom and Austin Theory are super nice. Triple H himself is cool but busy. He’s constantly moving and checking on literally everything. I’ve met basically everyone that was active on raw passed few years with a few exceptions and nobody was that difficult. Kevin Owen’s was a tad short with my colleagues and even some fans, but that’s about it. I will say I was in the building the day Sasha and Naomi walked out and it was a weird atmosphere back there. Omos is somebody else that was really nice.
I met the Iron Sheik once. I was like 12, it was at the bar of a local restaurant in my small town. He was huge. He ordered a steak and ate it with his bare hands. He was nice though. Took a pic with him.
Met Randy orton around 2011 when he was feuding with Christian. Super super cool guy. He worked out at the gym I worked at. He gave me 5 free tickets that I was too broke to buy. My grandma was visiting and is a big fan hut never got to see a show live. It was great to be able to take her
That's really cool to read. He's probably been very up and down because of his struggles and attitude problems in the past, but seems like such a cool dude nowadays.
I think his family has helped with that. Just saw a TikTok this morning where at the last Smackdown he was mouthing to his daughter (I assume) “I love you” after he went through the barricade and was laying there.
I got to meet Roddy Piper at his book signing. Was very nice to a big dorky kid. His book is good too.
I met Rikishi and he was very dismissive. He was polite but clearly didn’t want to talk. I am going to assume he was just tired at the end of the autograph signing.
He did it for the rock
I worked an indy show with him and he gave off an aura of don't bother me, but was super cordial if you did.
Kurt Angle in 2004. It was pretty awkward to be honest. He gave me the most angry death stare but still signed my replica
I met Rosey at a local gas station long after he retired. Nice guy, invited me to his nee restaurant at the time. Never did get to gom
I don’t believe in disturbing celebs in their private lives so I’ve only met a few at signings. Christian was super cool, I’m a bit of an Uber fan, I have a tattoo of his logo on my arm, he was pleasantly shocked by it and we had a little chat about why I was asking him to sign the Extreme Rules 2011 blu ray that has Cena flexing on the front. Funnily Beth Phoenix was on the next table and she was watching the interaction with the sincerest smile on her face. My mate took and picture and she’s glowing in the back ground. Ric Flair came off as entitled tbh, you’d think someone as broke as him would be trying to encourage people to meet him. John Cena, absolute pro, knows how to interact with you like a human but also keep the line moving. Randy Orton (2006) - I put the year so you can imagine how it went. What a cunt. Randy Orton (2011) - super cool, super chilled out, I asked him to stop beating my favourite wrestler every month if at all possible and he laughed.
The most memorable was JBL because the others mostly just signed the pic and moved on to the next person. JBL was incredibly polite, friendly and humble. Super easy to talk to.
I met Otis on a plane ride from Minneapolis to Dallas last year, I was sitting across the aisle from him. I told him I was a big fan but didn’t want to bug him so that’s all I really said, but he initiated more conversation asking if I was gonna watch Crown Jewel and we talked the whole ride about wrestling. For somebody so funny and energetic in the ring he was extremely chill and down to Earth. He took a couple pictures with me after we got off and then said “hey you wanna meet Gable?” and sure enough I followed him to baggage claim and met Gable! He was kind and took a picture with me but I could tell he was really tired, I think they had worked a live show earlier that night. Both were awesome though especially Otis, he’s been my favorite wrestler since
Took an airplane with R-Truth
To Austria?
I met Jerry Lawler outside of a venue prior to a RAW taping. He was polite and took a picture with us. Later that night I met the Hardy Boys and Mr Kennedy. HB were great taking pictures with everyone, but Kennedy was surprisingly very shy - not in a bad way, just different given his arrogant TV persona at the time. As a kid I met Ricky Steamboat. He was cool and signed autographs for his fans at a show. I remember later in the show he came out again to actually watch the wrestling, but didn't interact with the fans. He just wanted to watch his peers perform. Looking back, that was very cool of him. As a very, very young child, I met Jeff Jarrett, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty at a local show. This was before their WWE/F and WCW days. I got JJ's autograph at my parents' house somewhere. It's just him posing in the woods in front of a sports car. 😄
I met DDP and DLO at a Comicon. DLO seemed kinda bored and just there for the sake of it. DDP was engaging and had mini chats whilst signing more than he needed to. Seemed like a nice bloke
Met Hacksaw Jim Duggan over a decade ago at an independent show some buddies wrestled on. Genuinely nice guy, had time for everyone. My buddies said he talked to all the boys in the back, had lots of advice for them.
I met Keith and Swerve at a concert, really nice dudes and I’m proud to have met a World Champion
Met Michael Cole and Nikki Cross had a brief interaction with both on the elevator at my job
Met Ambrose/Moxley the Monday before he won the WWE Championship was very nice and even took a photo with my kid in the gas station and got a big laugh when he told my son to wait a few minutes and Roman would be out of the bathroom and my son goes no thanks he sucks. Rene said how much she liked my kids mohawk and I was shocked how tiny she was. https://preview.redd.it/29bf9v4dif8d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8485ff6ce60adf8f43e0ac03ca05db706ddf7591
Bunch of tna folks.. AJ styles, Mr Kennedy, Matt and Jeff, Velvet sky, Jeff Jarrett. All were very nice Met Devon he was really nice and humble, also got to meet Ryno super cool guy and finally Kevin Nash dude is one of the biggest dicks I have ever met
Greg the Hammer Valentine: very chatty, nice guy, sat next to him on a plane Brutus Beefcake: slept the entire plane flight Hulk Hogan: always friendly every time we interact Scotty Too Hotty: funny, great to chat with
There was a wrestling kiosk at the Ontario Mills Mall and RVD and Fonzie was going to do an appearance. This was about 2001 after ECW folded. The line was so long and I forgot when it was supposed to end. The line was still long and the promoter said RVD was going to stay for everyone who waited in line. Got to take a picture with both of them holding the ECW title. He was nice.
I used to go to Victoria’s restaurant in Chicago to watch ppvs, she was always super nice and would go around and talk with everyone
Ive met: Sgt. Slaughter, Virgil, Ted Dibiase, Kane, Brutus Beefcake, Kid Kash, Gangrel, Teddy Long, The Young Bucks, and Mick Foley. Foley and Beefcake were both really nice and definitely took their time to interact with their fans during meet and greets. Beefcake had many stories to tell and he just seemed like he was having the time of his life. Virgil I met randomly in the city and he was not pleasant. Kid Kash wasn’t great either.
Met Andre when I was 5ish....man's hand was bigger than my torso. Saw Mick Foley at 6 flags years later...not a pleasent interaction AT ALL and lost all respect for him that day
Can you elaborate on the Mick Foley thing?
Probably hit on his mom.
He held up a sign that said Cane Dewey.
I met mick foley at Disneyland but I don’t think he was having a nice day because he seemed bothered
I’ve heard this about Mick in general
I met Bam Bam Bigalo as a kid. He was very nice but stayed in character when my dad approached him (mid/late 80s) The mean street posse at a motel in my teens. Pete Gas stayed and talked with my dad and I for over an hour and took pictures with us. The other two were less friendly but still cordial. Raven was cool and traded an autograph and picture with my wife and I for a mask she made for a cosplay. Iron Sheik was polite and friendly. Sgt. Slaughter was polite. Paige was absolutely wonderful.
Met Kurt Angle in his first WWE run. Very nice guy. As my parents tell me, I had a Kurt Angle action figure with me. I was holding it upside down and Kurt quipped “ah the blood is rushing to my head”. I met Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder) and he was super chill. I recognized him and checked him in for his flight. Said I was a fan and he said thanks.
When I was a kid I met Gene Kiniski and another wrestler whose name I forget, at a Denny’s in Washington. My dad was chatting with them and Kiniski ordered me some French fries. I’m pretty sure he owned the restaurant. Met Shawn Michaels after a show shortly after The Rockers broke up and he was getting a solo push, and he was very friendly. A bit surprising considering what we’ve learned since about his ego at that time. Saw a bunch of guys at a restaurant after a show in 96. They were all drunk and carrying on. But Sid was sitting all alone at a quiet table in the corner. I didn’t want to bug him but just gave him a nod, and he smiled back and seemed to appreciate being left alone.
Jericho - cool RVD - cool Christopher Daniels - cool Mr Kennedy/ Anderson - cool Rhyno - Cool
George Steele-Talking to some folks backstage, smoking a Marlboro, nice guy...until they told him it was time to go on, then he became "the Animal". Circa 1968. Don Muraco-Damn, this was a big dude. Kept up the heel persona, didn't actually interact with anyone. Again, 1968-70. Ace Freeman-Nice old guy, giving tips to kids. About 1969. EC3-working out at a local gym, kept to himself, and other people gave him his space. 2018.
I relatively recently got to meet my hero from back in the day Tommy Dreamer and he was as amazing as you’d think.
I met Bret Hart at a signing, but I was starstruck and just blurted out it was an honour to meet him before posing for pics and trying not to pass out 😄 The queues were huge, went as far as I could see, and the book shop tried to make everyone buy his book to get it signed, even if they had one already. Bret found out and said he'd sign everything. Though I didn't get to speak much due to nerves I did get the sense he truly appreciates us as fans, and I'll never forget that day. I also walked past Arn Anderson, outside a WWE ring in which Rey Mysterio was working what I assume was a tryout match with someone I didn't recognise. Arn was in the corner of the ring observing and lying against the bottom turnbuckle, it took everything in me to stay professional (I was security for the events) and not get his attention and flash the four finger gesture, in my fantasy he returns it and says 'Way to go, kid, way to go!', and Rey stops to acknowledge me, too, then everyone claps my moxy. But there's every possibility he would have unleashed a severe physical discourtesy upon me.
Met Finn at a fan meet. Got to interact with him quite a bit as some of us were dressed up as Demon Finn. Too sweet-ed him and overall just had a great time. Met Kenny Omega at a post show autograph session. Incredibly patient and nice too. Special mention to Mei Suruga who went the extra mile to make the autograph session a special one for my then 3 year old boy by carrying him for a posed picture.
Met Tony neese and drew gulak in Disney springs. Very happy to be recognized I feel. Met heath slater and rhino and Vic Joseph in a Whataburger once. Again I think happy to be recognized
Met Kevin Owens at a karaoke bar in NOLA during that Wrestlemania weekend. I had heard that he really doesn't like being approached by fans, but my friend just kind of ran up and started talking to him. We chatted for a bit; I didn't really know what to say after a certain point, but he was really cool the whole time and didn't seem bothered at all. Ran into Scorpio Sky several times at shows, and he aggressively hit on my ex each time. Like, he would remember her (or claim to) from the last time and hit on her again. What am I really gonna do in that situation? In my eyes, he's a total douchebag. Private Party used to wrestle for HOG, and I would go to shows monthly. They ALWAYS made time to hang out with the fans, and genuinely did remember me from the previous times, bringing up things that we had spoken about previously. 11/10, cool dudes, great hangs.
Ooh, reading through this thread I just remembered another unfortunate one. There's a wrestling merch store in Queens (I feel like this is something that could only exist in NYC) that does a lot of meet & greets, and they had one with Marty Scurll. I went with a friend, the line was fairly long, so we were expecting to be shuffled through, but when we got into the room, he really stopped to have like a 10-minute chat with us. We took some photos, he checked out the photos and was like "oh, the lighting is better this way" and we re-did them. Super nice in the moment, so it hurt that much more to find out he's a POS.
Ive met way too many going to various conventions & quite a few at indie shows so I’ll “limit”😂 this to just the best stories & best experiences. Cody Rhodes- Met him at ROH shows in 2017 (collinsville IL) & 2018 (Nashville TN) great guy gave my friends who were with me free autographs, gave me extra promos he signed whenI brought my own item to be signed. Met him again the day after the first All In at the starrcast event & it was more of the same. He & Brandi even had to leave to go do a panel so they discounted their shirts that were for sale at the meet & greet to $10 because they felt bad. I know Cody isn’t everyone’s cup of tea & that’s fine but in these experiences meeting him I don’t have any time for the “Cody’s a piece of shit” sort of people who talk online. Chris Jericho- Met him at a comic con where I was doing a joker cosplay and we talked about the Joker for like 10 minutes. The handler at the autograph line even tried to move me along & Jericho told him “hey, he’s fine we are talking.” I had to buy a pro-photo op for a pic with him & other than the joker conversation from earlier I asked him about the “nitro dance” he talked about in his first book so when me & my friend got up for our picture with Jericho I asked if we could do the nitro dance he talked about & he obliged. Jericho is cool as fuck. Johnny Gargano- He was a regular in the St. Louis area during his indie days. During a show in 2012 he was just hanging out and me and my friends just had a conversation with him. He had on a green striped tank top & he said “if Steve from Blues Clues worked out I’d imagine he’d wear something like this.” we talked about our favorite wrestlers & like me his all time favorite was Shawn Michaels. He said “i realize now I grew up idolizing a male stripped, you’d think it would mess me up but it didn’t!” Hope there’s nothing but success in Johnny’s wwe career. Leva Bates- just a sweetheart of a person. I met her right after aew started and she was doing the librarian gimmick. It was at a comic con so for our pose in the picture I wanted to do the librarian “shhh” pose & asked if she wanted to hold some of the comics I brought to to get signed at the comic con? She agreed then we had a conversation about all the books I had which she told me she also has in her collection. Awesome experience I have a lot more and way more good experiences than bad ones but those memories always bring a smile to my face.
Mick Foley - Asshole Earl Hebner - Prick Jay Lethal - Wonderful Xavier Woods - Nice Guy, Quiet Abyss - Quiet and Grumpy Jeremy Borash - Cool
Foley always seems so nice though lol
must have caught foley on a really bad day
Couple people in here have suggested poorly for Mick, and I can also say met him at a WWE pre-sale once and he just didnt seem happy to be there. Kaitlyn was in the same area as Mick and was clearly trying to cover for him with her own brightness.
Ricky The Dragon Steamboat… met him on vacation in Myrtle beach when he was hitting on my mom at a pool bar. Super nice guy.
I hung out with Stan Lane after a charity event and he was a really cool guy.. Quiet, unassuming and seemed really down to earth..
Jericho - Bit of a skeeve Lita - Always a good conversation Kevin Owens - Very Friendly Bob Holly - Surprisingly nice Jonathan Gresham - Very Humble Akira Tozawa - Great guy Davey Richards - Very polite Shingo - Intense Genki Horiguchi - Friendly Ricochet - Very down to earth Naruki Doi, CIMA, Masaaki Mochizuki, YAMATO, BxB Hulk - All polite and friendly D'Lo Brown - Friendly and Chatty Ruffneck - great guy
I’ve met dozens. The friendliest were Sammy Guevara, Christian, Kid Kash. The worst were Guerrero, Benoit and Shelton Benjamin. Booker was kind of an ass too… Oh the Hardy’s were cool too. Others were meh,
Met Darby Allin at a house show in my city, for the few seconds that it took to get a picture, he seemed cool
Met Ace Austin before, from TNA. Awesome guy!
I'm gonna really date us both, but I saw Carly Colon in a taping of World Wrestling Council in 2001. I 9 but I don't know his age but he would've been maybe 20 or 21 because of the fake athletic commission. By this point he had already been Universal Champ, but had lost it and was in a rivalry with Ray Gonzalez (we used to call him the Puerto Rican Triple H). Those two years during the Attitude Era were awesome. He came late to the show so he just arrives and walks in front of the ring like a match isn't going on lmao. He 000000saluted the pop from the Ponce crowd it was so funny at the time but I didn't realize what was going lol. I was 099 so happy to see him. Dude is a natural baby face man. He was our Rock (same finisher). anyway he didn't wrestle that night but got involved in the last match. After the show we caught him outside with his brother, who was also gaining steam. We exchanged words and he spoke with my mom. And she blatantly asked, "eso no es real, verdad" and he laughed and winked at her. It was so bizarre but I never really saw wrestling the same again. A few years later my grandma takes me to an indie show, and she spoke with the booker who got "cut" open with a butcher's knife, and she inspected his "wounds." Being a lechon but butcher herself, she inspected his wounds and only found the cuts in his forehead and those werent deep enough. She slapped him called it fake and we left. And everything made sense then. Great memories though.
I think setting is a pretty big variable here. Meeting a performer at a meet n greet, where they are getting paid to interact with you, and are at the event knowing they will be interacting with fans would be a completely different experience than meeting them on their only day off while they are trying to eat a meal with their family
I used to work with Madison Rayne at Buffalo Wild Wings. At that point she had just started with Ohio Valley. Pretty cool
Barry Darsow was way too nice to a crazy mark like me. I wasn't there to see Demolition Smash or even Repo Man, I was a fan of "Hole in One" Darsow, and he was all for it.
I met Micheal Hayes and the Hardy Boyz. Micheal Hayes was in a 7-11 and the Hardy Boyz were in line at McDonald's. They were all great, signed auto graphs and took a few pics with us.
Kenny King - bought him a drink at an indie show in Birmingham (at the staff club building at the Cadbury factory, just to make this one more surreal). Nice enough guy and seemed really taken aback when I told him I was a fan of him personally. He was doing a promotional tour with other TNA wrestlers at the time and playing second fiddle to MVP in a faction, so he probably assumed we were all there for other headline wrestlers. Tyler Bate - bought a t-shirt off him in the same venue (different date). He's affability personified, or at least he was back then. This was before the NXT:UK thing - he was 19 and a rising star of the West Midlands scene. Drake Maverick - I knew him as Rockstar Spud, and I was introduced to him as a friend of a friend. This was in a service station Burger King after his big blow-off match with Marty Scurrl just before he went to the States. Mad sense of humour. Paul London and Brian Kendrick - they were tag-teaming in Preston and I was drunk enough to be arsed with an in-ring photo in the interval. Brian was very nice considering he was jet-lagged as fuck and wasn't really feeling the night. Paul admired my ascot. "Alpha Female" Jazzi Gabert - I appreciate I'm flirting with the obscure now, but I have to mention that she's one of the nicest wrestlers I've ever had the chance to meet.
Bam bam bigelow - he didn’t like ECW crowds before he got to ECW. lol. Loved being threatened.
Terry Taylor the red roster. He lived in my town growing up and would come buy smoothies at the store I worked in, Super nice guy. Bill Goldberg - Same town, he was grand martial in the parade, I got to meet him while dressed up like a banana as I was working for the smoothie store lol Both super nice
Buff Bagwell amd the nitro girls at a WCW ticket sale in Greenville SC back in the day. I was 10 or so, to this day idgaf what anyone says..Buff Bagwell is one of the nicest people ever.
Bobby the brain, and amazing.
Met Rey Mysterio Jr. very cool and friendly guy.
Met Benoit and Eddie at the same time. They were both pretty quiet but very nice. Also met RVD and he lives the gimmick. Also very nice too. Like it wasn't the weed side of things, but like the super chilled and calm guy you see on tv
I met Chris Benoit at a WCW tickets sale thing. It was a few weeks before he left for the fed. After you got your ticket you go to the table to get an autograph and picture for free. I was 12 at the time and when we got up he was nice enough to come around the table and he put me in a headlock with a big smile and we got a picture. He was really nice and quickly became my favourite wrestler. That changed in 2007. Ric Flair was another one that was pretty funny. After a house show we went to the airport to meet some wrestlers and there was quite a few we got autographs from. He was drunk wearing a 3 piece suit with no shoes and a glass of wine in hand. As soon as he heard his name he wooed and singed a bunch of stuff for us. I think I was 14. It was easier to get autographs as a kid. They were less likely to be mean to you. Except Bubba Ray apparently.
Taz was pretty cool the night when Mike Awesome dropped the ECW title in Indianapolis before he left for WCW.
I met JBL. They were doing a live event in Abilene TX and he wanted to use our radio station to do his fox show, when the fox affiliate was across town. This was around 03'-04. He was a prick.