This past weekend, two conventions went head-to-head in the tri-state area, as virgins to the convention scene, Turnbuckle Promotions ran on Friday & Saturday, while established veterans & successes, Legends of The Ring, ran on Saturday. The differences between the 2 conventions were night and day. I will have a LOTR report posted also on the DOI.

I personally love these conventions because there is so much drama and usually fun stuff to report after they are over. It's also cool seeing the guys you grew up watching and seeing what they look like today. I'm not really into the pictures or autographs, but I'm into the atmosphere. Plus, having some DVD's to sell, it's a good way to make sales and expose the DOIVideo.com store to a different audience.

When Turnbuckle first announced their convention, I was shocked for two reasons. One, it made no sense to me to run head-to- head with Legends of the Ring, since LOTR are established and already was selling passes/tickets for their show. Two, the line-up for this thing was massive. So massive that some of the big names made other names seem insignificant. For the first time in ages, Billy Graham & Bruno Sammartino were united in New York. Three members of the original Wolfpac (Hall/Nash/6Pac) plus other nWo members (Dibiase/Virgil) were there. The worst booker ever Vince Russo was there. Shit, even Duke from the Rocky movies was in the corner at this convention. Plus with the Funks & Sabu, and more who's who of the wrestling world, this convention was loaded. In the back of my mind, I was thinking this is going to be great for fans but a financial disaster.

Here is the complete guest list that was advertised for the show: Legendary guests include Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Fatu Aka Rikishi, Bruno Sammartino, SuperStar Billy Graham, Scott Hall, Sid Eudy, Christian Cage, Kevin Nash, The Funk Brothers, noted film director Barry Blaustein (Beyond the Mat), The Valiant Brothers Reunion of Handsome Jimmy, Luscious Johnny and Captain Lou Albano, Vince Russo, Ivan Putski, JJ Dillon, Larry Zybysko (Saturday only), Tito Santana, Doink, Romeo Roselli, Bruno Sammartino, Al Snow, Afa the Samoan, Brutus Beefcake, Bill Apter, Rocky Johnson, Sean Waltman, Sika the Samoan, Samu, Tony Atlas (Friday only), Marty Jannetty, Al Snow, Ted Dibiase & Virgil , Pat Tanaka, Matt Anoai AKA Rosey, Teddy “The Tank” Reade, Jeff Jarrett (presented by K&S- Friday only), the Killer Bees (Friday only), Dan Severn, acting great Tony Burton, Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart all set to appear.

Do you love the beautiful ladies of TV, wrestling and boxing? Traci Bingham, Brande Roderick, Chanel Ryan, Gail Kim, Nora Greenwald (Sat. only), Ms. Nicole Bass, Luna Vachon, Amy Dumas (AKA Lita- Friday only), Boxing champ Mia St. John, Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, Christy Hemme, Missy Hyatt, Goldylocks, Dawn Marie, Talia Madison, Shelly Martinez, Jasmine St. Claire, Daffney (presented by Highspots) & Baby Doll (presented by K&S) are already scheduled to grace the event.

For people familiar with conventions, a line-up like this is unheard of. I still can't get over it. In fact, the budget for this was over $100,000, as people close to the convention promoter told me it was actually $130,000. You have to remember that this convention was for two-days, which means three hotel rooms for people on the show. Flights are always another hassle. And the biggest money pit of course is paying the talent, which I was told by some of the talent themselves and from someone close to the promoter that everyone was extremely overpaid.

The promoter of this convention was known for his last name. Jason Blaustein is the nephew of the "Beyond the Mat" director Barry Blaustein. I saw Jason at the show, and for people who laugh at the guys who are on the indy scene, you'd probably get a kick out of him. He was a 22 year old student, seen asking his mom for money to pay for several things throughout the weekend. I'm sure he's a nice guy and had well intentions for this thing, but he was just way over his fucking head and in the end, I'd estimate lost at least $85,000 on this thing. I don't know where he got the money for this either, as I'm guessing he's using an inheritance or his parents are super rich.

Scott Epstein was one of Jason's agents at this convention, and if it wasn't for him, the convention probably wouldn't have been as organized as it was. From what I saw first hand, Scott busted his ass, got things moving and had to take the ball, while Jason looked like a deer in headlights. Jason snapped at several fans asking questions, due to all the pressure he was under. Like I said, I've been told Jason is a nice guy, but was just lost and over his head here.

I attended the Friday part of the convention, as I had made plans to attend the LOTR convention on Saturday. It was a wise decision, as LOTR destroyed Turnbuckle attendance-wise, which meant greater exposure for the WSU/DOI DVDs. On Friday, I'd estimate there were anywhere from 150-200 people. I was told by reliable people that there was 100 people for the majority of the day on Saturday, with it maxing around 150 during its peak. Obviously 150 people with the line-up Turnbuckle presented was a massive failure.

Alot of people are trashing the fuck out of this convention online, and perhaps rightfully so, but I think one positive thing has to be said. The line-up was fucking insane. Out of all those names, there weren't that many no-shows. Only Jesse Ventura (replaced by Mick Foley), Dan Severn, Jasmin St. Claire, & Traci Bingham no-showed. However, other talents were advertised for certain time blocks but didn't appear, and switched to different times. In one case, Dawn Marie was booked to be on a later time by the convention promoters, but at last minute Turnbuckle wanted Dawn on early. Dawn told them she had something that morning and would stick to the time she was originally booked to, as the change was asked at the last minute. Dawn came for the time block she agreed for. Other things like this happened to other talents, meaning that advertised talent didn't show up in their advertised time blocks.

On Friday, I got there early to set-up. Within the first hour, fire marshalls were already in the building. The convention, which was in Lynbrook, NY, which happens to be my home town was already under fire, pardon the pun. Honestly, I don't know what Jason Blaustein did, but if I was him, I know these guys would've taken a bribe. Giving them $300 would've probably got these guys off Blaustein's back, but who knows. Those marshalls don't want to be there either.

The marshalls put a damper on this convention. Within two hours, it was deemed that the convention had to adhere to the maximum occupancy law. The maximum occupancy was only 150, which FUCKING SUCKS! So if you were a fan, you got fucked here if you didn't get there early. There were at least 70+ people in the building before doors opened, which consisted of wrestlers/vendors/convention staff. So that means only 80 fans of the 150-200 that showed up were allowed in, which meant more than half had to wait outside. Fire marshalls were at the door with convention staff to ensure a "one in, one out" policy, which meant if you were a vendor, and nature called, you either pissed in a bottle or left your table and had to wait in line to get back in.

Understandably, fans were fuming they had to wait outside for this thing. With the marshalls adhering the law, lines were much longer. In fact, the convention promoters had to keep kicking fans out of the building to let new ones in to get autographs. There were also several evacuations so the marshalls could get a new count when they thought there might've been too many poeple inside. It was a fucking mess for Turnbuckle. This also sucked for vendors, because the building was either empty or only had 80-100 or so fans in it.

With the fans upset, there were several "BULLSHIT" and "WE WANT TERRENCE" (Terrence being one of the promoters of the LOTR conventions) chants. Several vendors were upset. Wrestlers were upset that they had to stay longer to accomodate the fans. Making matters worse, wrestlers wanted to be paid more for staying more than they agreed to, with Nash/Hall/X-Pac wanting more money to stay later. (Which they did, as they wanted to sign stuff for the fans.)

This convention carried until the night, where the venue allowed the promoters to open a new section of the building. However, the floor wasn't made for all the heavy foot traffic and there was damage to the floor, which the promoters will understandably have to pay to get repaired. This convention was just a disorganized mess. It got so bad, that Jason Blaustein allowed fans (at least smart ones, as one of the fans who volunteered was DOI contributer Dan Martone, who's been to enough of these things to know how to operate a convention smoothly) to set up lines. Dan and several others wisely told the promoters that nWo should be placed at the end since they were the big name, and if they were at the beginning, it would just slow the line up even more. Making lines slower were that some wrestlers signed every item, something that the convention promoters weren't paying attention to, which is great for fans, but bad business. Another bad business move was not organizing who paid for VIP, who paid for VIP+, who paid for GA, who paid for a hooker etc, so fans just all got in whenever.

There are alot of fan reports on the Turnbuckle Promotions message board about the long ass lines, the disorganization and Jason Blaustein being rude to fans. I can confirm all those reports as being 100% accurate. I do want to say that Scott Epstein did a good job, and if he wasn't there, who knows how much worse this would've been.

Credit has to go to Blaustein though for making sure the talent got paid. One funny story saw Jason asking his mommy for $2000 so he could pay Sid. This convention lost a shit load of fucking money, but at least the fans got an opportunity to meet some of their favorites. I can't see Blaustein returning with another one of these, because who'd be stupid to lose that much money again?

As far as the Saturday event, I did not attend, but I heard it was more organized, but still long lines, talent screw-ups on time blocks, and more fans not getting in. It was just more fluid than the Friday version.

For me, as someone who didn't have to wait in the lines since I didn't get any autographs/pictures, and had a table, I had fun seeing everyone. However, I can see why fans are super pissed and trashing Jason all over the promotions message board. I do think Jason had great intentions, but went in this with no fucking clue. To compare, it was like having that dream where you're publicly speaking in front of a large crowd, only to find out that you are naked, and to make matters worse, it's cold in the auditorium.

In the end, it was great that 95% of everyone advertised was there, but it was tough for fans. I can't fathom losing $100 on a wrestling show, never mind $100,000. It would be great if they ran again, but I don't forsee it.

Fans wanting to send in their experiences can email me. And if Jason Blaustein wants to write in, I'll post a statement from him too.

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com