Usually, I tackle the national scene or pen a feature story about some of the stellar independent talent that I get the chance to do commentary for on the local circuit. I don’t write about myself too often, simply because you click these articles to read about wrestling (and I sincerely thank you for it), not me. However, I will occasionally dive into a personal story, as it’s often circumstances that would only occur around the over-the-top sport of professional wrestling.
You might recall that a few years ago, I wrote a column titled, “chicken and cage matches,” a write-up that chronicled the journey that one of my wrestling pals, Joe Folino and I took across the state of Pennsylvania after he secured free tickets to TNA Lockdown in 2009. The saga of a mostly empty arena, being literally in the middle of no where according to the GPS, and discovering a Roy Rogers rest stop at 2 AM without any chicken received some fun feedback. So, I figured another tale of an absurd wrestling adventure might provide some entertainment.
Joe’s family has been friends with my family for years so when he told me about Kane doing a rare independent appearence on a card that also had Bubba Ray Dudley and Shane Douglas, I was pumped to get to take a trip with some of my wrestling pals. This was in February of 2020, mere weeks before the pandemic decided to Yakuza kick the entire world. At the time, I was board-oping at a local radio station about 10 minutes from Joe’s house so after I completed a five-hour shift running the board at around 10 AM, Joe swung by the broadcast building to pick me up before we began the venture to pro wrestling prosperity. Different from when we went across the state on less than 24 hours notice, this time Joe’s two brothers, his very nice father-in-law Mel, and his two young daughters were along for the ride. The three-row SUV got everyone a spot and we were on the road to Altoona, PA. The destination has a history of pro wrestling and is near central Pennsylvania.
To make the most out of the few hours on the road, a few pit stops were planned, including the Mars candy factory store, and a restaurant that I can’t recall the exact name of, but it specialized in Carolina barbecue. This event was held the day before the Super Bowl so while the youngsters watched some shows on their tablets, Mel flipped through a large stack of sheets that resembled a phone book, scanning through various prop bets for the big game. It was rather comical as Mel diligently scanned the odds and relayed the information to the rest of us about the coin toss, the halftime show, and the color of the Gatorade for each team. As the Folino brothers and I discussed the odds with the Andy Reid of prop bets, a few small flurries could be seen around the windows.
After about an hour and a half on the road, which went by quickly as we were shooting the breeze and did an obnoxious amount of “That’s gotta be Kane!” impressions, we made the turn into the Mars Candy parking lot. I expected to see some giant tower with chocolate erupting from it like a volcano, and Gene Wilder pop out with a walking stick, but the store itself was rather small. The factory looked like any other non-descript building complex. There were no catchy tunes or little orange guys with wheel barrels full of sugar to complete the candy product. But, once we got inside the store, it was a really neat experience, the tiny space was literally stacked to the ceiling with every assortment of candy that the brand offered. Actual crates of chocolate were stacked taller than any of us. In a rather comical moment, Joe gleefully picked up a gigantic industrial size tub of marshmallows for his purchase. Everyone picked out their candy choice, and I opted from a pack of chocolate covered pretzels, noticing a really cool framed photo of The Three Stooges when they visited the location decades earlier.
With bags full of candy and giant marshmallows, we all jumped back in the SUV for a brief 15-minute ride to the BBQ restaurant. To call this BBQ spot a hole in the wall would be charitable. Don’t get me wrong, the place was clean, the staff was friendly, and the ribs were great, but similar to the previous pit stop, the restaurant was about the size of a convenient store. There were three small tables up against one of the walls and a counter that had a row of seating. The place was packed, as many stood almost shoulder to shoulder waiting for their to-go orders. As I said, the ribs were great, and if the building was anywhere near civilization, it’s a somewhere I’d visit again. The ribs had a solid set of seasonings that added a lot of great flavor and you could tell that the food had been properly cooked, which explained the wait for the crowd inside the building.
The barbecue was a win, and it was time for some wrestling. The organization that held this event was Big Time Wrestling, it was somewhat of an odd scenario, as the group ran events in multiple states with a lot of major names, but wasn’t exactly on the radar as a major independent company. They had a smart business strategy, though. They’d bring in some legends to draw the crowd and then the undercard was mostly weekend warriors or local talent. If I had to guess, the reason they didn’t get more publicity is that Big Time Wrestling was more of a meet and greet organization that happened to include a wrestling show with it than events of major in-ring substance. That’s not a criticism, either, tickets sold are tickets sold.
The mayor of Knoxville drew the crowd that night, as the Jaffa Mosque was packed with a very “typical” rasslin crowd in the mostly rural area of central Pennsylvania. I almost felt like it was enemy territory as red hats and t-shirts for the orange villain were scattered among a sea of overalls and pouches of tobacco. Along the lengthy line for the meet and greet of the former WWE champion, Bully Ray had a table for photos and autographs. You hear a lot of stories about Bubba in interviews, but he was very polite when I met him and got his original ECW figure signed. He was also very nice and smiled for a photo with Joe’s daughters. Once we reached the stage to meet “The Big Red Machine,” he was very polite, taking a moment to talk to us and signed my 1998 magazine that had him on the cover. Granted, Kane has posted a lot of ridiculous and insane things on social media in the four and half years since I met him, but he took a lot of chair shots during his career so I’m just going to stick with the fact that he was nice when I met him. On a lighter note, after we met the top draw of the night, we saw Tom Brandi in one of the hallways, complete with USA mask and selling photos of Del Wilkes. Brandi, in a true carny stroke of genius, was also selling sharpies, that fans could buy to use for other autographs that night. We found Shane Douglas and his trainer, Dominic DeNucci at their tables, and while Joe’s daughters met “The Franchise,” who sold his 8X10s at a generous discount, as he was aware that the youngsters weren’t old enough to know who he was, I was thrilled to be able to get a picture with DeNucci. The former WWWF tag champion had a myriad of photos at his table, and given that they were different sizes and ranged in photo quality, it almost looked like he might’ve just been clearing some space from home when he brought the variety of pictures with him. I went to give him a $20, as I assumed he was the same price as Douglas. In his trademark accent, he said “no, no, too much.” At this point, I was confused because I had never seen a wrestler refused money when offered. I said, “Dominic, I appreciate the autograph, I gotta give you some money for it.” I tried a $10 bill and with a chuckle he said, “okay, okay.” I said thank you and he thanked me for saying hello. In truth, I’m not sure if Dominic was even charging for autographs, but his humble nature speaks volumes as to why you won’t find anyone that will say anything negative about him.
As mentioned, the line-ups of these shows in terms of matches aren’t designed to draw the crowd. Nothing was overly memorable, other than Douglas had a match against someone named Mr. TA, and Bubba put his opponent through a table in the main event. The balcony seating was really neat and it was a cool venue. I’m guessing more groups don’t run events at the building because of its rather obscure location.
As we left the show, the brisk air of February was a sharp contrast to the heat in the building. What we didn’t know was that while we were inside the Jaffa Mosque meeting mayors and ECW legends, the same brisk February night saw several inches of snow begin to fall outside. After we all buckled up in the SUV, I began to wonder exactly how we were going to navigate through nearly two hours of rural terrain at 11 PM during a snowstorm. As we carefully made our way through the snow-covered roads, only the cascade of snow in front of the headlights was visible. I sincerely give Joe and his co-pilot, Mel credit for getting us through the storm safely. It was the tense moments where Joe had to carefully navigate the road well under the speed limit because not much could be seen other than the brake lights of a few cars ahead of us that I pondered if this rather dangerous situation that I got myself into was worth the signed action figure and magazine. Of course it was, right?
Thankfully, we made it back to western, Pennsylvania without any major incidents, aside from the extra hour that it took us to get back because of the inclement weather. After I got home at around 1:45 AM, Joe sent me a text to let me know that everyone had arrived home safely there. So, four and a half years later, I have the signed Kane magazine framed, the Bubba ECW action figure in a protective case next to a previously signed D-Von figure, and all things considered, it was a fun trip, but I wonder if Mel landed any of those prop bets?
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
