If You’re Looking For It, Wizard World Has It

Submitted by Russ Cohen

Philadelphia – Wizard World Philadelphia has one day left and yet I feel like I spent a week there. I was there on Friday and I was in search of show exclusive comics, older comics, and show exclusive action figures. All of that was easy to find and I found a lot more than that.

I’ve covered a few of these shows (mostly non-sports items) and they always have a great energy and vibe about them. I especially enjoyed one seminar set up by Eric Simpson called “How to be a Wrestler”. It was an open panel discussion with Traci Brooks (TNA), Nidia (formerly with the WWE and now working the Independent circuit), Demolition, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, The Honky Tonk Man and Virgil. More to come on this later but it’s safe to say these grapplers were very open and honest and they didn’t hold anything back and they answered every single question that the fans had for them. The one theme that came out of this panel was the feeling that there will be an eventual return of “old school” wrestling. I would love to see that since that’s what I used to watch when I was growing up!

The autograph areas had a lot of interesting stars (see gallery) like Kristanna Loken (Terminator), who was holding an open Q and A later that day, Erin Gray (Buck Rogers), and Lou Ferrigno (body building and the Incredible Hulk).

I attended the after party at the famed “Trocadero” on Saturday night and that was a lot of fun and the venue was sold out (over 1,000 seats).

The “Kaiju Big Battel” group out of Boston was there and they are a unique bunch that’s for sure. This group of very skilled wrestlers/actors are very good at what they do. They sort of run a Japanese puppet wrestling show that is a mixture of Power Rangers, Wrestling and H.R. Pufnstuf.

The event really moved along and there were five or six matches featuring wrestlers in an array of costumes, some of them were so big it’s a wonder how the actor can even move in them!

The night was a lot of fun and the promoters did a fantastic job, many of the people were still singing Karaoke when I left. The Philly crowd certainly let the participants know if they were good or not and I was chuckling about that. I was surprised to hear a bit of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. That song was made famous by the Charlie Daniels band and it was my first-ever concert back at the fairly new Nassau Coliseum back in the day.

Check out the gallery http://www.flickr.com/photos/sportsology/sets/72157619886126531/
and if you are looking for something to do in August, check out Wizard World Chicago August 6-9, I hear Michelle Rodriquez of Lost will be there!