Monday, May 23, 2011

This is Blizzard Brawl

So the last time we left off, HERE I was winding down Great Lakes Championship Wrestling (GLCW) as I was about to get married and enter corporate America. As far as I was concerned I had accomplished everything I wanted to do in the wrestling business, that was work with the greats and earn their respect. I felt that I had succeeded and it was time to “grow up”.

Fast forward about three years to 2005 and Cousin Jack gives me a call.  Anyone that knows Cousin Jack will always appreciate the “Hey cuz” tag line.  So here we go….  Hey Cuz, was my greeting on the other end of the call.  Keep in mind the Legendary Crusher, the Man Who Made Milwaukee Famous, had just died a week ago and Cousin Jack was partnering with 97.3 The Brew to promote a Crusher Tribute Show. My initial thought was that the Crusher’s body wasn’t even cold yet, but Jack and the Brew wanted an event and I was asked to come to the meeting and help out.

Now as far as I was concerned, I was done with the wrestling business. I no longer had my segment on ESPN radio, I no longer did autograph signings, schedule personal appearances, and barely talked to the “boys”.  After all I was married. To be honest, it drove me nuts. I no longer had my creative outlet and the suit and tie gimmick was driving me crazy, and I had the “itch” to get back in the business again, so for me to hear “Hey Cuz”, I knew it was gonna be something interesting.

I met up with Cousin Jack at the Clear Channel Milwaukee offices and met Jeff Lynn and Ken Kohls. Jeff was the head guy in charge for the Brew an 80’s rock station that was on fire in Milwaukee and Ken was his promotions director. I expressed my interest in working with Clear Channel and the Brew on the event because I could see it would be huge and just what I needed. Finally I was working with a big time media player.  The Brew was going to cover all the expenses and all Cousin Jack and I had to do was put the show together and book the talent. Several times throughout the meeting I asked if the Crusher’s Family was on board and Cousin Jack assured us that they were and that they were all excited to honor their father. We left the meeting and I felt like I was back, I had ideas racing through my head and people to call.  I reached out to my friends… Al Snow, Diamond Dallas Page, King Kong Bundy, Jerry Lawler, and Grandmaster Sexay. I also booked Traci Brooks on the show and it was also the first time I ever worked with her. The show was set, the plane tickets were booked, and now we just had to get the ball rolling.

Cousin Jack and I were out postering and flyering the event that was to be called The Brew’s Bolo Brew-ha.  The Bolo was the name of The Crusher’s finisher and seemed like the perfect name for the event.  We had booked the Ramada Convention Center by the Milwaukee airport to hold the show.  I liked the idea of the Ramada because we worked out a deal where we paid rent according to the bar sales, we had a number to hit and if we hit that we got free rent and a percentage of sales. I also like the fact the hotel rooms and the show were all in the same building. Less chasing around for me. I gotta admit this was all going really smooth, too smooth actually.  As Cousin Jack and I hung up one of the last posters my phone rings….. It was Jeff Lynn of the Brew informing Cuz and myself that the Crusher’s daughter had called to complain that we were using her father’s likeness for the event without her approval and that she would sue everyone if we continued the event.  Jeff told us that Clear Channel and The Brew would no longer be affiliated with the show because of legal ramifications.  I was numb. I looked at Jack and just took him home.  I asked for Crusher’s daughter’s number because I had to try and fix this ASAP.  Considering I already had about $5,000 of my own money into this show I needed to act quick because I had no desire to tell my wife that I lost $5,000 a month before Christmas.

To this day I am not sure if all the I’s were dotted and T’s were crossed with The Crusher’s family. I am sure that some of his family loved the idea and others did not. So I called Dawn (Crusher’s daughter) and told her that I had no idea she was not in favor of the show and that if the show were to continue on as planned that her father’s name and likeness would not be used whatsoever to promote the event.  After 45 minutes of really great conversation and understanding she gave me her blessing to go forward with the show and wished me luck. As soon as I hung up with Dawn I called Jeff Lynn at the Brew and asked if I could meet with him the next day.

Now you can only imagine how much I was hating life and the wrestling business at this time, I went from not having a “creative outlet” to all of the sudden being $5,000 in the hole and possibly ruining my reputation as a promoter.  So I met with Jeff Lynn, a man I had only met once before in my entire life and I told him what I was willing to do.  I said I would still go forward with the show, get another $5,000 to cover remaining expenses and then I get to keep the gate. All I needed from Jeff was the power of Clear Channel and The Brew.  I told Jeff that he did not owe me anything and that I would understand if they wanted no part of a show that was supposed to place in three weeks.  Jeff excused himself for five minutes which seemed like an hour.  All I could think of was how was I going to explain to my wife, who was not a wrestling fan to begin with that I was out $5,000 on a show that was never my idea in the first place. Waiting… Waiting… Waiting….

Jeff came back into his office, sat down and with a huge smile on his face asked me that if they backed the show promotionally if he could be the ring announcer. I said absolutely. Now I don’t want to tell you how much Jeff and Clear Channel graciously helped me with promotionally but let’s just say that the WWE does not get that much air time when they come into town. What a huge day for me, I had more advertising that I ever could have imagined, now I just have to brand the show. Needless to say that Jeff Lynn has become one of my best friends on the planet and has been my ring announcer ever since.

I wanted to get a charity involved to help get some more attention and hopefully help with ticket sales. I wasn’t sure who to use so I went down a list of local charities and came across Variety.  Variety is a charity for abused and battered women and children. Originally I was going to name the event “Season’s Beatings” but I felt that probably wouldn’t be appropriate considering the charity involved. So back to the drawing board for a new name. That’s when I decided to go with Blizzard Brawl.  Not sure how it came to be but it just worked. So Blizzard Brawl was born.

I was looking for other ways to make money on this event because I always feel that no matter how much you do to promote the event it is never enough.  So I decided to sell “attendant” sponsorships.  The way it worked is that the fans could purchase the opportunity to sit with the talent at their table during the meet and greet session, kind of like their own personal security.  I sold those for $300 to $500 each. Tremendous.

I then reached out to all my media friends that would come to Herro’s Sports page (HSP) for personal appearance events.  One of those “media guys” was my good friend from the Milwaukee NBC station and the Sports Anchor, Lance Allan.  Lance is a true wrestling fan, he was a fan growing up and eventually became one of GLCW’s undefeated stars.  Lance came in to interview Diamond Dallas Page who was scheduled to take on Jerry “The King” Lawler in the Main Event. One week before the show Jerry called me and said he had a court date that he could not miss but he was willing to send a video to be played at the show explaining that he couldn’t make the event and that he would name a replacement.  That replacement would be Buff Bagwell. Why wouldn’t this shows Main Event have to be changed, the show has been a roller coaster ride from the get go.  What else could go wrong? A Blizzard at Blizzard Brawl?? It is Milwaukee in December remember.

We are now five days out and Jeff Lynn and The Brew have been tremendous, I am hearing the commercials all over the Clear Channel Milwaukee universe. I also bout some 30 second TV spots on Time Warmer Sports for $2 each so I had lots of media presence and Lance Allan had invited DDP and myself to be on the 6am NBC TV news. I was also fortunate enough to get Steve “Sparky” Fifer from FOX Sports Radio to come and manage King Kong Bundy. I covered all my bases, I had FM radio, AM radio, Cable TV, and Network TV. What could go wrong, we are almost home??? Did I mention the show was called Blizzard Brawl?

The night before Blizzard Brawl, the  Milwaukee and Chicago area were hit with a legit blizzard. It was so bad that an airplane skid off the tarmac in Chicago.  Like C3PO “we’re doomed”. I had no faith that the people would come out to a show like this at a hotel ballroom with this ridiculous weather. Now all I could think of was that I was going to lose $10,000 on a show that wasn’t supposed to be mine in the first place…..

Al Snow, Brian Christopher, King Kong Bundy, Dallas Page, Buff Bagwell, and ODB all made their flights in the morning of the show and the roads were starting to get cleaned up. The last person I had to get was Traci Brooks. She was terrific, beautiful smile, and just happy. I wish I could find 10 Traci Brooks to use on every show, drama free and doesn’t complain. Best “diva” experience ever. Traci and I would go on to become great friends and I was even invited to her wedding.

So as I am in the back going over all the matches with everyone and making sure everyone knows what they are doing I decide to go and check in with DDP and Buff.  These two have had the same match 100s of times so I was confident everything would be perfect.  Then my brother walked in the back and asked me to come out front, he wanted me to see what was going on.  My heart stopped, we were 30 minutes from bell time and I was certain that I would walk into an empty ball room.  As we both walked out from behind the curtain the room was jam packed, the hotel was searching for more chairs.  They originally were set up for 750 people and wound up having more than 1,000 people in the Ramada Ballroom. I couldn’t believe it, I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t have a tear in my eye.

The show went off as planned and for the most part without a hitch. There was a chant for The Crusher and a chant for Eddie Guerrero as he had also just passed.  The Crusher’s daughter was there and she gave me a big hug and congratulated me. The fans were excited and happy.  It was a great experience for everyone involved and I was not out $10,000 but I was emotionally exhausted.

The very first Blizzard Brawl was finally in the books, everyone was paid, everyone had fun, everyone made some money and I was ready to get out of the crazy wrestling business again. I have said this many times, if it was not for the kindness of Jeff Lynn this would have been the worst experience for me.  For some reason he believed in me and what we could possibly do together. For this I will be forever grateful. You can be the greatest promoter alive but f you do not have the right people working with you then you really don’t have anything.  Jeff Lynn is a founding father of Blizzard Brawl.

So like I said, I was done, spent, exhausted, I just wanted to get home and go to sleep and leave wrestling behind me again. I did just that. Then about March 2006 I got a phone call from Jeff, he said “do you wanna do it again?”….. TO BE CONTINUED

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Great Lakes Championship Wrestling is born....

Okay #SuperFriends, when we last left off I was explaining how Herro's Sports Page (HSP) got its start, how it grew and who was involved. It was a #tremendous experience.  Then one day a monster of a man walked thru the doors of HSP. 

This guy was as tall as me and looked like a mean dude. I gotta admit he was rather intimidating. Rich Finke was his name and at the time had the personality of a potato chip and a very dry sense of humor.  Rich was a local independent wrestler that was trained by AWA Tag Team star The Texas Hangman (WCW's Disorderly Conduct's Mean Mike) and Verne Gagne prelim guy, Tom "Rocky" Stone.  Rich heard there was a wrestling store in Milwaukee and wanted to check it out.  We chatted on and off for a couple weeks feeling each other out and we decided we should do business together.  Sitting in the office at HSP we decided that we could make some money being a player in the independent wrestling scene in Milwaukee.  With his connections in wrestling and the popularity of HSP and my radio show we felt we could take over the area.  All we needed was a name..... Great Lakes Championship Wrestling (GLCW) was born.

Our very first show was to take place at Texx's Victory Hall in Cudahy, Wisconsin in October of 1997.  I was nervous, I never promoted a live event before so I had no idea what to expect. We agreed to bring in "The Brooklyn Brawler" Steve Lombardi as the headliner.  I believe we had seven matches and rolled the dice.  The show was selling pretty well and a few weeks in we had already presold 200 plus tickets, I could feel a home run on our first show.  During this time I was working with Jim Cornette in the WWF offices (Jim was the talent relations guy).  I called Jim up and asked him if I could book Mick Foley on an upcoming show in 1998. At the WWF was still allowing their talent to take indy bookings, but obviously that was about to change.  Jim, Mick, and I spent well over a week negotiating a fee for an autograph appearance at HSP and a match for GLCW, lets just say knowing what Mick gets now for a personal appearance I got a #tremendous deal. I know I am getting ahead of my self as I haven't even finished the story of my first show, but just hang in there, I will get there.... now.

So the night of the first GLCW show we were ready to rock, the place was jammed packed, I believe we did over 600 paid, so I was very pleased.  The crowd was hot and they were spending money on gimmicks and the bar. I was even booked in the Battle Royale, one of a handful of matched I would book myself in over the next 13 years.  No, I didn't win... I am not a wrestler and even tho I may have the size, I have always had more fun promoting and booking the shows, besides it drives me nuts when indy owners book themselves to get themselves over.  Col. Corruption won the GLCW title that night and right after his match we announced that he would defend his newly won title at the next show against WWF star...... Mankind.  The crowd went nuts and I knew that we had a huge show in the making.

Over the next couple months all I did was plan and promote that show. We booked it at The Rave in Milwaukee, WCW and ECW ran the Rave and I felt it was the right size of a building to hold an event with Mick Foley.  Over the next few weeks we also added "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Ken Patera, and Bastion Booger. I guess looking back at it, I really did not take any baby steps from show one to show two, I jumped in head first. proves the fact that patience is NOT one of my strong points. Everything was running smoothly, GLCW was about to be put on the map.  Tickets were selling fast and it looked like we would easily hit 1,000 tickets sold. I was feeling very relaxed and comfortable knowing that everything was falling into place.  Then the day before Mick was to get in town for his appearance for me at HSP, I got a phone call from my Mom..... My grandfather has just died......... Wow, I couldn't believe it, I had no idea what to do, how to feel, I was numb, my grandpa was gone, he was a huge part of my life and I was too busy living out my childhood dreams to visit him as often as I should have. I was crushed and felt extremely guilty that I didn't give him more attention. The next few days were just a whirl wind of emotions.

When Mick landed in Milwaukee he had just finished a WWF European tour and he was exhausted.  He even mentioned this Milwaukee show in his book, the New York Times Best Seller, "Have A Nice Day".  Mick and I caught up and I told him what had happened with my grandpa and assured him that everything would go as planned, and it did.  We had a huge turnout at HSP for his appearance, I think we had over 500 people show up on Good Friday to meet the Hardcore Icon. After the signing we had a quick dinner then back to the hotel to get ready for the next day..... Mick wanted to go Easter Basket shopping for his kids, so I asked Mick is he wanted to go to the Mall, specialty stores, candy stores???? He said "Walmart". #ButYouAlreadyKnewThat. After all the shopping was done all that was left was the show......

I almost forgot to mention that the Monday Night Raw before my show, Mick cut a promo in the ring saying that Cactus Jack was leaving the WWF and that he was not appreciated. I was elated that the guy that was gonna be headlining my show just told the world that he wanted to quit wrestling and was given a lot of TV time. I had FOUR tv commercials during that RAW.

We got to The Rave and was met by a pleasant surprise, about 600 people waiting in line two hours early..... Mick was impressed and Rich and I were very pleased. The show went off without a hitch, we had 1800 plus fans yelling and screaming and Cactus Jack became the 2nd ever GLCW Heavyweight Champion. I learned a lot from Mick Foley that weekend, he taught me a lot about running indy shows, promoting, running the locker room and perhaps the most important lesson of all...... 50/50 split on in ring Polaroids.  Happy Easter to me :) About 500 fans purchased an in ring Polaroid with the new GLCW Champ for $20 each.  Yep #Winning.

After the show Mick told me that he was impressed the way I handled everything for only having run one show prior to my super show and dealing with the death of my grandfather.  He told me he looked forward to returning and defending the GLCW Title.  Vince McMahon had other ideas for Mick.....  That was Mick's last true "Indy" match as he went on to become Corporate Dude Love and feud with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin vs Dude was the Main Event of the WWF Over The Edge PPV held in Milwaukee.  SO needless to say, Mrs. Foley's baby boy never defended the GLCWtitle and I had no choice but to take the belt off him.  Mick and I have remained good friends since that day and I even got a bit mention in his latest book "Countdown To Lockdown".

GLCW was now a player on the Milwaukee Indy scene.  We were able to run events for SummerFest, Dan Jansen Festival, Wisconsin State Fair, and numerous County Fairs and High School Fundraisers.  Cousin Jack Koshick and I even branched out to do three casino shows in Minnesota and Miami with Jim Cornette and the WWF. Yes, GLCW ran shows with WWF talent Al Snow, Test, Val Venis, Gangrel, Terri Runnels, Mankind, and others. Those were great shows, lots of fun and we sold a ton of merchandise (remember I was able to buy direct from WWF so I had all the tshirts :) )

Over the next five years Rich and I ran shows all over Wisconsin. What a cast of characters we came across.... Rock N Roll Buck Zumhoffe, The Honky Tonk Man, King Kong Bundy, Iron Sheik, Luna Vachon, Jerry Lawler, The Crusher, Nick Bockwinkel, Greg Valentine, The Bushwhackers, George Steele, Nikolia Volkoff, Larry Zybysko, Haku, and of course one of my favorites...... Gillberg.

Yes, that's right, I said Gillberg.  Duane "Gillberg" Gill was on top of the world, he was the current WWF Light heavyweight Champion.  Gillberg was the brain child of Al Snow.  I remember sitting in a Denny's with Al when he told me about the Gillberg idea.  He thought that what a great rib it would be on WCW and Goldberg if the parodied Gill as the undefeated WCW superstar.  The WWF even pumped in the "Gillberg" chant. You are probably wondering why I am taking th etime to explain this "phenomenon".  Well, I was all set to run a show with the super amazing Luna Vachon, and one month before she was supposed to make her GLCW apperance she called me and told me she was going into rehab and would not be able to make the show.  First call I made was to Jim Cornette and asked him if anyone was available to come in. Knowing that Vinny Mac did not let any of his Superstars work the indies I knew the chances were not good. "How about Gillberg?", Cornette asked. "Absolutely", I said.  How could I pass up having the current WWF Light heavyweight Champion on my show. He was on TV every week and his fee was more than fair. I had four weeks to change all the advertising and flyers and get the word out that WWF Light heavyweight Champ, Gillberg would be in Cudahy, Wisconsin.  Jackpot, over 800 people showed up to cheer on the sparkler waving, jack hammering, lovable JOB Squader.  Victory for GLCW.

May of 2001 would be the last show I would run for a while.  I was getting married in July and I knew that  the wrestling business is not conducive for a successful marriage. So I called my good friend Road Dogg Jesse James, Road Dogg was just released by the WWF and I felt he would be a great draw.  So I was able to book him in Green Bay on a Friday night, Saturday for me, a Pay Per View Party on Sunday, and his birthday party / RAW party on a Monday.  What the hell was I thinking!?!?!? Turns out Road Dogg wound up staying with me for a week, remember when I said wrestling is not conducive for a successful marriage??? Ha Ha.  I am proud to say that the BG James that I know today is NOT the same Road Dogg Jesse James that I worked with in May of 2001.  He is a stronger, more disciplined, and wiser man. I am very proud of his growth as a man and am inspired by his strength. BTW, BG is also accepting bookings, message me for details :)

When Road Dogg hopped on that plane to go home, I decided that my four year run of GLCW shows was more than I ever could have asked for.  I had nothing left to prove, I was an established promoter and I was about to start a new chapter in my life, I was getting married. It was time to move on. I had just closed up HSP, wrestling was not as hot as it once was and WalMart and Target were now selling wrestling merchandise cheaper than what I paid for my own inventory.  I decided to go corporate. I was working for someone for the first time in 10 years and I was frustrated, wrestling is who I am, it's a huge part of me, and I was going crazy without my creative outlet. For almost five years I was wrestle free because that's what I thought was the right thing to do.

October 2005, one of my idols and good friend, AWA Legend, The Crusher has died. Once again I felt that guilt when my Grandfather had died, once again I had forgotten another. I was involved in my own life and now new family and did not take the time to visit Crush when I had the chance.  Seeing everyone in the "biz" again got me feeling restless, but I knew that wrestling wasn't a good fit for me. Two weeks later the phone rang..... "Hey cuz".        TO BE CONTINUED...... The story of Blizzard Brawl

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

True Story... HSP 4 Life

So a few of you have asked me how Great lakes Championship Wrestling (GLCW) started and how did Blizzard Brawl come about.  Well to be honest if it was not for Herro’Sports Page, none of this would have happened.

I opened Herro’s Sports Page (HSP) in August of 1996 and the timing could not have been better, the Green Bay Packer were on their way to an eventual Super Bowl Championship and I was a Green and Yellow selling machine.  Life was good. As much as I loved the Green and Gold I was making, wrestling was always my first love.

During this time I had started a relationship with SportsRadio 1510 WAUK (eventually ESPN Milwaukee) and that’s how Herro’s Squared Circle Report was born.  Every Tuesday afternoon at 3:50pm I would give a 10 minute recap on RAW and Nitro with Bill Johnson.  It was a blast, wrestling was never more popular or exciting and I was thought of as an “expert”.  The ten minute segment eventually morphed into a one hour Saturday morning show with longtime friend “Milwaukee” Matt Marchese.

America Online was the hot new thing at the time and I was chatting with Kimberly Page, yes the Nitro Girl and wife of Diamond Dallas Page (DDP).  I told her how I was interested in bringing in some wrestling talent for a public appearance and she was able to point me in the right direction with the people of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).  After a few phone calls WCW told me that if I was willing to produce a live radio remote from HSP that they would provide the talent to me free of charge when WCW Clash of Champions would come to Milwaukee in January of 1997. As Charlie Sheen would say that’s “winning”.  Since I was already in with ESPN Milwaukee I was able to get a great deal with them for an on site remote and my first wrestler appearance was on it’s way to HSP.  WCW had asked me who I would like to have at the store, we agreed on the Steiner Brothers, unfortunately they had to pull out and a replacement was needed….. Feel The Bang…. DDP was that guy.  The night before he was to make his appearance at HSP he appeared on WCW Nitro and gave the Diamond Cutter to all of the nWo. A star was born.

The next day at 3pm on a Tuesday after noon DDP walked into HSP wearing a full length fur coat that was once owned by “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and signed autographs for over 400 people.  Did I mention that it was 3pm on a Tuesday!!!  That was crazy.  DDP was absolutely amazing, he signed and talked his way until the very last person got his autograph.  The fans were so happy and I was super pleased with the experience. The WCW reps were pretty impressed with the way the remote and the signing came together and assured me that anytime WCW was in the area that they would be more than happy to have someone from WCW stop in for an appearance. I was also able to secure an order form from WCW and was able to purchase the same tshirts that the stars wore on TV and sold at the arenas.. I was on my way to getting the hottest wrestling tshirt in the world at my store the nWo. Now that was #tremendous. So thanks to DDP and Kimberly I was put on the wrestling map.

Two weeks later I had the official line of WCW mwechandise in my store, Sting, Four Horsemen, nWo, Hollywood Hogan, DDP, & Macho Man, you name it I had it, well except for the WWF.  I picked up the phone and called Titan Towers, I explained to them what I did with WCW and I offered them the same deal the of radio remote in exchange for the talent, the seemed very interested but decided to let the local promoter in Milwaukee make the final call.  I asked for his name and number and I could not believe what I heard.  The local promoter was my Cousin Jack, Jack Koshick.  Again “winning”. I called Jack as I was hanging up with Titan Towers and I pitched him the idea.  Lets just say magic happened and I was able to score a press conference at my store with Big Van Vader.  Vader was fresh off coming back from Kuwait after roughing up the news reporter so I had no problem getting the NBC, FOX, CBS, and NBC news TV cameras and ESPN radio at my store for his “press conference”.  Vader was fabulous, he came across as the ultimate villain and even made the local media a little nervous.  But that my #SuperFriends was just the appetizer.  The main course was better than I could have imagined.  The legendary tag team The Legion of Doom, The Road Warriors were scheduled to sign autographs at HSP for two hours.  We had well over 1,000 people in line on that Sunday afternoon.

The WWF agents that came along to “supervise” the signing were also very impressed and loved the idea of a sports and wrestling store.  They just did not care for the huge wall of WCW merchandise that I was offering to the Milwaukee fan base.  When asked why I was not selling their merchandise I told them the truth, “nobody called me back”.  Well needless to say the following Tuesday I had received a huge box from Titan Towers with about 100 t-shirts with a note saying “Hope this holds you over until we get your first order”.  In that box were t-shirts of Austin 3:16, LOD, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Sunny, Marlena, The Headbanger, etc etc… #Tremdous.

So with that being said within two months I went from having a small corner of my store dedicated to WWF action figures to the whole line of WWF and WCW tshirts, dvds, music cds, action figures, jewelry, and masks.  I was now living the dream.  After that I was privileged to do signings and appearances at HSP with such greats as Kane, The Headbangers, Sable, The Honky Tonk Man, The Crusher, Nick Bockwinkel, Road Dogg Jesse James, Mick Foley, Edge, Christian, Val Venis, test, Luna Vachon, gangrel, Gillberg, Kurrgan, Debra McMichael, Triple H, Chyna, X-Pac, Buff Bagwell, Lex Luger, Ivory, Tori, Miss Jackie, Scotty 2 Hotty, Kevin Nash, Kimberly, Curt Hennig, King Kong Bundy, Goldberg, Jim Cornette, Sunny, Marlena, Dawn Marie, The Iron Sheik, Bret Hart, Al Snow, and The Rock.

HSP was the very first public appearance that Kane had ever made and HSP was also the last public store signing that the Rock did for the WWF.  With the way HSP was rolling I couldn’t imagine life could get any better, then a man named Rich Finke showed up one day and the idea of Great Lakes Championship Wrestling (GLCW) was born…….  TO BE CONTINUED