Memories come alive at Fanfest

Looking for something to do the weekend of Aug. 5-8?

Look no further than the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest coming up in Charlotte in less than two weeks.

The event has become an annual tradition for thousands of wrestling fans around the country. For fans here in the Carolinas, the event has become a rite of summer, taking them back to the days when wrestling shows were held on a weekly basis in arenas and auditoriums throughout the territory.

Promoter Greg Price does a yeoman’s job handling the many aspects of putting on an event of such magnitude, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a time when something — be it autograph signings, photo-ops, wrestling shows, Q and A’s, or just plain mingling in the lobby — isn’t going on during convention hours at the Hilton University Place Hotel in Charlotte.

Even “after hours” you can find fans swapping stories and wrestling memorabilia, your favorite superstar of yesteryear indulging in an adult libation or two at the bar and, if you’re really lucky, Ole Anderson holding court in the hotel lobby, more than willing to insult you into oblivion.

The event is well worth the price of admission, and offers fans the rare opportunity of rekindling some special memories and interacting with some of the very same stars they cheered — and jeered — many years ago.

Get there early and sample some of Good Ol’ J.R.’s famous barbecue during an informal get-together Thursday evening. This generation’s greatest wrestling announcer will be back the following night to formally induct his childhood hero and arguably the greatest wrestler in this country’s history — Danny Hodge — into the Hall of Heroes in what will undoubtedly be an impassioned presentation.

And, speaking of Hodge, ask the man to shake your hand. He may be 78 years old, but he can still crush apples.

Get an autograph or have your picture taken with wrestling royalty such as former NWA world champs Harley Race, Terry Funk or Dory Funk Jr. The Fabulous Funks and King Harley, by the way, also will be featured in the event’s first-ever “Breakfast with Champions” presentation on Saturday morning.

Don’t pass up the chance to say hello to Bob Caudle, whose familiar voice welcomed us to another edition of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, each and every Saturday. Or Les Thatcher, truly one of wrestling’s “good guys,” who has done just about everything in the wrestling business over his five decades in the sport.

Jerry Brisco, who lost his brother, the great Jack Brisco, earlier this year, will be on hand to induct both Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and his dad, the late Johnny “The Champ” Valentine, into the Hall of Heroes.

Want to know more about masked men? Two of the best in the history of the business —Mr. Wrestling No. 2 (Johnny Walker) and The Assassin (Jody Hamilton) — will both be on hand, with No. 2 being inducted into the Hall of Heroes and Hamilton serving as a presenter.

Also being inducted into the Hall of Heroes Class of 2010 will be Joe Blanchard, Reggie Parks, Billy Robinson and the late “Mr. Wrestling” Tim Woods. The always entertaining Jim Cornette will host the fourth annual dinner banquet and awards ceremony.

Fans can even attend the Sunday morning worhsip service with special guest speaker Joe Blanchard and son Tully.

There’ll be more vendors than you can shake a stick at, and the guests at the many tables are too numerous to mention.

Names from the past like Jake “The Snake” Roberts, “Boogie Woogie Man” Jimmy Valiant and “Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff.

Current stars such as multi-time world champion Sting, former WWE women’s champ Mickie James, Orangeburg native and former WWE star Shelton Benjamin.

The late ‘80s Skyscrapers team of Sid Vicious and Danny Spivey will reunite, as will The Powers of Pain, aka Warlord and The Barbarian.

One of the most interesting reunions, though, will be the pairing of The Hollywood Blonds — Jerry Brown and Buddy Roberts, along with their manager Sir Oliver Humperdink, who last joined forces back in the ‘70s.

The one and only Bobby “The Brain” Heenan will be among a list of great managers that includes Humperdink, Cornette, Percy Pringle III (aka Paul Bearer) and Paul Ellering.

Even The Rock’s dad, Rocky “Soulman” Johnson, is finally coming back to Charlotte for the first time in nearly 30 years. Johnson, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame two years ago by his son, was a top star in the Carolinas during the early ‘80s when he appeared as the masked Sweet Ebony Diamond and held the Mid-Atlantic TV title.

Live wrestling shows will be held at the hotel on Saturday night (headlined by Bryan Danielson vs. “Scrap Iron” Adam Pearce) and Sunday afternoon.

It’ll also be your last chance to catch the event in Charlotte for another two years. Next year’s event will move to Atlanta where the Airport Marriott will be the site of the convention from Aug. 4-7. Fanfest will return to Charlotte in 2012.

If you’ve never been to Fanfest, do yourself a favor and make plans to be there. It’s an event not to missed.

-- Nora Greenwald, better known in pro wrestling circles as former WWE diva and two-time women’s champion Molly Holly, and Geno Benshoof recently were married in a small ceremony in the backyard garden of her husband’s family home in the town of White Bear Lake, Minn.

The two met a year ago. It’s the first marriage for Greenwald, 32, who retired from wrestling in 2009.

Greenwald, who owned a home in Charleston during her WWE run, told the White Bear Press that she had never found the right man until meeting Benshoof.

“Geno was my first boyfriend and I met him just a year ago,” said Greenwald. “I never wanted to waste my time, so I have been waiting for ‘the one’ and when you know, you know.”

The two met at a Minneapolis drug and alcohol recovery program while Greenwald was working at the center as a teen counselor. Benshoof, who had no idea who Greenwald was, had just landed an internship in the office after completing court-ordered drug treatment.

“I really didn’t know anything about (wrestling),” he told the newspaper. “In my past, I didn’t pay much attention to what was going on in the rest of the world. I was caught up in drugs, in selling drugs and crime and everything else. I really didn’t pay attention to anything.”

Benshoof eventually overcame a three-year period in which he was arrested and convicted of felony drug possession, burglary and possession of a dangerous weapon. He was homeless, had contemplated suicide and had been stealing from his friends and family.

Faced with either treatment or 56 months in jail, Benshoof swore off drugs and went through the rehab program last year, eventually meeting Greenwald. A company policy, however, prohibited counselors from dating interns.

“During that time I admired him from afar,” she told the newspaper. “I noticed that when he walks into a room full of people, everyone’s face lights up. He’s a hardworking man with integrity, tenacity and confidence to stand up for what he believes.”

“It’s been a blessing for both of us,” said Benshoof, who is the brother of Olympic luger Tony Benshoof. “She’s seen me as the person that’s two-and-a-half years sober and now working to help other people gain freedom from addiction as well.”

Greenwald said she wanted to elope, but a church marriage program required eight weeks of pre-marriage counseling.

“I’m a 32-year-old virgin that doesn’t care to be a 33-year-old virgin,” said Greenwald. “A short engagement was most desirable ... we’re waiting until our wedding night. It’s pretty cool that Geno loves me enough to buy the car without test-driving it first.”

“Our faith is the most important part of our life together,” she added. “Both Geno and I plan to be involved in Christian ministry in some way for the rest of our lives.”

-- The increasingly immobile Hulk Hogan declared in a recent interview that he doesn’t foresee returning to the ring.

“Hopefully I won’t get back in the ring again, because I can’t afford any more broken things,” the 56-year-old Hogan told The Province newspaper in Canada.

That’s certainly not the first time Hogan has made such a statement, nor is it likely to be the last.

Hogan’s special contract with TNA expires at the end of the year, and if Paul Heyman is hired and given free reign of the company, as he has demanded, it is expected that Hogan will be history in TNA.

-- Bill Goldberg, meanwhile, is once again saying that he wants one final wrestling match.

“If the money was right, I’d go out there and do it in two seconds,” Goldberg told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’d have to be totally prepared for it, because I wouldn’t want to tarnish my image, but I’d like to be in the ring one more time so that my wife and my son can see me wrestle live.”

Goldberg, whose final match was at Wrestlemania 20 against Brock Lesnar, has talked to WWE in the past about one final send-off match. He’s always maintained that wrestling was never a passion, but a vehicle by which to connect with young fans.

“I don’t ever want to say that I miss anything about the wrestling business,” Goldberg said. “I miss the ability to put a smile on a kid’s face, more than one at a time. That was a true charge for me.”

-- Former TNA performer Consequences Creed (Austin Watson) has signed a developmental contract with WWE.

The 23-year-old Furman grad will report to Florida Championship Wrestling.

-- Good buddy and fellow journalist Bill Farley of Mount Pleasant has penned a nifty new novel titled “Sex ... in the Crosshairs” that is every bit as steamy and sultry as the title might imply.

And Bill knows more than just a little about his subject matter. He moved to the Lowcountry from Los Angeles after retiring from his position as Vice President of Marketing for Playboy Enterprises.

His responsibilities at Playboy included serving as chief spokesman for the magazine’s iconic founder, editor-in-chief and quintessential playboy, Hugh Hefner, and such “arduous” duties as overseeing the Playboy Mansion events and the company’s Playmate Models division.

Farley’s novel is based on his many years in the adult entertainment business. The characters, including that of a hedonistic, renegade publisher, are totally fictitious, of course.

Farley also has a keen appreciation for pro wrestling’s lofty position in the entertainment industry.

“I have great respect for the athletes in professional wrestling, and I feel the same way about the McMahons,” he says. “They’ve created a sports entertainment franchise that has given enormous pleasure to untold millions of fans.”

Farley, who says he’s been a wrestling fan “since the days of telecasts from the old Capitol Arena in Washington, D.C.,” fondly remembers stars of a bygone era such as Gorgeous George, Haystacks Calhoun, Skull Murphy and Chief Big Heart. Little did he know then that years later he would be working side by side with the world’s most famous playboy, and rubbing shoulders with new wrestling superstars such as The Rock.

“I never envisioned being any closer than a black-and-white TV screen to the greats of the sport until I had joined Playboy as a senior executive in marketing and principal spokesman for Hugh Hefner,” he says. “As it turned out, Hef and the McMahons hit it off and we struck a deal to do pictorials with some of the WWE’s (then the WWF’s) female stars.”

One of his favorite guests at the Playboy Mansion was Jerry “The King” Lawler.

“We had a common bond in that we both knew and had worked with the strange and wonderful actor Andy Kaufman,” says Farley. “In fact, I have on my mantle a great photo of Jerry at the Playboy Mansion holding my ‘mascot,’ a small statue named Raoul,” he says.

WWE divas, of course, also were a mainstay at the infamous mansion.

“My personal favorite was Chyna (Joanie Lauer),” says the native New Yorker and Cornell grad. “For such a formidable contender, she was sweet as could be out of the ring. Because of my job, I spent a lot of time with all of them, but more with Joanie. It was always a treat to walk into a posh Beverly Hills restaurant with Joanie and watch all the eyes of the big-shot producers and directors turn!”

“Sex ... in the Crosshairs” is available online at PublishAmerica.com.

Bill will be signing copies of his book 11 a.m.-3 p.m. July 30 at the Waldenbooks at Charleston Place.

-- The local community lost a wonderful public servant with the recent passing of Dick King at the age of 82.

Dick, the personification of the term “giving back,” was a volunteer in the truest sense of the word. He was a tireless worker for many senior and charitable programs, particularly those east of the Cooper, where he immersed himself in numerous causes upon moving here from the Northeast nearly 15 years ago.

Dick also was an avid reader of this space and a regular contributor to this paper for a number of years, helping promote his many charitable causes and volunteer services.

His easygoing demeanor and giving spirit will be missed by us all.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com.