Remembering The Time I Hung Out With Ron Simmons...Professional Wrestler

My son and his friends have become...

Pro wrestling fans.

I'm not concerned, in fact, I think it's a fun sport to follow. There's interesting stories, personalities, and they've been entertaining crowds for centuries. I have little connection to wrestling, professional or otherwise. Back in ancient times, when there were only three channels on TV, and as a kid you watched whatever they put on, my brother and I watched professional wrestling. It was fun. We'd watch The Iron Sheik, Rick Flair, Baron Von Raschke "The Claw" (who is still alive...), non-wrestler Gene Okerlund, so many others. It was fun, mostly harmless entertainment.

I don't watch pro wrestling anymore, but from the snippets I've seen, the modern version is like the wrestling I used to watch but on steroids (sorry...). It's high-flying, loud, flashy, and to say it's over-the-top is an understatement.

My son said he and his friend get together on-line and watch Wrestle-Mania. I told him at a comic con years ago I hung out with a professional wrestler. Today I dug up the pictures and showed him. He didn't know Ron Simmons--I could say the same thing when I met him in 2015--but he's going to see if his friend recognizes the name.

I blogged about the experience back in 2015. If you'd like to read that post, click: HERE. Ron was such a nice man. I spent most of the three days just sitting and talking to him. The fans who recognized him were so grateful he came. I also got to know his handler, Rodger. That guy was a character, too. 

I wonder if, in the coming days and years, my son will have the opportunity to meet some of the athletes and performers he's fallowing now. I'd like to think so. If his experience is anything like mine, it'll be a good one.

Welcomed The Picture From Ron Simmons...Didn't Need One From Alan Tudyk

"Hey--is that Alan Tudyk?" I asked as I entered the Green Room for dinner.

"Yup."

"That's pretty cool."

I watched the actor and another person from afar being interviewed. When you see these famous people hanging out in a space where they're taking a break, good convention manners would say that we're basically to leave them alone. They get enough of people fawning all over them during the rest of the con. Eventually Mr. Tudyk did make his way over to our table and shook our hands. It was something he didn't have to do--class act!

But I met another celebrity at the convention, and he was a class act, too. I used to follow professional wrestling back in the 70s and 80s. If I had been paying attention in the 1990s, I would have heard of Ron Simmons, and watched him and learned his famous catchphrase, 

"Damn!"

Ron was assigned the table right next to where we were selling books and a better next-door-convention-neighbor I could not imagine. He was so wonderful to his fans, so gracious, so personable, and not just to his fans, but to us as well. When he and his business partner, Rodger packed up, we said our goodbyes and I made sure to get a picture with this man (I got one with Rodger, too...). The one with Ron and me is a little blurry, but that's okay because it will remind me of the awesome weekend we had.

Now, I could have pressed Mr. Tudyk for a picture when we shook hands in the Green Room, and he probably would have been accommodating, but it wouldn't have meant the same thing. Sure, I could provide actual proof that we'd met, but that's just to brag (I've done enough of that, already...). The picture with Ron, now that's something special.