| In Search for Al Our trip started out by taking the 2 and a half hour drive up to Vancouver BC,we had our map writen out of how to get to the General Motors Place,had the car tuned up and full of gas Everything was going fine as we headed north,we stoped at a Denny's at about the half way mark and had a nice little lunch,then headed on Now in the past we have got stoped at the border,pretty much for our looks,some years back I was a full blown Punk Rocker and was stupid enough to wear my leather jacket with studs all over it up to the border,and Rose is some 16 years younger then me and I guess they thought I was kidnaping her or something,this was like about 7 years ago,so on with the story Now my car the driver window does not roll down so when we got to the border stop I had to open my door to chat with the border girl,well I think she thought something was odd so we had to pull over and go into customs,ugh....I know they are just doing their job,they checked our I.D. and searched the car,in which they found nothing,they then asked if we had money with us and when I told the woman I had $300.00 her eyes lit up,she told us to have a nice time and we were off Once we got into Vancouver the first thing your old webmaster did was take the wrong turn from what it said on our map,so you guested it....we got lost,but not to worry we got turned around and found our way to downtown Vancouver BC and with our list of Hotels to stay at we searched them out,the first one on the list was booked up and had no rooms,the second was the St.Regis which had a nice little room for $125.00 a night,which was fine because when we traded in our U.S. money for Canadan money we gained like over $100.00 So we were set,we unpacked and noticed in the tv guide that Heat was on at 9:00,we were hungery by then so I went out and got us some pizza,we watched all the Sunday shows we would have watched at home,Simpsons ect,then watched Heat,we then went to bed to wake up the next morning to go hang out at General Motors Place We got up and walked downtown to find a denny's or something,don't ever get up early in BC and try to find a resturant open,it's not going to happen,we walked all over that damn city and found nothing,so it was getting late to catch the wrestlers showing up so we hoped in the car and headed down to the GM Place....we did find a place to eat close to there that had the biggest old pancakes Breakfast finished we went to find parking,now this is the stupidest thing in B.C. all parking lots have a meter box that only takes Visa or change,so this became a nightmare,but I found a Subway and got enough loonies to pay for the parking We walked on down to G.M. Place and fund there were some fans hanging out,some kid told me that Al was already in the building,oh crap I thought,so I told Rose I was going to find a way to find Al,so as Rose was video taping the guys driving in I went and found security,which had a door not far from where the wrestlers were driving down into a parking lot,in which they would take an elevator up and have to walk into the security room,I managed to get two security guys keeping an eye out for Al,I had told them that Al know Rose and I,so I hung out at the security door,which had tinted widows so it was kind of hard to see inside unless you wanted to look stupid and put your nose to the window,I have to say I was keeping my marking to myself as for most of the time I was standing there all by myself and spoted most of the wrestlers walking around,Blackman smiled as he seen me standing there with my Al shirt on,ether that or he was smiling about something else The security dude couldn't belive that I had been hanging there so long and went in and checked for me again,which was moot because about two hours later Al zoomed down into the parking lot,I then know this was up to me,sink or swim,and the guard at the security door had come out many times to have a smoke and we would chat so she know what I was after Now the security door was not locked so I waited till I seen Al come around the corner,I opened the door and said"Al....dude!"....he turned to see who was there,he said "hi" and told me he was late but would be right back to have a talk,which he did and I would like to thank him for doing so The last time we meet I flunked at remembering to get a photo of me and Al together for the webpage,so this was high on my list of what to do,I had told Rose to get over to security so she could be filming as Al came back and opened the security door and invited us in,I complained to Al about the town and the parking,in which he said it wasn't his fault(lol),I moved us over to the wall and made sure that Rose was fliming us together,we did that and chated for a second,all the time it seemed that Al might have been in trouble for doing so,he then asked if we had tickets in which I told him we had tickets for the Tacoma show,he then said he would try to get us tickets,and that if he could he would come back and say so,which once again was nice of him to offer, and it would have been fun to get in but wasn't the reson we took the trip in the first place and was something we were not counting on In the mean time the security area outside started to get big time markish when the Rock showed up and a heard of young female Ring Rats took over the area,I have to say they were nice little girls and I gave them all HEAD WORLD ORDER stickers which they were very happy about We sat around and sat around and watched as these girls marked out on all the wrestlers they could see,what was funnie was how at one point Eddie walked out the security door like he was nobody and walked down the street talking on his cell phone....the BC fans must have been in shock because they just let him walk away,very cool of them I thought It started getting late in the afternoon,and it was clear that Al couldn't get tickets,so if that was the case we had better head for home to watch Raw on tv,so we packed up and headed for home Once home we were too late to watch Raw on USA east on our dish so we waited till 9:00 and watched Raw on USA west,we then went to bed to get ready for the next day
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| Click links to see photos of the event
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| So with tickets to the Tacoma Smack Down we got up early and headed to Tacoma,we had breakfast at the Ramona Inn across from the dome,we then got ready for a day of hanging out and perhaps to talk to Al again,I did have hopes of doing so and had Mick's book and the Atlanta Journal article with me I was hopping to get signed,and a stack of HEAD WORLD ORDER stickers to give to Al I had told some fans hanging out who I was so they know who I was looking for,in the mean time,Mike the ref,I don't know how to spell his last name,Kaota maybe??,anywhy you now who I mean was parking lot man for the day and was telling the wrestlers where to park,and that other referee dude,the one with the bolding head was out riding a bike around,I waved him over to where we were at the far end of the fence,I gave him the stickers and asked him to give them to Al,which he said he would do,I then got both the ref's autographs We sat and sat and watched as all the wrestlers came in,if I remember right Bob Holly showed up real early along with someone I can't remember who,it was all fine and danndy till a couple of hours later marks from hell showed up You know it seems to me just noticing the dif between Canadan fans and Seattle fans,the BC fans were pretty much laid back,the little girls did mark out big time for the Rock,but I have to say they were never rude to the wrestlers......unlike the Seattle fans,I have never meet such rude pushie loud lttle punks in my life,it's no wounder the wrestlers didn't want to sign autographs and just walked into the building,seems to me the fans are kind of a love hate thing for the wrestlers,if this kind of rudeness is in very town I know I would get tired of it fast,so you can't blame them Needless to say when Al did drive up the fans that know who I was looking for marked out about it and as Al got out of his car they were screaming and marking out so bad that there was no way he was going to hear my voice over these morons so I didn't even try,Al walked into the building not even looking at the fans,Rose later stated that he looked tired,I know I would be if I had to travel like that week after week and get marked at like that,it can't be easy Later one of the Pacific Wrestling Federation wrestlers(Hollywood Stud) who was working for the WWF for the day spoted me and we had a chat,I tried to get him to take my book ect in to Al to sign,but,and he was right when he was worried what the WWF would think about doing so,and he didn't want to look stupid by marking out to Al,which was all good and I could see his point Much,much later the Washington State Boxing Commissioner spoted me and came over to the fence and we talked about local wrestling ect,the ref that had been riding the bike came back out hours later and said that he gave Al the stickers and that Al told him he was busy and would try to come out and say hi,so we waited,in the mean time a got Crash's autograph and Stevie Richards as well It got to be 6:00 so we gave it up to go stand in line to get into the show,my God,what a differance two years makes,way too many God damn people,big old lines just to get a $3.00 bag of popcorn,long lines to get a shirt,I missed the Undertaker match getting the last APA shirt they had All over the arena there were people getting tossed out for ether showing their puppies or for fighting,everytime a wrestler would come out everyone just had to stand up which was really a pain The show it's self was pretty fun and I enjoyed watching Al's match,and getting to see some of the wrestlers wrestle I have never seen before,Kurt,Perry,Chris,the Dudly's,seeing the 3D was something I really wanted to see,so all in all a fun show,but Rose and I are not ones for going out and it took alot out of us and I'm not so sure that next time they come to town that we will plan to get tickets go to the show When the show was over we went to the back again to find millions of fans waiting for the wrestlers to drive out,most were waiting for the Rock whos rent a car was no longer there,the only wrestlers still around were the ones that had the last match,and poor Glen,with a towel over his head tried to get away but got stuck behind traffic so he had to back up into the lot again and wait till there was no traffic,poor guy,wouldn't you get tired of that kind of crap???,I know I would So we walked to the car and headed for home.....the jest of the story is that Rose's feet hurt from standing around for two days,and she got to see all the wrestlers and film them,and yes Jerrico who is now her fav,and we got to chat with Al once again,he has got to be one of the nicest people you would want to meet,and I thank him for taking the time to talk to us again,Rose and I thank you Al! Click to see Program from the Tacoma show
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| Photos of Al looking tired
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