Meeting Rob Van Dam was the experience of a lifetime! He is such an awesome
and remarkable person. I will never forget meeting him as long as I live.

I was in my hotel room and I noticed it was getting close to 2:00 p.m., when RVD
was scheduled to be in the Fanfest room to sign autographs. I was heading down
the hallway and I saw him. There he was! He was talking to a couple of other
people and it looked like their conversation was winding down. So I waited, and he
turned his attention to me. I said "Hello Mr. Van Dam." He looked at me and said
"I know you, I've seen your picture." I said my name, and he said "Halochild".

I got my first RVD hug there in the hallway of the hotel. When RVD walked into the
Fanfest room, the entire energy of the room changed. Everyone loves RVD. He was
the one everyone wanted to meet. Immediately, people were in his line to get his
autograph. He autographed my two action figures for me, and then later I got in
his "photo opportunity" line to have this picture taken with him.

When people say that RVD loves his fans, they are telling the truth. He really does.
He had to be in Orlando the very next day (from Atlanta) for Hard Core Justice, and
he still made time to talk to fans who were coming up to him on his way out who
wanted to meet him and ask for autographs. I never once saw him tell anyone he
was in a hurry or that he had to go. He was only scheduled for 2 hours, but I know
he went way over his time schedule taking care of his fans.

I can't say enough about this wonderful man. I feel very fortunate to have had the
opportunity to meet him, and to be a guest here at his website. I love you, Rob
Van Dam. Thank you so very much for everything you have done for me, and for
everything you do for us, your fans, everyday.

Halochild

Thank you Reap! I couldn't believe he knew who I was either. He made our meeting very special for me, as I am sure he does for every one of his fans. I will love my picture with RVD forever and ever! And don't worry, your turn will come. Like I told Chasity with Raven, it is meant to be when you are that huge of a fan.

And yes, I am a very lucky girl!

Thank you so much, Calmmountain. He is indeed very sweet. And it really does mean so very much to me to have met him.

The NWA Fanfest was great. It was a really layed back and relaxed atmosphere. The wrestlers were all in a huge open environment at their own tables where you could walk up to them and actually have conversations with them, get their autographs, and take pictures with them. Each wrestler had their own rules about whether or not they were charging for picture taking or autographs. Some didn't charge me at all and just put their arm around me and said "sure, come on, let's take a picture". Others charged between $15 to $20 for autographed pictures they had available or pictures with your own camera. But these guys need to make a living, right? To have your picture taken with your wrestler professionally in front of the curtain and printed out you had to buy a ticket for a "photo opportunity", and the tickets were from $16 to $20 depending on the wrestler.

I can't even tell y'all how friendly and approachable these guys were. And they wanted you to come talk to them. That's what they were there for; to meet their fans. And they would talk to their fans everywhere. In the Fanfest ballroom, the hallways, the restaurants, the hotel lobby, outside. It was literally spending the entire three-day weekend with professional wrestlers.

On Saturday night we got to ride buses to see the live NWA wrestling matches. We had a lot of fun on the bus to and from the matches as well as at the matches. Gunner v. Adam "Scrap Iron" Pearce was the main event. We didn't get back until 11:00 p.m., and that's when they had Rowdy Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit". I'm not sure what that was because I was too smack out tired from the whole day, which started at 8:00 a.m., to go to it. I went to my room and passed out.

If you want to go to a weekend-long event, meet tons of wrestlers, make lots of new friends, and have the time of your life, you have got to go to one of the annual NWA Fanfests. The next one is in Kansas City, KS. For as much fun as you get to have, it's really not as expensive as you might think it would be. And you have a whole year to save up for it from now. I highly recommend it.

Halochild

Quote from halochild on August 19, 2011, 09:47
Thank you Reap! I couldn't believe he knew who I was either. He made our meeting very special for me, as I am sure he does for every one of his fans. I will love my picture with RVD forever and ever! And don't worry, your turn will come. Like I told Chasity with Raven, it is meant to be when you are that huge of a fan.

And yes, I am a very lucky girl!

It still seems like a dream, meeting RVD. Even though it was very brief, it was pretty awesome.