It seems like everybody got to wrestle on AEW during 2018-2023, but I was still excited when I received the e-mail inviting me to be an extra at an upcoming TV broadcast. And I am thankful that a few guys vouched for me, so I wasn't going in without any support. That added to the excitement that anything was possible.

On July 5th, I made the 8+ hour drive to Rochester, New York where the event was taken place. Driving took all day with the stops.

When I arrived to the arena the following morning, full of nerves, I saw a familiar face. Now, I don't know if he knows how many times we've crossed paths, but Eddie Kingston smiled warmly and asked how I'd been. That was relieving. 

Next, I had to pass through security, check in with the doctors and our liaison. I enjoy talking with security at buildings. They mostly sit in one place for hours away from the action and excitement, however, over the years they've got to enjoy a lot of concerts, live events and get a lot of interesting experiences. I like hearing about the good ol' days of concerts and hearing their stories.

It's a lot of standing around and awkward interactions at TV productions like this. You may know people from indie wrestling or other parts of life, but you may not be best friends with them, or you guys are in a different atmosphere where there's some politicking and jockeying going on. Not saying they don't want to chat, just that they have to work, too.

In my pre-show wandering around, I did a lot...most notably I had many meals and snacks in the CATERING DEPARTMENT. I'm not a "foodie" or anything close to such, however, I was impressed that they had actual proper food there. Most indie events and even other "major league" wrestling companies are lucky to have pizza, granola bars or some deli sandwiches...and at some of the "major league" companies, they want you to make sure the superstars eat before the extra talent.

At AEW, they had grilled chicken, salad, pastas, to-go sandwiches, fruit, vegetables, almost anything you could ask for. It wasn't just coffee and soda, you could actually get sports drinks and COLD bottles of water. I wanna say they even had some seafood options. 

It's awkward when you get to the cafeteria - almost like being back in school. I grabbed an open seat near the door. I didn't want to interrupt any big wigs. Scorpio Sky came over and asked how everything had been. I met him at Cyberfights back in the 2000s. We chit-chatted for a few minutes then parted ways as we had finished our snacking.

I was on the list for a photo shoot with the AEW photographer since this was my first time at AEW and they want pictures for promotional graphics. 

I wasn't allowed in the main men's locker room...well, maybe I was but I was encouraged to leave my bag in the hall with the other extras, so I just grabbed my gear and headed to another small bathroom over by the sewing department.

I'd never seen a costume crew at a live tv production, that was interesting. I knew a New England pro wrestler turned costume designer for WWE, but I assumed the costume crew just stayed in one place and weren't at the live events. 

Back to the changing room, I'd brought a dozen costumes that I could wear depending on the role and situation, but which one was I gonna use for my photoshoot? Which one made me look most like a TV star. I knew it was down to 2 or 3 items and went with gold for good luck.

Some quick hits about who I saw and chatted with in the locker room that I can recall. I made sure I ran into Tony Nese. He seemed to be doing well running his fitness company and we caught up about other life things. 

William Regal was a great guy. He actually came up to me and introduced himself by his real name. Dean Malenko seemed to turn his head away every time we passed one another in a hallway. I assume he's not a people person and he was probably dealing with his health issues at that time. Goldust was there, so that was neat, even though I didn't say much to him. He seemed busy giving out knowledge. I remember him from my fandom, so it was cool to see him in person.

Wild spectrum of wrestler heights - back in the day we were told everyone were giants. I guess what I mean is, A LOT of guys on TV are average sized height-wise. Some even made me feel tall.

Chatted with QT Marshall whom I met in my florida indie wrestling days. Amazing to see how far he has come and how talented he is. Great memory too.

I ran into Christopher Daniels who is a producer at AEW. I actually saw him on Cyberfights shortly after he was on WCW. His matches with Mikey Henderson were underrated. Anyway,  he told me to do him a favor and burn my BRIGHT yellow sport coat that I was wearing. I even had the bow-tie to go with it. Matt Sydal was there as I crossed paths with Christopher Daniels and he told him about my wild triple jump moonsault (WATCH HERE)...I think Daniels playfully threw out that he himself had a pretty great moonsault.

Man, Wardlow is a stud. How did that guy not become a major star? He seemed to have lightning in a bottle. I guess he's still there but I don't know if they're doing much with him.

It was cool to see the "Prop Department" and watch the crew working over by their trailer truck getting tables and other weapons ready for the evening. Seemed like there was a whole trailer truck just for fun extra props for the event. I think that's part of my dream.

Any stipulation possible at anytime possible!!!

As showtime approached, the sewing folks were finishing a costume for Fuego Del Sol, who apparently got the call to be at the TV show early that morning. I thought it was strange that they hadn't thought that far ahead and that none of the guys in the locker room could fill the role. They've got a HUGE roster over there at AEW.

Another thought, it's wild that a lot of the big names have private locker rooms to themselves. I'm used to sharing one big room with 20-30 other guys. I'm also using BIG NAMES a little loosely here because a lot of the former WWE guys seemed to mingle amongst the backstage, but I don't think I ever saw the Young Bucks (whom I wrestled at Cyberfights) nor Kenny Omega (maybe he wasn't there, I don't recall).

Always interesting to watch pre-taped interviews. For years, I didn't know they did multiple takes. I, honestly, thought these guys did it in one try - perfect every time, but as I've been learning, some of the best interviews took multiple attempts.

One of the most notable interview segments involved WWE legend, Mark Henry doing something with The Premiere Athletes (prior to my buddy Big Sexy being in the stable), where the guys are seen in a multi-screen setting, but they were only 15 feet apart from one another while shooting it. As I recall, to nail the tone and feel of it, they did multiple takes with multiple producers. It was a BIG PRODUCTION event.

Chris Jericho had a segment on the TV show that night but he wasn't even in town for the live broadcast. I assume they filmed it the week prior. 

The wrestling card wasn't even complete until almost "GO-TIME." They come out with a BIG white board with all the matches and "segments" listed with any additional details you need. I imagine checking to see if your name made the list. It's like back in the day when you waited and hope your name was on the list for baseball tryouts or the local play.

If you're wondering if my name as the list, it wasn't. I shouldn't feel so dejected by not making the list, especially when I know another wrestler who was wrestling at Ring of Honor (nearly full-time at one point) was only gonna be seat filling, as well.  A former WWE guy said to me once, "sometimes we get to put on the tights and sometimes we don't." I guess that's a way to look at it....I'd rather have put on the tights.

When the show went live, I wandered around the hard cam view filling seats. As an autistic fan arrived, I was asked to hand out a fan kit, so they could enjoy the experience. I'm gonna say it was because I was so sharply dressed that I was asked.

When I wasn't filling seats and assisting audience members, I was wandering out back. I remember sitting with a group of wrestlers watching the LIVE FEED of the event and seeing Sting in full face paint sitting there watching, too. A younger version of me was stoked, even if a grown me was envious for not performing. In my head, and when I tell the story out-loud, I tell everyone that Sting & I were just sitting watching tv together...nobody else was in the room ;)

Should I do one about how I got my brief time at Ring of Honor or what it's like at TNA Impact? I could also do NWA Wrestling.

Let me know in the comments or email.