The Wrestling Classic convention set to make history in CT on October 24

For the first time since 2009, the state of Connecticut will host a major pro wrestling convention at the DoubleTree hotel in Hartford on Sunday, October 24th. The Wrestling Classic will feature multiple festivities as well as meet-and-greet opportunities with stars from the past, present and future of the wrestling world.

Among the notable names scheduled to appear are Booker T, Sgt. Slaughter, Bob Backlund, Alex Shelley, Chris Hero, Alexander Hammerstone, Terri Runnels, Danhausen, the former Breezango, Adam Bomb, and many more.

Promoter Nicholas Masci has been looking to bring a big wrestling convention back to CT for years, and it nearly happened in September 2020 before the pandemic hit. With the world slowly opening up again, he saw an opportunity to make that dream a reality.

The Wrestling Classic convention will run in Connecticut later this month.

As WWE’s home base, Connecticut has long been a hotbed for wrestling, especially in regards to the independent scene. However, outside of WWE running the occasional televised show in Hartford, Bridgeport or Uncasville, there hasn’t been an event of this magnitude held in the state since Justin Credible’s Icons of Pro Wrestling convention over a decade ago.

“The goal is to give New England a convention to be proud of, a consistent convention,” said Masci. “We’re bringing in some big names for our first show.”

Another familiar face fans will have the rare chance to meet is The Mountie, also known as one-half of The Fabulous Rougeaus. He joins a long list of talent that were well-known throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, as well as wrestlers who are active on the scene today and are signed to promotions such as Ring of Honor and MLW.

Combo tickets include a general admission ticket and an autograph from Justin Credible, all for the price of $25.

“I’ve been in the autograph and memorabilia business since 2012,” Masci said about his background as a promoter. “I took some time off and pretty much since 2015, I’ve been going full force and from 2015 to 2019, I was doing about 15 to 20 weekends a year. I’ve been pretty much full-time since everything started opening up slowly last summer.

“Between that and working all the different conversations across the states, I’ve made a bunch of different contacts. Not only with the wrestlers, but also fellow promoters and vendors. It takes more than one person to put on a convention. It’s with the help of other partners and I’m lucky to have a lot of great promoters I’m surrounded by.”

Masci revealed that he had a handful of AEW talent lined up for The Wrestling Classic after Lance Archer and Nyla Rose were originally advertised to appear last year. Scheduling conflicts forced them to be pulled, but he hopes to work with AEW again down the road and secure some of their stars for future conventions.

Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Von Erich, Santana and Ortiz, MJF, Chris Jericho, Darby Allin, and Sammy Guevara are all on his bucket list of wrestlers he wants to work with at The Wrestling Classic someday.

“I would consider running The Wrestling Classic again in April after WrestleMania,” he said. “I think April is a really good time. Everyone will be going to Dallas for WrestleMania weekend or maybe even just watching it from their home.

“I think right around April is when we don’t have to worry about getting hit with a New England snowstorm. Spring is getting into a groove, so I’d say at some point in April. Ideally, if we could do every September or October and then April, that would be the kind of schedule I would want for The Wrestling Classic.

“There may be some fans that aren’t as familiar with the younger talent, but if they come because they see Danhausen is there or eventually someone like Sammy Guevara and they wind up learning about some other legends, it’s a good day for all,” he continued. “I think it goes the other way where there’s a lot of old-school fans that aren’t as interested in today’s wrestling as they were 15, 20 years ago. They come to the event and they have a great experience with Chris Hero or Danhausen and maybe they’ll start watching them.”

WWE-star-turned-successful-Twitch-streamer Terri Runnels is one of the legends of yesteryear who will be on hand at the event. She’s looking forward to seeing the talent of today, most notably Melina, just as much as she is everyone from her era.

“It’s absolutely great to not only see our friends and family from the wrestling world, but just to see fans,” Runnels said. “Sometimes I think we take it for granted what the fans do and give to us. To be able to look in someone’s eyeballs and have them say, ‘I really appreciate you doing this and entertaining me,’ it means a lot. To be able to shake hands, and definitely use lots of hand sanitizer, or just fist-bump, it’s nice to see friends and acquaintances and new folks at the same time.”

Bryan Clark, better known to WWE fans as Adam Bomb or WCW fans as Wrath, shares those same sentiments. Having resided in Phoenix for the better part of the past 20 years, he does roughly one or two appearances per month and The Wrestling Classic will mark his first in Connecticut to his memory.

He’s excited to be catching up with Booker T again as well as Sgt. Slaughter, Bob Backlund, Tatanka, and especially “Dangerous” Danny Davis. He recalled a comical encounter with the famed referee the last time they crossed paths at an event.

“I did a show pre-COVID in New York,” Clark said. “I’m in the bathroom washing my hands and somebody’s in the back stall, but they’re getting dressed. I hear him talking and it’s Danny, so I yell at him. We always used to bust each other’s chops really bad in Germany, like cussing him out and he fired right back. He hadn’t missed a beat in 30 years. It was hilarious.”

Clark has long been retired from the ring and yet he’s busier than ever with the amount of projects he has going on at the moment. In addition to his upcoming appearance at The Wrestling Classic, he has more Adam Bomb action figures coming out courtesy of MicroBrawlers and is always working on new t-shirt designs for himself.

“It’s really cool, man. It’s very humbling,” he said. “Retro stuff is really in right now. I just got two new actions figures that came out and I’ve got two more that are coming out, so I’ve got four of those. I’ve got two t-shirt shops, one in the U.S. and one in the U.K. with over 20 items. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on. I thought it was going to retire, but between this and trying to keep up with social media, it can get pretty hectic.”

Wrestling conventions have largely been far and few between for the past year, not only in Connecticut but throughout the world due to the pandemic. Something like this has been long overdue for fans and wrestlers alike and gives everyone a chance to catch up and share stories after not seeing each other since before the pandemic.

“I think everyone has been looking forward to an event like this one and all of the events that are coming up” Clark said. “People have been locked in and locked down for so long that they want to get out and see people and visit and socialize and this is a great way to do it.

“I’m looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time,” he added. “I’ve watched some of the new product and talent. I think Lance Archer is a really excellent talent. Drew McIntyre’s another guy from WWE I’m a fan of. There’s a lot of guys I think are really talented and their workrate is excellent.”

“Dangerous” Danny Davis doesn’t keep up much with wrestling nowadays either, but he always enjoys interacting with the fans and fellow wrestlers at conventions such as this one. After doing a convention recently in New Jersey, he plans on meeting up with Slaughter and Backlund at The Wrestling Classic and

“That’s the deal with these conventions: We get to meet the fans from before and the new fans and get to sit down with them and talk to them,” Davis said, noting that he’ll have his autobiography on sale at the event. “They can ask me questions and I can ask them questions and most of the time, they remember stuff that I’ve forgotten. It’s always interesting and I like doing these because we never know how long we’re here for and it was a long time, but fans are fans and that’s what it was all about then and that’s what it’s all about now.

Although Davis has a presence on social media, he admits that these conventions are primarily how he keeps in touch with friends from the business. It’s as satisfying for him as it is for the fans, and with how hectic of a year it’s been for everyone in the world, an event the caliber of The Wrestling Classic is exactly what wrestling needs right now. The northeast fan base in particular is about to benefit.

“It’s like a Thanksgiving thing for us or Christmas or a birthday party,” Davis said. “We all get together, we all share stories about what’s going on with each other and get to see how they’re doing. It’s kind of a reunion for ourselves as well, so that’s even better.

“I say to the wrestling fans: Don’t miss it. This could be your last opportunity to get to meet some of these guys and talk to them. Take advantage of it if you can.”

Tickets for The Wrestling Classic in Hartford, CT on October 24th are still available at this link.