Wrestlecade 2021 – Meeting FTR, Jay Lethal, Chris Hero and Rachel Ellering

I’ve been an FTR fan since they were The Revival in NXT. In fact, their tag matches are what really kept me watching NXT for the longest time. Once they made it to the main roster, like all of the other NXT stars, their matches became shorter and less interesting, so I just hoped that one day they’d make their way out of the WWE and somewhere else. Luckily, AEW came along and FTR joined and the rest is history.

I was thrilled with FTR debuted and really loved all the teasing with The Bucks. Their title reign was less than stellar and I really felt like the team loss momentum. The Bucks match was pretty meh in my opinion, but I feel like they’ve been getting better and better ever since.

When FTR was announced for Wrestlecade, they immediately made it on my list of potential guests to meet. Brandy enjoyed FTR matches, but wasn’t really sold on them, so it was less of a priority for her.

When the doors opened, I made a quick walkthrough the room and found myself at the very end. Jay Lethal was just hanging out so, I met him first and chatted him up about his recent signing with AEW. He was incredibly kind and exactly the type of guy you’d expect him to be. He was also a great first meet and greet since it started the day off on a good note.

Highspots had an entire back wall for FTR, Chris Hero and Rachel Ellering, and The IInspiration. The set up was quite nice. There was a register where you purchased your photos and autographs and then you just hopped in line. Seeing FTR’s line being rather short, I decided to go ahead and buy my photo op as well as my Rachel Ellering photo. Unfortunately, the woman working the Highspots register had thought Rachel was The IInspiration who hadn’t arrived yet. Sadly, Rachel was about 10 feet behind her, so I decided to let it go and just get my FTR photo.

I’ll just say it, FTR was amazing. They were incredibly warm and welcoming and were cracking jokes from the beginning. Dax had a lot of fun saying how “Brandon and Brandy was the cutest thing he’s ever heard” and we were all laughing and having a good time. Like I mentioned with the Leyla post, sometimes a good interaction can increase your fandom or even grow it. Brandy went from thinking FTR was “meh” to being a mega fan now.

Brandy couldn’t stop talking about how cool FTR was and how they were nothing like what she expected. They truly were just a couple of North Carolina boys having a good time.

When reviewing the pictures, Brandy was a little unhappy about how her hair had turned out in one of them. So, about an hour after our photo, she decided to talk to High Spots about getting another photo. She offered to pay for a new photo, but High Spots checked with FTR and back in line we went. When we got back to the table, the jokes started flying and only got worse when I told them we were there because she wasn’t happy about her hair. You can see Cash flipping his hair to mock her.

We thanked FTR and I decided it was time to meet Rachel Ellering. Chris Hero was one my “maybe” list and after seeing how incredibly gracious and kind he was to his fans, I decided to double up on my photo. Rachel was receiving a gift from a fan, so I had a few minutes to chat with Hero before she was made available. It was another fantastic Wrestlecade experience.

Not too long after that, our feet were tired so we found a quiet spot by the bathrooms to sit down. It ended up being a great people watching spot since all of the wrestlers were using those bathrooms. Rachel came by and chatted with us and talked about how great of a spot it must be and her remembering us really made a good impression to Brandy.

Shortly after Wrestlecade, I purchased Brandy a Rachel Ellering t-shirt, which she loves. I mentioned briefly in the comments about meeting Rachel at Wrestlecade and she wrote back a hand written note remembering us from sitting near that bathroom and our chat. Another one of those little moments that makes people a fan for life.

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