I left early on Friday morning to head out to Plainfield because I had a stop to make first. I had to meet up with Fusion in Champaign to sell off some wrestling figures so I could have some cash. Cash has been in low supply of late. I believe it might have been the first time I’ve seen Fusion since the Martina McBride concert. Damn heart conditions. We chat for a few and then I have to head out so I don’t make Low Ki wait very long at the airport.

I get back on the road but forgot to set the clock ahead at the beginning of the trip like I normally do so I lose track of the time in Indianapolis. I stop at a random McDonald’s to use the restroom and get an ice cream cone. Ian calls a little later and asks how close I am to the airport because it is time for Low Ki to arrive. Fck I’m 30 minutes away! I begin doing 80-85 MPH (thank you Indiana for your 70 MPH speed limits) and get to the airport. in about 20 minutes. The Indianapolis airport doesn’t have signs saying “arrivals” and “departures” like every other damn airport I’ve ever been to. They have “baggage claim” and “check in” signs. So I start circling the baggage claim area looking for Low Ki. I do this for an hour. I finally see a sign for 30 minutes free parking in the parking garage and park and walk into the airport. Low Ki has a scowl on his face and says “I’ve been standing here for 90 minutes.” Fearing a John Woo Kick or a repeat of the Raven situation when up to this point I had liked Low Ki, I say I’m sorry but I’ve been circling out there for about that long. He gives me his cell phone number so we don’t have any more mix ups in the future and all is well. I drop him off at the hotel and go to the building.

I then receive 4 text messages from Sox about him getting a flat tire in Highland. I don’t like text messages on my phone. I don’t do text messages. Therefore, I don’t have any text messaging in my plan. 25 cents a text message damn it Sox. As I yelled at him when he got to the show, I don’t need 4 messages telling me the same thing. I accept cash or money order for the dollar that you ran up on my phone bill. I expect payment in no less than one week or else the interest (500% compounded daily) will begin.

I get to the building and get to hold James Christopher. The anger, hatred, animosity of the past week was quickly eradicated from my body. I watch over James Christopher until it is time to go get Ruckus and Meanie from the airport while Ian and Patti go to get concessions. I take off to the airport and get Ruckus but Meanie’s flight is late. I was smart and went ahead and parked and went inside to avoid any confusion this time around. I finally see Meanie walking my way and he points to me from afar and we meet in the middle. He says “That Tracy Smothers shirt makes you stick out in a crowd” and I respond with “Well your blue hair and beard make you stand out.” Time to leave and get back to the building. The doors are already open and it is almost showtime. I get to see Tracy and Bull and Mitch and play with James Christopher some more. I tried to teach James Christopher the Tracy Smothers dance to no avail and tried to get him to wave to Meg when she came up to see him but again, it didn’t work. He’s getting there though.

I had a great time at the show. Tracy vs. Meanie had me in stitches . I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. Low Ki vs. Josh was just awesome. The best Josh Abercrombie match I have seen. The best time of the night had to be however when Tracy joined Ben and I on commentary for the Hardcore Rumble and the Deranged/Brain Damage matches. Tracy on commentary is pure gold. Especially when he tells the story about me being the “toughest damn ring announcer in the business.”

After the clean up and a couple of hotel runs, John Calvin and I walk over to the Denny’s from the hotel and meet Sox and then wait on Ian, Mickie and David Parks to show up. Denny’s was a blast as Ian picked on Sox. “What do you teach anyway? Sex education? I can see it now ‘This is the vagina in all its glory’ ” You have to imagine Ian saying that last line in Sox’s voice. Tremendous stuff.

The next day was quite eventful. I had to leave Plainfield late in order to stay behind to get Low Ki to the airport. Low Ki, Ruckus, Meanie, John Calvin and I cram into the Honda and go to Cracker Barrel for lunch. The waitress threatens to chop Low Ki at one point when he leans back in his chair to stretch. The waitress almost got the John Woo Kick and a Double Stomp off the table. I would have popped. We leave Cracker Barrel and take Low Ki to the airport. Then it is off to Midlothian. Somehow, we pass the ring truck and as soon as we get onto Route 30 in Merrillville, they call and say that they are having trouble with the ring truck about 20 miles behind us. I do a quick UTurn, call Ray on the cell phone to see if his truck would be capable of towing the ring and head back to them. Ray being the good man that he is, hops into his truck and heads out from Valparaiso to come meet us. They get the ring truck moving again and I swing in behind them and follow until we get back to exit 253. We meet Ray and decide that the ring truck could make it. Ray heads back home and we begin the trek down Route 30 to Cicero Avenue. We follow the truck in case any more problems arise and we notice Ian is doing some dance moves with his arm out the window of the ring truck. Meanie starts doing moves with his arm out the window. I declare it as the first ever Rotten/Meanie dance off. We come to a red light in Dyer, Indiana and Ian hops out of the ring truck and does a Meanie dance in the middle of the intersection. Meanie declares him the winner and I cuss a blue streak that I didn’t have my camera ready for such an event. We drive through Chicago Heights and I sense a great disturbance in the force as we pass through the home of Marian Catholic. David Parks keeps calling with “how much further to Cicero Avenue” and finally we reach our destination. I can’t really comment on the show because I had to make a few runs to the store during the show and didn’t really see much of it. I can say that I what I saw of Ruckus vs. Ricochet and what I saw of Brain Damage vs. Drake was just unbelievable. Toby vs. Deranged was quite insane as well. The show ended at 11:05 and I almost had a heart attack. Clean up took forever though even with Ray helping as it was over an hour trying to mop up the blood that came from Drake Younger after the butting heads like rams spot on the floor with Brain Damage. Ouch.

We go to eat at IHOP after the show and it was a great time. There were 10 of us (David, Ian, Mickie, Ray, Ruckus, Meanie, Drake, SMV Glen, John Calvin and me) sitting at a long table. Ian and me were on one end and Meanie was on the other. Ian paid the waitress $5 to go down to the other end of the table and ask Meanie “Did JBL kick your ass?” Meanie shot a stare of death down to Ian while everyone else died laughing. Ian then pulled his bandana down over his eye and acting like a gangsta went down to the other end of the table and fcked with Ruckus by talking gangsta and flashing West Side signs and such. Ruckus was hyperventilating and crying from laughing so hard and everyone had a good time. Ian then again jumped out of the ring truck on the way out of the parking lot and did the Meanie dance and again I was unprepared. Damn it.

We drove around looking for a hotel and we have found the hotel for TPI. They have a pool that is indoor and then you can swim under a window thing and be in the outdoor pool. The rooms are nice and it has good rooms for a good rate. They are also going to let us have a banquet room for the Q and A session. It is off of Halsted Street (we looked but could not find The One Man Gang). I got lost taking Meanie back to the airport in the morning and we ended up in a bizarro universe. We started on 159th street. Without turning, we ended up on 162 and then 165 street and then in Indiana. I turned around and eventually found my way back to where I needed to be. Being lost did give us a great opportunity to bond. Meanie and I pretty much did the dialogue from the entire movie for Anchorman on that ride to the airport. Great stuff.

I will leave this update with one little funny story about this morning. It is over 90 degrees here in Morris. I rode my bike the 5 miles into town (walking it up the river bridge) to the gym. I did a little bit of lifting and began to ride the bike home. By the last mile and a half, I was dead. The first half mile of the last mile and a half is uphill along the side of Route 47 and it was directly into the wind. By the time I turned onto Southmor Road for the final mile, I was being blinded by the sweat. I would try to wipe the sweat with my arm but that was covered in sweat as well. I’m barely moving and I learn an important lesson. You can’t go from 1 MPH to 60 MPH in one second on my bike. I was barely moving and trying to get the sweat from my wipe when I look down and see what appears to be a snake below me. I almost have a heart attack and my legs start trying to pedal as fast as they can but the momentum from the force just causing the barely moving bike to almost tip over. As my feet are coming down to the ground by the long curled like an S object, my eye sight comes back long enough to see that it is just a very long shoe lace. Time to take the shirt to the eyes for a good cleansing and then finish the last mile of the bike ride. So there you go…a presumed snake was almost the death of me in extreme heat this morning.

That is all. Good day.