Forbidden Planet Worlds collide (or seamlessly cross promote) when wrestlers show up Luis asked me to stop by the “Butts in Seats” booth because that could be cool to talk to Tony Schiavone (left) like he didn’t have a crowd looking for him at all times. Getting a late start out of the house on Saturday, I had to hustle to the Main Stage when I saw “All Elite Wrestling Invades New York Comic Con!” started at 12:45 p.m. A woman in a purple event shirt was shouting, “AEW—down to the left!” “I don’t have a reservation,” I said to her, waving my phone open to the app. She said, “It’s fine. Down to the left.” It was fine. Everyone walked right in. I’d never been in the Main Stage before. The floor is flat and there is popcorn for sale. I didn’t have a telephoto lens and instantly wondered if I’d fucked up. I sat in the back and assumed I’d be able to get up and take pictures of the whole room. Instead I tried to time out pictures of the panelists on the big screens. It was easy to see why fans would be clamoring to talk to Schiavone. He introduced the panel saying he launched his AEW show on a Friday the 13th because he “didn’t give a damn about bad luck.” While the panel was supposed to promote an upcoming pay-per-view event and title tournament, the hour was mostly spent saying how much they appreciated their fans for making AEW a success. Without fans, they wouldn’t have more than a million viewers in 140 countries. A Q&A allowed fans to be even more animated. The audience booed a guy who said he was from Staten Island almost as hard as they booed someone from Jersey. One guy said he missed TNA at San Diego Comic Con, but he knew there was a ring upstairs, so maybe they could arrange an exhibition? Mostly they wanted to know about dream tag team partners or matches. Thunder Rosa (top) was super grateful while Orange Cassidy (denim jacket) was super laid back and a straight man to Adam Cole. My favorite story might have been Darby Allin saying nothing hurts after skateboarding. “I respect concrete.” There was no point where I wondered why I was taking notes—they were so fun taking jabs at each other. —MV
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Art Department Weekly • New York Comic Con 2021
