CWE brings sports stars under one roof
Convention brings sports legends together
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This article was published 12/03/2018 (2830 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Canadian Wrestling’s Elite brought many sports stars together under one roof for a one-of-a-kind event last month.
The Legends of Wrestling 2 Professional Wrestling and Sports Convention took place Feb. 24 at the Canad Inns Destination Centre Garden City (2100 McPhillips St.). It was a full day for fans to meet wrestling legends, former Winnipeg Blue Bombers and NHL alumni, to get photos and autographs, check out several vendors and participate in a question-and-answer session.
The first Legends of Wrestling was held in February 2017 and was solely a sports convention. Organizer and professional wrestler Danny Warren said the success of that event led organizers to decide to close and open the gathering with live professional wrestling events.
“We are excited that we’ve been able to build Winnipeg to a place where people come to see professional wrestlers and other great sports,” he said, adding that many people flew in from Alberta and Ontario and drove in from Saskatchewan and North Dakota.
“Winnipeg is a standalone city, so a lot of times we get passed over from major entertainment events.”
Warren said that World Wrestling Entertainment, the most famous global wrestling brand, usually only hosts one or two events in Winnipeg per year, while other major Canadian cities get more significant opportunities.
CWE holds several live wrestling events throughout the year but its convention is meant to be “like a Comic-Con” for sports fans.
More than 1,000 people attended the event. Among the many stars were WWE hall of famers Ron (Faarooq) Simmons and Tito Santana, NHL legend Bob Leiter, Winnipeg Blue Bombers legends James West and Trevor Kennard, UFC Fighter Roland Delorme and even Canadian musician Kelly J. Devoe.
“We don’t get the larger-scale events that some of the other major cities do, so we are very happy to be able to produce that and bring some of the calibre of stars to Winnipeg that you are not going to see otherwise,” Warren said. “
That’s something that people got excited about what we are doing is that we had stars from various sports genres in the building.”
Warren said CWE is always looking for ways to innovate, and that the convention will likely feature a different twist every year.