Growing up in the 1980’s it seemed at times nothing was hotter than the WWF. Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant waged battle in front of a record-setting crowd at the Pontiac Silverdome for Wrestlemania 3. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase proved his motto "everybody has a price", while Jake "The Snake" Roberts used Mindgames, a giant python, to toy with the psyche of foes.

Roberts, Dibiase, Sinn Bodhei, The Honky Tonk Man and Canadian wrestler Vance Nevada will all be guests at the 2012 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. For decades wrestlers have been a star attraction at events like the World of Wheels but now as more and more fan expos happen, wrestlers are proving to be just as much an attraction as the TV, Film and Comic stars.

"I think professional wrestling appeals to a wide audience for different reasons. Sure, we have our diehard fans, but there are also casual fans with different interests that are peripherally aware of some of our most colorful characters, which makes wrestlers a good fit as an attraction on these types of events," Nevada explained from his home in Red Deer. "Wrestling has a unique spot in popular culture as we’re enough sport to appeal to sports fans and we’re enough super hero to appeal to the comic book crowd. Wrestling is a reflection of society and as such we have a character that appeals to a wide audience."

"The Greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time," the Honky Tonk Man, agrees.

"Wrestlers didn’t really start getting involved in these things until the last four or five years. We would do things like World of Wheels through the WWE office, they would send us to those type of things. But as far as things like the fan expo in Calgary the wrestlers weren’t really part of it until the action figures became so popular. We are superheroes, television attractions and entertainment attractions to the public and the fans. With the action figures and a lot of wrestlers doing things like movies and things of that nature, I think that is the appeal."

Both Nevada and Honky were at the 2010 CCE and are excited to be back. For Nevada, who has lived and wrestled across Canada and now lives in central Alberta, it is a chance to promote his book Wrestling in the Canadian West as well as his Red Deer based CNWA wrestling promotion.

"I was fortunate to participate in the 2010 Expo and I was floored by the volume of wrestling fans at the event.  I had some of the most thought-provoking wrestling discussions with fans at the Expo - they really know their stuff, so it’s a great venue for my book - which is geared more toward the serious fan. Wrestling in the Canadian West is a 100 year history of pro wrestling in the west four provinces.  It features title histories, road stories from the wrestlers themselves and shines a wide spotlight on a section of wrestling that often has been overlooked by the media. As a wrestler and historian, Alberta is so rich in wrestling history and culture that it is fantastic to travel the roads that some of the greats have done before and wrestle in venues that have hosted wrestling’s top names.  There is an appreciation for independent wrestling in Alberta like nowhere else in western Canada - and the people are genuine.  It feels like I’ve been here my whole life."

The Honky Tonk Man gets to mix business with visiting family. The former Stampede Wrestler is married to a Calgary girl.

"My wife is from Calgary, my son was born there and a lot of my in-laws still live there. I have a message from one of the Harts on my phone to get together. It is great to get back, I missed the expo last year but I am excited about it. It will be a great crowd and a lot of great wrestling fans come from all over the place to come to the Calgary Comic & Entertanment Expo. The Calgary people have done a wonderful job, it started out really small and then mushroomed up. I was there two years ago when Leonard Nimoy was there and they had a turnaway crowd and they are expecting bigger and better things this year."

Honky and Jake Roberts clashed at Wrestlemania 3, and he is looking forward to catching up with the recently retired "Snake" as well as meeting fans.

"It was interesting to find out that [Roberts] will be there. I think this is one of his first fan expos and I think he might enjoy it and think about doing some more, I do them all over North America. Wrestlemania 3 with Jake was exciting to the point that there were so many people, but there were so many of them you didn’t see the. 90,000 people look like ants sitting there. The match with Jake was fun and it was a great buildup, we had a great time doing it. What a lot of fans don’t understand is when we went into Wrestlemania 3 we had already been 40 or 50 days on the road and we were just waiting for this thing to be over so we could get a couple of days off. We really didn’t realize, and you don’t when you are in sports or entertainment, what an impact something will have later in life."

Nevada is also looking forward to spending time with fellow wrestlers as well as meeting some of the other media guests.

"I have had a chance to wrestle with some of these guys previously, so it will be good to catch up.  I’m probably just as excited as some long term fans to get to spend time with these guys - especially Jake Roberts, who heavily influenced my approach to wrestling early in my career. My wife generally isn’t interested in these types of events, but when I told her that "Spike" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was going to be there - suddenly she’s invited herself to attend. For myself, Robert Englund -- as one of the top villains of all time in his field ... Well, there’s a bit of a kinship there."

For the Honky Tonk Man, the best part of attending the CCE is getting spend time with fans.

"It is really fun, I enjoy it because they are just excited to see us. You get a lot of repetitive questions I’ve heard everything after 25 plus years but someone always asks something that I have never heard before or brings up something that creates a memory and will get me going telling a story."

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Contributor Jason Clevett |

Person Vance Nevada | Honky Tonk Man |

Topic Calgary Expo | Celebrity Interview | Comic Expo | Wrestling |