A few dozen celebrities are going to be in town for the Steel City Con, a convention that has become a staple of the western Pennsylvania region, with three showcases a year held at the Monroeville Convention Center in April, August, and December respectively. William Shatner, Paul Williams, and Tom Kenny are just a few of the more than thirty names that will be in attendance to greet fans, as well as sign autographs this weekend.
In the past, Steel City Con hosted a myriad of famous figures from throughout the entertainment industry, often bringing together cast reunions of classic film or television. A few years ago, the original cast of Scream was there for horror fans to serve as a compliment to A Christmas Story reunion that was slated for that same weekend. Alice Cooper, Dee Snyder, and Joey Fatone were among the musical guest in the past. The Kinks’ Dave Davies and Corey Taylor, formerly of Slipknot, are scheduled for the April line-up. While the chance to get a selfie with a celebrity brings in the crowd, hundreds of vendor tables are lined up in calculated rows as attendees can browse items to get signed, pick up some fudge or coffee, and even get inked through a coalition of tattoo artists that set up shop on the convention floor. It’s not uncommon to see attendees marveling at their freshly-signed autographs, enthusiastic as their view their photo-ops with the celebrity of their choice, and customers taking a trip down memory lane as they browse the vintage merchandise of their childhood.
The Steel City Con convention found a successful formula with a mixture of retro and pop culture ingredients that make it a very unique experience for fans.
“The con is always a great time, we enjoy the weekend with our tables. It can be a long weekend, but we have fun. Seeing all the costumes and finding things to add to our own collections is a good time,” said Caprice Russo, who has been a longtime vendor at the Steel City Con with her family.
Between the Star Wars, Star Trek, Happy Days, coffee, collectibles, and fudge, there’s another tent pole of the Steel City Con. With the lineage of Bruno, the Olympic accomplishments of Angle, and the modern contributions of Corey Graves, professional wrestling is also one of the top drawing cards for the convention. Names like Bill Goldberg, The Undertaker, Ric Flair, The Big Show, Sammy Guevara, Adam Cole and others were a part of the sports entertainment line-up over the years. The pro wrestling names are a regular and anticipated part of each convention during the year.
This Sunday, half a dozen sports entertainment figures will be in attendance along with the rest of the famous faces at the convention center in Monroeville.
Former TNA World Heavyweight champion, Frankie Kazarian will be in the house. Former WWE, TNA, and ECW champion, the legendary Rob Van Dam, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021, is scheduled to appear as well. There will also be a trio of female stars there to meet fans when former WWE Women’s and TNA Knockout champion, Mickie James is there. Candice Michelle, and Ash By Elegance are also signed to appear for the convention. WWE Hall of Famer, Jake “The Snake Roberts is also slated to appear this Sunday, the portion of the weekend dedicated to a myriad of grappling names.
The group responsible for being four of these legends and stars to the Steel City Con is ATD Promotions, a promotional group that was founded by Anthony D’Alfonso, and anchored by a trusted group of friends.
“I started solo in 2018. Since then, it has evolved into a three-person partnership. Over time, we’ve expanded to bringing in talent to shows in multiple states,” said D’Alfonso.
Anthony and his pals have developed their reputation of reliable and honest, both with the talent that they work with and the fans that are there to meet them. A former superstar of the ring is never left waiting at the airport, dinners are taken care of, and in a business known for its carny origins, Anthony insists on being up front with his clients. The talent is paid properly, there is a direct effort to give the fans their money’s worth with these anticipated interactions, and the result of those efforts puts ATD on the rather short list that top names are willing to work with on a continuous basis.
“The most important aspect is making sure the talent are properly taken care of and comfortable with us. Having the trust of the talent is the most paramount to our success,” Anthony explained.
With that trusted established, as each year has gone by, it has allowed ATD Promotions to branch out across the circuit for a slew of different appearances at different locations with different times of events. Just within the past month, Anthony and his group at Diamond Dallas Page at the massive Squared Circle Expose in Indianapolis, AEW’s The Bunny at a horror con in Pittsburgh, One Man Gang at The Big Event in New York, and notable boxer, Butter Bean, who had an associated with pro wrestling, at a toy convention in Ohio.
With four wrestling stars under the ATD banner this weekend, this will be one of the group’s most ambitious events, but the crew that has found success in many other locations look forward to the opportunity to bring their clients to the popular convention in western Pennsylvania.
“We’ve made overtures to Steel City Con for a couple years now in regard to bringing in talent. It was really just a matter of timing and things falling into place from there. They tasked us with bringing in a few guests for this show. I wanted to have one who was headline level to the entire show and RVD was one who I wanted to work with for a while now. With regard to Candice Michelle, Ash by Elegance, and Frankie Kazarian, we were able to get from TNA running in Cleveland the night before. We already have a great preexisting relationship with Candice and Frankie. I think it’s a solid line up and we are coming in strong our first time out,” Anthony commented.
The early mornings, late nights, airport pick-ups, quick breakfasts, and exhausting hours involved become worth the tireless efforts to coordinate all the details of each appearance when Anthony sees the satisfaction from the stars that he supported in his youth, as well as the opportunities provided to fans to meet those stars. In many respects, the care and time that Anthony and his group take with these stars is much different than the “agents” of a previous era that were only there to stand next to the gimmick table to try to ensure their piece of the pie. ATD doesn’t view or treat their talent as a weekend meal ticket, but rather as honored guests that are treated with the respect and dignity that their prior accomplishments in the industry deserve. That philosophy is one of the many reasons that ATD has such a wide and diverse rolodex of talent that they work with currently and have plans for in the future.
“My goal is to continue growing as a brand and with the caliber of talent that we bring in. We are also starting to get our feet wet in other genres of sports and entertainment, which I hope to continue expanding,” Anthony concluded.
For more information about ATD promotions, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578843684201
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
