Here are some notes from last night’s Sam Thompson Memorial event at the ComedySportz Theater in Chicago.
Report by Greg Davis:
In attendance were CM Punk, the host Colt Cabana, the warm-up act Marty DeRosa, Lita, who watched from the back, and several folks from Resistance Pro, which Sam was working with prior to his death.
I believe there were about 100 people packed into the small theater.
Despite what was somewhat implied, this was not a recording for the Art of Wrestling podcast. Colt asked that nothing be recorded, with the hope that Punk could be more unrestricted with his stories.
Marty DeRosa was the first guest, who did a standup act. Very lewd, but very entertaining.
Colt then introduced the ComedySportz improvisers, one of which was Sam’s brother Zack Thompson. And finally, out came CM Punk.
The show was essentially Punk telling stories. Among the stories was his experience with a drunken group of people in front of him at the Cubs game from earlier in the day, the time Harley Race puked in his car, and how in Iraq, after their helicopter landed, he had to run across a field with a smoke screen cover because they didn’t want any snipers to see them.
After a bit of storytelling, the improv troupe would act out a series of scenes inspired by Punk’s stories. They turned Harley Race puking in a car into Abraham Lincoln crapping in a car, and the invention of Lincoln Logs. The troupe was hilarious.
Before and after the show was a silent auction of wrestling memorabilia to raise money for Sam’s final medical bills. Among the merchandise was a Triple H WrestleMania Plaque from WrestleMania 2000 (sold for at least $350), a very rare Scotty Goldman jacket (more than $200), and fresh from the recent WWE events, signed T-Shirts from Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler (I believe sold for at least $100 for each). It looked like a few thousand were raised from the memorabilia.
All in all, a great time to support the family of a great person who left us way too soon.
To read more about Sam, check out www.samthompsonmemorial.org.
