MPW Minneapolis, MN 4/25/2006

From the house that Prince built Midwest Pro Wrestling held their monthly card on this last Tuesday night in April 2006. I didn't photograph all the matches as I was not sure if I was going to go to the card on this night so I didn't charge up all my flash battery's.
In the opening match Craven Knyte (yes, that was spelt right) beat Zero Kincade.
Once again Rain was set to wrestle Jessica Dalton, aka O.D.B. To make things interesting Dalton decided to make this a looser never wrestles at First Ave ever again. The crowd booed this stipulation because they didn't want to see either of these two ladies leave First Ave. But the crowd had to say good bye to Dalton as she fell victim to the raindrop and a 3 count from Rain.
In tag team action Mitch Paradise brought out a partner who had the hots for The Junk Squad, Tommy 'Spiderbaby' Saturday. The Junk Squad beat Paradise and Saturday as they handcuffed Paradise and double teamed Saturday.
Animal Sam beat Arik Cannon.

Two years ago today 4/24/2004 ROH in Chicago, IL

Ring of Honor made their Chicago Ridge, IL debut on this day two years ago. In this photo you can see Matt Sydal do a shooting star press on to a group of wrestlers. This was my second ROH card that I photographed as the night before they were in St. Paul, MN for their Midwest debut.

NIW Crystal, MN 4/23/2006

Northern Impact Wrestling debuted in yet another venue for the second night in a row as they brought their ring to the Crystal Ballroom in Crystal, MN. Once again there was a low ceiling but it didn't seem to take anything away from the matches.
Nate Bash beat Malikite in the opening match.
The Punisher Rob James beat The Professional Benjamin Sailer. The crowd really loved it when Sailer kicked James in his big ass.
Tep & Jones & Thraxx beat Venom & O'Brian & Rain when once again The Boss interfered causing Rain to get pinned.
Commish Frosty made a match between partners Vinnie Devine and Tu-Gloccs. The two didn't want to wrestle each other but they did untill Vinnie was counted out.
In a respect match Ryan Cruz beat his tag team partner Darin Corbin. It was good to see these two get back together at the end and patch up their differences.
Horace the Psychopath was in his first match in 15 months as he joined the Junk Squad to take on Kid Krazy, The Prophet and Arik Cannon. In this photo Horace is back to his old ways of biting his opponents as he is taking a bite out of Prophets forehead. The team of Krazy/Prophet/Cannon won the match by DQ as handcuffs were once again used.

NIW Bloomington, MN 4/22/2006 the

Northern Impact Wrestling debuted in Bloomington, MN at the VFW. I really like this location for 2 reasons. 1. It's in a bingo hall. 2. It's only a few miles from my home. One bad thing about this bingo hall is the low ceiling but it's better then the VFW in Forest Lake.
In the opening match The Badman beat The Punisher Rob James. James even tried to blind The Badman with some of his powdered protein mix.
NIW owner Frosty came out to interview Horace the Psychopath who was scheduled to make his return to the ring after a 15 month absence. The last time Horace was in the ring was as a commissioner for Neo Pro. Horace said that he came to NIW for the fresh blood of all the young wrestlers there but he didn't say who was #3 on his list. #'s 1 and 2 on his list do not wrestle for NIW.
El Bandito de Plata won by count out when The Big Bad Booty Daddy's singlet was stuck under a chair that was being sat on by a fan. One of the oddest finishes to a match I've ever seen.
Al B.C. held on to his NIW title a little longer as he beat Rain with a little help from The Boss who has not been seen since Nora Greenwald pulled his pants down and Rob Page gave him a stone cold stunner on 1/08/2006.
Tep & Jones retained their NIW tag titles against 101 proof Venom & Bret O'Brian.
The Junk Squad added a member to there team as they took on The Prophet and Kid Krazy. The Prophet was hand cuffed to the ring post and NIW commish Frost got on the mic and asked for some one from the back to come out to be krazys partner. O'Brian answered the call but was met with chair to the head from Chris Jordan. Horace came out to get the tag from Krazy but he attacked Krazy and danced with the Junk Squad.

Neo Pro Fairbult, MN 4/9/2006

At the Neo Pro arena on a beautiful Sunday afternoon Neo Pro Wrestling promoted a card that featured the return of TNA and ROH wrestler Austin Aries.
Kamakazi Klecker & Corey O'Neill beat Neo Pro crusierweight champion Joey Envy & Casanova in a tag team match. It was Klecker who got the pin on Joey Envy.

Austin Aries came out to address the fans in Fairbult. I'm guessing that about 90% of the crowd of 86 have never seen Aries live.

Magnus Maximus beat Kid Krazy. Krazy has been putting on some muscle in the last few months and in turn he has been facing more heavyweights but he still has a ways to go to be as big as Magnus.

The Black Stallion was suppose to defend his Neo Pro heavyweight title against Tommy Gunn but Gunn was injured from a car crash. Gunn and his tag team partner Big Daddy Hoofer attacked Stallion. John Johnson came out to make the save and that set up the next match of Hoofer Vs Johnson. Hoofer beat Johnson with a little help from Gunn.

Shimdog Vs Aaron Corbin ended in a DQ for Shimdog when Prettyboooooy Delgado made his return to wrestling and helped Shimdog beat down Corbin. Delgado left the MN indy scene about 2 years ago when he was part of MPW's New Generation with Cody O'Neill and Aaron Corbin.

The match was advertised as a 30 minute ironman match but it turned into a regular 1 fall match. Austin Aries beat the crowd favorite Cody O'Neill.

Two years ago today 4/11/2004 Lucha Action!

On Easter Sunday 2004 a new promotion in the Minneapolis area debuted @ the West St. Paul Armory. The closest this promotion had to a name was Promociones Renegado which is named after the owner Renegado Estrada. At this time there were plenty of wrestling promotions in the twin cities area but this one was catering to a different crowd, the latinos of the area. I guess the Lucha cards in Mexico cost more as the tickets for this $25! That's a lot for an indy wrestlign show but they did bring in some big names from south of the boarder as the big 6 man tag main event featured Tinieblas jr, Piloto Suicida & Huracan Ramirez VS Poison, Acero Dorado & Frankistein. Yes, Frankistein. But the card was not filled with lucha wrestlers only as some of the top local talent was on featurd as well. Sadly this promotion lasted less then a year.
In the opener Shawn Daivari lost to Werner from Chile.
Arik Cannon wrestled Kaos in what would be their last time in the ring together for about a year.
In mixed tag action Rain & Playboy Pete Huge beat Lacey & Big Daddy Hoofer.
All the wrestlers were brought to the ring for something but I don't know what because I don't speak spanish.
Yep, that's Frankistein (that's how it's spelled on the flyier). This 6 man lucha match was just insane. The crowd was going wild and I had no idea what the rules were or what was going on. This was as close as I could be to being at a lucha card in Mexico with out being in Mexico.
After the card the fans crowded around Tinieblas jr for photos and autographs.

NIW Amery, WI 4/8/2006

On Saturday night April 8, 2006 Northern Impact Wrestling presented 'No Sign Of Surrender' at the Northstar Event Center in Amery, WI. On this night the place didn't seem as smoky as it usually does so that was great. Before the matches started I was able to show off photos of my new baby girl.
The opening bout was between Cody O'Neill and J.O.E. I'm not sure what the j.o.e stands for. This was not one of Codys best matches as in the end hit was his shoulders that were on the mat for the 3 count. Cody was at another card earlier in the day so that may have had something to do with performance in the ring.
NIW champion Al B.C. defended his title against The Professional Ben Sailer who earned this match a few weeks ago in Forest Lake, MN. Al was able to hold on to his belt a little while longer but only because he got held from Rob James.The Badman beat Pete Mack. I think he should change his name to The Goodman as he does seem to get cheers from the fans now a days.
At the last NIW card Chris Jordan challenged the NIW Impact champion, The Prophet for a shot at the title. Jordan was unable to beat the Prophet for the belt.
Playboy Pete Huge beat Kid Krazy but only with help from his Junk Squad partner Chris Jordan.
The NIW tag team belts changed hands in a 4 team elimination match as Dano Tep & Trent Jones beat The Northstar Express. This ended NSE's 8 month title reign.
The Punisher Rob James beat The Anarchrist Arik Cannon 2 falls to 1. The final fall was a street fight and both wrestlers got bloody. Cannon kicked James in the crotch a bunch of times, hence the position of his hand in this photo. The stipulation for this match was that loser would have to no longer wrestle in Amery, WI but NIW commish Frosty tore that contract up after Cody O'Neill helped James win the thrid fall so Cannon could still wrestle in Amery, WI.

MPW 3/28/2006 Minneapolis, MN

From First Ave in Minneapolis, MN Midwest Pro Wrestling presented 7 matches on this last Tuesday night of March 2006. With my wife at 3 days past the due date of our baby she still didn't feel it happening yet so with her blessing I went to the monthly MPW card.
In the opening match Tony Money beat Craven Knyte. These two are some of the newest MPW academy trainees and have, I believe, lest then 5 matches between both of them. They both have different gear since the last time they wrestled. Knight lost the tank top he used to wear and it looks like he got rid of the moon boots. In Money's first match he didn't even have gear so it's great to see him look like a wrestler this time.
In the second match of the night it was Germany Vs the U.S.A. as The Asylum wrestled Corp. Alexander. This was Alexander's First Ave debut and only the third time I've seen him wrestle. The first two times he wrestled as Roman Dinari. Now he is a 'war vet'. The Asylum picked up the win with a little help from his manager Vinnie Banks.
Big Daddy Hoofer beat Chris Jordan.
Mitch Paradise beat Kid Krazy in a rematch from 2 months ago. This time Krazy didn't bleed. Go to Kid Krazy's myspace page to message him to let him know you want to buy his dvd.
Rain was to face Jessica Dalton in a lumberjack match but Dalton no showed. Not sure whats going on with Dalton but she missed the last two cards she was scheduled on here in this area. With Dalton out of the match The Big Bad Booty Daddy happily took her place. Rain beat BBBD with a lung blower after he got a little too fresh with her.
Magnus Maximus beat 'Playboy' Pete Huge.
MPW cruiserweight champion Nate Bash defeated Zero Kincade. I was disappointed with the lack of respect some wrestlers in the crowd showed this match.