F1RST Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 2/24/2008

F1RST Wrestling returned to First Ave night club in downtown Minneapolis on a Sunday night. The name for this card was No Love Lost.

In the opening match "The Professional" Benjamin Sailer pinned Kamikaze Klecker with his 'hand gernade pin' suplex. You might have to have Sailer explain it to you.
Arya Daivari beat Nate Bash, Venom and The Prophet in a 4 corners match. Both Daivari and Bash got pins at the same time as Daivari hit his magic carpet ride and Bash hit his 450 splash. They went for 5 more minutes in hopes to have one winner.
"6% Body Fat" Rob James pinned Shane Hollister.
Brody Hoofer beat Joey Envy and Pete Huge w/Allison Wonderland in a 3 way match. After Hoofer got the pin on Envy he challenged Huge to a dog coller match next month.
Tyler Black defeated Jaysin Strife.

SkullKrusher Rasche pinned Thoruf Marius. After these two did a superplex from the top rope I could almost hear Bobby Heanan yelling 'the ring just moved 10 feet!!!!'.
The Northstar Express defeated Arik Cannon & Cody O'Neill in what was billed a sudent vs teacher match. After Cruz got the pin on Cannon all four were attacked by Aaron Corbin, Daivari, James and Envy. The locker room cleared out and every wrestler was in the ring, except for Marius and Rasche.

AWF Elk River, MN 2/23/2008

The American Wrestling Federation held their second annual Elk River football fund raiser card on Saturday night February 23, 2008. The AWF brings in some big names for the card but a few that were advertised were not there.

Brody Hoofer defeated Joey Envy with the help of his manager. I've photographed these two wrestling many times before so it was nice to see it this time with a manager involved.
The Black Stallion pinned Mitch Paradise. Mortimer Plumtree was Paradises manager for this match but it was because of his interfearance that Stallion won the match.
Thee O'Neill Twins beat Arik Cannon & Angel Armoni.
At intermission Lenny Lane and Barry Darsow aka Smash signed autographs.

Lenny Lane defeated former WWE star Eugene. Lane had a little help from Armoni, Cannon and some baby powder.
In the main event of the night Elk River's own Tony DeNucci defeated Adam Evans in a ladder and chair match. In this match ladders and chairs were legal to use.

MIW Clearwater, MN 2/16/2008

After about a year Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the Clearwater VFW this last Saturday night.

In the opening match El Viejo beat Jake Taylor. I noticed that El Viejo had a fishnet stocking on under his hood. First time I've seen that.
The Natural Matt Burns pinned Arya Daivari.
Darrel Hall w/the High Rollers beat Thoruf Marius. Referee Terry Fox had his hands full with the High Rollers during this match. I think they may have had a hand in the pin. Thoruf debuted his new furry boots on this night.
Pete Huge called out Brody Hoofer but it was Joessiah who came out doing a really bad Hoofer impersonation.
Aaron Corbin pinned Shimdog.
MIW heavy weight champion Brody Hoofer retained his title when he beat 'Playboy' Pete Huge.

NIW Cottage Grove, MN 2/2/2008

Northern Impact Wrestling returned to action after 5 months of no action. The promotions return was a big one as they had signed Nora "Molly Holly" Greenwald to wrestle in her first match since quiting the WWE. Her opponent was not being revealed untill the night of the match.
In the opening contest Nate Bash defeated The Black Stallion with a roll up. February is black history month.
"The Professional" Benjamin Sailer defeated "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon with his Bengerman Suplex.
101 Proof beat The Junk Squad to win the NIW tag team titles. After the match Pete Huge turned on his partner Kleck Micheals.
In his first title defense Darin Corbin retained his belt against "the Suntan Superman" Cody O'Neill. This was the first one on one meeting between these two though they have been in many matches against each other in tag team action.
Nora Greenwald & Ryan Cruz beat Arya Daivari & the C.E.O. of NIW. At the beginning of the night the C.E.O. announced that Greenwald would be in a tag team mactch against himself and Daivari and she could pick anyone else as her partner. She wasn't able to choose as Cruz went to the ring to take the spot as Greenwald's partner.
The Prophets 26 month reign as NIW Impact champion ended when he lost a ladder match against "6% Bodyfat" Rob James.

MCW Battleground Cottage Grove, MN 1/26/2008

Minnesota Championship Wrestling Battleground held their first anniversery show at the Cottage Grove National Guard Armory this last Saturday. This promotion has been around for a year but this was the first time I was able to make it there to photograph from ringside.

Josh Calisto pinned Little Tiger in the opening match. This was my first time seeing both of these wrestlers in the ring.
Johnny Riddlin & Zero Kincaid defeated Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday & Malikite.
Lover Kid pinned Rojo Guerrero. It's been almost a year since I saw Lover Kid in his debut match at a lucha show in St. Paul, MN. He wrestled against Guerrero in that match as well.
Sean Slade beat Kleck Micheals, Paul Brewster and Ryan Stone in a 4 way match. This was the first time I've seen Brewster as he along with Little Tiger and Lover Kid were the last trainees at the MPW Wrestling Academy before Terry Klingger closed up camp.
Mike Rollins & Venom beat Asylum & Lorenzo Conners when Conners hit Asylum with his title belt.

In a first time meeting Thoruf Marius pinned Arik Cannon. This match was made becuase these two were both recently on tours of Japan. Marius was there with Noah and Cannon was there with Dragon Gate.

"6% Body Fat" Rob James defeated The Prophet for the Battle Crown title in a last man standing match. James did have a little help from out side from Mike Drake and Jesse Domestic.