Thursday, June 25, 2009

F1rst Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 6/19/2009

This past Friday night at First Ave night club F1rst Wrestling presented "The Return:09". The last 3 years F1rst Wrestling has presented a returning wrestler and this year the returning wrestler was Sean "Xpac" Waltman who last appeared in a wrestling ring in Minneapolis back in '99 for WWE's Summerslam at the Target Center which is across the street from First Ave. Waltman contacted F1rst Wrestling and asked for a match on this card against Jerry Lynn, a man who Waltman wrestled against back in the early '90's here in the Minneapolis area and around the world. The two also tag together before Waltman went to the WWF.
I had some tecnical diffaculties with my camera so I was unable to photograph all the matches on this card. Big thanks to Dave Webber who let me use his camera.
In mixed tag team action "Playboy" Pete Huge and Allison Wonderland defeated Yellowdog & Sharkgirl. This was my fist time seeing both Yellowdog and Sharkgirl in action and I think this is the first time these two tagged together.
The match that was advertised as Cody O'Neill's last match was changed to a 6 man match. O'Neill teamed with Aaron Corbin and his twin Cory O'Neill while Arik Cannon had Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz as his partners. After the suplex to the outside as shown in the photo, Aaron, Cory, Ryan and Darin fought each other to the locker room and that left just Cannon and O'neill to finish the match. Cannon got the pin on O'Neill after a glimmering warlock. The crowd gave O'Neill a standing ovation.
"6% Body Fat" Rob James defeated CZW Ultraviolent Underground Champion Danny Havok in a Minneapolis death match. This match was very bloody as Havok had a huge cut above his right eye. James got the win after a falcons arrow on to a pile of thumb tacks.
Ann Brookstone pinned Daffney in a falls count anywhere match. This match even went into the mens room where Daffney put Brookstones head in the urinal troft. YUCK!
In the main event Sean "Xpac" Waltman pinned Jerry Lynn. Before the match even started fans were chanting "This is Awesome!" And it was. Go to F1rst Wrestling's MySpace to order this DVD which should be ready in about a week or so. It will be a 2 disk set with exta interviews with Waltman and Lynn.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

MIW Spring Lake Park, MN 6/7/2009

As part of the Spring Lake Park Tower Days festival Minnesota Independent Wrestling put on some wrestling matches under a tent. Normally I really like wrestling matches outdoors but not when the temperature is in the 50's in the month of June. Being that this was a work night for me I was not able to still till the end so I did not photograph the last two matches.
In the opening match Cpl Julio Julio defeated Rob Ivy. This was the first time I've seen Ivy in the ring since about 2006. Even though Julio had his nose broke in this match he still came out on top.
Mitch Paradise presented his new interview segment called Paradises Pit. I think he got the idea for this bit from my 8 Stupid Questions blog and not from Pipers Pit. Paradises guest were Chris Jordan and Chad Strong.

Ugly defeated "the Law" Mark Barker.
In his MIW debut Arik Cannon defeated Benjamin Sailer. Cannon's feet may or may not have been on the ropes when the 3 count was made.
Mitch Paradise defeated Chris Jordan.
Mystique defeated Ann Brookstone.
K-Train defeated Aaron Corbin after a stunner.

Monday, June 15, 2009

R.I.P. Ted Tanabe

Japanese pro wrestling referee Ted Tanabe died on June 15th, 2009 after he had a heart attack while refereeing a match for Osaka Pro Wrestling in Japan.
On February 8th, 2004 I was ring side at Blue Field in Ciba Japan for a Kaientai Dojo show where Tanabe was one of the referees. Tanabe was the first one I met at Blue Field as he was the one who got me my press pass. In the photo above Tanabe is raising Tsubo Genjin's hand to award him the match.
Tanabe was one of the most well know refs in Japan. There is even a referee in the Fire Pro wrestling video game that looks just like Tanabe.

Mitsuharu Misawa 6/18/62 - 6/13/2009

Pro Wrestling Noah president and wrestling great Mitsuhara Misawa died last Saturday night during a tag team match in Hiroshima, Japan. I was at ring side back in October of 2004 when I got to photograph Misawa as he took part in a 6 man match. At the time he was the GHC Tag team champion with Yoshinari Ogawa.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

ECHO Pro Sartell, MN 5/30/2009

For the second night in a row ECHO Pro wrestling held an event at the Bernick arena in Sartell, MN. The roster for both nights were mostly the same with just a few changes.
In the opening contest "6% Bodyfat" Rob James challenged any fat slob to a match. Venom came out for that challenge and defeated James.
TNA wrestler AJ Styles was scheduled to be in the main event against Shannon Moore who was unable to attend. Unfortuantly Styles was unable to wrestle as well because of an injury that took place at a TNA tv taping earlier in the week. Styles came out to tell the crowd that he could not wrestle. Brody Hoofer came out to complain about not getting the chance to beat Styles in the main event on this night. Styles told Hoofer and the fans that he brought a replacement from TNA for his match.
Kamekazi Klecker defeated Josh Calisto when the match was stopped due to Calisto not being able to continue after he hit his head on the concreat floor from the move in the photo to the left. 911 was called and an ambalance was set for Calisto. Later in the night Calisto returned from the hospital and appeared to be ok.
M-Dogg Matt Cross & O.D.B. defeated "Playboy" Pete Huge & Allison Wonderland and Joey Envy & Ann Brookstone in a 3 tag team match.
Arik Cannon defeated Horace the Psychopath in a Sartell street fight that never made it into the streets of Sartell. Cannon got the pin on Horace after a senton from the ring apron on to a table. Both men were a bloody mess after this match.
The Northstar Express defeated Faith in Nothing and Midwest Ground & Air in a 3 tag team match. ECHO Pro champion Darin Corbin pinned Christian Faith. Not sure if this means that Midwest Ground & Airs Minnesota win streak is over or not seeing as how they didn't get pinned in this match.
Billy Gunn (He came out to his old WWE DX music) defeated Big Brody Hoofer in the main event. The appearance of Gunn was a real surprise to the crowd and they got really loud when he came out. With the DX music playing the fans didn't really know who was coming out as it could have been one of 2 men from TNA. But I think that the word most have gotten out to one fan in the front row who was wearing a Billy & Chuck t-shirt. Really, who owns one of those shirts yet alone wears one to a wrestling show?

Monday, June 01, 2009

ECHO Pro Sartell, MN 5/29/2009

ECHO Pro Wrestling held it's second ever card this past Friday night. The event took place at the Bernick arena in Sartell, MN. Once again the advertised Shannon Moore was unable to attend, this time because of family matter. Moore was replaced on this night by former TNA wrestler Petey Williams.
Arya & Shawn (TNA's Abdul Bashir) Daivari defeated Faith in Nothing. This was my first time ever seeing Faith in Nothing, a team from Ohio.
Cpl. Julio Julio defeated "The Law" Mark Barker and Josh Colisto in a triple threat match when he made Colisto tap out.
M Dogg 20 Matt Cross & O.D.B. defeated Black Stallion & Ann Brookstone in an inter gender tag team match. Cross pinned Stallion after a shooting star press.
Petey Williams defeated Arik Cannon. One of the most awesome sites at this event (not counting the fans bring the weapons match) was when Williams was out side the ring doing some push ups. There was a group of about 8 young boys who were cheering Williams on. When he started doing the push ups a bunch of the kids got down and did push ups along with him. This match recieved a "this is awesome" chant from part of the crowd.
Darin Corbin defeated "Playboy" Pete Huge to become the first ECHO Pro champion. Corbin had some help in his corner in the form of Nikki Mayday as he knew that Huge would have Allison Wonderland in his corner.
In the main event Kamekazi Klecker won a 5 man fans bring the weapons elimination match. Horace was the first wrestler eliminated followed by Rob James, Ryan Cruz and then Joey Envy. Klecker pinned Evny after his Kleck Klash on to 4 light tubes.