HOW Duluth, MN 5/27/2010

Heavy On Wrestling held an event in a new venue, Grandma's Sports Garden, this past Thursday night in Duluth, MN. Also new for HOW was a custom made title belt. The belts middle piece has the words "Undisputed champion" and "Heavy On Wrestling". The the two pieces next to the middle has the Minnesota state outline. The pieces on the ends has the outline of Lake Superior.

HOW promoter/owner David Sabick opened the event by introducing "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair to the crowd. Flair talked about growing up in Minnesota and how his parents had a lake house on Lake Superior. Flair was at the event for an autograph signing/photo op.

In the opening match "Everyone's Favorite" Nate Bash pinned "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon.

David Sabick presented the new HOW title belt to HOW champion Benjamin Sailer. Mitch Paradise came out to challenge Sailer for the title.

Nikki Mayday & Heavy D defeated Ann Brookstone & Heather Zumhofe in an inter gender tag team match. I thought Heavy D would have changed out of his tux for this match but he did not.

Mitch Paradise w/The High Rollers (Mago & STX) defeated Brody Hoofer. With the High Rollers getting involved as much as they did Hoofer really didn't stand a chance against Paradise.

"Wild" Bill Irwin & "Rock N Roll" Buck Zumhofe defeated Shimdog & Horace the Psychopath.

The next match was called "Tag Team Turmoil" which was pretty much a tag team gauntlet match. The first two teams were The Barking Spiders, Clutch & Ox and The Northstar Express, Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz. The Northstar Express got the win when ref Rob Page DQed The Barking Spiders for using a chair. The chair was never actually used but Page still called for the DQ.

The next team up in the gauntlet was Heavy D & Nikki Mayday. While Heavy D was distracted with fans at ring side Darin Corbin hit Mayday and got the 3 count on her.

Up next for Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz were Cpl. Julio Julio & "The Law" Mark Barker. Julio and Barker got the win to move on in the gauntlet match.

Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday & El Bano defeated Mark Barker & Julio Julio in the tag team turmoil match.

El Bano & Spiderbaby defeated Heather Zumhofe & Ann Brookstone to move on in the TTT match.

Lover Kid & "All Star" Paul Brewski defeated Spiderbaby & El Bano.

The Lost Souls, Johnny Parks & JB Trask were the last team to enter the TTT match and they defeated Lover Kid & Paul Brewski to win the match.

In the main event the HOW heavy weight champion "The Professional" Benjamin Sailer defeated Shawn Daivari and Arya Daivari in a 3 way elimination match. Shawn Daivari was the first one to be eliminated by Sailer after the brothers hit each other. Sailer got the win after a bengerman suplex on Arya. After the match Mitch Paradise came out and attacked Sailer.

IWA Scandia, MN 5/22/2010

The Intercontinetal Wrestling Associtation held their second annual outdoor show at Meister's Bar & Grill in Scandia, MN this past Saturday night. It was a bueatifull day for an outdoor show and it seemed like the whole town of Scandia was at this event.

In the opening contest Gunner Clash defeated El Bano after a body slam.

The Brauler & Patrick Lomax defeated Tommy Mason, Udo & Venom. Mason, gettting the stink face in the photo here, turned on his partners which led to The Brauler & Lomax gettting the 3 count.

Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday pinned Brain Sagger. Spiderbaby may have used the ropes to get the 3 count.

Cameron Cross pinned The Prophet.

Arya Daivari pinned Zero Kincade after a sleeper cell super kick and magic carpet ride.

IWA champion Horace the Psychopath defeated The Black Stallion by DQ to retain his new belt.

Mitch Paradise & JB Trask defeated The Barking Spiders, Clutch & Ox in a street fight.

Next Friday - F1rst Wrestling/Wrestlicious @ First Ave

This coming Friday night, May 28th, F1rst Wrestling returns to First Ave for the first time since December 2009. The main event for this card is a no DQ match between Arik Cannon and Horace the Psychopath. There is also a four way match between "The Professional" Benjamin Sailer, "Big" Brody Hoofer, "Playboy" Pete Huge and "6% Body Fat" Rob James. Also scheduled is a tag team match, The Northstar Express VS The 5-0. In addition to the F1rst Wrestling matches there will be a TV taping for Wrestlicious! If you liked GLOW then you will love Wrestlicious. Announced so far appearing for Wrestlicious are Cousin Cassie, Juvi Hall, Coco Montego (Josie/Sojo Bolt), Glory the All American Girl (Christie Ricci), Faith "The Naughty Girl" (Portia Perez), White Magic (Lacey) and Marley "the Hippie Chick" (Daizee Haze)
The June 2010 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated featured a photo of Sheamus that I took on the cover. More of my photos from that same WWE house show can been seen in the July and August issues of PWI on news stands now.

AWF North Branch, MN 5/15/2010

The American Wrestling Federation held their last fund raiser show for the school year this past Saturday night at the North Branch, MN high school. This event was tapped for the AWF TV show Saturday Night Slam which airs on channel 45 at 6:30pm in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

In the opening contest Aaron Corbin w/ John Johnson defeated The Black Stallion. It looked like Corbin may haved used the ring ropes for leverage to get the three count. Referee Rob Page didn't see it so it must not have happened. After the match Corbin and Johnson attacked Stallion untill Johnny Parks came out to make the save.

With both John Johnson and Johnny Parks already at ring side ref Rob Page made that the next match. Parks got the win over Johnson with a little help from a special guest enforcer referee who I believe was a member of the North Branch wrestling team.

Former WCW cruiser weight champion Lenny Lane defeated rookie Kirk Clemsens. This was Clemens third match after finishing the Florida Championship Wrestling training school.
Five years ago Clemson was getting a taste of pro wrestling as a manager called The Wizard. In the photo here from an NIW card in August 2005 the Wizard is getting a kick to the jimmy from former midwest female wrestler Rain. These days Rain can be seen on Mexico's AAA TV program on Galavision and on Wrestlicios as Felon. Head on over to Rain's web site and buy some photos that I have taken of her- The Radiant Rain

Thoruf Marius defeated Rob James after a choke slam. Odd seeing James wrestling by the rules.

AWF heavy weight champion Tony DeNucci defeated Arya Daivari to retain the belt. It looks like Daivari forgot to pick up his laundry at the dry cleaners as he didn't have his aladdin pants and carpet. DeNucci got the pin after a frog splash.

Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling

At the May 1st SDW event Mick Karch brought out George Schire to introduce The High Flyers, Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne to the crowd. Schire, AKA "The Authority", was also there to promote his new book Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling. Schire earned that nick name because of the vast knowledge he has of the wrestling scene in Minnesota. I've read this book and highly recommend it to every wrestling fan, especially anyone who grew up watching the AWA.

Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling Click on the link for ordering info.

From the press release: "If you missed the Golden Age of Wrestling, you can catch up by reading this honest, informative book. And remember, 'Don't Knock the Doc.'" Dick Beyer, aka "Doctor X and "the Destroyer"

"Mr. Schire has written an erudite, in-depth look at a half century of AWA wrestling. It's a great read for anyone interested in the history of professional wrestling. And dat is all da people need to know." Baron Von Raschke, "the Claw"

"I thought I knew the sport of professional wrestling.Then I met George Schire! No one is more knowledgeable about the event and personalities that made professional wrestling what it is today." Greg Gagne, former professional wrestler and titleholder

SDW Lakeville, MN 5/1/2010

This past Saturday night at the Lakeville South high school Steel Domain Wrestling returned to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for the first time in over 5 years. Promoter Ed Hellier put on this "One Night Only" event for the Lakeville, MN high schools to raise funds for the grade 9 sports.
The first match of the night was a tag team match between coaches from Lakeville North and Lakeville South. The team from Lakeville North won the match and a trophy.

After the tag team match Mick Karch and Ed Hellier did a TV taping opening. Karch then introduced George Schire who then introduced The High Flyers, Greg Gagne & "Jumping" Jim Brunzell. As Gagne and Brunzell were reliving their past as AWA tag team champions they were interrupted by Mitch Paradise & Adrian Lynch.

In the official first match of the night Brain Ash defeated Gage Octane. The last time I saw these two wrestle was October 2007 in a looser leaves 3XW match. Ash lost that match and left the ring for over 2 years.

Mitch Paradise & Adrian Lynch defeated Horace the Psychopath & Red Lighting. Ann Brookstone was the referee for this match.

After the match Lynch got on the mic and called out Greg Gagne. Lynch said Greg was old and a coward. Gagne came to the ring showing now fear and he was attacked by Paradise while Lynch distracted him. Gagne got the upper hand by giving Lynch a back body drop and a drop kick to Paradise's face. Growing up I was a big fan of the High Flyers and really liked their drop kicks. It was quit a thrill to be at ring side photographing a Gagne drop kick. If you've ever seen the movie The Wrestler staring Vern Gagne you know that no one gets up after a Gagne drop kick.

Two former ROH champions faced each other in the next match. Jerry Lynn got the 3 count on Austin Aries after a cradle piledriver.

Former SDW wrestler Primetime defeated "The Law" Mark Barker in his first SDW match.

Two more wrestlers making their SDW debuts competed in the next match. Chadwick Wentworth the 3rd defeated Cpl. Julio Julio.

In the semi main event WWE's Bam Neeley (Magnus Maximus in SDW) took on current NWA heavy weight champion "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce for the vacated SDW championship. Neeley got Pearce to put the NWA belt on the line for this match. During the match Neeley tossed Pearce over the top rope and according to NWA rules that is a DQ so the NWA title stayed with Pearce.

Bam Neeley got the 3 count on Adam Pearce after this move pictured above.

Senior SDW referee Jay Soltis raising new SDW champion Bam Neeley's hand after the match.

The main event for the night was a lumber jack/hair cut match. Representing Lakeville North was "Playboy" Pete Huge with Austin Aries leading the North football players/lumber jacks out side the ring. Lakeville South was represented by Brody Hoofer in the ring and Jerry Lynn on the outside. The coach of the loosing side would have to have his head shaved after the match. Hoofer got the win for Lakeville South but in heel fashion the coach from Lakeville North made one of his football players get his hair cut instead.