IWA Minneapolis, MN 2/5/2011

The Intercontinental Wrestling Association held a fund raiser event at Minneapolis South High School this past Saturday night. The high school is in need of new lights for their footbal field.
In the opening match TNT Tommy Mason w/ The Brauler defeated Mad Rocky Morris. This was my first time seeing Morris. Not sure how long Morris has been wrestling. He wore a tank top and fancy jeans and I think he may have had wresting boots.
In the second match "Everyone's favorite" Nate Bash pinned Horace the Psychopath. Bash came out wearing a South High School football jersey but he told the crowd there is one problem. He never went to South High School. Bash then took off the jersey to reveal a Washburn High School football jersey, the school that he attended and the crowd turned on him.
Venom defeated Kamikaze Klecker with the muscle buster.
"The Professional" Benjamin Sailer defeated The Prophet by submission.
Mitch Paradise pinned Sheik Arya Daiavri after a sit out power bomb. Daivari had his magic carpet with him on this night but he missed the magic carpet ride.
IWA heavy weight champion The Black Stallion defeated Udo to retain the belt.
The Brauler w/ TNT Tommy Mason beat El Bano with special guest referee Mark Sanders, the Minneapolis South High School athletic director. Nate Bash came out to tell Sanders that South High School sucks. While Sanders was distracted Mason went under the ring and came out wearing a referee shirt and made the three count for the Brauler's win. I don't think that Mason has a referee license.
After special guest referee Mark Sanders got rid of Nate Bash he then got in the ring and tossed Mason out of the ring. Sanders then kicked The Brauler in the gut and gave him a suplex.

WWE Minneapolis, MN 2/4/2011

This past Friday night the WWE was in Minneapolis, MN at the Target Center as part of the Road To Wrestlemania tour. I was ring side shooting for Pro Wrestling Illustrated at this event. The photos I took can not be shown here on my blog but you can see them in Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Inside Wrestling/The Wrestler in the coming months. So here along with the results of that WWE RtWM card I'll post some old photos from two of the Superstars who were in action that night.

In the opening contest Mark Henry pinned Zack Ryder. The WWE tag team champions Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov retained their belts against Micheal McGillicutty & David Otunga w/ Mason Ryan. Before the next match WWE diva AJ picked a member of the WWE Universe to be the guest bell ringer. Yoshi Tatsu defeated Primo. Before the match started ring announcer Justin Roberts received a text from the anonymous GM. The text stated that Tatsu and Primo would face each other in a dance off before their match. John Morrison pinned King Sheamus after a shinning wizard.

United States champion Daniel Bryan w/ Gail Kim defeated Ted Dibiase. Maryse came out to confront Kim. Bryan made Dibiase tap out to the lebell lock. The photo here is from one of Bryan's (then know as Bryan Danielson) Ring of Honor title matches against Nigel McGuinnes (TNA's Desmond Wolfe). This match took place in St. Paul, MN on August 25, 2006. After the match AJ came back out to throw some WWE t-shirts the the WWE Universe.

WWE Divas champion Eve & Tamina defeated Alicia Fox & Melina when Eve pinned Fox.

John Cena defeated C.M. Punk in a street fight. This was a 'fans choice match' as the WWE Universe at the Target Center got to vote on two matches. There choices were street fight or 2 out of 3 falls. Punk wanted a 2 out of 3 falls match so the WWE Universe picked street fight. During the match New Nexus came out to help out their leader but they were soon chased to the back by Marella, Kozlov and Morrison. This street fight was nothing like the one that Punk was involved in back on July 24, 2004 in Chicago, Il at an ROH event. In that match Punk teamed with Ace Steel against Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer.

In the main event of the night WWE champion The Miz w/ Alex Riley defeated Randy Orton. After the match ring announcer Justin Roberts received a text from the anonymous GM that said The Miz had go back to the locker room and Riley would face Orton in a no holds barred match. Orton made short work of Riley with an RKO to win the match. The Miz came back out to the ring and Orton gave him an RKO to send the WWE Universe home happy.

Thoruf Marius signs with WWE

Midwest pro wrestler Thoruf Marius recently signed a WWE developmental deal. He moved down to Tampa, FL last month to start training at FCW.

Marius started training back in 2003 with Midwest Pro Wrestling in Maple Grove, MN. In one of his first matches he wrestled against Ken Anderson. There was no wrestler larger then Marius in the Midwest.

In the summer of 2007 Marius traveled to Japan to train with Pro Wrestling Noah. Marius returned from Japan with some extra weight. Must have been from eating lots of fish and rice. In 2009 Marius took part in a reality show that was filmed in Norway called Alt for Norge. Marius took third place on the first season of the show. Most recently Marius wrestled with the American Wrestling Federation as seen here against Johnny Parks.