SDW West St. Paul, MN 9/22/2012

This past Saturday night Steel Domain Wrestling returned to the West St. Paul Armory. This event featured seven wrestlers making their SDW debut.
To start things off for the night SDW promoter Ed Hellier and announcer Mick Karch interviewed Jeremy & Heather Halberg. They came out to talk about their handicap match with Miss Natural.
After the Halbergs left the interview area Ed Hellier announced that Shelly Martinez would be the special guest referee for their match. Martinez was at this event as a guest of Heavy On Wrestling.
Rookie Ricky Love defeated Ryan Slade. Love was a late addition to the card replacing Matt Murphy who was unable to make the trip to Minnesota.
The Junk Squad (Pete Huge & Chris Jordan) defeated Benjamin Sailer & Renny D. Sailer bumped into Renny while was not paying attention to the match. Because of that Renny would not tag in when Sailer tried to tag out. That left Sailer all alone with the Junk Squad. Huge got the 3 count on Sailer after hitting the ‘G Spot’.
AJ Sanchez pinned Danny Duggan after a low blow.
Miss Natural defeated Jeremy & Heather Halberg in a handicap match. Miss Natural pinned Jeremy to get the 3 count from Shelly Martinez. Martinez is the best looking referee I’ve ever seen.
Mitch Paradise defeated “Mile High” Zach Mercury.
In the main event Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana defeated Arya Daivari. This was Cabana’s first time back in the West St. Paul Armory since 2002. After the match Cabana got on the mic and talked about his time in SDW at the beginning of his career. You can see that promo on the SDW web site which is linked above. After you watch that head on over to Cabana’s Art of Wrestling pod cast and listen to episode #114 to hear him talk about the strange gift that was left for him at this event.

PTW returns this Friday

This Friday night (9/28/2012) Prime Time Wrestling returns for a new season of wrestling action  at the Bloomington, MN Knights of Columbus.The main event is PTW champion Renny D defending the title against Lenny Lane. Also scheduled to appear are Arya Daivari, John Johnson, Ryan Cruz, Magic Man, Black Stallion and many more.

PWI 500 2012

The annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 issue is now out on news stands and has been out for a few weeks in digital form. It’s always fun to see this list every year. But this year I was a little sad when I checked out the list. This was the first year since 2003 that there were no photos I took in the list. Because of that I decided to post some old photos I have of some of the wrestlers in the top 100. So enjoy a look back at some of the top stars of today.
#1 CM Punk. In 2004 Punk teamed up with Ace Steel to take on Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer in a Chicago street fight. Punk & Steel won the match. His ranking that year in the PWI 500 was #89. Chicago Ridge, IL.
#2 Bobby Roode. VS Booker T from 2008. That year Roode was #89 on the list. Spencer, IA.
#4 Daniel Bryan. In 2005 Bryan was known as Bryan Danielson and he wrestled in a match against Claudio Castignoli who is now known as Antonio Cesaro in the WWE. Danielson was # 76 on the list in 2005. Hammond, IN.
#6 Jun Akiyama. VS TAKA at Korakuen Hall. Tokyo, Japan. In 2005 Akiyama was ranked #76 on the list.
#7 Davey Richards. If you are a fan of Richards then check out his hard hitting match against Low Ki from the 2006 IWA Mid South TPI. Midlothian, IL.
#12 James Storm. VS Rhino. Spencer, Iowa.
#13 Austin Aries. VS Adrian Serreno. Minneapolis, MN.
#20 Kevin Steen. At the 2005 IWA MS TPI Steen went to the final round but lost to Matt Sydal. Hammond, Indiana.
#27 Mr. Anderson. Not long before Andeson went to OVW he took on rookie Thoruf Marius (Erick Rowan in FCW) in 2003. Maple Grove, MN
#28 AJ Styles. VS Shifty. Maple Grove, MN.
#32 Rodrick Strong. Strong went to  the finals of the 2006 IWA MS TPI against Arik Cannon and Low Ki. Midlothian, IL.
#39 Jay Lethal. VS AJ Styles. Spencer, IA.
#44 Colt Cabana. At the 2005 IWA MS TPI Cabana got a shot at the heavy weight title against champion Jimmy Jacobs. Hammond, IN.
#46 Seth Rollins. At the time of this photo Rollins was known as Tyler Black. Hammond, IN.
#48 Chris Daniels. In 2004 The Fallen Angel showed up in Midwest Pro Wrestling to take on Arik Cannon. Maple Grove, MN.
#51 Somoa Joe. As the ROH champion Joe defended the title against Homicide. Chicago Ridge, IL.
#54 Michael Elgin. Back in 2006 a young Elgin made his way to the midwest for the NIW Impact Invitational. Cottage Grove, MN.
#59 Johnny Gargano. VS Mat Fitchett. Minneapolis, MN.
#61 Takashi Morishima. Defending his ROH title against Austin Aries. St. Paul, MN.
#62 Adam Pearce & #64 Carl Anderson. Pearce & Anderson team up to take on Arik Cannon & Baby Slim at an NWA Midwest show in Cottage Grove, MN back in 2006.
#63 Jay Briscoe & #65 Mark Briscoe. VS CM Punk & Colt Cabana for the ROH tag team title. The Briscoe’s lost the titles at the end of this match in Chicago Ridge, IL.
#82 El Generico. VS Chris Bosh. Midlothian, IL.
#96 Evan Bourne. Before he was in the WWE Bourne wrestled as Matt Sydal. In this match from the 2006 Ted Petty Invitational for IWA Mid South Sydal beat El Generico.
#97 Rhett Titus. Back in 2007 Titus was in an opening match against Michael Elgin at an ROH event in St. Paul, MN.

PWB St. Paul, MN 9/15/2012

Pro Wrestling Battleground had a card this past Friday night at Wilebski’s Blues Saloon in St. Paul, MN. This was my first time at a PWB card in a few years. I really like this venue. Wilebski’s reminds me a First Ave a little bit.
Rob James defeated Ryan Cruz in the opening match of the night.
Luther Wilson the Third pinned Venom. Wilson used some powder to the eye to help defeat Venom.
Horace the Psychopath defeated “Playboy” Pete Huge. After the match the fans sang happy birthday to Horace.
The Prophet beat Arya Daivari.
“Playboy” Pete Huge won a 14 man battle royal. With that win Huge became the #1 contender to the PWB championship and $1,000 richer. After the match Huge got on the mic and talked about some guy named “Big Skeet”. Not sure who that guy is.
PWB champion Craven Knyte pinned Renny D to retain the belt. These two went at each other so hard they broke one of the railings near the ring.

One week away from next SDW event

Steel Domain Wrestling returns to the West St. Paul Armory on September 22, 2012. Take a look at the poster with posed photos I took while at the last SDW show. As you can see the Main event for this card is Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana VS Arya Daivari. Daivair’s first name on the poster is not really misspelled. It’s his real first name but he took the ‘I’ out for his wrestling name. The NWA title is not on the line as Cabana lost that title to Adam Pearce recently. Other matches scheduled for this card are: Mitch Paradise VS Zak Mercury, Miss Natural VS Mrs. & Mr. Halberg, Renny D & Benjamin Sailer VS The Junk Squad, Danny Duggan VS AJ Sanchez, and Ryan Slade VS Matt Murphy who is making his MN debut. Also announced to appear at this event is Shelly Martinez.