midwest indy wrestling photos by Wayne McCarty

PTW Bloomington, MN 1/20/2012

2012-01-28T23:55:00.001-08:00

Prime Time Wrestling returned to the Knights of Columbus in Bloomington, MN for their monthly shows. On this card PTW would crown their first champion.

The opening match was to determine who would face Lenny Lane in the main event for the PTW championship. Chiropractor DC defeated Magic Man to earn the the championship match. Magic Man was with out his hairdresser on this night but he still had his can of hair spray.

The Executioner defeated Chris Dorrian.

The Rainmaker came out for his match. While his music was playing it changed to “The Candy man”. It was Magic man who had the music changed. While The Rainmaker was distracted, Ian Xavier came out and gave The Rainmaker a big splash. The Black Stallion came out to save The Rainmaker.

After The Black Stallion saved The Rainmaker he challenged Ian Xavier to an match but Magic Man said he had a different opponent in mind. Out cam Robbie Thunder with Tiger Lilly to take on Stallion. When Lilly came in the ring to help Thunder Jordana K came out to attack Lilly. For some odd reason referee Willy Mack awarded the match to Thunder by DQ. This was Jordana’s first time in the ring. It’s nice to see some new females in the Minneapolis area. Hopefully both Lilly and Jordana will be around for awhile.

John Johnson pinned Cpl. Julio Julio. As you can see in the photo here Johnson had his feet on the ropes to get the pin but ref Willy Mack didn’t see it. But Mack reversed his decision when Johnson beat down Julio after the match. So Julio got the win by DQ.

Lenny Lane became the first PTW champion when he pinned Chiropractor DC. The fans were teased at the start of the match when DC pinned Lane and special guest senior referee Rob Page counted 3. But Lane pointed out that the bell had not yet rang for the match to started. Boy did Page look dumb. DC tapped to to Lane’s boston crab to make Lane the champion.

Heavy D and Ox in March 2012 PWI

2012-01-27T07:00:00.001-08:00

The March 2012 Awards issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated has a photo from last years Heavy On Wrestling show featuring Heavy D and Ox from the Barking Spiders. The photo appears on page 24 in the “year in review” section, which could be called the “year in funny captions’. The funny caption for the photo, which was taken seconds before the one shown here, has to do with Zach Gowen missing his prosthetic leg.

Don’t worry Zach Gowen fans, that is not his leg. The leg actually belongs to Heavy D’s little brother. Clutch grabbed Heavy D’s little brother from the crowd and dragged him into the ring. Heavy D had been taken from the ring by Mark Barker for being too drunk to wrestle. D returned to the ring and used his brothers leg to hit Ox and make the pin to get the win.

This issue of PWI should be on news stands now. If you can’t find it on the magazine racks at your local store you can order it from their web site, pwi-online, for only $5.95. That’s $4 off cover price. PWI is now also available in digital format for only $4.99. A yearly subscription cost only $29.95.

“The Wrestler” staring Vern Gagne

2012-01-24T14:10:00.001-08:00

Pepit's Parkway theatre in Minneapolis, MN will be screening “The Wrestler” Jan 27, 2012 - Feb 1, 2012. This is the original “The Wrestler” made back in 1974 and stared Ed Asner, Vern Gagne and Billy Robinson. Many other wrestlers from the AWA appear in the film such as Dusty Rhodes and Dick Murdock who are in a great bar room brawl scene. If you watch really close you can even see Ric Flair.

On Friday the 27 Greg Gagne (pictured on the right with former tag team partner Jim Brunzell who was also in the movie)will be appearing at the 6:300 showing and doing a Q & A after the movie. Gagne can be seen as a referee in the movie. On Saturday Vern Gagne is scheduled to make an appearance.

Lucha Libre wrestling school in Minneapolis

2012-01-20T21:08:00.001-08:00

A new pro wrestling school has opened up in Minneapolis, MN. The Black Boy lucha libre wrestling school is located at 1121 Jackson St. in North East Minneapolis. This is in the same place that Sheriff Johnny Emerald last had the Midwest Pro Wrestling training camp back in 2005. For more info on this school call 651-230-9351.

AWF Monticello, MN 1/7/2012

2012-01-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

The American Wrestling Federation returned to the Monticello high school for another fund raiser/TV taping. AWF Saturday Night Slam is now taped in HD!.
In the opening match The Black Stallion pinned “All Star” Paul Brewski.
“6% Body Fat” Rob James beat “Livewire” Johnny Parks with the lipo buster, aka Canadian destroyer. This was actually a tag team match with James and Parks teaming with teachers from Monticello High School. After the match James told his partner to kick Parks while he was down. Teachers are really good guys so all the teachers pummeled James.
Former AWF heavy weight champion Tony DeNucci pinned John Johnson after a big splash from the top rope.
Arya & Shawn Daivari beat AWF heavy weight champion Wildcat & Ryan Cruz. Arya hit Wildcat with the title belt to get the 3 count from ref Rob Page.
The main event was a royal rumble with all the wrestlers from the four previous matches minus the teachers and Wildcat. Benjamin Sailer was also in the rumble but he didn’t last long. No wonder the AWF doesn’t book him. Johnny Parks was the winner of the match when he skinned the cat and pulled Rob James out to the floor.

MIW Chanhassen, MN 12/3/2011

2011-12-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the Chanhassen American Legion this past Saturday night. The second snow fall of the year started earlier in the day so I thought there would not be many in the crowd this night. The snow wasn’t enough to stop anyone who wanted to go to see some great MIW pro wrestling as the room was packed.
A Paradise’s Pit started off the night. Mitch Paradise had some uninvited guest for his pit as the Masked Jungle Fighter and his “army” came out and put boots to ass. MJF’s army now consist of Gunner Clash, PJ Thornbranch, The Rainmaker, Paul Brewski, Nick Colucci, Sean Priest and Matt Winchester. After MJFA tossed Paradise out of the ring they called out MIW champion Pete Huge to ask him to join their army. Huge and Chris Jordan came to the ring and said no to the MJFA’s offer.
“Playboy” Pete Huge defended his MIW title against rookie Dorrian. Huge hit the ‘super G spot and covered Dorrian when MJFA came out to stop the 3 count so the match ended in a no contest. El Bano, Rob Ivy, Horace the psychopath and Mitch Paradise came out to attack the MJFA. Paradise then challenged MJF to a series of matches for control of MIW.
PJ Thornbrach, in his debut match, defeated Rob Ivy and his moustache. Thornbrach had some help from MJF in order to get the win. MJFA 1 MIW 0
Gunner Clash w/ Masked Jungle Fighter pinned El Bano. Clashed used a taser on El Bano to get the win. MJFA 2 MIW 0
Horace the psychopath pinned Sean Saint. This was my first time seeing Saint. He did a religious gimmick with some holy water. MJFA 2 MIW 1
Dorrian VS The Rainmaker w/ The Masked Jungle Fighter ended in a double count out. MJFA 2 MIW 1
“The All Star” Paul Brewski & Nick Colucci proclaimed themselves the MJFA tag team champions. They defended their belts against The Junk Squad, Chris Jordan & Pete Huge. The Junk Squad got the win and the belts after Huge hit the G spot on Colucci. MJFA 2 MIW 2
Mitch Paradise defeated Matt Winchester after a power bomb. With that win MIW won the series to stop MJF from gaining control of MIW. After the match Rob Ivy turned on his friend Paradise and joined the MJFA.

BCW Crystal, MN 11/18/2011

2011-12-02T15:18:00.001-08:00

This past Friday night Born Champion Wrestling returned to the Crystal Community Center for an action packed night of indy pro wrestling.
In the opening match The Patriot 3 pinned The Cougar after a frog splash.
Bret O’Brian defeated Udo and Savage in a 3 way dance. O’Brian pinned Savage to get the 3 count. This was my first time seeing Savage in action as this was his BCW debut.
Horace The Psychopath defeated Cpl. Julio Julio.
Judd Jennrich pinned Kamikaze Klecker. Jennrich needed outside help and some brass knuckles to get the win.
BCW Twin Cities champion Ryan Cruz retained the title when he beat Craven Knyte. This championship title was originally called the ‘rivals championship’ but I guess BCW realized that sounded dumb so it was changed. Be sure to check out the current issue of The Wrestler for an ‘Introducing’ feature on Knyte. If you can’t find it on on news stands you can order it from the PWI web site for $4 off the cover price. Also in that issue you can see photos I took of Mat Fitchett and John Morrison.
The Prophet defeated Venom. After ref Rob Page was knocked down Bret O’Brian hit Venom with a chair and put The Prophet on top of Venom for the pin.
“The Anarchist” Arik Cannon pinned “6% Body Fat” Rob James after a brain buster.
BCW heavy weight champion Darin Corbin defeated The Black Stallion to retain the belt. Corbin had some help from The Entourage to get the win. After the match Dirty Ernie came out to challenge Corbin to a no DQ match at the next BCW event. I hope this photo doesn’t make Corbin look fat.

R.I.P. Bison Smith

2011-11-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

On November 22, 2011 Bison Smith died in Puerto Rico at the age of 38. A few months ago Colt Cabana did an interview with Smith his Art of Wrestling podcast. To hear that podcast click here.
Though from the U.S.A. Smith wrestled mostly in Japan. On October 9th, 2004 I was at Korakuen Hall to see Smith tag with Mike Awesome & Trevor Rhodes (AKA Trevor Murdock) to wrestle against Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue & Takashi Sugiura for Pro Wrestling Noah.

Introducing Craven Knyte in The Wrestler

2011-11-14T14:02:00.001-08:00

Craven Knyte has been wrestling in the Minneapolis area for the last 5 years. He’s worked for just about every promotion in the area. This month he will be introduced to the rest of the nation in the pages of The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling. Knyte was interviewed by editor-in-chief Frank Krewda for this two page feature. The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling Volume 44 with John Cena on the cover should be on sale very soon. After you read the story on Knyte then flip the mag over to the Inside Wrestling side and turn to page 66. There you will see one of my photos from the last F1rst Wrestling show.

Wishing many years of happiness to Hoofer and Wonderland

2011-11-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend former pro wrestlers Big Brody Hoofer and Allison Wonderland got hitched. Both wrestlers left the biz last spring after Hoofer lost a loser leaves MIW match against “Playboy” Pete Huge. Wonderland was with Huge at the time but left with Hoofer after the match.

PTW Bloomington, MN 10/28/2011

2011-11-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Prime Time Wrestling had their second event this past Friday night at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus. There was a new ring announcer for this event.
Apostle 13 defeated “6% Body Fat” Rob James in the opening match. Apostle 13 was suppose to have a rematch against Mikey Wipeout as part of the championship tournament but Wipeout was recently injured.
Udo defeated Arya Daivari.
Chiropractor DC pinned Gunner Clash.
Dennis “The Menace” Michaels and Tiger Lilly came out to talk to DC after the match. I’m not sure what they were trying to say to DC as no one got on a mic. Michaels did ask to shake DC’s hand and then he kick DC in gut. Lilly hit DC in the jimmy and then she left the ring with Michaels.
Magic Man pinned The Black Stallion. In my post about last months PTW event I wrote that Magic Man had fewer matches then the Rainmaker. I was wrong, Magic Man has had a few more matches then the Rainmaker.
In the first few minutes of the match The Black Stallion had Magic Man in a headlock. Stallion then gave Magic Man a noggie that messed up his hair. Magic Man didn’t like his hair messed up so he called Charise, his hair stylist, out for a touch up. Not only did Charise fix Magic Man’s hair, she helped him win the match when she shot the hair spray in The Black Stallions eyes.
In the main event Lenny Lane defeated Mitch Paradise by DQ. Lane did the old “hey ref, he hit me with that chair that he is holding’ bit. The referee then DQ’ed Paradise even though he didn’t see Paradise hit Lane with the chair, because he didn’t hit Lane with the chair.
Paradise was pissed so he he was going to stomp a mud hole in Lane’s face. But before Paradise could get his boots dirty he was attacked by 7’ masked man. A few moments later another 7’ masked man came into the ring to pound on Paradise. The Rainmaker came to the ring to help Paradise but there was not much he could do against the much larger men.

AWF Hayward, WI 10/08/2011

2011-10-14T19:02:00.001-07:00

The American Wrestling Federation had a TV taping at the Hayward Sports Center this past Saturday night. The AWF Saturday Night Slam TV show can be seen on channel 45 in the Minneapolis/St Paul area.
AWF COO Tony DeNucci came out before the matches started to address the fans. He was interrupted by El Muerte who said he wanted a match. DeNucci said he would wrestle El Muerte later in the night.
Gunner Clash defeated Apostle 13 after a kick to the jimmy.
“The All Star” Paul Brewski pinned John Johnson. After the match Johnson attacked Brewski because he is a sore looser.
Tony DeNucci defeated El Muerte in a no DQ match. El Muerte means The Death in Spanish.
“Live Wire” Johnny Parks pinned Armageddon after a top rope leg drop. This was my first time seeing Armageddon and he is a really big guy.
Wild Cat defeated “6% body fat” Rob James after a moon sault. This was my first time seeing Wild Cat in action after hearing a lot about him.
AWF champion Arya Daivari pinned Craven Knyte to retain the title.
Wild Cat won the Hayward Rumble to become the new number one contender for the AWF championship. All the wrestler from the night were in this match.

PTW Bloomington, MN 9/30/2011

2011-10-04T22:24:00.001-07:00

A new pro wrestling promotion has started up in the MSP area.This past Friday night Prime Time Wrestling held their first ever pro wrestling event at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus.
The card started with PTW commissioner Dave Tobin telling the fans that there would be a tournament taking place over the next 6 months to crown the PTW champion. Lenny Lane came out to say that he should be champion now. The rest of the wrestler came out one by one all to say that they are just as good as Lane. It was a nice way to introduce all the wrestlers on the card to the fans.
Chiropractor DC defeated Denis the Menace Micheals. After the match a women named Tiger Lilly came to the ring and dragged Micheals by his ear to the locker room. I have never seen Lilly before.
Mikey Wipeout vs Apostle 13 ended in a double count out.
Former WCW Cruiser Weight champion Lenny Lane defeated The Rain Maker by submission. This was my first time seeing The Rain Maker. In the promo at the beginning of the card he said that he’s only had two matches so far in his pro wrestling career.
The Magic Man defeated Udo by pin fall. The Magic man has had fewer matches then The Rain Maker.
In the main event Mitch Paradise pinned John Johnson after choke power bomb. In all the years that I’ve been photographing Paradise’s matches this was the first time I saw him bleed. Paradise got a bloody nose when Johnson hit Paradise with his elbow.
After Paradise beat Johnson the lights went out. When the lights came back on a 7’ masked man was in the ring attacking Paradise. I have no idea who that masked man was. PTW has a second event scheduled for October 28th at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus so maybe more will be revealed about Tiger Lilly and the masked man.

BCW Crystal, MN 9/16/2011

2011-10-03T22:29:00.001-07:00

Born Champions Wrestling returned to the Crystal Community Center for a Friday night of wrestling action. This nights main event was a cage match.
BCW champion Darin Corbin and the Entourage came out at the start of the card. Corbin got on the mic and talked about how bad Minnesota wrestling is and how it’s now his time to step to the top and knock off all the vets. “Playboy” Pete Huge came out to answer Corbin’s challenge. Huge has been wrestling in Minnesota for over 12 years.
In the first match Udo defeated Cameron Cross.
Arya Daivari & Judd Jennrich retained the BCW tag team title in a match against 3 other teams.
Craven Knyte pinned Arik Cannon (#200 in the 2011 PWI 500) in a #1 contender match. Fans at ring side were telling ref Rob Page that Knyte had his feet on the rope during the pin but Page didn’t have his glasses on so he didn’t see it.
Horace the Psychopath defeated Kamikaze Klecker.
Venom got revenge on his former 101 Proof partner Bret O’Brian with a 3 count. But it was a short revenge as O’Brian and a couple of thugs beat up Venom after the match.
BCW champion Darin Corbin (#294 in the 2011 PWI 500) defeated “Playboy” Pete Huge to retain his title. Corbin had some help from those same two thugs that helped O’Brian. Looks like Corbin’s stranglehold on the BCW belt continues.
In the main event Ryan Cruz defeated “6% body fat” Rob James in a cage to become the first BCW Rivals champion. Cruz gave James a top rope ‘boom shakalaka’ through a table to get the 3 count. I hate taking photos through a cage.
BCW is scheduled to return to the Crystal Community Center on November 18th.

MIW Spring Lake Park, MN 9/10/2011

2011-10-01T20:14:00.001-07:00

After shooting ring side at an afternoon show I went home and ate dinner then headed north for an Minnesota Independent Wrestling event. MIW was at Biffs Sports Bar. A few years ago when they promoted at this same place the matches took place out side in a tent but this year they were inside. Four of the wrestler that were on the afternoon show were also on this show.
The show started out with MIW owner Terry Fox coming to the ring to tell the fans of the passing of Little Tokyo on September 6th at the age of 70. Fox then brought out Bad Boy Brian to say a few words about Little Tokyo. Then there was a 10 bell salute.
Little Tokyo (seen here from 1993 at a show in Columbia Heights, MN) was part of a match at Wrestlemania III.
Mitch Paradise did a Paradise Pit with Rob Ivy and James Jeffries. Paradise picked on Jeffries small size.
Mystik Sexton defeated Ann Brookstone with Paul Brewski by DQ. The DQ came when Brewski tripped Sexton.
Arya Daivari pinned El Bano after a magic carpet ride.
Ugly & Justin Decent defeated Rob Ivy & Mitch Paradise when Decent pinned Paradise. Ugly has been to MIW a few times before but this time he brought his tag team partner with him.
Horace the Psychopath defeated Chris Jordan.
MIW champion “Playboy” Pete Huge defeated James Jeffries to retain the title. Jeffries kick out after one G-Spot from Huge but couldn’t kick out after the second one.
Mystik Sexton & Bad Boy Brian defeated Ann Brookstone & “All Star” Paul Brewski. This match was made by Terry Fox after the ladies match earlier in the card.

PWA Inver Grove Heights, MN 9/10/2011

2011-09-29T23:48:00.001-07:00

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon Pro Wrestling America had an event as part of Inver Grove Heights Days at Drkula’s bowling ally. The wrestling took place outside under a tent. This was my first time at this annual PWA event.
In the first match Rob Ivy and his mustache defeated Tommy “Spiderbaby” Saturday. Ivy was being held by Spiderbaby’s manager Nick Mason. Ivy moved and Spiderbaby hit Mason which lead to Ivy rolling up Spiderbaby for the pin.
Chiropractor DC defeated Luther Wilson III. This was my first time seeing Wilson in action.
Mystik Sexton defeated Ann Brookstone and Starla Love in a handicap match. I think this was suppose to be a one on one match but Love got in the ring a lot so it was pretty much a handicap match.
Horace the Psychopath pinned The Brauler. Before the match started The Brauler went out into crowd to yell at a guy who was talking on his cell phone. The Brauler took the phone away and broke it. I think he did the guy a favor as he was still using a flip phone. Time to up grade.
Udo defeated Mitch Paradise to become the new PWA heavy weight champion! Paradise’s manager, The Professor, had the ref distracted when Paradise had Udo pinned after a superplex. As Paradise was yelling at the Professor, Udo rolled up Paradise for the 3 count.
The Honky Tonk Man & Buck “Rock n Roll” Zumhofe defeated Lenny Lane & Billy Blaze in a retirement match. At the beginning of the show Lane made the stipulation that if his team lost then he would retire and if the other guys lost then Zumhofe would retire. HTM hit the shake rattle & roll on Lane and got the 3 count to send Lane into retirement.

F1rst Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 7/8/2011

2011-09-24T11:47:00.001-07:00

F1rst Wrestling was back at First Ave on Friday July 8th. It was over a year since the last F1rst Wrestling show. This show was called The Return: 2011. As I predicted two blogs ago the return was referee Ricky Reed as he made his way back to MN for this event.
The Northstar Express (Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz) defeated The Kentucky Buffet (Alex Castle & Matt Cage) in the opening contest. The Kentucky Buffet were just two of the many wrestlers making their F1rst Wrestling debut.
Davey Vega defeated Gary Jay after a top turn buckle brain buster. I’m sure that move has some special name but I don’t know what it is. This was Vega’s F1rst debut match.
Mat Fitchett defeated Johnny Gargano, Arya Daivari and Arik Cannon in some kind of 4 way match. Fitchett did a shooting star press on to Gargano to get the win.
The Submission Squad (Evan Gelistico & Pierre Abernathy)defeated Udo & Venom.
Mason Conrad pinned Calypso. My first time seeing both of these guys. Calypso brought a toy monkey to the ring with him and he got a bloody nose during the match.
Midwest Ground & Air (Benjamin Sailer & Nate Bash) defeated The Misfits ( Aaron Corbin & John Johnson.
In the main event Horace the Psychopath & Arik Cannon defeated Rob James & Pete Huge in some kind of hard core match. They wrestled all over First Ave and used all kinds of weapons including some kind of sex toy that James got from a fan for his birthday. Hope I don’t have to wait another year before the next F1rst Wrestling show.

BCW Crystal, MN 6/10/2011

2011-09-23T22:48:00.001-07:00

I took the summer off from this blog. Heck I pretty much took the summer off from ring side as I was only at two wrestling events during the months of June, July and August. But now fall is here and it’s getting colder outside so I’m going to play catch up starting with a Born Champions Wrestling card that took place on June 10 at the Crystal community center. This was the first BCW show in while as the last one that was scheduled in the winter was canceled because of a snow storm.
In the opening match “The Popular” Nate Bash defeated Kamikazi Klecker.
The Patriot III defeated Cameron Cross after a big splash.
Craven Knyte defeated Udo.
“The Anarchist” Arik Cannon defeated The Prophet.
Arya Daivari & Judd Jennrich defeated Bret O’Brian & Venom (101 Proof) to become the new BCW tag team champions. After the match O’Brian turned on Venom.
BCW heavy weight champion Darin Corbin retained his belt against “6% body fat” Rob James and Ryan Cruz in a TCL match. Cruz was actually the one to get the belt down from the ladder but referee Rob Page was knocked out. When Page came to he saw Corbin with the belt and declared Corbin the winner.

F1rst Wrestling returns 2011

2011-05-27T22:20:00.001-07:00

It’s been almost one full year since F1rst Wrestling last had an show. Finally, a date will be announced soon to when the next F1rst Wrestling card will be at First Avenue night club. First Ave is my favorite venue for indy pro wrestling so it’s great to see F1rst wrestling return there. F1rst Wrestling has presented three other cards titled “Return” that have featured wrestlers returning to F1rst Wrestling/Minneapolis. Will The Return ‘11 be the same? Could we see the return of Colt Cabana who was on the first F1rst Wrestling card? Maybe M-Dogg 20 Matt Cross, most recently seen on WWE’s Tough Enough, could return. It could be Cody O’Neill who could be making his return. It might be the return of referee Ricky Reed. Or does “The Return ‘11” just mean the return of F1rst wrestling? Check out F1rst Wrestling’s Facebook for up coming announcements about The Return ‘11.
The Return 09 (6/19/09) was a really big event for F1rst Wrestling as it was main evented with a match between home town guys Jerry Lynn and Sean Waltman.
The Return 08 (6/20/08) featured a few returns to F1rst Wrestling. Austin Aries returned to the Minneapolis area as he teamed with Rob James to take on The Northstar Express. The next return was Horace The Psychopath who came out to Arik Cannon’s open challenge. Horace had been gone from F1rst Wrestling since July 2007. The third return of the night was Chris Jordan as he came out as Pete Huge’s partner in a match against Midwest Ground & Air. On F1rst Wrestling’s second card Jordon lost a loser leaves wrestling match to his Junk Squad partner Pete Huge so it was a big surprise to see him come back to reform the Junk Squad.
The Return 07 (6/17/07) was the third F1rst Wrestling show and featured the return of Kid Krazy in a match against Tyler Black. Krazy had recently moved to California but returned for one more match in Minnesota. In California Krazy wrestled some for Pro Wrestling Gorilla but now he is mostly retired from wrestling. Black now wrestles for the WWE developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling as Seth Rollins.

Darin Corbin VS The Great Sasuke Slo-Mo

2011-04-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched night one of the Chikara 2011 King of Trios. One of the main reasons I wanted to watch this DVD was the main event between Team Minnesota (Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin and the 1-2-3-Kid) and Team Michinoku Pro (Great Sasuke, Dick Togo and Jinsei Shinzaki).

During the match Darin Corbin faceed off against The Great Sasuke. The two wrestlers decided to slow the match down a bit. Ok, they slowed down the match a lot. They both wrestled in slow motion. The crowd at the Asylum Arena ate it up as they even chanted in slow motion. Corbin has done this slo-mo bit many times before as seen in the photo to the left when he wrestled Ryan Cruz for the ECHO Pro championship back on March 19, 2010. Corbin is not the first one to use the slo-mo gimmick. I believe that honor goes to Ebessan and Kuishinbo Kamen. You can see that video by clicking here. I was pretty surprised to see Corbin do the slo-mo with someone the likes of The Great Sasuke, one of the greatest high flyers ever. But I found one man who didn’t care for Corbins slo-mo work with the Great Sasuke. Mike Kenny, formerly known as Gator Magraw, posted a review of the King of Trios on his Haunted Blogger Vlog. Kenny bashed Corbin for what he did in the ring with Sasuke and said the only reason he did the slo-mo is because he could not keep up with Sasuke. Check out Kenny’s video linked above. The bashing starts at the 4 minute mark. Does Kenny make a good point? Did Corbin miss his oppertunity to show case his talent with someone as great as the Great Sasuke? I’m interested in hearing what others think about this. Please leave your comments by clicking on the word “comments” below.

R.I.P. Alex Whybrow AKA "Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney

2011-04-11T22:02:00.001-07:00

Various pro wrestling news sites reported today that Alex Whybrow, AKA "Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney died today at the age of 29. Sweeney trained at the Chikara Wrestle Factory and went on to wrestle and manage for Ring of Honor.

I first saw Larry Sweeney back in April of 2005 when he came to Midwest Pro Wrestling. He was there with other members of Chikara to take on MPW in the "World Series of Wrestling". This was a best of seven match series pitting wrestlers from MPW against wrestlers from Chikara. Sweeney won his match against The Punisher (now known as Rob James).

Sweeney retuned to Minnesota in June 2006, this time for Northern Impact Wrestling's Impact Invitational. In the first round of the tournament Sweeney lost his ICW-ICWA Texarkana TV title to Darin Corbin. Corbin then lost the title to Cody O'Neill at intermission as the ICW-ICWA Texarkana TV title is defended under 24/7 rules. O'Neill then lost the belt to referee Bryce Rumsberg seconds later. The title changed hands a few more times that weekend but Sweeney won the belt back before leaving the Midwest. Sweeney was a very entertaining performer.

The Wrestler with John Cena on the cover.

2011-04-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

The current issue of The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling vol 39 is now on news stands and it features a cover photo of John Cena. I took that photo of Cena at the Target Center back on February 4th, 2011. I have a few other photos inside the magazine but there are a few photos that are credited to me that I did not take. The ones of Daniel Bryan and Gail Kim were not my photos. Run, don't walk to a local news stand to pick up this issue which also features an interview with WWE hall of famer Road Warrior Animal.

HOW Duluth, MN 3/26/2011

2011-04-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

Blogger has changed the formatting of of the blogs so I've been having a hard time getting this to work like I want it to. If I can't get it to work this may be my last post.With that said, here are the results of the Heavy On Wrestling show from last Saturday at the DECC in Duluth, MN.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan defeated "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon. U.S.A....U.S.A...Hoooooooe!

Heavy On Wrestling started a HOW Hall of Fame. The first inductees were Joann Sabick (HOW promoter David Sabicks late grandmother), Mae Young, Joyce Grable, Bill & Scott Irwin, Buck Zumhofe and The Honky Tonk Man.

Heather Zumhofe defeated Ann Brookstone and Mystik in a triple threat match with Lita as special guest referee. Joyce Grable managed Brookstone in this match.

"Wild" Bill Irwin came to the ring to be inducted into the HOW Hall of Fame. He was inturupted by The Black Stallion. The two wrestled for a while but Stallion left the ring as Irwin got the better of him.

Heavy D & Dirty Dick Sawyer defeated the Barking Spiders (Ox & Clutch) in a hard core match. Before the match Heavy D was arrested by Officer Mark Barker because he was intoxicated. After a few minutes of the Barking Spiders beating the crap out of Sawyer the Spiders grabbed two of Heavy D's younger brothers out of the crowd and beat up on them. Heavy D returned to the ring with Barker in a shopping cart. Heavy D got the win after he hit Ox with his own brothers prosthetic leg.

The Honky Tonk Man defeated "Rock N Roll" Buck Zunhofe. Before the match Zumhofe talked about how mad he was that HTM stole his act. HTM won with a roll up after a shot to Zumhofe's nuts.

The main event for the night was three way for the HOW heavy weight championship. Champion Benjamin Sailer faced off against Nate Bash and Lance Hoyt. Before the match started Sunny came out to say that she was going to manage the champion. Sailer go the win after he suplexed Hoyt over Bash and then pinned Bash.

Benjamin Sailer after retaining the HOW heavy weight championship with his manager for the match, Sunny.

Rock N Roll VS Honky Tonk! This Saturday in Duluth, MN

2011-03-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

This Saturday night March 26th, 2011 Buck "Rock N Roll" Zumhofe with take on The Honky Tonk Man at the DECC in Duluth, MN as part of the World of Wheels. Heavy On Wrestling is the promotion that will present this match between two pro wrestling veterans. In a recent interview Zumhofe let it be known that he was upset when he first saw The Honky Tonk Man in the WWF because he thought the WWF copied his gimmick. Sure there are other big time wrestlers at this event and I could tell you who they are but this match alone should be enough for you to buy a ticket for this show.

MIW Chanhassen, MN 3/12/2011

2011-03-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the Chanhassen American Legion this past Saturday night to a full house. This was my first time at an MIW event since October of last year. I missed their last event at in Chanhassen where "Playboy" Pete Huge defeated Brody Hoofer to become the new MIW heavy weight champion. That match was also a looser leaves MIW so Hoofer is no longer with MIW. Hoofer has been with MIW since he started in the biz back in 1999.
The night started with MIW heavy weight champion "Playboy" Pete Huge coming to the ring with "All Star" Paul Brewski. Huge was scheduled to defend his title against Brewski in the main event that night but Huge said Brewski was too green to get a shot at his belt. MIW commissioner Terry Fox got in the ring and told Huge that he would defend the MIW heavy weight title against Brewski or Fox would take the belt away from him. Huge told Brewski to do the right thing and lay down for a three count. Brewski laid down but got up before the three count and then attacked Huge.
In the first match of the card Horace the Psychopath defeated Rob Ivy.
In Paradise's Pit Mitch Paradise interviewed Rob Ivy who was pretending to be Zach Mercury. All the shenanigans ended when Mercury came to to confront Paradise and challenge him to a match later in that night.
Gunner Clash & Cpl Julio Julio defeated El Bano & Dorrian. As you can see in the photo here Clash & Julio cheated to get the W by blinding El Bano.
Zach Mercury defeated Mitch Paradise with a small package. Some times the good guys cheat to win.
Ann Brookstone pinned Mystik. In one of the funniest bits of the night Mystik ran into special guest referee Kenny Larson knocking him to the mat. Mystik then said "I killed Kenny!"
In the main event MIW heavy weight champion "Playboy" Pete Huge retained his title against "All Star" Paul Brewski. Zach Mercury was the special guest referee for this match. Mercury was distracted when Mitch Paradise came to the ring giving Huge the chance to hit Brewski with the title belt for an easy pin. Good thing Huge retained the belt because the pretty pink one he was wearing broke during the match.

Buck "Rock N Roll" Zumhofe talks about PWI photo

2011-03-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

"Rock N Roll" Buck Zumhofe posted a video on his YouTube channel to comment on my photo of him that was published in the March 2011 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. For the record, I did not write the caption for the photos of Zumhofe and Greg Gagne. I only took the photos.
The caption to my photos was "Two reasons why no one is clamoring for an AWA reunion". Well if you are clamoring for an AWA reunion then you are in luck. Kenny "The Sodbuster" Jay his having a benefit for the histiocytosis association on Saturday April 2, 2011. Advertised to appear at this event are Larry Hennig, Baron Von Raschke, Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell, Red Bastien, Dr X, Nick Bockwinkle and Buck Zumhofe. This event will take place at the American Legion in Savage, MN from 6pm till midnight and the cost is $15. Click here for more info on the event.

AWF Elk River, MN 2/26/2011

2011-03-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

The American Wrestling Federation held "February Free for All V" at the Elk River High School this past Saturday night. This was a fund raiser show for the high schools football team. This event was taped for the AWF's TV show Saturday Night Slam. SNS can be seen on channel 45 at 11pm in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. You can also watch all the AWF SNS episodes on YouTube.
In the opening match "The Bulldog" Sammy Savard defeated "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon. Savard finished off Cannon with a stunner. Cannon's mohawk is getting pretty tall.
Benjamin Sailer & Ryan Cruz defeated John Johnson & Aaron Corbin to become the new AWF tag team champions. Sailer & Cruz are calling their tag team "Martial Law". If you think that's a good name for a good guy tag team leave a comment below. Just click on the word "comment". You don't even have to log in or anything.
Mitch Paradise pinned Mikey Wipeout after a choke power bomb. Wipeout used to go by the name Stanley but now he is doing a 'surfer dude' gimmick. Wipeout even rode the wave on Paradises back.
"All Star" Paul Brewski defeated The Black Stallion.
"live Wire" Johnny Parks defeated AWF heavy weight champion Arya Daivari. Unfortunately Parks won the match by DQ as Daivari hit referee Rob Page. After Page was knocked out another ref ran into the ring when Parks had Daivari pinned. The ref made the 3 count and gave the belt to Parks. Page finally woke up and DQed Daivari and gave him back the title belt.
In the main event for the night Tony DeNucci defeated "6% Body Fat" Rob James in a no DQ match.

IWA Minneapolis, MN 2/5/2011

2011-02-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-08T20:01:00.001-08:00

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

2011-02-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

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.

The Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana

2011-01-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling Volume 38 hit newsstands this week. On pages 14 and 15 there is a story about Colt Cabana's pod cast "The Art of Wrestling". In the article there is a photo I took of Cabana with CM Punk and Ricky Steamboat from a ROH show in St. Paul, MN back in April 2004.
If you have not yet listened to Colt Cabana's pod cast I highly recommend that you do. Just click on the link above where it reads "Art of Wrestling". Every Thursday Cabana post a new podcast where he talks with one of his pro wrestling friends. Some of my favorite shows/guest are Shawn Daivari, CM Punk, Colin Delany, Somoa Joe (seen here getting his burn mark kicked off by Cabana), X-Pac and The Briscoe Brothers. As Cabana says on his podcast, he opens the door and lets fans into the lives of pro wrestlers.

PWI shoots on the AWA

2011-01-21T19:10:00.000-08:00

The March 2011 Pro Wrestling Illustrated special year-end awards issue went on sale this week. It's always a fun time seeing who the fans voted for and their Unofficial/Official awards. Another one of my favorite sections is the year in review in photos. Most of the photos in this section take a humorous look at pro wrestling. In this issue a few of my photos were used to take a shot at the old AWA. The photos used were Buck "Rock N Roll" Zumhofe showing his ass to his opponent and Greg Gagne drop kicking Mitch Paradise. The caption read "Two reasons why no one is clamoring for an AWA reunion". Being from the Midwest the AWA was my introduction to pro wrestling and it holds a special place in my heart. So I was a little disappointed with the caption for my photos. Sure, no one really wants to see Zumhofe's back side but a Gagne drop kick is another story.

This image to the right was taken just a second before the one that was printed in PWI. Sure, Greg Gagne didn't get as high as he used to but he's around 60 years old now. Not only that but he was wearing dress shoes when he did the dropkick on 6' 5" Mitch Paradise. Even though Gagne has lost a little spring in his dropkick, it got a huge pop from the crowd at the Lakeville high school. Maybe even the biggest pop of the night. But the writers at PWI are right. As cool as it was to photograph a Gagne dropkick, I would not want to see him team up with Jim Brunzell to take on The Destruction Crew in a full match.

This past summer I was at an AWA reunion of sorts when I went down to Waterloo, Iowa for the George Tragos/ Lou Thesz Hall of Fame inductions. There I got to meet such AWA legends as Larry "The Ax" Hennig, Rene Goulet, and the Vachon Brothers, Butcher & Mad Dog. Another AWA great who was at the HoF weekend was Baron Von Raschke.

AWF Grantsburg, WI 1/15/2011

2011-01-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

The American Wrestling Federation was at the Grantsburg, Wisconsin high school this past Saturday night. The AWF TV show Saturday Night Slam is now on Channel 45 at 11pm. You can also see the show on the AWF website which is linked above. I don't believe that these matches were tape for the show.

In the opening match Ryan Cruz defeated John Johnson.

Sammy Savard defeated Benjamin Sailer. Here's an interesting side note. Sailer really recommends the movie Black Swan. Not only because Natalie Portman is really hot but also because he is a big fan of ballet.

Mitch Paradise came to the ring and said that he had no opponent for the night because he's already defeated everyone that was in the locker room. So Paradise challenged a fan to get in the ring. One fan took Paradise up on that challenge and got the crap beat out of him.

The AWF heavy weight champion Arya Daivari defeated Craven Knyte. Daivari did not put his title on the line in this match as he thought that the fans in Grantsburg did not deserve to see a title match.

In the main event for the night Tony DeNucci defeated Arik Cannon. The special guest referee for the match was the high schools principal. I think this may have been the first time that DeNucci and Cannon have been in the ring against each other.

3XW Des Moines, IA 1/7/2011

2011-01-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

This past Friday night I went south on I35 to Des Moines, Iowa for 3XW's Divide & Conquer at the Des Moines Social Club. While at the show I got to meet Brian Kelley from Missouri Wrestling Revival. Check out the MWR site for all the latest news on pro wrestling in the central states area.
Jimmy Rockwell & Sir Bradley Charles defeated 3XW Pure Wrestling Champion Ricky Kwong & The Mauler with Chad Mylan by DQ. The DQ came when Mylan interfeared in the match. After the match Rockwell challenged Kwong to defend his title on the next card.

Genisis-Benjamin Sailer, Gage Octane, Nate Bash, Tony Sly & AJ Smooth defeated Jon West, Aaron Masterson, "Big City" Securiy Gaurd, The River Monster & Ryan Slade when Bash pinned Masterson. Genisis is a group of wrestlers who have been with 3XW since the begining and they are out to destroy all those who were not.

3XW heavy weight champion Brain Ash with Todd Countryman retained his title against challenger Zach Thompson.

The Horndogs, Maddog McDowell & Krotch defeated Casanova & Devin Carter to become the new 3XW tag team champions.

The main event for the night was a 60 minute no DQ Iron Man match between Mark Sterling and Jeremy Wyatt. Sixty minutes was not enough time for these two wrestlers as they were tied at 4 wins a piece so 3XW commisioner Todd Countryman sent this match into over time so there would be a winner to this feud. After about 10 more minutes Sterling got the win after a tombstone piledriver on a chair.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Back on December 18, 2005 in Forest Lake, MN Northern Impact Wrestling had a Christmas themed three way match involving Rain, Lisa and Ann Thraxx. Rain was dress as "Mrs. Clause" and Lisa was dressed as an elf. Ann Thraxx was a big Scrooge in this match as she did not dress for the match at all opting to wrestle in her regular ring gear. I heard that they wanted her to dress as the Grinch seeing as how she was the heel in this match. Thraxx can be seen out side the ring on the far left of this photo.

Head on over to Rain's web site to order an 8x10 of Rain in a different "Santa" outfit.

AWF Pierz, MN 12/18/201

2010-12-24T00:04:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday the American Wrestling Federation held another TV taping/ fund raiser event at the Pierz, MN high school field house. This was my first time ever in the town of Pierz, MN. All matches were taped for the AWF TV show Saturday Night Slam which can be seen on channel 45 in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area on Saturday nights at 6:30pm. Just don't tune in this Saturday as all you will see is a yule log burning.
In the opening match Ryan Cruz defeated Sammy "The Bulldog" Savard to advance in the AWF heavyweight title tournament. Cruz won with a roll up.

"6% Body Fat" Rob James defeated "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon with a roll up and a hand full of pleather.

The Black Stallion & "The Professional" Benjamin Sailer defeated Aaron Corbin & John Johnson when Stallion pinned Corbin. After the pin Corbin hit Sailer with a chair which lead to former AWF champion Tony DeNucci to come to the ring and challenge Corbin to a match later in the night.

Arya Daivari pinned Death Mask after a Sleeper Cell (super kick).

Johnny Parks defeated Mitch Paradise to advance in the heavyweight title tournament. Paradise had pinned Parks but when referee Rob Page raised Paradise's hand a chain fell from his armpit so Page reversed his decision and awarded the match to Parks.

Tony DeNucci defeated Aaron Corbin in the main event. Corbin had a lot of help from his tag team partner John Johnson so the Black Stallion came out to help out DeNucci. After referee Rob Page was knocked out by Corbin on of the Pierz high school coaches came out to make the three count after a DeNucci frog splash.

IWA Savage, MN 12/4/2010

2010-12-09T23:12:00.000-08:00

The Intercontinental Wrestling Association Held another card for a TV taping for their show IWA Stars of Wrestling this past Saturday at Neisons Bar & Grill in Savage, MN. There were 8 matches taped for 4 episodes to be shown on public access and the IWA web site.
In the first match The Prophet defeated Kamikaze Klecker. The Prophet did an interview with Keith King after the match.

El Bano defeated "TNT" Tommy Mason in the second match of the night.

Horace The Psychopath defeated Udo. Horace did an interview with Keith King after the match.

Mitch Paradise defeated Benjamin Sailer after a big boot to the face. This was Sailer's debut match for IWA.

"Playboy" Pete Huge defeated Patrick McDaniel with the G-Spot. Huge did an interview after the match with Keith King.

The IWA heavy weight champion, The Black Stallion, retained his belt against Venom.

The Brauler defeated Chiropractor DC.

JB Trask defeated Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday in the last match of the night.

IWA This Saturday night!

2010-12-03T14:19:00.001-08:00

This card is a tv taping for the Intercontinential Wrestling Association. Scheduled to wrestle this Saturday night at Neisen's are Horace the Psychopath, Mitch Paradise, Patrick Lomax and The Brauler. All previous episodes can be seen on the IWA web site.

It Gets Better: Tommy "The Spider Baby" Saturday

2010-11-14T07:43:00.000-08:00

Local pro wrestler Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday did a video for the It Gets Better Project.

Costumes from Halloween past

2010-10-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

Today is Halloween so I decieded to look back into my archives for some photos from MIW and MPW where the wrestlers dressed up for the holiday.

First up is an MIW card that took place in Big Lake, MN on Halloween night 2003. Josie, MIW womans champ at the time, came to the ring dressed as a girl scout.

The main event for the MIW Halloween card was a battle royal. Ken Anderson wore some kind of mask, Undertaker maybe. Johnny Parks was dressed as an '80's rocker.

On November 2, 2003 MPW held it's annual Halloween show at their weekly Sunday event in Rogers, MN. These weekly shows were held at the MPW arena/training center. One of the funnist costomes that year was worn by The Punisher (Rob James). He was a fat stripper and his opponent here is El Viejo as Pretty Boooy Delgado. Or is it Pretty Boooy Delgado as El Viejo?
CJ Talon looked very good as Mick Foley for his match against Joessiah. Talon even used Mr Socko on ref Brian Wallenberg after the match.Lucha Libra is know for high flying, fast paced action, but it's also know for some crazy costumes. At the first ever lucha libra show I atteneded back on April 11, 2004 Frankenstein was envoled in a 6 man match.
The 2004 MPW Halloween show took place on Halloween night at the MPW arena in Rogers, MN. For most of the matches the wrestlers switched ring gear with their opponents. In the photo here V2(Ryan Cruz) & Lisa came to the ring dressed as Animal Sam and Valkrie. During the match both V2 and Sam went under the ring and switched into their regular ring gear.
Chris Jordan, Joey Envy and Pete Huge did and in ring promo dressed as Triple H, X-Pac and HBK. Jordan didn't have a fanny pack so he borrowed mine.

Darin Corbin and Sheriff Johnny Emerald did the gear switch and Emerald even went so far as to color his hair red.
Ref Rob Page got into the fun as he dressed like his favorite wrestler "Playboy" Pete Huge.
This photo didn't take place around Halloween but I just had to enclude it. Any guess's as to who this is and who they are dressed up as? You can guess by clicking on "comments" below.

MIW Chanhassen, MN 10/23/2010

2010-10-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the Chanhassen American Legion this past Saturday night. On this night there were two other wrestling events in the area just 15 miles away. Because of that some of the wrestlers on this card had already wrestled at one of the other events earlier in the night.
In the first match of the night El Bano defeated "Playboy" Pete Huge with a Vader Slash. Huge was very disappointed that he lost to a toilet.

Next up was a Paradise Pit where Mitch Paradise and Rob Ivy's guest were "Genuine Article" Chris Jordan, "All Star" Paul Brewski and Allison Wonderland. The topic of this Paradise Pit was 'winners and loser's' and Brewski brought of Pete Huge as a loser because of his lose in the first match. Jordan and Brewski attached Huge until El Bano made the save.

Rob Ivy defeated Death Mask in the second match of the night. This was Death Mask's first match with MIW. Ivy got the win after a low blow.

Mitch Paradise pinned Horace the Psychopath after a power bomb. During the match Horace was in the corner next to me and he grabbed my shirt. I guess he's not a big fan of my Marvel Secret Wars t-shirt.

After intermission Rob Ivy came to the ring looking for some competition as he thought his match with Death Mask was too easy. Rookie Dorrian came out to accept the challenge. I believe this was Dorrians second match after being trained by Terry Fox. Dorrian got the win over Ivy after a low blow.

Mystik Recognize defeated Ann Brookstone. I think the fans at the American Legion gave Brookstone a new nick name, "Drama Queen". I hope this name catches on and fans everywhere call her Drama Queen.

The main event was scheduled to be Chris Jordan VS MIW heavy weight champion Brody Hoofer for the title. Before the match started Jordan and Paul Brewski attacked Hoofer. Pete Huge came out the make the save so MIW owner Terry Fox made the main event a tag team match with Hoofer and Huge teaming up against Jordan & Brewski with Allison Wonderland. The match ended in a no contest when Huge turned on Hoofer. MIW is scheduled to return to the Chanhassen American Legion on January 8th, 2011.

Unnamed Promotion St. Paul, MN 9/18/2010

2010-10-01T12:40:00.001-07:00

This was the second event held at the Rumors/ Innuendos night club in down town St. Paul, MN. I have not heard of any name for this promotion as it really just started out as a fund raiser event for an AIDS walk. This event, which I was able to make it to after the AWF show earlier in the night, was called "Wrestle Mania". I heard from the promoter that there will be more wrestling at this venue.
In the opening match Ryan Stone pinned Dirty Ernie with a roll up out of now where.

"The Law" Mark Barker won a triple threat elimination match against Contrast and Patrick McDaniel. Contrast was the first to be eliminated.

Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday defeated Gene Gadaski by pin fall. Gadaski's blue jeans split open in the crotch during this match.

Patriot III defeated JB Trask in a 2 out of 3 falls match up. Patriot III won the first fall and JB took the second fall. Patriot III got the final fall when he had help from on of Trask's valets who was a plant for Patriot III.

In a rematch from last time at Rumors Rob Ivy defeated Mike Hawk.

AWF Oakdale, MN 9/18/2010

2010-09-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday night the American Wrestling Federation held a fund raiser event at Tartan High School in Oakdale, MN.
TV announcer Mortimer Plumtree came to the ring to do the TV taping intros. Then he called AWF senior official Rob Page to the ring for an announcement. Page told the crowd that AWF champion Tony DeNucci was attacked in the locker room and that AWF commissioner Sabrina Perri decided to strip DeNucci of the belt and start a tournament for the title. Page also showed off the brand new AWF championship belt. I must say, this is one of the finest looking wrestling belts I've ever seen. All the singles matches on tonight's card were part of the AWF championship tournament.

Arya Daivari defeated Cpl. Julio Julio in a first round match.

Lenny Lane defeated rookie Chiropractor DC in another first round match. This was my first time seeing DC and I think it was only his second match. Lane made DC tap out to the walls of lane. If DC ever has any finishing moves I think they should be called "the spinal crusher" or "the adjustment".

In the third match of the card Mitch Paradise wrestled Brody Hoofer. The match ended in a double count out. I'm not sure if that means that both men are now out of the tournament or not.

The AWF tag team champions John Johnson & Aaron Corbin defeated Ryan Cruz & Benjamin Sailer to retain the belts. It was odd to see Sailer tag with someone else as he and Nate Bash have been a regular tag team for the last three years. Being that both Sailer and Cruz wrestle often in tag team action they worked really well together in this match. The three count came after Corbin kicked Cruz's face into the crowd and Johnson made the pin as he was the legal man.

In the last match of the night Johnny Parks defeated Thoruf Marius. Mitch Paradise came to ring side to try to help Marius but it backfired and Parks got the win to advance in the tournament.

BCW Crystal, MN 9/10/2010

2010-09-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

This past Friday night at the Crystal Community Center Born Championship Wrestling presented "Friday Night Fights".
In the opening match The Prophet defeated Kamikaze Klecker with the message. Klecker came to the ring with a black Spiderman mask but took it off before the match started.

The next match of the night was Patriot 3 VS Cpl. Julio Julio. I left the ring side area because I had to use the rest room. When I returned Horace the Psychopath was in the ring and both wrestlers were out side and the match was declared a no contest. Horace came to the ring to call out BCW owner Judd Jennrick for his interference in Horace's championship match against Darrin Corbin a few months ago.

Trent Jones defeated Udo. This was the first time that I've seen Jones in the ring in a few years. I think that Jones had his feet on the ropes during the 3 count.

Horace got what he asked for when he interrupted the second match of the night when he got to face Judd Jennrick. This match didn't take place in the ring much. They went outside into the rain where they rolled around in the mud on a baseball field. Back inside the building they took the match into the men's room were Horace game Jennrick a swirly. I usually post a photo that favors the winner of the match but this photo had to be seen as the only people who followed the wrestlers into the men's room was the video guy and me. The match finally got back into the ring and Jennrick got help from BCW champion Darin Corbin to get the pin.

"Mr. 6% Body Fat" Rob James came out and issued a challenge to any fat slob in the building. Marky Mang came out to accept the challenge. This was my first time seeing Mang. After a few minutes Ryan Cruz came out and the match was now a three way dance. Cruz got the pin on James after a boom sha ka la ka.

BCW champion Darin Corbin retained his belt against "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon. Corbin had some help from Judd Jennrick's body guard.

The main event of the night was fans bring the weapons tag team championship match between BCW champions The Neighborhood Watch (Mark Barker & Cameron Cross) and 101 Proof(Venom & Bret O'Brian). I had to leave before this match really got started.

Mentallo on Lucha Libre USA Masked Warriors

2010-08-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

I was watching the August 28th episode of Lucha Libre USA on Mtv2 this past past weekend when I saw a familiar masked warrior, Mentallo. It was at an XJAM card in Minot, ND in January 2006 were I first met the masked man from Canada. That's one of the joys of being a ring side photographer at independent pro wrestling shows. One day you see a wrestler at a bar/armory in a small Midwest town and a few years later that same wrestler can be seen on national TV.
The first time I saw Mentallo he was a fan favorite when he wrestled against Arik Cannon at the Udder Palace in Minot, ND. On Lucha Libre USA Mentallo is a rudo, the lucha libre term for bad guy. It was made clear that he was a rude when he was shown pick pocketing some lady on the streets of Las Vegas in a clip on Lucha Libre USA before his match with Azteco.

2010 PWI 500

2010-08-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

The 20th annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 hit news stands a couple of weeks ago. Former TNA champion AJ Styles was named the #1 for the grading period of June 1st, 2009 through May 31st 2010. This was the first time that a TNA wrestler was named #1 in the PWI 500. The photo here was taken back in January 2004 when he came to Midwest Pro Wrestling to face Shifty.

Ranked #3 on the list is CM Punk. In the photo Punk is with Colt Cabana (#101) after they won the ROH tag team titles in Chicago Ridge, Il in April 2004. A little bit of a role reversal as Punk is showing his less serious side. Cabana recently started a podcast called "Art of Wrestling" that can be found at welovecolt.com and on itunes. So far he has done 4 episodes that have featured Shawn Daivari, Punk, Chad Collyer and Bull Pain. I've listened to all 4 shows an really enjoyed them. They are funny and informative. If you are a fan of pro wrestling then you really should listen to Art of Wrestling. Then email him and tell him I told you to listen to his podcast.

I have four photos in the PWI 500, Randy Orton, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes and Chris Masters. Go out and buy an copy now. If you can't find the 2010 PWI 500 on news stands you can now order it on line at the PWI blog.

3XW Des Moines, IA 8/6/2010

2010-08-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

For the first time since October 2007 I made my way down to Des Moines, Iowa for a 3XW card. Int the three years the 3XW roster has not changed much as many of the same guys were since the last time. One thing that has changed is the location for their events. 3XW now runs out of the Des Moines Social Club in down town Des Moines. This card was the second annual King of Des Moines tournament that featured 8 of 3XW's best wrestlers and two title matches.
There was a pre show match between Brady A. Dezire and Jon West. West was one of only two on this card that I had never seen before. Dezire won the match with a super kick.

The the first tournament match Zach Thompson defeated Nate Bash. Both men are fan favorties but Thompson was voted most popular 3XW wrestler 2009.

In the second first round match Brain Ash w/ Todd Countryman defeated Maddog McDowell. This match featured the two biggest men in 3XW.

Jeremy Wyatt defeated Benjamin Sailer in another first round match. Wyatt hit Sailer in the jimmy and rolled him up for the three count.

In the final first round match Mark Sterling defeated Devin Carter. Sterling made Carter tap out to his version of the sharp shooter.

Jeremy Wyatt advanced to the finals by defeating Zach Thompson. Thompson tapped out to Wyatt's cross face submission hold.

Mark Sterling pinned Brain Ash with Todd Countryman. Ash tried using a foriegn objest that was handed to him by Countryman but Sterling still got the win to advance to the finals.

3XW Unified Pure Wrestling Champion Jimmy Rockwell retained his belts in a six man scramble match. The other five men in the match were Casanova, Sir Bradley Charles, Hunter Matthews, Aaron Masterson and Ryan Slade.

Rory Fox sucessfully defended the 3XW Heavyweight championship against Ricky Kwong with Chad Mylan. Fox was featured in Mtv's True Life: I'm a pro wrestler show a few years back.

In the King of Des Moines finals Mark Sterling defeated Jeremy Wyatt in a 30 minute plus match.

Mark Sterling, 2010 King of Des Moines. He now gets all his extra value meals super sized at any fast food resturant in Des Moines and a really big trophy.

8 Stupid Questions with Arik Cannon

2010-08-05T00:44:00.001-07:00

Name: Arik Cannon

height: 5'8"

Weight: 215 lbs

Years pro: 9+

Home town: Wyoming, MN

1. Why did you want to become a pro wrestler? When I was just a little Arik Cannon, wrestling took priority over Saturday morning cartoons. I watched it as much as I could, rented all the VHS tapes from the local video store whenever Mama Cannon would let me. This was a trend that continued, and just never quit. As I grew older, I continued to collect wrestling videos from all over the world. It was just something I always wanted to do.The Characters, the physicality, the good vs. evil, all of it...I just couldn't get enough of it. (Cannon vs Skayde 9/20/03 MPW)

2. You were on a short lived MTV promotion Wrestling Society X. I thought the show would have lasted for more then one season if MTV would have promoted it by putting some of the wrestlers on other MTV shows. Which show would you pick to be on had you been given the choice? Room Raiders, Pimp My Ride or Next? I agree. There was little to no promotion done by MTV, and I definitely think that played a big part in WSX only lasting one season.That, and 'The Hills'. I blame 'The Hills'. Have you seen the chicks on that show? That said, had you listed 'The Hills' as I'd have totally picked that. But, you didn't. So I'll go with...Next! (Cannon vs Christy Hemme 8/01/09 HOW)

3. Do you like cops? Total coin flip. Some cops are pretty cool. While others... They just aren't. Sheriff's though, now that is another story! (Cannon with sheriff Johnny Emerald 1/23/05 MPW)

4. What is the best pro wrestling video game ever? Great question. I'm having trouble deciding between Fire Pro Wrestling D for the Dreamcast and Virtual Pro Wrestling for the N64. Both are top shelf goodness. Each game is so different, yet so awesome. Ca we say it's a tie? (Cannon vs Darin Corbin 1/14/06 3XW)

5. On May 28th, 2010 F1rst Wrestling co-promoted an event with Wrestlicious. If there were a male version of Wrestlicoious which stereo type character would you be? (There are no Anarchist in Wrestlicious.) Ummm... I guess I'd have to go with the male version of Felony. The jailbird. It's the closest thing to an Anarchist, right? (Cannon vs Danny Daniels 9/29/07 AAW)

6. Are you a good dancer? I've been told I am, butt...I'm not so sure that's the case. I can do the worm. (Cannon vs Rob James 6/9/07 NIW)
7. Where is the weirdest/oddest place you've ever wrestled at? Weirdest... Oddest... As in the Men's Room at the First Avenue Nightclub? (Cannon vs Horace the Psychopath 6/20/08 F1rst Wrestling)

8. Do you like beer? I like beer. Mich. Golden Light, Coors light, Miller lite, ect. -Pint Glass, and I kindly ask the bartender to toss a couple olives into it. (Cannon vs Rob James 2/3/06 NIW)

FLWA South Haven, MN 7/24/2010

2010-07-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday night French Lake Wrestling Association was one of the attractions for South Haven Day. There was a little rain just before bell time but it stayed away for the rest of the night.
In the opening contest Billy Blaze defeated Cooter.

In a special attraction ladies match Allison Wonderland defeated Mystik Sexton with a manager who's name I forgot. I think it might have been Vanesa.

In tag team action Johnny Parks & Brody Hoofer won by DQ over Sammy Savard & High Roller STX w/ Mago. The DQ came when Mitch Paradise came out to attack Hoofer & Parks. During this 3 on 2 beat down the ring broke. Former WWE superstar Rikishi came out to even the sides at 3 and he asked FLWA acting commishener Heavy D to make the main event a 6 man tag. Heavy D said it would happen.

Horace the Psychopath defeated Chadwick Wentworth III (The Black Stallion) to become the new FLWA champion. At some point this match became a hard core match and a golf club, lawn chair, hammer and garbage can were used.

Rikishi, Brody Hoofer & Johnny Parks defeated Sammy Savard, STX & Mitch Paradise in a six man tag match. After the match High Roller Mago got the stink face from Rikishi.

Tragos/Thesz 2010 Hall of Fame Waterloo, IA 7/10/2010

2010-07-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday July 10, 2010 The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum inducted 5 wrestlers into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame. The museum in located in downtown Waterloo, Iowa and they had their first class of Hall of Fame members inducted in 1999. The majority of the museum is dedicated to armature wrestling but one of the rooms is filled with some of the most interesting items from pro wrestling past. On display are many ring jackets including some worn by Larry Hennig, Mr Wrestling and Bret Hart as well as title belts worn by Ted DiBiase and Lou Thesz.

The class of 2010 included Terry Funk, Paul Vachon, Warren Bockwinkel, George Gordienko and Stanislaus Zbyszko. Funk and Vachon were present to accept their HoF plaques at the ceremony.

Mick Foley received the Frank Gotch award from Kent Sesker of the museum.

J Michael Kenyon received the Jim Melby award for excellence in pro wrestling journalism. He was presented the award by melby's daughter.
Rene Goulet received the Lou Thesz award for his charity work. Thesz's widow Charlie was there to present the award to Goulet.

Danny Hodge was at this years ceremony to accept Warren Bockwinkel's HoF award as Bockwinkel's son Nick was unable to attend. If you have the chance to meet the man that Jim Ross says is the best pro wrestler alive do not ask him to put you in a headlock. He may be almost 80 years old but he still knows how to make it hurt.

IPW Waterloo, IA 7/9/2010

2010-07-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I drove down to Waterloo, Iowa for the George Tragos/Lou Thesz 2010 Hall of Fame inductions at the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum. On Friday night Impact Pro Wrestling presented a card at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center as part of the HoF weekend festivities. Before the card there was a Q & A with Mick Foley and Terry Funk and then a Fan Fest with many of the HoF members and award winners. This was my first time at an IPW event so there were many wrestlers who I had not seen before.
In the opening match James Jefferies defeated Sparrow w/Kiandra. Jefferies got the win while holding on to the ropes but ref Billy J was out of position to see the rule braking. Sparrow attacked Jefferies after the match.

IPW tag team champions Justin Decent & Ugly defeated Marshall Scott & Montoya X to retain their belts.

ROH champion Tyler Black defeated AJ Smooth.

Harley Jackson pinned Anthony Drake in less then 2 minutes. Drake looked a little like Beautiful Bobby from the Half Pint Brawlers TV show on Spike. Drake sure looked like a midget compared to the much larger Jackson.

IPW heavyweight champion Tony Sly defeated Matty Star to retain the belt.Sly got the pin after his manager hit Star with the title belt.

Nicky Free pinned former 2 time ROH champion Austin Aries.

The main event for the night was a 20 man over the top rope battle royal with the winner recieving $5,00 and a shot at the heavyweight title. Matty Star won the match when he eliminated Tony Sly.

George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame

2010-07-08T01:19:00.000-07:00

Mick Foley and Terry Funk will be in Waterloo, Iowa this weekend for the George Tragos/Lou Thesz professional Wrestling hall of Fame class of 2010 inductions. Funk will be inducted into the HoF and Foley will receive the Frank Gotch award. Both men will take part in a Q & A on Friday night before the IPW card. Check out the web site for more details. Dan Gabel International Wrestling Institute and Museum

PWA South St. Paul, MN 6/26/2010

2010-07-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

For the second Saturday in a row Pro Wrestling America had one of their annual shows. This week it was at Kaposia Days in South St. Paul, MN in the VFW parking lot. Once again it was a beautiful day for outdoor wrestling.
In the opening match Contrast defeated Udo in the battle of the masked men.

Horace the Psychopath defeated The Brauler in the second match.

Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday defeated rookie Denis "The Menace" Michael.

Mystik pinned Heather Zumhofe.

Billy Blaze pinned Buck "Rock N Roll" Zumhofe with some help from Lenny Lane. After the match Zumhofe challenged Lane to a weasel suit match at an up coming show. Zumhofe first had his weasel suit match against Bobby "The Brain/Weasel" Heenan probably over 20 years ago.

JB Trask & Rob Ivy w/ Kimberly & April Allure defeated Shimdog & Lenny Lane when Ivy pinned Shimdog.

PWA champion Mitch Paradise w/ The Professor retained his belt when he beat Arya Daivari. This was a switch from last weeks card as Paradise was the bad guy and Daivari was the good guy. I think this was the first time I've ever seen Daivari getting cheers from the fans.

PWA Belle Plain, MN 6/19/2010

2010-06-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday night the town of Bell Plane, MN held their annual German Days festival and Pro Wrestling America put on a wrestling show. Before the matches started there was a sour kraut eating contest in the ring.
In the opening match former WCW cruiser weight champion Lenny Lane defeated rookie Denis 'Menace' Michael.

Udo pinned The Brauler in the second match.

Allison Wonderland, announced as 'Alice Allison', defeated Mystik with the g-spot.

At intermission Mitch Paradise was in the ring for Polaroids with fans when he was attacked by Lenny Lane and Arya Daivari. Udo and Denis Michael came out to try to save Paradise but they were not much help as they both were tossed from the ring.

Patrick Lomax pinned Rob Ivy after a choke slam.

PWA champion Mitch Paradise retained his title against Arya Daivari in the main event. The beat down from intermission was not enough to defeat Paradise, the home town hero.

F1rst Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 5/28/2010

2010-06-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

This past Friday night F1rst Wrestling co-promoted an event with Wrestlicious at First Avenue night club in down town Minneapolis. The first half of the show was a TV taping for the Wrestlicious Take Down TV show. The matches taped here will be on the last two episodes of season one of Wrestlicious Take Down. Check out their web site linked above for where to see Take Down.
The first match of the night was Tyler Texas (Lorelei Lee) & Glory "The All American Girl"( Christie Ricci) VS Tina "The Trigger" & Toni "The Top".

Next up was Marley (Dazee haze) & Coco Montego (Josie/Sojo Bolt from TNA) VS Faith (Portia Perez) & White Magic (Lacey). Faith came out first and said her partner was not there because she had been a little naughty but she did have a partner for this match. Austin Aries was the referee for this match.

Super Nova VS Jezabel James. Both of these wrestlers were very familiar to the F1rst Wrestling crowd.

Cousin Cassie VS Juvi hall. This was Hall's debut match for Wrestlicious. She is also a second generation wrestler as her mother wrestled for GLOW as Roxy Astor.

Tyler Texas VS Faith.

The main event for the Wrestlicious part of the event was a lumberjill match for the Wrestlicious championship between champion Glory and Toni The Top.

In six man tag team action Yellow Dog, Udo & Venom defeated The Prophet, Camron Cross & Craven Knyte. Someone tossed Yellow Dogs chew toy up to the second level. After Yellow Dog found the toy he jumped down on the rest of the wrestlers below becoming the third wrestler to make that dive for F1rst Wrestling.

The 5-0, Rob Justice & Mark Barker defeated The Northstar Express, Ryan Cruz & Darin Corbin. Justice pinned Corbin after spraying him with mace.

"The Professional" Benjamin Sailer won a 4 way match against "6% Body Fat" Rob James, "Playboy" Pete Huge and Brody Hoofer. Huge was ready to hit Sailer with the "G-spot" when Allison Wonderland came out and distracted him. This lead to Sailer hitting Huge with the bengerman suplex for the 3 count.

"The Anarchist" Arik Cannon beat Horace the Psychopath in a no DQ match that went all over First Ave. During the match Cannon suplexed Horace on to a garbage container and Horace was cut in his lower back by a broken glass that required 20 some stitches.

HOW Duluth, MN 5/27/2010

2010-05-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-09T02:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

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.

MIW Mounds View, MN 3/20/2010

2010-03-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Independent Wrestling was at Robert's Sports bar this past Saturday night with 6 big matches.
Super Caboose defeated "The Law" Mark Barker in the opening contest. Barker tried using his asp baton but it back fired on him as he hit himself with it.

Weston Monroe w/ Allison Wonderland pinned Patrick McDaniel.

Cpl. Julio Julio defeated Craven Knyte. After the first match of the night there was a Paradise Pit where Julio was Paradise's guest. Knyte came out and attacked Julio.

Horace the Psycopath pinned Shimdog. For the second night in a row Horace came to the ring with a plunger wrapped in toilet paper.

MIW champion Brody Hoofer retain his belt when he pinned Rob Ivy.

Gunner Clash pinned Mitch Paradise. The special guest referee for this main event was "Punisher" JR.

ECHO Pro St. Cloud, MN 3/19/2010

2010-03-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

After almost one year ECHO Pro Wrestling held it's 4th event this past Friday night. This one was at the St. Cloud National Guard Armory, the same location as the first ECHO Pro event. The big names advertised for the card were The Honky Tonk Man and Road Dogg.
In the opening contest "Every one's Favorite" Nate Bash defeated Lenny Lane by pin fall. Lane had two of his trainees with him at ring side. The two trainees fought over who got to hand Lane the brass knuckles. That gave Bash time to recover and get the 3 count on Lane. After the match Lane had his two trainees kiss his boots.

The Honky Tonk Man defeated Arya Daivari after the old 'shake rattle n roll'. HTM used the guitar after the match but he did not smash it over Daivari's head.

Horace the Psychopath pinned Arik Cannon in the third match of the night. This match was a hard core match as there were garbage cans and plungers used. Cannon's face was a bloody mess.

Brody Hoofer got the win over "Road Dogg" Jesse James. I think Hoofer may have used a foreign object but I didn't see it so I can't say for sure. At the last ECHO Pro event Hoofer lost to Jame's former partner Kip James.

"Playboy" Pete Huge beat Kamikaze Klecker and Rob James w/Scarlett Bordeaux in a #1 contender hard core triple threat match. The end came when James was pushed from the ring onto a table and Klecker was suplexed from the top rope on to a bunch of thumb tacks by Huge. Both James and Klecker were bloody, mostly from a cheese grater.

In his first defense as ECHO Pro champion Darin Corbin w/ Nikki Mayday was able to pick his opponent. His choice was his Northstar Express tag team partner Ryan Cruz. After a fast paced start to the match Corbin asked Cruz to slow it down. So they wrestled in slow motion for about a minute. Corbin got the win to retain the belt but the partners were attacked after the match buy Pete Huge, Rob James and Arya Daivari.

BCW Brooklyn Center, MN 3/13/2010

2010-03-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

Born Championship Wrestling held a fund raiser event at the Brooklyn Center high school. The promoter and a few of the wrestlers graduated from this school. This was my first time at a BCW event and I believe it was only their second or third event.
In the opening contest Darin Corbin pinned Kamikaze Klecker to become the #1 contender for the BCW championship. It looked like Corbin may have pulled Klecker's shorts to get the 3 count.

Cpl. Julio Julio defeated Gus. At least I think that was his name.

101 Proof defeated (Venom & Bret O'Brian) the Neighbor Hood Watch( "the Law" Mark Barker & Camron Cross) when NHW was DQed for using an asp baton.

The next match was suppose to be an amateur wrestling challenge between BCW promoter Judd and some guy named Wayne. Wayne brought a chair into the ring and Black Hogan made the save. Yep, the same Black Hogan who won the best FU contest as seen on TNA.com.

Arya Daivari pinned Ryan Cruz after a magic carpet ride.

Udo pinned Arik Cannon w/ Allison Wonderland.

Horace the Psychopath defeated Nate Bash and "6% Body Fat" Rob James in a 3 way dance to become the new BCW champion.

IWA Savage, MN 2/27/2010

2010-02-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Intercontinental Wrestling Association returned to Neisen's Sports Bar in Savage, MN this past Saturday.
In the opening match "7' of sexy" Patrick Lomax w/ The Brauler pinned Camron Cross (formerly Known as Malikite). There was a huge size difference between these two.

After the match the Brauler and Lomax were interviewed by Keith King of "Just A Show". I really liked this addition to the the IWA event and King did a great job. King also interviewed Rob James and Mitch Paradise after their matches.

Cpl. Julio Julio defeated Craven Knyte.

Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday & UDO defeated "The Law" Mark Barker & Rob Justice by DQ when Barker used an asp baton.

"6% Body Fat" Rob James defeated The Prophet. James hit The Prophet with a low blow that led to a pump handle slam for the 3 count.

Mitch Paradise won a #1 contender 3 way match against JB Trask w/ April Allure and The Black Stallion.

Chad Strong defeated Bad Boy Brian in a hard core match.

In the main event Horace the psychopath w/ nurse Tyler Marie pinned The Brauler w/ the Brauler babes to become the new IWA world champion. Patrick Lomax was the referee for this match and he did all he could to help The Brauler win but it was not enough.

New IWA world champion Horace with his nurse Tyler Marie.

MWE New Hope, MN 2/13/2010

2010-02-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

Midwest Wrestling Entertainment held it's second annual fund raiser card at the Holy Nativity church in New Hope, MN. There was an interesting twist to this card as some of the wrestlers were picked to referee the matches. This was the first time I've ever been to a pro wrestling event in a church.
In the opening contest "Everyone's Favorite" Nate Bash pinned Weston Monroe. Chris Jordan, the promoter of MWE, was the special referee for this match. After the match was over The Black Stallion came out and attacked Jordan.

El Bano defeated "The Law" Mark Barker with Cpl. Julio Julio as special referee.

Gunner Clash defeated Super Lover in the next match. Pete Huge was suppose to be the special referee. Huge complained that he should not have to ref. He then gave both Clash and Lover the "Pete spot" and left the ring. This was my first time seeing Super Lover in action.

Cpl. Julio Julio defeated "6% Body fat" Rob James by submission. Barker was the special ref and he pushed James which lead to Julio's submission.

Shimdog pinned Horace the psychopath with Weston Monroe as the special ref. I don't know if this was suppose to be a hard core match but it turned into a garbage match when Horace tossed a full trash can at Shimdog in the ring. Shimdog got the pin with a fast 3 count from Monroe.

Brody Hoofer defeated Pete Huge in a championship match.

"The Genuine Article" Chris Jordan got the win over The Black Stallion in the main event of the night. Shimdog was the special ref but he was chaised back to the locker room by "Everyone's Favorite" Nate Bash. The ref that replaced Shimdog was powerbombed by Stallion but Pastor Jason came to the ring to make the 3 count on Stallion after a Jordan top rope elbow drop.

SDW DVD

2010-02-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

St eel Domain Wrestling has released a DVD called "Pro Wrestling Stars: Before the Big Time". This DVD features some of the top stars today in matches that took place in SDW from 1998 to 2005. Wrestlers on the DVD include WWE's CM Punk, current ROH champion Austin Aries, TNA Knockout ODB, WWE's Bam Neeley/Magnus Maximus and TNA/WWE's Ken "Kennedy" Anderson. Other notables on the DVD are former WCW cruiser weight champion Lenny Lane, WWE's Scotty Goldman/Colt Cabana, former TNA star Shawn "Sheik Abdul Bashir" Daivari and ROH's Ace Steel. The photos on the DVD cover were taken by me. Just click on the DVD title link for ordering info.
SDW DVD preview video on youtube
And speaking of photos on the cover...I got the photo cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestling Annual. I took the photo of Shawn Michaels & Triple H at the Rochester, MN RAW house show last month.

NPW Hayward, WI 2/5/2010

2010-02-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

Northwoods Pro Wrestling, in association with Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the L.C.O. casino in Hayward, WI. I almost didn't make it to the event as my co pilot got us lost and my car got stuck while trying to turn around. Luckily a very nice man stopped to help us out. There were a few wrestlers/valets on this card that I had never seen before.
El Bano defeated "The Law" Mark Barker and Gunner Clash in a three way. Mitch Paradise came out and tossed all three from the ring and cut a promo in the ring to set up his match with Daryl Hall.

Shimdog w/ Kiandra defeated Cpl. Julio Julio.

"Genuine Article" Chris Jordan defeated AJ Smooth w/ Ferreh Lee by DQ when "Playboy" Pete Huge helped Smooth. As both Huge & Smooth were beating on Jordan, Horace the psychopath came out to even the sides. Jordan then asked for a tag team match with Horace against Huge & Smooth.

Ann Brookstone vs Mystique ended in a no contest when Ferreh Lee, Kiandra and Allison Wonderland got involved in the match.

Daryl Hall pinned Mitch Paradise.

Allison Wonderland won the Queen of the Northwoods Diva Royal when she pushed Ann Brookstone over the top rope. Others eliminated before Brookstone were Mystique, Stacey Shadows, Ferreh Lee and Kiandra.

Chris Jordan & Horace the psychopath defeated Pete Huge & AJ Smooth w/ Ferreh Lee.

MIW Chanhassen, MN 1/23/2010

2010-01-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the Chanhassen American Legion to a packed house this past Saturday night.
In the opening contest CPL Julio Julio defeated Weston Monroe. This was my first time seeing Monroe in action as he is one of the newest trainees of Terry Fox and Austin Aries.

El Bano defeated "The Law" Mark Barker. Bano is very well liked at this venue.

"The Professional" Benjamin Sailer defeated Rob Ivy. These two were guest on the opening segment called "Paradise's Pit" starring Mitch Paradise. Ivy and Paradise attacked Sailer until Sailer's Midwest Ground & Air partner Nate Bash made the save and and challenged Paradise to a match later on in the card.

Nate Bash pinned Mitch Paradise. Ivy came out to help Paradise but Bash still got the win.

In the main event "Playboy" Pete Huge & ROH champion Ausitn Aries defeated Horace the Psychopath & MIW champion Brody Hoofer. Earlier in the night Aries was in the ring cutting a promo when Huge came out to join him. On his way to the ring Huge slipped and fell. The two came out later and Huge had a neck brace on. The match ended when Huge pinned Hoofer.

F1rst Wrestling Holiday Havoc DVD

2010-01-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

The DVD for F1rst Wrestling's Holiday Havoc is now available for purchase. On this DVD is a tag team tlc match between Midwest Ground & Air and the Northstar Express as well as a dog collar match between Horace the Psychopath and Arya Daivari. Horace bleed buckets of blood in this match. To order the DVD email F1rst Wrestling at f1rstwrestling@gmail.com or go to http://www.smartmarkvideo.com/F1rst-Wrestling/ . Tell them Wayne McCarty sent you.

AWF Monticello, MN 1/9/2010

2010-01-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

The American Wrestling Federation held a fund raiser event for the Monticello High School atletic department.
In the opening match Juice Robinson defeated former WCW cruiser weight champion Lenny Lane.

Thoruf Marius with manager Angel Armoni defeated Johnny Parks.

Cory O'Neill & Ryan Cruz, subbing for Cody O'Neill, defeated Aaron Corbin & John Johnson. The AWF tag betls were not on the line.

AWF champion Tony DeNucci pinned Chris Black to retain the title. After Black's manager Angel Armoni got involved in the match DeNucci was helped by the Monitcello wrestling teams coaches.

In the main event Bob Holly defeated Arya Daivari.

IWA Savage, MN 12/19/2009

2009-12-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

The Intercontinental Wrestling Association return to their home venue at Niesons Sports Bar in Savage, MN this past Saturday night. On this card the IWA booked a couple of new faces to the MSP area.

In the opening match Heavy D lost to The Brauler. That really should read that Heavy D lost to referee Patrick Lomax as it was after a choke slam from Lomax that The Brauler got the pin.

In the next match Venom and Mini Venom (Bad Boy Brian) defeated Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday & Mini Spiderbaby (Chad Strong). Bad Boy Brian was recently seen on WWE RAW as part of the 'Little Peoples Court' jury.
Big Loco pinned Craven Knyte in the third match of the card.
The Great Cheyenne made her IWA/Minnesota debut and defeated Ann Brookstone.

Arya Daivari was scheduled to face cpl. Julio Julio in a boot camp match but Julio was in out of action with an illness. Taking Julio's place was Rob James who came out in army fatigues. To win this boot camp match one wrestler must make the other wrestler tap out. James made Daivari tap out to the dreaded crippler cross face.
The Black Stallion & The Great Malaki defeated the Barking Spiders when Malaki pinned Ox. Stallion & Malaki had some help from Daivari. The Great Malaki mad his IWA/Minnesota debut in this match. Malaki does some stuff with fire when he enters the arena and The Great Cheyenne come to the ring with him as well as two hooded men.

Horace The Psychopath defeated JB Trask in a hard core match for the #1 contender. Horace now gets a shot at the Braulers IWA title.

IWA 12/19/2009 event poster

2009-12-15T23:56:00.001-08:00

Here are two posters for the up coming IWA event in Savage, MN. Most of the photos are mine except for the 3 from the Chicago area.

F1rst Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 12/11/2009

2009-12-14T08:52:00.001-08:00

F1rst Wrestling returned to their home base, First Ave, this past Saturday for an event titled "Holiday Havok". It was cold outside as well as inside the night club.
In the opening match Udo defeated "Playboy" Pete Huge. After the match Huge left his manager/valet Allison Wonderland.

Horace the Psychopath came out and demanded that Arya Daivari come out for a match. Daivari came out but said Horace first had to beat the 5-0 to get a match with him. Horace pinned both Rob Justice and Mark Barker to get a match with Daivari.

Venom defeated The Prophet.

"6% Body Fat" Rob James came out and issued his '6% challenge. This time the challenge was a pose down. Answering that challenge was Black Hogan! After two poses James attacked Hogan. This was only Hogans second time in the ring.

Arik Cannon came out to save Black Hogan and that lead to the next match. Rob James defeated Cannon after Cannon missed his glimmering warlock. James continued to punish Cannon after the bell so Black Hogan came back out to give James the big boot and leg drop combo.

Arya Daivari came out and talked about how bad Christmas is. This brought out Santa Claus and his ginger bread man helper. Santa and GBM toss presents out to the crowd then Santa gave a present to Daivari. The present was a chain with a dog collier on each end and it was from Horace. After Daivari but his collier on Santa revealed that he was really Horace and the next match started.

Arya Daivari defeated Horace the Psychopath in a dog collier match. Referee Ricky Reed stopped the match because Horace was bleeding too much. Blood was actually streaming from his forehead like a fountain. That was probably the grossest thing I ever saw in a pro wrestling match. Referee Rob Page came out and re stared the match and Daivari won this time with a roll up.

There was a thousand dollars on the line in a TLC match between the Northstar Express and Midwest Ground & Air. After Nate Bash put Ryan Cruz through a table on the outside of the ring and Benjamin Sailer put Darin Corbin through a table inside the ring Sailer climbed the ladder and took down the case with a thousand dollars in it. Bash & Sailer tossed some of their winners in to the crowd.

AWF Red Wing, MN 12/5/2009

2009-12-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

The American Wrestling Federation held a fund raiser event at the Red Wing high school this past Saturday night.
In the opening match Cory O'Neill won by DQ over Aaron Corbin when Corbin's partner John Johnson interfered in the match.

"The rookie sensation" Juice Robinson defeate "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon in this first time meeting.

Thoruf Marius defeated "The Winner" Johnny Parks. This was the first time I heard Parks refered to as "The Winner". Angel Armoni managed Marius for this match.

AWF tag team champions, The O'Neill Twins defeated The Misfits, Aaron Corbin & John Johnson, to retain the belts.

Former WCW cruiser weight champion Lenny Lane defeated Ryan Cruz.

AWF heavy weight champion Tony DeNucci defeated Arya Daivari to retain the belt. Daivari was managed by Angel Armoni for this match.

F1rst Wrestling Holiday Havok poster

2009-12-02T08:08:00.001-08:00

All photos on this F1rst Wrestling Holiday Havok poster were taken by me.

AWF Princeton, MN poster

2009-11-27T17:50:00.001-08:00

Poster for the up coming AWF event in Princeton, MN. Most of the photos were taken by me.

AWF Annandale, MN 11/21/2009

2009-11-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

The American Wrestling Federation hit the Annandale High School for a big fund raiser event. There were 5 big matches on this card and a new AWF heavyweight champion was crowned.
Arya Daivari defeated Sammy Savard in the opening match.

Mitch Paradise pinned Juice Robinson.

The AWF tag team champions retained their titles when they beat the Misfits (Aaron Corbin and John Johnson). During the match Johnson sprained his ankle when did an elbow drop on Cody O'Neill. Johnson left the match after he tagged out to Corbin right after the elbow drop.

Thoruf Marius defeated K-Train with a choke slam.

Tony DeNucci became the AWF heavy weight champion when he defeated Chris Black. Black had a lot of help from his manager Angel Armoni but he still was not able to beat DeNucci.

AWF poster for this Saturday in Annandale, MN

2009-11-16T12:59:00.001-08:00

The American Wrestling Federation will be in Annandale, MN this Saturday night November 21st, 2009. Three of the action photos are mine as well as the posed photos of Tony DeNucci, Arya Daivari, K-Train and Haystacks. The one of Sammy Savard might be mine as well but for sure the really bad photo of Lenny Lane is not mine.

IWA Bloomington, MN 11/7/2009

2009-11-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

The Intercontinental Wrestling Association was at the Bloomington, MN Knights of Columbus for 6 big matches. This was the first time I've ever been to this venue and thought it was a very nice place for a pro wrestling event. The ceiling was low but not too low. There was a snack bar as well as a full beverage bar.
In the opening match Horace the Psychopath defeated Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday. I believe this was the first time these two have faced each other one on one.

"The Extreme Assassin" Craven Knyte defeated The Prophet. This was the first time wrestling in IWA for both of these men.

Cpl. Julio Julio defeated El Bano.

Arya Daivari defeated Mike Stanley with the magic carpet ride. This was Arya's first time in the IWA.

Big Loco defeated The Black Stallion by count out when Stallion left the ring and went to the locker room.

The Brauler defeated Kenny "the Sodbuster" Jay. The Brauler claims to be the IWA champion. Jay is 72 years old.

F1rst Wrestling West St. Paul, MN 10/24/2009

2009-10-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

I missed the all of the second round matches of the F1rst Wrestling Sweet Sixteen tournament plus a few non tournament match as I was at the IWA-MN card on the other side of the Twin Cities for the MN debut of Amy Hennig.
The Orsirian Portal defeated Nate Bash & Darin Corbin in tag team action. I got to the arena just after all four wrestlers did the dance from Jackson's Beat It. Damn, wish I would have seen that.

Horace The Psychopath defeated STIGMA in a match where they brawled all over the place.

Benjamin Sailer defeated Pete Huge in the second round of the tourny but he was the first one eliminated from the 4 way finals match.

Arik Cannon defeated Ryan Cruz to advance to the finals but he was the second one eliminated.

Claudio Castingnol defeated Mike Quackenbush to move on in the tourny.

Lince Dorado won the big cup as he pinned Castignoli.

IWA-MN Savage, MN 10/24/2009

2009-10-31T19:14:00.001-07:00

The Intercontinental Wrestling Association of MN returned to Niesons Sports bar in Savage, MN this past Saturday night. The main attraction on this card was the MN debut of Curt Hennig's daughter Amy Hennig.
In the opening match The Brauler defeated Tommy Mason. The Brauler came out with two females he called his Brauler Babes and they did a nice flippy routine in the ring.

Big Loco defeated Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday in the second match of the night.

Trent Stone defeated Mikey Stanley. This was my first time seeing Stone as he made his way up to MN from Harley Race's WLW.

Third generation wrestler Amy Hennig defeated Ann Brookstone. Hennig wore a two piece suit that looked like her dad Curt's old singlet. Hennig won the match with the perfectplex.

There were two more matches after the ladies match but I had to leave to get to the finals of the F1rst Wrestling Sweet Sixteen.

F1rst Wrestling West St. Paul, MN 10/23/2009

2009-10-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

F1rst Wrestling held their first round of their Sweet Sixteen tournament last night at the West St. Paul armory. For this tournament some wrestlers from Chikara pro wrestling were brought in. All matches on this card were first round matches.
Ryan Cruz defeated Amasis in the first match of the night.

"Playboy" Pete Huge defeated Venom after a low blow and g spot.

Rob James defeated STIGMA. The origanal opponet for James was scheduled to be Hydra but Stigma took his place.

J"The Anarchist" Arik Cannon defeated "The Popular" Nate Bash.

"The Professional" Benjamin Sailer pinned Arya Daivari.

Claudio Castignoli defeated Darin Corbin.

"Lightning" Mike Quackenbush defeated Ophidian.

In the battle of cat vs dog it was the cat who won when Lince Dorado defeated the Yellow Dog. Lot's of comedy in this match.

AWF Anoka, MN 10/17/2009

2009-10-20T12:33:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday night I got to go back to my old junior high school as the American Wrestling Federation held a fund raiser for the Anoka athletic department. This event was held at the Fred Moore middle school center for the arts. Back in my day it was just Fred Moore junior high.
In the first match of the night K-Train defeated Arya Daivari. During intermission kids came up to Daivari wanting him to autograph their programe. Most of the kids held out the progame turned to the page with Daivari's brother Shawn "Abdul Bashir" Daivari.

In the second match "The Contract Killer" defeated Zero Kincade. This was my first time seeing "The Contract Killer".

The AWF tag team titles were on the line as champions The O'Neill Twins battled The Misfits. In the match Aaron Corbin was joined by John Johnson who has been out of action for about one year. Cody & Cory O'Neill got the win and retained the belts.

Tony DeNucci defeated Chris Black. DeNucci got a cut above his eye from Black's manager Angel Armoni.

Thoruf Marius defeated Juice Robinson. I think it was during this match that the fire alarm went off in the building but no one moved an inch except to plug their ears. I remember doing many fire drills in that building and just like all those this one was a false alarm.

"Livewire" Johnny Parks defeated Lenny Lane in the main event. There was some outside interfance in this match as Lane had attacked the O'Neill Twins after their match because he is jelous of all the attention they get. The O'Neill's came out and attacked Lane when ref Jay Soltis was knocked down and the Misfits came out the even the sides. The tag teams left the ring area and Parks won the match after this leg drop shown here.