PWI 500 2012

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

CM Punk VS Daniel Bryan

This Sunday at the WWE Over The Limit PPV the WWE champion CM Punk will take on the challenge of Daniel Bryan. To promote that match this week WWE.com posted a story about the history between Punk and Bryan. That story included photos I took for Pro Wrestling Illustrated back in 2004. The match took place at the St. Paul Armory for Ring of Honor when Bryan was then know as Bryan Danielson. No titles were on the line in that match on April 23 but Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat was the special guest referee. Bryan won that match when he made Punk tap out. Will he be able to make Punk tap out again this Sunday?
CM Punk spent his first few years in pro wrestling in Steel Domain Wrestling which held most of its card in West Saint Paul, just down the road from where this ROH card took place.You can watch this match at ROH’s web site which I’ve linked here. Look for me at ring side, I'm the one in the red shirt.

WWE Minneapolis, MN 2/4/2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dragon Gate USA Chicago, IL 9/6/2009

On Sunday September 6th Dragon Gate USA presented "Open the Untouchable Gate" at the Congress theatre in Chicago, IL. This was their second event and it was taped for PPV that will be available in November.
The fans in the first few rows were treated to a special match called 'The Fray'. The Fray started with two wrestlers then another one entered the Fray after a set amount of time. Wrestlers were eliminated by pin fall or submission. The 8 wrestlers in the Fray were Johnny Gargano, Hallowicked, Louis London, Shiima Xion, Arik Cannon, Mustafa Ali, Great Malaki and Flip Kendrick. Grangano won the match when he pinned Hallowicked.
Dragon Kid defeated Masato Yoshino.Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw defeated Gran Akuma & Yamato.

Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate champion Naruki Doi retained his title when he beat "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. For the fist time I actually saw an announcer say "And now for a man who needs no introduction..." and then no introduction was give. Danielson just walk out of the entrance with no music.

Cima defeated Brian Kindrick.

Davey Richards defeated Shingo by submission.

Open the Twin Gates champions Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito defeated the Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson)to retain the belts.

AAW Berwin, IL 9/5/2009

After two years I once again made my way down to the Chicago area for an All American Wrestling event. There were two preshow matches, one tag team and one singles. I photographed those but they will not be part of this blog. With those two preshow matches there were a total of 11 matches, that's a lot of pro wrestling so fans at the Berwyn Eagles club. This event was called "Defining Moment- Us VS Them" The "Us VS Them" is the AAW VS Dragon Gate as 3 of the matches featured American wrestlers who would be on the Dragon Gate event the following night in Chicago.
Faith in Nothing (Vincent Nothing & Christian Faith) defeated Flip Kendrick & Louis Lyndon. This was the AAW debut for Lyndon & Kendrick and my first time seeing these guys.

Shane Hollister defeated Nick Brubaker.

Knight Wagner & Jordan McEntyre (the air)defeated Krotch & Juice Robinson when Wagner pinned Robinson.

Jimmy Jacobs pinned Jay Bradley to become the new AAW heavy weight champion. In AAW there are no count outs or disqualifications, just professional wrestling. That was very true in this championship match at both men spent time outside the ring and used chairs and tables. Jacobs was a bloody mess after this match.

Arik Cannon, Ryan Cruz & Darin Corbin defeated Jigsaw, Hallowicked & Gran Akuma in a 6 man tag match. This was one of the "Us VS Them" matches as the Chikara wrestlers were featured on the first Dragon Gate USA event.

Shiima Xion pinned Johnny Gargano.

Danny Daniels & Ryan Boz defeated Zero Gravity.

"American Dragon" Bryan Danielson defeated Silas Young in another "Us VS Them" match. This was one of Danielson's last match in the indys as he has signed with the WWE. Congrats to Danielson for getting that contract. He is one of those wrestlers who's work I really like.

In the main event the AAW tag team champions The House of Truth defeated The Young Bucks to retain the belts. This was another "Us VS them" match.

ROH Chicago Ridge, IL6/23/2007

Ring of Honor returned to the Forntier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge, Il last Saturday to tape their second ppv. The first have of the card was taped for the ppv but the whole card will be availible on DVD after the ppv airs. There was a womens tag team match after intermission but I was unable to get out to ring side to photograph it.

Davey Richards & Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero defeated Erick Stevens & Matt Cross & Delirious when Richards pinned Cross. After the match Austin Aries came to the ring from the crowd to attack Romero, Richards and Strong. Aries then signed an ROH conctract.
Claudio Castagnoli beat Matt Sydal. After the match Larry Sweeny came out to offer Sydal a contract.
Naomichi Marufuji beat BJ Whitmer.
Brent Albright defeats Pelle Primeau. Primeau may have the 'best in the class' trophy but he was no match for Albright in this match that lasted less then 2 minutes.
Takeshi Morishima defeated Jimmy Rave. This was a pretty short match.
Nigel McGuinness beat Chris Hero.
ROH tag team champions, the Briscoes, defeated Kevin Steen & El Generico to retain the belts.
'Scrapiron' Adam Pearce came out and challenged anyone to come out. ROH champion Takeshi Morishima came out to answer the challenge. Morishima pinned Pearce to retain the title.
KENTA defeated Bryan Danielson.