Time/Date: 5 p.m. Sunday February 18, 2018
City, State: Duluth, MN
Venue: Clyde Iron Works
No Love Lost
It was a snowy day in Minnesota. The drive up to Duluth from the Minneapolis area didn't see much snow but it did start close to event time.That snow would cause a change to one of the matches on this card.
In the opening match Wild Cat defeated Ryan Cruz. Wild Cat debuted his new mask in this match.
In a 3 way match King Leonidas defeated heavy Metal Lore and Chainsaw King. Fan fact, Leonidas is a town in northern MN.
Ken Anderson...Anderson defeated Mitch Paradise in a #1 contender match. This #1 contender match was pretty much like a "money in the bank" match as the winner could challenge for the HOW title when ever they wanted.
This next match was scheduled to be a 4 women match for the new HOW woman's championship title. Because of the snow Madison Rayne, Angelina Love and Laurel Van Ness were unable to make it to Duluth for this event. Leva Bates was able to make so she faced Kara Noia for the HOW woman's title.
For the first 2 matches Kara Noia was ring side doing video camera for HOW production. Noia is a student at The Academy of Professional Wrestling and she has only work in less then 10 matches. I last saw her as a referee at Showtime Championship Wrestling in St. Paul, MN. Noia had less then 10 minutes to prepare for this championship match against Bates. Good thing thing
Leva Bates pinned Kara Noia to win the first ever HOW Woman's championship title. Bates is known as the cosplay wrestler. For this match she cosplayed as Mikasa Ackerman from Attack On Titan, a popular anima series from Japan. The morning after the event I showed my wife photos of Bates as Mikasa as she has watched Attack On Titan. The first thing she said was "where are the leg straps?". Bates took those leg straps off mid way through the match.
Billy Gunn defeated Shawn Daivari. Usually I post a photo of the winner the match doing a move or hold but in this match I didn't have that. During this match I had to go to the bathroom. When I returned Gunn had just won the match with his fameasser move.
While he was in the area Billy Gunn did a seminar at The Academy of Processional Wrestling. He also did a pod cast with Ken Anderson and Michael Hunter for Lower The Mic.Click here to listen to that pod cast.
The main event was a 4 corners match for the HOW championship. HOW champion Darin Corbin took on Arik Canon, Kody Rice and Air Wolf.
Air Wolf pinned Kody Rice to win the HOW championship title.
Ken Anderson...Anderson and Shawn Daivari came out to congratulate Air Wolf as they are his trainers at The Academy of Professional Wrestling.Anderson told Air Wolf that he was going after his title, right now. After a belt to the head and a mic check Anderson got the pin on Air Wolf.
Ken Anderson...Anderson is the new HOW undisputed champion.
The next HOW event is a big one. It takes place on July 29, 2018 in Tower, MN at the Fortune Bay Casino. Already signed to appear at this event are Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff and Ricky Steamboat.
