ROH St. Paul, MN 4/27/2007

Ring of Honor returned to St. Paul, MN at the National Guard Armory. It has been 8 months since ROH ran at this building and it might be even longer till they return. The crowd was about 500 but not enough for ROH to make the long trip.

In a dark match the team of Bobby Dempsy, Alex Payne and Ernie Osiris beat the team of Ash, Billy Roc and Dingo(announced as Dingo Warrior but we all know there was only one Dingo Warrior.)
In a Shimmer tag team match the MN Home Wrecking Crew (Lacey & Rain) beat Dangerous Angels (Sara Del Rey & Alison Danger). The MN HWC got more cheers from their hometown crowd then they wanted.
A Do or Die match between Micheal Elgin and Rhett Titus was interrupted by the returning Jimmy Rave. Rave made Titus tap out to an ankle lock. Rave then beat Elgin with the same hold.
In a special challenge match Shingo beat BJ Whitmer.

The ROH tag team champions retained their titles in a ultimate endurance match. Other tag teams in the match were Mitch Franklin & Pelle, Gran Akuma & Hallowicked and Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush.

Brent Albright & Adam Pearce defeat Colt Cabana & Homicide. This was a 'anything goes' match so after a few minutes in the ring it went out into the crowd and I headed for the back.
Rocky Romero won a 4 corner survival match that also included Delirious, Jack Evans and Eric Stevens.
FIP heavyweight champion Roderick Strong beat Christopher Daniels w/Alison Danger by count out.
ROH World champion Takeshi Morishima beat Austin Aries to retain the title.

IWA MS TPI Midlothain, IL 9/30/2006

The second night of the IWA MS Ted Petty Invitational was a long night of wrestling as not only were there 10 tournament matches but there were 5 other matches as well. Not only were the fans treated to so much great wrestling but they got a few surprises as well as some wrestlers made their return to IWA MS.
El Genarico beat M-Dogg 20 to move on to the next round.
Claudio Castignoli beat Mike Quackenbush in one of the best matches of the night.
Low Ki beat Davey Richards in a very hard hitting match.
Chris Hero made Trik Davis submit.
Arik Cannon pinned Hallowicked.
Roderick Strong beat Delirious by tap out.
Eddie Kingston & Joker & Ricocet beat the Thomaselis.
The Northstar Express won some weird ruled match with 5 tag teams of wrestlers who lost in the first round the night before. In the photo here Rickey Reyes is pointing out to the fans that Ryan Cruz looks like Matt Hardy.
Arik Cannon beat Claudio Castignoli.
Roderick Strong beat Chris Hero with a back slide.
Low Ki beat El Generico.
Chuck Taylor beat Toby Klien to become the new IWA MS heavyweight champion.
In the TPI finals Low Ki beat Roderick Stong and Arik Cannon. First Low Ki pinned Strong then he knocked out Cannon for the win.

IWA MS TPI Midlothian, IL 9/29/2006

The annual IWA MidSouth Ted Petty Invitational took place this year in Midlothain, IL with the first round matches taking place on Sept 29th, 2006. This is the seventh year of IWA MS's annual tournament that use to be called the 'Sweet Science 16' but has since been expanded to 24 of some of the best wrestlers on the indy wrestling scene.
The first match of the first round was M-Dogg 20 vs IWA MS rookie Ricochet. The more experianced M-Dogg got the pin after a shoting star press.
To advance to the next round 'Lightning' Mike Quackenbush beat 'Classic' Colt Cabana. Quackenbush won with a Michinoku Driver.
Chris Hero, the 2000 Sweet Science Sixteen winner, beat Ricky Reyes to move on in the tournament.
The man from Sleepyhollow, Hallowicked, beat the man with the best abs in wrestling, Scorpio Sky.
Trik Davis beat Eric Stevens with a roll up to advance in the TPI. After the match Davis was attacked by Chris Hero.
The generic luchador El Generico beat 'Photogenic' Chris Bosh. Generico won the match with a top rope brain buster.
Davey Richards beat Jigsaw to move on to the next round.
Roderick Strong beat 'Mr. Impact' Brandon Thomaselli with a powerbomb.
Swiss wrestler Claudio Castagnoli defeated Canadian Kevin Steen. Last year Steen made it to the final round but lost to Matt Sydal who was unable to be in this years TPI because he was in Japan wrestling for Dragon Gate.
TNA X division champion Low Ki(Senshi in TNA) beat Gran Akuma after the double stomp.
Delirious beat Scott Lost.
Arik Cannon won the main event of the night against B-Boy. Cannon was the thrid man in the final match in last years TPI.

ROH St. Paul,MN 8/25.2006

Ring of Honor made their return to St. Paul, MN after 2 and a half years. The first time they were at the St. Paul Armory the WWE was in town the same night just 10 blocks away at the Xcel center. This time the turn out must have been better because a return date was annouced for April 2007. An earlier date to go along with the next Chicago Ridge date was not available.
The Briscoe Brothers beat Irish Airborn in the opening match.
Homicide beat Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey.
Colt Cabana & Davey Richards beat The Embassy.
Fallen Angel Christoper Daniels pinned Claudio Castognoli.
Taking the same spot they had on the first St. Paul show in their ROH debut Matt Sydal beat Delirious.
ROH tag team champs Austin Aries & Roderick Strong retained their titles against BJ Whitmer & Somoa Joe when Strong pinned Joe.
ROH World/Pure champion Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness ended in a 60 minute time limit draw. This was a 2 out of 3 falls match and each wrestler had one fall.

ROH Chicago Ridge, IL 6/24/2006

On Saturday June 26, 2006 I photographed my first Ring Of Honor card in over a year. I missed 3 shows in the last year becaues for weddings, babies and something else I can't remember. These ROH events are always fun to photograph.
The official card stared off with tag team action as the Irish Airborne beat Shane Hagadorn and Trik Davis. My first time seeing Irish Airborne and Hagadorn.
Up next was Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey vs Rodrick Strong. In the photo here you can see fans holding up their cell phones as they sway to Jimmy's entrance music as if they were holding up their lighters to Freebird. If you want to hear the song or view the video go to Jimmy's myspace group. What a great song.
In the match Jimmy lost to Roderick Strong after a bunch of back breakers.
WOW, that's a lot of toilet paper. I had read how the ROH fans has been throwing but man that was a lot of toilet paper as seen in this next photo.So after all this toilet paper was thrown for Jimmy Rave and CK III they lost to the now much bigger Briscoe brothers.
Somoa Joe beat Delirious.
After Somoa Joe got the win he was attacked by some wrestlers from CZW, The Necro Butcher and Claudio Castagnoli. BJ Whitmer and Adam Pierce came out to even up the odds and they were followed by another CZW wrestler, Nater Webb. Ace Steel ran out to make it a 6 man hardcore match. The CZW team won after The Necro Butcher place the barb wire crown on BJ and he went down for the 3 count. This was one match that was scary to be around ring side.
Nigal McGinnis retained his ROH pure wrestling title against Homocide as they were both counted out after the 20 count by the ref. The fans were not happy with that ending.
The first co-main event of the card was Austin Aries VS KENTA. This was my second time photographing a KENTA match as the first was at Korekuen Hall in Tokyo against Kenta Kobashi. KENTA beat Aries with my favorite finishing move, Go to Sleep.
Three years ago on June 28th, 2003 Austin Aries wrestled Shawn Daivari in South St. Paul in the RAIN! Even in the rain Aries got up on the top rope and did this move. He also did a 360 splash from the top.
The other co-main event was for the ROH world title as champion Bryan Danielson beat Colt Cabana with a small package.