Josie on TNA

On the August 28th 2008 edtion of TNA Impact former MN wrestler Josie made her Impact debut as she wrestled the Amazing Kong. This was actually her second match with TNA and Kong but that was on a PPV and she used the name Josie Robinson then. With Josie's debut on Impact TNA gave her a new name but it was so hard to remember I couldn't tell you what it is.

Josie started training with Terry Fox and Eddie Sharkey back in 2002 and begain wrestling in 2003. Here she is in a match against Rain in St. Paul, MN on December 6th, 2003. She wrestled twice that day as this match was in the afternoon and then she wrestled in Annandale, MN against Lacey.
In a match from June 23, 2004 Josie teamed with fellow TNA knockout O.D.B. to defeat Angel Williams and Ms Natural.

RWF Prior Lake, MN8/23/2008

From Daughters bar & Grill in Prior Lake, MN Renegade Wrestling Federation held an an outside card on a beautiful Saturday night.
Doink the clown (not the original or even close to the original) beat Nate Bash by pin fall.
Jesse Chan beat the Brauler by DQ. Allison Wonder came out with the Brauler and gave him a club to use on Chan. Wonderland didn't do a good job of hiding the club so the ref saw it and DQ'ed the Brauler.
Arya Daivari w/Sheik Adnan defeated Benjamin Sailer. Daivari will have to send his magic carpet to the cleaners as some fan used it to blow his nose.
Darrel Hall beat The Black Stallion when the ref reversed his original decision when he found that Stallion had a metal chain on him.
The main event saw two AWA legends in the corners of Brody Hoofer and Thoruf Marius. For the second week in a row Hoofer had Baron Von Raschke in his corner. Sheik Adnan has been managing Marius for a few promotions. The match ended when Baron put the claw on Thoruf and Hoofer then hit him with a knee to the head for the pin.

HOW Proctor, MN 8/15/2008

Heavy On Wrestling held a card under a tent at the Hoghead festival in Proctor, MN this last Friday. For this show they brought in some talent from TNA, AWA and WCW.
In the opening contest Venom defeated the Prophet.

The second match of the night was a battle royal. All the wrestlers on the card were in the battle royal plus The Barking Spiders and Josh Colisto who were not in any other matches. The winner of the battle royal was Bad Boy Brian.

Tommy "Spiderbaby" Saturday defeated Bad Boy Brian in the third match of the night. This is the second time I've seen Spiderbaby pick on someone much smaller then himself.
The team of O.D.B. & Daphne defeated Ann Brookstone & Arik Cannon. There were 3 more matches after intermission but I was unable to photograph those. Referree Rob Page had his hands full in this match.

F1rst Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 8/8/2008

F1rst Wrestling presented 'This ain't Beijing' this last Friday night at First Ave night club. This card featured the return of TNA knockout O.D.B. and a tag team match between the Junk Squad and Arik Cannon/Cody O'Neill.

In the opening match Midwest Ground & Air defeated the Northstar Express when Benjamin Sailer pinned Ryan Cruz.
Shane Hollister defeated Kamikazie Klecker in the second match of the card.

Thoruf Marius pinned Brody Hoofer. After the match Hoofer offered to shake Marius's hand. Marius shook Hoofers hand but then attacked him.

In a mixed tag team match O.D.B. & Horace the Psycopath defeated Arya Daivari & Ann Brookstone. O.D.B. pinned Daivari after she used his carpet for her own magic carpet ride. I believe that a few years ago O.D.B. beat Arya's brother Shawn for the MPW cruiser weight title.

"The King of Throw Down"Venom defeated "6% Body Fat" Rob James. These two have wrestled against each other many times.
ROH tag team champion Tyler Black defeated Joey Envy.
The Junk Squad beat Arik Cannon & Cody O'Neill when Pete Huge pinned Cannon. After the match O'Neill attacked Cannon and called out his old partner Aaron Corbin.

No date set yet for the next F1rst Wrestling card.

F1rst Wrestling Shakopee, MN 8/3/2008

F1rst Wrestling held their first matches outside of First Ave as they took their ring to the Van's Warped tour at the Canterbury Race track in Shakopee, MN this last Sunday. The ring was set up in front of the two main stages and a 6 foot high chain link fence surrounded the ring. The matches presented at Warped tour were mainly to help promote F1rst Wrestling and the up coming card. There were many matches though out the day but I'm only posting photos from a few of the ones that I did photograph. Wrestlers who were in matches were Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin, Ryan Cruz, Arya Daivari, Nate Bash, Benjamin Sailer, Zero Kincade, Mike Stanley, Allison Wonderland, Venom, Ryan Slade, Rob James, Jimmy Rockwell, Zach Thompson,
Nate Bash defeated Arya Daivari in a singles match. They went outside the cage area and fought amongst the all the emo kids. Bash went back into the ring to do a jump off the top rope and over the cage onto Daivari.

Darin Corbin beat Arik Cannon in a dog collar match. Both wrestlers got very bloody during this match.

A few of the F1rst Wrestling regulars were unable to make it to on Sunday so Cannon called up a few wrestlers from 3XW. One of those wrestlers was Ryan Slade who on this day thought it would be a good idea to wrestle in a thong. I'm not sure if he really did know what a great idea it was when he decided to do it but wrestling in a thong made him some extra money that day. It turns out that a lot of young ladies at the rock n roll show like to have their photo taken with guys wearing thongs.

MIW Chanhassen, MN 8/2/2008

Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the Chanhassen American Legion this last Saturday night.

Before the official first match two of terry Fox and Austin Aries' trainee's wrestled each other to a no contest when Mitch Paradise came out and tossed both men from the ring.

The first match of the night was a battle royal rumble to determine the number one contender for the MIW heavy weight title held by Brody Hoofer. Pete Huge was the winner of this match when he eliminated Zach Mercury.

The team of The Black Stallion & Jared Jackal beat Benjamin Sailer & Chris Black by DQ. I'm not sure how this was ruled a DQ. Black turned on his partner when he finally tagged in. See his Midwest Ground & Air partner getting beat down Nate Bash ran in to make the save.

The Preacher (formerly known as The Alter boy) defeated Jean Marius after a super kick.

The trainer of champions Terry Fox defeated Beautiful Bobby Jay. This was Fox's first match in about 3 years.
Mitch Paradise defeated Zack Mercury by DQ. Mercury had a score to settle with Paradise as it was Paradise who helped Pete Huge eliminate him from the battle royal rumble. The ref DQ'ed Mercury when he saw that American Legion bar manager Rob with a chain in his had and Paradise 'knocked out' on the mat. I hope I never see that finish again.
Pete Huge got his shot at the MIW title in the main event against Brody Hoofer. Before the match started Hoofer asked for the match to be a no DQ match. Ring announcer Tim Larson then made it a no DQ match for the MIW heavy weight title. This match didn't' stay in the ring long as they fought through the crowd then they took it outside. Eventully both wrestlers made it back to the ring where Hoofer hit Huge with a brain buster on a chair for the pin. It was announced that MIW would return to the Chanhassen American Legion on November 8th.

NIW 7/26/2008

Northern Impact Wrestling held some wrestling matches at Lonetti's Lounge as part of the Rice St. Festival in St. Paul, MN this last Saturday night. This was an outdoor free show and it was a hot day so I didn't take photos of every match.
In the second match of the card Benjamin Sailer beat Arik Cannon. These two did some great mat wrestling to start things off but then took there match to the streets. They battled through Lonetti's Lounge first then they stopped traffic on Rice Street. They even battled in front of a police officer in his squad car. As Cannon and Sailer fought each other in the street and on coming cars would stop it reminded me of a scene in U2's Rattle and Hum. Good thing no arrest were made. The match made back to the ring where Sailer rolled up Cannon with a La Majistral cradle.
The Black Stallion pinned Arya Daivari after a power slam. Through the whole match Arya spoke only in his native tongue. You can learn more about Daivari by picking up the current issue of The Wrestler/Inside Wrestler where inside The Wrestler part of the mag there is an Introducing article on Daivari. Both photos from the article were taken by me.
Pete Huge defeated Ryan Cruz. This match, much like the Cannon/Sailer match, went to the streets and around the block.
Kamikaze Klecker and Nate Bash battled for the beer belt which was is named 'start drinking at noon and get drunk at some bar on the East side of Saint Paul middle weight title'. I believe that this match and title were not sanctioned by NIW. Nate Bash won this match and he retired the belt after the match because he needed the belt to keep his pants up. I want to point out that Ref Rob Page wore shorts for this event.

RWF Savage, MN 7/25/2008

There is a new promotion in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and it is called Renegade Wrestling Federation. The RWF held it's first card at Niesons bar and grill in Savage, MN this last Friday night.

The first match of the night was The Brauler vs Jesse Chan. This was the first time I've seen either of these wrestlers. Chan won the match.

The next match featured some lucha action as Black Boy took on Apostle 13. The winner of the match was Apostle 13.

Midwest Ground & Air defeated the team of the Asylum & Zero Kincade. Benjamin Sailer got the pin on Kincade as Nate Bash dove out side the ring on to the Asylum.

Ann Brookstone defeated Allison Wonderland.

Thoruf Marius w/ Sheikh Adnon defeated Skylar Steel.
In the main event Lenny Lane defeated James Alexander twice. He beat him the first time by DQ when the ref caught Alexander with a foreign object in his hand. Lane won the second time after commissioner Kenny Yates restarted the match by using the foreign object on Alexander.

Train to be a pro wrestler

If you want to be a pro wrestler and live near the Minneapolis area or are willing to move then give Terry Fox a call as he and Austin Aries are running a training camp right now. Through the summer the ring is set up out side but I believe that they are looking for a new location once it starts to get cold out side. You can reach Terry at 763-785-1924

Austin Aries giving instructions to trainee Jeff.

This was taken from austinaries.com-

"THE FOUNDATION"-PRO-WRESTLING TRAINING CAMP CLASSES NOW IN SESSION !!!***Anybody who wants to enter the world of professional wrestling the right way needs "The Foundation".******Former ROH World Champion and head trainer to their school, Austin Aries has teamed up with Terry Fox who brings over 20 years of professional wrestling experience and a proven track record as a trainer. Together they have opened up "The Foundation" Professional Wrestling Camp. Located just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota, "The Foundation" will provide anybody interested in the world of professional wrestling the knowledge and technique, both in and out of the ring, to build a successful wrestling career. If you've never been in the ring before, or you want to step out of the untrained, unpaid, backyard scene then the "The Foundation" is for you. Classes are ongoing now! For more information contact Austin Aries at: mailto:austin@austinaries.com?subject= or AustinAries@hotmail.com***

Trainer of champions Terry Fox watching on as Ausitn Aries trains hands on.

NLW St. Paul, MN 7/12/2008

Northern Lights Wrestling held their monthly card at the Eagles Club in St. Paul, Mn this past Saturday night.

In the opening match Zero Kincade defeated Jake Taylor.

Craven Knyte defeated Johnny Riddlin.

Aaron Corbin beat Mike Stanley. Corbin was scheduled to wrestle Corey O'Neill but O'Neill was unable to make it.

The NLW Midwest champion Darrel Hall retained his belt by pinning Rico Havana.

NLW Heavy weight champion The Black Stallion defeated John Johnson to retain his title.

NLW tag team champions Glam Slam beat James Alexander & Jonny Goldengate.

Up to the big leagues with bad names

One of the great things about photographing independent pro wrestling is seeing some of the men and women make it up to the 'big leagues', WWE or TNA. In the last month or two I've seen two wrestlers who I first saw 4-5 years ago wrestling in high school gyms or national guard armory's.
Back in April of 2004 I was at ring side in St. Paul, MN when Matt Sydal made his ROH debut against Delirious. The photos here are from the next night in Chicago Ridge, IL. On June 3rd, 2008 Matt made his WWE debut now wrestling as Evan Bourne.
The name change is a little goofy. Sydal was more unique then Bourne. Go ahead and do a search of both those names. The top searches for Bourne are from the Matt Damon movies.
Mickie Knuckles wrestled in the first round of the Ted Petty Invitational back in 2003. There was a spot open because someone had to cancel and Knuckles wanted that spot. The spot she took was the one with Ian Rotten, her trainer, as the opponent. Knuckles didn't make it past the first round but she put up one hell of a fight.
The second night of the tournament Knuckles wrestled Rain. She won that match. A few weeks ago Knuckles debuted with TNA but with a new first name, Moose. It was brought to my attention that a moose knuckle is the male version of a camel toe. Once again, another stupid name choice by those who give out names.