PWI shoots on the AWA

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

Costumes from Halloween past

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

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

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.