AWF Elk River, MN 2/26/2011

The American Wrestling Federation held "February Free for All V" at the Elk River High School this past Saturday night. This was a fund raiser show for the high schools football team. This event was taped for the AWF's TV show Saturday Night Slam. SNS can be seen on channel 45 at 11pm in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. You can also watch all the AWF SNS episodes on YouTube.
In the opening match "The Bulldog" Sammy Savard defeated "The Anarchist" Arik Cannon. Savard finished off Cannon with a stunner. Cannon's mohawk is getting pretty tall.
Benjamin Sailer & Ryan Cruz defeated John Johnson & Aaron Corbin to become the new AWF tag team champions. Sailer & Cruz are calling their tag team "Martial Law". If you think that's a good name for a good guy tag team leave a comment below. Just click on the word "comment". You don't even have to log in or anything.
Mitch Paradise pinned Mikey Wipeout after a choke power bomb. Wipeout used to go by the name Stanley but now he is doing a 'surfer dude' gimmick. Wipeout even rode the wave on Paradises back.
"All Star" Paul Brewski defeated The Black Stallion.
"live Wire" Johnny Parks defeated AWF heavy weight champion Arya Daivari. Unfortunately Parks won the match by DQ as Daivari hit referee Rob Page. After Page was knocked out another ref ran into the ring when Parks had Daivari pinned. The ref made the 3 count and gave the belt to Parks. Page finally woke up and DQed Daivari and gave him back the title belt.
In the main event for the night Tony DeNucci defeated "6% Body Fat" Rob James in a no DQ match.

IWA Minneapolis, MN 2/5/2011

The Intercontinental Wrestling Association held a fund raiser event at Minneapolis South High School this past Saturday night. The high school is in need of new lights for their footbal field.
In the opening match TNT Tommy Mason w/ The Brauler defeated Mad Rocky Morris. This was my first time seeing Morris. Not sure how long Morris has been wrestling. He wore a tank top and fancy jeans and I think he may have had wresting boots.
In the second match "Everyone's favorite" Nate Bash pinned Horace the Psychopath. Bash came out wearing a South High School football jersey but he told the crowd there is one problem. He never went to South High School. Bash then took off the jersey to reveal a Washburn High School football jersey, the school that he attended and the crowd turned on him.
Venom defeated Kamikaze Klecker with the muscle buster.
"The Professional" Benjamin Sailer defeated The Prophet by submission.
Mitch Paradise pinned Sheik Arya Daiavri after a sit out power bomb. Daivari had his magic carpet with him on this night but he missed the magic carpet ride.
IWA heavy weight champion The Black Stallion defeated Udo to retain the belt.
The Brauler w/ TNT Tommy Mason beat El Bano with special guest referee Mark Sanders, the Minneapolis South High School athletic director. Nate Bash came out to tell Sanders that South High School sucks. While Sanders was distracted Mason went under the ring and came out wearing a referee shirt and made the three count for the Brauler's win. I don't think that Mason has a referee license.
After special guest referee Mark Sanders got rid of Nate Bash he then got in the ring and tossed Mason out of the ring. Sanders then kicked The Brauler in the gut and gave him a suplex.

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.

Thoruf Marius signs with WWE

Midwest pro wrestler Thoruf Marius recently signed a WWE developmental deal. He moved down to Tampa, FL last month to start training at FCW.

Marius started training back in 2003 with Midwest Pro Wrestling in Maple Grove, MN. In one of his first matches he wrestled against Ken Anderson. There was no wrestler larger then Marius in the Midwest.

In the summer of 2007 Marius traveled to Japan to train with Pro Wrestling Noah. Marius returned from Japan with some extra weight. Must have been from eating lots of fish and rice. In 2009 Marius took part in a reality show that was filmed in Norway called Alt for Norge. Marius took third place on the first season of the show. Most recently Marius wrestled with the American Wrestling Federation as seen here against Johnny Parks.

The Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana

The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling Volume 38 hit newsstands this week. On pages 14 and 15 there is a story about Colt Cabana's pod cast "The Art of Wrestling". In the article there is a photo I took of Cabana with CM Punk and Ricky Steamboat from a ROH show in St. Paul, MN back in April 2004.
If you have not yet listened to Colt Cabana's pod cast I highly recommend that you do. Just click on the link above where it reads "Art of Wrestling". Every Thursday Cabana post a new podcast where he talks with one of his pro wrestling friends. Some of my favorite shows/guest are Shawn Daivari, CM Punk, Colin Delany, Somoa Joe (seen here getting his burn mark kicked off by Cabana), X-Pac and The Briscoe Brothers. As Cabana says on his podcast, he opens the door and lets fans into the lives of pro wrestlers.

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.