PTW Bloomington, MN 2/17/2012

Prime Time Wrestling returned to the Knights of Columbus in Bloomington, MN this past Friday night.
The first match of the night was between El Bano and The Brauler. The match was declared a draw when PTW champion Lenny Lane came out and stopped the match. Lane did set up a rematch between El Bano and The Brauler for the next event on March 30th. But first they did a push-up contest. The Brauler won that contest as Lane prevented El Bano from doing more push-ups.
In the second match Arya Daivari pinned Mitch Paradise. Daivari was about to be chock slammed when he hit Paradise in the nuts.
The next match was originally scheduled to be an inter-gender tag team match pitting  Robby Thunder & Tiger Lilly  against The Black Stallion & Jordana K. For some reason Stallion was replaced by Renny D and it was no a singles match. But if Renny D won then Jordana K would get 5 minutes against Lilly. Robby Thunder got the three count over Renny D after the code breaker.
Ian Xavier & Udo defeated The Rainmaker & The Black Stallion. Magic Man was scheduled to be Xavier’s partner but he was injured so Udo replaced him. The Rainmaker tagged himself back into the match and was pinned. Stallion didn’t like The Rainmaker tagging himself in so he left the ring area. Xavier, Udo and Magic Man then put boots to ass until Chris Dorrian came out to help Rainmaker. This set up a tag team match for the March 30th event.
PTW champion Lenny Lane retained the title against Chiropractor DC. The match was first awarded to DC when he got the three count on Lane. But when the referee raised DC’s hand brass knuckles fell to the mat and the referee then awarded the match to Lane.

3XW Des Moines, IA 1/27/2012

This past Friday night 3XW held their “Divide & Conquer” card at All Play – Baratta’s Forte Ballroom in downtown Des Moines. It’s been a year since I last made my way down highway 35 to 3XW. I really like the new set up that they have at this place. Next to the entrance ramp there is a ‘jumbo-tron’ where entrance videos and promos are shown.
The opening match was a rematch from the finals of  the 2011 King of Des Moines which took place back in August 2011. The King of Des Moines Ryan Slade pinned Zach Thompson.
Gage Octane & Casanova with Todd Countryman defeated Barry Ryte & Ray Stryker. The rookies Ryte & Stryker were no match for the members of Genesis. At least I think Ryte & Stryker are rookies because I’ve never seen them before.
Miss Natural pinned Stacy O’Brian. This was the first match for these two at 3XW. Last time I saw Miss Natural was back in 2004 at First Ave when she team with Angel Williams (aka Angelina Love) to take on O.D.B. & Josie.
Ricky Kwong with Chad Mylan pinned Sir Bradley Charles. SBC was distracted when some anarchist appeared on the ‘jumbotron’ and Kwong rolled him up for the three count.
3XW Heavy weight champion Mark Sterling defeated Maddog McDowell with Skylar Pierce to retain the title. After the match Sterling put the boots to McDowell. Jon West came out to save his American Bulldog tag partner but ended up getting beat up by Sterling.
3XW tag team champions “The Professional” Benjamin Sailer & “Everyones Favorite” Nate Bash (American Ground & Air) VS “Rock N Roll” Mike Sydal & “The Rockstar” Jimmy Rockwell went to a time limit draw. Rockwell had Sailer in a Boston crab when the 15 minute time limit expired. This was a non title match.
Jaysin Strife pinned “The American Fury” Jon West with Skylar Pierce. West was holding his sore neck from when he got beat up by Sterling earlier.
“Torturous” Tony Sly defeated “Delicious” Devin Carter with Todd Countryman.
The main event was an NWA World heavy weight championship match between champion “Scrap Iron” Adam Pierce and challenger “The Rebel” Jeremy Wyatt. The fans in Des Moines thought they saw the NWA title change hands on this night. The first ref was knocked out of the ring. Wyatt make Pierce tap out but no ref was in the ring. Mark Sterling came out to help Pierce but Wyatt tossed him out. A new ref came out and Wyatt got the pin on Pierce. But no, the first ref got up and and said that he saw Sterling hit Pierce with a spear so Wyatt was DQed. So the title was given back to Pierce.

PTW Bloomington, MN 1/20/2012

Prime Time Wrestling returned to the Knights of Columbus in Bloomington, MN for their monthly shows. On this card PTW would crown their first champion.
The opening match was to determine who would face Lenny Lane in the main event for the PTW championship. Chiropractor DC defeated Magic Man to earn the the championship match. Magic Man was with out his hairdresser on this night but he still had his can of hair spray.
The Executioner defeated Chris Dorrian.
The Rainmaker came out for his match. While his music was playing it changed to “The Candy man”. It was Magic man who had the music changed. While The Rainmaker was distracted, Ian Xavier came out and gave The Rainmaker a big splash. The Black Stallion came out to save The Rainmaker.
After The Black Stallion saved The Rainmaker he challenged Ian Xavier to an match but Magic Man said he had a different opponent in mind. Out cam Robbie Thunder with Tiger Lilly to take on Stallion. When Lilly came in the ring to help Thunder Jordana K came out to attack Lilly. For some odd reason referee Willy Mack awarded the match to Thunder by DQ. This was Jordana’s first time in the ring. It’s nice to see some new females in the Minneapolis area. Hopefully both Lilly and Jordana will be around for awhile.
John Johnson pinned Cpl. Julio Julio. As you can see in the photo here Johnson had his feet on the ropes to get the pin but ref Willy Mack didn’t see it. But Mack reversed his decision when Johnson beat down Julio after the match. So Julio got the win by DQ.
Lenny Lane became the first PTW champion when he pinned Chiropractor DC. The fans were teased at the start of the match when DC pinned Lane and special guest senior referee Rob Page counted 3. But Lane pointed out that the bell had not yet rang for the match to started. Boy did Page look dumb. DC tapped to to Lane’s boston crab to make Lane the champion.

Heavy D and Ox in March 2012 PWI

The March 2012 Awards issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated  has a photo from last years Heavy On Wrestling show featuring Heavy D and Ox from the Barking Spiders. The photo appears on page 24 in the “year in review” section, which could be called the “year in funny captions’. The funny caption for the photo, which was taken seconds before the one shown here, has to do with Zach Gowen missing his prosthetic leg.

Don’t worry Zach Gowen fans, that is not his leg. The leg actually belongs to Heavy D’s little brother. Clutch grabbed Heavy D’s little brother from the crowd and dragged him into the ring. Heavy D had been taken from the ring by Mark Barker for being too drunk to wrestle. D returned to the ring and used his brothers leg to hit Ox and make the pin to get the win.

This issue of PWI should be on news stands now. If you can’t find it on the magazine racks at your local store you can order it from their web site, pwi-online, for only $5.95. That’s $4 off cover price. PWI is now also available in digital format for only $4.99. A yearly subscription cost only $29.95.

“The Wrestler” staring Vern Gagne

Pepit's Parkway theatre in Minneapolis, MN will be screening “The Wrestler” Jan 27, 2012 - Feb 1, 2012. This is the original “The Wrestler” made back in 1974 and stared Ed Asner, Vern Gagne and Billy Robinson. Many other wrestlers from the AWA appear in the film such as Dusty Rhodes and Dick Murdock who are in a great bar room brawl scene. If you watch really close you can even see Ric Flair.

On Friday the 27 Greg Gagne (pictured on the right with former tag team partner Jim Brunzell who was also in the movie)will be appearing at the 6:300 showing and doing a Q & A after the movie. Gagne can be seen as a referee in the movie. On Saturday Vern Gagne is scheduled to make an appearance.

Lucha Libre wrestling school in Minneapolis

A new pro wrestling school has opened up in Minneapolis, MN. The Black Boy lucha libre wrestling school is located at 1121 Jackson St. in North East Minneapolis. This is in the same place that Sheriff Johnny Emerald last had the Midwest Pro Wrestling training camp back in 2005. For more info on this school call 651-230-9351.

AWF Monticello, MN 1/7/2012

The American Wrestling Federation returned to the Monticello high school for another fund raiser/TV taping. AWF Saturday Night Slam is now taped in HD!.
In the opening match The Black Stallion pinned “All Star” Paul Brewski.
“6% Body Fat” Rob James beat “Livewire” Johnny Parks with the lipo buster, aka Canadian destroyer. This was actually a tag team match with James and Parks teaming with teachers from Monticello High School. After the match James told his partner to kick Parks while he was down. Teachers are really good guys so all the teachers pummeled James.
Former AWF heavy weight champion Tony DeNucci pinned John Johnson after a big splash from the top rope.
Arya & Shawn Daivari beat AWF heavy weight champion Wildcat & Ryan Cruz. Arya hit Wildcat with the title belt to get the 3 count from ref Rob Page.
The main event was a royal rumble with all the wrestlers from the four previous matches minus the teachers and Wildcat. Benjamin Sailer was also in the rumble but he didn’t last long. No wonder the AWF doesn’t book him. Johnny Parks was the winner of the match when he skinned the cat and pulled Rob James out to the floor.

MIW Chanhassen, MN 12/3/2011

Minnesota Independent Wrestling returned to the Chanhassen American Legion this past Saturday night. The second snow fall of the year started earlier in the day so I thought there would not be many in the crowd this night.  The snow wasn’t enough to stop anyone who wanted to go to see some great MIW pro wrestling as the room was packed.
A Paradise’s Pit started off the night. Mitch Paradise had some uninvited guest for his pit as the Masked Jungle Fighter and his “army” came out and put boots to ass. MJF’s army now consist of Gunner Clash, PJ Thornbranch, The Rainmaker, Paul Brewski, Nick Colucci, Sean Priest and Matt Winchester. After MJFA tossed Paradise out of the ring they called out MIW champion Pete Huge to ask him to join their army. Huge and Chris Jordan came to the ring and said no to the MJFA’s offer.
“Playboy” Pete Huge defended his MIW title against rookie Dorrian.  Huge hit the ‘super G spot and covered Dorrian when MJFA came out to stop the 3 count so the match ended in a no contest. El Bano, Rob Ivy, Horace the psychopath and Mitch Paradise came out to attack the MJFA.  Paradise then challenged MJF to a series of matches for control of MIW.
PJ Thornbrach, in his debut match, defeated Rob Ivy and his moustache. Thornbrach had some help from MJF in order to get the win. MJFA 1   MIW 0
Gunner Clash w/ Masked Jungle Fighter pinned El Bano. Clashed used a taser on El Bano to get the win. MJFA 2 MIW 0
Horace the psychopath pinned Sean Saint. This was my first time seeing Saint. He did a religious gimmick with some holy water. MJFA 2 MIW 1
Dorrian VS The Rainmaker w/ The Masked Jungle Fighter ended in a double count out. MJFA 2 MIW 1
“The All Star” Paul Brewski & Nick Colucci proclaimed themselves the MJFA tag team champions. They defended their belts against The Junk Squad, Chris Jordan & Pete Huge. The Junk Squad got the win and the belts after Huge hit the G spot on Colucci. MJFA 2 MIW 2
Mitch Paradise defeated Matt Winchester after a power bomb. With that win MIW won the series to stop MJF from gaining control of MIW. After the match Rob Ivy turned on his friend Paradise and joined the MJFA.

BCW Crystal, MN 11/18/2011

This past Friday night Born Champion Wrestling returned to the Crystal Community Center for an action packed night of indy pro wrestling.
In the opening match The Patriot 3 pinned The Cougar after a frog splash.
Bret O’Brian defeated Udo and Savage in a 3 way dance. O’Brian pinned Savage to get the 3 count. This was my first time seeing Savage in action as this was his BCW debut.
Horace The Psychopath defeated Cpl. Julio Julio.
Judd Jennrich pinned Kamikaze Klecker. Jennrich needed outside help and some brass knuckles to get the win.
BCW Twin Cities champion Ryan Cruz retained the title when he beat Craven Knyte. This championship title was originally called the ‘rivals championship’ but I guess BCW realized that sounded dumb so it was changed. Be sure to check out the current issue of The Wrestler for an ‘Introducing’ feature on Knyte. If you can’t find it on on news stands you can order it from the PWI web site for $4 off the cover price. Also in that issue you can see photos I took of Mat Fitchett and John Morrison.
The Prophet defeated Venom. After ref Rob Page was knocked down Bret O’Brian hit Venom with a chair and put The Prophet on top of Venom for the pin.
“The Anarchist” Arik Cannon pinned “6% Body Fat” Rob James after a brain buster.
BCW heavy weight champion Darin Corbin defeated The Black Stallion to retain the belt. Corbin had some help from The Entourage to get the win. After the match Dirty Ernie came out to challenge Corbin to a no DQ match at the next BCW event. I hope this photo doesn’t make Corbin look fat.

R.I.P. Bison Smith

On November 22, 2011 Bison Smith died in Puerto Rico at the age of 38. A few months ago Colt Cabana did an interview with Smith his Art of Wrestling podcast. To hear that podcast click here.
Though from the U.S.A. Smith wrestled mostly in Japan. On October 9th, 2004 I was at Korakuen Hall to see Smith tag with Mike Awesome & Trevor Rhodes (AKA Trevor Murdock) to wrestle against Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue & Takashi Sugiura for Pro Wrestling Noah.

Introducing Craven Knyte in The Wrestler

Craven Knyte has been wrestling in the Minneapolis area for the last 5 years. He’s worked for just about every promotion in the area. This month he will be introduced to the rest of the nation in the pages of The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling. Knyte was interviewed by editor-in-chief Frank Krewda for this two page feature. The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling Volume 44 with John Cena on the cover should be on sale very soon. After you read the story on Knyte then flip the mag over to the Inside Wrestling side and turn to page 66. There you will see one of my photos from a recent F1RST Wrestling show.

Introducing Craven Knyte in The Wrestler

Craven Knyte has been wrestling in the Minneapolis area for the last 5 years. He’s worked for just about every promotion in the area. This month he will be introduced to the rest of the nation in the pages of The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling. Knyte was interviewed by editor-in-chief Frank Krewda for this two page feature. The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling Volume 44 with John Cena on the cover should be on sale very soon. After you read the story on Knyte then flip the mag over to the Inside Wrestling side and turn to page 66. There you will see one of my photos from a recent F1RST Wrestling show.

Wishing many years of happiness to Hoofer and Wonderland

This past weekend former pro wrestlers Big Brody Hoofer and Allison Wonderland got hitched. Both wrestlers left the biz last spring after Hoofer lost a loser leaves MIW match against “Playboy” Pete Huge. Wonderland was with Huge at the time but left with Hoofer after the match.