MIW Chanhassen, MN 5/24/2008

Minnesota Independent Wrestling held a card on a holiday weekend at the American Legion in Chanhassen, MN this Saturday night.

In the opening match Mickey McCoy defeated 'Playboy' Pete Huge when Huge got distracted by McCoys valet Crystal.

In the next match Chase McCoy defeated the Alterboy when Huge's interference back fired.

Benjamin Sailer pinned Darrel Hall after a top rope sunset flip.
James Alexander got a DQ win over Mitch Paradise when the ref reversed the original decision. Paradise had hit Alexander over the head with a garbage can lid to get the DQ after the ref was informed by commissioner Terry Fox.

This was the first time I've seen James Alexander in the ring since his days as Dark Phoenix in MPW a few years ago. The photo here with Weird Cookie is from the summer of 2003. I don't know what Alexander has been doing the last few years but he now has a great look and seem really focused in the ring.

Pete Huge & the Alterboy beat Chase & Mickey McCoy in a tag team match that was put together after the first two matches of the card took place.
MIW heavy weight champion Brody Hoofer made Black Stallion tap out to retain the belt.

Magnus Maximus AKA WWE's Bam Neely

Before he cam out on ECW as Chavo Guerrero's bodyguard named Bam Neely (and before he was in OVW as Justin "The Ox" laRouche) he was known as Magnus Maximus on the MN indy wrestling scene.

The photos here are from 2005/2006 when Magnus made his return to wrestling after a few years off. The second photo is from MPW at First Ave against Rob Ivy on 12/27/05. The last photo is from Neo Pro in Faribuilt, MN against Sammy Savard on 1/15/2006. A late congratulations goes out to Magnus on making it to the big stage.

Check out some of the links that I have on the side of my photoblog. There are links for some great photos on the the west (Shane M Kidder) and east (Christine Coons) coast and one who covers the womans indy wrestling scene(Wrestling Wally). Also linked is a blog by Dr. Darin Davis. He is a former indy wrestler out of the MN area who has done some blogs about Bam Neely with some videos of his old matchs. Be sure to check out Josh Ray's Missouri Wrestling Revival. Ray covers all the indy wrestling in the central states area with his awesome blog.

F1RST Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 5/9/2008

F1RST Wrestling returned to the First Ave night club on a Friday night with a card titled "Operation Payback". Before the first bell Pete Huge and Allison Wonderland came out to announce that Huge would not wrestle in the 4 way match that he was signed for.
Cody O'Neill pinned Joey Envy after a Spanish fly.

Thoruf Marius VS Brody Hoofer ended in a double count out. Marius held onto Hoofer as Hoofer tried to get back in the ring to beat the 10 count. The fans booed at the count out.

"The Excellence of Execution"Kamikaze Klecker & Venom defeated Zero Kincade & "K- Train" Kody Rice. Two of these 4 were scheduled to be in the 4 way that Huge pulled out of so this tag team match was made. This was my first time seeing Kody Rice.

After the tag match Pete Huge came out to beat up on Kincade & Rice. Huge then got on the mic and ripped on Jerry Lynn. A promo video of Lynn then played on the large screens at First Ave. Lynn told Huge to stop his crying. Huge said if Lynn was at First Ave he would kick his ass all over the place. Lynn's music hit and came out to start a match with Huge. This match ended the same way these two meet last time, with a cradle piledriver and pin by Lynn.

Darin Corbin defeated Aaron Corbin in a L.E.D. belt on a pole match. Darin Corbin has been coming to the ring with an L.E.D. scroll belt on for over a year now. His big brother Aaron took Darin's belt and to get it back they had this belt on a pole match.
Shane Hollister pinned Arik Cannon.

Midwest Ground & Air (Benjamin Sailer & Nate Bash) defeated Danny Daniels & Silas Young.
In the main event Ryan Cruz pinned Arya Daivari in a Boot Camp match. What is a Boot Camp match? Pretty much a no DQ match. Last time at F1RST Wrestling Daivari used a fire ball to get a win over Cruz. In this match he poured gasoline on Cruz and tried to light him on fire but ref Ricky Reed took the lighter away. Cruz got the win after a leg drop off a ladder and through a table.

AWF Isanti, MN 4/19/2008

The American Wrestling Federation presented 'April Annihilation' at the Isanti Civic Center this last Saturday night. This was a benefit for the Cambridge high school baseball team. This was also a TV taping for the AWF as they had 4 video cameras taping the matches for future broadcast.
In the opening contest Thoruf Marius w/Sheik Adnan El Kassey defeated Dakota Darsow.
Angel Armoni defeated Billy Blaze. This was the first time I've seen Blaze wrestle in many over 10 years.
A new team was formed on this card as Aaron Corbin teamed up with Arik Cannon to become 'the misfits'. They came to the ring to a Dropkick Murphys song and Corbin wore a kilt. Their opponent's were the O'Neill Twins. The misfits got the win when Cannon pinned Cody O'Neill with a hand full of shorts.

Lenny Lane beat The Black Stallion by DQ.

Tony DeNucci pinned Adam Evans w/Mortimer Plumtree after a frog splash in a no DQ match.

Former WWE superstar Scotty Too Hotty defeated Brody Hoofer with 'the worm'. Scotty got a little help from some of the fans at ring side.

TNA Spencer, IA 4/4/2008

Two Fridays ago I headed down to Spencer, Iowa for a Total Nonstop Action house show at the Clay County Event Center. From my house it was a 3 1/2 hour drive so I was very happy that my friend Rob agreed to ride down with me. Thanks Rob. Through PWI I got a v.i.p. pass. It was very nice to see/hear such a loud crowd there in Spencer.

In the opening contest Curry Man defeated Sonjay Dutt.
The next match was advertised as a singles match between O.D.B. and Gail Kim but Jacqueline came out and said Jim Cornnette added her to the match to make it a 3 way dance. O.D.B. won this match by pinning Jacqueline with a roll up. While I was down in Iowa on this night back home in Minneapolis the local FOX 9 news did a story on O.D.B.. The footage for the piece was filmed 2 months ago when she appeared at a F1RST Wrestling card.
BG James defeated Kip James with a roll up.
Rhino defeated James Storm after a spear. Storm came out after the second match but it was announced that he was not cleared to wrestle because of injurys from the last ppv. Storm came out once again after the the last match after Rhino called him out. They wrestled a full match with no signs of any injury from Storm.

TNA tag team champions AJ Styles & Tomko defeated Somoa Joe and TNA X division champion Black Machismo to retain the titles.
Booker T pinned Robert Roode in a no DQ match in the main event. Neither Payton Banks or Sharmell were at ring side for this match. It was announced that TNA would return to Spencer, IA but no date was given.

F1RST Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 3/28/2008

F1RST Wrestling ran a card this past Friday night at First Ave night club called "Die Another Day".
The night started out with a locker room clearing brawl that ended with Kamakazi Klecker jumping off the stairs onto a crowd of wrestlers. I have never seen this done at First Ave in the 5 years I've been going to matches there. I've heard of one wrestler doing this before but not at the hight that Klecker got.
The big brawl ended and the first match started right away as Arik Cannon took on Rob James. Cannon one after his glimmering warlock.
The second match of the night was brother VS brother with the winner getting the other ones L.E.D. scrol belt. The Corbin brothers have been fueding for a few years now and on this night big brother Aaron Corbin got the win and belts against Darin Corbin.
Joey Envy won a 4 corners match against Cody O'Neill, The Prophet and Kamakazi Klecker. Klecker did not make it to the ring when his music played because he was injured from his dive from the stairs. He did make it out a little into the match.
Arya Daivari defeated Ryan Cruz after he threw a fire ball at Cruz's face.
Midwest Ground & Air (Nate Bash & Benjamin Sailer)defeated 101 Proof (Bret O'Brian & Venom). O'Brian has new trunks that have 'scum' writen on the back.
In the co-main event Jerry Lynn pinned Al Snow w/Head. Lots of comedy in this match that even got ref Rob Page envolved.
The last match of the night was a dog coller match between Brody Hoofer and Pete Huge. These two beat the crap out of each other with cookie sheets, garbage cans, chairs tables and the 15 ft chain. In the end Hoofer offered his hand to Huge to put an end to their ring war. Huge didn't shake his hand.

MCW Battle Ground Cottage Grove, MN 3/22/2008

Minnesota Championship Wrestling Battle Ground presented 'Armory Wars: Night of the main events' this last Saturday night at the Cottage Grove Armory.
All Star Paul Brewski beat Kleck Micheals. I really like Brewski's ring jacket.
In a #1 contender match Benjamin Sailer pinned The Prophet to earn a title shot for the Battle Crown champion ship.
The Anarchist Arik Cannon defeated Arya Daivari.
MCW Battle Ground Battle Crown champion Rob James retained his belt against Mike Rollins. This match had some of the loudest chops I've ever heard as James turned Rollins chest red.

F1RST Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 2/24/2008

F1RST Wrestling returned to First Ave night club in downtown Minneapolis on a Sunday night. The name for this card was No Love Lost.

In the opening match "The Professional" Benjamin Sailer pinned Kamikaze Klecker with his 'hand gernade pin' suplex. You might have to have Sailer explain it to you.
Arya Daivari beat Nate Bash, Venom and The Prophet in a 4 corners match. Both Daivari and Bash got pins at the same time as Daivari hit his magic carpet ride and Bash hit his 450 splash. They went for 5 more minutes in hopes to have one winner.
"6% Body Fat" Rob James pinned Shane Hollister.
Brody Hoofer beat Joey Envy and Pete Huge w/Allison Wonderland in a 3 way match. After Hoofer got the pin on Envy he challenged Huge to a dog coller match next month.
Tyler Black defeated Jaysin Strife.

SkullKrusher Rasche pinned Thoruf Marius. After these two did a superplex from the top rope I could almost hear Bobby Heanan yelling 'the ring just moved 10 feet!!!!'.
The Northstar Express defeated Arik Cannon & Cody O'Neill in what was billed a sudent vs teacher match. After Cruz got the pin on Cannon all four were attacked by Aaron Corbin, Daivari, James and Envy. The locker room cleared out and every wrestler was in the ring, except for Marius and Rasche.

AWF Elk River, MN 2/23/2008

The American Wrestling Federation held their second annual Elk River football fund raiser card on Saturday night February 23, 2008. The AWF brings in some big names for the card but a few that were advertised were not there.

Brody Hoofer defeated Joey Envy with the help of his manager. I've photographed these two wrestling many times before so it was nice to see it this time with a manager involved.
The Black Stallion pinned Mitch Paradise. Mortimer Plumtree was Paradises manager for this match but it was because of his interfearance that Stallion won the match.
Thee O'Neill Twins beat Arik Cannon & Angel Armoni.
At intermission Lenny Lane and Barry Darsow aka Smash signed autographs.

Lenny Lane defeated former WWE star Eugene. Lane had a little help from Armoni, Cannon and some baby powder.
In the main event of the night Elk River's own Tony DeNucci defeated Adam Evans in a ladder and chair match. In this match ladders and chairs were legal to use.