Chikara comes to Minneapolis

In just two weeks Chikara will make it's Minnesota debut. Thursday October 22, 2015 in Minneapolis, MN at Mill City Nights. All ready announced to appear at this event are The Colony, Chuck Taylor, Dasher Hatfield, Icarus, Eddie Kingston and Arik Cannon.This may be the first time that Chikara will promote an event here in MN but it's not the first time that a group of Chikara wrestlers have made the trip to MN for another wrestling promotion.

MPW Invitational

Back in September 2003 Midwest Pro Wrestling had a weekend training camp with Skayde ( who later on became the head trainer at the Chikara Wrestle Factory). Attending this training camp were 6 Chikara wrestlers. MPW had two events that weekend on Saturday and Sunday night and called them the MPW Invitational.

On Saturday night September 20th Chris Hero defeated Casanova.

 The Midwest Shockers (Cody O'Neill & Joey Envy) defeated Eddie Kingston & Sitoci and Icarus & Gran Akuma in 3 way tag team elimination match.

 Sumie Sakai  defeated Ran Maru and had her hand raised by Chikara referee Bryce Remsberg.

 On night two, Sunday September 21, Arik Cannon defeated Chis Hero.

The Midwest Shockers (Joey Envy & Cody O'Neill) defeated Gran Akuma & Shawn Daivari.

 The main event was American Gigolo & Ran Maru VS Skayde & Sumie Sakai with referee Bryce Remsburg. Skayde & Sakai won the match when Sakai pinned Gigolo. I love in ring posed photos.

My first published photo in Pro Wrestling Illustrated was from this match. It appeared on the last page of the February2004 issue of PWI.

World Series of Wrestling

In 2005 MPW was visited by 7 wrestlers and 1 referee from Chikara. This time the two promotions battled against each other in the World Series of Wrestling, a best of seven match series. The guys from Chikara were at MPW for two nights April 30 and May 1, 2005.

In the first match MPW cruiser weight champion The Prophet defeated Icarus. MPW 1 Chikara 0

 Emil Sitoci VS Joessiah ended in a draw when both men could not get to their feet before a 10 count.

 "Sweet and Sour" Larry Sweeney pinned The Punisher (Rob James). MPW 1 Chikara 1

 Claudio Castagnoli (WWE's Cesaro) defeated Casanova. MPW 1 Chikara 2

 Kid Krazy defeated Hallowicked. MPW 2 Chikara 2

MPW Universal champion Joey Envy defeated Chris Hero. MPW 3 Chikara 2

 "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush pinned Arik Cannon. MPW 3 Chikara 3.

 On Sunday May 1, 2005 the main event was a 6 man tag to determine  the winner of the World Series of Wrestling. Quackenbush, Hero & Castagnoli defeated Cannon, Krazy & Version 2 (Ryan Cruz) to win the MPW/Chikara World Series of Wrestling. That's right, the visiting promotion won.

Be sure to check out Chikara on Thursday October 22 at Mill City Nights. Then mark your calendar for the next F1rst Wrestling event at First Ave, Friday January 8, 2016. 

ECHO Pro St. Cloud, MN 1/16/2009

There is a new promotion in Minnesota called ECHO Pro and they held their first event this past Friday night at the St. Cloud National Guard Armory. Former WCW/WWE wrestler Shannon Moore was the advertised headline but he was mixed up on which night his match with Pete Huge was so he did not make it for the premier of ECHO Pro. Near the wrestlers entrance there was a large screen set up with a projector. The projector was hooked up to the ring side camera. I think the screen and projector would have been better used if they had some pre recorded promos/interviews to play on the screen so the fans could get to know the wrestlers.

Ann Brookstone & Brody Hoofer defeated Allison Wonderland & Pete Huge in the opening contest. As mentioned above Huge was scheduled to face Shannon Moore in the main event for the ECHO Pro championship. With Moore not there ECHO Pro owner John Black put Huge in a mixed tag match with his valet Wonderland.
Tag team partners wrestled against each other on this card as Nate Bash defeated Benjamin Sailer in this exhibition match. The match went to a 10 minute time limit draw but the fans demanded 5 more minutes. Bash got the win with a roll up.
"Lightning" Toryn Cross and Josh Calisto ended their match with a double count out. Cross used to wrestle under the name Red Lightning.
"The Anarchist" Arik Cannon defeated "Genuine Article" Chris Jordan. Connon got the pin after an exploder suplex and then a glimmering warlock.
Joey Envy defeated Kamikaze Klecker, "6% Body Fat" Rob James and Ryan Cruz in a 4 way falls count anywhere elemination match. Cruz was eliminated first by James. Then Envy eliminated James with a super kick. Being that it was a falls count anywhere in the city of St. Cloud the final two wresters decided to take the match out side. The tempeture on this night was 4 above 0 and there was snow on the ground. After another super kick Envy got the 3 count on Klecker in the snow. Ref Rob Page borrowed a jacket when he went outside. The wrestler should have done the same.
In the main event Darin Corbin defeated Lenny Lane. Ref Rob Page was knocked down when Lane brougth a chair in to the ring.When Page got up Lane was on the mat and Corbin was holding the chair so Page disqualified Corbin. Black came out and informed let Page know that Corbin did not use the chair so Page restarted the match. Corbin then got the pin after a lungblower.

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 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.

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.

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.