HOW Duluth, MN 2.18.18

Promotion: Heavy On Wrestling
Time/Date: 5 p.m. Sunday February 18, 2018
City, State: Duluth, MN
Venue: Clyde Iron Works

No Love Lost

It was a snowy day in Minnesota. The drive up to Duluth from the Minneapolis area didn't see much snow but it did start close to event time.That snow would cause a change to one of the matches on this card.

In the opening match Wild Cat defeated Ryan Cruz. Wild Cat debuted his new mask in this match.

In a 3 way match King Leonidas defeated heavy Metal Lore and Chainsaw King. Fan fact, Leonidas is a town in northern MN.

Ken Anderson...Anderson defeated Mitch Paradise in a #1 contender match. This #1 contender match was pretty much like a "money in the bank" match as the winner could challenge for the HOW title when ever they wanted.

This next match was scheduled to be a 4 women match for the new HOW woman's championship title. Because of the snow Madison Rayne, Angelina Love and Laurel Van Ness were unable to make it to Duluth for this event. Leva Bates was able to make so she faced Kara Noia for the HOW woman's title.

For the first 2 matches Kara Noia was ring side doing video camera for HOW production. Noia is a student at The Academy of Professional Wrestling and she has only work in less then 10 matches. I last saw her as a referee at Showtime Championship Wrestling in St. Paul, MN. Noia had less then 10 minutes to prepare for this championship match against Bates. Good thing thing

Leva Bates pinned Kara Noia to win the first ever HOW Woman's championship title. Bates is known as the cosplay wrestler. For this match she cosplayed as Mikasa Ackerman from Attack On Titan, a popular anima series from Japan. The morning after the event I showed my wife photos of Bates as Mikasa as she has watched Attack On Titan. The first thing she said was "where are the leg straps?". Bates took those leg straps off mid way through the match.

Billy Gunn defeated Shawn Daivari. Usually I post a photo of the winner the match doing a move or hold but in this match I didn't have that. During this match I had to go to the bathroom. When I returned Gunn had just won the match with his fameasser move.

While he was in the area Billy Gunn did a seminar at The Academy of Processional Wrestling. He also did a pod cast with Ken Anderson and Michael Hunter for Lower The Mic.Click here to listen to that pod cast.

The main event was a 4 corners match for the HOW championship. HOW champion Darin Corbin took on Arik Canon, Kody Rice and Air Wolf.

Air Wolf pinned Kody Rice to win the HOW championship title.

Ken Anderson...Anderson and Shawn Daivari came out to congratulate Air Wolf as they are his trainers at The Academy of Professional Wrestling.Anderson told Air Wolf that he was going after his title, right now. After a belt to the head and a mic check Anderson got the pin on Air Wolf.

Ken Anderson...Anderson is the new HOW undisputed champion.

The next HOW event is a big one. It takes place on July 29, 2018 in Tower, MN at the Fortune Bay Casino. Already signed to appear at this event are Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff and Ricky Steamboat.

PTW Bloomington, MN 1/26/18

Promotion: Prime Time Wrestling
Time/Date: 7 p.m. Friday January 26, 2018
City, State: Bloomington, MN
Venue: Bloomington Event Center

This was PTW's annual Big Show and the last PTW event by promoter Greg McDonald AKA Magic Man. It was announced that Steel Domain Wrestling bought PTW and they will now run shows at the Bloomington Event Center under the PTW banner.

Lenny Lane returned to PTW to be commissioner for the night.

In the opening match The Tomahawk Kid defeated Magic Man. 

In a trainer VS student match Air Wolf pinned Shawn Daivari. Ken Anderson was scheduled to be in this match but he was unable to make it so Daivari took his place.

Next up was a match for the PTW Uptown championship. It was to be a 4 way match but Black Stallion was taken out of action by champion Darin Corbin before the other two wrestlers made it to the ring.

The other two wrestlers in the now 3 way match were Craven Knyte and Danny Duggan. As Darin Corbin was attacking Stallion before the bell Renny D came to the ring. Renny D was then made the referee for this match. The match ended when Corbin hit Knyte,  Duggan and Renny D with the title belt. Corbin lost by DQ and was stripped of the title because he hit an official. 

At intermission two more former PTW members, Tiger Lilly and Robbie Thunder,  came out for the raffle drawing. 

Big Sepp pinned Ricky Love.

Matt "The Beer City Bruiser" Winchester defeated Heavy Metal Lore in a hard core match.

The main event was a 3 tag team elimination match for all the titles in PTW. The DOUGs VS Body Beautiful (Billy Blaze & PTW champion Mitch Paradise) VS PTW tag team champions Wild Cat & Super Thunder Frog. The DOUGs were eliminated after Black Stallion unmasked one of the DOUGs to reveal it was Darin Corbin. The match ended in a double pin. Referee Jay Soltis said Body Beautiful won and referee Willy Mac said Cat & Frog won. So it looks like all the PTW titles are vacated until the next event at the Bloomington Event Center on March 30, 2018.

The Academy: School of Pro Wrestling

There is a new pro wrestling training camp in MN. The Academy: School of Pro Wrestling opened up about a month ago in Brooklyn Park, MN (just north of Minneapolis). The school is owned by Shawn Daivari and Ken Anderson. Both men have worked for WWE and TNA.

Daivari and Anderson are the main trainers but they also have Arik Cannon as an assistant coach.

Another coach The Academy has is Nora "Molly Holly" Greenwald.  If you are a female looking to get in to the pro wrestling biz there is no one better to learn from then Molly Holly! She is one of the greatest female pro wrestlers of all time.

If you are looking to get into the pro wrestling biz then give The Academy a try.

HOW South St. Paul, MN 11/12/16

Promotion: Heavy On Wrestling
Time/Date: 7 pm Saturday November 12, 2016
City, State: South St. Paul, MN
Venue: South St. Paul High School


Wildcat pinned Rob James in the opening match.

Darin Corbin beat Kody Rice.

Cooter Bocephus pinned Shawn Daivari.

F1RST Wrestling Wrestlepalooza champion Ariya Daivari defeated Matt Winchester to retain the title.This was one of Daivari's last independent wrestling events as he has signed with the WWE full time.

Arik Cannon defeated Silas Young.

Cody Rhodes pinned Colt Cabana in the main event.

HOW Superior, WI 9/24/16

Promotion: Heavy On Wrestling
Time/Date: 7 pm Saturday September 24, 2016
City, State: Superior, Wisconsin
Venue: Wessman Arena

Evilution: Rise of Destruction
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was at the event to sign autographs. He was also inducted into the MN Wrestling Hall of Fame by Sylvester J. Fox.

Wildcat pinned Scott Story.

"6% Body Fat" Rob James defeated (FKA Simon Dean).

Steve Lombardi (FKA The Brooklyn Brawler) defeated "Live Wire" Johnny Parks by tap out.

In a special attraction 6 man tag team match Mitch Paradise, John Johnson & Dan Hanger ( a news anchor in Duluth, MN) defeated The Daivari brothers ( Ariya & Shawn) & Dan Jesser. Hanger got the pin on Jesser.

Darin Corbin got the win over by DQ.

HOW champion Lance Hoyt beat Ken Anderson in a best of 3 falls match to retain the title.

The next HOW event is Saturday November 12 at the South St. Paul high school.

Daivari makes ROH debut.

Tonight, 3/13/15,  in Milwaukee, WI Ariya Daivari will make his Ring of Honor debut. He is scheduled to wrestle against Roderick Strong.

It was almost 11 years ago that Ariya's older brother Shawn Daivari made his ROH debut in Chicago Ridge, IL. At that event Shawn teamed up with Delirious to take on the team of Masada & Justin Credible. Even though Shawn tried to break Masada's back and make him humble with the flying carpet he ended up getting pinned by Credible. Shawn did not stay in ROH for very long as he signed with the WWE 4 months later.

F1rst: Wrestlepalooza Minneapolis, MN 1/12/2013

On a really cold Saturday night in Minneapolis, MN pro wrestling returned to my favorite venue, First Avenue. F1rst Wrestling returned as they presented Wrestle Palooza, a mix of pro wrestling, punk rock and burlesque. What a combination that is!
The first match of the night was a six man tag match. Wildcat & Zero Gravity ( Brett Gakiya & CJ Esparza )defeated “6% Body Fat” Rob James, Mr. Kincaid & Renny D.
Next out in the ring was Queenie Von Curves for some burlesque action.
Shawn Daivari pinned Colin Cambridge in the second match of the night. This was my first time seeing Cambridge, who wrestles out of the Chicago area. As Daivari was celebrating his win his younger brother Arya came out and gave him a super kick.
Punk band Masked Intruder came out and played a few songs.
The Misfits (John Johnson & Aaron Corbin) defeated The North Star Express ( Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz) when Aaron pinned Darin. I think the last time Corbin & Cruz teamed together was at the last F1rst wrestling event back in July 2011.
After an intermission the action in the ring continued with more burlesque from Musette “The Mistress of Mischief”.
Masked Intruder came out to play a few more songs.Too bad they were rudely interrupted by Arya Daivari. That guy is suck a jerk. Daivari said he was looking for a fight so M.I. Blue brought out his pal Arik Cannon to take on Daivari.
Arik Cannon defeated Arya Daivari in an anarky rules match. Cannon did get a little help from M.I. Green and Officer Bradford. (It’s come to my attention that Daivari now uses his real first name which is spelled “Ariya”. But here on his blog I’m still going to spell it with out the “I” for consistency
Next up was more burlesque. This time it was Queenie Von Curves/Hogan dancing to “Real American”. This was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at a pro wrestling event.
In the main event El Chivas Blanco defeated “Playboy” Pete Huge. This is a must see match as is this whole event. So go buy the DVD when it comes out at Smart Mark Video.