Neo Pro Fairbult, MN 4/9/2006

At the Neo Pro arena on a beautiful Sunday afternoon Neo Pro Wrestling promoted a card that featured the return of TNA and ROH wrestler Austin Aries.
Kamakazi Klecker & Corey O'Neill beat Neo Pro crusierweight champion Joey Envy & Casanova in a tag team match. It was Klecker who got the pin on Joey Envy.

Austin Aries came out to address the fans in Fairbult. I'm guessing that about 90% of the crowd of 86 have never seen Aries live.

Magnus Maximus beat Kid Krazy. Krazy has been putting on some muscle in the last few months and in turn he has been facing more heavyweights but he still has a ways to go to be as big as Magnus.

The Black Stallion was suppose to defend his Neo Pro heavyweight title against Tommy Gunn but Gunn was injured from a car crash. Gunn and his tag team partner Big Daddy Hoofer attacked Stallion. John Johnson came out to make the save and that set up the next match of Hoofer Vs Johnson. Hoofer beat Johnson with a little help from Gunn.

Shimdog Vs Aaron Corbin ended in a DQ for Shimdog when Prettyboooooy Delgado made his return to wrestling and helped Shimdog beat down Corbin. Delgado left the MN indy scene about 2 years ago when he was part of MPW's New Generation with Cody O'Neill and Aaron Corbin.

The match was advertised as a 30 minute ironman match but it turned into a regular 1 fall match. Austin Aries beat the crowd favorite Cody O'Neill.

Two years ago today 4/11/2004 Lucha Action!

On Easter Sunday 2004 a new promotion in the Minneapolis area debuted @ the West St. Paul Armory. The closest this promotion had to a name was Promociones Renegado which is named after the owner Renegado Estrada. At this time there were plenty of wrestling promotions in the twin cities area but this one was catering to a different crowd, the latinos of the area. I guess the Lucha cards in Mexico cost more as the tickets for this $25! That's a lot for an indy wrestlign show but they did bring in some big names from south of the boarder as the big 6 man tag main event featured Tinieblas jr, Piloto Suicida & Huracan Ramirez VS Poison, Acero Dorado & Frankistein. Yes, Frankistein. But the card was not filled with lucha wrestlers only as some of the top local talent was on featurd as well. Sadly this promotion lasted less then a year.
In the opener Shawn Daivari lost to Werner from Chile.
Arik Cannon wrestled Kaos in what would be their last time in the ring together for about a year.
In mixed tag action Rain & Playboy Pete Huge beat Lacey & Big Daddy Hoofer.
All the wrestlers were brought to the ring for something but I don't know what because I don't speak spanish.
Yep, that's Frankistein (that's how it's spelled on the flyier). This 6 man lucha match was just insane. The crowd was going wild and I had no idea what the rules were or what was going on. This was as close as I could be to being at a lucha card in Mexico with out being in Mexico.
After the card the fans crowded around Tinieblas jr for photos and autographs.

NIW Amery, WI 4/8/2006

On Saturday night April 8, 2006 Northern Impact Wrestling presented 'No Sign Of Surrender' at the Northstar Event Center in Amery, WI. On this night the place didn't seem as smoky as it usually does so that was great. Before the matches started I was able to show off photos of my new baby girl.
The opening bout was between Cody O'Neill and J.O.E. I'm not sure what the j.o.e stands for. This was not one of Codys best matches as in the end hit was his shoulders that were on the mat for the 3 count. Cody was at another card earlier in the day so that may have had something to do with performance in the ring.
NIW champion Al B.C. defended his title against The Professional Ben Sailer who earned this match a few weeks ago in Forest Lake, MN. Al was able to hold on to his belt a little while longer but only because he got held from Rob James.The Badman beat Pete Mack. I think he should change his name to The Goodman as he does seem to get cheers from the fans now a days.
At the last NIW card Chris Jordan challenged the NIW Impact champion, The Prophet for a shot at the title. Jordan was unable to beat the Prophet for the belt.
Playboy Pete Huge beat Kid Krazy but only with help from his Junk Squad partner Chris Jordan.
The NIW tag team belts changed hands in a 4 team elimination match as Dano Tep & Trent Jones beat The Northstar Express. This ended NSE's 8 month title reign.
The Punisher Rob James beat The Anarchrist Arik Cannon 2 falls to 1. The final fall was a street fight and both wrestlers got bloody. Cannon kicked James in the crotch a bunch of times, hence the position of his hand in this photo. The stipulation for this match was that loser would have to no longer wrestle in Amery, WI but NIW commish Frosty tore that contract up after Cody O'Neill helped James win the thrid fall so Cannon could still wrestle in Amery, WI.

MPW 3/28/2006 Minneapolis, MN

From First Ave in Minneapolis, MN Midwest Pro Wrestling presented 7 matches on this last Tuesday night of March 2006. With my wife at 3 days past the due date of our baby she still didn't feel it happening yet so with her blessing I went to the monthly MPW card.
In the opening match Tony Money beat Craven Knyte. These two are some of the newest MPW academy trainees and have, I believe, lest then 5 matches between both of them. They both have different gear since the last time they wrestled. Knight lost the tank top he used to wear and it looks like he got rid of the moon boots. In Money's first match he didn't even have gear so it's great to see him look like a wrestler this time.
In the second match of the night it was Germany Vs the U.S.A. as The Asylum wrestled Corp. Alexander. This was Alexander's First Ave debut and only the third time I've seen him wrestle. The first two times he wrestled as Roman Dinari. Now he is a 'war vet'. The Asylum picked up the win with a little help from his manager Vinnie Banks.
Big Daddy Hoofer beat Chris Jordan.
Mitch Paradise beat Kid Krazy in a rematch from 2 months ago. This time Krazy didn't bleed. Go to Kid Krazy's myspace page to message him to let him know you want to buy his dvd.
Rain was to face Jessica Dalton in a lumberjack match but Dalton no showed. Not sure whats going on with Dalton but she missed the last two cards she was scheduled on here in this area. With Dalton out of the match The Big Bad Booty Daddy happily took her place. Rain beat BBBD with a lung blower after he got a little too fresh with her.
Magnus Maximus beat 'Playboy' Pete Huge.
MPW cruiserweight champion Nate Bash defeated Zero Kincade. I was disappointed with the lack of respect some wrestlers in the crowd showed this match.

Neo Pro 3/25/2006 Londsdale, MN

This Saturday night was the due date of my baby but my wife said she was it wasn't going to happen tonight. But if it were to happen Lonsdale, MN was not too far away so I made the drive down there for the Neo Pro wrestling card. Thanks to Shimdog for making sure that my wife could get a hold of me if something did happen. My cell phone did not get a good signal in that small town. Not only do I wish that this small MN town would get better cell signals but I also wish they would get with the big cities and ban smoking in bars. I hate smoky bars! What really sucks is how many children are at these shows in Lonsdale and it seems that about 90% of the adults smoke.
A tag team title match was the first match of the night as the Neo Pro tag team champions The O'Neill Twinz took on former tag team partners JB Trask and Johnny Parks. Trask and Parks used to be know as the Lost Souls a few years back in the now defunct SDW. The O'Neills won the match after a little switcher roo. Yep, they cheated.
Pete Huge beat El Viejo with the 'G spot for real'. Funny match.
Shimdog was scheduled to wrestle Jessica Dalton in an evening gown match but Dalton was unable to make it this night. With out an opponent Shimdog made a challenge to one of the O'Neill twins and it was Cory who answered that challenge. Shimdog won the match with the help of some brass knuckles. After the match Aaron Corbin came out and attacked his old partner. Once Aaron and Cory ko'ed Shimdog they put him in a dress.
Neo Pro cruiserweight champion Joey Envy retained his belt against Kamakazi Klecker by DQ. It was Joey who used a ladder to hit Klecker to get the DQ which made Commish Dolan set up a ladder match between these two. Joey has probly been in the most Neo Pro ladder matches.
The Big Gunns beat Neo Pro heavy weight champion The Black Stallion and Aaron Corbin.
John Johnson beat Magnus Maximus in a rematch from the last Lonsdale card.

2 years ago this week...

On 3/24/2004 @ First Ave in downtown Minneapolis Ken Anderson wrestled Shawn Daivari in Daivaris last indy match in his home town. As you can see from the photo on the left Daivari was a bloody mess in this match. Today both these men are WWE Superstars as Shawn is know simply as Daivari and Ken changed his last name to Kennedy...Kennedy. Today I saw a car with two bumper stickers for a politican named Kennedy. I had to laugh when I saw it. Recently I went to my first ever live WWE card. It was held in the Target Center which is right across the street from First Ave. Ken wrestled in the first match of the night but it was a dark match but it was cool to see Ken in action in a much bigger arena.








In another card from 2 years ago we have a lumberjack match that took place at the old MPW arena in Maple Grove, MN on 3/27/2004. The two men in the lumberjack match are Kaos Cody O'Neill and Prettybooooy Delgado. Today Cody is one half of the Neo Pro tag team champions with his twin brother Cory but his opponent in this match is out of the biz.

NIW Forest Lake, MN 3/19/06

Norther IMPACT Wrestling had a raffel lottery fans choice show on 3/19/2006 @ the VFW in Forest Lake, MN. At last months Forest Lake show fans bought a raffel ticket for a chance to decide a singles match at this show. After that match was picked the following winners picked envolopes with wrestlers names in them and the names were placed in one of 5 matches. This made for some very interesting match ups.
Match one was an IMPACT Carmavel between Nate Bash, Ryan Cruz, Vinnie Divine, Dano Tep, Ben Sailer and Pete Mack. This was Pete Macks (seen here powere body slamming Nate Bash)first match in 6 months so it was a surpise to see him in this match. Ben Sailer finished off Dano Tep with a spin kick to the face for the win.
Pete Huge & Venom were team up to take on Bret O'Brian & Malikite. Venon and O'Brian are usually tagging together but in this match they had to wrestle each other. It wasn't untill late in the match that the two were tagged in to face each other. As they hesitated to actually wrestle their partners hit their finishing move and got a pin. Ref Rob Page declaired the match a draw.
For the lottery singles match Casanova was picked to face Chris Jordan. I'm not sure but I think this is the first time these two have faced each other. Both of them tried to cheat to win during the match but it was The Genuine Article Chris Jordan who got the win with his feet on the ropes. After the match Jordan challenged The Prophet for his IMPACT title.
In another singles match and first time match up Cody O'Neill wrestled The Bad Man Bobby Mafi. Cody Came out with a head mic on and did commentary during the match at least for a little while untill he decided that he shouldn't take Bobby too lightly. In the end it was Cody who had his shoulders down for the 3 count. But man, Cody on the mic was funny stuff.
In the raffel lottery fans pick match Trent Jones got to test his skills against Arik Cannon. I think the fan who picked this match just wanted to see Jones get chopped untill his chest was dark red. Jones debuted his new gear and he might want to make sure he wears this new gear as his 'lucky' gear. That of make sure that he gets help from others to win which is what he did to beat Cannon.
The NIW tag team title was on the line as one half of Northstar Express Darin Corbin teamed with Kid Krazy because of the lottery to face Rob James and NIW champion Al B.C.. All hell broke loose during this match as The Junk Squad came out to attack Corbin. The other member of NSE Ryan Cruz came out to help as Cannon came out to attack James who interfered in his match. Everyone but Krazy and Al fought to the back locker room. Krazy pinned Al after 2 running kicks to the face, the Uh-Oh kick.

Neo Pro 3/12/2006 Fairbult, MN

Neo Pro's weekly Sunday show presented these matches on 3/12/06 from the Neo Pro arena/training center. They moved their start time up to 4pm for the Sunday night shows which is a good thing because it was raining/snowing when the show was over and the weather got worse a few hours later.
Cody O'Neill made Joessiah tap out with some kind of leg/head lock. I'll have to ask Cody if he has a name for that hold. It was good to see Joessiah again.
John Johnson beat Tommy 'Spiderbaby' Saturday.
Neo Pro cruiser weight champion Joey Envy beat his former friend Aaron Corbin.
There were two more matches but I was having technical difficulties with my camera. So instead of taking photos I watched Kid Krazy's new DVD. This DVD is awesome! If he had a way to order it on line I would give a link but for now the DVD is only available at shows that Kid Krazy is on.

Neo Pro 3/4/2006 Fairlbult, MN

From the Neo Pro arena a Saturday show was presented on 3/4/2006.
The cruiserweight title was on the line in the first match of the night as Joey E took on Cory O'Neill and Kamakazi Klecker in a 3 way dance. Joey E retained his title by pinning Klecker.
Magnus Maximus beat 'Playboy' Pete Huge.
Chris Jordan and Cody O'Neill wrestled a 2 out of 3 falls match as thier tag team fued crossed over to a singles match. Cody got the best of Jordan when he made him tap out for the first fall, Jordan got a pin and then Cody hit his series for the final pin. I've heard really good things about this match from those who watched it.
The Black Stallion kept his Neo Pro heavyweight title when he got himself DQ'ed by hitting Big Daddy Hoofer.
Some tag team match was the main event but I couldn't see who was in it because the ref was always in my way.

MPW Minneapolis, MN 2/28/2006

Midwest Pro Wrestling held it's monthly card at in the First Ave main room on a Tuesday night.
In the first match of the night The Asylum beat Craven Knyte. This was my 3rd time photographing a Kraven match but first time I noticed his 'moon boots'. He even got a Napoleon Dynamite chant.
The second match of the night saw the First Ave return of Buddha as he took on Tommy 'Spiderbaby' Saturday. Buddha is now half the man he used to be as he has lost a lot of weight. Buddha won the match but only after getting a kiss on the lips from Spiderbaby.
Arik Cannon debuted his new black and yellow gear, too bad he didn't call his opponent to see what he was going to wear to the match. His opponent this night was Kid Krazy who has been wearing yellow and black for a few years now. Kid Krazy was so pissed that Cannon would steal his colors that he hit Cannon with the world of pain to get the 3 count.
Mitch Paradise beat Big Daddy Hoofer. Paradise came out wearing some title belt but I'm not sure what title that was.
The Genuine Article Chris Jordan defeated Magnus Maximus.
Jessica Dalton (formally known as O.D.B.) defeated Rain with a little help from the ropes. The fans at First Ave got to see a little more of Dalton as her ass was showing for about 2 minutes.
MPW cruiser weigh champion Nate Bash retained his title against the challenge of 'Playboy' Pete Huge. Being that February is 'black history month' I thought I should point out that Nate Bash is the first MPW black champion.