PTW Bloomington, MN 5/25/2012

Prime Time Wrestling held their last card of the season at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus this past Friday night. PTW will be taking the Summer months off and return to action in the Fall.
In the opening match Ryan Cruz defeated Arya Daivari.
El Bano defeated The Brauler in a deportation match.
PTW had a contract signing with KC hall general manager Jim Rasmussen to renew their contract for another year. Next to Rasmussen and PTW commissioner Tobin are Extreme Pro Wrestling Radio host Big D and Crisco.
Mikey Wipeout pinned John Johnson. This was Wipeout’s return to the ring after being out with an injury for a few months.
Wipeout and Johnson both had valets for there match. Johnson, subbing for Robbie Thunder,  was with Tiger Lilly. Wipeout was with new comer Delanie Neal seen in the red, white, and blue on the floor.
Mitch Paradise won the ‘hair VS hair’ match against Magic Man. In order to get an edge over the bigger Paradise, Magic Man had Rainmaker at ring side to help him out. Rainmaker turned on Magic Man causing Magic Man to loose the match. Magic Man was held in the chair by Ryan Cruz and Mikey Wipeout as Paradise cut his hair.
Before the main event there was a poetry contest. Rick was pick from the crowd to read his poem against Billy Blaze’s poem. The fan were then asked which one they liked better. The fans cheered more for Rick’s poem but Lenny Lane said Blaze was the winner because they booed more for Blaze. Not only is Rick a really great poet but he is also a great web master. Check out Ricks web site, minnesotaprowrestling.com
The Black Stallion & Chiropractor DC defeated Lenny Lane & Billy Blaze. Big D was the special guest enforcer referee because of all the cheating Lane has done to win his matches..In this tag team match Lane’s PTW heavy weight title was on the line. If Lane or Blaze were pinned then who ever made the pin got the title.
Chiropractor DC became the new PTW heavy weight champion when he pinned Lenny Lane.

CM Punk VS Daniel Bryan

This Sunday at the WWE Over The Limit PPV the WWE champion CM Punk will take on the challenge of Daniel Bryan. To promote that match this week WWE.com posted a story about the history between Punk and Bryan. That story included photos I took for Pro Wrestling Illustrated back in 2004. The match took place at the St. Paul Armory for Ring of Honor when Bryan was then know as Bryan Danielson. No titles were on the line in that match on April 23 but Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat was the special guest referee. Bryan won that match when he made Punk tap out. Will he be able to make Punk tap out again this Sunday?
CM Punk spent his first few years in pro wrestling in Steel Domain Wrestling which held most of its card in West Saint Paul, just down the road from where this ROH card took place.You can watch this match at ROH’s web site which I’ve linked here. Look for me at ring side, I'm the one in the red shirt.

PTW Bloomington, MN 4/27/2012

Prime Time Wrestling was back at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus for their monthly show this past Friday night.

The first contest of the night was an arm wrestling match between The Brauler and El Bano. The contest ended when The Brauler poked El Bano in the eye. I think The Brauler was really intimidated by El Bano’s Over the Top hat. Some guy from the I.N.S. came in to the ring to announce that El Bano did not have a green card so he was taking El Bano back to Mexico. The PTW commissioner got in the ring and asked the I.N.S. guy if he could pay El Bano’s bond to keep him in the country until next months card when they will have a looser get deported match.
Magic Man defeated Chris Dorrian after Dorrian hit his head on the ceiling beam.
Magic Man thought that his match with Dorrian was so easy he challenged the next wrestler who walked out of the locker room. Magic Man was so confident that he could beat anyone that he said he would cut off his hair if he lost. Mitch Paradise was the next wrestler to walk out. Magic Man changed his mind about wrestling Paradise right then but said he would wrestle him next month if Paradise beat The Executioner. Paradise did beat The Executioner by tap out.
The Black Stallion defeated Robbie Thunder with Lilly. Thunder got some help from Lilly but she got a little too involved while she was on the ring apron when The Black Stallion pushed Thunder into her.
PTW champion Lenny Lane pinned Renny D. Lanes feet were on the ropes and ref Rob Page did not see it. Page should really go to a doctor to get his eyes checked.

Kenny Jay Benefit for Histiocytosis March 31, 2012

This year the  kenny “The Sodbuster” Jay Benefit for histiocytosis will be on Saturday March 31, 2012. It will take place at American Legion post #643 in Savage, MN. I believe it will start around 6 pm and go until about midnight. Scheduled to appear this year are Nick Bockwinkel, Baron Von Raschke, Larry Hennig, Doctor X, Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzeill, Stan "Krusher" Kowalski, Eddie Sharkey and Buck Zumhofe. This event is a great way to meet some of your favorite wrestlers from the golden days of wrestling and support a good cause. Show poster for more info.

MWE Robbinsdale, MN 3/3/2012

Midwest Wrestling Entertainment held their annual fund raiser event for a church youth group this past Saturday night. This year the event was held at the Elim Lutheran church in Robbinsdale, MN.
In the opening match Cpl. Julio Julio defeated Rob Ivy.

Arya Daivari & Renny D came out to cut a promo on the Junk Squad, Chris Jordan & Pete Huge. This promo set up the main event for the night as The Junk Squad were set to defend their tag team titles against The Young Guys. I’m not sure if that was the name that Daivari & D gave themselves but it sounds good.
Chris Dorrian pinned Benjamin Sailer in the the second match of the night.
Horace the Psychopath defeated Shimdog. This was Shimdogs last match as his doctor told him that he should never wrestle again because his spine is in horrible shape. Thankfully that means that this is the last time that Shimdogs tights will be seen in a wrestling ring. Here is a photo of Shimdog from June 2003. This was one of the first times that I photographed a Shimdog match. It took place at the old MPW arena. At the time Shimdog was the MPW cruiser weight champion. He defeated Kaos (Cody O’Neill) to retain the title.
The Black Stallion pinned El Bano.
The Junk Squad defeated The Young Guys when Chris Jordan pinned Renny D after some kind of swinging neck breaker type thing.

AWF Elk River, MN 2/25/2012

This past Saturday night the American Wrestling Federation held their annual fund raiser for the Elk River high school football team. This event was also a TV taping for the AWF Saturday Night Slam TV show that can be seen on channel 45 in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
In the first match Ryan Cruz defeated Rob James.
The Black Stallion pinned Mr. KK (Kamikaze Klecker)
Tony DeNucci pinned El Muerto  after a frog splash.
Johnny Parks came out for his match but his opponent never came out. A name was announced that I didn’t hear and music was played but no one came out. The ref counted to 10 and Parks was the winner. El Muerto was dumb enough to come to the ring and attack Parks.
Craven Knyte became the first AWF Elite champion when he defeated John Johnson.
AWF World champion Wildcat defeated former champion Arya Daivari in a no dq match. After his victory Wildcat wanted to celebrate with an adult beverage but the bar tender wouldn’t serve him with the mask on.

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.