Happy Birthday Josie

Happy birthday today to independent wrestler Josie.

The photo on the top left is from 12/21/03 at MPW in Maple Grove, MN VS Miss Natural. The second one is from 8/13/03 at First Ave in Minneapolis, MN against Rain. The last photo is from 6/23/04 at First Ave VS Angel Williams.

Happy Birthday Rain

I've been inactive the last month as there has not been much going on in this area and my camera was out of commission for a week or two. So with very few post lately I decided to add a few photos here of someone who's birthday it is today, Rain.

The first photo is from 12/06/03 in St. Paul, MN VS Josie on an MIW card. The middle photo is from 5/22/04 in New Prague, MN against Lacey at a PWA event. And the on on the right is from ROH on 4/27/07 in St. Paul, MN as the MN Homewrecking Crew took on Dangerous Angels.

AWA RUSH Faribault, MN 8/17/2007

AWA RUSH returned to Spikes bar in Faribault, MN on this Saturday night.
The first match was a tag team match with the RUSH tag team champions The Junk Squad facing off against Hype Gotti & Babyface. This was my first time seeing Gotti and second time seeing Babyface. Pete Huge & Kleck Micheals won the match and retained their title.
Cooter came out to the ring and ripped on Gator Magraw. Long time partner/opponent Casanova didn't like what Cooter had to say so he challenged him to a match. Casanova was sporting a really nice mullet. And this was the last photo that my camera took that night as it broke. I think it had something to do with the mullet.

NPW Lonsdale, MN 8/10/2007

Northstar Premier Wrestling held their last event of the year as they presented 'Beat Down: The Night of Hardcore' at the South 40 pub in Lonsdale, MN. The main event to this card was a 4 way hardcore rules match. The 4 men in this match were determined by 4 matches earlier in the night, all under hardcore rules.

The opening contest was an ICW/Milwaukee showcase match between Mickey McCoy and Justin Dredd. This was my first time seeing Dredd in person though I've seen many photos on line of him from Wisconsin photographer Jill Mckee. Check out Jill's online album. McCoy won the match with a roll up and hand full of Dredd's trunks.
In the first of the beat down 4 way qualifying matches Brody Hoofer beat Arya Daivari. Hoofer took one of Arya's 8x10's off the merchandise table (with out paying for it) and used a staple gun to attach it to Daivari's arm.
Esteban Molina beat Benjamin Sailer in the second beat down qualifying match.
JB Trask beat Aaron Corbin to move onto the main event. Corin some how got his pal Shimdog to step in as the referee for this match but it still didn't help him beat Trask.

Kid Krazy returned to Minnesota for this event and made sure he wasn't going way after the first match as he beat Arik Cannon to be the 4th man in the Beat Down main event.
The O'Neill Twinz beat Zero Tolerance to win the NPW tag team championship.
In a 'hair Vs career' match James Thomas beat Jayson Vaine to end the career of Vaine. I was rooting for Vaine in this match as I thought Thomas could really use a new hair cut. This match was done under hardcore rules as well. Thomas used a cheese grater to cut Vaine. There were pools of Vaines blood all over the ring as you can see at the foot of the chair in this photo.

I first saw Vaine back in 2003 at an MIW card in Brooklyn Park, MN. He had to take off time from the ring as he had a much more important battle out side the ring with cancer. He returned to the ring in 2005 bald and much thinner.
After all the blood was cleaned up from the ring it was time for the big heavy weights as Mitch Paradise defeated Skull Crusher Rashe Brown.

JB Trask won the Beat Down Fatal 4 Way Elimination Match by pinning Esteban Molina after a fire ball to the face and fall through a table. Brody Hoofer was the first one eliminated after a van terminator from Kid Krazy. Then Krazy was pinned by Trask.

*EDIT*

I added this photo of the puddle of blood that was left in the ring from the Vaine/Thomas match. Yep, it was a bloody one match.

AWA RUSH Mankato, MN 7/27/2007

Gator's Last Stand was the name of the card held by AWA Pro Wrestling RUSH this last Friday at the Eagles Club in Mankato, MN. This was a new venue for RUSH and the place was packed for Cowboy Gator Magraws last match as he was retiring due to injuries.

The Junk Squad beat the Northstar Express to retain the AWA RUSH tag team titles.

Tag team partners Benjamin Sailer and Jasyin Strife wrestled against each other in an exhibition match to prepare them selves for a rematch with the Junk Squad. There was no winner in this match as the Junk Squad attacked Sailer and Strife.
The feud between student and teacher continued as Shimdog took on Jake Taylor in a strap match. There was no winner in this match as both men touched the 4th turnbuckle pad at the same time.
Arya Daivari beat Devin Carter to become the new AWA RUSH YouTube champion.
Arik Cannon beat Aaron Corbin. After the match Cannon poured some drain clog remover stuff on Corbin's face.
Joey Envy retained the AWA RUSH championship against Horace the psychopath when the ref reversed the original decision and Horace was disqualified.

In his last match Gator Magraw beat his long time nemesis and former partner Casanova.
It was a little over 4 years ago when I first photographed Magraw in action at a Neo Pro card in Cottage Grove, MN. He was a little thinner then.

F1RST Wrestling Minneapolis, MN 7/15/2007

This last Sunday F1RST Wrestling returned to First Ave for a card that was titled 'Unfinished Business'. Making a guest appearance on this night was Nora 'Molly Holly' Greenwald.
In the opening match Cody O'Neill beat Arik Cannon with a roll up. O'Neill came to the ring with WCCO 830 radio personality Dark Star and the lovely Venus de Milo. Star was with O'Neill because he heard about all the problems O'Neill was having with Rob James. Unfortunately Star and de Milo were no help as O'Neill was once again attacked by James and Horace the Psychopath. Cannon came back to the ring to help his long time rival and they set up the main event for the night as Cannon & O'Neill would take on In Shape & Insane (James & Horace) in an Anrarky rules match.
In the Onion match of the night, The Prophet won a 4 corner match as he pinned Zac James who debuted at F1rst Wrestling. Also in the match were Kleck Micheals and Nate Bash.
In a brother vs brother match it was the younger brother Darin who beat his older brother Aaron.
It's very rare in pro wrestling when promotions work together. On this F1rst Wrestling card the AWA RUSH championship was on the line as champion Joey Envy took on challenger Jaysin Strife. Not only did AWA RUSH have their senior ref Tad Taylor officiate the match but they also had their ring announcer Levi do the introductions. Envy retained his title winning the match with a super kick.
Arya Daivari came out and got on the mic to rip on the U.S. troops in Iraq. Daivaris words got a few fans really upset as some challenged him to step out of the ring. Instead Daivari issued an open challenge to anyone in the back. Out came Ryan Cruz waving the U.S. flag. After Daivari missed the magic carpet ride Cruz hit his boomshakalaka for the win. Too bad the war in Iraq can't end that easily.
'Playboy' Pete Huge beat his long time rival Brody Hoofer with a little help from his manager Allison Wunderland and his belt buckle. These two started in the biz together over 8 years ago.
Arik Cannon & Cody O'Neill beat In Shape & Insane in the anything goes anarky rules match. This match was very bloody as 3 of the wrestlers bleed enough to fill a few bags for the Red Cross. Cannon gave James a burning hammer to get the pin after James was put though a table with an O'Neill double stomp off the First Ave stage.

ROH Chicago Ridge, IL6/23/2007

Ring of Honor returned to the Forntier Fieldhouse in Chicago Ridge, Il last Saturday to tape their second ppv. The first have of the card was taped for the ppv but the whole card will be availible on DVD after the ppv airs. There was a womens tag team match after intermission but I was unable to get out to ring side to photograph it.

Davey Richards & Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero defeated Erick Stevens & Matt Cross & Delirious when Richards pinned Cross. After the match Austin Aries came to the ring from the crowd to attack Romero, Richards and Strong. Aries then signed an ROH conctract.
Claudio Castagnoli beat Matt Sydal. After the match Larry Sweeny came out to offer Sydal a contract.
Naomichi Marufuji beat BJ Whitmer.
Brent Albright defeats Pelle Primeau. Primeau may have the 'best in the class' trophy but he was no match for Albright in this match that lasted less then 2 minutes.
Takeshi Morishima defeated Jimmy Rave. This was a pretty short match.
Nigel McGuinness beat Chris Hero.
ROH tag team champions, the Briscoes, defeated Kevin Steen & El Generico to retain the belts.
'Scrapiron' Adam Pearce came out and challenged anyone to come out. ROH champion Takeshi Morishima came out to answer the challenge. Morishima pinned Pearce to retain the title.
KENTA defeated Bryan Danielson.

F1RST Wrestling, Minneapolis, MN 6/17/2007

The third F1RST Wrestling card took place this last Sunday at the historic First Ave night club in downtown Minneapolis. This card was titled 'The Return' and many fans may have thought the return was that of Kid Krazy who had moved to California but the big return was that of a MN vetren wrestler who had been away from the ring for a while. More on that after the first match.

The first match of the night was scheduled to be Cody O'Neill VS '6% body fat' Rob James but James decided to take the night off and he got M-Dogg 20 Matt Cross to take his place. O'Neill was able to get the 3 count on Cross but he was attacked after the match by James and the returning Horace the Psycopath.

'Playboy' Pete Huge won a 4 way match against The Prophet, Bret O'Brian and Kleck Micheals.

Joey Envy beat John Johnson.

Jaysin Strife beat Arik Cannon. After the match Cannon got on the mic and put Strife over.

The Northstar Express beat Joey Ryan & Josh Abercrombie, 'That '70's Team' from MTV's Wrestling Society X. This was a fun match as the team of Ryan & Abercrombie made tags by switching off with a buddy band wrist braclet.

Kid Krazy made his return to MN and defeated Tyler Black.