Monday, January 30, 2017

Limitless Wrestling: "Unreal" report 1/27/2017


Friday January 27, 2017 Limitless Wrestling presented Unreal featuring "American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes at the Armory in Westbrook, Maine.  Tickets practically sold out in advance which is unheard of for independent wrestling in Maine.

Canaan, Paul, Alex, & I made the drive south looking forward to a great night of wrestling action.  We met Roy, Mickey, Cheryl and others at the venue.  VIP was supposed to be let in at 6:15 but doors didn't open until a little after 6:30.

We claimed out seats and then got in line for Cody Rhodes, we were at the front.  Cody was so friendly and took the time to speak to everyone.  He saw my son stuck his hand to shake Canaan's and asked him how he was doing.  I asked him about wrestling at the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 11 and he said it was ten of the best minutes of his life.


Now I've meet a lot of "big name" wrestlers and for most of them that would of been the end of the conversation because the question was answered and he had a line ahead of him.  Instead he kept on talking about the show telling me a story about his entrance for the match.  The general consensus I got from everyone that night was how nice Cody is.


Next up Canaan and I got our picture with Tess Blanchard, third generation wrestler and daughter of one of my all time favorites Tully Blanchard.  I had gotten a photo with her previously at the Boston Pro Wrestling Marathon so I had her sign that one.


Once the General Admission crowd was let in the building really filled up.  Randy even sold some standing room only tickets so you could definitely say it was a sell out.  The show started late, but for good reason, people were still in line to meet Cody and other wrestlers.

Jon Silver defeated Flip Gordon
Great match between these two to get the crowd going that earned a standing ovation when it was over.  Silver is such a powerhouse that you forget that he's short.  Flip is one of my favorites to watch.  I'd really like to see him against someone like Ricochet or Matt Sydal who are both March 17th when Limitless returns to Westbrook.


Maine State Posse defeated Cam Zagami & Tyler Nitro w/ Mike Gamble
The Posse continue to improve and are over with the crowd.  I like the team of Zagami and Nitro and I think they have a chance at being a great tag team.  But they are already teasing hostility and dissension between the two.


Troy Nelson pinned Mike Gamble
Zagami issued an open challenge for anyone to fight Gamble and out came Top Shelf fresh from the commentary booth drink in hand.  Match was very quick with Nelson getting the pin on Gamble after Zagami accidentally superkicked him.



"Celtic" Connor Murphy pinned "The Rogue" Anthony Gangone
I forget how good Murphy is at times.  I know he's been wrestling for almost 15 years but the last few years I believe it's been sporadically, and yet he's still really good in the ring.  The more I see Gangone the more I like him. I hope he continues coming to Limitless.

Courtesy of Philster

Veda Scott pinned Tessa Blanchard
These two ladies put on a hell of a match, it didn't get the reaction that it deserved from those in attendance.  They both worked hard with with Veda getting the win after poking Blanchard in the eye when the ref was trying to separate them in the ropes and hitting her finish.





Anthony Greene & Ace Romero defeated American Destroyers: Donovan Dijak & Mikey Webb
This was the match of the night hands down!  First off you have Greene & Romero's entrance to Take Me Home Tonight with live guitar accompaniment that had a large part of the audience singing along.  The match it self was fantastic!  I don't know if I have the words, but the four of them started slow and picked up the pace to a tremendous level.  I feel like they went 30 minutes until Greene got the pin on Dijak after a 450 splash.





Intermission followed which was needed as the emotional ride this previous match had taken us on, we needed the break.  During the break I ran into a guy, I can't recall his name, who commented he was  fan the podcast which was really cool and unexpected.


I took this photo of Tessa at intermission posing with the Shimmer tag team championship.

"Kingpin" Brian Milonas defeated Warbeard Hanson, Big Daddy Beluga, & Max Smashmaster
Great big man match that had Hanson come off the top rope to the floor on the other three competitors.  Post match Hanson leveled Milonas with a spin kick


David Starr pinned Xavier Bell
This was billed as a WXW Shotgun Championship match.  Starr came to the ring without the title stating that Bell didn't deserve a title match, but if he beat him then would get a title match in March.  Typically in this circumstance Bell would get the win, but that didn't happen.




My first time seeing Starr in person and I am now a huge fan!  He's really great in the ring and uses subtle humor while maintaining being a heel.  I really want to see him back in March.

Skylar pinned Jeremy Leary

This was initially booked as a tag match with these two teaming against The M1nute Men.  However Devin Blaze was injured in a car crash.  Leary and Skylar are in real life a couple which they used in the match.  The match was ok, really scary moment when Skylar hit Leary with a tombsone piledriver.


Mike Graca pinned Adam Booker
This was an open challenge match that Graca answered.  Bad ass entrance for Grace with a sally port door opening and an ambulance backed partially into the building with Graca coming out of the back.  Great match a couple scary moments with Booker suplexing Graca from the floor onto the edge of the ring and Graca tombstone piledriving Booker.  I really like both these guys, Booker for years, and want to see them on every show.



JT Dunn pinned "American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes
I was surprised that Dunn got the win as many were.  I've noticed a trend in independent wrestling where promotions are seemingly working together to tell stories for those traveling headliners.  Which is pretty cool when you think about it.





Top to bottom it was an awesome night of wrestling.  The final match ended at 11:40pm, we hit the Burger King drive thru, grabbed a polar pop at the Circle K and headed north.  By the time we got home I was spent and ready for bed.

Last year I only made it to six shows and I've already got 4 shows planned out in the first six months of 2017.  Staring out right!

Thanks for reading, please check out my other posts, leave a comment, and like the Facebook page!

Later Readers!

Monday, January 23, 2017

Roy's Review: Ring of Honor Reborn Stage 2


Here is my review of ROH Reborn Stage 2 on April 24, 2004 in Chicago.

Earlier in the Day: Bryan Danielson takes Samoa Joe's place in Samoa Joe's Ring. Apparently this is a segment where Joe teaches wrestling moves. Danielson is teaching a proper wristlock when Homicide comes out and does his version, which includes a a forearm shot to the trainees face. Homicide then says he is out for Joe's blood but since Joe wasn't there (Homicide threw a fireball in Joe's face the night before) Danielson would do just fine. Danielson said he would stretch Homicide like nobody ever had before.

Backstage: Nigel McGuinness interrupts Matt Stryker's interview time with Dave Prazak and thanks him for a great match last night and wishes him luck in his ROH Title match against Samoa Joe. Stryker says he knows Joe is hurt and his strategy is to work Joe's legs.

Backstage: Becky Bayless wants to know where Special K is. Jack Evans comes in a does some break dancing.

In Ring: BJ Whitmer and Ace Steel are in the ring ready for a match and The Briscoe's come out and attack Steel giving him a spike Jay Driller. They then run down the crowd. CM Punk and Colt Cabana come out and take the ring. While Cabana is checking on Steel, Punk says the tag team main event is going to be like other great Chicago battles like Hart vs. Austin. The Briscoes then drag Punk to the outside and start beating him up. Cabana the does a moonsault onto them and the fight is on. BJ Whitmer then comes in and says he came for a fight and demands the match starts. Steel obliges.

Match 1: BJ Whitmer defeated Ace Steel
This was a decent match but nothing really more. Whitmer worked the injured neck of Steel, causing Steel to never really be able to gain the advantage. After the match Whitmer annihilated Steel with a chair shot to the head.
6/10

Match 2: The Carnage Crew: Masada and Justin Credible defeated Delirious and Shawn Daivari 
Kind of an average tag match. Nothing special here. This was Daivari's ROH debut. I never knew he wrestled in ROH. The end came when Credible hits Thats Incredible on Daivari then a superkick on Delirious. Masada then hit a Cradle Backbreaker on Delirious for the win.
5.5/10

"Hurricane" John Walters
Match 3: Chad Collyer defeated John Walters
Awesome technical match. Great back and forth action. Collyer got the win with kind of a surprise roll up. Check this one out, I really enjoyed it.
8.5/10

Match 4: Nigel McGuinness defeated Austin Aries, Jimmy Rave and Rocky Romero w/Ricky Reyes in a Four Corner Survival Match
Good match with nonstop action throughout. Rave took a beating for most of the match. McGuinness got the win with a Keylock on Rave when Romero and Aries were battling and lost track of the match.
8/10

Match 5: Homicide defeated Bryan Danielson
Good match. Danielson seemed to dominate in many portions due to his advantage in submission wrestling. He worked Homicide's hand for most of the match. Homicide got the win with a Lariat after he hit a low blow on Danielson when the referee was out of position.
7.75/10

"American Dragon" Bryan Danielson sharing his feelings with Homicide
Backstage: Jimmy Rave and Jack Evans interrupt Matt Stryker this time to wish him luck. Prazak announces that Joe still hasn't arrived and if he doesn't Stryker will be awarded the ROH Title. Stryker says he doesn't want to win that way. Chad Collyer interrupts and says that Stryker can just hand over the title to him because Stryker has never beaten him.

Match 6: Ricky Reyes w/Rocky Romero defeated Danny Daniels
This was really average and they only gave it about 6 minutes. ROH didn't really seem to care about this match considering they interrupted it to tell us that Samoa Joe had arrived at the building. Reyes got the win with an ankle lock variation.
5/10

Match 7: Jack Evans and Matt Sydal w/Daizee Haze defeated Alex Shelley and Jimmy Jacobs
The Carnage Crew: Tony DeVito and HC Loc and The Ring Crew Express (Dunn and Marcos) in a Tag Team Scramble Match. Great match with tons of fast paced action. Check this one out. The end came when The Carnage Crew killed Jacobs with a 2nd rope piledriver but Evans snuck in and hit a 630 for the win. After the match Shelley turned on Jacobs, blaming him for the loss and walked out.
8.75/10

Match 8: ROH Champion Samoa Joe defeated Matt Stryker to retain
They built this a being a big match and its Matt Stryker who is getting the title shot. Why? He is a decent wrestler but he looks like shit with the stupid uni-brow. Joe beat the piss out of him for about 19 minutes and got the win with a Triangle Armscissors. After the match Joe tells the camera man to tell Homicide to meet him in back to settle things.
6/10

Backstage: Alex Shelley hypes Generation Next and tells Jimmy Jacobs he doesn't need losers like him hanging around.

Match 9: The Second City Saints: CM Punk & Colt Cabana defeated Tag Team Champions: The Briscoes: Jay & Mark to win the titles
Awesome match with The Saints getting the huge hometown reception. There wasn't any commentary. I usually hate watching wrestling on TV with no commentary but this one had my attention the entire time. Great action throughout. The end came when Punk hit a Pepsi Plunge on Mark that appeared to have Mark land directly on top of his head. I had to rewind this and watch it again. Check this match out, its great. After the match BJ Whitmer comes out and attacks Punk. Ace Steel comes out and destroys Whitmer with a chair shot to the head. Then all 3 of The Second City Saints celebrate the victory.
9/10


Backstage: Joe invites Homicide to fight him in the bathroom. Homicide accepts the challenge.

Backstage: The Carnage Crew says that since they didn't figure out who took a dump in their gear bags a few months ago that they would go to the strip club.

Backstage: They have a camera outside the bathroom where Joe and Homicide are battling, and yes they are still battling.

Backstage: Punk tries to cut a very serious promo but Cabana comes in and completely ruins it with a victory celebration.

Backstage: The Cameraman is again outside the bathroom but this time there isn't any noise coming from inside so the decides to go in. We see Homicide face down on the floor and Joe looks dead with his eyes rolled back in his head and blood all over his face.

Overall this show scored a 64.5 out of 90 for a score of 71.66%. This was a very good show that anyone who likes great wrestling should check out. CM Punk did commentary for most of the show which really added to the greatness of the entire show. I really enjoy the Joe vs. Homicide feud and would like to see the entire thing.

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Later Readers! 

Friday, January 20, 2017

Random Wrestling: Jim Breaks


I don't ever recall hearing or reading about Jim Breaks before, but after hearing Daniel Bryan talking about him during Zack Sabre Jr's matches in the Cruiserweight Classic Tournament I wanted to look into him but forgot until recently.

I've always been very fond of the British style of wrestling and many of my favorites are from that style of wrestling.  Dynamite Kid, William Regal, Fit Finlay, Dave Taylor, Zack Sabre Jr to name a few.  One of the things I like most about Sabre Jr is his unique arm locks and wrist joint manipulations that he does and Daniel Bryan called it the Jim Breaks Special.

Searching the internet I couldn't find out much about Jim Breaks:

Born March 25, 1940, he hails from Bradford, England, he's short at 5' 5", has the nickname "Cry Baby" and began wrestling in 1954.  He wrestled for both Joint Promotions and Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling and the last recorded match I can find is June 8, 1988 where he defeated Peter Bainbridge at the Civic Hall in Bedworth, England for All Star Wrestling.

Step one of the Jim Breaks Special
Championships Held

10 time British Lightweight Champion
winning his first title on October 16, 1963 and is tenth on March 22, 1984

8 time British Welterweight Champion
winning his first title on June 11, 1967 and his last on September 12, 1983

16 time European Lightweight Champion
winning his first title on March 9, 1967 and his last sometime between March 12, 1990 & February 5, 1991

Jim Breaks Special locked in on Young David (Davey Boy Smith)
I also found him listed as a World Lightweight Champion with him winning the title May 11, 1985 but the lineage was questionable.

I couldn't find much of anything else out so I watched some matches on You Tube and I must say I was thoroughly entertained!  He's a heel and the nickname "Cry Baby" came from his tendency to cry out, throw tantrums, and argue with the referee and the crowd during his matches.  He used comedy and trickery in his matches getting the ire of the fans. During the matches, especially the one with Dynamite kid, when he delivers a joint move you can hear a popping or cracking noise and I all I can think of his he's making the noise with his mouth or someone at ringside is, but if that is the case the timing is amazing.

Here is the links to the matches that I watched:

 Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint - March 14, 1973 World of Sport simply and amazing match by two of the best in the business.

Jim Breaks vs. The Dynamite Kid - World of Sport sometime in late 1978, Kidd was the Lightweight Champion at the time and Breaks was the Welterweight Champion.  Kidd would later beat Breaks for the Welterweight Championship January 25, 1979.

Jim Breaks vs. Tom Thumb - World of Sport maybe early 80's not really sure.  Thumb was shorter than Breaks and this was primarily a comedy style match.

Jim Breaks vs. Sammy Lee - World of Sport about 1980.  Sammy Lee is the legendary Satoru Sayama the first Tiger Mask in NJPW.

Jim Breaks Special Compilation - A video of Jim Breaks locking on his finisher to many different wrestlers

You can find numerous more videos of Mr. Breaks in action on You Tube.  I would really like to know more about Jim Breaks and I'm going to keep searching because maybe I'll find something and If I do I will share it here.  Currently he resides on the Canary Islands,

Thanks for reading, please check out my other posts, leave a comment, and like my Facebook page.

Later Readers!


Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Re-Post: Big Time Wrestling, Augusta Civic Center 3-24-13

Re-Posted from my original blog as I am removing all wrestling references off of it making it a family blog.

Sunday Alex and I attended the Big Time Wrestling show at the Augusta Civic Center, the third consecutive year that BTW has come to Augusta in late March.  Sadly that was the smallest crowd to date and it featured the greatest wrestler of all time as the headliner in the 16 Time World Heavyweight Champion:  “Nature Boy” Ric Flair!  Although this would mark my 5th time meeting Flair I was just as excited as if it was my first!

Other names appearing on the show for the casual fan were “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash, Marcus Alexander “Buff” Bagwell, Rikishi Fatu, & “Mr USA” Tony Atlas, and Carlito Colon.  Indy names that I was excited about were RJ Brewer, Scotty Reed, Shawn O & Caleb Konley.  Barbi was there but there was no woman’s match this year. 

The vendor area was the largest it’s ever been with Highspots coming up all the way from Charlotte, North Carolina.  I wish I would have known that they were coming because I would have made more funds available to me.  Which I guess is good that I didn’t. 

The doors opened and unusual prompt 2pm.  We were near the front with Phil and got straight to Flair being like the 3rd or 4th inline.  They had Flair and Nash in the same area, I didn’t get anything with Nash but Alex got a picture that I think is fantastic!


Then we both got good shots with Flair.


At this point we have a couple hours until the show started so we split up and wandered around.   I got a couple cards signed by Rikishi including my Headshrinker card that was already signed by Seone aka The Barbarian and I must have touched every single DVD at the Highspots table settling on the brand new Dynamite Kid Documentary DVD.  I was very torn between that and the William Regal Early Years 4 DVD set.  Be on the look-out for my review on the documentary in the coming days.

I grabbed photo with Caleb Conley as well.

I have a great conversation with Larry, it’s always nice seeing him!

We had front row seats of right near the entranceway.  My cameras is still broken, but I borrowed Kate’s, but my SD card was too new and not compatible with her camera.  I managed to get some good shots with my phone’s camera though.

Flair opened the show with an excellent promo, as only the Nature Boy can and got the crowd wound up!





The opening contest saw Todo Loco pin “Diamondback” Jack Maverick with a school boy for the upset.

Black Talented Wrestlers: “Slyck” Wagner Brown & Bobby Ocean defeated The Scene: “Midnight Son” Caleb Konley & Scotty Reed a sunset flip reversal into a school boy with a handful of tights.





“Destiny” Danny Miles pinned “Celtic” Connor Murphy with a school boy and a handful of tights and Murphy’s shoulders, first his right then his left, were never down together for the three count.  For those of you following along at home the first three matches ended in a school boy.


Champion: Flex Armstrong defended his championship against the “Arizona Patriot” RJ Brewer w/ John Cena Sr winning with the ref bump Dusty finish.  I was really hoping to see Brewer take the belt!  I will say this, Flex has improved dramatically from his match last year in Augusta. I was genuinely surprised.







Six Man Tag: Cousin Larry, “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas, & Rikishi Fatu defeated Antoine Roy and Tag Team Champions: Mr. TA & AJ Mitrano w/ Barbi after a triple stink face and sit down splash onto Mitrano by Rikishi.  Then the faces danced.













Carlito Colon pinned Benny Juxx w/ John Cena Sr. in the best match I have ever seen Juxx have after a backstabber.






Main Event: Kevin Nash & Buff Bagwell defeated The Delfonzo Brothers with a double pin after a blockbuster and a choke slam. 







During the main even Bam-Bam locked in the dreaded trapezius hold and yelled out “what do you think of this now!?”  I responded, “It’s the worst hold in the history of wrestling!”  which lead to this sarcasm filled conversation;

Kevin Nash looking down at me from his corner: What is?

Me: The trapezius hold, it’s crap

Nash: I don’t know, it’s pretty good.  I mean have you ever had a crick in your neck?

Me: You’re right, I never considered that

Nash: Yeah, now imagine imposing that one someone! (nodding his head)

Me: You’re right, you have bested me, I am proven wrong

Then laughter was shared by one and all.

It was a good afternoon of wrestling and I hope BTW returns next year.  Although they may want to consider running the Augusta Armory.

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