Signed Trading Cards, Xavier Bell, DL Hurst, Davienne

Back on January 19th I went to the Let's Wrestle Rumble in Orono, Maine, you can read all about it here.  At that show I was able to add three cards to my collection, all three of these were from the Limitless Wrestling set. 

Xavier Bell

From Massachusetts he debuted in late 2014 and at some point trained with Biff Busick, now known at Oney Lorcan in NXT.  I first saw him in 2015 at Limitless Wrestling and I truly enjoy his technique and intensity in the ring.  He took some time off in 2018 but returned to the ring in 2019 at this show.  I hope to see him wrestle more in the future.

Davienne

Also a New England native, Davienne debuted in 2013 after training with Brian Fury.  She has wrestled all over New England and recently became the inaugural Let's Wrestling Champion.

DL Hurst

Trained at the New England Pro Wrestling Academy by Brian Fury he has competed in several New England promotions like Chaotic Wrestling, Limitless Wrestling, and in 2018 was in the Chikara Young Lions Cup.  He was eliminated in the first round.  A injury has kept him out of action for most of 2018.  I look forward to seeing him back in the ring as he's very talented and is definitely a guy you don't want top sleep on if he comes to your area. 

Dynamite Kid

This is a 2016 Leaf Wrestling Signature Series card numbered 9 of 10.  I had tried for years to find a way to get a card signed and just never did.  After I read of his passing I went right on Ebay to buy it before the prices were jacked up on them.  It's the only way I'll ever get a signed Dynamite Kid card, who is one of my all time favorites, and even though I'm glad I have it, it just doesn't mean as much as my other cards.  This is why I don't buy signed cards.  I know others love to collect these, and that's cool, that's just not me and there's nothing wrong with that.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Let's Wrestle Rumble Live Report 1/19/2019

After my son's 13th birthday party we picked up Alex and headed north for an evening professional wrestling in Orono, Maine at the American Legion Hall.  Not even the threat at the biggest snowstorm of the year would deter me from enjoying the Let's Wrestle Rumble!  The winner of the match was declared the first ever Let's Wrestle Champion.

We headed out about 4:30 pm heading north, the storm wouldn't start for a few hours so the drive up wasn't an issue.  We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner, Alex had never been, and as always it was excellent.  We had time after dinner to run into the mall for Canaan to use the Game Stop gift cards that he had gotten that day.  He picked up a cool Zelda case for his switch, a Zelda controller, and the new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game.

We got to the venue about 15 minutes before the doors opened, the breezeway was packed so Canaan and I stood outside, it was very cold, below zero with the windchill.  This is a great building for a wrestling show, that last time I had been here was in March 2016 for Limitless Wrestling.  The doors opened 5 minutes early and the show started a few minutes early as well, that always makes me happy.

I had had picked us up front row in advance at only $10 it was well worth it.  General Admission is only $8.  They could up their prices to $15 and $10 and people would still get their money's worth.  It was a big a crowd too over 160 people, considering the pending storm. My buddy Mikey didn't go because of it.  He stayed home and got the XWA Rumble and we messaged each other through out the night.

Roy was there as was Bradford, in fact it was three years ago on January 30, 2016 that I first met Bradford at Limitless Wrestling in this same building to witness Zack Sabre Jr. wrestled Chris Hero.  It was storming that night as well, actually we had a blizzard and the drive home was way worse.

Retro Anthony Greene with the Platinum Hunnies defeated Aiden Aggro

This was the match, other than the rumble match, that I was looking forward to the most.  Both guys are very athletic and are really good in the ring.  Aggro had a different gimmick tonight and it didn't click with me.  Maybe because it's such a huge change from what I'm used to it will take time to adjust, I'm not sure.  He's the man of color, he has Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake type pants and dyed his hair blond.

It was a good match, a lot at the beginning and then they got into it.  Really cool finish with Greene using the ropes for a tornado Tomikaze for the pin.  Post match Greene cut a promo about being the first ever Let's Wrestle Champion and sorry to his Hunnie Ava as she is also in the Rumble.  So gave him two cutters to show him that he needed to worry about her.

Eric Johnson pinned Matt Mahoney

During Mahoney's entrance Johnson jumped him from behind and beat up around the outside of the ring. As both competitors hadn't entered the ring the match hadn't officially started.  Johnson eventually through Mahoney into the ring and at first the referee wasn't going to call for the bell but did so under duress.  Johnson hit a piledriver and pinned Mahoney with a foot on his chest.

Post match Johnson cut a promo that he deserved to be in the Rumble and shouldn't have had to win a match to earn a spot.  So the beating he gave to Mahoney was the home office's fault.

Davienne pinned Channing Thomas

This was a great match!  Lots of chops and terrific back and forth action.  Davienne go the pin with a version of the butterfly suplex.

Maine State Posse: Alexander Lee & DangerKid defeated The Syndicate: BA Tatum & Owen Brody with Murdock

This was a The Syndicate open challenge that was  answered by MSP.  This was also a great match, but I'm not surprised when MSP is involved.  Lee took a beating before making the hot tag to DangerKid who cleared house.  Murdock tried to get involved at one point and got posted for his efforts.  Finish came when DangerKid had Brody up for a Jay-Driller and Lee superkicked him before Kid dropped.

Post match The Syndicate attacked Lee and Kid beating them down until Aggro made the save with a steel chair chasing them away.

Intermission

ClusterJam
Antoine Nicholas defeated Xavier Bell, Vern Vicallo, Cody Blayde, Gene Bauer, & Covey Christ

This was a fun match! I love these 6 way matches that have become a staple of Limitless as a Scramble Match and now here as the ClusterJam.  We got a lot of good action including multiple train wreck dives to the floor.

Scariest moment was when Antoine Nicholas went for a shooting star press on Xavier Bell and had he jumped forward it would have been beautiful but he went straight up and came down on the turnbuckle and ring post before tumbling to the floor.  Jason Worthing got a video of it and on Sunday it was all over my twitter feed.  He was okay, in fact he was right back in the ring straight away pinning Bell with a small package.  Post match Bell gave Nicholas a last ride style powerbomb.

It was great seeing Bell again, I talked to him before the show and he was saying that he hasn't wrestled a match since May 2017, he just hasn't wanted to.  I thought he was great tonight and I hope to see him more in the future.

"Masshole" Mike McCarthy defeated Mike Montero

There is just something about McCarthy I really enjoy him in the ring.  I'm used to seeing Montero in tag team action as part of The Influence.  This was a good match, pace was a bit slow but it worked for these too.  Finish came when McCarthy sunk in a guillotine choke and the referee called for the bell when Montero passed out.

Let's Wrestle Rumble
Davienne won last eliminating Kalvin Strange to win the Let's Wrestling Championship

This was a fantastic rumble match!  I think they did a minute in between entrants and they did a legit minute between each entrant.  The pace of the match was excellent, a no time was there a lull in the action  and there was some great moments through out.

After Aiden Aggro entered in MSP and The Syndicate had stand off and then the six brawled.  This is no doubt going to lead to a six man tag at the next Let's Wrestle show.

Graves got the lights out, lights on entrance with no music, it was cool.  After clearing house he gave Geno Bauer who was on his knees a short DDT, did a nip up and another short DDT to Bauer.  Wicked friggin cool.

After Davienne threw out by Price she threw out Nicholas who landed on Bishop's back who then carried Nicholas to the back.  After Montero entered the match on the opposite side of the venue Bishop was walking towards the ring with Nicholas still on his back.  Bishop eventually dumped him on some chairs, Nicholas made it to the front row and used them like stilts to get back in the ring.

Alexander Lee and Anthony Greene were battling each other and ended up on the ring apron together and Strange just pushed them off.

Post match McCarthy jumped Davienne from behind until they were separated by officials.  It was announced at the next show Davienne would defend her championship against McCarthy.

Order of Entry and Elimination
1. Kalvin Strange
2. Alan Prophet
Prophet eliminated by Strange
3. Frank Jaegar
4. Danger Kid
5. Owen Brody
6. Eric Johnson
Jaeger eliminated by Johnson
7. Cicero
8. BA Tatum
9. Sierra
10. Alexander Lee
Johnson eliminated by half a dozen guys

Sierra eliminated by BA Tatum
11. Murdock
Cicero by Murdock
12. Jeff James
13. Ethan
Ethan by Brody in seconds
14. Aiden Aggro
Murdock by Aggro & Lee
15. Gene Bauer
James eliminated by Bauer
16. Graves
17. Channing Thomas
Danger Kid eliminated by Graves
BA Tatum eliminated by Graves
18. Royce Bishop
19. Antoine Nicholas
Graves eliminated by Strange
Aggro eliminated by Brody
Brody eliminated by Lee
20. Ava
Thomas eliminated by Ava
21. Lincoln Steen
22. Alex Price
23. Brandino Davis
Bauer eliminated by Davis
24. Dan Terry
25. Verne Vicallo
Ava eliminated by Davis
26. Davienne
Bishop by Davienne
Price by Davienne
27. Xavier Bell
Davis eliminated by Dan Terry
28. Big T
29. Mike Montero
30. Retro Anthony Greene
Verne eliminated by Strange
Terry eliminated by Greene
Steen eliminated by Bell & Lee
Big T eliminated by Greene
Nicholas eliminated by Greene
Xavier Bell eliminated by Greene
Montero eliminated by Strange
Lee & Greene eliminated by Strange
Strange eliminated by Davienne

The drive home was uneventful, the left lane on the interstate was snow covered but the right lane was clear from the vehicles driving on it.  I saw only one vehicle off the road during the drive and it only took about 30 minutes longer than normal.

Let's Wrestle returns March 23rd at the American Legion in Orono featuring Davienne defending the Let's Wrestle Championship against "Masshole" Mike McCarthy.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Signed Trading Cards: Hangman Page, Briscoe Brothers, Joey Eastman, & Vanessa Borne

Here are some of my newest signed cards of both in person and through the mail success.

Hangman Page

This card is from the All In set that was released through Highspots and I believe that this is Hangman's first trading card.  I got this signed in person at the Ring Of Honor show in Lewiston, Maine that I attended on November 7, 2018. You can read about ROH's first ever show in Maine here.

Briscoe Brothers

I met Mark and Jay Briscoe  at the Ring Of Honor show in Lewiston, Maine that I attended on November 7, 2018. This card is also from the All In card set from Highspots.  The Briscoe's have cards from the Filsinger set and IPW set. You can read about ROH's first ever show in Maine here.

Joey Eastman

I first met Joey back at a Front Row Wrestling show in Rochester, New Hampshire back in November 2007.  That night he competed in a Managers Challenge where he lost a tug of war, a swimsuit competition, and the talent portion of the event to the Vanity Vixxxen.  I laughed so hard that my face and stomach hurt from it.  Joey is one of, if not the best wrestling Manager on the scene, he would have fit into the WWF 1980's stable of Managers with Fred Blassie, The Grand Wizard, & Captain Lou Albano.  This card is from the 2018 Limitless Wrestling set.

Vanessa Borne

This card is from the 2018 Topps WWE set, I mailed it to the Performance Center on November 13, 2018 and got it back on January 7, 2019.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Wrestle Kingdom 13

It's finally here, Wrestle Kingdom 13 from the Tokyo Dome live at 2 am eastern.  Instead of the New Japan Rumble, the opening is a six man tag gauntlet match to be declared the number 1 contenders for the Never Openweight Six Man Tag team championships, that match to take place at New Years Dash on January 5th.

My buddy Bradford chimed in some thoughts that I thought I would share, they are italicized.

Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Don Callis, & Chris Charlton

For this match they used the side entrance and not the main entrance.

Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, & Yujiro Takahashi with Chase Owens vs. Jeff Cobb, Dave Finlay, & Yuji Nagata.  Nagata replacing injured Michael Elgin

Chase was holding Finlay and was struck by Page after Finlay moved.  Yujiro pushed Page, Page pushed him back and Yujiro was rolled up for the three count by Finaly.  Post match Chase and Yujiro has words with Page and they walked out leaving Page and Scrull in the ring.  Chase and Yujiro have kind of been lost in the shuffle with them apparently leaving Bullet Club but never officially joining Elite.

Hiroki Goto, Chuckie T, & Trent Beretta vs. Jeff Cobb, Dave Finlay, & Yuji Nagata 

Really solid and fast paced six man tag team match.  Finlay got the pin with a school boy after Chuckie T missed a moonsault.

Minoru Suzuki, Killer Elite Squad: Davey Boy Smith Jr & Lance Archer vs. Jeff Cobb, Dave Finlay, & Yuji Nagata 

Fast match with Suzuki Gun jump starting the bell but not all over the floor.  KES pinned Finlay after the Killer Bomb.

Minoru Suzuki, Killer Elite Squad: Davey Boy Smith Jr & Lance Archer vs. Taguchi, Makabe, & Toru Yano

Suzuki Gun jumped them in the aisle on the ay to the ring.  But it quickly went back into the ring.  Another really good match, lots of fast paced action.  Finish came when Yano low blowed Smith and pinned him with a school boy.  Suzuki beat up some young boys after the match with a chair.

This means that tomorrow Taguchi, Makabe, & Toru Yano will challenge for the titles.  This was a good match but I like the New Japan Rumble better.

Main Show

Never Openweight Champion: Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay

Really good match!  Lots of fast paced action with multiple reversals.  A couple very cool moments, Ibushi is tied up in the tree of woe and Osprey just sits on the mat in front of him and slaps him in the face.  Then when reversing a top rope move he hits his face on the ring post and apparently breaks his nose.  Osprey wins the title with stormbreaker.  Decent but honestly not as good as I though it would be.  They didn't do as much high flying as I thought they would.  Good finishing sequence though.  Ibushi did a stretcher job, which is unusual for New Japan.  Ibushi was champion for 26 days.

Winner: Will Ospreay - new champion

Bradford: Ospreay / Ibushi focused on strikes and speed instead of flying because f'ing Walter injured Ospreay, meaning he had to alter the way he wrestles. 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions: Kanemaru & El Desperado vs. Roppongi 3k: Sho & Yoh with Rocky Romero vs. LIJ: Bushi & Shingo Takagi 

Apparently this is a tornado style one fall to a finish match, however, there can only be two legal competitors at a time?!?  Ok that's odd.  Very good match lots of action, once Shingo tagged in be pretty much dominated.  Takagi pinned Sho with last of the dragon for LIJ to capture the Junior Tag Titles.  Kanemaru and El Desperado were champs for a long 304 days.

I don't understand how they think Shingo is a believable junior, he's clearly not.

Winners: LIJ: Bushi & Shingo Takagi - new champions

RevPro British Heavyweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. with Taka

What's cool about this is the winner gets a new belt and the old one is retired and they have a RevPro referee Chris Roberts to officiate.  I really enjoy these little extras.

These two went right at it when the bell rang a Zack said he was going to submit him in 60 seconds.  He didn't succeed but he really worked over his arms in that way that Sabre can do.  Sabre goes from an attempted Arm bar into an ankle lock!  That finish with Zabre tying up both of his arms and kicking him in the head....just damn!  He calls it: "Hurray! Another year, surely this one will be better than the last; the inexorable march of progress will lead us all to happiness." Ishii was champion for 82 days.

Winner: Zack Sabe Jr. - new champion

IWGP Heavyweight Championship" Guerrillas of Destiny : Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa with Bad Luck Fale & Jado vs. The Young Bucks: Nick & Matt Jackson vs. LIJ: Evil & Sanada

Starts with Matt and Tama in the ring, Evil tagged in when Tama was doing his I'm a good guy shake my hand bit.  Evil then bodyslammed and hit a long distance running clothesline on Matt and his sold the back that he injured last year at Wrestle Kingdom.  Tama Tonga is apparently trying to be a good guy, based on his promo at Fanfest on the 3rd.

A lot of crazy super fast offense with frequent tags.  We got a tower of doom and then Nick, who was not involved hit a 450 splash on Sanada.  Finishing sequence was cool with multiple finishers hit until Sanada hit the moonsault on Matt Jackson for the pin.  I wonder if this is the last we'll see of the Young Bucks in NJPW, well maybe tomorrow too.  GOD held the titles for 96 days.

Winners: LIJ: Evil & Sanada - new champions 

IWGP United States Champion: Cody with Brandi Rhodes vs. Juice Robinson

This match was just okay.  A alot of the typical Cody shenanigans until Brandi was kicked out.  Match wasn't very long, Juice pretty much dominated and got the pin after two pulp frictions.  Again makes me wonder if this is the last we'll see of Cody in NJPW.  Cody held the title for 96 days and this was his first defense.

Winner: Juice Robinson - new champion

Bradford: Juice is the first two time IWGP US Champion which would be cool if the title wasn't meaningless already.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion: Kushida vs. Taiji Ishimori

Excellent match!  Great combination of high flying and mat wrestling.  Ishimori does a lot of guys landing on his knees moves like the lung blower.  This maybe the match of the night so far.  Kushida held the title for 88 days.

Winner: Taiji Ishimori - new champion

Kazuchika Okada vs. "Switchblade" Jay White

We get the full Rainmaker entrance with his elaborate jacket and money raining in the dome and he's back to the short trunks from the pants.  Terrific match!  This really shows how good Okada is and how good Jay White is going to be.  Unbelievable finishing sequence that I could do no justice to describe.  Reversal after reversal, Okada hitting his dropkick and a partial rainmaker.  Then going for it again and Jay White reversing it into blade runner for the pin.  Fantastic!

Winner: Jay White

No Disqualification: IWGP Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito

Naito attacked Jericho from behind knocking him to the floor.  Naito hit a stiff and sick looking piledriver on the ramp entrance.  That looked frigging stiff.  Later Naito went for a dive through the ropes and Jericho hit him in the face with a kendo stick.  Taking to the floor they stood on the announcers table and Jericho DDT'd Naito who was stood straight up on the top of his head and you could hear the table break.

The action in the ring back intense, Jericho dominated for a spell and then Naito took over.  Jericho using his patented moves like the lionsault and walls of Jericho.  Naito using his signature moves just a great match!  Probably Jerichos best in New Japan on this run.  Naito kicked out of the codebreaker! Jericho brought 8 chairs in the ring and went for a powerbomb, but Naito reversed it into and DDT, then hit a codebreaker of his own for a two count.  Jericho kicked out of Destino, then hit a low blow on Naito, went to stinger splash Naito but ate the turnbuckless corner steel.  Naito hit Jericho with the belt and a second Destino for the pin.  Jericho assaulted a young boy on the way out.  Jericho held the title for 201 days with 1 defense.  I know it's his gimmick but I hate how Naito treats the championships.

Winner: Testuya Naito - new champion

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion: Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Every title has changed hands tonight which makes me think that this one won't.  Kenny 's entrance great is pretty awesome! Omega is being seconded by The Young Bucks, perhaps for the last time.

This was a Kenny Omega match, it started slow and built to a tremendous crescendo when in almost 40 minutes Tanahashi hit the hi fly low for the three count and claim his 8th IWGP championship.  Omega was champion for 209 days with three defenses.  I did watch this whole match but was unable to take notes while watching it.  There were many great moments with both men taking punishment that had lasting effect on them during the match.  Tanahashi went for a hi fly low with Omega on a table on the floor and missed crashing through the table, it was a rough looking landing.  Omega showed a lot of cockiness during the match at times when he was in control.  The finishing sequence was excellent.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi - new champion

Bradford:  I'll just say he isn't a fan - Mike

All in all I thought it was a very good show from beginning to end.  Surprisingly all the titles changed hands and we may have seen the last of Cody, Young Bucks, & Hangman Page at this show.  I was hoping that Omega would retain, I can't see him leaving New Japan except for saw AEW or the indies.  He's a wrestler that needs to a blank canvas to do his art and I don't see him getting that type of freedom in the WWE.

Some news that came out of Wrestle Kingdom are new shows announced for the year including two additional shows in the States.  February 2nd in Nashville adding to the shows in California and North Carolina the two days prior.  July 6th the GI kicks off in Dallas, Texas as the same arena that AXS tv owner Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks are based out of.

Also they are pushing The MSG show like it is their show and not a join ROH show which is odd as most of the time when New Japan talents works War of the Worlds or Global Wars they don't advertise them as New Japan shows, in fact New Japan doesn't list them on their schedule at all.

I gathered the photos used in this post from around the internet, NJPW Twitter Feed, ZSJ's Twitter, Jericho's Instagram.

Bradford:
All members of LIJ hold titles now, whereas Elite was swept, and Bullet Club up two big wins for Taiji and Jay White.  White will be the next big gaijin with Kenny probably leaving soon.

Somthing else I thought was interesting is that they mentioned Nakamura an unhealthy amount.  Sometimes they were reaching just to mention him.  Part of me wonders if he's coming home sometime soon.  

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!