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!

Rags, Paper and Pins: The Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling

A couple of years ago, I purchased a copy of Jim Cornette and Mark James’ Rags, Paper, and Pins: The Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling. The book fascinated me, because it was unlike any wrestling book that I had seen. Instead of focusing on feuds and behind the scene stories, this book was 350 pages of pictures and brief stories regarding how the merchandising of Memphis Wrestling was created and how it evolved over the years.

Author Jim Cornette was in the middle of the merchandising explosion in the 80’s and had a front row seat to all the changes that came with that. This included printing glossy color photos to sell at tables instead of cheap stock black and white cards and finding ways to sell pictures and stories to wrestling magazines here in the United States and in Japan. Like always, Jim Cornette is upfront and honest about the business and discusses the finances in great details which fascinating to read. He talks about how as a teenager he was able to convince Christine Jarrett to sell his photos at the merchandise tables, and how he found a printer who’d print the pictures for X amount of money, in order for both he and the company to both profit. It’s basic business, but it’s interesting to see how it all worked out on the pro wrestling side, especially during the territory days.

The book discusses everything from programs, magazines, pictures, pins, and even records. The majority of the book is made up of photos of all of these interesting pieces of merchandising, but sadly it’s all in black and white. The cost to print a book this size and in full color on a limited run would be astronomical, so I understand why they went the route that they did, but damn I wish they would have uploaded the full color photos somewhere as a companion website.

Also inside, are full scans of programs that Jim Cornette made, complete with the stories he wrote along with the outlines he made for the design of the programs. This is just the type of thing you won’t find in other books.

Rags, Paper and Pins: The Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling is definitely made for a niche audience, but I think any fan of wrestling history will enjoy it. There are way more pictures than text, but I found the book to be well balanced. I got enough background and history behind everything shown in the book and it almost felt like I was on a virtual tour in a museum curated by Jim Cornette.

I recommend checking out Rags, Paper and Pins: The Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling if you have any interest in Memphis wrestling history or wrestling merchandise history. It truly is a unique book and I doubt we’ll ever see anything like it again.

You can buy Rags, Paper and Pins: The Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling at JimCornette.com.