Thursday, January 5, 2023

My Year of Wrestling in 2022


The year 2022 was a good year for me for live wrestling events as I managed to attend 22 shows.  It's not the most I've ever attended in a single year, that would be 2012 & 2019 with 23.  In 2012 I got divorces and went to everything I could, 2019 travelled to New York for weekend so that accounted for a large number in a few days.  I'm shooting in 2023 to hit 25 shows and with five potentially on deck the first two months, it's possible.

Of the 22 shows, 16 of them took place in Maine and the remaining 6 all in Massachusetts.  

In Maine I attended 8 Limitless Wrestling events, 5 Let's Wrestle!, 1 Pine State Pro Wrestling, 1 NAWA and the final Maine show was a WWE house show at the Cross Insurance Arena.

The NAWA and  Pine State Pro Wrestling shows were both at the Fairfield Community Center, with the Pine State event being the 60th show I have attended in that building. 

Let's Wrestle! has some killer shows with Mac Daniels solidifying his run as Champion with successful defenses against Rip Byson, Champ Mathews, and others.  

At Limitless we got to see fantastic run of Alec Price as Champion and the rise of Ace Romero to the championship.  The only two in state Limitless shows that I missed were for a good reason.  In April I had VIP tickets to "Weird" Al Yankovic and in July I had front row to Ring of Honor.  My goal in 2023 is not to miss any instate Limitless Wrestling shows. 

The WWE show was my first since summer 2019 and Wesley's first show.  We bought good seats in the stands that would have given us a great view.  However my buddy Ben came in with the mad hook up with front row 10 minutes before bell time.  It was fantastic, I managed to get pictures with Kevin Owens, Pete Dunne (Butch) and others.  

Mikey, Paul, and I went to 3 AEW Dynamite/Rampage shows, two in Boston and one in Worcester.  I feel fortunate to have attended those shows and we got some fantastic matches as well.  April 6th at Agganis Arena we got a Tables Match with The Hardy's beating The Butcher & The Blade, FTR vs Young Bucks II that was a five star classic, it was so damn good.  The night closed off on the Rampage Taping where Wheeler Yuta was made when Jon Moxley beat him by referee stoppage in a blood bath.


The July 27th Dynamite we saw Moxley vs. Rush, Dragon vs. Garcia, and Hook capture the FTW Championship.  November 9th I finally got to see Jamie Hayter wrestle live and we got Dragon vs Sammy Guevara in a two out of 3 falls match. 

The three of us also made the drive to Webster for Big Time Wrestling where Bret "Hitman" Hart managed FTR against the Arn Anderson lead Brock Anderson and Brian Pillman Jr.  Hart has managed FTR since then, however this was the first time.  It was well worth the drive. 

I lucked out getting an amazing front row seat at the Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor PPV in Lowell, I was right next to the commentators.  I got to see Claudio win his first world title, the absolutely bonkers Rush vs. Dragon Lee, and the best match I saw live all year in FTR vs. The Briscoe brothers in 2 out of 3 falls match for the ROH World Tag Team Championships.  I even got a post match hug from Dax. 

The other Massachusetts show was in May with Mikey and it was my first ever all Deathmatch wrestling show promoted by ICW: No Holds Barred.  We stood ringside with JP O'Reilly, Raph, & Lee Miller who also made the drive, getting coated in glass and having an awesome time.

Bobby Beverly at ICW NHB


Mikey and I went to 20 of my 22 shows together.  He's definitely my wrestling travel buddy. 

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my new book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!