Sunday, December 31, 2023

My Rasslin' Results September 30th to December 16, 2023

Here is a quick rundown of the shows I attended in the last 4 months of the year


September 30, 2023
Limitless Wrestling AmVets Hall Yarmouth, ME
JT Dunn pinned Joey Janela
Aaron Rourke pinned Kevin Blackwood
1 Called Manders beat Ricky Smokes
Anything Goes: Beef pinned Alexander Lee
MSP: Aiden Aggro & DangerKid defeated Above The Rest: Gabriel Skye & Tristen Thai
Four Way: Conner Murphy defeated Kody Lane, Love Doug, & Puf
Last Man Standing: Dezmond Cole defeated Alec Price


November 11, 2023
¡Let’s Wrestle! Indoor Flea Market Brewer, ME
IWTV Champion: Alec Price pinned ¡Let’s Wrestle! Champion: BRG in a non title match
Joseph Alexander pinned J-Heru
Lovecraft Family: Levi Spade, Dylan Nix & Big Cat with Drake Lovecraft defeated Dunky Boy Bandit, Superfan John Austin, & Kwesi Asante with Doug Wyser when Big Cat pinned Kwesi, Drake Lovecraft was handcuffed to Doug Wyzer at ringside
Eric Johnson defeated Jason Maverick
Gabby Forza pinned Nat Castle 
Joey Gleitz Memorial Rumble: Joseph Alexander won last eliminating Dunky Boy Bandit
Fans Bring the Weapons: POS: Alexander Lee & Mike McCarthy defeated ¡Let’s Wrestle! Tag Team Championship:MSP: Aiden Aggro & DangerKid when both members of MSP tapped out to win the titles




December 02, 2023
WWE: RAW Brand                      Cross Insurance Center Bangor, ME
Sami Zayn defeated NXT North American Champion: Dominik Mysterio by DQ
Sami Zayn & Jey Uso defeated Judgement Day: NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh when Uso pinned McDonagh
Ricochet pinned Bronson Reed
Alpha Academy: Chad Gable & Oti with Maxine Dupri defeated Imperium: Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci
Nia Jax pinned Raquel Rodriguez
“American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes pinned Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion: Damian Priest
Omos with MVP pinned Akira Tozawa
Becky Lynch pinned Zoey Stark
Street Fight: World Champion: Seth Rollins pinned Shinsuke Nakamura


December 09, 2023
¡Let’s Wrestle! Indoor Flea Market Brewer, ME
Guapo Suave: Diego Alvarez & Lex Lozano defeated MSP: Aiden Aggro & DangerKid when Diego pinned Dangerkid

Joseph Alexander with Angelo Carter pinned Sammy Diaz

Lucas Chase pinned Angelo Carter with Joseph Alexander

¡Let’s Wrestle! Champion: BRG & LSG with Ava Everett defeated Eric Johnson & Ethan Scott when BRG pinned Scott

Ava Everett with LSG pinned Gabby Forza

Sigma pinned Sean Vegan Keegan

Ultimate Survival: Dunky’s Defenders: Dunky Boy Bandit, Alexander Lee, Doug Wyzer, & Superfan John Austin defeated The Lovecraft Family: Drake Lovecraft, Levi Spade, Big Cat, & Dylan Nix

Order of Eliminaton

Big Cat pinned Doug Wyzer

John Austin pinned Big Cat

Drake Lovecraft pinned John Austin

Levi Spade walked out on his team

Alexander Lee pinned Dylan Nix

Dunky Boy pinned Lovecraft

Survivors: Alexander Lee & Dunky Boy Bandit


December 16,  2023
Limitless Wrestling AmVets Hall Yarmouth, ME
Anthony Greene pinned TJ Crawford
JT Dunn pinned Ricky Smokes
Ava Everett & LSG defeated Love Doug & Gabby Forza with LSG submitted Doug
“Big Boofa” Dezmond Cole pinned Ortiz
2 out of 3 Falls Match: Above The Rest: Gabriel Skye & Tristen Thai defeated MSP: Aiden Aggro & DangerKid 2 falls to 1
Anything Goes: Limitless World Champion: “World Class” Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella defeated Ace Romero


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 book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

The Iron Claw movie review

My buddy Mikey and I went and saw The Iron Claw, the movie based on the life of Kevin Von Erich and his family.  I  loved the movie!


Factually he movie has many flaws but this isn't a movie about professional wrestling, this is a movie based on the life of the Von Erich family who happen to be wrestlers that is a tremendous difference! Anyone, wrestling fan or not, can go and watch this movie about an overbearing father who pressures his sons to succeed and the love the brothers have for each other.

I can't say I'm a fan of Zac Efron but in this role I thought he was brilliant.  Watching him play the role of Kevin, and with all the love he was displaying to his brothers, as a wrestling fan, knowing how the tragedy plays out I was already emotional about it.  



Wrestling fans will be critical, because we all know that no one likes to hate more than a rabid fan base.  The actors they got to play Harley Race and Ric Flair were not great portrayals at all,  we see the Freebirds a bunch, but they don't talk.  The Ric Flair promo was great, the delivery of it and the actors portrayal of Flair was terrible. 

It was much publicized a lot that current AEW World Champion MJF, who got a producer credit, is portraying Lance Von Erich in the film.  Anyone that knows the story knows how badly Lance Von Erich flopped in Dallas.  In the final edit of the movie MJF has no lines, we see him in a match teaming with Kevin, however he is not identified so it's nothing more than a cameo.


The timeline in the movie does not match up with the true timeline of events.  The movie picks up in 1979 with Kevin in a singles match, and they talk about David debuting as his mystery partner.  Kevin debut in 1976 and David in 1977 so that's off a bit.  

Kevin was married to Pam on August 1, 1980 and in the movie David is going to Japan the following week where he dies.  David died February 10, 1984.

In the film the US Boycotts the Summer Olympics preventing Kerry from competing, as a result he begins wrestling for his father's promotion.  In reality Kerry debuted in wrestling in 1978 but officially didn't accept money for the matches to maintain his amateur status.  When the US Boycotted the 1980 Summer Games he went into wrestling full time. 

Kerry wins the NWA Worlds Championship at the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions on May 6, 1984.  In the movie he goes for a motorcycle ride that night and gets in the crash losing his foot.  The crash actually took place June 4, 1986.  Kerry would hold the NWA Championship for 3 weeks before dropping it to back to Flair in Japan. 

In the movie after Kerry's accident Mike is recruited into the family business because we need a Von Erich.  Shortly after his debut it showed Mike injuring his shoulder in a near vacant Dallas Sportatorium and taking his own like shortly after.


Mike actually debuted in November 1983, was married in April 1985.  In August 1985 he injured his shoulder in Israel and suffered toxic shock syndrome after surgery in Texas to repair the shoulder.  Mike was very messed up but he did return to wrestling in July 1986, he also got in a car crash in 1986 suffering another head injury.  In January 1987 he toured New Japan Pro Wrestling coming out on the winning end in 6 of 10 matches, locking up with Antonio Inoki in a 6 man tag.  He would take his life on April 12, 1987.

In the movie Fritz gives World Class to Kevin who sells it to Jerry Jarrett.  Fritz is who sold to World Class to Jarrett in 1989.  Kevin tried to resurrect World Class in 1990 but was not able to succeed with Kerry signing with the then WWF.  

In the movie Kevin locks the Iron Claw on Ric Flair and doesn't brake this hold, this is shown to happen after Mike's death, this actually happened at the 2nd Annual David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions May 5, 1985.    

In the movie it shows Kevin has stopped wrestling and Kerry is the WWF, it was shortly after being released by the WWF that Kerry commits suicide.  Kerry was released in July1992 and ended his life on February 18, 1993.

Chris with Kerry Von Erich

Chris Von Erich is completely missing from the movie.  The youngest and the smallest Von Erich brothers a series of health problems kept him from fulfilling his dream of being in the ring like his brothers.  In 1990 after the Jerry Jarrett bought out World Class Chris has a handful of matches in the USWA and later Kevin's revived version of World Class.  On September 12, 1991 at the age of 21 Chris shot himself in the head.

Director Sean Durkin said he left Chris out of the movie because the script could not withstand one more tragedy.

All in all I loved the movie, I know it wasn't timeline accurate, but they did a good job telling the story they wanted to share.  The only part I disagree with is the exclusion of Chris.

I'm sure the only real was to tell the story of the Von Erich family, outside of a documentary, would be multiple movies, miniseries, or television event.  I look forward to buying the home video and watching it again. 

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 book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time! 

Friday, December 22, 2023

2023 My Year in Wrestling!

In my 2022 year in review I commented that I hoped to make it to 25 shows in 2023, I did 2 better and hit 27 wrestling events!  Which is also the most wrestling events I have been to in one year ever.  I don't expect to top that next year, but we will see what happens. 

2023 by the Numbers

27 wrestling events

10 different promotions, 2 first time attending

6 different states, 1 new state
Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, & New York. 

1 bucket list item checked off

322 lifetime wrestling events attended

It might be a bit controversial but when I'm counting my wrestling related events that I attended I count everything that I went to because of wrestling.  For instance this year I went to the International Pro Wresting Hall of Fame in Albany, New York and I count that as one of my 27 wrestling events.

January started started strong with 3 shows, the first being PUG Pro Wrestling's one and only wrestling event also my first out of state show of the year.  Promoted by Anthony Greene it emanated from the New England Pro Wrestling Academy in North Andover, MASS.  This school was spawned from Killer Kowalski's Wrestling School and had some cool memorabilia to check out.

Next was Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth featuring Ricky and Kerry Morton.  The 3rd show of the year I called Mariners Wrestling, as Maine's own Dirty Dango teamed with the Maine Mariner's hockey team to promote and afternoon of Hockey and wrestling.  After the Mariners game, they won, a ring was set up on the ice and we got a few matches featuring Dango, Scotty too Hotty, and some old EWA alumni as well as some of the today's Maine Independent talent.  It was fun!  They are doing it again this year in February.

February saw two shows, Let's Wrestle! in Brewer and NAWA in Fairfield at the Community Center.  Gangrel made an appearance at Let's and this is the only time I saw wrestling in Fairfield this year, my 61st show at the venue.

March presented another two shows, Let's and Limitless.  At Let's we saw the first time teaming of Alexander Lee and Mike McCarthy, something I didn't know we needed until I saw it, and now I can't get enough of them.  At Limitless we got Rachel Ellering, 2 Cold Scorpio, and two titles changes hands with BRG finally upending Mac Daniels for the Let's title and Ace Romero winning the title that has long eluded him.

April's two shows were both out of state on a double shot weekend with Mikey and Bradford.  First up in East Haven, Connecticut I finally attended an Interspecies Wrestling show!  It was at a local brewery and it didn't not disappoint! It was wild!


The second show of the weekend was a bucket list checker, I finally attended a show at the world famous ECW Arena in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!  It was a New Japan Pro Wrestling show to boot and it was fantastic!  
The whole weekend was really.  We toured the PEZ Factory, visited the Quick Stop, and saw the Rocky Statue as well as had some fun food.  Loved it!


May's two shows was Let's Wrestle! and my return to Limitless as I missed April's show.   At Limitless we got the long awaited return of Tabarnak de Team and the debuts of Killer Kelly and Timothy Thatcher.      

June I attended 3 shows, starting with Northeast Wrestling in Waterbury, Connecticut.  Mikey and I made the long drive because we wanted to see El Hijo de Vikingo live and it was worth every mile!!  It's the closest he has come to us to date and I didn't want to have any regrets.  He wrestled Komander that night and it was amazing.  

The other two shows was Let's Wrestle! in Brewer and 1CW Pro Wrestling in Delaware.  This was my first time ever attending a wrestling show in Delaware, it wasn't even on my radar this year.  We went to Ocean City, Maryland to stay at my wife's Aunt's Condo for the week.  I had tweeted earlier in the week asking if anyone knew any wrestling shows in the area and had gotten no responses and couldn't find anything.  We had just gotten to the condo and I check twitter and I had a notification about this 1CW show only 20 minutes away.  The show was just okay, but I'm happy to have gone. 

July was a big month as I counted 5 wrestling events this month.  It started with Let's in Brewer and then a few days later AEW Dynamite at TD Garden in Boston featuring BLOOD & GUTS, their version of War Games.  We got to see the AEW debut of Kota Ibushi, so that was bad ass!  Also got to see Hook lose the FTW title to Jack Perry, and a stacked Ramage taping as well.

One week later I was in New York on my 10th Anniversary with the wife and we happen to plan to be in Albany for a concert on Thursday, so I asked if we could stay there Wednesday so I could got to AEW Dynamite at the MVP Arena, she agreed.  Before the show I toured the International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, you can read my post about it here.  I bought my ticket for AEW on TicketMaster two hours before doors opened and I got lucky getting and AMAZING front row ticket at face value.  My seatmates and I determined these were productions holds that were released.  I cannot believe I got to experience front row at AEW Dynamite and it didn't cost me a ton of money.



I finished out the month of July at Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth where Alec Price defeated Joey Janela in the main event.

August I added another 3 shows to the list, including two shows in one day!  On the way to Brewer for Let's Wrestle! my son and I stopped at the Skowhegan Fair to take in some NAWA rassing action featuring "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas.  At the end of the month Limitless Wrestling presented the annual Vacationland Cup Tournament and two title changes in one night!  To my absolute shock "Iron" Rip Byson pinned Beef to end his reign as Limitless World Champion, and after Channing Thomas won the Vacationland Cup he goaded Rip into defending the title and he walked out with the prize.

September was a busy month for me and I only attend Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth where Dezmond Cole defeated Alec Price in a last man standing match and Aaron Rourke and Kevin Blackwood tore it up in a pretty awesome match. 

October I attended no shows.  I toured Camp Crystal Lake the weekend of Let's Wrestle! and the Limitless show was cancelled because of the mass shooting in Lewiston.

November I only attended the Let's Wrestle! show in Brewer where Joseph Alexander won the Joey Gleitz memorial Rumble Match, and the team of POS: Alexander Lee & Mike McCarthy defeated MSP for the Tag Team Championships.  There was no Limitless Wrestling show scheduled for November.

December I finished strong with 3 shows!  I started the month with a WWE House Show in Bangor, followed by Let's Wrestle! in Brewer and my final show of the year, Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth.

This is the fifth different venue that I have attended a WWE show at in Maine.  Cumberland County Civic Center, Augusta Civic Center, The Colisee in Lewiston, The Bangor Auditorium, and now the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.  10 years ago they level the Bangor Auditorium and built this new venue.  It's nice, I prefer Portland over Bangor but Bangor was a Saturday and Portland was running on a school night Sunday.  Myself, Canaan, Wesley, and Mikey traveled up together and we met Bradford there.  

Next up was Let's Wrestle! in Brewer and the final show at the Indoor Yard Sale marking and end to nearly two year residency.  The building owner is closing the business.  My final show of 2023 was Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth.  

This was a short card of 6 matches, but every match was fantastic!  We had three debuting wrestlers and everyone really put in their best effort.  In a moment that I didn't see coming, no one did, Aiden Aggro turned on DangerKid breaking up MSP.  

It was quite an amazing year of live wrestling for me.  I managed to check off the bucket list at the ECW Arena, with Delaware I have now been to wrestling in 12 different states, and I was fortunate to go to AEW twice, WWE, & New Japan Pro Wrestling.

As I said earlier I'm not going to try to top this year with number of events, but I do have a few lined up already for next year.

January 12th Let's Wrestle! makes it's debut in Fairfield with BRG vs. Eric Johnson in a Steel Cage

January 20th Limitless Wrestling MSP Collides with Aiden Aggro vs. The DangerKid

February 4th Maine Mariner's Hockey & Wrestling

March 30th WWE in Manchester, New Hampshire

April 3rd - 7th WrestleMania weekend in Philadelphia

If it's not clear, I love professional wrestling!

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 book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time! 

Sunday, December 17, 2023

My Wrestling Statistics: Updated!

Here are some only interesting to me wrestling statistics about my time attending shows.

Total Shows: 281 as of 4/29/2022

Total Shows: 322 as of 12/17/2022

The most recent show was Saturday April 23, 2022, the NAWA: North Atlantic Wrestling Association at the Fairfield Community Center in Fairfield, Maine.  This is the 59th show that I have attended at this venue, making it the building I have sat in the most watching professional wrestling.  First time at the Fairfield Community Center was on October 23, 2004 when NWH: New Wrestling Horizons presented a night of pro wrestling.

UPDATE: December 16, 2023 Limitless Wrestling at the AMVets Hall in Yarmouth, my 27th and final wrestling event of 2023.  

Two Countries, 12 States, & 1 Province


USA
Maine - 1989
Massachusetts - 1997
Vermont - 1998
New Hampshire - 1999
Connecticut - 2003
Pennsylvania - 2006
Florida - 2008
North Carolina - 2009
New Jersey - 2012
Rhode Island - 2012
New York  - 2018
Delaware - 2023


Canada
Ottawa, Ontario - 2019


52 Different Promotions

National / International Companies
AEW: All Elite Wrestling 
WWE: World Wrestling Entertainment
TNA: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
WCW: World Championship Wrestling
ROH: Ring of Honor
NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Maine Based
EWA: Eastern Wrestling Alliance
Tony Atlas's USA All Star Wrestling
UPW: Ultimate Professional Wrestling
MEW: Maine Event Wrestling (2001 - 2003) 
ACW: Atlas Championship Wrestling
ASAW: All Star American Wrestling
NWH: New Wrestling Horizons
AWA North Atlantic
NWA New England
PWA: Pro Wrestling America
NWA On Fire
IWE: Independent Wrestling Entertainment
VPW: Vacationland Pro Wrestling (2010)
NAWA: North Atlantic Wrestling Association
LPW: Live Pro Wrestling
Intergalactic Wrestling
AOM: All Out Mayhem
PWE: Pro Wrestling Experience
MEW: MainEvent Wrestling (2014-2015)
Limitless Wrestling
Let's Wrestle!
PWS: Pro Wrestling Society
Limitless Dojo Student Showcase
VPW: Vacationland Pro Wrestling (2021 - )
PSPW: Pine State Pro Wrestling
Mariners Wrestling

Outside Maine
BTW: Big Time Wrestling (Massachusetts) 
XboKu Pro Wrestling (Danbury, Connecticut)
Carson's Pro Wrestling World (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
FRW: Front Row Wrestling (Rochester, New Hampshire)
UXW Pro Wrestling (Orlando, Florida)
NWA Legends FanFest (Charlotte, North Carolina)
CHIKARA (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
PWS: Pro Wrestling Syndicate (Garfield, New Jersey)
Legends of the Ring (New Jersey)
PWF Northeast (Providence, Rhode Island)
WIA: Wrestling Is Awesome (New York)
TRP: Top Rope Promotions (New Bedford, Massachusetts)
NEW: Northeast Wrestling
Beyond Wrestling
WrestleCon
ICW: No Holds Barred Wrestling 
PUG Pro Wrestling (Massachusetts)
1CW Pro Wrestling (Delaware)

Canada
C*4 Wrestling: Capital City Championship Combat (Ottawa, Ontario)
ISW: Interspecies Wrestling (Quebec)

I've attended Shows in 7 of Maine's 16 Counties
Kennebec, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Cumberland, Somerset, York, & Penobscot



Wrestlers who I have seen wrestle live the most..
This section was not updated

Larry Huntley: 93 Times
First Time: July 24, 1999 EWA at the Lewiston Armory, Larry Huntley defeated Inferno - Larry's Pro Wrestling Debut
Most Recent: April 23, 2021 NAWA at the Fairfield Community Center, NAWA Heavyweight Champion: Cousin Larry pinned "Lights Out" Lee Miller

Larry started as the EWA's hardcore match referee making his debut under the moniker of "The Dirty Bird Bouncer" and later "The Enforcer" before becoming the "Scufflin Hillbilly" Cousin Larry.  I also saw him wrestle under a mask as the dreaded Parts Unknown.

Mark Moment: 58 times
First Time: October 23, 2004 NWH at the Fairfield Community Center,  “Enforcer” Larry Huntley pinned Mark Moment w/ Quentin Michaels

Most Recent: November 20, 2021 VPW Indoor Flea Market Brewer, Maine, The Competition: Champ Mathews & Mark Moment with Vernon Envy & Conner Murphy defeated The Mortons: Ricky & Kerry when Moment pinned Ricky with his feet on the ropes

He has mostly wrestled under the name Mark Moment but had a short stint as The Canadian Moondog.  

Eric Johnson: 55 times
First Time: September 22, 2006 NWH Fairfield Community Center, The Big Islanders: Makua and Kahoku defeated “Boston Bad Boy” Jason Rumble & “Too Fit” Eric Atlas

Most Recent: April 15, 2022 ¡Let’s Wrestle! at the Morgan Hill Event Center, Herman Eric Johnson with Brandino Davis pinned “Belfast Bulldog” Dave Dyer

I've seen him wrestle under the names "Too Fit" Eric Atlas and with the monikers "Jivin" and "Sweet Tooth" Jimmy Capone and the current Eric Johnson.  

MSP: Aiden Aggro & DangerKid: 47 Times
DangerKid aka Skully of The Fog and Levi Lexington
First Time: September 18, 2015 IWE Fairfield Community Center Sara D’Errico pinned Levi Lexington w/ Beavis with diamond dust

Aiden Aggro aka Humerus of The Fog and Auman Jordan
First Time: March 19, 2016 Limitless Wrestling American Legion, Orono Alexander Lee & Aiden Aggro defeated DangerKid & Wrecking Ball Legursky when Lee pinned DangerKid

Most Recent: April 15, 2022 ¡Let’s Wrestle! at the Morgan Hill Event Center, Herman MSP:Aiden Aggro & DangerKid defeated The Brick City Boyz: JCruz & Victor Chase when Aggro pinned Chase

As singles or as a tag team it's just a coincidence that I have seen them wrestle 47 times each.

Anthony Greene: 45 Times
First Time: August 31, 2012 IWE at the Fairfield Community Center Ryan London pinned Josiah Matthews
Most Recent: March 26, 2022 Limitless Wrestling AMVets in Yarmouth #1 Contendership Match: “Iron” Rip Byson defeated “Alternative” Anthony Greene and JD Drake when Byson pinned AG

No surprise they are all independent wrestlers that I have seen at shows mostly in Maine. 

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!!