My Rasslin' Results January to March 2024

In the first 3 months of 2024 I managed to attend 5 wrestling shows, a pretty good start to the year.  Unlike last year I have no goal in mind for number of shows I want to attend, its more of a let's see what happens.

January 12, 2024

¡Let’s Wrestle! The Community Center Fairfield, ME

Dunky Boy Bandit, J-Heru, & Stormy Savage with Jake Hess defeated “Belfast Bulldog” Dave Dyer, Samuel Radcliff, & Lee Miller with Coach when Dunky pinned Lee

Jason Maverick pinned Mani Ariez with bossman slam

Tag Team Champions: POS: “Masshole” Mike McCarthy & Alexander Lee defeated Guaposuave: Guapo Suave: Diego Alvarez & Lex Lozano when Lee pinned Alvarez

Sammi Chaos with Vile pinned Liviyah with vader bomb

Lucas Chase pinned Sami Diaz with Greetings from Asbury Park

Career vs Family: Dylan Nix with Big Cat & Drake Lovecraft pinned Levi Spade

Cage Match: ¡Let’s Wrestle! Champion: “Notorious” BRG defeated Eric Johnson

January 20, 2024

Limitless Wrestling AmVets Hall Yarmouth, ME

TJ Crawford pinned Alex Hammerstone

Ace Romero pinned “Hazard” Conner Murphy

Gabby Forza & Aaron Rourke defeated ARTE: Ava Everett & Ricky Smokes with LSG

Triple Threat: Limitless World Champion: “World Class” Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella defeated Dezmond Cole & JT Dunn with Thomas pinned Cole

Rich & Powerful: Charles Mason & Richard Holliday defeated Waves & Curls Jaylen Brandyn & Traevon Jordan

Unsanctioned: Aiden Aggro pinned The Dangerkid at 49:02

February 4, 2024

Mariners Wrestling / EWA Cross Insurance Center Portland, ME

Mo Jibari defeated “World Class” Channing Thomas with the sharpshooter

Cousin Larry, “Centerfold” Steve Ramsey, & Teddy Goodz defeated Dr. Heresy, Alexander Worthington the 3rd, and Adam Booker with Ramsey pinned Worthington with a spinebuster

Dirty Dango, Scotty 2 Hotty, “Innovator of Violence” Tommy Dreamer and Colt Cabana defeated Shannon Moore, Ace Romero, Heath Miller, & Brian Myers when Dango pinned Miller

February 24, 2024

Limitless Wrestling AmVets Hall Yarmouth, ME

Yarmouth Street Fight: Ace Romero pinned Sami Callihan

Ricky Smokes pinned Gabby Forza with his feet on the ropes

2 on 1 Handicap Match: Megan Bayne defeated The Bratz: Paris Van Dale & Shannon LeVangie pinning both

The Rich & Powerful: Charles Mason & Richard Holliday defeated Desmond Cole & JT Dunn pinning Cole

Alec Price pinned Lio Rush

Above the Rest: Tristien Thai & Gabriel Skye defeated The Unit: Danny Miles & Trigga The OG pinning Trigga the OG

World Champion: “World Class” Channing Thomas with Sidney Bakabella pinned “Iron” Rip Byson

March 22, 2024

North Atlantic Wrestling Assoc. (NAWA) Mt Ararat High School Topsham, ME

Dunky Boy Bandit pinned “The Consistent One” AZ 

Lee Miller & Raf with Jordan Cross defeated Jake Hess & Jaxx when Raf pinned Hess

Kidd V pinned Jordan Cross with Lee Miller

Mani Ariez pinned “Belfast Bulldog” Dave Dyer with Coach

Danny Cabral pinned Christopher Spratt with Robert Benson III with an O’Connor Roll

“Mr. USA” Tony Atlas & Cousin Larry defeated Jerry Goldsmith & NBK with Coach when Larry pinned NBK after a cocobutt and a whoopie cushion

Surprising there was no Limitless or Let's shows in March!

Potential upcoming shows:

April 4 - 7 Philadelphia, tickets to 7 shows and the WrestleCon convention with the potential for 3 additional shows

April 12 - NAWA Fairfield Community Center

April 13 - Limitless Yarmouth

April 18 - Wrestling Open - very slim chance, going to Red Sox at 1pm with my son

April 19 - MPW Skowhegan

May 4 - Let's Wrestle Fairfield

There is another show I am aware of in May but it hasn't been announced. 

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! 

The Rock n' Roll Express: The Most Prolific Tag Team of All Time

A week ago my buddy texted me and said "Name the team that wrestled for the WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, and Smoky Mountain Wrestling"  I responded The Rock n' Roll Express, turns out he was talking about the Insane Clown Posse.  This lead to a conversation about where the Rock n Rolls had wrestled and he said, "This was less fun than I anticipated"  I disagreed because I thought it was a fantastic conversation, we both learned something new and I got me thinking.

While the Rock N' Rolls didn't wrestle as a team in ECW, Ricky Morton did wrestle for the promotion.

Recently my friends and I were discussing how Sting and Jeff Jarrett are the law two active wrestlers on national television in a major company that really came from the territory system.  I remember the territory days when wrestlers traveled around from promotion to promotion, and my friends and I always kept track of wrestlers that succeed collecting championships along the way.

While I feel like FTR is the best tag team today, and there is an argument to be made that they are the best tag team of all time.  There is no doubt no one has had the run as a tag team like the Rock n' Roll Express.  They even wrestled once on a Big Time Wrestling Show.

The first time Ricky and Robert teamed together was not as the Rock n' Roll Express.  On April 21, 1980 for the CWA: Continental Wrestling Association, at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee Ricky Morton & The Gibson Brothers: Ricky and Robert teamed to defeat Danny Davis and The Blonde Bombers: Larry Latham & Wayne Ferris.  They did wrestler a few tag team matches through the rest of 1980.

In 1983 Jerry "The King" Lawler officially teamed them together anointing them The Rock n' Roll Express in the CWA, who knew 41 years later they would still be rocking and rolling together.

The Rock n' Rolls were a product of the territory system wrestling all around the NWA territories from 1983 - 1988, including CWA, Mid-South Wrestling, Houston Wrestling, Central States Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Jim Crockett Promotions / Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, and the Universal Wrestling Federation. 

 

In JCP they help the NWA World Tag Team Championships 4 times and were embroiled with high profile matches and feuds all through those hot 1985 - 1988 years.  

On December 13, 1988 they main evented the the AWA: American Wrestling Association's on PPV: Super Clash III battling the Stud Stable to a double count-out.  The most memorable match from that show is Jerry Lawler defeated Kerry Von Erich to unify the AWA and World Class World Championships by referee stoppage, but that was not the main event of the card, the Rock N' Rolls were.

Other independent promotions they competed in included the USWA sporadically from 1989 -1996, SMW: Smoky Mountain Wrestling From 1992 - 1995 where they captured the tag team championships 8 times and OVW: Ohio Valley Wrestling in 1999.  

In 1993 while representing Smoky Mountain Wrestling they challenged for the SMW Tag Team Championships wrestling The Heavenly Bodies at WCW SuperBrawl III on February 21st in Asheville, NC.  A few months later they lost the SMW Tag Team Championships to The Heavenly Bodies at the WWF Survivor Series November 24, 1993 at the Boston Garden.

They wrestled several house show matches for the WWF in 1993 & 1994, returning in 1998 for the NWA invasion angle competing at WrestleMania 14.  In 2017 they were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.  Their only matches in Germany and Austria we in 1994 with the WWF. 

They joined WCW: World Championship Wrestling in 1990, Gibson was injured keeping him out of action for a couple years and Morton stayed on Wrestling heel for a spell in WCW.  The returned to the promotion in 1996 wrestling the Horsemen and challenging Harlem Heat for the Tag Team Championships.

Since the year 2000 they have competed for multiple promotions with stand outs being NWA TNA in 2003, several New Japan Pro Wrestling US shows in 2019 & 2020, Ring of Honor, GCW: Game Changer Wrestling, and the Billy Corgan promoted NWA where they captured the World Tag Team Championships for a 9th time. 

While they have not had matches in AEW: All Elite Wrestling, they have appeared on multiple occasions were attacked by FTR on Dynamite and got involved in the Young Bucks vs. Proud and Powerful match from Full Gear 2019. 

In Japan 

In 1988 they wrestled for All Japan they competed in the Super Power Series in May and returned for the Giant Series tour in October.  In the AWA the challenged Bad Company for the companies Tag Team Championships.

In July of 1993 and November of 1994 they toured the Japanese promotion WAR: Wrestling and Romance. 

In May 1996 toured FMW: Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling. 

There is no other team that has teamed longer than the Rock n' Rolls, appeared in more major promotions, and no other team has had the staying power that Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson have had.

I've had the pleasure of seeing the Rock n' Roll Express wrestle live twice.  In 1998 at WrestleMania 14 and in 2019 in Lowell, MA at New Japan Pro Wrestling.  In I've seen Ricky Morton wrestle live twice at shows here in Maine with his son Kerry Morton.  In 2006 I met the Rock N' Rolls at Carson's Pro Wrestling World in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I'm extremely excited to see the Rock n' Rolls Wrestle once again at Joey Janela's Spring Break 8 in Philadelphia this year!

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! 

Destined to Fight Forever: Santana & Valentine

In professional wrestling sometimes it appears as though two men are destined to fight each other forever, in this series of posts we will look at some of those battles.

Tito Santana vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

When I was a kid I was a big fan of Tito Santana, that flying forearm that he delivered was just amazing to me.  I never saw him as the active Intercontinental Champion, but I watched the coliseum home video releases and his wars with Greg Valentine over that championship are so memorable.  Especially the steel cage matches. 

A few months ago I went down a rabbit hole watching all of their matches on peacock from that feud, that I could find.  I tend to view Valentine as a bit of a lazy worker, but man could he go when he wanted too.  I wrote a blog about these matches back in 2020, you can read it here.

Checking cagematch the first match I can find they competed in against each other was a battle royal at Madison Square Garden June 4, 1979.  Their first singles match was a time limit draw on March 31, 1984 at the Philadelphia Spectrum when then Intercontinental Champion: Tito Santana was defending the title against The Hammer.

They would wrestle a couple dozen times over the next few months until Valentine defeated Santana for the championship on September 24, 1984 in London, Ontario, Canada.  This would mark the first time the championship changed hands outside the United States.

Over the next 10 months the two would wrestle over 100 times across North America competing in standard and specialty matches like Taped First, Lumberjack, No Disqualification, and Steel Cage matches.  

It was in a Steel Cage on July 6, 1985 in Baltimore, Maryland that Santana would defeat Valentine to reclaim the intercontinental championship.  They would have a few return matches over the next couple months however later in 1985 Santana would drop the title to Randy Savage and Valentine with his Dream Team partner Brutus Beefcake would win the Tag Team Championships.

In Late 1985 / early 1986 Santana would team with Pedro Morales and unsuccessfully challenged Beefcake and Valentine for the titles.

In late 1988 they wrestled a series of matches on the house show loops that were either count-out or time limit draw finishes. 

In 1993 they battled each other in Austria and Poland for World Wrestling Superstars, including  a cage match on December 17, 1993.  

In 1994 & 1995 they fought again for the Savoldi's IWCCW: International World Class Championship Wrestling trading the IWCCW Heavyweight Championship.

In 1997 they fought twice in British Columbia, Canada for ECCW: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling.

Eight years later in 2005 at WrestleReunion 2 & 3 they traded the IWA Heavyweight Championship. They wrestled again in 2006, twice more in 2007, again in 2009, had a steel cage match for JCW: Juggalo Championship Wrestling Legends and Icons PPV on August 12, 2011.

They teamed together with the Honky Tonk Man on March 5, 2016 defeating the trios team of Hollywood's Finest for BCW Night of Legends in Williamsport, PA.

To date their last match was on February 25, 2017 in Totowa, New Jersey for Superstars of Wrestling Federation where they battled to a no-contest.  Valentine wrestled his last match to date in 2019 and Santana in 2022.

Their first singles match to their last singles match was fought 32 years, 5 months, and 1 day apart.  

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! 

Southern Discomfort: Wrestling on the Indie Circuit

Southern Discomfort: Wrestling on the Indie Circuit is a wrestling documentary that was released on November 26, 2002.  I can't recall the first time that I watched film but I know for sure is that I love it!  I've owned the DVD for over 20 years and recently decided to take a dive into it's background.

The movie was released in November 2002 but as you can see on the poster the wrestling matches were filmed at Saks High School, August 19, 1995 in Anniston, Alabama.

What I find unique is that this was filmed during a time when code of kayfabe was still heavily followed in the wrestling world.  The wrestlers on this documentary didn't break character at all, Bambi was selling her ass off in the back after her match.  Fast forward over 7 years later when it came out and kayfabe is all but dead, not knowing this was filmed in 1995 people probably thought it was odd.  

I can't say enough how much I love it, it gave is a rare look at indie wrestling from 1995.  Over 400 fans packed into a high school gym with temperatures over 100 degrees for a night of professional wrestling! 

Fred Olen Ray who appears on the show as Freddie Valentine, is a producer, writer, and director of over 200 low to medium budget films in various genres.  The man you see at the beginning of the film hanging posters on telephone poles and the side of a barn is David F. Friedman an Alabama native and film producer and writer of dozens of B movie and sexploitation films.  David passed away on February 14, 2011.

The promotion putting on the matches on this night is Dixie Championship Wrestling, I cannot find any other shows from this promotion.  However Fred Olen Ray ran All-Star Championship Wrestling out of California and competed in several deathmatches under the name Freddie Valentine.  A DVD of his matches was released in 2001 under the name ACW Wrestling's Wildest Matches.

I cannot find a listing for the entire card but this is what I've been able to piece together.

Cliff Badd vs. Jack Lord 

NWA World Women's Champion: Bambi pinned Peggy Lee Leather with a cross body block off the second rope

The Iron Sheik with Tony The Godfather submitted The Power Raider with the camel clutch

“Bullet” Bob Armstrong pinned The Flame with "Fabulous" Freddie Valentine

Shane Anderson with Tony The Godfather pinned Big Boss Hoss 

Shanghai Pierce wrestled “Nasty” Steve Lane with Miss Susie to a double count-out

A Masked Wrestler won a Battle Royale that unmasked, revealing himself as Rick Montana

The only wrestlers I had heard of who are featured in the film are The Iron Sheik, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, Peggy Lee Leather, and Bambi aka Selina Majors.  Peggy Lee and Bambi beat the tar out of each other in their match, it was very hard hitting. 

The wrestler Shanghai Pierce in the film is credited as being Mark Canterbury aka Henry O. Godwinn on IMDB, however it is not.  Yes Canterbury wrestled under that name, however in 1995 when this was filmed he was in the WWF.  He also has a tattoo on his upper left arm that is not present on this Shanghai Pierce.  Mark Womack was one of the referees for the night.  Almost every wrestler had a title belt.

During one interview segment with Shane Anderson you can see the Iron Sheik urinate in the sink in the background, he's back too to the camera.  

  

Rick Montana

Rick Montana, who passed way April 19, 2018, was an actor, authors, filmmaker and host of the Rick Montana Show, is a focal point of the film.  He is the ring rental, ring crew, ring announcer, and battle royal winner.

The Flame

Frank Barnhill, a local restaurant owner by day, evil fireball throwing wrestler by night, under the name The Flame was managed by Freddie Valentine on the show.  He opened his owner wrestling promotion in 1998 in Alabama.  He passed away on May 7, 2005.  

The Power Raider, Ted Lipscomb passed away August 19 2010.  He more famously wrestled at "The Nightmare" Ted Allen. 

The Iron Sheik passed away June 7, 2023

"Bullet" Bob Armstrong passed away August 27, 2020

Peggy Lee Leather passed away May 22, 2023

It was released under the name Alabama Outlaws: Wrestling on the Indie Circuit on Amazon Prime Video.  This version of the film has 25 minutes of footage added to the documentary.  I watched it tonight and the added footage doesn't really add to the overall story that is being told.  It's extended wrestlers interviews, extended footage of the matches, and more fan reaction.  It's essentially more of the same footage that was already shown, no other matches were shown or wrestlers interviewed that were not in the first version.

 

On November 18, 2014 it was re-released on DVD under the name Iron Sheik "The Maim Event".  The feature is the same uncut version with the extra footage however it has a two bonus features a Freddie Valentine highlight video and a Bloody Bonus Hardcore Match - Abdullah the Butcher vs Fabulous Freddie Valentine that took place in 2000.  

I found newspaper article from the August 21, 1995 Anniston Star talking about the show and the documentary.

Overall it's a fun look at a night of wrestling in Alabama in 1995, it's really what independent wrestling is all about.  

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!!

Bonus: I found this review for the film on IMDB:

behind the story

djmarkspinzinc21 July 2009

I was the Ref in this movie and had a great time doing it, it will always take me back to the days when I was helping rick Montana haul this heavy ring in and out of high schools and National guard armory's all over Alabama. I met some great guys and some not so great guys, I met famous and infamous all in the same night. Some made it but more were left at ringside broken and bloody made to work for $20.00 and a hot dog per night.

I live in the same town as David F. Friedman and use to go see him often but have not in a while, Great man with hundreds of stories and plenty of things in his personal collection to share with you if you stop in.

Watch this movie if you want to see a real "outlaw" show and how it was put together.