Roller Derby: AFA The Inferno live report June 15, 2019

Kate, Wesley, and I made the short drive to Auburn for the Androscoggin Fallen Angels home opening bout of the season as The Inferno took on the Hurt of the Commonwealth from the Worcester Roller Derby League of out Massachusetts.

I'm not privy to insider information but it appears as though the AFA has shifted their home venue from the Lewiston Armory to the Norway Savings Bank Area in Auburn.  I love the Armory, it's a fantastic building but this is a great venue.

Located next to the Auburn Mall behind Shaws it has two ice rinks inside it.  The second floor has a concession stand called the Upper Level Pizza & Grill with a full menu of food and snacks and the prices are very reasonable compared to other venues.  They also have some video games and air hockey plus the old school hockey games.  More importantly though they had a pinball machine, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and I played a couple games.

Another cool thing about the venue is that if you can't go to the bout you can live stream it, or anything they have going on, on LiveBarn.com just search for the venue.  I'm not sure if it's just a hard camera on the ice, but it's a cool feature.

The bout today was excellent!  Very hard hitting and competitive play between both teams.  Queen Bootycca was on fire today as the jammer.  Many times you'd see her tip toeing around the blockers right on the line to get passed them to score.  It earned her to top jammer honor for the game for her team.  Hoots got the top blocker honor and others that stood out included Taco Badger and Slim Katie.
 

Standouts for Worcester included Pocket Rocket, the top jammer, and Alysin Wonderslam who were jammers for the team and Nancy Drew Blood was voted the top blocker of the game.  There were a lot of other great players, I'm just not familiar with them all.

I'm not doing the ladies justice with my memory of the bout, as there was a lot of hard hits and some great game play.  The top blocker and jammer awards are voted on by the opposing team, so Infernos voted for Commonwealth and vice versa.

At the end of the first half the game was quite close, but in the second half the Inferno's really turned up the heat and took a strong lead the just kept climbing until the final jam.  The Inferno won their home opener with a score of 141 to 104.

I can't stress this enough as to how much fun it is to go and watch this live.  This is out 4th bout and the more you watch the more you pick up on the little things that go one out there on the floor.  They had a good crowd in the building tonight and they got loud whenever the Inferno took command.

You can show your support for both of these leagues at their links:

Androscoggin Fallen Angels   

Worcester Roller Derby

The Infernos next bout is at home on July 20th with no announced opponent

Worcester's next bout is June 23rd as their team the Triple Deck-Hers travel to Hoosick Falls, New York to play the Soutshire Roller Derby.

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. 

Until next time!

Live Report: Glow vs. Grit: Roller Derby & Wrestling!

Saturday the 25th of May the wife, myself, and all three of the kids loaded up in Vanna heading north to Bangor for some roller derby and wrestling action!  When I was a kid Saturday mornings with my dad consisted of watching a block of candlepin bowling, roller derby, WWF wrestling and monster trucks.  So I was pretty psyched when this even was announced.  Now my wife isn't a fan of wrestling but she is a big fan of the roller derby, but I was still very surprised when on Thursday she said let's take the whole gang!

No trip to Bangor for us would be complete if we didn't grab a bite to eat at Chick-fil-A, so we had dinner there before heading over to the Cross Insurance Arena.  Tonight would be the first roller derby bout for Canaan & Addison and for Wesley his first time going to the matches.

The kids were free to get in, as was I because I'm a first responder, finally being a 911 dispatcher for 18 years got me a perk!  We sat up high for the roller derby bout so we could see the whole floor and then the kids and I moved down closer for the wrestling portion.

Central Maine Roller Derby was hosting the event as their Northwoods Knockouts took on The Inferno of the Androscoggin Fallen Angels Roller Derby League.  Kate and I have seen both of these teams before against other teams so it's cool seeing the face off against each other.

The bout was very competitive and the score stayed close, so close that at the end of the first half it was 82 - 80 in favor of the Inferno.  At the beginning the Inferno jumped out to a lead getting the score up 16 - 0 before the Knockouts came back and took over control.  Later in the first half  The Inferno were able to catch up taking advantage of a couple power jams.

I didn't bring my good camera, I should have, so the derby pictures I took with my phone are okay at best.

The second half the Knockouts jumped ahead early and and The Inferno just couldn't make the comeback.  Both halves featured some very hard hitting action and some really rough bumps.  These girls definitely bring it on the track. There was about 150 people, which is a great turnout, but looks small in this building.

The final score was 167 - 139 for the Knockouts.  After the bout they have the closing ceremonies including announcing the MVP's.  Addison had an event poster and was able to get many of the girls to sign it.

The wrestling matches, presented by Limitless Wrestling, started shortly after the derby was over.  The majority of the fans moved in closer to the ring side area including the kids and I.  Wrestling is not Kate's thing so she stayed up in our original seats.  Jess was taking photo's ringside and took this great picture of the kids and I for me.

Aiden Aggro pinned Alec Price

Decent match, lots of talking between the two Aggro really showed his athleticism.  My daughter made a comment to Price about his purple trunks, I wish I could remember as it was hilarious.
 

Danger Kid pinned CJ Cruz

This was the best match of the night.  I was really impressed with CJ Cruz and surprised with his skills.  This was fast paced with action in and out of the ring and some really impressive sequences.  I really enjoyed it and would like to see Cruz more.

Triple Threat: Alexander Lee defeated DL Hurst & Frank Jaegar

Fun match, Hurst is a great heel, Jaeger worked his ass off and is improving everytime I see him.  Lee headbutted everything which I enjoy.

Kalvin Strange pinned "Masshole" Mike McCarthy

Strange called the audience trash, my oldest son told him that he was trash, so my four year old kept yelling at him that he was trash.  I found it hilarious.  McCarthy kept doing a spot where he would pick his nose and try to shove it in Strange's mouth.  He finally succeeded after Strange got the pin holding the ropes.

There was only four matches on the card which was prefect because the combination of the two events about just about three hours.  After the show was over the wrestlers came back out to sell gimmicks, Addison got some of them to sign her poster.  Wesley wanted to meet wrestlers and he did so by walking up to them and staring for a few seconds. 

It was a wicked fun night and I hope they do another Roller Derby and Wrestling event.  Sincerely if you haven't taken the time to check out some roller derby you are missing out and need to go and experience it.  Check them out:

Central Maine Roller Derby

Androscoggin Fallen Angels Roller Derby

Limitless Wrestling

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. 

Until next time!

Helter Swelter: AFA Roller Derby live report 8/18/2018

Growing up Saturday Mornings were not just cartoons there was some live action excitement in there as well.  The line up changed depending on the season but it was typically Candlepin Bowling, Monster Trucks, Roller Derby, Professional Wrestling, and Creature Double Feature.

I've played Candlepin Bowling many, many times, I've been to several Monster Trucks shows, and I pretty sure you know about my love of professional wrestling.  Roller Derby though, always eluded me mostly because it just didn't exist in Maine.

In 2006 A&E started airing the show Roller Girls, about the banked track all girls Texas Roller Derby league.  I loved this show, I hadn't seen Roller Derby on my television since the WSL Roller Jam that ran from 1999 - 2001.

This show started a resurgence on all girls Roller Derby including Maine Roller Derby based out of the Portland, Maine area.  Try as I might for different reasons I never made it to a bout.

A couple weeks back my coworker told me about roller derby being at the Lewiston Armory.  Looking into it I had never heard of the Androscoggin Fallen Angels Roller Derby before but was excited to read about their team The Inferno and their upcoming bout on August 18, 2018.  The best part was the doors opened at 5:30 pm for a 6pm opening whistle, I had time to go before work!

To my surprise I asked my wife if she wanted to go and she said yes.  So after dropping the kids at her mothers, she was taking them and their cousins camping for the weekend, he headed out for a rare night out on the town.

We got the venue about quarter past five and I saw my coworker Andrea with her family.  Doors opened promptly at 5:30 and it was only $7 for adults and I counted roughly 150 in attendance at intermission, which I think is an good house.

I love the Lewiston Armory, I have been there for many wrestling events and once in high school a full contact Karate Tournament.  The venue has a balcony on three sides and I was surprised to find the old wooden seats at are quite comfortable and did not feel crammed in at all.  We also had a great view of the whole track and all the action.

The bout was between The Infernos of the Androscoggin Fallen Angels and the Upper Valley Vixens of Twin State Derby.  The bout started just about on time, my only complaint is that we couldn't hear the MC on the PA system it just sounded like a foreign language.

They play two thirty minute periods with a 15 minute intermission.  You can read the full official rules here, but the basics are five members play at a time and scoring is accomplished in two minute jam sessions.  The jammer for each team starts at the back of the pack and works there way forward to the front of the pack and then around to the back of the pack again.  Each player on the other team they pass they score a point for their team.  Jammers can score as many points as possible in the jam session and only the lead jammer can call off the jam before the two minutes are up.

Jammers trying to break through the pack

The Inferno started off strong and jumped to an early lead but the Vixens quickly made a comeback taking the lead and never looking back.  The final score was I believe 194 - 118 in favor of the Vixens.

Being out first bout I'm not familiar with all the players but the stand outs for the Inferno's that I could tell where the jammers Seitanic Beast and Queen Bootycca.  The VIP of the game though was Jagged Little Pill on the Vixens.  She was a tremendous jammer and on two occasions I saw her score twenty points in one jam session.

All of these girls are tough and work very hard on the floor.  They are not kidding when they say it's full contact as they are constantly pushing and bumping each other jockeying for position.  Seitanic Beast tooked a wicked fall near the end of the bout and was removed from the game.  I hope it's nothing serious.

Jagged Little Pill of the Vixens becoming the lead jammer

Next time I'm going to bring my good camera but here are some shots I got with my phone.

Jagged Little Pill maneuvering around the packs to score points

I loved it and my wife really enjoyed it.  We will definitely be returning for another Inferno bout and checking out the other Leagues around the State.

Maine Roller Derby Leagues

Androscoggin Fallen Angels

Maine Roller Derby

Central Maine Derby

Rock Coast Rollers

Aroostook Roller Derby

Upper Valley Vixens - New Hampshire

Calling off the jam

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!