Swooping in for an athletics fundraiser, ARWPRO took over the gymnasium of Gavit High School in Hammond, IN on Saturday November 4, 2017 at 7:30pm.  I almost didn’t make it to the show because right on the corner by the school is The Wheel restaurant.  This is one of those Greek owned diners that have 25 page menus and breakfast all day.  I had flashbacks to when my wife (then girlfriend) lived right up the road from here, good Lord it was a bit more than 20 years ago, and we’d eat breakfast there almost every weekend I visited.  Damn, it was good.  Double damn, was I eating breakfast at The Wheel with my wife before Rancid Joey Rak was even born?

Anyway, this particular show was important to a few alumni of Gavit who are on the ARWPRO roster.  This included our first two contestants, Kevin Graves and Marcus Portrait.  Graves comes out with a Gavit letter jacket, which he immediately takes off to reveal a Whiting Oilmen shirt – athletic rivals,  I guess.  Then he gets on the mic to run down Gavit and its students and athletes.  Marcus Portrait (normally part of The Picture Show, but they’re both in singles competition tonight) comes out to fight for the honor of Gavit.  And he wins, to shut up Kevin Graves.

The next match features Gavit alumna Moxie Mollie.  This is her rematch against Renee Van Peebles, with the added stipulation that Van Peebles’ manager Chazz Moretti was banned from the building due to his shenanigans at the previous ARW show (which you can read about right here …. on this web page!).  Without Moretti to cheat on her behalf   offer strategic advice, RVP is not able to overcome Moxie Mollie’s moxie, and Mollie gets the win by making RVP tap to a submission hold.  The Mollie does a victory lap around the audience and gives kisses to the cheeks of young boys.   This picture shows Moxie Mollie in the middle of a cannonball while the chump in the grey hoodie ignores the action and plays on his phone.  I’ll bet Mollie didn’t kiss him after the match!

The third match has Dakota Prodigy defending his Indiana State Championship from X-Caliber.  Now X-Caliber is usually with The Family, but he came out alone this time.  He offers a quick handshake to Prodigy.  Something is up.  Eventually X-Caliber pins Prodigy after a spectacular 450-splash.  Then he gives Prodigy a little sportsmanship afterwards.  Something is definitely up!  King Bishop notices this, and comes out to congratulate him on the win, since he did it by standing up on his own and not using The Family.  King Bishop assures X-Caliber that he, and also the ARW fans, are proud of him for doing it with class.  Well, the Family patriarch Charlie Junior is pretty pissed about this development and tells X-Caliber that he’ll get what’s coming to him at the next show on November 22 (Black and Blue Wednesday).

The last match before intermission has Angel Armani and Johnny Swashbuckle teaming up against Mr. 3% Jon Hudson.  I don’t know why this was originally set to be a handicap match.  This is Hudson’s final ARW match before he moves out west for the gold rush.  Joey Boom Boom comes out to tell Hudson that he’ll be joined by an old friend of his, Johnny Showtime (the other member of The Picture Show).   In the left picture below, Armani shows Hudson what he thinks of his last match.  Eventually during the match Showtime and Swashbuckle end up brawling outside the ring, and the brawl moves backstage – leaving Hudson and Armani to get some time in the spotlight for a while.  But before too long, they come brawling back out and Showtime throws Swashbuckle into the chairs right in front of me (below, right).

Hudson ends up getting the pin, and afterwards he bids a tearful farewell to the ARW roster and fans.  He says the promotion he’s going to in California (not named) will allow him to continue to work the indies, and so he’ll be back sometime.

It’s intermission time!  And then we resume with The Family (Old School Manson and Rancid Joey Rak, with Charlie Junior and whatshername) vs The Mexecutioners.  Here (below left) we see Charlie Junior getting ready for some shenanigans on Santana Starks while the ref is not looking.   The Mexecutioners win this one.

Next, Anthony Toatele (without Kenzi) makes his ARW debut by going against Nick Cutler.  Don’t worry, Anthony, all your opponents from here on out will have less body hair.  I didn’t get any interesting pictures of this one, just the one above taken while Cutler was having words with some people in the front row.  This match ended oddly, as Cutler basically headbutted Toatele in the naughty bits in full view of the ref, and told the ref to do his job …. and so the ref DQ’d him, and Cutler stomped off to the back.

Finally in the main event, we have Ruff Crossing and Max Holiday teaming up against tag team champs Aggravated Assault (B.O.W. and Punisher 747), who are also without the services of Chazz Moretti.  It’s a non-title match, though.  To start the match, the two teams do the “see who gets more cheers” bit, during which one team actually gets boos.  When it was Ruff Crossing and Max Holiday’s turn, they raised their arms to the crowd, and about  two seconds after this picture was taken, they got clobbered by their opponents.  This was definitely a heavyweight match, with the big men doing big men things and making the ring bounce and shake.  Crossing and Holiday lose after a mishap in which Holiday ends up accidentally giving Crossing a face full of boot (or something like that, it was three days ago, and I’m tired).  After the match, Crossing makes nice with Holiday and says he will not get his revenge the way everyone thinks he will, but rather he’ll do it like a man and offer Holiday the rematch he is due for Crossing’s World Title (which he’d won from Holiday in the first place).  Crossing adds, though, “Just one more thing … never trust a cowboy!” and clobbers Holiday.  Ruff Crossing ends the show standing tall.

The next ARWPRO show is on Wednesday November 22, 2017 at 7:30pm at the “ARW Arena”, a.k.a. the American Legion 100 in Lake Station, IN.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

ARWPRO held Nightmare on Grand Ave at Morton High School in Hammond, IN on Saturday Oct 14, 2017 at 7:30pm CST.  This was a fundraiser for high school band uniforms.  This is appropriate since most wrestlers are frustrated band nerds who found it was easier to beat each other over the head with chairs than master the clarinet.  I kid, I kid!  Don’t hurt me.

There are pictures in this recap that aren’t great.  My pics are usually not great anyway, but this time, while the ring was at Morton High School in Hammond, the bleachers where I sat were apparently in Crown Point.  So there was quite a distance.

Props to the ARW ring announcer (you think I’d know his name by now, I only know that Charlie Jr calls him Ginger) for giving a recap of the big events at previous shows that led to the main event matches we’d see on this card.   That was a nice touch.

The first match was Dakota Prodigy (accompanied by Moxie Mollie) defending his Indiana State Championship from Christopher St. Michael.  Once I woke up from St. Michael’s entrance music (*), I neglected to get a picture from this match.  It ended rather abruptly after Prodigy ducked out of the corner when St. Michael was going into it, so that St. Michael went between the turnbuckles and struck the corner post like Braun Strowman always does now; Prodigy rolled him up for the pin.   (*) This sounds like me just being a jerk, but the music fits the lackadaisical “I just don’t care” slow stroll and methodical ring action that St. Michael pulls off.  So it’s good for what he’s doing, it’s just … dull.  OK, maybe I am being a jerk.

The second match was The Mexecutioners (Santana Starks and The Machine) against Nick Calucci and Fitzsimmons.  (Thanks to the ARWPRO Live Facebook page for the proper spelling of those names.)  The Mexecutioners got the win.

 
Up next was Moxie Mollie (accompanied by Dakota Prodigy) against Renee Van Peebles (with her agent Chazz Moretti).  Moxie Mollie busted out a cannonball on Van Peebles, but it did not help in the long run.  At one point, Chazz Moretti shoved Dakota Prodigy on the outside of the ring; the distraction allowed him to slip Van Peebles a foreign object (taped brass knuckles?) that she used to conk Moxie Mollie and get the pin. Mollie has already declared via Facebook that she will be taking video evidence to the powers at ARWPRO and asking for a rematch.  You know, I said this on the air this past Sunday and it bears repeating.  Chazz Moretti and Dakota Prodigy have both been guests on the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (cheap plug!) and I do not approve of guest-on-guest violence.  It could really spoil the WVLP picnic.

In match 4, The Picture Show joined up with (Horn)Swoggle to take on The Family: OSM (Old School Manson), Ivan Manson, and Rancid Joey Rak, all accompanied, of course, by Charlie Junior.  Charlie made sure to tell Rak that he needs to step up his game.  To start the match, Swoggle decided to size up the competition and check the stomach of OSM (below, right).  I’m not sure why!  But after many tag team shenanigans, Swoggle managed to pin Joey Rak.  Of course OSM and Charlie Junior were not happy about this, and Rak got a few whacks on the way to the back.

Nick Cutler took on Theo Storm after intermission.  You can’t really tell, but above left shows Cutler putting a hurtin’ on Storm.  Cutler was the victor.

Finally, we had a two semi main events.  The first was a no DQ match between Jon Hudson and Joey Boom Boom – Hudson venting all his recent frustrations with employment in ARWPRO and Joey standing up for the promotion and the boys in the back.  Boom Boom is the one who wanted the match to be no DQ.  This went on for a long time, with lots and lots of near falls.  But eventually Joey Boom Boom came out on top, and Hudson recognized who was the better man on this night, and there were hugs and bro moments all around.  This seems to be Joey Boom Boom’s management style, which also paid off with Ivan Manson earlier in the year:  get someone pissed off enough they challenge him to a match, then gain their respect by really bringing it in the match.  I don’t know, it seems like maybe just offering a couple of extra vacation days would be less painful.

Our second main event featured Aggravated Assault (Punisher 747 and BOW, tag team champs -accompanied by Chazz Moretti) versus Ruff Crossing (ARW World Champ) and Max Holiday – accompanied by Ratt J Flywheel.  Chazz Moretti is so confident that his team will win that he’s brought a briefcase with $25,000 inside to award the winning team (he must not have noticed that the tag team titles are not on the line, because that tends to tip things in favor of the challengers).  This is an interesting set up, because Ruff Crossing just recently defeated Holiday for the ARW World Championship, but then saved Holiday from a beating at the hands of Aggravated Assault afterwards.  Ruff does not like Max, but they’re in the “an enemy of my enemy” situation.  They do have complementary styles and looks, though, and so make a really good tag team together.

When Crossing and Holiday win the match (see?), Ruff Crossing quickly grabs the briefcase and starts to celebrate.  But Ratt takes it in hand and says he has a better idea; he trades it in to Moretti in exchange for an actual title shot for his new tag team, freshly dubbed “Ruff Holiday”.  Ruff and Max see the wisdom in this set up.

You can see the follow up to these events at the next ARWPRO show at Gavit Middle / High School in Hammond, IN on Saturday, November 4th at 7:30pm, and then at ARWPRO Black & Blue Wednesday, Wednesday Nov 22 at 7:30pm at the ARWPRO Arena, i.e. American Legion 100 in Lake Station, IN.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

ACW held the Back to School Bash at Lincoln Elementary School in Roselawn, IN on Friday Sept 22, 2017 at 7:00pm CST.

This was the first ACW show in a while, so it was good to see them back.  I splurged on the front row seating, but I have to remember that sitting in the bleachers offers a better view of the ring (especially when the action goes out of the ring on the other side) and I may not be blinded by a flood light exactly diagonally across from me.  Plus, if I sit too close, T K Zero picks on me.

ACW GM Michael Allen comes to the ring to start things off and is quickly interrupted by ACW Heavyweight Champion Drex Odell.  Odell does not have an opponent yet for the night, and has – to his recollection – defeated everyone in the locker room.  However, Rockstart Jonny Nigh comes out to correct him, saying Odell has not defeated him yet, and the title match is on for later in the show.

The first match was for Crimson Dynamo’s Tough Man title and the challenger was Cliff Caviar.  T K Zero was at ringside with Caviar and provided interaction with the kids at ringside, including giving one kid fashion advice on his ugly shorts.  Having a second man at ringside didn’t help Caviar, though, as he lost when his own head collided with the iron turnbuckle he had uncovered earlier, hoping to use it on Dynamo.  He was so loopy from hitting his head that he forgot his stack of cash at ringside.  Luckily a security guard picked it up, so Cliff Caviar, if you’re looking for your dough, see the security guy who was stationed stage left.  He may have bet it on horses by now, though.  I usually try to get one good picture per match, but I was so starstruck by Caviar’s ostentatious wealth, I didn’t remember to take one.  Or, see that damn spotlight in the picture above?  The couple of times I tried to get a picture of Caviar doing something fun, he was in that corner and the spotlight messed up my pictures.

After Caviar slinks to the back without his wad of cash, T K Zero remains in the ring for his own match, which is against Kyle Kaylor.  At some point, Kaylor became so intent on beating Zero that he promised he would leave ACW if he couldn’t get the job done.  I have to hand it to Kaylor, when he gets tossed out of the ring over the top rope, he makes a really good SPLAT noise on the floor.  The kids at ringside T K Zero had been bantering with before start giving him grief, including yelling “Jigglybutt!” at him.  This may have provided the distraction Kaylor needed to get the win and secure his position in ACW for the time being.  If you can see into the corona of the spotlight here (don’t look directly into it!), you’ll notice a Kaylor-shaped object about to land on T K Zero.

The third match was challenger Austin Fury against Intercontinental Champion Xavier Black.  All the young ladies at ringside were in a tizzy for this one.  Here we see Xavier clobbering Fury as Fury was about to come through the ropes.  This hard hitting affair was easily the match of the night, and Xavier Black retained his title.  It wore Fury out, and you can also (below) see him taking a moment at the start of intermission after his match.

During intermission, all the kids in the audience took over the back half of the gym for an unsanctioned Battle Royal.  It was too chaotic to make any sort of identification of the winner, but on the up side, no ambulances were called.

The first match after intermission was CK1 and Flawless Dave Allen against Jared Kripke and Xcaliber.  CK1’s majestic robe was also present.  He and Dave Allen tormented many of the people at ringside, and CK1 must have reminded the kids of their teachers because he yelled at them to ShutUp! so often.  There was an ample amount of tag team shenanigans, and CK1 and Allen got the win when CK1 was outside the ring and able to hold down XCaliber’s feet while Allen pinned him.  The blurry object below (left) is XCaliber coming off the top turnbuckle onto CK1.

The final match not involving educators and a shopping cart had Drex Odell defending his ACW Heavyweight Championship against Rockstar Jonny Nigh (above right, Odell shows Nigh how to clap his hands behind his back).  During this match, the kids in the front corner were giving Odell the business, yelling at him things like, “How much do you eat every day??”  I can’t believe these young kids are taught that body shaming the Champ is acceptable.  I mean, when you make fun of T K Zero, it’s funny, but your ACW Champ deserves more respect, kids!

In the final match that caused lots of screaming kids and headache suffering adults, we had Jimmy Holmes vs Sadistic Slade.  Sadistic Slade ambushed Holmes as he made his way around the ring, and it was off from there.  The beatings involved a plywood board, a shopping cart, and many floatation devices perhaps from the Lincoln Elementary pool.  Jimmy Holmes got the victory, and the kids went home happy.

I don’t know when the next ACW show is, but stay tuned to the list of upcoming shows at https://metalprofessor.com/nwiwrap/shows-in-2017/

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

Fire Pro Wrestling held FPW 137 at 6:30pm on Saturday, September 16 2017 at Impact Christian Church, Merrillville, IN. I am writing this recap for all you pencil necked geeks out there who didn’t attend!  RIP Brain 😦 Note that there are a couple of names I don’t know I heard correctly, so I’ll gladly accept corrections.

The first match is Johnny Motley vs Ricky Vendel (?).  The crowd takes a while to warm up, but gets going after a bit.  Ricky was good at getting some folks worked up.  One group of fans really want to see Motley’s superkick, and they chanted for it from the opening bell.  Over and over.  And over and over. I thought of making a drinking game out of it, taking a drink every time I heard “Superkick!” but (a) we’re in a church, and (b) I’d need an ambulance before the match is over. Motley shows them up by winning the match without ever doing a kick.  Here we see Motley sending Vendel almost literally ass over elbows.

The second match is Nicco Antonelli vs. Kyle Cross (?).  Nicco must have an enemy upstairs (I mean the sound booth, not WAY upstairs as you might thing in a church), as his entrance music is almost never audible.  I need to hear those violins and mandolin to remind me of my vacations in Venice.  (OK, I’ve never been to Venice.)  Here’s Kyle running into the corner about to clobber Antonelli.  Come on, you have to show more respect to a man whose pants look like the away uniforms from the 1977 Pittsburgh Pirates!  The boots are awesome, though, as is his hat which isn’t seen here.  Nicco gets the win because he’s the better dressed man.

Next we are introduced to a man weighing in at “two hundred fifty five and three quarters pounds”.  That’s pretty damn precise!  It’s Ritchie Rothchild, the Gypsy King.  Ritchie gets on the mic and takes the time to ask the audience some questions, which he has never done in the many years he’s appeared at FPW.  And so The Gypsy Psychologist King tries to convince everyone that they are awful people because we think we are better than him, but none of us will be coming to Impact for church tomorrow, even if it is their 10th anniversary!  After these moments of self reflection, his opponent Austin Fury comes out to get the place rockin.  This was a fun match, with Rothchild playing the steady immovable boulder to Fury’s role of the rubber object bouncing off it.   Fury bounces off the ropes, corners, and so on, and even gets a bloody nose for his trouble, but eventually Rothchild gets the win.

After the first 3 matches, there’s an intermission.  I went to check out the merch table of the Bambino family, but the only shirt sizes there were S and XL.  I need a Pops Bambino-sized shirt!  I’ll keep that money on hand for another time.

The second half started with Roach vs. Adam Bueller for Bueller’s Impact Championship.  (Has there ever been a Rick Raid vs. Roach match?  Just wondering if Raid v. Roach has been a thing.)  Bueller is introduced as “The Violent Gentleman” (which is my favorite of his nicknames) instead of The Antichrist, because when you’re wrestling in a church, it’s best not to take chances on some serious outside interference.  Many of the folks in the crowd are cheering for Adam Bueller.  He tries his hardest to get them off the Bueller train, but no such luck.  Bueller worked Roach’s arm most of the match, and we saw a lot of damaging or submission type holds.   During a bit of stalling, Bueller grabbed a fan … no, like a literal fan, there’s no A/C in this place … and shook it at Roach.  Late in the match, Roach tossed Bueller out of the ring and Bueller laid on the floor making “it’s broken for sure!” noises.  The ref counted to 10, and Roach wins by countout.  Soon, Bueller pops up onto two healthy legs, revealing his deception, as he gets his title back .  This sends a group of fans in front of me (now I mean the people kind, not the spinning kind) into total conniptions!  They’re totally beside themselves that Bueller gets to keep his belt – yelling at Bueller, yelling at the ref, yelling at the dudes at the announcing table.  You’d think someone had just killed their cat!  I don’t think they understood that titles don’t change hands on a countout.  Roach wants another chance, but Bueller says he won’t even be there on October 21, so how bout that!

The next match is a three way tag match for the Impact Tag Team Championship.  We have The Bambino Family, Flash Harris & Mike Strong, and The Cavalier Club (CK1 and Flawless Dave Allen).  The Cavalier Club play it smart and use the rules of “anyone can tag anyone on any team” to arrange to have both of them tagged in at the same time – Allen gives CK1 the Finger Poke of Doom and tries to pin him, but the other 4 realize what’s happening and jump in there really fast!  Later the Club plays it smart by taking a siesta on the outside (see below) while the other four beat each other up.  This was a really fun match; eventually the Bambinos and Flash & Strong wear each other out to the point that the Club is ready to come back, slam Pops Bambino into a ring post, and jump into the ring for one last round of damage and the pin.  The Cavalier Club are your Impact Tag Team Champions!

In the final match, we have Jeremy Hadley defending his FPW Heavyweight Championship from Cavalier Club Member Stone Hands Slater Wallace.  It goes back and forth for a while until the other members of the Cavalier Club, CK1 and Dave Allen, come out from the back and jump Hadley – leading to a DQ.  Here’s a good pic to end on:

The next FPW show will be on Saturday October 14 at Monster Con at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso – bell times at both 11:30 am and 2:00pm!  Then it looks like they’ll be back at their home base of Impact Christian Church in Merrillville on October 21. but Adam Bueller will not be in the building.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

Revolution Championship Wrestling (RCW) held Full Throttle at the Battell Community Center in Mishawaka, IN at 7:00pm EST on Friday August 25, 2017.  I was really looking forward to this since it had been over a month since I’d last been to any show, and I needed my wrestling fix!

A pre-show match featured Fireball vs. The Celtic Nightmare.  Fireball does not appreciate Mishawaka or the RCW crowd like he does Warsaw and the FWF crowd, and made that clear.  The crowd got behind The Celtic Nightmare, who got the win.  As you can see in the pic, Fireball looks a lot meaner and nastier when his hair is down.

The main show started with Rod Street and Dru Skillz announcing they would team up to take on The Midwest Monsters later in the night, since the other half of The Soul Shooterz was unable to be there.  Or maybe Rod Street was going undercover on a different team.  Brutus Dylan and Tank don’t care who Dru Skillz’ partner is going to be, they know they will win regardless.

The first match on the show is a 6 man match under Lucha rules (Ring Announcer Ryan Anderson told us what that meant, and I’ll interpret:  people are going to be jumping in and out of the ring all over the place and no one really worries about rules).  After about 15 minutes of music and intros, Noah Walker, The Maltese Tiger, Adam Bueller, Jared Kripke, Steven Drochner, and Roger Lanier get it started.  This was a lot of fun.  Jared Kripke bumped, jumped, and flopped like a madman, and Adam Bueller was possessed by the spirit of a not-dead Stone Cold Steve Austin.  I sort of imagine Adam falling asleep watching the WWE Network; Stone Cold and his bald head come sliding out of the  TV screen like the girl in The Ring, crawling over to a sleeping Adam, and taking over Bueller’s mind.  Or Adam was just looking for something fun to do.  Look out, here comes the Maltese Tiger!  (pic).  Noah Walker eventually won the match.

Shady Chris Xion took on Shane Foster.  Shady spent a lot of time outside the ring to start the match, frustrating Foster, who just wanted to get it on.  Eventually the two got going, and Xion won after hitting Foster with his necklace / chain.  RCW owner JB Blackwell tells Zion that he was impressed with his win (did he not notice the cheating??? Jeez.) and was awarding Xion a shot at the RCW US Title at the next RCW event.

Douglas Stout, who looks like he could have just stepped off a bus from Wall Street and changed his three piece suit for wrestling gear, decided that taking on Kongo Kong would be a good idea.  Actually Stout got in a lot of offense and stood strong for quite a while, kicking out of many two counts.  But eventually Kong’s size and strength prevailed.  Here we see Stout in the air for two reasons; once because Kong was suplexing him from the second rope, and once because he did not know Kong was about to catch him midair and do more bodily harm.

Next up is a match for the RCW Tag Team Titles, featuring Guns & Aggression (Mance Warner and Luke Lawson, the champs) against Lumber & Lightning (JC Bunyan and Lightning Bolt Johnson, not the champs).  Excellent color coordination was apparent on all sides, as the yellow trunks of LBJ and yellow suspenders of JCB not only nicely complemented each other, but also the yellow trim on the gear of G&A.  Well done, gentlemen, bringing a little fashion sense to the ring!  This was a strong match, and everyone worked hard.  Clean living pays off, and Lumber & Lightning get the pin and the titles.  Afterwards, Mance Warner blindsides and clobbers Luke Lawson, who had taken the pin.  Mance exclaims that he’s the man, and doesn’t need Lawson.

After intermission, Warfare Jeremy Hadley pays a visit from the western part of the state to take on Kevin Storm, who holds the RCW US Title.  Hadley was quite angry and spent a lot of time making sure people in the audience were paying attention to him and the match, and not their phones.   Kevin Storm retains his title, but is attacked after the match by Shady Chris Xion, whose serving notice that he’s ready to take the title at the next show.

Caleb Stills comes out for his match without, sadly, his circus music theme song, but rather a Faith No More tune.  I really liked his old intro music, it was unique!  While he lost that music, he did not lose his attitude; he reminds us all he is the winner of the recent James Wilson Memorial Tournament, and will be getting a title shot at Anthony Toatele at the next show.  But in the meantime, he’ll beat the person who used to be the title holder, Jack Thriller.  Stills is good to his word, as he gets the win, but only because of a low blow to Thriller while the ref wasn’t looking.  Here (pic, left) is Stills giving Thriller an elbow.

In the final match of the night, the Midwest Monsters take on Dru Skillz and Officer Rod Street.  If you’re counting the number of small children Dru Skillz has made cry during his entrance, when he finds them and growls at them, you can add one.  Rod Street is a victim of his own intended foul play and gets zapped by a taser, and is pinned.  After the match, Brutus Dylan assures us that the Midwest Monsters are back!  I wonder if LBJ and JC Bunyan are second guessing the whole tag team championship thing…

Here we see Brutus Dylan, from back at the start of the show, auditioning for a spot on The Police Department, and Dru Skillz about to use his own partner as a weapon against Tank.

The next RCW show will be on Saturday, September 16th, back at the Battell Center in Mishawaka (which is a good place to see a show!).  The announced matches so far are:

• Shady Chris Xion vs Kevin Storm for the RCW US Title
• Caleb Stills vs Anthony Toatele for the RCW Heavyweight Title
• A 30-man Revolution Rumble, the winner of which gets a title shot sometime afterwards

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

Pro Wrestling King, Strong Style Wrestling, and Revolution Championship Wrestling held When Worlds Collide 4 at the Century Center in South Bend, IN at 7:00pm EST on Saturday July 22, 2017.  The Century Center was rocking with Roller Derby at one end, wrestling at the other, and a wedding reception downstairs.  Imagine the possibilities!  Sadly, the events did not interact, but there were about a dozen matches in a 5 hour show, so let’s get started!

A cage is already up to start the show, as we begin with The Iron Demon Shane Mercer vs. Kongo Kong for the Strong Style World Championship.  When Ref Russ comes out to take his spot, he gets booed!  What?! Seriously, who boos Ref Russ?? I hate this crowd!

Shane Mercer comes out alone, Kongo Kong comes out with the rest of Horrorshow, Jason Saint, Amazing Maria, and Charlie Kruel.  (I spelled her name Cruel in last weekend’s RCW recap, but it’s spelled ‘Kruel’ because of course it is.)  There were lots of powerful moves in this match like Kong slamming Mercer into the cage or Mercer picking up Kong and giving him a fallaway slam.  At the end, though, the personnel of Horrowshow have a trade, as Jason Saint slams the cage door on Kongo Kong as he’s about to escape, allowing Shane Mercer to get the win and to take Kong’s place in Horrorshow!  The crowd gives Kong as standing ovation as he leaves.  I love this crowd!

The second match is a 10 on 1 handicap match: the Crew vs. the Cage.  The cage put up a valiant fight, but after about a twenty minute brawl, the Cage is nowhere to be seen.  Of the crew, B.D. Smooth is the last man standing.  Until later in the show, when he is the last man sleeping.

We have next a Fatal Four Way for the PWK Kingdom Championship, held by Theo Storm.  He takes on Shady Chris Xion, Jayden Quick, and Joe Jitsu.  After Theo retains, Tank comes out to challenge him to a cage match of their own at August 6 at Headlock on Hunger in Elkhart.  Theo thinks this is a fine idea.

The third (real) match is a Battle Royal featuring … lots of people!  It’s won by Chocolate Tic Tac, who eliminates Fireball to win.

Next follows a 6-man tag match with Noah Walker and Team Legend-Dairy (w/ Cynnamon) vs. Lightning Bolt Johnson, JC Bunyan, and Tank.  This is a combination of both Lumber and Lightning (LBJ and JCB) and Brute Force (JCB and Tank … Tank, you need more initials), so I’m going to call them Lumber and Lightning Force.  Ref Ray is in charge of things and he’s wearing new (?) sneakers that are so bright they are distracting, and they probably should have gotten their own ring music and introduction. Although still not able to be in the ring, Brutus Dylan is out with his pals in Lumber and Lightning Force, and eventually gets tired of Cynnamon’s interfering nonsense; he carries her off to the back, allowing LBJ and JCB to pull off a double pin on Team Legend-Dairy.

Now, it’s time for a fight, as we get Chuck Taylor against UFC’s Filthy Tom Lawlor.  This was a really nice combination of grappling and some high impact moves.  Eventually Lawlor’s ring man causes a distraction, allowing Lawlor to get Taylor into a submission hold, and Taylor taps.  (That’s Taylor’s head and shoulders peeking in the top of this picture:)

Ref Russ is out to oversee the RCW Heavyweight Championship match between Anthony Toatele and Jack Thriller (c) and there’s another smattering of boos.  Geez, people, what did Ref Russ ever do to you?  I hate this crowd!  After a brief scare where Thriller lured Toatele into trying to attack him but accidentally knocking over poor Kenzi instead, Toatele comes away with the win, and we have a new RCW Champion!  Several RCW regulars come out to help celebrate, and the crowd gives lots of applause and chants.  I love this crowd!

The next match makes me happy as I finally got to see Matt Cross in person after a couple of failed attempts.  Matt Cross and Dominic Garrini are taking on The Soul Shooterz for the new Strong Style Wrestling Tag Team Championship.  Matt Cross slapped my hand as he made his entrance, and my palm still stings.  Yowch!  The Soul Shooterz win when Apollo Q. Starr clobbers Dominic with one of the two belts while Dru Skillz has everyone else distracted.  Here you can see Dru Skillz using his power to slam both Cross and Dominic, and in another pic, I get to see Matt Cross upside down, which seems to be his natural position.  Wrestling fan win!

Rod Street is out next to take on Gillberg.  During the match, the ref had enough of Street’s bickering that he took off his shirt and handed it to Gillberg, switching places for a brief time while the (ex) ref chased Street around the ring.  As the ref returned and put his shirt back on, Gillberg took advantage of the moment to spear, jackhammer, and pin Street.  Gillberg looked like a guy having the time of his life out there, smiles all around!

Next up is the match that on a shorter card, should have been (and probably would have been) the main event.  The Spirit of Detroit are out to defend their PWK Tag Team Titles from the Rulers of Wrestling in a Tornado Tag Team match.  These guys brought it, and knocked each other around inside and outside of the ring, with many near falls.  It was so good, I’m allowing it four pictures! ROW are a lot of fun to watch, and SoD really work the big man / little man dynamic well.  During the match, Jon’tae Kieth attempted (and missed, but who cares, it was still awesome) a really impressive … 720 degree?  1440 degree? splash?  Whatever it was, dude looked like a fidget spinner in flight as he went around.  Spirit of Detroit retains their titles.  Their personal ring announcer Tiffany Tilli got to introduce them and proclaim their victory.

Now it’s the Ladies’ turn!  Rudy Jordan is out to take on Amazing Maria (w/ Horrorshow fellows Jason Saint and Charlie Kruel) for the Revolution Strong Women’s Championship.  Jason Saint ain’t so impressed with Rudy’s credentials, though, and so (apparently having been given all the power) suggests that instead, Rudy take on Maria’s tag partner Samantha Heights, and if Rudy wins, then she can have a title shot.  (Saint also points out Maria’s injury, which requires her to wear a face shield, as a contributing factor.)  Rudy tries her best and does quite a few high impact moves, but Maria sneaks in and hits her with the face shield while the ref is distracted (I’m using the word “distracted” a lot in this recap, huh?), so that Samantha Heights gets the win.

The second to last match is another 4-way, this time for the PWK On-Line Championship.  It’s Ames against Steven Drochner, Adam Bueller (c), and Jay Bradley (who was Aiden O’Shea in Impact).  On his way out, Ames is directed to a sleeping BD Smooth, who’s taking a siesta halfway up in the middle sectin, and Ames goes to wake him up with a surprise wiggly lap dance.  At this point I’m pretty exhausted from the long card, so some lighthearted fun, along with Jay Bradley tossing everyone around like Tiddlywinks, is exactly what I need.  Bradley stays outside the ring for a while tending to his ankle after leaping over someone, and Adam Bueller gets the pin.  He should have a wheelbarrow for all those belts he carries around!  This was also the debut of his new mask, but I did not get a good picture of it.

And fiiiinally, we get to the last match, which is a non-title (you know what that means!) tag team special attraction, featuring RCW Tag Team Champs Guns & Aggression against Kevin Storm and The Hurricane.  Once again, Ref Russ is booed.  Sigh.  That’s like booing a kitten, I just don’t get it.  The Hurricane questions Mance Warner’s manly status in spandex, and then helps give Kevin Storm a good birthday by helping him secure the tag team win.

The next PWK event is Headlock on Hunger, Sunday August 6, 2017 at the Texas Roadhouse in Elkhart, IN.

The next RCW event is scheduled for August 25, 2017 at the Batelle Community Center in Mishawaka, IN.

The next SSW event?  I don’t know.

Thanks as always to Ring Announcer Ryan Anderson with assistance on a couple of names I didn’t hear clearly at first.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

Funkdafied Entertainment held a shorter 6-match untitled event at the Marshall County 4H Fair in Argos, IN at 7:00pm 7:30pm on Tuesday, July 18, 2017.

Here’s a picture of the layout. The event was held in the Grandstand, with the ring sandwiched in between the bleachers and the horse show arena.

This set up led to several questions.  I will pose the questions here, then repeat them at the end, with answers.

1. Will the banging and clanging of the ring freak out a horse and spoil someone’s routine and score?
2. Can we have a falls-count-anywhere match that ends up in the ferris wheel over in the ride area?
3. Will the show be done before dusk, as there are no lights aimed in this direction at all?
4. Will any wrestler run over to the fence and knock out a horse like Mungo in Blazing Saddles?
5. Will FWF at the Marshall County Fair outdraw Global Force Wrestling when they held a show at the Porter County Fair last year?

The show begins with a tease of a pre-show match when 5-6 teens haul over a canopy to cover a merch table and protect delicate Hardcore Harry from the sun.   During this process, a teenage girl gets yelled at by a slightly older woman who hollers at the girl for using profanity earlier in front of an 8-year old.  Of course, this person’s shouting was filled with expletives of her own, and were clearly audible to everyone in the stands, including children younger than 8.  Her Irony Detectors were not functioning.  This did not escalate into a physical altercation, sadly.

JD Smooth is out to thank the folks who helped organize the event, but then make it clear he’d rather be anywhere but here, and that he’s not a Hairy Toothpick! The first match is an over the top Battle Royal featuring, well, everyone who was there for any match. Hardcore Harry takes off his shirt to compare hairyness with the Hairy Toothpick.  I don’t know what kitchen implement should be associated with Hardcore Harry to call him Hairy … Soup Ladle?  Spatula?  Lightning Bolt Johnson is the last man in the ring.

The Police Department, hit hard by personnel cuts, apparently, is out to take on Brute Force: Tank and JC Bunyan.  Rod Street announces he gave everyone else the night off, and Sheriff Eva Lonis will be his partner.  (Congratulations to Eva Lonis on her promotion from Lieutenant to Sheriff!)  I am a bit emotional right now, as this is the first time I’ve seen Brute Force together in a match; when I started learning about FWF last year, Brute Force had split up and JC Bunyan and Tank were enemies.  It’s good to see the brotherhood back in play.  Sniff sniff.  During a snafu, Eva gets pepper sprayed and accidentally pins Rod Street.  She celebrates her victory blindly, until JC Bunyan pins Rod Street for real.

Matt O’Hare is introduced as “The Answer”, but I don’t know the question.  Sometimes he is part of Team Legend-Dairy with Alexander S Kirk, i.e. ASK, so maybe when you hire them it’s, “ASK and you shall have The Answer”?  (Wow, that’s a stretch.  I blame the heat.) Matt O’Hare defeats Fireball with an elbow drop from the top turnbuckle.  Here (left) we see Matt O’Hare winning friends and influencing people. Apologies to Fireball for not getting a picture.  Meanwhile, in the

next match, Alexander S. Kirk takes on Cosmo.  A certain portion of the crowd seemed underwhelmed by the extent of actual wrestling with, you know, actual holds and stuff; they just wanted these two to punch each other in the face.  There were handshakes before and after the match, which Cosmo won after Kirk’s attempt at a suplex / backdrop / sort of thing went wrong.

American Eagle defeated Jackie Chen.  Poor Jackie Chen was without his manager.  Finally, we had J Rocc come out and insult the crowd for a while, before his opponent Lightning Bolt Johnson appeared.  Then JD Smooth came out for some shenanigans, and Cletus Farmer came out to even the odds.  And this is how tag team matches happen!

The good guys win to end the night.  (I mean LBJ and Cletus, not you, JD Smooth, you Hairy Toothpick!)

Here are the questions I asked earlier.

1. Will the banging and clanging of the ring freak out a horse and spoil someone’s routine and score?  No.  The show started right after the competition ended; it’s almost like it was planned that way!
2. Can we have a falls-count-anywhere match that ends up in the ferris wheel over in the ride area?  No.  Dammit. I expect more for my … wait, this was free, nevermind. 
3. Will the show be done before dusk, as there are no lights aimed in this direction at all? Yes!
4. Will any wrestler run over to the fence and knock out a horse like Mungo in Blazing Saddles?  (Answer: Sadly, no.  I blame Ryan Anderson.)
5. Will FWF at the Marshall County Fair outdraw Global Force Wrestling when they held a show at the Porter County Fair last year?  (Answer: It sure looks that way!)

The next FWF event is Firestorm, to be held at the Center Lake Pavilion in Warsaw, IN on August 19 at 7:00pm or possibly 7:30pm EST.   

To end things, let me point out that I never would have had any reason to go to the Marshall County 4H Fair if it wasn’t for wrestling.  That’s awesome.  The fair had everything to be expected:  cows, goats, horses, rusty & squeaky rides, 4H displays, tractors, and lots and lots of yummy food.  I now know that JC Bunyan uses a walleye sandwich as pre-match energy.   I ended the night with a wood fired chicken quesadilla.  Yum yum.  Here are some pictures to put everyone into that county fair state of mind.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

RCW held the 10th annual Slam Cancer Benefit show at 7:00pm Saturday July 15, 2017 at the Batelle Community Center in Mishawaka, IN.  This loooong show clocked in at over four hours, with 10 matches altogether.  So get comfortable!

The show opened with Brutus Dylan coming to the ring, and he calls out the entire RCW locker room so wrestlers and audience can give a 10 bell salute to all those who have died from cancer.  After this nice touch of class, the wrestlers head back to the locker room, and Brutus reminds us of what he’s gone through the last several months after his injury.  He’s been thinking a lot about what his future holds, and — “Fighting out of Indianapolis, Indiana! … ” Dru Skillz interrupts and lets Dylan know that no one cares about cancer or his injury.  Skillz attacks Dylan and starts to work over his injured leg, threatening to damage it more with a chair.  At that point, Dylan’s tag team partner Tank rushes out to make the save.  Of course Dylan is pissed, and he sets Skillz vs. Tank for the semi main event later in the show.  (Unlike in the WWE, where apparently everyone just shows up to the arena hoping the GMs set matches at the last minute, Dylan says this is possible since Tank’s original scheduled opponent was unable to be at the event.)

The structure for tonight’s event is that most matches in the first half are qualifying matches for the James Wilson Memorial Tournament, which is to be determined by a fatal four way match as the night’s main event, between the winners of the four qualifying matches.

The first qualifying match has Theo Storm (accompanied by Noah Walker) vs. Rogier Lanier.  Theo storm scares the audience that he’s going to win several times with near falls, but eventually Rogier Lanier gets the win.  In the first picture below, you choose: (a) a test of strength, or (b) rehearsal for a dancing competition.  In the second picture, (a) Lanier is intercepting Storm’s attempt at a springboard stunner, or (b) Theo has just hit his first-ever home run and Roger is really proud of him!  (Answers: (b), (a).)

The next qualifying match is Tripp Cassidy (accompanied by Jason Saint and Charlie Cruel) vs. Sage Philips.  Charlie appears to give Tripp a smooch for luck, then Tripp passes the smooch along to Jason Saint.  Saint considers for a moment whether he liked it  or not, and decides it was acceptable.  The ref finds a large spike when he searches Cassidy.  He must have been coming straight form work or something.  The match goes between Cassidy toying (such as pictured, left) with the smaller Philips, and Philips getting out of predicaments with his agility and some Zach Sabre Jr type countermoves.  Eventually Philips took the win with what looked like Kalisto’s Salida del Sol, which probably has a more universal wrestling move name, but hell if I know what it is.

Eli McFly vs. Ames may not have produced the winner of the James Wilson Memorial Tournament (spoiler, sorry!) but it took home the award for oddest match of the night.  First, a financial note:  When Ames was dancing around ringside during his intro, the gentlemen at the back announcing table put two singles into Ames’ tights.  Now the promotion for this event said that ALL proceeds will go to Hospice Care, so Brutus Dylan, if you’re looking for a couple more bucks, Ames has them!  As the match got more heated, Ames set up McFly spreadagled on the second turnbuckle and delivered a running crotch shot.  Ref A.J. was like, whatever, I’m cool with that, no big deal.  Later on, when McFly got frustrated, jumped out of the ring, and went to grab a mic, Ref A.J. was like, “ok, cool, no need for a count out yet” until he eventually decided to start counting quite a bit later.  I think Ref A.J. is trying to be like the substitute teacher everyone loved because he let students get away with stuff. During his extended time out of the ring and on the mic, McFly suggested they change the match to a … dance contest? … instead.  Each exchanged sequences of dance moves until finally McFly delivered the inevitable sneak attack / low blow for the win.

The final qualifying match for the James Wilson Memorial Tournament has Caleb Stills vs. TNA  Impact Global Force Wrestling’s Mahabali Shera!  Damn, he’s huge.  It’s always surprising how big some of these TV guys can look when they’re up close and personal. Caleb Stills gets the surprise pin with a roll up aided by a pull of the tights.

Now that we know our four entrants in the tournament fatal four way later on, it’s time for some retribution!  It’s a last man standing match between Kevin Storm and Noah Walker, for the RCW United States Championship, which Storm held previously and Walker has now.   Let’s just say these guys are not fond of each other!  As a stipulation arising from a previous RCW show, Theo Storm will be handcuffed at ringside so he can’t interfere.  Noah and Theo come out first; while Theo is in the ring objecting to the cuffs and Noah is out of the ring, WHAM!  Kevin Storm sneaks in and clobbers Theo with a chair.  That certainly makes it easier to put on the cuffs!  (Below, left.) This match ended up involving: a chair, a second pair of handcuffs, a ladder, a kendo stick, and a table.  The second pair of cuffs were used by Noah to tie Storm to the ropes while he hit him repeatedly on the back with the kendo stick.  Those shots were too brutal to show images of on a family web page like this, but I can show you Referee Tony Lynn’s reaction to one of them.  (Below, right.) The ladder was used appropriately by all parties involved, as

shown.  Now at some point (perhaps somewhat accidentally, and if so, Jon Blackwell should have a word with Officer Rod Street about the quality of those cuffs) Theo had been working on those cuffs so hard and so long, he got out of them and started getting involved in the match.  With three people in the ring, poor Ref Tony got clobbered and went down.  At one point, Kevin Storm treated Theo Storm like a bad motion in a committee meeting and tabled him!  Kevin got Noah Walker in the “tree of woe” position in one corner, propped a chair against his arms and head, then did a Shane McMahon-like leaping double drop kick from off the top turnbuckle of an opposite corner, and introduced the chair to Noah Walker’s face.  Ref Tony recovered enough to count to 10, at which point we found Kevin Storm standing and Noah Walker still lying there, sad and defeated.  Kevin Storm has regained the RCW United States Championship.  It was a hell of a match, gentlemen!

And after all that, it’s only intermission time!

Back from beak, we have a 6 man mayhem match, featuring Shady Chris Xion, Sadon, DW Kelley, Steven Drochner, Jimmy W, and Justa Mazing (Ryan and Tiffany with the assist!).  This was good clean fun where everyone took turns beating on everyone else, and some folks left their feet (Sadon and Mazing are pictured here doing that).  Jimmy W took the win.

Dani Ferarra challenges The Amazing Maria for the RCW Women’s Championship.  Dani does me a great favor by wearing a shirt with her name on it to the ring, so I know how to spell it properly!  Maria is accompanied by Jason Saint and Charlie Cruel.  Dani falls victim to the ol’ “foreign object double cross” where while the ref is turned away, Maria falls over like she’s been knocked out, and someone in her cohort tosses a chain in the air to Dani.  Dani’s instinct is to catch the chain, which happens at the exact same instant the ref finally turns back around, so the ref sees K.O.’d Maria and chain-wielding Dani standing over her.  DQ!  Poor Dani.

In a battle for the RCW Tag Team Championship, The Police Department defend against both Guns & Aggression (Mance Warner and Luke Lawson) and Lumber & Lightning (JC Bunyan and Lightning Bolt Johnson).  In the first picture here, you can decide what’s happening.  (a) LBJ is sitting there drinking his tea and Ol’ Mancer is rushing to LBJ to offer congratulations on his recent engagement, or (b) Ol’ Mancer is a cranky bastard and is about to clothesline the head off LBJ.  In the second picture here, you can decide

whether (a) JC Bunyan is leaping from the tree tops to clobber anyone underneath, friend or foe, or (b) Ref Russ is a cheating bastard and is shoving JC Bunyan off the turnbuckle to show favoritism for his buddies The Police Department! (Answers: (b), (a).)  Now through hard work and intense analysis, I believe I have learned to decrypt some of the Police Department’s secret codes.  I think that “Code 137!” or whatever the heck number Rod Street yells, means “Eva, distract the ref and toss us the mace, then Deputy Dave, try to shoot mace in our opponent’s eyes but miss and get me instead!”  Because Rod Street yelled “Code 137!” (or whatever, don’t get on my case because I got the number wrong, people!) and yeah, Guns & Aggression are your new RCW Tag Team Champions.

In the match set up at the top of the card like about four hours and twenty-one ring intros ago (yes, I counted), Tank is out to teach Dru Skillz a lesson.  Dru Skillz attacks Tank before the bell rings.  Outide the ring, Skillz nails Tank with a Ric-Flair-Whoo chop that reverberates through the arena like a gunshot.  Ouch!  The guys trade punches, body slams, chops, and other things, nearly wearing each other out at one point, until Skillz decides to treat Tank to what Brutus Dylan was going through, and Skillz started putting Tank in ankle locks.  The first time, Tank gets to the ropes.  Later on, a second time, Tank gets to the ropes again, but Skillz doesn’t release the hold – and so draws the DQ because unlike Ref A.J., Ref Russ is having none of that crap in his ring.   Since Skillz would not release the hold, JC Bunyan runs out from the back to try to intervene, but he gets swatted away.  Then Brutus Dylan returns the favor from earlier and rushes to the ring (and he did some damn good rushing for someone whose leg went through all that recent trauma!) and Skillz bails pretty quickly.  And The Midwest Monsters, reunited again, challenge The Soul Shooterz (Dru Skillz and Apollo Q. Starr) to a match at the next RCW event in Mishawaka on August 25.  I should note that the whole time The Midwest Monsters and Dru Skillz were yelling at each other, Dru Skillz would attack JC Bunyan again, since he was closer and smaller.  Poor JC.

In the main event of the night, the four qualifiers in matches before intermission come back from having gone to see the new Spiderman movie to have the fatal four way match for the James Wilson Memorial Tournament trophy.  We have Roger Lanier, Caleb Stills, Sage Philips, and Eli McFly.  McFly is eliminated first and pretty darn quickly, then Sage Philips, and then Rogier Lanier.  Your winner of the James Wilson Memorial Tournament is Caleb Stills!

So altogether, the night lasted 4+ hours, we had two title changes, one tournament winner, one tag team reunion, one destroyed table, one back lacerated by a kendo stick, two acceptable hot dogs eaten by me, one international television star, one Code 137, one battered and bruised lumberjack, and 28 full ring introductions with music (four of which were doubles).  That’s exhausting!

The next RCW event is scheduled for August 25, 2017 right back at the Batelle Community Center in Mishawaka, IN.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:30pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP.  You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

ARWPRO held Red, White, and Bruised at the American Legion Post 100 in Lake Station, IN, at 7:30pm on Saturday, July 8, 2017.

Edit: You can catch a video recap of this show by Ref Dave and King Bishop themselves at:  PART 1 … PART 2.

On my way to the show, I realized I was driving on Ripley Street.  This was an amazing coincidence because on the next night, July 9, I would be helping out at a Porter County Special Olympics fundraiser at Zao Island in Valpo, which featured 5 bands playing – including Ripley Street, named after this very road!  I had two thoughts, one that Joey Boom Boom is very in tune with the idea of community and has supported many charity events, so maybe he’d let me plug the fundraiser in Valpo at the ARWPRO show.  And also, since I was stuck at that long-ass traffic light at Central and Ripley, I had time to take a picture of the Ripley Street sign and pass it along to the band.  Well, both missions were accomplished, thanks Joey!

The first match features Kevin Storm vs. a returning Shane Fury.  Kevin Storm lets us all know he hates coming to this place, and Shane Fury lets us know he was happy to be back.  They banter a bit to add to the entertainment value of the match, but in the longer run Storm works over Fury’s leg several times, until Theo Storm strolls to ringside with King Bishop in tow.  Storm # 2 creates a distraction to  Storm # 1 so that Fury can clobber him with a spinning elbow, and then Fury gets the pin.  In the picture to the left, it’s going to suck for both of them, but since Fury is upside down, I think he’s going to get the worst of it. 

Uncle Charlie brings out the entire Family, which seems to be growing – perhaps by adoption or hostile takeover of other families, I don’t know.  Out here for this match is OSM (Old School Manson, the disciplinarian), Lilith (for gender equality), X Caliber (the combatant), and Twig (the mascot).  Or rather, Stick, since Uncle Charlie generously upgrades Rancid Joey Rak from the Twig of a branch of the Family to a Stick.  This match is to be X Caliber vs. Theo Storm.  Storm is unfazed by the numbers game.  As you can guess, Kevin Storm comes out to show “two can play at that game” and interferes in the match when he jumps in the ring to attack Theo.  This causes X Caliber to get disqualified.  Good grief, the one time the Family *doesn’t* cheat to get the win, and they get DQ’d.  In the picture to the right, Uncle Charlie prepares to catch the giant beach ball descending from overhead. 

A sad King Bishop comes out to do a hard thing, which is call out Moxie Mollie and Dakota Prodigy for the purpose of stripping the Indiana State Championship from Dakota Prodigy, who (a) looks to have gained 10 pounds of hair, and (b) is unable to defend it after his injury at the last ARWPRO event.  Of course, Dakota and Moxie are aggravated by this until Moxie comes up with a grand plan:  since she is an integral part of the “team” now (as Dakota agrees), she should be allowed to defend the title in Dakota’s place!  Dakota and the crowd think this is a good idea that could not possibly go wrong now or later, and so King Bishop is swayed to allow it.  KB introduces Moxie’s opponent, Dante DVS.  Now Dante is in disbelief that he has to wrestle “a girl” and makes it known through many sexist comments; I hope he doesn’t have a wife or mom to go home to!  He says he is not afraid to beat up a girl and shows it by controlling most of the match. However, Molly takes advantage of a sudden opening and gets the pin.  Now I wonder, if Molly is able to defend the title until Dakota is ready to have it back, will she hand it right over, or will there be trouble in Team Moxikota?  (I just made that name up for them, since I don’t think they have a name.)  Hmmm…

Prior to the fourth match, a sparkly purple sequined jacket starts walking to the ring. Inside the jacket happens to be Moretti Agency manager Chazz Moretti, but the jacket is the real story here.  It’s amazing!  King Bishop has to do ownership things again, and because The Jacket’s team Fatal Attraction has not defended the ARWPRO Tag Team titles in a long time, he is stripping them of the titles, and having a tag team match between Punisher 747 & Brutus Owen Wesker, BOW (with Ratt J Flywheel) and The Picture Show, the winner to be the new ARWPRO Tag Team Champions.  Of course, The Jacket … I mean Chazz Moretti (I’m sorry, but the sheer magnificence of The Jacket makes you forget the details, just look at it!) is very aggrieved by this, and warns King Bishop that “the only thing worse than a psychotic is a well-funded psychotic, as you’ll find out later!”  With those ominous words, The Ja … dammit, Chazz Moretti departs and the tag team match begins.  Eventually, the size of Punisher 747 and BOW becomes too much for The Picture Show, and Punisher 747 and BOW become your new ARWPRO tag team champs … and their first action is to beat down their long-time manager Ratt J. Flywheel and replace him with Chazz Moretti!  So when it’s all said and done, the tag team titles stay with the Moretti Agency.  Well played, sir!  In Moretti’s own words from his Facebook page, “KB Chuck Hines, I hope you learned something last night. You cannot take what belongs to The Moretti Agency!!! I always have contingency plans for everything. Last night I put the world on notice that soon every ARW Pro Wrestling Championship will reside in my trophy case!!!”  By the way, see the cameraman in the picture above, and how upright he is?  Keep that it mind for later on. 

After intermission, Joey Boom Boom comes out to start the proceedings, and announces the following match will have a 20 minute time limit!  I didn’t remember if the first half matches had time limits announced, but when I heard this next one did, cynical me thought, “Well, a time limit got announced, so that means the match will be a time limit draw!”  Nick Cutler is out to take on Superbad Santana Starks.  And Cutler eventually gets the win with a low blow to Starks, well before the time limit expired! Sorry, no picture here, I was too busy eating a hot dog and trying not to get mustard on my nice new Power Ranger themed Dark Horse Nation / Nick Cutler shirt!

The second to last match features Mr. 3% Jon Hudson against Willie “Da Bomb” Richardson.  Again, Joey Boom Boom goes with the announcement of a 20 minute time limit, so surely this one will go that limit, right?  Both men come out with shirts saying “Action, Reaction, Consequences” in different styles – they have a bit of fun with that, and then get down to business.  The match starts with gentlemanly one-upsmanship (see below: Hudson’s gentlemanly arm bar, along with Richardson’s gentlemanly elbow drop) but gets a bit snippier and snippier as things go along.  Eventually, Hudson’s temper starts to get the better of him; when the ref suggests he should chill the hell out, Hudson shoves the ref … and gets disqualified.

EDIT: Mr. Hudson has pointed out – somewhat impolitely, I might add, but I guess that’s what’s to be expected of him now – that the DQ actually came from before, when he “kicked Willie in the balls”.  So he’s right, I did not remember that correctly, but what I do remember correctly is the name of the person who will teach Mr. Hudson not to get so full of himself, on August 05, 2017 at Headlock on Hunger (Texas Roadhouse, Portage IN): Buff Bagwell. Anyway, carrying on with the original recap: 

This sets Hudson off completely, and he clotheslines the ref.  A group of people come in to check on the ref … including the cameraman shown above in the picture with The Jack- dammit! – Chazz Moretti and King Bishop.  In his rage, Hudson starts mixing it up with the people checking on the ref.  He picks up the cameraman and with a suplex, flips him backwards and completely overhead in a full circle like a propeller.  Remember in A Christmas Story when the narrator talks about how when knocked to the ground by bullies, little Ralphie “laid there like a slug, it was his only defense”?  That’s the cameraman.  More people come out and help clear away the mayhem.  Hudson gets on the mic and rails against ARWPRO management and locker room.  For his trouble, he gets a match made for him by Joey Boom Boom against Buff Bagwell at the upcoming outdoor ARWPRO event (see below).

A somber side note, it turns out that the cameraman, hereby known as Victim B, is the son of Ref Dave, hereby known as Victim A.  Victim A had this to say on his Facebook page:

This is my 22nd year as a pro-wrestling referee. I’m having the most fun, thanks to my family at ARW PRO – that is, until last nite. I met a wrestler named Jon Hudson (Mr. 3%) a couple of years back. We immediately had that “connection”, one that rarely happens between an official & a wrestler. I became his referee for all of his matches & we quickly became good friends. That all changed during an action-packed show in Lake Station. Something “snapped” inside Jon Hudson. He showed us a dark side, one that I, our fans, & the entire ARW PRO crew have never seen before! He went ballistic after I disqualified him for giving a blatant low blow to Willie “The Bomb” Richardson. He seemed to calm down a bit & even shook my hand, a handshake, however, immediately followed by the hardest, stiffest clothesline. It knocked me off my feet with such force, it flipped me over on to my front! My son Josh Innes – (ringside videographer) – & “The Picture Show” ran into the ring to check on me, intervene, and to calm Hudson down. Hudson would have none of it, manhandling Marcus Portrait & Johnny Showtime like they were rag dolls! As I was being helped out of the ring by referee Mike & our top-notch ring crew, Hudson proceeded to give my son Josh a German suplex that literally flipped him 360 degrees. I yelled, “Jon, that’s my son!” – still too banged up to even try to help him. Jon Hudson had his “moment” on the microphone, Joey Boom Boom & King Bishop quickly let him know who REALLY runs ARW PRO, & Hudson, well, he couldn’t care less! So, Jon, I hope you read this post & that you’re paying close attention: WE ARE DONE! I always had your back, but you stabbed me in mine. You’re going to be fined for putting your hands on me & I hope that it’s a lot more than you have in your Malibu piggy bank. Referees never get respect in the Squared Circle, & that’s okay. But, what’s NOT okay is what you did to my son! I’ll forgive you eventually, but I will never – EVER – forget!

Note that this match, the second in a row to be announced as having a 20 minute time limit, also did not go that time limit.  What is with these mind games, Mr. Boom Boom???

Finally we had the main event, featuring Ivan Manson vs. Max Holiday for the ARWPRO Heavyweight Championship.  The first thing the ref did was try to even the odds by chasing away most of the Family, although Uncle Charlie and Lilith were allowed to remain at ringside.  Ratt J Flywheel, after his beating earlier, was still able to accompany Max Holiday to the ring. At the end of the match, Lilith comes up with a keyboard from somewhere, and passes it to Manson in the ring, while Charlie distracts the ref.  Now foreign objects in wrestling are like magnets.  If the person the object is intended for is, say, magnetic North, and the opponent is then magnetic South, the object will always also be charged North, thus being repelled from the person it was intended for and into the hands of his opponent. Don’t argue with me people, there are Laws of Thermodynamics, and there are Laws of Wrestling.  And so, per this inviolable natural law, the keyboard gets into the hands of Holiday, who cracks it over the head of Manson while the ref was still distracted.   And Max Holiday retains his title!

While Uncle Charlie and Manson were grousing to Joey Boom Boom about Holiday’s cheating ways, Joey decided that he could make things right by putting Manson in a 4 Corners of Doom No-DQ match against Tommy Dreamer at the upcoming ARWPRO event.

And so this evening comes to a close, and the next ARWPRO event is Headlock on Hunger, at 12:30pm Saturday August 5, at the Texas Roadhouse on Rt 6 in Portage.  All proceeds go to the Portage Food Pantry, although I feel it would be right for a small portion to go to securing a proper storage method for Chazz Moretti’s jacket to ensure its safety.  Announced matches so far are:

• Angel Armani and The Police Department vs. The Picture Show and Al Snow
• Mr. 3% Jon Hudson vs. Buff Bagwell
• Ivan Manson vs. Tommy Dreamer in a 4 Corners of Doom No-DQ match.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWrap) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8-9:30pm, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWrap is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWrap.  You can find @NWIWrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING! 

Fire Pro Wrestling held Fire Pro 135 at 6:30pm on Saturday June 17, 2017, at Impact Christian Church in Merrillville, IN.

To start the show, Drex O’Dell came out with his manager, who berated Drex for being an embarrassment at the last show, where he wrestled without his partner Mustafa and lost.  His manager (you’d think I would have learned his name by now!) said that he went out and found Drex a different partner for tonight to get different results.  That partner:  The Punisher.  The opponents: The Bambino Family!  During the match, The Punisher stepped aside when Drex needed some help with a tag; Drex tried his best (see the pic to the left where Drex is working hard and Punisher is standing off to the side taking the rest of the match off.  Eventually Drex got pinned.  After the match, Punisher came in and decked Drex with a chain-wrapped fist.

The next match featured Austin Fury against an unnamed (at least for me, maybe he was introduced but I missed it) masked opponent.  Austin won pretty quickly, and then got on the mic and asked for some better competition.  Out came Roach!  Roach and Fury tore the place up until the bell rang to announce the end of the 20 minute time limit.  It’s a draw!  One pic below shows Austin dropping onto the unnamed opponent in black, and the other shows Fury getting dropped on by Roach.

Next up we had The Cavalier Club of CK1 (with no fancy robe, booo) and Stone Hands Slater Wallace taking on Flash Harris and his partner … Mike Strong?  I know his name was Mike because Flash got the crowd to chant Mike! Mike! Mike!, and he had “Strong” down his tights.  Here we saw lots of dastardly heel work, ref distraction, and temper tantrums from The Cavalier Club, and they eventually got the win.  Here they celebrate afterwards.  Giddy up.

Johnny Motley defeated Kyle Cross in a good match, then got on the mic to demand higher level championship opportunities.

In the final match, Jeremy Hadley defeated Flawless Dave Allen to retain his FPW Heavyweight Championship.  The quote of the night came from Dave Allen, who yelled – having just kicked Hadley in the face – “Now that’s how you kick a dude in the face!!”  After the match, the Cavalier Club ran out to beat on Hadley.  When the FPW general manager got on the apron to give Allen the business about all these shehanigans, Allen slapped him (wow, it was a loud slap!) and drew a 30 day suspension for that.  Since FPW shows are a month apart, I’m expecting we may see Dave Allen back and still up to no good at the next show.

Now this was the first local show I dragged my wife and kids to, they agreed to go along since the next day was Father’s Day and this was their king’s wish.  They all said it was better than they thought it would be 🙂 ; I checked with my daughters for their reactions, and here is a summary of the categories I offered and their answers:

• Best match: Fury vs Roach
• Hottest wrestler:  “Zebra Pants” aka Johnny Motley
• Least hot: Stone Hands Slater Wallace because of his “nip slip outfit”
• Who you don’t want to meet in a dark alley:  Punisher
• Best wrestler to take home to Mom: Flash Harris
• Most likely to be arrested:  Austin Fury, CK1 (don’t blame me, I just report it!)
• Most likely to be on a TV sitcom:  Roach, Flash Harris, or CK1
• Best outfit:  Zebra pants, Punisher’s chain
• Most likely to quit wrestling and become a preacher:  Mike Strong (someone please correct me on his name if needed!)

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWrap) broadcast Sundays at 9:30pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8-9:30pm, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN.  If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app.  Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWrap is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWrap.  You can find @NWIWrap on Twitter.  And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region.  Because WRESTLING!