Wrestle Mania!!
Friday March 31 -- Work kept me busy right up until we left Friday morning at 11 a.m. from Menomonie. My traveling partners - Joe Lonke, Darin Corbin and Rain - beat me to the park n’ ride. We hit the road and our cruising along, despite the rain the whole way (curse you, Rob Page!) Traffic in Chicago sure sucks, though!
The first show of the weekend was the Ring of Honor event on Friday. I loved it. I had never seen any of the Dragon Gate guys, except for one CIMA match on tape. They absolutely stole the show and had the crowd going NUTS. I could have done without seeing Mitch Franklin and Shane Hagadorn, but overall, the show was awesome. Not everyone appreciated the Dragon-Strong match, but I liked it a lot. That said, it was a step below their November match here.
Congrats to Rain for a strong showing in her ROH debut match. I would hope & expect she’ll be on the show next time in June. I also met indy reviewer Derek Burgan. I’m honored that people read my reviews, but I wish I could mix in the humor & style of Burgan.
The show ended, and we went for food. Aries & Lacey join us, along with several other fans from MN, and food was surprisingly good, considering it was 2 a.m. Good times all around at dinner. Great to see Justin “Violent” Lee again, and he is missed on the MN indy scene. Congrats to him on his wedding!
Joe & I head to the hotel and sleep just a few hours.
Saturday, April 1 -- I got up and went for a walk, as I know that three days of junk food is not doing me any good! We then headed to IWA-Mid South in Midlothian.
WOW! The parking lot is full, and the crowd inside is a legit 400 paid. I quickly grabbed seats, and it’s a good thing too, because the G.A. seats are almost gone immediately. It’s great to see so many fans at an IWA-MS show, and it’s even better that it was such a tremendous show. Spoke with Delirious before the match outside; it’s unbelievable how a guy so mellow & relaxed in the parking lot can be so energetic and lively in the ring. I’m a huge Delirious mark!
Darin honestly had no idea which match he would be in. Turns, out, he got added to a ladder match that was filled with some crazy bumps (and Marek Brave nearly impaling himself on the ring post!) I’m excited for Darin, as he got a HUGE pop when he came out, and a roar of laughter when he started dancing. It’s great to see him so over, and getting the big win.
The show ended, and Joe & I took off to make the 8-mile drive back to Chicago Ridge for the ROH show. Uh oh. No parking anywhere. I drove around, and I’m getting frantic. I finally parked in the Rosa’s parking lot and prayed that I wasn’t going to get ticketed or towed. Luckily, it was all good.
All right, as good as all the other shows were this weekend, nothing topped this ROH show. Seriously, all of the final five matches earned ***3/4 or higher. The tag title match of Strong & Aries vs. the Dragon Gate guys was the best match of the entire weekend. Aries took a stiff ligerbomb, getting tossed into the turnbuckle. (All my reviews are up at www.pwtorch.com)
The show ended, and we headed to Rosa’s. Everyone is in a good mood. While speaking with Aries and ROH owner Carey Silken, I told Silken he should book Aries’ opponent the next week, Cody O’Neill, when ROH comes to MN. I don’t know if it does any good, but I’ll continue to push the local guys who I think would fit in.
The fun spot of the night was Aries teaching the younger ROH guys how to light a cigar. Aries said you “do it A-Team style, bite off the end, and say ‘I love it when a plan all comes together.’” If you are too young to get that, I won’t explain it. But I thought it was funny. I also found Strong’s struggling to get the cigar to work for him funny.
Whitmer was on crutches, but he was upbeat. Yang also was friendly. Jacobs acknowledged my weight loss, which was really cool of him. The bar closed, and Joe & I headed back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
Sunday, April 2 - Apparently, there was a mosh pit upstairs, as I was awakened far too early by noises upstairs. Grrr. We check out at 11 and head straight to Wrestlemania. It’s raining, and colder than expected. Joe and I head into the fanfest area, where he CHEATS at a video game to pin me! Bastard! We also took photos with our hands over imprints of Big Show and Andre the Giant. Cool. Some other decent displays in there too.
We kick around for a few hours before the show started. Mania was fine. I was enjoying it until the three-way ended after just nine minutes. UGH. That match should have been a 25-minute classic. The crowd booed the women’s pillow match; not only was it terrible, it ate up minutes that could have gone to more Angle vs. Rey vs. Orton.
For some god-only-knows reason, Wade Keller gave the main event ****, and considered it the best match of the show. (According to Torch readers, 14 percent agreed that Triple H-Cena was best.) I booed Cena, largely because Triple H refused to act like a heel. This match was sluggish and lumbering. I considered it fifth-best of the night, behind the ladder match, Foley-Edge, the three-way, and HBK-McMahon.
The show ends, and it’s raining hard. I spoke with Burgan & Keith Lipinski some more, as they sat just a few rows in front of Joe and myself.
Joe & I grab some late night food, and Rain & Darin arrive. (They met us near the All State Arena, because that is at the north end of Chicago.) It’s 11:45 p.m., and I break out my mix of licorice and Mountain Dew to get us home.
Some really good conversation kept me going, and I rarely played music on this trip. Kudos to Darin for being so lively and keeping the conversation moving. As we left Osseo, I told my crew we would hit the park ‘n ride at 4:49 a.m. Yep, we pulled into the park ‘n ride at 4:49 sharp. I’m home 20 minutes later and I crashed!
Work week is quick
Friday, April 7 - Road work has begun on I-94, and it sucks. I took my mom to the T-Wolves game. I’ve never been so disgusted at a Wolves game, as they purposely lost the game, choosing not to play Kevin Garnett in the fourth quarter. A sad scene, as the Wolves were only down by 4, with four minutes to play, and the crowd booing and chanting “Play KG!” Hey, I don’t care if you want to purposely lose games on the road, but it shouldn’t happen at home, where home fans paid full price to see the team try to win. This is just garbage. It will definitely affect how many games I see next year. We left the game before it was over, even though it was close. We were both angry, and just not having fun.
Saturday, April 8 - I saw “Eight Below” at the cheap theater. Good movie, but (spoiler alert!!) not all the dogs survive, and I wasn’t prepared for that. I took Becca & my niece Natashia to the 30 Seconds to Mars concert. Great show, but Becca re-injured her foot during the Aiden performance, and she sat back during the main act. I know it took away from the fun for me. After the show, we grab late night Applebees. My nieces have been through too much difficulty lately…
Sunday, April 9 - Becca saw a doctor; luckily the foot is sprained, not broken. I headed to the Neo Pro show. WOW, one of the better Neo Pro shows, too. Joey Envy in the first match, Kid Krazy in the second match, and Cody O’Neill vs. Austin Aries in the main event. Aries beat O’Neill in 26 minutes. Bravo.
The match lacked the crowd heat that the recent O’Neill-Jordan match had. Sad but true, as Aries ripped on a fan, pointing out she wasn’t at the last meeting between these two. He’s right. A lot of the fans in Faribault hadn’t ever seen Aries wrestle live before. Point is, the match lacked the crowd heat, because they didn’t have a vested interest in Aries. It was still quite a good match, though.
I had a long drive home, and left straight from Faribault to get to Chippewa Falls.
Sadly, gas prices are going to hit me hard. Yes, they are affecting everyone, but the drive from CF to the Twin Cities is 110 miles each way. I’m going to have to be more selective in what events I attend in the future, and may have to ask people to chip in more for gas. It depresses me that my dollars are not going as far as they once did…
Tonight is the Train concert to end my five-show, six-week stretch! Tomorrow is my first Twins game of the year. I went to 20 Twins games last year. I bet it’s closer to 12 games this year, as the mid-week games just won’t happen because of high gas prices.
Chris
The first show of the weekend was the Ring of Honor event on Friday. I loved it. I had never seen any of the Dragon Gate guys, except for one CIMA match on tape. They absolutely stole the show and had the crowd going NUTS. I could have done without seeing Mitch Franklin and Shane Hagadorn, but overall, the show was awesome. Not everyone appreciated the Dragon-Strong match, but I liked it a lot. That said, it was a step below their November match here.
Congrats to Rain for a strong showing in her ROH debut match. I would hope & expect she’ll be on the show next time in June. I also met indy reviewer Derek Burgan. I’m honored that people read my reviews, but I wish I could mix in the humor & style of Burgan.
The show ended, and we went for food. Aries & Lacey join us, along with several other fans from MN, and food was surprisingly good, considering it was 2 a.m. Good times all around at dinner. Great to see Justin “Violent” Lee again, and he is missed on the MN indy scene. Congrats to him on his wedding!
Joe & I head to the hotel and sleep just a few hours.
Saturday, April 1 -- I got up and went for a walk, as I know that three days of junk food is not doing me any good! We then headed to IWA-Mid South in Midlothian.
WOW! The parking lot is full, and the crowd inside is a legit 400 paid. I quickly grabbed seats, and it’s a good thing too, because the G.A. seats are almost gone immediately. It’s great to see so many fans at an IWA-MS show, and it’s even better that it was such a tremendous show. Spoke with Delirious before the match outside; it’s unbelievable how a guy so mellow & relaxed in the parking lot can be so energetic and lively in the ring. I’m a huge Delirious mark!
Darin honestly had no idea which match he would be in. Turns, out, he got added to a ladder match that was filled with some crazy bumps (and Marek Brave nearly impaling himself on the ring post!) I’m excited for Darin, as he got a HUGE pop when he came out, and a roar of laughter when he started dancing. It’s great to see him so over, and getting the big win.
The show ended, and Joe & I took off to make the 8-mile drive back to Chicago Ridge for the ROH show. Uh oh. No parking anywhere. I drove around, and I’m getting frantic. I finally parked in the Rosa’s parking lot and prayed that I wasn’t going to get ticketed or towed. Luckily, it was all good.
All right, as good as all the other shows were this weekend, nothing topped this ROH show. Seriously, all of the final five matches earned ***3/4 or higher. The tag title match of Strong & Aries vs. the Dragon Gate guys was the best match of the entire weekend. Aries took a stiff ligerbomb, getting tossed into the turnbuckle. (All my reviews are up at www.pwtorch.com)
The show ended, and we headed to Rosa’s. Everyone is in a good mood. While speaking with Aries and ROH owner Carey Silken, I told Silken he should book Aries’ opponent the next week, Cody O’Neill, when ROH comes to MN. I don’t know if it does any good, but I’ll continue to push the local guys who I think would fit in.
The fun spot of the night was Aries teaching the younger ROH guys how to light a cigar. Aries said you “do it A-Team style, bite off the end, and say ‘I love it when a plan all comes together.’” If you are too young to get that, I won’t explain it. But I thought it was funny. I also found Strong’s struggling to get the cigar to work for him funny.
Whitmer was on crutches, but he was upbeat. Yang also was friendly. Jacobs acknowledged my weight loss, which was really cool of him. The bar closed, and Joe & I headed back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
Sunday, April 2 - Apparently, there was a mosh pit upstairs, as I was awakened far too early by noises upstairs. Grrr. We check out at 11 and head straight to Wrestlemania. It’s raining, and colder than expected. Joe and I head into the fanfest area, where he CHEATS at a video game to pin me! Bastard! We also took photos with our hands over imprints of Big Show and Andre the Giant. Cool. Some other decent displays in there too.
We kick around for a few hours before the show started. Mania was fine. I was enjoying it until the three-way ended after just nine minutes. UGH. That match should have been a 25-minute classic. The crowd booed the women’s pillow match; not only was it terrible, it ate up minutes that could have gone to more Angle vs. Rey vs. Orton.
For some god-only-knows reason, Wade Keller gave the main event ****, and considered it the best match of the show. (According to Torch readers, 14 percent agreed that Triple H-Cena was best.) I booed Cena, largely because Triple H refused to act like a heel. This match was sluggish and lumbering. I considered it fifth-best of the night, behind the ladder match, Foley-Edge, the three-way, and HBK-McMahon.
The show ends, and it’s raining hard. I spoke with Burgan & Keith Lipinski some more, as they sat just a few rows in front of Joe and myself.
Joe & I grab some late night food, and Rain & Darin arrive. (They met us near the All State Arena, because that is at the north end of Chicago.) It’s 11:45 p.m., and I break out my mix of licorice and Mountain Dew to get us home.
Some really good conversation kept me going, and I rarely played music on this trip. Kudos to Darin for being so lively and keeping the conversation moving. As we left Osseo, I told my crew we would hit the park ‘n ride at 4:49 a.m. Yep, we pulled into the park ‘n ride at 4:49 sharp. I’m home 20 minutes later and I crashed!
Work week is quick
Friday, April 7 - Road work has begun on I-94, and it sucks. I took my mom to the T-Wolves game. I’ve never been so disgusted at a Wolves game, as they purposely lost the game, choosing not to play Kevin Garnett in the fourth quarter. A sad scene, as the Wolves were only down by 4, with four minutes to play, and the crowd booing and chanting “Play KG!” Hey, I don’t care if you want to purposely lose games on the road, but it shouldn’t happen at home, where home fans paid full price to see the team try to win. This is just garbage. It will definitely affect how many games I see next year. We left the game before it was over, even though it was close. We were both angry, and just not having fun.
Saturday, April 8 - I saw “Eight Below” at the cheap theater. Good movie, but (spoiler alert!!) not all the dogs survive, and I wasn’t prepared for that. I took Becca & my niece Natashia to the 30 Seconds to Mars concert. Great show, but Becca re-injured her foot during the Aiden performance, and she sat back during the main act. I know it took away from the fun for me. After the show, we grab late night Applebees. My nieces have been through too much difficulty lately…
Sunday, April 9 - Becca saw a doctor; luckily the foot is sprained, not broken. I headed to the Neo Pro show. WOW, one of the better Neo Pro shows, too. Joey Envy in the first match, Kid Krazy in the second match, and Cody O’Neill vs. Austin Aries in the main event. Aries beat O’Neill in 26 minutes. Bravo.
The match lacked the crowd heat that the recent O’Neill-Jordan match had. Sad but true, as Aries ripped on a fan, pointing out she wasn’t at the last meeting between these two. He’s right. A lot of the fans in Faribault hadn’t ever seen Aries wrestle live before. Point is, the match lacked the crowd heat, because they didn’t have a vested interest in Aries. It was still quite a good match, though.
I had a long drive home, and left straight from Faribault to get to Chippewa Falls.
Sadly, gas prices are going to hit me hard. Yes, they are affecting everyone, but the drive from CF to the Twin Cities is 110 miles each way. I’m going to have to be more selective in what events I attend in the future, and may have to ask people to chip in more for gas. It depresses me that my dollars are not going as far as they once did…
Tonight is the Train concert to end my five-show, six-week stretch! Tomorrow is my first Twins game of the year. I went to 20 Twins games last year. I bet it’s closer to 12 games this year, as the mid-week games just won’t happen because of high gas prices.
Chris