My 10 Favorite Wrestling Shots I Took This Year

Another year in the books. Pandemic still going on, but things opened up slowly at start of the year and by mid-year it got little bit back normal. Also back are local independent shows popping up once every month. I been to many shows around the state taking photos, and record matches fan-cam style. Of the thousands of shots I took there are ones I enjoy. I give you my 10 favorite shots from the shows I attended in order of the dates.

From January 16 New Texas Pro Show in Colorado City. This one is a favorite because you have NTPW Lonestar champion the hated Teflon John Bedlam getting booed and thumbs down from a fan in front of him. But behind him are the few fans still cheering for him. It shows even bad guys in wrestling will have a cult following. 

From April 30 Global Wrestling Federation in Halthom City. After sea of masked Nasticos enter the ring to fight Scotty Master Blaster this one pinned him after hitting him with a loaded mask to win GWF Texas title. When this Nasitco unmasked it was revealed to be Ocho Camacho who faked being injured earlier on the show. The sinister laugh with Nastico holding GWF Texas over his head captured that moment as one of my favorites shots. I reminds me when Vince McMahon revealed to be the Higher Power and Jim Ross let out, "Aw son of a bitch!" in response.

From June 5 Adrenalina Lucha Libre show in Odessa. This is their first ever show with them featuring wrestlers from El Paso area. The main event is Skybird and Sayrus vs Minotauro and Utopia in 2/3 falls lucha libre match. The four delivered a solid 20 minute performance. After the match fans in the building show their appreciation and respect to all four wrestlers tossing them money in a ring, a custom in lucha libre feds. This shot capture the moment of a well-deserved reward for their hard work.

From July 17 MPX wrestling show in Bedford. This is Dave Segan. For five years in MPX he found ways to reinvent himself for the weekly Saturday night shows first as The Solution and being a member of Impact Players. Then he became Emo Dave and leader of his group House Segan. He follow it up with Friendly Neighbor Dave and teaming up with Tatum Manning before turning on him and becoming this final MPX incarnation: Living Legend Dave. This his first night showing off this gimmick and its a freakin' hit that I loved it despite him being a heel. This shot showed how wrestling characters should be: larger than life.

From the same MPX show, the main event feature Dexter Hardaway retirement match. His opponent MPX Prospects champion Exodus Prime took Thank You Dexter sign and gave it the Pope treatment ripping it in half. Look at how serious he looks and his focus going into this match complete with shades.

Also from the same MPX show. This is Dexter Hardaway send off after his retirement match and a speech. After over a decade of being on the roads balancing between real-life and weekend warrior to end it on his own terms Big Dex deserves to celebrate in style. This moment captured it.

From August 14 ICW No Holds Barred show in San Antonio. New York-based ICW (run by Danny DeManto) made their tour down in Alamo City for the weekend of deathmatch style mayhem. One of matches feature San Antonio's own "King of the Underground" Scot Summers and Shlak. It was Summers first return to the ring in few years. It almost went bad when Summers got hurt during the match, but he still made it through. I took this shot after his match. It shows Scot Summer in deep thought and reflection after the bloody war he went through against Shlak. This shot is very deep and one of my favorites.

From ICW No Holds Barred show Orin Veidt and Dale Patricks simultaneously smashing light tubes on each other to a puff of smoke and hundreds of shards from the light tubes. It's another night in the deathmatch arena.

From November 20 Squared Circle Pro show in Lubbock. After a chase for the title which began from the first show of the year back in January, Reggie Lincoln achieved his goal defeating Jastin Taylor to win SCP title in their final event of the year. Here, you have half of the locker room coming out and lifting Reggie on their shoulders with promoter Rick Elsey pointing at him as he's the man of the hour in his fed. This captures the blowoff of a year long feud build and the final result is a happy storybook ending.

From December 18 Rampage Wrestling show in Abilene. The former Skip Terrific went on a gimmick change to this character: a 1920s noir-like wrestling detective named Phil Noir. This is my first time watching this gimmick in action. In this is gold momemt Phil Noir takes a drink before entering the ring. It's the over-the-top that sold me on this.

Hope you enjoy my shots from Texas independent wrestling scene. I wish you all a Happy New Year.

The Joy When They See Their Card For First Time

This post is a combination of indy wrestling show and trading cards.

After a week and half of the state being frozen it thawed out and melted around here on Friday. It went back to our normal warm winter of clear blue skies in no time. After long a week of cold weather destruction and accessing the damage everyone needed a sense of release and get away from reality for a bit. That came Saturday for me with New Texas Pro Wrestling show in Colorado City. I went to a show that day and had a fantastic time with me cheering, booing, waving signs in support of King Rob Love, Jastin Taylor, and Max Heights, and photographing the show.

What does this have do with trading cards? I'm going to back track to another Texas indy fed Sabotage Wrestling. I been to their shows when I was living in Austin at the time. The central Texas based fed (run by Jeffrey Cerda and his crew) would release trading card sets back in 2019. There are 10 cards per series and printed in short supply. Running a fed is no easy task. One of series feature first ever card of AEW wrestler Ricky Starks. Sabotage recently released series 5 card set I pre-order back when it was announced. The set feature current Reality of Wrestling (run by WWE Hall of Famer Booker T) women champion Promise Braxton as well Alex Gracia and Vertvixen who have made appearances in AEW. There are two from that set appeared on New Texas Pro Wrestling show: Kiefer Bartek and Nastico.

Kiefer Bartek is not only a wrestler (trained by Booker T), but runs NTPW taking it various cities around Texas. He have appeared in various Texas feds such as Heavy Metal Wrestling, Inspire, and Metroplex Wrestling as The Sheriff. Nastico is the self-proclaimed best manager of wrestling. The masked man is around DFW indy feds especially DFW All-Pro, the place where he trained and started at, as well traveling around state with his group of guys to numerous feds. He uses social media cutting promos hyping up his appearances and interactively engage with fans and wrestlers.

After the show I thanked all the wrestlers and everyone involved for a good show and wish them a safe drive back just like I always do. I went to Nastico and Kiefer Bartek separately showing them their cards and their eyes lit up. Nastico was ecstatic when he saw the card. It was first time he saw his own card and want me take photos of him autographing and showing it off. Kiefer, IMO the best card of the set, told me its a dream of his to be put on a trading card. Like Nastico, its first time he saw his as well. I witness the joy out of them when they finally saw themselves immortalized on a trading card. I'm sure its the feeling of thousands when they see themselves on a card for first time ever.

Nastico signs his card

Nastico shows off his official Sabotage Wrestling card

King Rob Love and a knocked out Alex Arsenal

Jastin Taylor

Max Heights

Thank you Baby D

The end of MPX Wrestling show on a Saturday night of November 7, 2020 in Bedford, TX marked the coming end. It was coming end of in-ring career of Baby D with her final match scheduled on December 11 at Mission Pro Wrestling show in Buda, TX. After getting pinned in a match stipulation she must leave the fed she gave a heartfelt speech it was her last match in MPX thanking the fans for the support throughout the years. It marks the end of her six year journey up and down the roads of independent wrestling scene.

The first time I seen wrestle in-person was in June 2015 at Anarchy Championship Wrestling Queen of Queens event, at first, under the name Baby Dumplings. She would shorten it to Baby D and within those five years she became one of premier woman wrestler in Texas. Whether in MPX, Sabotage, Branded Outlaw Wrestling, or various feds she poured her heart and effort with a charismatic charm in the ring. She was fun and entertaining in the ring from singles to tag team as either with Phoebe as Fun N Sexy or Steven Kirby as Punch Drunk Love winning titles along the way. Outside the ring she have a pure heart of gold taking time with fans like me. She's willing lend a hand to fellow wrestlers. She will always be a champion to me. Thank you Baby D! You will be missed in the ring. Wish you well outside of it.

Here are few Baby D matches to check out. If you want watch more of MPX wrestling check them out on their streaming network site at https://network.mpxwrestling.com/

#SpeakingOut Fall Out

It was shocking week of admission in the world of wrestling that left wrestlers and fans disgusted and soul searching at same time. It started accusations of wrestler David Starr, who wrestles mostly in UK and Europe scene, sexual assaulting and raping women. Starr admitted his wrongdoings, but made it much worse calling it "grey rape" before deleting his Twitter account. It kickstarted movement known as #SpeakingOut focusing on all forms physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse as well soliciting underage people in the wrestling industry. The accusations came from men and women even from within the industry who were brave enough to tell their stories and sharing screenshots of the interaction.The flood gates opened with UK wrestling scene gutted with accusations featuring wrestlers such as Jimmy Havoc (from AEW), Jordan Devlin, El Ligero, Joe Coffey (three from NXT UK), Marty Scurill (from Ring of Honor), and Mikey Whiplash to name a few. Of many names accused includes Jim Cornette and his ex-wife, former UFC fighter and current WWE wrestler Matt Riddle (which I will get to later), Velveteen Dream, Joey Ryan, Michael Elgin, and Mike Quackenbush. Former UK woman wrestler Pollyanna accused Will Osprey and Bea Priestly of getting her blackballed from a company after she came out she was raped by Will's friend which the company admitted few days later. Joey Ryan so far been accused by over 17 women (and more coming) about his sexual behavior towards women backstage. Not even Texas indies are immune to abuse allegations. Uproxx editor and writer Brandon Stroud is another been outed. He was ring announcer for indy fed in Austin til he parted ways with them in 2015. I've heard rumors afterwards he got fired from the fed and blackballed from Texas because he was caught taking nude photos of women wrestlers. It was confirmed but instead he stole nude photos from female wrestlers phone as well being manipulative. Woman wrestler Allie Kat chimed in about Stroud being a creep making unwanted advances towards her and wanting her nude for a movie. (Brandon if you are reading this fuck you and hope your wife divorces you! It's the only nice comment you will get out of me!) I'm sure nothing will be done at Uproxx because he's the lead guy on the site. The one that upsets me was Dirty Andy Dalton (NOT the NFL QB; different person with same name) who wrestles around DFW area as well various parts of the state. Screenshots of his sexual messages to a minor popped up and he admitted to it. That was just the beginning as more accusations and stories popped up that were way much worse. Jack Jameson who I wrote about last year and had unfriendly exchange with me few months ago got outed. He proceeds to lower himself pulling the late Hana card claiming he's getting cyberbullied over the accusations. He pretty much didn't get the message at all. For wrestlers that been accused (some with screenshots) they either admitted to it, denied it, and/or shut down all forms of their social media.

Face of a fan who wants get in the business to be creepy

Karma bites him in the ass. Oh yes that's his shoot name

The aftermath led companies have to zero tolerance on all forms of sexual harassment behaviors and refusing book the wrestlers that's been accused of the allegations. In the UK The West Yorkshire police been in contact on investigating the claims. WWE is investigating on all claims as well. They also fired Jack Gallagher after his name surfaced along with Travis Banks and El Ligero. Reportedly Jack admitted to the claims and rumors the claims are much worse than announced. Velveteen Dream days are rumored to be over. Matt Riddle got a lawyer involved claiming a stalker been going after him that he changed his number twice. He also let WWE management know of this before he signed. AEW issue statements on Jimmy Havoc and Sammy Guevara with Havoc going mental and drug rehab while evaluating his status. Guevara, who made a rape joke at WWE woman wrestler Sasha Banks 4 years ago, apologized for it and is suspended without pay while taking sensitivity training. Impact Wrestling terminated the contracts of Joey Ryan and Dave Crist and more likely done with Michael Elgin. Speaking of Joey he closed down his fed, Bar Wrestling, and his YouTube page. Few companies shutting down from physical and sexual abuse claims and allegations are Progress and Chikara. Mike Quackenbush gave a tearful video speech only to be mocked by fans who thinks he isn't genuine in his apology with WWE masked wrestler Lince Dorado throwing in shots. Jim Cornette denied the claims. Marty Scurill put out a statement saying it was consensual. Paige (of WWE) denied her family abused trainees. Many have been blackballed due the allegations.

Lince Dorado doesn't buy any of Mike Quackenbush apology

While this left fans stunned also blindsided were the wrestlers and promoters. Despite the locker room being "men club" many didn't knew the extent of abuse allegations. All immediately cut ties business wise. I read one promoter having spend Father's Day wiping out existence of the wrestler's involvement with the fed instead spending time with his family. It was heartbreaking for him as well most of promoters and wrestlers feeling their trust betrayed by fellow accused and admitted workers. There's most likely a chance there wouldn't be any intergender matches for potential fear of sexual harassment. There's been great deal of support for #speakingout from the wrestlers and the fans.

As much fans and wrestlers appreciate the women speaking out I also hope they are truthful. There's been few false accusations made and debunked. Those false accusations have damaging effects hurting the person on receiving end from job security and to livelyhood. It also hurt the credibility of the ones who are truthful in their claims. WWE NXT UK wrestler Trent Seven is one of them. A woman claimed he was trying hook up with she and her friends despite being underage. Then another woman who was part of her group said they weren't underage and give her side of the story. The stories have so many holes that fans dismissed it and thought the women tried to get Trent drunk so he can sleep with them. Apparently they are dealing with Trent's legal team based from a tweet from one of the accusers. Texas indy wrestler Brysin Scott was falsely accused in retaliation because he and his wife, Simply Luscious, been sharing the accusation stories as well outing wrestlers hooking up with minors. It was quickly debunked. Few years ago T.J. Perkins was victim of lies. A person started a rumor he hooked up with underage girl along story of his sex life that went viral. It end up hurting him as his standing never got higher with WWE and few indy feds would pull his bookings. Former NXT wrestler Zeda Zhang admit being part of it and apologized. Few years too late. Irony the guy who started it got busted sexting minors. Wish T.J. would have sued for libel and slander. Welcome to wrestling industry where its a dog eat dog world full of backstabbing, jealousy, and do anything get above.

Zeda Zhang Apologizes to TJ Perkins

Not only women wrestlers were brave enough to tell their stories, but men as well. T.J. Perkins admitted being taken advantage off by women when he started training at 15. Keith Lee shared his story on getting date raped. There are wrestlers helping out like Laynie Luck, Allie Kat, Machiko, Brysin Scott, and Simply Lucious sharing allegation stories from those who remained anonymous. Hopefully it will and need spark a changed in the wrestling industry forcing the crumbling of the old guard of being "men club" locker room. It's a start consider how much former owner of Ring of Honor Rob Feinstein was protected after he was busted on Perverted Justice trying solicit sex with a 13 year old in 2004. His "lol ill pretend u said 18" will always live on through internet wrestling scene. It cause me to stop following east indy wrestling scene for a long while. I believe they are scratching the surface.

B Stands For Blackball (and 99.9% end of TCW)

Shocking news came out of Texas indies. Wrestler and promoter of Total Championship Wrestling "Mr. B" John Peterson got outed for making predatory advances on a minor. Wrestler Brysin Scott, who been busting wrestlers who go after minors, received and posted the screenshots of conversation between Peterson and the minor. Follow it up with another coming out he chased another minor before. The news of his public outing sent shockwaves throughout Texas indy wrestling scene then stretched with emotions of shock, disappointment, and anger. I texted a friend from South Carolina about it and how I felt. She mentioned she saw it on her Twitter feed and she isn't a wrestling fan. Wrestlers and feds immediately distanced themselves from him and his company especially with DreamCon Wrestling banning him. Wrestler Reggie Lincoln, who Peterson blackballed from his fed, had fun with making "B. Kelly" memes as both are from Chicago. The ones that hurt are the talents who consider him a mentor and/or wrestled for his company. They have found out the person they receive in-ring advice isn't who he really is. Imagine them trying get booked and are refused because they worked mostly for him as form of guilty by association. What's more painful is his daughter having deal with the fallout. She received unwarranted insults and abuse from angry wrestlers and fans for his actions. One talent mention she called him in tears over it. It's a horrible situation all around. Here's a guy I watched in the ring as well attended one of his shows turns out to be a 180 from what was he perceived out of the ring. Consider that few years ago he publicly called out a guy who scammed him and few others and later found out is a registered sex offender. Now he got caught making advances on minors. He once had a gimmick of him chasing after white girls. Turns out it was not a gimmick at all. Apparently the B in Mr. B stands for blackball from wrestling scene.

Tragic week in wrestling

It's been tragic filled week in wrestling with three deaths. Former WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard,
411 Wrestling writer Larry Csonka, and Stardom wrestler Hana Kimura passed under different circumstances.

- Shad Gaspard was in WWE with his tag team partner JTG known as Cryme Tyme. After their WWE release both would continue to tag in the indies. Behind the scenes he's a heavily well-liked man toward his co-workers helping them out. He always put family up in front especially his kids.
Shad Gaspard was at the beach with his family. He was part of group along with his son when he got caught underneath a tide. As lifeguards rushed to save the group his last words was telling the guards to save his son before being swept out to sea. His body was washed ashore few days later. Lost is a family man who puts his kids in front of him and would have your back. Support from wrestling community poured with JTG sharing final text from him as well tributes from many wrestlers such as Kofi Kingston, Byron Saxton, and Triple H. A tribute at beach where he lost his life held few nights ago. To help out his family you can donate at GoFund Me (https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-shad-gaspard-family-fund) or purchase a t-shirt (https://store.collarandelbowbrand.com/collections/mens/products/beast).

- 411 Wrestling writer Larry Csonka is one of few guys I read for show reviews. I was shocked when I heard he passed away on Monday. One of his reviews was up on the site the previous day. I didn't know he was dealing with health issues in his life. He passed away from it leaving behind a wife and two daughters who were love of his life. His writings on wrestling not only the fans but the wrestlers. Of the many wrestlers leaving outpouring of support is WWE wrestler Kevin Owens. A GoFundMe page is up to provide for his two young daughters. To contribute here's the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/larrymania-living-on-in-his-girls

- The shocking death of Stardom wrestler Hana Kimura turn to various forms of angry once details trickled in. Japanese woman wrestler was targeted after her appearance on reality TV show. She was cyberbullied with on social media platforms with assholes telling her to either catch covid-19 or to kill herself. The threats made her post pictures of her doing bodily harm of herself before committing suicide. Seeing few screenshots of the threats made me angry. How can these scumbags live with themselves that their cyberbullying  made her commit suicide? So much being in friendly towards each other during this time. Sad Hana died but angry was lead her to it. Just horrible people...

Not been good year and five months in we are ready to be it over with. My thoughts, condolences, and prayers toward the families and friends of Shad, Larry, and Hana.

Hoping For ACH to be Repaired For Redemption

When I was living in Austin and getting into Texas indy wrestling scene in Dec 2011 one wrestler stood out throughout the years. From his athletic skills and his charismatic charm A.C.H. stood above. He is one of key wrestlers to help put Austin on the map on indy wrestling scene. A well respected locker room leader who got two proper send-offs when he first left for Ring of Honor then for WWE on the second. The guy gets the crowd pumped up for his matches and back it up with his wonderful performance in the ring. Got to wrestle in Japan where he quickly absorbed more in-ring knowledge. Goes to WWE and assigned to NXT where he won the NXT Breakout tournament. WWE camera crew followed his excitement being at Wrestlemania 35 as a contracted worker. Things were looking ahead for him or as fans thought til last fall.....

WWE released a controversial t-shirt of a smile with his ring name on a black shirt. ACH, offended, angrily blew up calling them racists for the t-shirt design as it was quickly pulled. He follow it up with week-long meltdown which including taking a shot at Jay Lethal and ROH which ended with him publicly announcing he quit the WWE.

He returned back to indy scene quickly with his first post-WWE appearance in I-35 Austin/San Antonio corridor area first with Heavy Metal Wrestling then to Anarchy Championship Wrestling and Inspire Pro and Chicago based AAW. Was signed to Major League Wrestling where he wrestle a show only to say he retire from wrestling the next day because he hated wrestling. Yet despite retirement claim he would continue to wrestle afterwards til the pandemic shut down all shows. He took that time to reflect and wished how he would handle it differently.

So what happen? Where did it go wrong? He did interview on Submission Squad: Dollar Menu Midcarder few weeks ago. After listening to the entire podcast I felt the pressure of backstage politics got to him. He got first dose of it in ROH. Then he goes to WWE and got another dose of it causing him to flashback his time in ROH. It pretty much broke him down mentally leaving him in a rough patch of state. He wished to take back how things went down because he now will be known for the meltdown than his matches.

Not for me because I will remember his matches watching it live in person. I was there live when he and Matthew Palmer had, in my opinion, the greatest match in ACW. He would also give Marcus Rose a beatdown of a lifetime. He out-classed Sammy Guevara in a match at Inspire Pro. Speaking of Guevara here's another wrestler that bounced back from being in the wrong and got himself in national stage of AEW. I witness him give and risk his body not to the fans but entire Austin indy wrestling scene to even going far to check himself out ER to wrestle against Shane Strickland (now known as Isiah Scott in NXT) at Inspire.

When this covid-19 outbreak is over with and shows start running regularly I want A.C.H. to do this when he's mentally ready: road to redemption in the ring. Its to prove he can bounce from regrets and show why he's not just King of Texas, but one of the best indy wrestler in the nation that it will lead him to AEW or Japan or back to WWE (even though its a longshot and all is forgiven). I'm not the only fan who wants that. There are thousands of fans and talent want him to do it as well. One of thing he did in the ring is to motivate his opponent. This time we, the fans and wrestlers, motivate and are pulling for him for in-ring redemption.

Here's full ACH interview from Dollar Menu Midcarders. It's a great listen for over 2 hours of in and off the ring stories and thoughts. Give credit to Evan Gelistico and Matt Jackson (formerly known as Pierre Abernathy; not the guy from a tag team) for doing this. In fact give these guys a listen for the stories of their on the road indy shows travels, interviews, and happening around St. Louis area indies (especially St. Louis Anarchy which Matt runs). You will be entertained as they pull behind the curtains.

Royal Rumble Weekend - Part 1

Went to Houston last week for WWE Royal Rumble weekend. Got in on Wednesday where I spent time with my relatives. Once the weekend hit its off the shows. I did a double shot on Saturday with an indy show at Jerabeck Athletic and Activity Center located in St. Thomas University. The fed, Champion's Cup Wrestling, started in early afternoon featuring appearance of former WWE wrestlers Rikishi, Hornswoggle, and Super Crazy. Also on it were few of Booker T's Reality of Wrestling wrestlers Mysterious Q, Ryan Davidson, Gino Medina, and Hyan as well father and son team of Luke and P.J. Hawx who runs Wildkat Wrestling based in New Orleans, Samoan Dyntasty featuring Jacob Fatu, Lance Anoia (who had appearance on RAW), and MK Twins, teenage sensation Rok-C, Zheda Zhang, former TNA Knockout Rebel, Rascalz, Jervis Cottonbelly, and Austin wrestlers Steve O'Reno and Rob the Builder who did a double shot driving back to Austin for another show.

With Mysterious Q

With Rikishi

With Luke Hawx

With Jacob Fatu

With Hornswoggle

The show had tag tournament on best of the house. It was won by team of ROW wrestlers Mysterious Q and Ryan Davidson. Show ends with Rikishi giving Andrew Abel Jackson the stinkface.

Now off to Toyota Center for WWE Worlds Collide. Main focus of the event is NXT vs NXT UK brand.  They closed off the upper level.

There was also meet and greet of XFL Houston Roughnecks player Ty Schwab in the building.

The show started off with a very good match between Mia Yim and NXT UK women champion Kay Lee Ray with KLR winning.

Finn Balor (NXT) and Ilja Dragunuv (NXT UK), while predictable finish, with a damn good performance

The first big upset of the night when Jordan Devlin (NXT UK) defeated cruiserweight champion Angel Garza (NXT), Isiah Scott (NXT), and Travis Banks (NXT UK) with a wild sprint of a match.

One of top matches of the night as team of Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa, DIY, (NXT) took on Trent Seven and Tyler Bates, Mustache Mountain, (NXT UK) in 20 minute battle with DIY coming on top of victors.

NXT women champion Rhea Ripley defended title against Toni Storm with her retaining.

The main event as The Undisputed Era (NXT) took on Imperium (NXT UK) based on TUE attacking Imperium after NXT UK show. Scary moment when Alexander Wolfe of Imperium got knocked out early in the match and have to carried out. The accident made the match much better in storytelling with Imperium being the underdogs. I loved how the story got told in the ring with The Undisputed Era dominating Imperium. Imperium fought back but looked to be down and out. Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel saving their ring general Walter because if the leader is out then its over for the team. A 30 minute hard hitting battle with Imperium overcoming the odds to win over The Undisputed Era. It was second top match of night.

It was a good night for wrestling on Saturday night. The next the big Royal Rumble event which I posted about it next. Enjoy the videos I took from the events.