Dallas Wrestling Trip 2016

As some followers of this silly blog of mine know that nearly every season I try to go on a wrestling vacation at Wrestlemania time. This year was no exception. However, it was the first time my wife came with me. Mainly because she has never been around before.

We tried to balance the vacation out between activities we both wanted to do while in Dallas, Texas.

Once arriving and meeting up with familiar faces at the hotel, we went to Martin House Brewery. A place where a friend of mine works in distribution. A couple of other people joined the adventure of brewery hopping for the night. It was a good time with good beer.

The next we headed downtown with a couple of other friends to check out the Dallas Aquarium. Afterwords we ate lunch, we walked around checking out the usual tourist spots like the JFK Assassination site and Reunion Tower. After it was time for the Ring of Honor event, which was my first live wrestling event in nearly a year and my wife's first one. It was a great event and my wife had a blast.

On Saturday we debated several things to do. We ended up doing a little shopping and lots of relaxing. Plus watched the NXT event at the hotel.

Sunday rolled around and we had the opportunity to visit old family friends of my wife's from the Philippines.We went to their home and ate a fantastic lunch. It meant a lot to Pam to see one of her mother's best friends. It was a fun afternoon for us both. Then it was more wrestling. We opted not to go to Mania this year. Tickets were too outrageous for us. So we gathered in a room with friends and watched the event.

Monday morning came around. We had to leave early to catch our flight back home.

It was a short trip, but a fun one. Even only seeing people for a short time is better than not at all. I am still amazed at how this group of people from around the world come together all the time.

Orlando plans are already in the works for 2017.



Observation of An Illogical mind by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.seankimmel.com.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.

Wrestling Time In The Big Easy

My yearly excursion to hang out with friends and watch some wrestling landed all of us New Orleans. The place where I spent nearly three weeks working around Mardi Gras. The excitement for the city had rubbed off for me but not the joy of hanging out with a group of people I see on limited basis throughout the year.

The trip started out as the worst flying experience of my life. The benefits of a small, regional airport are quick check in and security. You can arrive about 45 minutes before you plan boards and be golden. The downfall of a small, regional airport with limited flights is when things start getting bad and canceled, then you are stuck.

I arrived about an hour before my flight to Dallas was suppose to take off and it was immediately delayed. As we waited, there was an emergency landing for a plane going from Columbus, OH to Chicago that landed and got canceled due to mechanical trouble. A flight to Atlanta was canceled due to mechanical failure. My plane finally arrived and was delayed longer due to mechanical issues. Another flight to Chicago was canceled because of the storms. Finally my plane was canceled. The fourth flight in under an hour. I go to stand in line. And I know that I am not leaving Fort Wayne this night. And I am correct. I get rebooked on the next flight to Dallas, 24 hours from now. I lose tickets to a wrestling show and my share of a hotel room for the night. Not to mention a wasted vacation day. I get home and email American Airlines Customer Service department.

The next day, I head out to the airport once again. Upon arrival my flight is already delayed and will cause me to miss my connecting flight in Dallas. The earliest flight I can get on to New Orleans will arrive at 11pm. I will miss another wrestling show. I think about canceling the trip all together. I make some calls and it's simple not feasible. Mainly because I am flying to the Philippines directly after New Orleans. So I wait and get to Dallas and wait more. In all about 8 hours sitting around the airport. However I am able to get on a flight which arrives at 9:30pm. However, my luggage will not arrive until my original flight. When I finally land in NOLA, I make arrangements for my luggage to be delivered. The airline says it will arrive by 6am. Great, I have no change of clothes in my backpack or essentials until then. I head out to the hotel. Maybe a hot shower and a cold beer will help.

I am miserable. I am tired. I am angry. And all my friends are at the wrestling show. I get to the hotel and get my room key, a room which I am sharing with four other people. I open the door and an immediate funk hits my nostrils. Then the light reveals a whole different disaster. This room has been trashed and smells like cat. I am confused. I open the bathroom door to urinate and see the serving tray with kitty litter spread all over it (complete with cat turds) and cat hair surrounding the shower drain. Baffled, I walk out and see open cans of cat food surrounding the TV and dry cat food sprinkled in a trail along the edge of the floor. And there are clothes thrown all over.

I am raging. I throw my backpack in the closet and head out of the hotel to go find drink and food in an attempt to calm down. I text my friend Jeff and ask what hell is going on. The room is a wreck and I cannot sleep in there because of allergies. He says one of the other guys, Paul, let an independent wrestler stay in the room since I could not make it. I really want to reveal his name as he is a veteran and from a fairly famous wrestling family. But I wont... (unless you ask me then I will say it's Teddy). Apparently the guys knew nothing of this wreckage as they left at noon and the wrestler was going to leave shortly after. However Paul, who let the wrestler and his girlfriend stay, should have turned him away once a cat showed up in the mix. The wrestler took advantage of the situation and Paul should have said sorry other guys paid for this room. But none of that happened.

They get back from the show and started cleaning up the room while I sat at bar across the street with some other friends who showed. Paul came in and said things are cleaned up the best we can and house keeping can tidy up in the morning. It's as good as it's gonna get tonight. So we all drink. Around 1:30am, Paul gets a call and goes to meet the wrestler so he can pick up his things. He asks if I want to go and to which I laugh. Currently I am feeling better, but I might punch the guy if he crossed my path. They get back and we drink more. People start fading out. About 3:30am, it's time to try for some sleep. Jeff and myself head back to room and we find Paul asleep. The fourth guy who is sharing the room is nowhere to be found. My luggage still hasn't arrived so I decide to wait for it. I open the closet to get my backpack and it's gone. My calming mood goes into instant anger. I yell at Paul and say did the wrestler take my backpack. He's drunk and doesn't know and says I will get it tomorrow. I say no, we will get it now. My money, my electronics, my camera, and my passport is in the bag. He grumbles and makes a call to get the hotel address. Jeff says we are taking your rental car Paul. And we head out to retrieve my items at a hotel on the north side of NOLA. We get my backpack and all its belongings and get back to our hotel about 4:45am. My luggage has arrived. Only I find out a wheel has been snapped and I cant wheel it around and the handle is bent and wont extend. This is the second time the suitcase has been used.

I'm tired and just want this day to end. I get to the stinking room, take a hot shower, and crawl into bed about 5:30am.

I wake up around 9:30am and cant take the smell any longer. I change and go the lobby and wait around. I met up with friends for breakfast at the NOLA institution The Ruby Slipper Cafe. There are some decadent meals here but I went basic and simple. Decided to spend the day walking around with people and checking out the area. We took a ferry across the river to see a historic part of town. Then came back and walked through the French Quarter, complete with a stop at Cafe Beignet. We went up to St. Louis Cemetery, unfortunately it was closed, and back down for a stroll down Bourbon Street for a beer before deciding it was enough.

Some people in the group decided to go the wrestling shows. I did not as none of the shows for the night, neither Ring of Honor or Dragon Gate USA, really interested me. Instead I went to Barcadia for a buger and beers. Some people joined me shortly afterwards.

After a couple hours, our friend Greg was hosting a gathering so that's where I went. There was still a few people I had not seen yet due to my late arrival and wandering around all day. Spent a couple of hours sipping drinks and hanging out with group of good people and catching up. Eventually it was time for bed.

I got back to the room and it had not been cleaned. One of the guys forgot to hit the "please make room" button. So I try to sleep for a few hours. One again I wake up early and walk out the room.

Sunday was going to be a lazy, wasted day. I had planned on watching Wrestlemania in room. I walked around and had brunch with friends. As people left for the show, I got a call from Larry. He said to get over to Greg's room ASAP. He has a ticket for you. Now I really did not want to go but I hate turning down nice gestures from friends. So I got to the room and Greg asked if I wanted to sit in the skybox with him, Larry, and Jon. It was his treat. Again, how could I say no. And we headed out to Wrestlemania XXX.

 

Deciding to take Greg up on his offer turned out to be a great decision. Not only was Mania one of the best of all time and had many, many great moments but how often will I ever set in a skybox with free food and booze. Plus it's always great watching shows with Greg, Larry, and Jon.

We walked back towards the hotel and I started the usual goodbyes with everyone and making the round as I was heading the to the Philippines in the morning. After a few hours of sleep, I headed out early in the morning to catch my flight.

And naturally, as every flight on this trip, it was delayed...
(to be continued)

Observation of An Illogical mind by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.seankimmel.com.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.

It's That Time of Year Again... Wrestlemania in New York

So once again I find myself about a month behind when I should have posted this. Oh well, what is one to do.


This year all the big wrestling activities happened in the New York - New Jersey area. A place I've been many times. Honestly, I wasn't too thrilled about going out there when it was announced. Since it's almost becoming a yearly tradition, I made the plans and went. Though wrestling, for the most part, has been put on the back burner. I am to watch as much these days and haven't been to a live event since last year's Mania weekend.


After waiting to buy plane tickets and debating driving out and vowing I would never work all day then drive through the night to get to my destination... I did just that, along once again with my friend Scott. He drove. I rode and caught a good four hours of sleep, which usually doesn't happen.  He was an animal powering through the dark with focus and determination.

We hit NYC early. Scott was staying in Queens while I was in Manhattan at a hotel with a bunch of the usual group. After spending a few hours walking around in Queens and grabbing a nice diner breakfast, they were off to a Mets game. I was off to the hotel and navigating the subway system.

I arrived at the hotel a short time later, after a successful navigation, and found friends waiting our rooms. A short time later a few local friends arrived and we decided it was time for lunch. We headed out to La Lucha, a lucha libre themed restaurant. The place had amazing decor with event posters and other memorabilia plastered on the walls. The food was delicious as well and all dishes named after legendary luchadors. It was a fun place.   

Eat here.

So it was back to the hotel where people started arriving included the great organizer himself, Greg. After a couple of hours of simply relaxing we had one big, group meal scheduled at Dallas BBQ. I'm not overly found of the food there, but they do serve some big ass drinks.

The final stop on the evening was for beer and off to the Rattle and Hum Bar is where some of us headed. I liked the feel of the place and it had a nice selection. We stayed until the wee hours of the morning conversing over fine ales. A good night.

Rattle & Hum

Friday afternoon was going to be spent doing want I wanted to do... eating and drinking. I talked a couple of guys, Jon and Anthony and Mark, to head over to The Ginger Man with me for brews. Or really to watch me drink. This place was amazing. I loved the atmosphere and the beer selection is even better. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon there and I am fine with the decision.

The Ginger Man

On the way back to the hotel we spotted an interesting looking food truck called Domo Taco. It was mid afternoon and I needed food. Really I wanted to go to a charcuterie place but didn't have time. But the food truck filled the void in my belly with delightful Asian-Mexican fusion tacos.

A couple of hours later it was time for the Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor show at the Manhattan Center. I haven't been keeping up the product and really wasn't too hyped. A lot had changed in the promotion since I stopped watching on a regular basis four months ago. I nestled into my front row seats beside my pals and prepared to get entertained. It ended up being a good show with a one of the special moments in wrestling as Jay Briscoe became RoH World Champion.

New RoH World Champion, Jay Briscoe

Post show it was off to Irish Times, a place we normally gather after the event, with a quick stop for pizza slices first. A couple hours later I was tired and drained and went back for sleep.


Saturday was going to be a challenge. Three wrestling shows in one day. The first was SHIMMER Women Athletes, an all women's promotion from Chicago. I was excited for the show as I always wanted to go to one of their live events. The promotion only runs a handful of shows a year and they seem to conflict with my work. The ladies did not disappoint. We saw the SHIMMER Title change in a brutal cage match.

Melissa Andeson, SHIMMER Champion

The second show was CHIKARA Pro, a family oriented lucha style promotion out of East Pennsylvania. It was another promotion that I have wanted to see live for many years. The show was an extremely fun and good time. Plus I got to watch the legendary Jushin Thunder Lyger in a rare US appearance. YES!

Jushin Thunder Lyger & Mike Quackenbush

The final show of the day Dragon Gate USA. I was surprising still up for wrestling. This had one of my favorite matches of the weekend, but that was probably due to Mark and Alexi screaming "King of Chop" during the match and the wrestlers playing up to. I faded fast after intermission and despite the quality matches, I really just wanted it to be over.

"The King of Chop" - EITA & TT Tomahawk

We took mass transit back into the heart of Manhattan. As we got off the bus from Jersey I saw another beer establishment that I wanted to go to staring me in the face, The Beer Authority. The small group with me decided to come along for drinks. I might be a bad influence on some of these guys and gals. I had a couple of very rare beers and again wasted time with great pals until late into the night.

The Beer Authority

In the morning I awoke to terrible news. My grandmother had passed away. Her suffering and battle with dementia was over. I scrambled around to figure out what I needed to do in order to get back home. After several calls I decided to stick with my days agenda and head back directly after Wrestlemania, which cut the trip short. Alone in the room I broke down in tears. Then pulled myself together.

A large group gathered for a lunch at a Chinese restaurant down the street. I wish I could remember the name because it was delicious. We ate and hopped on the bus to the Meadowlands for the the WWE Wrestlemania event. I go Mania for the spectacle and theatrics of the event, not necessarily for the wrestling. Even though my mind was preoccupied my good friends Jon, Mark, and Chris helped me make it through.

Mania

I found Scott after the show and we drove for a few hours, being smart and stopping for at least a couple of hours of sleep.


We woke in the morning and hit highway. Eventually I made it home. Now I had to take care of family business.




Observations of an Illogical Mind by www.seankimmel.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.

Mi-AM-Mi (the hotspot for wrestling in Spring 2012)

If you read my blog a frequent basis then you know that I am a fan of pro wrestling. And I have a great group of friends from acquired over the years from this interest. This year the gang gathered in Miami.

Our trusty leader GregH made the hotel arrangements. He got us rooms at a Hilton time share hotel right across from South Beach on Ocean Drive. Basically in the heart of the district.

Right outside the hotel

In year's past I felt too ran down trying to squeeze too many wrestling shows into a short amount of time. Burn out happens rather quickly. This year I really needed this to be more of a vacation. So I limited myself to one show a day. The rest of the time would be dedicated to drinking, eating, beaching, and hanging out with people only see once a year.

I rolled in on a Thursday late afternoon to Fort Lauderdale airport and waiting from my friend AaronS to get in. He reserved a rental car. We avoided most of the rush hour traffic but getting anywhere around South Beach is a slow process. It is packed and this was the beginning of the weekend for some and in the middle of Spring Break. We find the hotel, park the car, get our rooms, and make contact with the people already there.

Food was the immediate need. Our chef friend in the group, Joe, wanted to go to a moderately upscale restaurant called The Dutch. I'm always up for a good meal so AaronS, Jon from the UK, Anthony from Boston joined us and we went a walking to find this place. The restaurant is hidden inside the W Hotel. I feared we were vastly under dressed and wouldn't be able to get in without a reservation. We got lucky on both counts. The guys at the counter in the tee shirts, that was us. I had the lamb ragu and a couple little oyster sandwiches washed down by a couple local Cigar City brews. Bottle line it was an amazing meal. Every once in awhile you got to treat yourself.

We walked around the crowded for a bit. Anthony got berated by some strung out, homeless dude. It was quite funny. We ended up back at the hotel to see more arrivals. Some people went out to hit up the bars while other sat around chatting and drinking. I was in the later group. Clubs aren't my scene and I didn't want to deal with any more deuce bags on this evening. The area is full of them. Plus it was a long day of travel.

The next morning woke up and walked around. The area is still busy being mid morning but not as packed as the night before. I really like the look of this area. It's unique. Too bad the streets are already filling up with shirtless jackasses and snotty chicks wearing hardly a thing. Honestly, I dont mind the half naked women. There good for my eyes. 

I joined Robby and Larry for morning beach time. I have never actually swam in the ocean and wanted to the stingy salt of the Atlantic in my eyes and the hot sun rays coming down on me. After about an hour the waves made me a little nauseous and I feared my bald head getting burned. I retreated back to the hotel. 


GregH has plans to head over to Fuji Japanese Buffet. I love Asian cuisine so I'm game. The restaurant is basically a sushi buffet with lots of other soups, salads, and traditional fair. Nothing sets out a long time. The chefs are cranking out over fifty different types of treats. The meal with very good and a very good price.

There was still time to kill so Joe and myself walked around and ended up at The Clevelander Hotel Bar where we drank over priced slushy drinks. Eventually about a dozen guys ended up joining us before it was time to get our asses to wrestling.


The evening brought the first Ring of Honor event, Showdown in the Sun Night 1 held at the famous War Memorial Auditorium. My seats were rather crappy but the company was good. Joe sat with me and by chance the guys we know from Australia sat behind us. The show was solid and fun. Match of the night goes to Kevin Steen vs El Generico in a Last Man Standing Match. Classic feud blow off between these bitter enemies.

Ring of Honor at the War Memorial Auditorium

After returning to home base around 1am, it takes about as long to navigate through South Beach as it did to drive to the venue in Fort Lauderdale, some of us wanted late night grub and drinks. Well we found food just down the street in a delicious place called T-Mex serving up, what else Tex-Mex food. A huge ass burritos and much more for cheap. This place would be a must after drinking all night which is probably why it's open until 5am. I went back to hotel to hang because it's Friday night in South Beach and twice as packed as the night before. Asshole quotient is high.

After a late night with little sleep (is there another kind of night in South Beach?), we all had another wrestling show to attend. Ring of Honor Showdown in the Sun Night 2 started at 1pm in the afternoon. Today it was front row madness for this guy and it's completely different atmosphere. You actually feel like you are part of the show. RoH put on another fantastic show with the Match of the Night going to Davey Richards vs Michael Elign for the RoH World Championship. This just might be the match of the year. It came out of the blue and harkened back to the days when every RoH event felt like you had to be there live or miss something great.


Tonight I was going to check out a microbrewery in the area called Abbey Brewing. Anthony went with me and Josh showed up a little later. We walked though the Spanish district and the smells drove me crazy with hunger. However I was on a mission to drink some good beer. The bar was off the beaten path and in an area that actually appeared to be normal. We got the establishment and bellied up at the bar. I tried a couple of their home brews which weren't bad and couple of other things. With a nice buzz going on I felt like I could manage the jammed packed streets once again. Some quick food stop and was ready to go back and hang out with the guys until sleep came. And that is exactly what I did.

Sunday morning and the tantalizing prospect of brunch arose. GregH had plans to go over to the Front Porch Cafe and meet up former wrestler and current RoH color commentator Nigel McGuiness. He's a good guy who I have conversed with a couple of times. At that time he was trying to raise money via Kickstarter to help fund a documentary about his wrestling career. It's a shame really as the guy was immensely talented in the ring only to have a career cut short due to injuries and he's only early thirties. He was taping the meal. You'll probably see me in it. I'm the sexy, bald dude. Anyways order a Cajun Scramble and Bloody Mary's. Thoughts about our friend Paul who died earlier this year. We did a similar Sunday morning in Atlanta last year. The final time I saw him in person. A good way to start the day.

With a little bit of time to kill before we needed to leave for wrestling I walked around the beach with my friends Steve and Robby from Ireland and the UK crew of Jon, Mark, and Aaron. It was at this moment I learned about all thing surrounding the television show The In Betweeners.

We got Sun Life Stadium for WWE Wrestlemania 28 rather early. I always like to get to my destination then wait as opposed to waiting in traffic and rushing. AaronS drove and I convinced him to go early. Along for the ride was Chris for Malta and Grand Rapids own Scotty. Plenty of time before the start we grab some fairly decent stadium food and drinks. Scott, Anthony, Chris, and myself go to our seats. We discover big pillars obstructing two-thirds of our view. Looks like we're watching the Jumbotron tonight.

Wrestlmania

 I go Wrestlemania for the spectacle and this year did not disappoint. The Rock vs John Cena was deafening. HHH vs The Undertaker in a Hell In a Cell Match was epic. But CM Punk vs Chris Jericho went down to be my favorite match of the night. The show got over and back to the hotel in a decent time. We all hung out eating and drinking at a huge after party GregH coordinated. It was a fun evening.

The trip is almost over as the final day in town begins. I once again head to the beach for another go around at the ocean. Joe, Frank, Robby, and Anthony were already there. The water was so warm and delightful for being early April. A little over an hour later I called it quits. Then Chris and me walked around some more on South Beach. It's not crowded at all on this Monday morning. I actually dont mind the situation right now.

Today's was also JohnnyZ's birthday. So a few of us went out to Havana1957 for an wonderful meal. I had Masa de Puerco Frita and we all had lots of caipirinhas. It's was Johnny's night and he wanted large glasses of slushy drinks so we went to Wet Willies. I wish we would have gone to Club Deuce instead but at least these were stiff drinks. We made it back to the hotel all a glow watch the final hour of WWE RAW. After Johnny got some sleep because he was graciously taking me and some others to the airport at 4:30am. The night was spent talking and sipping booze and saying final goodbyes to people I truly adore. A band of misfits bonded together over wrestling. By the time my plane took off at 6:30am I was asleep and waiting for landing.


 Almost two months later I finally get time write this post. I'm trying to recall details. Like most things these days it's a blur.  As middle age is rapidly approaching me, the notion of just stopping to take in the beauty of the world with all its sights, smells, and sounds with people you enjoy hits full force. I need to do it more often.

My final thoughts on South Beach are slightly mixed towards the negative. The traffic is horrible, it's hot, and being an asshole juice head must be a prerequisite if you are under thirty. But there is so much a person to do in this area, great food, and the working class folks I managed to mingle with were alright. Perhaps if I came during a less crowded time of year... if there is such a thing in South Beach.




Observations of an Illogical Mind by www.seankimmel.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.

New York City. Washington DC. Wrestling. (Yay?)

This post is nearly three months over due. Too bad. Been busy.


In December I took a trip to good ole New York City for Ring of Honor's Final Battle PPV. I went with a normal riding partner, Scott, and a couple of other friends who I have never traveled with before, Jay and Frank.

It was a quick trip. Out on a Thursday, with a small detour to Pottsfield, PA to pick up another rider, and into NYC on Friday for the Ring of Honor Final Battle 2012 event, and back out on the road. It was Christmas weekend and people had to get back home. It makes the trip difficult.

The event just didn't live up to the expectations I had hoped for. It was a solid card, but not worth driving out there for. I would have been just as happy watching it on PPV. With our short turn around not a lot of time was spent with friends for the East Coast either. Only a few short hours.

There was a time when I didn't want to miss a single show and did everything possible to get there. Those days are gone. I'm content with the handful of events I can get to each year. The product has changed. Maybe I have too.

And as I've stated before, it's far more about the friendships made over the years and not the wrestling.



A couple of short weeks later, my friend Greg invited everyone out to lovely home in the Washington DC area. Part of the deal was going to the Ring of Honor TV taping in Baltimore on Saturday. I needed a true vacation. A place just to relax and hang for a couple of days. And it was my birthday. So my usual traveling partner, Scott, and myself hopped in the "Freedom mobile" aka my Jeep Patriot and headed East.

We arrived in good time on Friday afternoon. This was a smaller gathering and only about ten of the normal group came, all arriving at different points throughout the day. Greg, being the generous host he always is, had a loose plans surrounding Saturday's wrestling event. The plans on Friday changed. We ended up eating some awesome Chinese food and sitting around drinking all night. Great conversations with great people. Life's finer pleasures.

Saturday morning came bright and early. My buddy Larry woke up shortly after me and we decided to take a walk around the town of Chevy Chase. A couple of hours, a few miles, and a coffee stop later we get back. We all get cleaned up and we all head to Dave and Buster's to play some video games. Honestly, I really didn't want to go, but decided what the hell. A couple of hours later it was back to Greg's to get ready for wrestling.

A short time later we all headed out to Baltimore. This was my first RoH TV tapings. I was a little hesitant at first, since they do four shows in one session. The show began I was in the front row banging away and having a blast. By the end of the night it ended up being one of the best wrestling events I've been to awhile. A fun night and wrestling card from top to bottom.

We all got back to Greg's late and chowed down on some leftover Chinese, had a few more drinks, and more conversation into the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday arrived too early, but we had to get back. Scott and me loaded back into the Jeep and headed back home. We took a route I've never driven before, through the handle of Maryland through West Virginia and into Ohio.

It was a long day. I got home, unpacked, and crashed. Work comes on Monday morning.







Observations of an Illogical Mind by www.seankimmel.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Please feel free to share the link but contact me for any other uses or publication. Thanks.

Atlanta: Where the wrestling nerds went in Spring 2011

Person: "What are you doing on vacation?"
Me: "Going to Atlanta."
Person: "Why Atlanta?"
Me: "Every year a bunch of people I know get together. We hang out, check out the city, and go to wrestling."
Person: "Oh. Well that's nice."


I usually get some variation on the above conversation when I get asked "What are doing on vacation?" Mostly I want to say "mind your damn business because this conversation will lead no place", but instead I answer honestly.

This year the WWE held Wrestlemania in Atlanta, GA. Along with 'Mania comes smaller wrestling promotions holding events and thousands of people flocking to the city. I have went to five of the past six Mania weekends, though not always to Wrestlemania. That part seems even more strange to many.

These weekends have turned into something far more than wrestling. It originated when this hot, independent promotion Ring of Honor decided to piggyback Wrestlemania while it was in Chicago. Every year since, they've done the same thing. I've been following RoH since June 2004 and over the course of traveling to many events and meeting people, I have met many people from all corners of the globe that I know call friends. I love wrestling. I love traveling and exploring places never been. Mostly I attend these weekends for these people. Some of which I only see during this time.

Fast-forward to Atlanta.

I rented a car from Hertz and drove the 10.5 hours down from Fort Wayne, IN to Atlanta, GA. Alone. The back story here is a friend of mine were going to drive together in his vehicle. He had to drop out. I could have rode with other people I know from the Midwest but I already had money put in for hotel rooms. I was going longer this time and making it a true vacation. The cheapest route was renting a car and driving solo. No big deal as I got a couple of friends to split cost while they were in Atlanta.

Got the rental, a Dodge Caliber, and headed out of around 9am on Wednesday. A long drive later, about half occupied by the outstanding podcast The Art of Pro Wrestling by Colt Cabana, I was near Atlanta. About 8pm I picked my friend Chris up from the airport. He flew in from Malta. It's a country in the Mediterranean. Look it up. It's real. I've flown into the Atlanta Airport many times. It's always a madhouse. But picking someone up is a whole different experience. Crazy traffic.

With success, we got to the hotel every one was staying at for the weekend and found out we were upgraded to a two bedroom suite instead of a studio. Bonus points for the Marriott Residence Inn! We met up with Blake and Aaron, a new guy coming in for the trip for England. We went to TacoMac for some much needed food and drinks. What a great beer selection. Decent bar food. Terrible waitress. It wanted to drink longer but it had been a long day. Time to be smart.

Awoke the next day ready for more friends to arrive. Chris and I hit the hotel breakfast. I was extremely disappointed. Not so much in the food selection but the availability. The entire time there was never any food around. They'd bring out a small portion and the dozen or more people waiting would ravage it up. Then the process began all over. Not smart. Then we went to the grocery store so Chris could stock up on American junk food to take home.

It makes my stomach ache just looking at the picture. Also got some interesting looks at the cashier line while we we're self scanning the items. Back at the hotel saw our old buddy Greg and Ring of Honor owner Carey Silkin. Carey has always been great to talk with when you seem him during these times or at show after parties. Greg is the person who organizes these trips. Without him doing so, many of us would not know each other. He is one of my favorite people on the planet because he is just an incredible person. We talked a bit and helped Greg get the room situation under control. Other arrived including two roomies, Scott and Jim. Scott immediately crashed. He was wiped out from driving.

Blake called and had a load of people he picked up from the airport. So Chris, Jim, and myself went to meet them at FlipBurger. We ran into a big of a navigation problem on the way. Making left turns in Atlanta is an experience. It's can be hard to make and on occasions people do it without any warning. Tom, Ryan, Anthony, Josh, Eric, and Blake already were seated when we finally arrived. There were a few others but I cant recall. I ate a lamb burger. It was delicious.

Stopped by a liquor store on the way back to buy some local crafts. Purchased a sampler by Sweetwater Brewery and a couple of bombers by Jailhouse Brewing Company. We all sort of took it easy, catching up with one another until dinner time. The we all ventured down to Mojito for some authentic Cuban food. Many appetizers floated around. My meal was braised pork with black beans and rice. Then it was back to the hotel to meet up with the others arriving. The Irish crew of Steven, Robbie, and Will; Jon from the UK, Clay for Australia; Frank, Johnny, and his friend Matt.

Then things get interesting.

Around 8pm, I start feeling queasy to my stomach and a tad dizzy. I run Greg and Tom to the grocery store. On the ten minute drive my stomach is churning. I am getting cold and sweaty. We enter the grocery and I immediately find a bathroom. Believe me, you never want to hunch over a Kroger toilet heaving your guts out. On occasions it must be done. So I'm thinking it's over. Something just not agreeing with me. I rejoin Tom. We find Greg and pay for items. We are loading up the car when the feeling hits me again. I run over to storm sewer drain and proceed to chuck up, rather violently, once again. It's only been about 15 minutes since episode one. I regain composure.

The pieces of the puzzle start to fit together as this is very similar experience I had in Tampa earlier this year. Then I ate a Thai dish which contained seafood medley. I work up about 1am with gurgling belly and "things" shooting out of both ends. That night I was the only person to eat seafood, so I assumed it was a bad pieces causing me the problems. Tonight everyone ate the same apps. The only 2 things I consumed both times were mussels and squid.

I manage to get back to the hotel. Give the keys to valet and let Tom & Greg unload because I can feel "the rush" coming again. There's no way I can make it to my room on the 7th floor, so I sprint to lobby bathroom. Damage is done once again. Feeling like hell at this point with a cold sweat pouring from my face, I make it back to my room. Then the attack happens from below. Badness is firing at both ends. I am losing this battle. At this point, I have thrown up three times and had the screaming shits twice all within an hour. I am not in good shape.

I get a call from Paul saying he and Larry are about to board their plane in Boston and they would be in around 1am. I fill him in on what it happening to my body and tell him that somebody will pick them up but I don't think it can be me as promised. I slowly make the journey down to Greg's room to see if anyone can pick up my slack. I feel bad for not being able to fulfill my end of the agreement, since we split a rental car while in town. Thankfully they called Robby, who was running late and he agreed to pick them up. My savior.

I lay on a bed, shivering cold. My stomach is empty but each time I put a swallow of liquid in it, I throw it right back up. I deal with running to the bathroom every few minutes for the next couple of hours. Dry heaving air and dealing with acid stomach. I finally fall asleep around 2:30am and go dead to the world until around 8am. Thankfully my roomies tolerated my sick ass.

Friday woke feeling better. I wasn't 100% and still had a sour, gurgling stomach but the worst was behind me. I ate some fruit and yogurt at breakfast and kept it down. I had survived the war of attrition. Hell of a way to find out you suddenly have an allergic reaction to mussels or squid. Don't think I'll try either any time soon.

Josh, Tom, Larry, Paul, Robby, his friend Todd, and myself travel down to the Little Five Points part of town. I desperately wanted to check out The Porter Beer Bar.

We checked out the neighborhood and stopped in. Amazing beer list. If you are a lover of fine beers and in Atlanta then check this place out. It's world renowned for a reason. And if you see a guy playing guitar singing a song that goes "I'm your master. As I stick it inside you.", don't shy away. He's a lyrical genius. We could have stayed here all afternoon. But told Greg we'd meet him for a late lunch. So it was off to the Mu Lan for some Chinese. A great meal but I only pieced at it since I was recovering. Luckily Eric, the human vacuum scarfed in what I could not. Try the Peking Duck.

Getting close to wrestling time. The last of the group finally arrived. Center Stage Theater was only about two blocks from the hotel. A nice walk over just before bell time.

The theater set up was very cool. Nice seating too. Paul and I sat together in the GA. I've been to at least fifty RoH shows in the last few years. I've sat crowded. What we experienced this night was horrible. Two the right of us were a couple. The man had to be push 300lbs and the girl was at least 230lbs. Big people. Two my left side was a extremely obese woman who had to be close to 400lbs. And unfortunately didn't smell the best. We were scrunched in on both sides with no escape. To top that off a woman directly behind felt the need to shriek at the top of her lungs at everything. If you were at the venue, you heard this chick. It was ear piercing and annoying. She eventually walked down to stand by the guard rail. These things nearly ruined an amazing show for me. The wrestling was off the charts. The experience was not. By the end of the show, I was exhausted. The previous nights heaving left me drained. I needed sleep. Went to the hotel room and had to be the bad guy. Kicked everyone out who wasn't staying the room. Sleep soon followed.

It's Saturday. I am awake and feeling great. Back in the saddle again!!!
Early RoH show. Sitting 1st row. Good times are always had in row one. I had plenty room to breathe and move. Again I enjoyed the entire show. It flowed well. I got most wrapped up in Briscoes vs All Night Express, a violent and bloody spectacle. RoH nailed it this weekend. It's been awhile since I've liked a double shot that much.

A car load immediately headed out to the Dragon Gate USA show. We found a strip mall and stopped in a pizza joint which I cant recall. Off to the preshow since we had VIP passes. Scott, Jon, and me sat together in not so glorious 3rd Row Stage VIP seats. I was a little angry about the seats. Paid $35 for what turned out to be at the back of the house and the farthest seats from the ring in the building. What made it worse was after the preshow, ushers stopped checking tickets and let people you bought GA put seats on the stage, thus crowding us and having better view than me. Not happy about it but tried not to let it ruin the night. Scott was very pissed. "Never again!", he said. The show was good. I really liked Tozawa and Pac. And the 6 man main event delivered.

We got back to the hotel. Every one hung out in Greg's room till about 4:30am. We all shared how we got into Ring of Honor and what our first show was. Similar tales yet slightly different. As Greg pointed out, wrestling used to be a very lonely experience with not a lot of people around share it with, but now we've formed bonds and friendships that last a lifetime. People from across the world. It's an incredible thing.

I had no obligations to any wrestling on Sunday. Josh, Paul, Larry, and myself decided to find a place for brunch. We found a good place with a New Orleans vibe, Cresent City Grill. Larry decided to keep on walking around, but the rest of filled up on bloody marys and breakfast and cake. I got the badly sunburned after 2 hours. Bright red. Enjoyed myself greatly. To me, this is what the trips are about. On the way back we stopped at Tap, a gastropub/beer bar for another drink.

We chilled out for a bit. Most of the group headed out to Wrestlemania. A few of us who did not got watch the event via streaming in my room. Couldn't hook it up to the TV so we had to watch it on my laptop. At some southern cooking for a food truck down the street, drank beers, and watched an average event. The rest of the group got back around midnight. We hung out for about an hour then people started saying goodbyes.


A fairly relaxing Monday. I woke up at 6:15am to take Paul, Tom, and Ryan to the airport. Easy getting there. Not getting back. Hit deadlock traffic and it took nearly an hour to get back to the hotel, which is only about 12 miles away. Got back and waited to change rooms since half of our roomies had left. Chris and myself talked with the lovely desk receptionist Dankea for awhile. She gave us a free upgrade. Originally we were moving to a studio, then we got upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite, then we got to stay in our same room which was a 2 bedroom suite. Big props to the lady, who apparently enjoyed the buffoonery of myself and Chris. Sometimes you got it. Sometimes you don't.

We goodbye to Larry and others, then watch Greg make his departure. I told Chris that I'd take him to the mall for a couple hours. Jamie, Eric, and Clay came along to Lennox Square. It is a very swanky mall in the Buckhead part of town. We went, walked around, and looked at the lovely ladies while Chris shopped.

We got back to the hotel and I called Johnny. He and Matt was at a bar with another friend of his from high school. Chris and I went to met them. We sat on the patio and drank for awhile. Had a good time. As we were getting ready to leave, Johnny said something about it being a gay bar. Then I looked around at the clientele. Lots of guys. All the wait staff was young guys. The music was crappy pop. I would have never noticed if Johnny didn't say anything. And not that it mattered. Good times with friends is what counts.

We eent back to the hotel. Watched WWE RAW for the 'Mania aftermath and watched the Butler Bulldogs get slammed by UConn. I said goodbyes to those remaining. Drifted off to sleep in the middle of a tremendous thunderstorm and strong winds.

Awoke at 6:30am. Time to start the drive home.

Eleven hours later I arrived. The trip now just another great memory in my brain.

Roadtrippin for Final Battle

Over the last couple of years my road trips to watch wrestling, more specifically Ring of Honor, have dwindled. There are various reasons as to why, which I wont get into at the moment. So far this year I've been to Phoenix for Wrestlemania weekend and to Chicago in October. So with the big Final Battle weekend approaching I decided it was beyond time to head out to the East Coast and hang with buddies to watch grown men grapple each other.

A buddy from Michigan, let's call him Beatty, and myself decided to hop in the car and drive. We met up at our usual spot, some outlet malls by toll road. I've never had a problem leaving my vehicle here, even though I am always leery about it and nervous it will be towed when I returned.

We headed out on Thursday because of weather and wanted to get at least one decent night sleep on this trip, especially since I'd been battle a cold all week. We got a later start than we wanted and traveled until 2am, putting us about two hours outside of Boston. We had some slight hotel reservation issues. Beatty flipped out and then all was well. It was a sight to witness.

We contact our friend Paul, who live in Boston and graciously offered to but us up for the night as we come near. Change of plans. Instead of going to his house we are to go meet him and some other people we know, Jay and Tristen who flew in from Chicago, at a beer bar called The Lower Depths located near Fenway Park. This is not a problem for me. I do enjoy craft beers. After a delicious Mad Elf and S'muttanator we head over to another place called Boston Beer Works (), a local place who makes their own brews. I had a nice pumpkin ale complete with a sugar & cinnamon rim. The last stop before the wrestling show was Harpoon Brewery. This is the oldest brewery in Boston. We arrived just in time for the hour long tasting. I sampled about six different things which I never had before. The IPA, a hard cider, Raspberry Hefeweizen, Chocolate Stout, Oak Aged Dunkel, UFO White, and my favorite of the tasting Leviathan Barleywine. We took a growler of that one to go.

It was time to rendezvous at Paul's house. Our other friend from Boston, Larry, was going to meet us at the show. From various reasons we got a late start. The venue was actually about 30 minutes outside of Boston in Plymouth, MA. We got there about halfway through the first match. The venue was great. I really liked it. The card, not so much. I couldn't get into anything until the last match. Partly because of buffoons yelling out stupid ass comments trying to get themselves over. Nothing ruins a wrestling show quicker. The main event was great. American Wolves vs Kings of Wrestling. It was every bit as good as I expected.

We got to Paul's and sat around drinking barleywine and chatting until around 2:30am. It was time to get a few hours sleep before heading out in the morning.

We got up, around, and left for Manhattan by 11am. The easiest drive I've ever had into NYC. We got to our hotel, which was located right beside Ground Zero. None of us had never seen it before, so we strolled over. With all the construction being done the impact was slightly less emotional then I thought it would be. Still hard to imagine two giant towers being there ten years ago. We through our bags into the room and caught a subway over to the New Yorker Bar to meet "The H" for our tickets and pre-show drinks & eats. Everything there was great as usual. We slide over to the Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom in time to say hello to many familiar faces and people before the bell.

Final Battle was amazing. It's been a long time since I was that emotionally invested into a show. It started out hot with a tag match pitting The All Night Express against Kyle O'Rielly & Adam Cole and kept it up to the dual main events. The RoH title match was spectacular. Champion Roderick Strong outlasted Davey Richards in an epic battle. Even though I really wanted Davey win, it was still a damn great match. The final match was a Fight Without Honor, a no holds barred "unsanctioned" match to settle a year long feud between former friends and tag champions Kevin Steen and El Generico. If Generico lost, he lost his mask while Steen put his career on the line. I have witnessed many matches in my day, but this was one of the most brutal and sickest I've seen. It was an instant classic.

The after party was at Irish Times Pub. After filling my belly with tasty shepherd's pie and many, many beers (Yuengling, Brooklyn Lager, & Sam Adams Winter Lager) it was time to say goodbye to those remaining and head back to the hotel. It was late. We crashed for a few hours.

In the morning we said later to the Boston guys, and started the drive home. A pretty uneventful drive home which was made easier by the ability of my iPhone to pick up most of the Colts vs Jags game. After a 12 hour drive, I found myself home once again.

A fun and great trip.

One thing of note. All these friends I spoke about are people I have met through watching Ring of Honor over the last 7 years. You go to enough shows, see the same faces, have a person to bring fans together like "The H", you are bound to build bonds.

Wrestling and Corporate America

Rarely to I talk about my fondness of pro wrestling these days. The reason is simple: nothing gets me too fired up to write about anymore. I still watch RoH on HDNet every week, hands down the best show for wrestling, but I dont attend live events like I use to. I DVR WWE RAW and Smackdown to watch later that night and usually delete NXT and Superstars. Dont even get me started on TNA and their waste of a great roster with absurd stories and two minute matches. Rarely to I even spend the time to watch.

With all that being said, Monday night on RAW was truly one of those rare moments in wrestling that catches you shock and awe. The unprovoked attack by the NXT "rookies" on the company's top star John Cena and complete dismantling of the ringside area was nothing short of brilliant. In wrestling circles, the WWE made people talk about what happened.

Here's the unedited clip




One of the shocking things about this angle is the WWE portrays itself currently as family friendly and rated PG. Yet supposedly the want more realism in their characters, interviews, and stories. A very fine line to walk, in my opinion.

I bring this up for a reason. On Friday, wrestler Bryan Danielson was fired. He is one of the NXT rookies and goes by Daniel Bryan. He's a tremendous worker that I've had the privilege of watching on the small stage for years. I've conversed with the man a couple of times at fan gatherings in the past. He's a good guy with great talent. I also cheer for wrestlers I've watched for years on the indie scene to make it with the big boys (WWE and to a lesser extent TNA). They're kind of like that obscure band you love and get excited for when the fan base grows and they get national attention or the cult movie you've loved for the first time you watched and gathers momentum to become this icon thing. But now I'm off the subject.

Rumors are flying around in the wrestling community. Is this real or a work? No one knows for sure, but it seems to be legit. The apparent reason is one of the WWE main sponsors did not approve of the action. The very action which made this segment so brutal and memorable. Danielson has apparently become the fall go for doing exactly what was asked of him.

On a side note, the WWE supposedly has a "no choking code" amongst the workers that has been in effect since the Chris Benoit murder-suicide. But from everything I have read, the creative team and bosses where very pleased at the segment and the workers. Plus if there is a choking ban, then why in the hell didn't the director cut away from the shot. In all the official WWE clips, the choke is no longer shown.

So it looks like, once again, a good guy gets the shaft. This is what happens when you are a publicly traded company, as the WWE, and have to answer to shareholders, network TV, and sponsors. Welcome to merger of wrestling and corporate America.

Wrestling #14 - Orlando Trip

This is a couple of weeks over due, but still wanted to write it up.

So I went down to Orlando for three big days of wrestling. The main reason was my favorite promotion, Ring of Honor, was debuting and holding shows there. The other was to go to Wrestlmania. The final reason was to see a bunch of people I've became friends with over the years by going to these wrestling shows and meet some new ones.

So Thursday morning I head to the Fort Wayne Airport and hop a plane to Chicago, wait because of an hour delay (freezing rain), and board the the plane to Florida. When I arrive, I check my voice mail and the two friends I was picking up already arrived and waiting. After picking up my luggage, we get the rental car (Prius). This is the first time I drove a Prius and it looked simple to start, but I couldn't do it. So I had to go ask. The chuckled and said he gets that all the time, then told me how to get the car running. For those that care, I was doing it correctly but wasn't holding the brake long enough. We head out of the parking garage to head to the hotel where many of the RoH fans are staying. I fire up my brand new Garmin GPS and have my friend do the directions. Well it lied. We drove no where close to the hotel and basically had to back track. This was the foreshadowing many drives the entire weekend as I believe aliens have GPS signals scrambled over the city. We eventually get to the hotel and get our rooms. Then we start seeing familiar faces at the hotel and phone calls from other guys going to the live TNA event. We start watching TNA and I head back to the airport to pick up a couple of other guys. We get back to the hotel about 11pm and decide to find a grocery store. We set the GPS and go. Again it lied. Frustration started. We went to the hotel in defeat, finding a closed grocery along the way, and hang out for awhile and eventually crash for some sleep.

Get up on Friday morning, grab breakfast and see more people. Gather some troops for a successful grocery run. I get back the hotel. I was going to head to the pool and hang out, but instead get talked into driving to a local brewery (more like nominated) to get beer for Beerfest (more on that later). We go, have some beers, and take back growlers. Lots of alcohol getting stocked up. Have a preshow meal with the gang and make our way to the RoH event, which is by Orlando's Basketball Arena. Still see more old faces at the event. Sat down in the cramped front row for a night of awesome wrestling action. I wont go through the matches but the entire show was good. Steen and El Generico stole the night. Back to the hotel, our room is picked for the unofficial hang out. New faced and old pals travel in and out all night while ale flows. Finally call it a night about 4am.

Saturday, do the breakfast again and the gang decides to head to the RoH Fanfest (another thing I really didn't want to do). It was rather lame. Instead of driving all the way across town to the hotel, then back to the venue, we decide just to kill a couple of hours at a local restaurant/pub. Unfortunately after driving around the venue for about 45 minutes we figured out there was nothing. Another Garmin lie. We decide just to drive one direction and see what we find. Eventually came out to a mail area and ate at some place. Went back to the venue for the show (the WWE Hall of Fame was next door). I traded up to a front row ticket thanks to a buddy having an extra one and wanting to talk with some one he knew. Once again, not going into details of the matches, but this may have been the best wrestling event I have ever witnessed live. It was phenomenal. Back to the hotel for Beerfest...a gathering of beer lovers where we sample obscure beer from across the US. Tasted several great beers I have not heard of before and a few I never want to try again. Finally called it a night about 4:30am.

I woke up and grabbed breakfast. Found out a few guys continued on with Beerfest until 7am. They had early flights and didn't want to sleep. Finally got a chance to hang out by the pool with some people and just relax. We decide to head out early to Wrestlemania and avoid the heavy traffic, which we did. After grabbing some lunch, we made our way to the Citrus Bowl. We had some time to kill and checked out the end of WWE Fanfest, which was rather worthless. Got in line to enter the arena and found out seats. We had about an hour plus to kill before the show started, so we sat back and chatted. The event was very good (WWE good anyways) and I rather impressed with the set, being the AV geek I am. I was not impressed when the lighting rig went out for about two matches and the big monitors went out for about a match as well. I'm sure the WWE wasn't happy with that either or the malfunctioning fireworks at the end of the show. It took awhile to get back to the parking lot, and a lot of traffic had thinned out by the time we left. Got back to the hotel and started making the rounds and saying goodbyes. When that was finished, I packed and got about 2 hours sleep before the alarm went off for my early flight.

Gathered the other guys who were heading out with me and started to the airport. Returned the car, parted ways with my friends, got the ticket, and waited in the long ass security line. Got through to find out the flight was delayed...shocking but I had a long hold over in Cincinatti anyways. Finally got home in the middle of the afternoon, completely wiped out from the weekend of fun.

Then had to go back to work the next day. That sucks.

Wrestling #11: Wrapping Up 2007

As the year comes to a close, I find myself reminiscing about the goings on in the world of wrestling in 2007. I thought I would give out some awards on the shows I watch on a regular basis.

2007 AWARDS
RAW MVP: Randy Orton
SMACKDOWN MVP: M.V.P. (how fitting)
ECW MVP: CM Punk
TNA MVP: Christian Cage
RoH MVP: Jay & Mark Briscoe
AAA MVP: Cibernetico
Best Tag Team (WWE): Paul London & Brian Kendrick
Best Tag Team (TNA): TIE - Motor City Machine Guns and LAX
Best Tag Team (RoH): Jay and Mark Briscoe
Best Female Wrestler (WWE): Mickie James
Best Female Wrestler (TNA): Gail Kim
Best Female Wrestler (SHIMMER): Sara Del Ray
Best Female Wrestler (AAA): Fabi Apache
2007 Breakout Star (WWE): CM Punk
2007 Breakout Star (TNA): Robert Roode
2007 Breakout Star (ROH): TIE - Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero
2007 Breakout Star (US Indies): Necro Butcher
2007 Breakout Star (AAA): El Zorro
WWE Feud/Angle of the Year: MVP vs Matt Hardy
TNA Feud/Angle of the Year: The Christian Coalition falls apart
RoH Feud/Angle of the Year: The Briscoes vs Kevin Steen & El Generico
AAA Feud/Angle of the Year: El Mesias vs Cibernetico
Best WWE PPV: Wrestlemania 23
Best TNA PPV: I have no idea, haven't seen enough
Best Roh Event: Glory by Honor 6, Night 2
Favorite Title Change: CM Punk winning the ECW Title
Most Magical Moment: Mike Quackenbush winning the TPI
Most Shocking Moment: The death of Chris Benoit



Top 8 Favorite Moments of 2007
1. Glory By Honor 6, Night 2
Sitting front row in the Manhattan Center for this annual RoH event was made even more special by the appearance of Misawa. However this ended up being one of the most incredible events I've ever witnessed live.
2. IWA:MS Ted Petty Invitation Finals
While watching the emotion over come Mike Quackebush, you couldn't help but get emotional too. The entire night was a great journey for one of the US indy's favorite wrestlers.
3.Wrestlemania 23
My first 'mania was a cap off to a great weekend of wrestling with friends. It wasn't the best show I attended over the weekend, but it was the most memorable.
4. The return of Chris Jericho
Yeah, it was a little underwhelming, but it was still Chris Jericho returning.
5. HBK vs John Cena (RAW match was London)
This match just proved that when the WWE let's some of their guys go long in matches, they can wrestle. It was the best match the WWE had in 2007.
6. RoH Doubleshot during Wrestlemania weekend.
Two nights of great wrestling action from the Motor City. RoH out does itself once again. And all the extra events with friends made the weekend that much better.
7. RAW 15th Anniversary special
A fun night, showcasing some great moments in the WWE.
8. Realizing TNA is never going to change
It finally occured to me during late summer after TNA debuted with a two hour progrm. Even though the promotion has a great talent roster, they are not going to alter their haphazard, full speed, comical booking approach. It still saddens me. And I fast forward through much of the show ever week.

Wrestling #8: A Tale From the Road

For a couple of months some friends and myself had a road trip planned for Glory by Honor 6 events. Load up in a car and head out from the Midwest to Philly, then NYC to catch our favorite promotion Ring of Honor, and then back home. Often what you plan doesn't actually occur. One guy changed his mind because a few other people he knew wanted to go and decided to lead another group. Another guy couldn't make it because of a commitment that had to be done on Saturday morning. That left two of us. It was going to be more expensive, but we decided to do it anyways. Come on, it was Misawa and his first (and possibly last trip) to the US. Then last week, my traveling partner called me and found out he couldn't get off work on Friday. Another monkey wrench thrown in the plan. We decided to skip Philly and target NYC after we get off work. Unfortunately he couldn't leave until 9pm. So we met up along the toll road at about 11:30pm and the trip officially began. I forgot to mention that a couple of days before we leave, we discover the NYC Marathon is over the same weekend and will be invaded by several other visitors from other countries. This will be fun.

My friend says he can drive all night and then I'll take the day shift until we roll into NYC. After we talk and realize it's about 2am, I better get some sleep or as much sleep as you can get in a car going down the interstate. At about 5:15am, my friend cant drive any longer. On about two hours of sleep I take over. Man I am tired. But start loading myself up on caffeine and drive in the early morning twilight through Pennsylvania.

The sun never really comes up this morning as a dark gray overcast covers the sky. The time was 8:45am and we're about an hour from being out of the state. I just want to get through to outside the city and let the other person take the wheel. I let out a big yawn and rub my face, taking my eyes off the road for a few short seconds. It's too long as I hear the thumping of the car on median rumble strips. As I regain attention, a guardrail enters my vision as the front corner of the car scrapes up against it. I regain control of the vehicle and pull off the road. I am pissed. My friend abruptly wakes up and tries to figure out what happened. I am pissed. I get out of the car, my friend's car, and check out the damage. The door wont open all the way as the corner panel is pinched against it. Scraps are all down the side from bumper to bumper about 8 inches wide. I am beyond pissed. Looking around, I see no fluids leaking out or flat tires, so we jump into the vehicle and head to the next exit for further examination. Driving a mile down the highway, the vehicle doesn't sway. A good sign, but am fuming at myself as I explain what happened. We get stopped and do a further inspection on the vehicle. It seems drivable and only has damaged to the body. I am beyond angry at myself. My friend is super cool about the whole situation. Obviously, I tell him the repair bill shall be on me. This little accident bothers me the rest of the weekend.

We grab some breakfast and head off to another buddies house in Queens to park the car. We make great time as traffic isn't as bad as what I expected and get their in about an two hours. We meet up with a bunch of other fellas we know and decide it's time to go to the fan gathering. We get what seems like easy directions for the subway. One train to Manhattan, then jump on another to get the gathering. Well, the it's not. The 7 train isn't a big deal. But we find out the C train we need to connect to isn't running that day. We have no clue on which train will get us where we need to be. It's about twenty blocks and we have time, so we foot it.

At the fan gathering I see more familiar faces of the other fans I've gotten to know over the years and our gracious host Greg has once again purchased enough food and drinks for an army. We fill our bellies and hang out for a couple of hours. A group of us try and decide what to since we have a plenty of time before the show. One of the Boston guys leads us on a tour of Central Park, then we walk about thirty blocks to the Manhattan Center. That's a lot of walking! Going through Time's Square at night is amazing to see. This is my second time to New York and the first time I didn't get to see hardly anything as I was in town for work. We eventually get into the venue and it's almost wrestling time.

I love the look of the Manhattan Center. It's much bigger than it comes across on DVD. The audience is hot before the the show even begins. I'm not going to go into the details of the show. But a couple of quick notes. As one of the guys in our group stated, it's like RoH jumped in a capsule and its ECW 97 as it was an unusual show with run ins, dusty finishes, violence, blood, and normal kick ass wrestling. What most impressed me was Misawa. He was on tonight. The 42 year old was doing plancas, diving off the ropes, and brought his usual hard hitting style. At one point in the match, I thought Kenta had won and we just witness history of the GHC Title being changed on US soil, but the crafty Misawa kicked out at about 2 and 3/4's. My one beef with the show was the placement of honoring Joe Huiguchi. The crowd was violently hot after the Briscoes and Age of the Fall match went to a quick double DQ. I thought a riot would break out. To put Joe and Harley Race in the ring after that segment was odd. The crowd was very disrespectful though most of it. However when all is said and done, this may be the best RoH show I have ever seen live. And I've seen many sent 2004.

After the show we decide it's best to get on the road again instead of the after party. We say our goodbyes and hit the subway again. About an hour later, we are on the road. We get out of NYC and I try to sleep as my friend wants to take the night shift. We get into Pennsylvania about an hour later and he cant drive anymore. I take over for about thirty minutes later decide I shouldn't be driving either. It's around 3:30am and we get an overpriced hotel room to get a few hours of real sleep.

I wake up just before 8am. If I go back to sleep it may noon before I wake again. As I see the sun shining and go get some coffee. I wake my buddy up, get some food and lots of caffeine (Java Monster & Rockstar Juice = goodness), and we are on road once again. He sleeps and I drive. I get us into Ohio (about 4.5 hours) and he takes over so I can sleep, but only for a short time. He is totally wiped out and wants to pull over and nap. I am not happy about this, but since I wrecked his car don't complain much. I take back over and with the help of several stations carrying football scores and highlights make it to the place we met about 5pm. I've got over an hour left and he's get about two. We part ways and I hope he can make it home alright. I take one last look at his damages car and realize the irony. It would have been much cheaper to fly from Fort Wayne. I hope the repair bill isn't too bad. With the help of the Colts game on the radio, I make it home and can watch the second half of the game.

All in all, the time in New York was awesome. An outstanding show with good friends is more than you can ask for. I love wrestling, but more and more it's becoming about the comradeships built with others over the years. Now the driving out with two people on hardly any sleep...that need to change for next East Coast trip. I'd love to Final Battle weekend, but now don't know if I can afford it. Guess I'll wait for the repair bill. Man, I am pissed!

Wrestling #7: One Helluva Tournament

Last weekend, IWA-MS had its annual Ted Petty Invitational Tournament in Chicago. For the third straight year I was in attendance and once again, not disappointed.

There is a strong history with the tourny, from the beginnings when it was called The Sweet Science Sixteen to the name change in 2003 after the death of Ian's close friend Ted Petty aka Rocco Roc and expansion to 24 wrestlers through today. Some of the best indy talent has made their way through this tournament over the years and the list of names to win the event is quite impressive: Chris Hero, CM Punk, BJ Whitmer, AJ Styles, Matt Sydal, and Low-ki. The tournament used to feature mainly IWA-MS talent, which has been plentiful in the promotion's near eleven year existence. What began as a tournament to showcase wrestling skills for the performers of his own promotion (with an occasional big indy name thrown in the mix), Ian has turned this into one of the top events on the US wrestling scene. The changed occurred in 2004 when the event featured a who's who of young performers who would make a name for themselves only a few short years later. Part of that years list included Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Alex Shelly, Claudio Castagnoli, Matt Quackenbush, Chris Sabin, Super Dragon, Petey Williams, Matt Sydal, Homicide, Nigel McGuinness, Chris Hero, CM Punk, Jimmy Rave, Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong. Some called it the best tournament of all time.

The last three years have all promised their share of big names, which led to a few drop outs every time, trying to live up to the standard 2004 created. This year was no exception as the initial twelve were awesome. However because of certain issues and money problems, several wrestlers announced months were changed. Many fans were pissed off when the announcement was made about a week before the event.

Even though I was disappointed in the changes, the tourny still looked very good on paper. I viewed the changes as a return to the event's roots as Ian had to use more of his normal IWA-MS talent as fill ins for the dropped wrestlers (Chuck Taylor, Josh Abercrombie, Brandon Tomaselli). The event still had former regulars Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Nigel McGuinness, Nate Webb, and BJ Whitmer along with Eddie Kingston, Davey Richards, Mike Quackenbush, Brent Albright, Human Tornado, Joey Ryan, and (2 Cold) Scorpio. I was still pumped for the show and the chance to hang out with my wrestling buddies.

Going into the event, Mike Quackenbush was the fan favorite to win this year. The masses love this guy and for great reasons. This was the first time the Lightweight champion (Quack) and the IWA-MS champion (Taylor, who has held the title almost one year to the day) were both in the tourny and both men defended the title in each of their matches. Before going any farther, please note there are spoilers in the rest of this article.




The first night was a good time. Lots of entertaining matches with different styles; a little high flying, a little brawling, a little violence, and a little mat work. If you ask five different people what the best match was, you'd probably receive five different answers. My favorite three matches were Chuck Taylor vs Jimmy Jacobs, Brent Albright vs Tank, and Chris Hero vs Scorpio. A Kingston vs Hero Last Man Standing match was set up for night two and both champs kept their title and moved on.

The second night was when the emotional ride really started. As stated, nearly all wanted Quack to be victorious but no one was 100% sure he would win. The quarter finals saw Taylor again make a successful defense, this time against the veteran Scorpio (which surprised some). Claudio Castagnoli beat Davey Richards in a rapid fire event. Human Tornado bested Nate Webb in not only a match, but a dance contest (though Nate would probably disagree on the later). Also winning were Josh Abercrombie and Brent Albright. Not to be forgotten, Quack took a victory against Joey Ryan. During the match Quack dove outside the ring and his foot caught the ropes. He hit the floor hard and the crowd was silenced. He got up and finished the match with a glazed look in his eyes and moving on instincts.

After intermission, Ian informed the crowd that the NWA representative Ed Chuman said Quack wouldn't be able to perform any longer tonight (yes IWA-MS is a member of the NWA). The crowd went silence for the next two matches as their fallen hero would come up short yet again. Lost in the mix was another title defense by Chuck Taylor beating the Human Tornado and a great match with Claudio winning over Albright. Abercrombie came out to get announced as the last man in the finals. Suddenly Quackenbush burst through the curtain and the venue exploded in cheers and chants of "Quack". He was going to have his match. In a spectacular technical match, Quack come out on top. Ian came out and said he wanted to thank Quackenbush because by him wrestling, it got IWA-MS out of it's NWA affiliate contract. Storyline or shoot, I could care less as I was caught up in the emotional rollercoaster of the tournament.

The last man standing match was brutal as Hero got the early advantage and pounded Kingston. It all came to an rather abrupt end with one big spot as Kingston got the victory over his nemesis. Next up was the IWA-MS Tag Champion match with the Tomaselli's (champs) vs Nigel & Whitmer, who agreed to help him out. The lost and Albright did a run in setting up a possible Whitmer & Albright vs the Iron Saints match in the future. Onto the finals.

Quackenbush vs Chuck Talor vs Claudio Castagnoli for both the IWA-MS Lightweight and World Championship belts and the 2007 TPI title. The match was fast paced and rapidly moving along with hardly any wasted time. Claudio was the first man to go down, which left champion vs champion. Shortly after Quackenbush got the victory. Choking back emotions Quack gave an emotional speech, which nearly had me in tears as I was completely lost in the moment. Ian gave a speech of his own and said he was proud to have a class act like Quack not only as his champions and the TPI winner but as a friend. The show ended with chants of "Teddy", a thing the crowd does to honor Ted when they witness a great moment or spot. And what an incredible moment it was.