It was Rowdy Roddy Piper's bithday, then Hell Froze Over!

Yes, that is who you think it is. The Hot Rod himself. Saturday was Rowdy Roddy Piper's birthday and he spent it at Waukesha County Expo Center as one of the headliners at Great Lakes Championship Wrestling's Hell Froze Over. If you've followed this blog since its inception, you know I'm a wrestling fan and that I have been to the last few GLCW shows and have nothing but good things to say about what Dave Herro, Perry the Mortgage Doctor and the rest of the crew puts on.

Saturday night was no different. Piper was pretty entertaining and he even let go in a little Piper's Pit that featured Dakota Darsow. Darsow is the son of Barry Darsow, or Demolition member Smash.
It was a pretty good shoot segment on Barry and helped set up the main event of the night which was a 4 on 3 handicap match that pitted Dakota and three friends against Road Warrior Animal and Demolition. Which gave the name of the event. It marked the first time ever RW Animal had teamed with Demolition.


The undercard matches were pretty good and despite not knowing any of them, the matches actually went pretty long and were able to build some pretty good heat. I know I've grown up in a Vince McMahon dictated wrestling landscape, so maybe that's where I get it from, but you don't see it all the time. That's a hat tip to Herro for letting them do their thing and to the wrestlers themselves for being skilled enough to get it done.


Before the main event of the night, the GLCW title was up for grabs in a triple threat match that featured Al Snow against Road Dogg BG James and "XPac" Sean Waltman. This was a rather entertaining match. Knowing all three of these guys, it was pretty easy to follow. Al Snow played the crowd great. As did the other two and all were in on a great finish.
In the triple sleeper hold shown below, everyone including the ref, was out. When the guys realized this, they all went for steel chairs. By that point the ref was coming to again. So all three realize this and smash their chairs on the mat and go down. The ref comes to and takes the chairs out of the ring. At this point, Road Dogg takes the GLCW title and hits XPac with it, but Al is waiting with Head to takes down BG. That allows him to get the pin and retain his title. Great stuff.


It was now time for the main event. This was Animal's first appearance inside a ring in three years. Obviously he's a bit older and doesn't move like he used to, but he's still got it. For those of you wondering, he did not bring the shoulder pads.


Demolition isn't much better, but they played off each other well and let the kids carry the movement of the match. The match ended with Smash chasing his son to the back and Ax and Animal finished it off. Decent as far as finishes go,  but nothing special. Again, might be because I've been conditioned by Vinny Mac.


All in all a good show that got a little build up from Blizzard Brawl. The next even was announced as Italian Rumble 2 which will be at the Italian Community Center in Downtown Milwaukee on Friday, June 11. Now the pictures I used here are just a sample of the ones that turned out for me. You can see the rest in my Facebook albums, here.

The Nussie Hunter has to have a say in what goes on the page and he saw the GLCW Ladies title match. Which was first won by Traci Brooks, but then by 1250 WSSP's Mike Wickett. Yes another man holds the Ladies title. And since we're not in the business of putting men on the page in that way, Traci Brooks is set to appear at Italian Rumble 2 and has been in the pages of Playboy. Take a look for yourself. Pretty good stuff!

A fan's take on GLCW's Blizzard Brawl 5

Let me run down this list for you. King Kong Bundy, Road Warrior Animal, Demolition's Axe and Smash, Armando Estrada, Ken Anderdson, "Road Dog" Jesse James, Bad Ass Billy Gunn, Al Snow, Mick Foley and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. (I know I didn't get everyone in there, just go with me for a second).
Sounds like a who's who of profressional wrestling's key players in the last 20 years. And, guess what? They were all in one place, the Waukesha County Expo Center Saturday, Dec. 5 for Great Lakes Championship Wrestling's "Blizzard Brawl 5."
I had the pleasure of catching a GLCW show back in August and it was a great show. So when my friend introduced me to some of the people involved with the organization, I knew I had to find a way to get back to see this event. And as fate would have it, my schedule cleared just in in time for me to make the event.
The place packed in quite nicely (I heard talks of over 1,500 people making it out which is awesome!) and the show started. I must say this is just my second independent wrestling show I've ever attended, I was once again amazed with the show.
This was the first time I've seen Dakota Darsow, son of Demolition's Barry Darsow, wrestle and I'd say he impressed. Looked very sharp in the ring and got a win.
It was good to see Headbanger Mosh still around and on top of his game, too.
I must say, there were a couple highlights of the night, though. Let's go in order.
First, like the top picture shows, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was in the house and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett made the day Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Day in the city. It was a very touching moment. And to see Bobby was great. You can check the ceremony on the GLCW site. I found his WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Pretty good collection of stuff from 2004.



I'd have to say the Ken "Kennedy" Anderson versus Armando Alejandro Estrada match was the most "hyped" match of the night against two guys that have left Vince McMahon's big machine. Here's the video of the two of them before the match. Pretty good stuff.






This match was dedicated to Eddie "Umaga" Fatu who passed Friday night. Estrada got his start in WWE as Umaga's "handler" and I must say it was great to see him and Ken pay tribute to Umaga. I feel the need to say some good words here. I am a sports writer and I can appreciate a great athlete when I see one. Umaga was that. When I watched WWE, I was not completely behind the character, but I knew he was one of the best in-ring performers the company had. It is sad to see another man down in the industry.
Was kind of shocked to hear that Estrada announced his retirement after the show. I was very impressed with his in-ring abilities (who knew he was ripped?). Great touch with the 10-bell salute at the start of the show and having Estrada there, I got to see the only tribute that mattered.

The final match of the night brought Mick Foley, Al Snow (with Head) and the New Age Outlaws to the ring for what started as a Triple Threat with Foley as the special enforcer. It then became a tag team match. That turned out pretty good.

My final take on the show was that it was very well done. I give a hat tip to Dave Herro for putting on the showand Perry the Mortgage Doctor for coming through with the tickets for me. Good work and can't wait to see another show!

And while this blog has a theme, I still get to do a Nussie Hunter of the day. TNA Women's champ ODB was at the show and while she was awesome, not really my style.
Figured I'd share the woman I feel is one of, if not THE hottest, woman in all of pro wrestling, Eve Torres. Yes, she is HAWT!