F1rst Wrestling delivers with X-Pac versus Jerry Lynn

On June 19 I was able to catch my second F1rst Wrestling show down in Minneapolis’ historic First Avenue nightclub. To say the least the event did not disappoint and was one of the best wrestling shows I have ever been to, independent or not.

The show opened with Cody O’Neill coming out for his retirement match against “The Anarchist” Arik Cannon, only for Cannon to be jumped by O’Neill’s regular tag team partner Aaron Corbin and Cory O’Neill, Cody’s identical twin brother. I had no idea there were two O’Neill brothers so it was quite the surprise for yours truly. However in the parking lot before the show I saw Corbin and a brother arrive, only to be greeted by the other brother, which kind of tripped me out. Small tangent aside, Cannon was saved by the North Star Express (Ryan Cruz and Darin Corbin), which set up a six-man tag match for later in the show. And after some research I did confirm that Darin Corbin is the younger brother of Aaron Corbin, which isn’t surprising based on their similiar appearances.

In the actual opening match Arya Daivari made his return to F1rst Wrestling and laid out an open challenge, which was answered by Horace the Psychopath. Daivari is actually the brother of more famous wrestler Shawn Daivari (who has worked extensively in WWE and currently wrestles as Sheik Adbul Bashir in TNA Wrestling) which isn’t surprising because they look and wrestle virtually alike. Like they always say…the more you….Anyways, Horace won the match with a crucifix roll-up after Arya got lazy with his own pin cover. Arya was over huge as long time fans recognized him and I wager a few popped thinking it was his older brother. After the match, Arya left Horace lying to get his heat back. Good match to open the show, if for nothing more than seeing Arya bust out his awesome Magic Carpet Ride move off the top rope, complete with real “magic carpet.”

In the second match, “Playboy” Pete Huge and Allison Wonderland beat the masked Yellow Dog and Shark Girl. The match was rife with some good old fashioned pro wrestling comedy including some serious groping on both female participants. Huge and Wonderland won the match when Huge pinned Dog. Dog was really over with his ridiculous dog-eared mask and tail on his trunks. He will be participating in CHIKARA’s Young Lions Cup this year and should get over big with the CHIKARA faithful. It should also be noted that Shark Girl is really current TNA star Daffney under the pink finned mask.

Up next was Arik Cannon and The North Star Express against Aaron Corbin and the O’Neill brothers. The match started off slow but picked up into something absolutely fantastic. It was easily best independent match I have seen live and one of the best I have seen live, period. After a feel-out period the high flying started and ended with virtually all the participants diving onto each other, taking out the chairs on the west side of the club. Back in the ring they picked it up with a finisher parade including a 3-D from the North Stars, an Asai DDT from Cody and a Trouble in Paradise kick from Corbin. The North Stars, Corbin and Cory O’Neill all took another spill to the outside. The match really picked up with a superplex from a top rope onto those on the floor with Arik and Cody. The 500 plus fans in First Avenue showed their appreciation with “Holy Sh!t” and “This is Awesome” chants, which are now standard sayings for wrestling crowds. After that spot everyone disappeared from ringside, essentially leaving it to Cannon and Cody, which was the match’s main issue anyways. The two men put on another ten or fifteen minutes of great action where they traded finishing moves and high impact spots. The finish finally came when Cannon hit Cody with a second Dead Level brainbuster and a Shimmering Warlock (step up inziguri kick.) After the match, Cannon and Cody embraced and Cannon put over Cody and his wrestling career. Cody then took the mic, thanked his family, his wrestling family and Arik, who trained him many years ago. The crowd were in unison chanting “Co-dy” as he laid it out all out in his last match. It was truly a great sendoff for a young independent wrestler who was calling it quits in order to move on with his life. Despite the good natured heckling he received from the crowd during the match, he got nothing but admiration and respect from them as he said goodbye.

They kept the intensity up for the fourth match as “6% Bodyfat” Rob James beat “The Death Match Drunkard” Danny Havoc in a Minneapolis Death Match. James pinned Havoc after a Package Piledriver onto a pile of thumbtacks. The match was a typical independent hardcore match, filled with a brawl all across the nightclub, staple guns (including a dollar bill to Havoc’s tongue), a broken beer bottle and whole lot more. It was reminiscent of that match Mickey Rourke had in “The Wrestler.” This was two times seeing James, and two hardcore brawls, which is kind of odd for a guy with such a pretty boy gimmick. And for those who say wrestling is fake or that those weapons aren’t real, I ran into James in the bathroom after the match and his back looked like hamburger thanks to the barbed wire, thumbtacks and other paraphernalia.

After an intermission to clean up the joint, the incredibly popular Midwest Ground and Air (“The Popular” Nate Bash and “The Professional” Benjamin Sailer) beat the masked UDO and Venom in a fun little tag team match. The lightweight, high-flying Midwest Ground and Air took out their much, much larger opponents with a Doomsday Dropkick combination. After the match, all four men shared some Budweisers only for some random guy in a poor-looking cop costume came out to arrest Venom for public intoxication and hauled him off in handcuffs. It should be noted that Udo and Venom instantly became favorites of mine by using Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” as their entrance theme, hailing from “wherever Kelly Clarkson is” and being announced at a weight of “four kegs.”

Then it was a falls count anywhere match between Daffney and Anne Brookstone. It was a typical falls anywhere match as they brawled all through the bar and ended up in the men’s room. It was hard to follow the action as they moved all over the place. Anne won the match with a roll up on Daffney in the middle of the ring. It was a hard match to follow, and I couldn’t see much as I elected not to follow the crowd throughout the bar.

The main event was a match between two “hometown boys who made it big” with Jerry Lynn and X-Pac. Lynn and X-Pac have wrestled with and against each other since 1990, so to say they know each other well would be an understatement. I was expecting more of a traditional heel versus face match with X-Pac playing his usually sneaky bad guy character but rather the two old friends came out and just had a phenomenally fun bout. They played to their hometown fans and essentially put on a greatest hits exhibition. They event brawled out into the crowd and JL dropped an elbow onto X-Pac and through a ringside table. X-Pac got the pin with a cradle, but the result didn’t really matter. After the match the entire locker room came out to the ramp and gave the two Minnesota legends a curtain call standing ovation. Both Lynn and X-Pac then took the microphone and thanked their hometown friends, fans and family as X-Pac become visibly teary-eyed and emotional. Then the entire roster joined the two in the ring as they shook hands with fans that had crowded ringside. Both X-Pac and JL were top-notch performers and class acts to their fans. I was really taken aback at how emotional and “into it” X-Pac was, even going so far as to say it was his son’s seventeenth birthday. He really brought a performance I wasn’t expecting from him.

It was an absolutely fantastic show that had easily 5 – 600 people in attendance (but then again I’m terrible with numbers like that). It was full of great moments and an incredibly hot and responsive crowd. The crowd was a true mix of stereotypical hardcore fans, families, teens and twentysomethings who looked like they were just making this part of their evening and some of those from the older crowd how looked like they already had a day in corporate America. I had a great time and by the time the main event rolled around I moved down into the throng of ringside fans and just enjoyed the interaction between JL and X-Pac.

Early in the show they announced they would be back on July 31 with “Friday Night Fantasy,” a night of women’s only wrestling, featuring stars like Nora “Molly Holly” Greenwald, Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, Christy Hemme, Lisa Marie “Victoria” Varon and Minneapolis’ own ODB.