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National Pro Wrestling day in Philadelphia

February 5th, 2013 by Mr. C

(The high flying A.C.H. during the day session)

Last Saturday’s festivities to celebrate National Pro Wrestling day in Philadelphia originated in the Bronx as the Mondo-mobile scooped me up in Northern NJ as we hightailed down the dirty NJ turnpike to the National Guard Armory in Philadelphia for an afternoon and evening lineup of matches. It was pretty surreal to see a fleet of our armed forces in training as another band of wrestling outlaws were smacking each other down in the main space of the armory. But before we would be entertained by these high flying-athletic warriors in tights who have a bit of flair for the dramatics, we had to grease ourselves up with a meal fit for champions – cheesesteaks! Destination – Steve’s Prince of Steaks – it truly made me feel like I was King of the Cheesesteak Throne for the day! A tender slice of steak bathed in a warm & generous spread of cheese-whiz hugged between a torpedo roll which was slightly crispy on the outside and not too doughy. We also loved the self serve pickled peppers in the clear jars! It was so nice that we stopped in at Steve’s Prince of Steaks twice before our trip back up north! This time I got an Italian Hoagie, though!

(Steve’s Prince of Steaks – 7200 Bustleton Ave Philadelphia, PA 19149)

(Steve’s Prince of Steaks – 2711 Comly Road Philadelphia, PA 19154)

After refueling our bodies fit for a blogger, we dipped back to the armory to catch the last few matches of the daytime card. An all star collective of independent wrestling organizations would be called upon to restore order on this day! Of course I’m a complete neophyte to modern day wrestling as my comfort zone lies to the likes of the 1980’s WWF when Bob Backlund, Andre the Giant, Paul Orndoff, Adrian Adonis, Jimmy Superfly Snuka, Pedro Morales, Big John Studd, George the animal steele, & others dominated! Though recently I’ve been catching up with an Independent wrestling outfit based in NJ called ECPW. The cards at the National Pro Wrestling day in Philadelphia included organizations such as Evolve, Chikara, Resistance Pro Wrestling (Billy Corgan), NYWC, Ring of Honor, Wrestling is Fun, Wrestling is Awesome, Wrestling is Respect, International Wrestling Cartel, & many others! A list of the wrestling organizations as well as the cards can be viewed at the National Pro Wrestling Day homepage.

(Team Chikara)

Some outstanding wrestlers that we saw that day included A.C.H. who we happened to catch on the daytime lineup as he battled in a tournament for the right to fight 2 Cold Scorpio on the evening card. Scorpio is a veteran of the ECW and WWF from the mid to late 90’s. Shameful to say, I didn’t know much about Too Cold but he was pretty impressive especially for an older guy – smashing roundhouse,crescent, & spinning heel kicks to A.C.H. . 2 Cold Scorpio seemed to be most comfortable going toe to toe but he did have some heavy duty splashes off the top rope as well! The diminuitive but diesel A.C.H. on the other hand was a high flying monster performing frog splashes in and out of the ring to parkour type of moves from one rope to another using his whole body as an arsenal! Another impressive match pitted A.R. Fox vs Shane Strickland from Evolve. They both had technical skills on the ground and in the air. There was some serious high flying action that took place outside the ring for this bout! The audience went bonkers with the Chikara tag team match with Los Ice Creams & FIST vs The Colony & 3.0 . This match was all about the comedy and the action. The crowd really got into this one. The New York guys from NYWC – Tony Nese & Apollyon vs Alex Reynolds & John Silver was a power match. Apollyon, sort of a Bam Bam Bigelow’esque large guy had some serious splash in him as well as a few slingshot moves! Another hilarious & fun tag team match from the Wrestling’s Heroes and Outlaws organization pitted The Hurricane & Matty De Nero vs Ophidian & Kobald. The Hurricane looked good but was quite reserved from his WWF/WWE days as I was told. There would also be a danceoff as Ophidian busted a few B-Boy moves as The Hurricane countered back with his 2 step combination! All in all it was a great day of indie wrestling and we can most definitely say – we’ll be back! Support your local independent wrestling circuit, y’all! Checkout the National Pro Wrestling Day website to get more information on the organizations that were involved that day.

(Too Cold Scorpio and A.C.H. locking grips!)

(A.C.H. believes he can fly!)

(Too Cold Scorpio doing damage w/ some roundhouse kicks)

(AR Fox vs Shane Strickland)

(Apollyon)

(The Hurricane & Matty De Nero vs Ophidian & Kobald)

(Team Chikara)

During intermission between the day & nightime bouts, we dipped into South Philly to catch Parts Unknown – a Pro Wrestling Photography show by Zia Hiltey hosted at a really neat cafe called the Grindcore House – The Vegan Coffeehouse! The back room of the cafe was where the photos of the wrestlers were on display. Some intense punk music, metal, & even a soundbyte of Dr. Octagon’s (Kool Keith) ‘3000’ went blasting in our ears as we gazed at the visuals! Some really neat photos of Tatanka, The WWF Wrestling album (1985), El Generico, and more were showcased on the wall! Parts Unknown – A Pro Wrestling Photography Show is on display until March 6th at Grindcore House – 1515 South 4th Street Philadelphia, PA 19147

(Grindcore House – the vegan coffeehouse)

(Massive Awesome comic)