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Posts Tagged ‘Angelo Santelli’

NBWA ‘Pick Your Poison” recap 2-7-2009

Posted by flairwhoooooo on February 14, 2009

nbwa-2

By Rich Dalton:

First and foremost, THANK YOU to all the loyal NBWA fans that came to Danville on Saturday to support the NBWA.  Without your support and devotion there would be no NBWA, so thank you to you all!

As we are set to kick off “Pick Your Poison” we are informed by The Lead Council to the Board of Directors, Jonathon Castle that  the NBWA Mid-West TV Champion, Eric Ruffington is boycotting today’s show, due to the fact that the NBWA fans had chosen for Mr. Ruffington to face off against Cheapshot McGrot in a karaoke competition.  So,wrestling Cheapshot McGrot this afternoon was Cecil Cerveza.  To begin the match Cheapshot demonstrated to Cecil how to do his trademark hand jive, but after that, the fun and games were over with.  It was a hard fought match between the NBWA veterans but in the end Cheapshot was victorious.

Winner by pinfall: Cheapshot McGrot.

Next up on the agenda was a tag team match between the team  of Wild Bill and Nicky “The Weasel” Mankotti against “The Frat Pack” which was the team of Gavin Alexander and Jonathon Napier.  With their new attitudes in tow, Alexander and Napier are looking to take the NBWA tag team division by storm!  There seemed to be a few miscommunications during the match for Gavin and Napier, eventually causing “The Frat Pack” the match.  Wild Bill ended the match when he pinned Gavin following a frog splash.

Winners by pinfall: Wild Bill and Nicky “The Weasel” Mankotti.

Following the match after Gavin and Napier had left ringside, Bill and Weasel were celebrating their victory when who should appear but Aaron Matthews.  It looked as though Matthews had something he wanted to discuss with Wild Bill, but as Aaron had Bill’s attention Jeff Harris attacked Bill from the backside.  This wasn’t just an attack, it was evident that Harris and Matthews had every intention of putting Bill out of action by trying to take out his shoulder.  Just when it looked as if Wild Bill was done for, ‘Bloody” Harker Dirge had come to the rescue.  BHD had chased Harris and Matthews out of the ring, and  in their haste someone had forgotten their tag team title belts, and now Harker Dirge was in possession of the belt.

Following the melee Miss Amanda announces that the new NBWA Heavyweight Champion “Mr. Fabulous” Jason V. was going to be making his way to the ring accompanied by Serenity.  Jason V. makes it known that the NBWA will be keeping in last years tradition with an invitational battle royal to celebrate the NBWA’s 4th anniversary.  Today though, we will be getting a small taste of the battle royal with the winner of today’s battle royal being granted with the final entry in the HUGE invitational Battle royal on March 7th.  With that being said, let the Battle Royal begin…..

The opening participants are DaCobra and “Dangerous” Drew Thomas, who are followed by “The Unpredictable” Cyclone,  Aaron Matthews,  Jeff Harris,  Angelo Santelli, Nicky “The Weasel” Mankotti,  Serinity,  Issan Hadeev,  Cheapshot McGrot, “The Prime Cut” Nick Cutler, Vic “The Pitbull” Santelli,  Wild Bill, D’Andre King, “The Apex” Blake Steel, Gavin Alexander, Cecil Cerveza, Christian Rose, and Anderson Rhodes,.  When the dust settled the final two combatants were Angelo Santelli, and Aaron Matthews, the two former members of “The New Breed” stood face to face for a moment, and then all hell broke loose as the former allies tried to tear one another limb from limb, but in the end Angelo sent Aaron Matthews over the top rope for the win, and the final spot in the invitational battle royal to be held on March 7th, with the w inner being guaranteed a  NBWA Heavyweight Title shot.

Winner: Angelo Santelli.

Following the match Santelli made it know that he was the most decorated champion in the NBWA, and the only title that had eluded him over the years was the one title in Jason V’s possession and he was coming after it!

The next match of the afternoon was a “First Blood Match” between  “The Lord of the Ring” Issan Hadeev and “Dangerous” Drew Thomas.  With this match being a no DQ match we saw the use of many foreign objects such as Issan’s flag pole, a chair, and a staple gun.  In the closing moments of the match involved Issan Hadeev repeatedly stapling the forehead of Drew Thomas causing his head to bleed and thus ending the match.

Winner by first blood: “The Lord of the Ring” Issan Hadeev..

After the match had ended something  inside Drew Thomas head snapped he viscously attacked Issan and the two former members of “Dangerous by Design” brawled inside the ring and out.  Members of the security staff tried to separate the two but to no avail as the y brawled their way into the locker room area.

The fifth match of the afternoon was another match that was chosen by the NBWA fans for “Pick Your Poison” and was between the team of  the newly crowned NBWA No-Limits champion “The Prime Cut” Nick Cutler, and the man he defeated for the=2 0title on Jan.11th  “The Apex” Blake Steel.  Their opponents, who won the fan polling was the team of D’Andre King and Vic “The Pitbull” Santelli, otherwise known as “Encore”.  It was evident from the get go that the team of Cutler and Steel were going some trouble putting their past match behind them. You could hear Cutler throughout the match tell Blake Steel “I could have done it better”.  Nick Cutler wasn’t the only one who had a problem with Blake Steel during the match up, Anderson Rhodes also had issues with Steel after Blake had told Rhodes to go back to the locker room during the match, and Rhodes promised that Blake would have to deal with Eric Ruffington when he returned to the NBWA next month.  With all the bickering within the team of Cutler and Steel, it was just a matter of time before the team self destructed.  I the closing moments of the match it looked as though Blake Steel was going to pull of the win, but Cutler entered the ring and delivered an “Un-prettier” to Blake Steel and then draped D’Andre King over Blake’s lifeless body for the 3 count.

Winner by pinfall: “Encore” ( D’Andre King & Vic “The Pitbull” Santelli)

The next match of the afternoon was the match between the 2008 Alberta J. Murray Memorial Tournament Champion, Da Cobra vs. “The Unpredictable” Cyclone.  This match was al so a “Pick Your Poison “match and the NBWA fans had chosen for this match to be a “ Caribbean Rules Match”.  Apparently the rules for this match were chosen at one point or another by Cyclone himself, and decided it would be to his advantage  to keep the rules of this match a secret until the rules had to be enforced.  The one rule we did know at the onset of this match was that there were two weapons in opposite corners of the match, and they may be used during the match up.  But, there were certain conditions…. They may only be used  for  30 seconds,  a bell would be sounded at the beginning of the time period, and a bell would be sounded at the end of the time period, and if either participant was still holding the weapon at the sound of the second bell, that wrestler would be disqualified.  There would be 4 of these periods within the 15 minute time limit for this match.   So after the lengthy explanation of this rule the bell sounded and Da Cobra hit Cyclone square in the head with a roundhouse kick and went for a cover and got the 1..2…3!   BUT….. “The Don” Kato Morales chimed in from his position at the announce table, and read from the list of Caribbean Rules that there were no 3 counts, you must pin your opponent for a four count.  So the match was restarted, and we saw 2 of the weapons periods  come into play, the first, Cyclone used a chair shot to20the midsection of DaCobra, but was only able to get a 3 count.  Some time went by and the action had now spilled outside the ring when the bell signaling a second weapon period sounded and DaCobra had used a cookie sheet to deliver a knockout blow to Cyclone outside the ring, and a referee Carley Rae administered a 10 count, BUT….yet again “The Don” interjected himself and let everyone know that  in a “Caribbean Rules Match” that in order to be counted out, it must be a 20 count.  But by that time Cyclone had recovered and re entered the ring.  So the match continued until a point where DaCobra had thrown Cyclone over the top rope, and Cyclone’s entrance music began to play, at first everyone had thought it was a malfunctioning sound system, but yet again ‘The Don” announced  one more of the undisclosed  Caribbean rules, and said that  if anyone was thrown over the top rope, it would lead to a disqualification.  So Cyclone was officially announced as the winner of the match.

Winner by disqualification:  “The Unpredictable” Cyclone.

Now, the time had come for this afternoons main event.  A Handicapped tag team elimination match between “The Fabulous” Jason V. and his partners, the NBWA Tag Team Champions” Aaron Matthews & Jeff Harris, who were accompanied by Serenity.  Their opponents for the afternoon were The Heritage Wrestling Coalition Champion “Bloody0 Harker Dirge, and the partner for BHD was chosen by the NBWA fans through the “Pick Your Poison” poll was former NBWA Tag Team Champion Noon Moon.  As a last minute stipulation to the match it was announced that if BHD or Noon Moon pinned Jason V. they would become the NBWA Heavyweight Champion, and if Aaron or Jeff pinned Harker Dirge, they would in turn become the new HWC Champion.  So now with all the stipulations in place, the bell sounds  and the match is under way.  The team headed by Jason V. had the upper hand throughout much of the opening  part of the match, as the team executed many quick tags to keep a fresh man in the ring as they wore down Harker Dirge.  Eventually Harker would tag in Noon Moon to get the fresh man in the ring against the trio of champions.  The match went back and fourth for some time before it came down to BHD and Jeff Harris in the ring as the legal men when harker was able to lock in his patented  Dragon Sleeper, “The Dirt Nap” and Harris had no choice but to tap out.  Now the odds were all evened up with 2 men on each side of the ring, that is until Harker Dirge had a momentarily lapse in sanity and retrieved his chain from the corner of the ring and used it to knock the sense out of Aaron Matthews, and gotten himself disqualified.  Now Noon Moon was all alone against the team of Aaron Matthews and Jason V.  Noon Moon used Harker’s mistake to his=2 0advantage though covering Matthews for the 3 count.  Now it was down to Jason V. and Noon Moon. An angry Jason V.  attacked Noon Moon and soon removed the mask, and the face behind the mask this time was none other than Angelo Santelli!  The two NBWA vet’s fought back and fourth  and as the match continued  “The Don” had slyly  gotten up from his seat  and stood at ringside.  In the mean time Serenity was walking around the ring cheering on Jason V. when “The Don” passed a  huge crescent wrench  off to the young lady.  In the mean time, Angelo had been setting Jason up fir the “Sky High”, but Serenity had reached out to Jason V. and passed off the wrench and V. who had used it to  knock Angelo’s lights out.  All this was unknown to referee Chad Tally who had his back turned away from the action trying to keep “The Don” out of the match.  When Tally had turned back to the action all he could see was Jason V. on top of Angelo and laid down a 3 count.

Winner by Pinfall: “The Fabulous” Jason V.

That just about wraps it up for this edition of the NBWA.  Be sure to mark your calendar on Sunday, February 22nd for the next NBWA live show, featuring legend of the ring Tracy Smothers as he returns to the NBWA!  The action will get under way at the New Breed Gym, located at 400 Sager St. in Danville, IL, with the opening bell set to sound at 2:00.

nbwa-feb-22nd-show

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NBWA” New Beginnings ” January 11 recap

Posted by flairwhoooooo on January 23, 2009

By Rich Dalton

To begin the show, Jason Vendetta makes his way to the ring and demands a rematch against DaCobra, who had defeated Vendetta on Dec. 6th for the Alberta J. Murray Memorial Championship in a Ladder Match. Vendetta claimed that he was screwed out of his trophy by special guest referee Angelo Santelli. Santelli delivered a “Sky High” spine buster from atop the ladder on Vendetta, but only after Vendetta used the banned flipping pile driver, “The Detenator” on DaCobra. The Lead Council to the Board of Directors, Jonathon Castle said that Vendetta was not going to get a rematch, and furthermore DaCobra hadn’t even arrived at the arena as of yet. So, in a show of protest Vendetta sat in the middle of the ring and said the show would not start until he was granted his rematch, but Mr. Castle assure Vendetta that the show WAS going to begin!

Lovely Miss Amanda announced the first match of the afternoon as being for the NBWA Mid-West Championship, and would be the champion, Wild Bill accompanied to the ring by Brandi Harris vs former NBWA Heavyweight Champion, Eric Ruffington. Ruffington and Wild Bill, not knowing what to think of Vendetta still sitting in the middle of the ring began their match. During the opening moments, it was clear that Vendetta wasn’t going to leave the ring after Bill and Ruffington locked up, and Jason Vendetta was caught in between them, in frustration, Bill threw Vendetta out of the ring, only to have him return and reclaim his spot in the center of the ring. Bill and Ruffingon continued their match trying to wrestle around Vendetta but that proved to be easier said than done. In the end, Eric Ruffington was the winner of the match(with a little help from Jason Vendetta)and the new NBWA Mid-West Champion!

Winner by pinfall, and new NBWA Mid-West Champion Eric Ruffington!

Eric Ruffington ( NBWA Mid-West Champion)

Eric Ruffington ( NBWA Mid-West Champion)

Following the match, Vendetta reitereated that he wasn’t leaving the ring until he got his rematch! Who should come to the ring but NBWA Heavyweight /Heritage Champion, “Bloody” Harker Dirge! Harker says that he, like the NBWA fans are tired of listening to Vendetta’s whining and said that since he didn’t have an opponent lined up for the afternoon, and wanted to get a paycheck this week, he challenged Vendetta to a match.

The second match of the afternoon was a Gauntlet Match featuring Issan Hadeev, with a special stipulation that if Issan lost against any of his 4 opponents he would have to sing The national Anthem. Issan’s first opponent was Jordan “Shorty” Vandel, who was making his NBWA debut. Unfortunately for Jordan, it was a short lived debut, Issan had won match #1.

For match #2 Issan’s opponent was Christian Rose, who was also making his NBWA debut, and just like Jordan, didn’t last very long against an angry “Arabian Assassin”.Match #3 for Hadeev was against Nicky “The Weasel” Mankotti. Weasel fared far better than the two previous opponents, but ultimately it was the same result, Issan had beaten Weasel in the 3rd match with “The Camel Clutch”. Finally Issan Hadeev’s 4th opponent for the day was “Da Best Kept Secret” D’Andre King. This match was the most competative of the gauntlet, it started out with Issan and D’Andre testing each others strength, and then they took turns with running shoulder blocks, but neither man would budge. We saw a couple of big suplex’s from D’Andre, and both men each hit a spinebuster on the other, but in the end Issan was victorious in match #4 following a “Jihad” neckbreaker.

Winner: Issan Hadeev

The next match of the afternoon was the very first NBWA women’s match, featuring Brandi Harris vs Jessika Haze. It was a great match for “Little Sis”, considering she won the match, but it was the aftermath that everyone was talking about . After Brandi’s big win in her debut, Wild Bill joined her in the celebration and in a real shocker, Brandi dropped to her knees and nailed Bill with an uppercut to the groin, and then got on the mic and told everyone what a looser Bill was!

Winner by pinfall: Brandi Harris

Up next, Mr. Castle came back to the ring to make the announcement that due to Simply Divosi’s broken clavical that he suffered in an ATV accident over the holidays, the NBWA No-Limits Championship was going to be up for grabs in this next match. The match was between Nick Cuttler, and “The Apex” Blake Steel. Steel made his way to the ring preceded by Anderson Rhodes, and Eric Ruffington, but what came as a shock was that Blake had asked Anderson and Eric to leave ringside, Blake said that he wanted to win the title on his own. This pleased the crowed, who was rather oddly cheering for Blake for the entire match. And what a match it was, it saw both competitors get near falls, and multiple submission holds. In the end Nick Cutler was victorious!

Winner by pinfall, and new NBWA No-Limits Champion: Nick Cutler

Nick Cuttler,( NBWA No-Limits Champion

Nick Cuttler,( NBWA No-Limits Champion)

After a short intermission, we get back to the action with a NBWA Tag team Title match between “The Worlds Greatest Masked Tag Team” vs the team of Jeff Harris and Aaron Matthews. It was a fast paced, action packed match that saw yet another betrayal. During the closing moments of the match, a fatigued Cheapshot McGrot was attempting to make a tag to his partner, but Cyclone refused the tag, backing away from the corner, signaling that he wasn’t getting in the match leaving Cheapshot to fend for himself. “Jeff and Aaron” then won the match when Aaron Matthews hit a Shooting Star Press on Cheapshot and then got the 1..2..3!

Winner’s and new NBWA tag Team Champions” Jeff and Aaron”
Following the match Cyclone helped celebrate the win with Matthews and Harris

Next up was the debut of “The Japanese Nightmare” Kahagas, and hi opponent was the 2008 Alberta J. Murray Memorial Champion DaCobra. For those who didn’t see this match you missed a vicious man in action, you can see why Kahagas is called “The Japanese Nightmare”, it not often that you see DaCobra manhandled the way he was in the opening minutes of the match, literally being tossed around like a ragdoll! Following a brief timeout from DaCobra to regroup he re entered the ring using his speed and quickness to combat Kahagas rather than strength. The rest of the match featured quick kicks from DaCobra, and Kahagas always seemed to match DaCobra kick for kick. One advantage Kahagas had was his sickening chops, he must have hit half a dozen bone chilling chop on DaCobra during the early goings of the match. In the final moments of the match Kahagas had DaCobra in the far corner of the ring, and hit a massive headbutt the the chest, and then began to unleash yet another series of vicious chops on DaCobra when DaCobra hit the mat and rolled Kahagas up in a small package for the 3 count.

Winner by pinfall: DaCobra

Following the match the NBWA crowd gave Kahagas a huge round of applause and chanted “Please Come Back”.

Next up was a tag team match between the team of Cecil Cerveza and “Dangerous” Drew Thomas, vs a team called “The Blackhearts” who were two VERY large men who were accompanied to the ring by “TNT” Keny G. Despite being the smaller of the two teams Cecil and Drew took all that the Blackhearts could give them, and then some, in the end though it was a bit of trickery that won the match for The Blackhearts. It looked as though Cecil had the match under control when he had one of the Blackhearts down, and Cecil turned his head for a moment and the Blackhearts pulled a switch-a-roo, while referee Tally was busy with Keny G. Cecil went to the top rope for a diving headbutt, but the fresh Blackheart rolled out of harms way, and that lead to a victory for The Blackhearts”

Winner by pinfall: The Blackhearts

Finally, for the main event of the evening, it was the NBWA heavyweight Champion “Bloody” Harker Dirge vs “#1” Jason Vendetta, who was being accompanied to the ring by “Serenity” who we had previously know as Brandi Harris. During the early goings it was all Harker Dirge, that is until some help showed up for Jason Vendetta. Jeff Harris and Aaron Matthews came to the ring to help even the odds for Vendetta. While the referee was busy dealing with Serenity, Aaron had set up a steel chair in the corner of the ring for Vendetta to use to his advantage, and that’s exactly what happened. Vendetta used Harkers Head as a battering ram right into the steel chair, but Harker just wouldn’t quit, kicking out of the pin at a 2 count. It was another foreign object though that spelled the demise of BHD. While referee Tally was busy with Jeff and Aaron Serenity had gotten a pipe wrench from underneath the ring and slid it into Vendetta who then used the wrench to clock Harker right in the temple knocking him out cold. Vendetta went for the cover and got the 3 count!

Winner and new NBWA Heavyweight Champion: Jason Vendetta.

Serenity& Jason Vendetta (The NBWA Heavyweight Champion)

Serenity & Jason Vendetta (The NBWA Heavyweight Champion)

What a day it was at The New Breed Gym, four title changes in all, two betrayal’s, and six brand new faces in the ring!

We welcome everyone to join us on Saturday, February 7th for “Pick Your Poision” begining at 2:00 PM. Go to NBWA Myspace for more info.

See you there!

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NBWA 2008 Year in review.

Posted by flairwhoooooo on January 17, 2009

By Rich Dalton
new-breed-wrestling1

The NBWA started off the year not just with a bang, but a BIG BANG! During the first week of 2008, it was announced that the NBWA had reached a deal with UPTV( Comcast Cable Access Channel 6 in Champaign/Urbana) to broadcast the brand new television series “NBWA Championship Wrestling” which would feature 1 hour of NBWA matches and interviews that had been taped at the live NBWA events. So on January 13th, 2008, the NBWA wrestlers and fans all gathered in Danville, Illinois for the first ever “NBWA Championship Wrestling” Live T.V. tapings. The NBWA champions to begin the year were Cecil Cerveza as the NBWA No-Limits Champion, “The Worlds Greatest Masked Team” held the Tag Team Titles, “Bloody” Harker Dirge was the Mid-West Champion, and “The Don” Kato Morales held the NBWA Heavyweight Title. During the show “The Don” made the announcement that at the very next show “Pick Your Poison” The NBWA would have a 6 man cage match for the NBWA Heavyweight Title, the participants would include Jon Divosi, Eric Ruffington, Angelo Santelli, Da Cobra, Jason Vendetta, and “The Don” Kato Morales.

When the dust settled on February 9th, the NBWA had not just one new champion, but ALL 4 NBWA titles had changed hands that day! The first championship to change hands was the Tag Team Titles that were held by “The Worlds Greatest Masked Team”, they were defeated by the team “The Killer Bee’s” (Josh Powers & Morton Von Prose), who were making their NBWA debut. “Hero of the Day” Danny McKay, who was also a member of “The Killer Bee’s” also, won gold that afternoon defeating Cecil Cerveza to claim the NBWA No-Limits Championship. For the first time ever, the NBWA held a “Casket Match” between “Bloody” Harker Dirge and his long time nemesis Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun was able to capture the Mid-West title thanks in part to the help of a ball of fire! To end the show, the crowd witnessed the crowning of a new NBWA Heavyweight Champion, Eric Ruffington in the 6 man cage match. Ruffington won the title with the help of “The Don”, who claimed to be injured earlier in the match and was escorted to the locker room, only to re-appear during the final moments costing Aaron Mathews the win. Following the match “The Don” turned his back on the NBWA fan’s and one by one demolished his former allies, Jon Divosi, Angelo Santelli, Nicky “The Weasel” Mankotti, and Aaron Mathews.

"Bloody" Harker Dirge NBWA Wrestler of the Year

"Bloody" Harker Dirge NBWA Wrestler of the Year

On Sunday, February 24th, “The Nose Bleed Seats” held their first annual awards presentation, recognizing the achievements of wrestlers through central Illinois. A whopping five awards went out to the lady, and gentlemen of the NBWA. Carley Rae won “Referee of the Year”, Issan Hadeev won the award for “Most Hated”, the newly crowned NBWA Heavyweight Champion, Eric Ruffington won the “Golden Mic Award”, “Dangerous” Drew Thomas won the “Diamond in the Rough Award”, and “Bloody” Harker Dirge took home the “Respect Award”

NBWA Superstar- Simply Divosi

NBWA Superstar- Simply Divosi

In March the NBWA debuted a brand new TV show on UPTV, “Off the Ropes” OTR was a one hour long show hosted by Jon Divosi, as he sat down to talk with many local wrestlers, referees, commentators, and promoters. “Off the Ropes” only taped 15 or so episodes, and then went into re-runs for most of the remainder of the year. Many of the “Off the Ropes” episodes are still available to watch on-line on Google Video, just search for “Off the Ropes”

On March 16th, the NBWA celebrated their 3rd anniversary with the “Eric Ruffington Invitational Battle Royal”, which featured 52 wrestlers from all over the mid-west, all trying to score a win, and an opportunity to face the new NBWA heavy weight champion. On a bit of a sad note, the battle royal was the final match for Former Tag team Champion, and No-Limits champion “Pain Train”, and the final appearance of former Heavyweight Champion, former Mid-West Champion, and Former tag Team Champion, Jeckel. NBWA newcomer Bobby Houston was the winner of the battle royal, who later went on to lose the promised title match against Ruffington. Other highlights from this show include Cheapshot McGrot defeating Midnight Sun to capture the NBWA Mid-West Title. This would be the last time Midnight Sun appeared in the NBWA, where the masked man disappeared to is still unknown to this day. “The Future” Donavan Ruddick made his NBWA debut in the battle royal. In the main event of the evening, “The Don” Kato Morales reformed the team of “Dangerous by Design” marking the return of Issan Hadeev who had been MIA for 4 months. “Dangerous by Design” would face off against “The New Breed” in an 8 man tag team match. During the match, there was an altercation between teammates “The Don” and DaCobra. “The Don” slapped DaCobra, and DaCobra left the ring, and returned to the locker room leaving his team at a disadvantage 4 against 3. Now it looked as though “The New Breed” was going to get some revenge on “The Don”, but in another stunning moment in NBWA history, Aaron Mathews super kicked his partner Angelo Santelli, and turned his back on the NBWA fans, and once again was on the side of “The Don”.

Aaron Mathews is one of the young guns to look out for in 2009

Aaron Mathews is one of the young guns to look out for in 2009

On April 4th, Aaron Mathews had the chance to explain his action from the previous show. Aaron had said that it was the fans that turned their backs on Matthews in February, who had cheered for Harker Dirge to be appointed to the 6 man cage match following “The Don’s” injury, instead of their hero Aaron Matthews. Also on April 4th the NBWA held a series of qualifying matches for the 3rd annual Alberta J. Murray Memorial Tournament. Qualifiers included Jaxson Pride, Jason Vendetta, Issan Hadeev, Aaron Matthews, and DaCobra. Other highlights from the show include the presentation of the brand new NBWA Mid-West Television Title, which was won by Aaron Matthews in a Fatal 4 Way Match against, Cheapshot McGrot Cyclone and, Nick Cuttler. Former NBWA Tag Team Champions “Team Dammit” was victorious in their long awaited return to the NBWA ring to answer the open challenge from “The Killer Bee’s” in a non title match. DaCobra made it official, he was no longer affiliated with “The Don”, he was now one of the “good guys” joined by friend and partner “Da Best Kept Secret” D’Andre King. Finally, in what would be his final act as commissioner of the NBWA, Tittie Nashville announced that Jon Divosi and Angelo Santelli were going to be participants in the Alberta J. Murray Memorial Tournament. It is still unknown as to what ever happened to commissioner Nashville, he just disappeared, never to be heard from again……

On May 11th, NBWA celebrated Mother’s Day, with a special tribute to all mom’s, “Mother’s Day Mayhem” This show marked the NBWA debut of “The New Age Rat Pack” Andy Roberts and Connor Riley, who would later go on the be called the “R&R Escorts”. Also in a feature match, NBWA fan Melissa Castle defended the pride of all Mom’s in the audience with a victory in a tag team match with NBWA referee’s Shad and Chad Tally against Jason Vendetta and “Your Role Model” Jeff Harris. In the main event NBWA fans saw “Bloody” Harker Dirge win his match against NBWA Mid-West Television Champion Aaron Matthews by disqualification, but this marked the beginning of what would go on to be the NBWA “Fued of the Year” between BHD and NBWA Heavyweight Champion Eric Ruffington following Ruffington’s involvement in the match.

The month of May also saw the debut of the NBWA sponsored recreational league softball ball team. The team featured such NBWA stars as Jon Divosi, Angelo Santelli, Aaron Matthews, Jeff Harris, Jon Castle, Vic Santelli, and “The Don”. Team New Breed didn’t fare too well only winning 3 games and losing 13.

On May 24th, the NBWA returned to Lincoln’s Challenge Academy in Rantoul, IL for the first time since November of 2007 when “Dangerous” Drew Thomas suffered his broken neck at the hands of Jason Vendetta. To open the show, ‘The Don” Eric Ruffington, Issan Hadeev, and others attempted to burn the American flag, as the LCA cadets littered the ring with soda bottles and other misc. trash. Their plans were foiled as an angry “Bloody” Harker Dirge stormed the ring and rescued the flag. The fans in Rantoul also saw a “last chance battle royal” for the 8th and final spot in the Alberta J. Murray Memorial Tournament. The last two participants were “Mr. Excitement”, Brandon Keith and Cyclone; in the end it was Mr. Excitement who claimed the final spot in the tournament. Also in Rantoul, D’Andre King got his first taste of NBWA gold by defeating “Hero of the Day” Danny McKay to capture the NBWA No-Limit’s Title. Adam Evans made his return to the NBWA after almost 2 years in a 6 man tag team match with Angelo Santelli, and Jon Divosi as they faced off against Aaron Matthews, Issan Hadeev, and Jason Vendetta. Also making his return to the NBWA was “The Strangler” Diego Corleone after nearly a one year absence, he faced off against “Bloody” Harker Dirge in the 3rd phase of a gauntlet match. Harker was victorious in the match winning the opportunity to face NBWA Heavyweight Champion Eric Ruffington. BHD won his match against Ruffington, but unfortunately it was a win by DQ, and as we all know a title cannot change hands by a DQ.

June 8th held the 3 annual Alberta J. Murray Memorial Tournament, but just 1 week before the show a video had made its way to the internet that was an eye witness account of vehicular assault on Jon Divosi, Nicky Mankotti, and Angelo Santelli. Mankotti, and Divosi escaped the assault with minor cuts and bruises, but Angelo Santelli wasn’t so lucky. Angelo suffered severe bruising, and a neck injury causing him to bow out of the tournament. As the tournament played out, DaCobra, Issan Hadeev, Jon Divosi, and Aaron Matthews all won opening round matches, and in the second round DaCobra def Issan Hadeev, and Divosi def Matthews to set up a final match between DaCobra and Divosi. In the finals DaCobra was victorious, winning the 2008 AJM Tournament Trophy!, but just wait…Jason Vendetta was at ringside to cash in his 2007 AJM trophy which gave him the right to fight anyone at any time, and Vendetta wanted the 2008 Trophy! Vendetta went on to defeat Da Cobra in controversial fashion with the help of “The Irish Playboy” Justin Clark, winning the 2008 Alberta J. Murray Memorial trophy. In other news from the show Eric Ruffington defeats “Bloody” Harker Dirge, by DQ when the referee noticed that a chain had made its way into the ring and assumed that Harker had used it. By winning the match, Ruffington announced that Harker would never get another re-match for as long as he held the Heavyweight title.

On June 22nd the NBWA celebrated the second Jason Vendetta Appreciation night, following his 2008 AJM Tournament win. To celebrate his win Vendetta kicked off “The Common Man Challenge” where Jason Vendetta would choose a common person from the crowd, to wrestle against, and to start things off he choose to wrestle the little brother of Cecil Cerveza, Joey Cerveza. Vendetta of course was the winner.

Angry with the way he had been screwed out of the NBWA Heavyweight Title, Harker Dirge was going to destroy anyone that got in his path! Harker Dirge threw the rule book out the window in his match with Gavin Alexander, using his chain as a weapon and getting disqualified, and not thinking twice about it! In an unexpected upset, Cyclone defeated NBWA Champion Eric Ruffington in a non title match. Cyclone’s tag team partner was in action as well, but with a new masked partner Noon Moon, Cheapshot McGrot and Noon Moon won the NBWA Tag team Titles from “The Killer Bee’s”. In the main event of the evening, Mid-West Television Champion Aaron Matthews defeated Jon Divosi in a best 2 out of 3 falls matches to retain the title.

In July, the NBWA held a free fan appreciation show in the town of Potomac which featured Harker Dirge winning his match in the main event against Danny McKay, Angelo Santelli defeating Gavin Alexander, Jason Vendetta winning against Cecil Cerveza, plus many more matches.

On July 13th the NBWA fans in Danville were in for a big surprise…. 1/2 of the Tag Team Champions, Noon Moon won a battle royal for the chance to face NBWA Champion Eric Ruffington, and during his match with Ruffington, Noon Moon unmasked himself to reveal that Noon Moon was “Bloody” Harker Dirge!! Harker went on to win the match with his finishing maneuver “The Dirt Nap” becoming the NEW NBWA Heavyweight Champion, and to celebrate the occasion NBWA announcer, Eric Loy presented BHD with a brand new custom made Championship belt! In other big news from the show, Cyclone and Cheapshot officially end their partnership after Cyclone was upset that Cheapshot choose a new partner at the NBWA show on June 22nd.

To begin the month of August, the NBWA announced that it was officially going to be “Fan Appreciation Month” Featuring 3 shows in the month of August, all with special matches that the fans requested to see! The first show of the month was on August 10th, which was highlighted by the much anticipated return to the ring of “Dangerous” Drew Thomas following a 9 month hiatus following a severe neck injury. DDT fought “The Arabian Assassin” Issan Hadeev, and won the match by DQ as “The Don” and Aaron Matthews interfered in the match and tried to break Drew’s neck! Also during the show, it was announced that due to the disappearance of Tittie Nashville, the NBWA would now be ran by a Board of Directors that was going to be head by ring announcer Miss Amanda. In her first order as board member, Amanda announced that there would be a best 2 out of 3 match series between Cyclone and Cheapshot for ownership of the NBWA Tag team Titles. Cheapshot won the first meeting.

On August 23rd the NBWA made their second ever trip to Indianola for a FREE fan appreciation show at “The Good Ole Days Festival” where the entire show was made up of matches that fans had chosen that featured matches between Jason Vendetta and Jon Divosi, Aaron Mathews vs Nick “The Weasel” Mankotti, and a fresh faces match between Temple Rain and Chuck Ray

August 30th marked the long awaited return of the NBWA to Watseka, Illinois! This show kicked off with the NBWA debut of Ryan Phoenix as he lost his match against Cecil Cerveza. “The Irish Playboy” gained his first NBWA title, when he won a triple threat match against D’Andre King and Nicky Mankotti for the NBWA No-Limits Title. Aaron Matthews defeated Jon Divosi in a 4 corners strap match to retain the NBWA Mid-West TV title, and following the match Matthews literally SMASHED the belt over Divosi’s head breaking the belt into pieces! We were treated to a huge announcement from NBWA official Shad Tally when he announced that he would be leaving the NBWA to go to Tampa, Florida to work with Florida Championship Wrestling, a training ground for WWE wrestlers! In the main event of the afternoon, “Bloody” Harker Dirge successfully defended his NBWA Heavyweight Title against Issan Hadeev inside the confines of a steel cage.

Sunday September 7th, the NBWA returned home to Danville, IL only to witness one of the NBWA originals calling it quits. Jon Divosi, decided to put an end to his long and storied NBWA career following yet another loss. Divosi claimed he “wanted to save face” and just walk away…. Other highlights included the formation of the new tag team “Encore” which feature former No-Limits Champion D’Andre King, and Vic “The Pitbull” Santelli. Jason Vendetta continuing “The Common Man Challenge” against Jon Castle. and the Main event featured a Street Fight between “Dangerous Drew Thomas & Harker Dirge vs “The Don” Kato Morales & Issan Hadeev. During the match Kato and Issan had double teamed DDT, and sandwiched his surgically repaired neck inside a steel chair and repeatedly stopped it closed. An enraged Harker Dirge then unleashed a vicious attack on Issan and Kato, using his 50 pound steel chain to bust open the forehead of The Don, and then sandwiched his knee in a steel chair and tried to break Kato’s leg the same way he tried to break Drew’s neck. Some how Issan Hadeev escaped relative unharmed, but Harker warned him….YOU’RE NEXT!

October 11th marked another stop in Watseka, IL for NBWA action. The first order of business was the announcement that Jon Castle was now on the NBWA’s Board of Directors. Jon’s first act was to announce that since “The Irish Playboy” was MIA this afternoon that his cohort Jeff Harris would be defending the No-Limits Title in his place and he would defend it against….”Simply Divosi”. No longer Jon Divosi, had undergone a complete physical, mental, and emotional, makeover, and now was the superstar known as “Simply Divosi”. In other title action Cyclone had finally ended the best of 3 series for the Tag team Titles against Cheapshot McGrot with a win, becoming the NBWA Tag team champion, and in doing so, he gained the right to choose a new person to defend the titles with, and in the end, he chose his former partner Cheapshot reforming The World’s Greatest Masked Team. In a 3rd title change, Nicky “The Weasel” Mankotti defeated Aaron Matthews to become the new Mid-West television Champion claimed Jason Vendetta lost to a “little person” in the “Common Man Challenge”, finally granting DaCobra a rematch for the 2008 Alberta J. Murray Memorial Trophy. The NBWA also made history this afternoon crowning the first ever Heritage Wrestling Coalition Champion ( a championship title that would be recognized by multiple promotions state wide)in a 6 pack challenge match that featured Cecil Cerveza, Issan Hadeev, Danny McKay, Brandon Espinosa, Jaxson Pride and DaCobra. In the end, Issan Hadeev won the gold, becoming the inaugural HWC Champion!

On October 18th, the NBWA held a private show for 200+ fans in the town of Sullivan. This even featured a match that would go on too be nominated for match of the Year between “Simply Divosi” and Dacobra.

On October 26th the NBWA held a special Halloween even that saw the return of “The Future” Donovan Ruddick, who absolutely destroyed Jason Vendetta, who came to the ring dressed as Hannah Montana, by order of DaCobra. But Vendetta wasn’t the only one to dress up for Halloween, Gavin Alexander, The Irish Playboy, Josh Powers, and Morton Von Prose dressed up as, and mocked members of “The New Breed”, but they were confronted by two of the real members of “The New Breed” Simply Divosi, and Pitbull, who were accompanied by D’Andre King, who went on to be victorious in a match against Gavin, Powers, and Von Prose. Wild Bill was also in the Halloween spirit when he came to the ring dressed as former NBWA Mid-West Champion “Captian Krunk” for a Triple Threat Match for the NBWA Mid -West T.V. Title. Wild Bill won the match against Aaron Matthews and Nicky Mankotti becoming the new Champion.

On Sunday November 2nd the NBWA opened their doors to the public for their annual awards ceremony, hosted by Jason Vendetta and Cyclone. Eric Loy was named “Personality of the Year”, Danny McKay brought home the “Horizon Award”, “Feud of the Year” went to Harker Dirge and Eric Ruffington, Ruffington also won the “Villain of the Year” Award, and Harker won the award for “Hero of the Year”. Angelo Santelli was awarded with an “Outstanding Achievement Award” and Issan Hadeev won the award for “Best Mic Skills”. “Most Memorable Moment” went to “The Don” for when he turned his back on “The New Breed” in the 6 man cage match in February, which won the award for “Match of the Year” “Bloody” Harker Dirge won the final award of the night bringing home the “Wrestler of the Year” Award.

On November 4th fans of the NBWA started to see some pretty interesting pictures appear on the NBWA’s Myspace page. The pictures depicted “teaser’ images of former WWE Superstars, saying that they would be appearing on December 6th.

Could it be true? Were Jake “The Snake” Roberts and the Honky Tonk Man coming to the NBWA? At the NBWA event on November 16th, “NBWA Gives Thanks” all the rumors were cleared up, and then some! It was confirmed by NBWA that indeed Jake Roberts and Honky Tonk Man were going to be appearing on December 6th as well as Danny Bashem, Pat Tanaka, and Rosey! It was also announced that Jason Vendetta would be putting his 2008 Alberta J. Murray trophy on the line against Da Cobra in a Ladder Match. We would also be seeing a Title vs. Title match between Harker Dirge and Issan Hadeev. Hadeev wrestled in the main event that day against Bear St. Pierre, and successfully defended his HWC title.

December 6th was now upon us, and it was not only the biggest event in NBWA history, but the biggest independent wrestling event ever in central Illinois, drawing nearly 800 wrestling fans from all over the state of Illinois. The crowd saw 7 former WWE alumni in action that day in all beginning with match between Cecil Cerveza and Tracy Smothers defeated by “The Damaja” Danny Bashem and Jeff Harris. The next match featured the return of “Dangerous” Drew Thomas to the arena where just 13 months earlier he suffered his broken neck. Drew and Joey Grunge lost in their match against former WWE stars Moon Dog Cujo, and Danny McKay. DaCobra finally reclaimed what was his in the first place, the 2008 Alberta J. Murray Memorial Trophy, in the Ladder Match with Jason Vendetta. “Simply Divosi” successfully defended his No-Limits title against former WWE star, one half of the team “The Orient Express” Pat Tanaka. The Honky Tonk Man defeated Eric Ruffington not only in a wrestling match but also a singing competition. “Bloody” Harker Dirge defeated Issan Hadeev in the Title vs. Title match in somewhat controversial fashion to claim the Heritage Wrestling Coalition title when Honky Tonk Man came to the ring and called a submission when referee Carley Rae was knocked out. Following the match “The Superhero in Training” Rosey made an appearance, power bombing Issan Hadeev through a table. Finally in the main event Jake “The Snake” Roberts defeated Blake Steel with his trademark maneuver The DDT.

DaCobra 2008 Alberta J. Murray Memorial Trophy winner

DaCobra-2008 Alberta J. Murray Memorial Trophy winner.

So there it is, in a nutshell, all the major happenings of the NBWA for the entire year of 2008. We saw 20 NBWA events, 4 of them being free fan appreciation shows, in 6 cities throughout central Illinois. We saw the creation of a BRAND New Championship, the Heritage Wrestling Coalition. The NBWA also purchased a brand new $1,600 custom made Heavyweight championship belt. The NBWA also purchased a new belt to be held by the newly re-named NBWA Mid-West Television Championship. We saw a whopping 16 NBWA Championships change hands (4 new No-Limits Champions, 3 new Tag Team Champions, 2 HWC Champions, 4 new Mid-West T.V. Champions, 2 new Alberta J. Murray Memorial Champions, and 2 new Heavyweight Champions). But the final number is one that is most important…3,500 + that’s the number of fans the NBWA has entertained through the year. Thank You to all 3,500+ fans that came out in support of the NBWA in 2008. It was a fantastic year book ended by 2 of the biggest events in NBWA history.

What will be in store for the NBWA in 2009, what new faces will we meet in 2009, and who will we say goodbye to in 2009? There is only one way to find out, start the New Year off with all your favorite NBWA stars, and follow them as they all try to capture NBWA gold.

Go to NBWA for more info on a show near you.

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