Last night myself and Wrestlezone Radio’s own Nick Hausman had the pleasure of attending House of Hardcore 21: Blizzard Brawl in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Featured above is an interview with Lucha Underground star and AAW champion Sami Callihan, hosted by our good friend and guest host for the night, Trina The Marky Smark.
(1) Bull James def. Kevin Thorn. First of all, I loved the Mordecai gimmick in 2004. Bull James came out wearing a cheese head, as we’re deep in Packers country. When the ref made him take it off everyone boo’d, but ended up getting his pop at the end when he pinned Thorn with a Pedigree on the cheese head.
(2) Matt Striker def. Conor Braxton. Striker came out and did his “I’m your teacher” gimmick. Braxton’s manager for the show Katie Forbes got involved and tripped him up during the match, which led to Striker showing her his “sexy dance moves”. It wasn’t pretty. She hit the ring and did an actual sexy dance, which led to Striker’s duo of sexy girls doing sexy dance moves, and suddenly we were very aware that Trina The Marky Smark’s parents were in attendance. Striker got the win with a surprise roll-up when Braxton was distracted, swinging around one of Striker’s girls on a hoverboard. Yup.
(3) Mr. Anderson def. The Sadist. Anderson came out and went to do his mic drop from the ceiling, but of course the building wasn’t exactly set up for that. He yelled “this happens every year!” which got a good pop. He then made the ring announcer stand on a chair (in heels by the way, which could have ended very badly) and hand him the mic when he did the pose again.
(4) Colt Cabana def. Danny Duggan. This was a lot of fun, and Colt was just having a good time. Crazy travel schedule for him as he did the ROH PPV the night before in NYC, flew into Milwauke for HOH, then had to fly right back to the east coast to do the ROH TV tapings in Philly.
(5) Matt Cross def. Tony Nese. This was easily the match of the night as everyone expected it to be. I talked to Nese before and after the show and he’s a great guy that’s very excited and happy in WWE right now with all the 205 Live and cruiserweight stuff going on. Just a crazy high-flying match showcasing the best of the two of the best in the world right now, and they tore the roof of the place.
(6) Tommy Dreamer & Mickie James def. Angelina Love & Aiden O’Shea. Mustafa, who if you haven’t seen him is a huge 400-pound gentlemen, was an enforcer for Team Love but got thrown to the back pretty early in the match. This was a lot of fun, and crazy chaotic. They brawled all around the ring, bringing out weapons and a guardrail and the crowd was super into everything they did. James pinned Love for the win after Dreamer hit her with a piledriver.
After the match Mustafa came back and took out Dreamer and Mickie. Hornswoggle ran down and tried to attack the big man, having no effect. This prompted Ryback to hit the ring to a massive pop and “feed me more” chants. He hit his big moves on Mustafa to clear the ring and the babyfaces all celebrated.
After it was all over Dreamer called Love and O’Shea back to the ring and told a great story about each of the people in the ring. He talked about how Mickie James was supposed to be in ECW and was going to be Beulah’s younger sister, and how he and Raven were (in story) battling to see who was going to sleep with her when she turned 18. This got a big laugh. He went around and talked about everyone and they all did a “five second pose” together in a great moment.
(7) Sami Callihan def. Bob Holly. Physical match, as this was a rematch from a previous House of Hardcore show. The crowd was mostly pro-Holly as the bigger mainstream name, which is so weird being so close to Chicago where Callihan gets insane pops at AAW and a few other promotions in the area. Callihan got the win and Holly admitted defeated. He went to shake his hand but Callihan gave him attitude as expected (because he’s the best heel in the world right now) and Holly laid him out to give the crowd their happy moment. We were definitely cheering Sami. Oops.
(8) Al Snow & Dave Herro def. Abyss & Damien Nelson. This was a Blizzard Brawl steel cage match that was “not sanctioned” by House of Hardcore. I’m not going to call it a “great match” but it was a lot of fun and had its moments. Two guys came down and got involved for Team Damien, who were the heels in the match. This prompted Sandman, who appeared in the upper balcony of the building to a massive pop, probably the biggest of the night after Ryback. He drank beer and scared the hell out of a little girl that was trying not to get soaked with beer, then poured a beer down the throat of another fan before making his way down to the floor. Ten literal minutes later, after walking around doing his gimmick with fans all around the building, he finally made it to the ring, smacked everyone with a kendo sticks, and left. I love Sandman. It’s the best, dumbest, most effective gimmick in wrestling and still works after all these years. Dave’s son Kal Herro rushed the ring to help his dad, Abyss went after him and Snow made the save. Snow took out Abyss and rolled him out of the cage, then left as well and locked Dave and Damien inside to finish their rivalry. Damien pleaded Ric Flair style for mercy, but Dave beat him up a bit and hit him with a World’s Strongest Slam for the win.
That’s all folks! Thanks a ton to House of Hardcore, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Feinstein, Dave Herro and all the great folks who put on this show for having Wrestlezone out and giving us access to the talent. We had a great time, and we’ll see you next time!
