| I'm Still Alive... |
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| 05:38pm 12/11/2006 |
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mood:  relaxed
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Holy crap. I still have a blog.
Nah... in all seriousness, it's been entirely too long since I've posted anything on here, so I figure my first real day off in about 3 months is as good a time as any.
Considering it's been so long since my last post, I'm not even going to bother recapping show by show. I'm gonna do a SUPARCONDENSEDED UPDATEZZZ in Zebra Style Bullet Point Format!!!!~!~!!!@!1111!!~!!
- Made it back from Japan, had a helluva time. Many thanks to everyone in the Dragon Gate organization, from the office down to the ring crew, for an amazing experience. I hope to work with you all again very soon.
- Expanded my horizons a little, moving into more states, refereeing more shows, and just generally working more often than I ever have before. I've got a really good feeling about what 2007 holds.
- Training my first protege. He's exceeding my expectations as far as progression, and I think he's going to do good things in the future.
- Married life is wonderful. I've got a beautiful wife to come home to. Nothing's better than that.
Ok, now that I've got the PAST accounted for, let's look towards the future. What's going down in the here-on-out?
Next weekend, I fly to Montana for my first foray into Big Sky Country. I'll be reffing the Micro Wrestling Federation event out that direction on Friday. Looking forward to that one.
Congrats to Egotistico Fantastico and Keith Walker on their WWE developmental contracts. I've known Ego since very early on, and he's come a helluva long way since then - congrats, bro. You've earned it.
I had a topic I was going to write about... but it's completely slipped my mind. I'll post again soon.
Honest.
For really.
....
Ok, maybe not. But I'm gonna try.
Til then...
-JH-
P.S. - "Pure Pwnage" Terry Hopper is teh R0X0RZ!!!@!~!~!!111!!1oneone!!!!
...and he's single, ladies.
That's it for real this time.
-JH- |
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| Dragon Gate WrestleJAM Results - 7/11/2006 - Kira Messe Numazu |
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| 01:36pm 11/07/2006 |
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My matches in bold
1. Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid{W}, BxB Hulk (Ultra Hurricanrana) Masato Yoshino, Jimmy Rave, B-Boy{L}
2. 3 Way Match
Turbo-yan (Diving Body Press) Chris Bosh{L}; Masaaki Mochizuki
3. Mexico Rules
CIMA, King Shisa, The Turboman (2-1) Magnitude Kishiwada, Gamma, Naoki Tanisaki
-Naoki (Implant) Turboman
-CIMA (Mad Splash) Gamma
-Turboman (Small Package Hold) Naoki
4. Susumu Yokosuka (Mugen) Matt Sydal
5. ROH Tag Titles
Austin Aries{W}, Roderick Strong (450 Splash) Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi{L}
Tomorrow is Korakuen Hall, then homeward bound!
-JH- |
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| Dragon Gate WrestleJAM Results - 7/10/2006 Yokohama Red Brick Arena |
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| 10:56am 10/07/2006 |
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My matches in bold...
1. Dragon Kid{W}, King Shisa (12:41 Ultra Hurricanrana) Susumu Yokosuka, Keni'chiro Arai{L}
2. Naoki Tanisaki, Gamma{W} (8:01 Blitzen) The Turboman{L}, Turbo-yan
3. Masato Yoshino, Magnitude Kishiwada, Jimmy Rave{W} (11:35 Greetings from Ghana) Ryo Saito, Magu-yan, Genki Horiguchi{L}
4. Masaaki Mochizuki (13:46 Shin Saikyou High Kick) Roderick Strong
5. 3 Way Tag Match
CIMA, BxB Hulk def. B-Boy, Chris Bosh; Matt Sydal, Austin Aries
-B-Boy (10:30 Low Blow->Schoolboy) Sydal)
-CIMA (13:48 Schwein) Bosh
More as the tour rolls on.
-JH- |
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| Dragon Gate WrestleJAM Results - 7/9/2006 Tokyo, Differ Ariake |
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| 01:36pm 09/07/2006 |
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My matches in bold.
1. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, Magnum TOKYO (Dragon Suplex Hold) Chris Bosh, B-Boy, Naoki Tanisaki
2. King Shisa (Llave) Takayuki Mori
3. Gamma, Magnitude Kishiwada{W} (Diving Body Press) The Turboman{L}, Turbo-yan
4. 3 Way Ladder Match
Jack Evans (Fushichoukon) Genki Horiguchi, Akira Tozawa{L}
5. Jimmy Rave (Greetings from Ghana) BxB Hulk
6. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka{W}, Keni'chiro Arai (Mugen) CIMA, Matt Sydal, Az{L}
7. ROH Tag Titles
Austin Aries{W}, Roderick Strong (450 Splash) Masato Yoshino{L}, Naruki Doi |
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| Dragon Gate WrestleJAM Results - 7/8/2006 - Saitama, Honkawagoe Pepe Hall Atlas |
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| 03:11am 09/07/2006 |
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mood:  tired
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My matches in bold.
1. Magnum TOKYO, BxB Hulk, Matt Sydal{W} (Shooting Sydal Press) Gamma, Naoki Tanisaki, Jimmy Rave{L}
2. Magnitude Kishiwada (Diving Body Press) The Turboman
3. 3 Way Match
Chris Bosh (Maximum Bosh) Akira Tozawa{L}, Keni'chiro Arai
4. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, King Shisa{W} (BT Bomb) Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka, Az{L}
5. Austin Aries (450 Splash) Ryo Saito
6. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, B-Boy{W} (Delicado) CIMA, Jack Evans{L}, Roderick Strong
Tomorrow's card...
7/9/2006 Tokyo, Differ Ariake
1. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, Magnum TOKYO vs. Chris Bosh, B-Boy, Naoki Tanisaki
2. Takayuki Mori vs. King Shisa
3. Gamma, Magnitude Kishiwada vs. The Turboman, Turbo-yan
4. 3 Way Ladder Match
Akira Tozawa vs. Genki Horiguchi vs. Jack Evans
5. BxB Hulk vs. Jimmy Rave
6. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka, Keni'chiro Arai vs. CIMA, Matt Sydal, Az
7. ROH Tag Titles
Austin Aries, Roderick Strong vs. Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi
More results as the tour rolls on.
-JH- |
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| Better Late Than Never... |
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| 12:42pm 02/07/2006 |
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So it's taken me a while, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about the wedding.
The Thursday prior to the wedding, my good friend Emily and her boyfriend DJ got into town from Pennsylvania. I haven't seen Emmy for about two years now, so it was cool that she made the trip all the way out to Indiana to be one of our bridesmaids. That night, we had a cookout at Alicia's parents house, with a handful of the wedding party in attendance. Good times were had by all.
Friday was the rehearsal, which went off pretty well without a hitch. After the runthroughs, we headed to Mountain Jack's, with our 40 or so rehearsal guests, for the rehearsal dinner. Dinner was absolutely excellent, as it always is at Mountain Jack's. I managed to stumble through my speech, and don't think I came off like a douchebag...at least not much.
Alicia went ahead and gave me my wedding present early, at the rehearsal - because it was an awesome guess watch, one I can wear with my suits on my Japan trip. She knows how to make me happy. :)
Fast forward to the next morning... WEDDING DAY. The day had a few bumps in the road, but all things considered, it went off very well. I got together with the guys from the wedding party in the morning for breakfast, and started the day off right with a kickass country boy breakfast at Cracker Barrel.
After that, I headed over to the church for a few, dropped off my stuff and things, and headed out to run a few errands. By the time I got back, it was time to start getting ready. The rest of the pre-wedding was a blur, and the next thing I remember, I'm standing at the front of the church, watching bridesmaids come down the aisle. The whole time I was at the front of the church, I had tunnel vision looking down the aisle, waiting for my baby to come walking down.
And then I saw her.
I really just about lost it when I saw her the first time - but I managed to keep it together. Barely. God, she was gorgeous.
The rest of the ceremony, while enormously beautiful, was both a blur, and seemed to last forever. We were pretty well lost in our own little world the entire time we were up there. The day was wonderful.
The reception was awesome, and Terry Hopper was a tremendous DJ. He pulled everything together, and kept everything right on schedule. Kudos to the T-Hop.
It was good seeing all of our friends at the reception - those we haven't seen in years, and those that are always around. It is true, though, that it is the major days of one's life that one realizes who their true friends are. To all of my true friends, I thank you. We thank you.
That's it for this entry... next time, THE HONEYMOON!
I'll hopefully get it done before I leave, but if not... Wednesday, it's off to Japan.
Til then, I remain...
-JH- |
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| Dragon Gate - Wrestle Jam Full Participation List, Partial Cards |
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| 04:04pm 22/05/2006 |
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mood: excited
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From DGUSA (http://dragongate.puroresufan.com/)
7/8 Saitama, Honkawagoe Pepe Hall Atlas (WRESTLE JAM)
7/9 Tokyo, Differ Ariake (WRESTLE JAM)
7/10- Kanagawa, Yokohama Red Brick Arena (WRESTLE JAM)
7/11- Shizuoka, Kira Messe Numazu (WRESTLE JAM)
7/12 Tokyo, Korakuen Hall
Dragon Gate (Japan)
CIMA, Don Fujii, Magnum TOKYO, Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka, Keni'chiro Arai, Magnitude Kishiwada, Naruki Doi, Gamma, Naoki Tanisaki, Masato Yoshino, Anthony W. Mori, BxB Hulk, Akira Tozawa, Taku Iwasa
Mexico
King Shisa, The Turboman
USA ROH
Jack Evans, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, Matt Sydal, Jimmy Rave, AZ, Jason Harding (Ref), Bobby Cruise (Ring Announcer)
USA PWG
Chris Bosh, B-Boy
7/8/2006 Saitama, Honkawagoe Pepe Hall "Atlas"
-Magnitude Kishiwada vs. The Turboman
-International Dream Match: Ryo Saito vs. Austin Aries
-Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, B-Boy vs. CIMA, Jack Evans, Roderick Strong
7/9/2006 Tokyo, Differ Ariake
-3 Way Ladder Match: Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Evans vs. Genki Horiguchi
-ROH Tag Title Match: Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino vs. Austin Aries, Roderick Strong
-International Dream Match: Jimmy Rave vs. BxB Hulk
-Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka, Keni'chiro Arai vs. CIMA, Matt Sydal, AZ
7/10/2006 Kanagawa, Yokohama Red Brick Arena
-Dragon Gate vs. ROH vs. PWG 3 Way Tag Match: CIMA, BxB Hulk vs. Jack Evans, Roderick Strong vs. B-Boy, Chris Bosh
-International Dream Match: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Roderick Strong
7/11/2006 Shizuoka, Kira Messe Numazu
-ROH vs. Dragon Gate 6 Man Tag: Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid vs. Jack Evans, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries
-International Dream Match: Susumu Yokosuka vs. Matt Sydal
-Mexico Rules 2 out of 3 Falls: CIMA, King Shisa, The Turboman vs. Magnitude Kishiwada, Naruki Doi, Chris Bosh
7/12/2006 Tokyo, Korakuen Hall
-JAM CUP ~$10,000 4 Way Tag Match~: Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid vs. CIMA, Matt Sydal vs. Roderick Strong, Jack Evans vs. Naruki Doi, Jimmy Rave
-International Dream Match: Magnitude Kishiwada vs. King Shisa
-International Dream Match: Susumu Yokosuka vs. Austin Aries |
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| It's Like Being Back In Cuba... 'What's That? You're Hungry? NO FOOD FOR YOU! |
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| 05:58am 22/05/2006 |
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Thanks to all the well-wishes on the upcoming Japan tour - it's definitely going to be an amazing trip, and I'm very grateful to the Dragon Gate office for inviting me.
Secondly... wedding countdown is at T-20 days and counting! The date's comin up soon, and I'm getting *VERY* excited about it as well. I get to dress up, stand in front of all of my closest friends, and tell the woman I love that "I do". What can possibly be better than that?
On a related note... if I've gotten your address to send you a wedding invite... and you haven't gotten one yet, PLEASE send me a message and let me know if you can make the wedding or not. I'm thinking a ton of invitations got lost in the mail, and I'm about to have to go whoop some postal worker ass until it gets fixed.
So this weekend was the CWF show at Benton Central High School. Fun show, as always, with the CWF boys. Shawn and Guy run a good tight ship, and everyone knows how to not only put on a good show, but have a lot of fun doing it.
After the show, my lovely fiancee and I went out to the Cactus with Rob Ramer, his wife, and Billy Roc & Ana. We had a blast, sitting in the piano bar rockin out to the dulcet tones of the Piano Man Bruce Barker. If you haven't seen his show, you NEED TO GO. Bring your singing shoes (shoes?), though, because if you don't participate, he WILL stop the show and point you out.
Funny story from the Cactus, leading to the quote of the night. About half an hour in to the show, we realize we're pretty hungry (hell, the conversation turned to a discussion of the merits of the IHOP, for cryin out loud). There was a food menu on the table, so I take the initiative and ask the waitress if we can still order from it. She flips out, and is like "Oh, no... no, no... that shouldn't even be on the table... I'm sorry, that shouldn't be out here...".
Well shit.
Billy's wife Ana made our nights, though, with her reaction. Ana, who is originally from Cuba, got all indignant, and was like "It's like being back in Cuba again! You're hungry? NO! NO FOOD FOR YOU! THERE'S NO FOOD!"
Ana's great.
We had a blast hanging out with everyone, but, being the world's oldest young'ins, we ducked out a little early and went to bed.
We're pathetic.
Last night, I took my baby to dinner and a movie, as we'd planned for months. We hit up Olive Garden for some damn good Italian (and even better company), and then went to the evening showing of the Da Vinci Code. We read (ok... listened to the audiobook) the book version together, and absolutely loved it. When we found out there was a movie adaptation being made, we instantly made a pact to go see it opening weekend.
We were *NOT* disappointed. The movie was excellent, and the actor who portrayed Silas (his name escapes me at the moment) deserves an Oscar nomination. He nailed the character to the tee.
One bit of advice, though - read the book before you see the movie. Even though the flick was two and a half hours long, there were still entirely too many pieces of exposition from the book that were cut out of the movie version, and I'd imagine without reading the book, you'd be completely lost. Definitely do both, though, because it's worth the second mortgage it costs to go see a movie nowadays.
And to those who say the movie and book are blasphemous, offensive, and anti-religious, just remember that both are WORKS OF FICTION. While they do raise some interesting points and questions, they're still fictional.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
Anyways, that's about it for this blog. More later.
SNEAK PREVIEW...
Pre-wedding heartpouring!
Post-wedding hangovers!
Post-honeymoon tans!
Pre and post Japan stories!
Oh, and don't forget WEDDING STUFF!
I've rambled enough. I'm out.
-JH- |
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| Updateapalooza |
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| 06:02am 02/05/2006 |
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mood: groggy
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Got a lot of stuff to get to, cuz I can't seem to keep this updated, so hang on, kiddies. Oh, and stick around, cuz there's big JHarding news to be broken.
Time to jump in the Way-Back machine to just after my last blog...
And a-waaaay
We
Go
Last blog was just before the ROH tripleshot weekend... and *WOW* what a weekend it was.
I'll give ya the condensed version.
Thursday night was Detroit, for the Dragon Gate Challenge Series. Rolled up with my buddy Haleem, and had some really good conversation on the drive. Got to the show and met the representatives from Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling. Very nice, very respectful. CIMA recognized me from talking with him on here, so we had common ground on which to speak.
I was assigned the four way students match, Jimmy Jacobs v BJ Whitmer, Homicide v Colt Cabana, and AJ Styles/Matt Sydal v Genki Horiguchi/Dragon Kid. Scariest moment of the weekend (month? year? ever?) came during the Jacobs/Whitmer match. To sum it up, Jacobs and Whitmer had a miscue, and both fell from the top rope to the outside. I don't know how Jacobs didn't die on the spot, and how BJ escaped with just an injured ankle. I recommend getting the tape, if only just to see this. The Styles/Sydal vs Do Fixer match was a lot of fun too. It was the first time I'd worked with 3/4 of the guys in the match (Sydal being the exception), and it was a blast. Dragon Kid is amazingly innovative, AJ's a total pro, and Genki brings the fun. All in all, had a very good time on the show.
The next night was the first of two consecutive shows in Chicago, this one apparently being called "Supercard of Honor". Lots of luminaries beboping around in the crowd - I myself saw Billy Corgan and Johnny Fairplay hanging out. I had the first two and next-to-last-two matches on the card, so I had plenty of time to hang out and watch the show. Got the opportunity to spend a good deal of time talking to Jim Cornette - Mr. Cornette is an absolute treasure trove of knowledge, and it was truly an honor for him to share some of it with me.
While the first Chicago show had a huge crowd, numbering around 1100, the second night blew it away. I believe the final count was approximately 1700 fans, making it the largest attendance in ROH history. And wow, did it feel like it. I had two of the preliminary matches, the Joe/Styles/Daniels/Yang four-way, and the tag title match with Gen Next v Blood Generation. Both matches were off the charts good, GN/BG being well worth tracking down the tape. Lance Storm made his return that night, in what looked to be the best shape of his career, and Homicide and Cabana had the blowoff to their months long feud, in a Chicago Street Fight. All in all, a great capper to an even better weekend.
The next weekend was another doubleshot, this time for EWF out of Marion. Friday night was in Dunkirk, IN, with Tracey Smothers headlining against the hometown boy, Gunner Hansen. That match was tremendous, running almost an hour long.
The next night was EWF's annual Xtreme 8 tournament, with this year's edition featuring Samoa Joe, Jimmy Jacobs, Delirious, Josh Abercrombie, and several other EWF stars. Joe won the tourney, defeating Jacobs in the finals. Another good show.
After that, we rolled on thru to the next weekend (this puts us at April 15th, for the record), and New Era Wrestling in Shelbyville, IN. Good little show, with a ridiculously hot crowd. The world's tallest woman even made an appearance! Seriously. The chick from the Guinness Book.
Anyways, I had Billy Roc v Devon Fury, which was fun - I love workin with both of those guys - and TVZ vs the Canadian Connection. TVZ is incredibly over with their hometown crowd, and the heat was off the charts. Another fun night.
Weekend before last was my first break in a while, and last one for a while. Spent the weekend with my lovely and wonderful fiancee, Alicia. As much of my time as my career's been consuming lately, it was nice to have a weekend to kick back and show her how much she means to me.
Seriously, she's the motor that keeps this train chuggin along.
Anyways, this past weekend was the ROH Weekend of Champions Ohio doubleshot. Friday night was Dayton, Saturday night Cleveland. All the info's either on my site, or ROHWrestling.com.
Now for the big news of the blog...
I'm going to Japan!
That's right... in July, it's off to Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling for their week-long Wrestle-Jam tour. The show dates look to all be around the Tokyo area, with the tour capping off in the venerable Korakuen Hall. It looks like there are several other ROH guys going on the tour, so at least I'll already know some people on the tour - aside from the DG guys I met last month, that is.
The following is the newsblurb from the DGUSA site:
Also announced today was the WRESTLE JAM project. This will be a festival of sorts, and will showcase a Japan vs. US vs. Mexico theme. The hope is to show off the different fight styles of DG, ROH, AAA, etc on one show. CIMA mentioned he hoped to perhaps have a ladder match, and have all 4 members of Generation Next over. Overal negotiations about participation are ongoing. This will happen over 5 days:
7/8 Kawagoe Pepe Hall Atlas
7/9 Differ Ariake
7/10 Yokohama Red Brick Arena
7/11 Kira Messe Numazu
7/12 Korakuen Hall
More info as I get it!
-JH- |
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| Updateapalooza! |
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| 06:03am 27/04/2006 |
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mood: excited
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Got a lot of stuff to get to, cuz I can't seem to keep this updated, so hang on, kiddies. Oh, and stick around, cuz there's big JHarding news to be broken.
Time to jump in the Way-Back machine to just after my last blog...
And a-waaaay
We
Go
Last blog was just before the ROH tripleshot weekend... and *WOW* what a weekend it was.
I'll give ya the condensed version.
Thursday night was Detroit, for the Dragon Gate Challenge Series. Rolled up with my buddy Haleem, and had some really good conversation on the drive. Got to the show and met the representatives from Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling. Very nice, very respectful. CIMA recognized me from talking with him on here, so we had common ground on which to speak.
I was assigned the four way students match, Jimmy Jacobs v BJ Whitmer, Homicide v Colt Cabana, and AJ Styles/Matt Sydal v Genki Horiguchi/Dragon Kid. Scariest moment of the weekend (month? year? ever?) came during the Jacobs/Whitmer match. To sum it up, Jacobs and Whitmer had a miscue, and both fell from the top rope to the outside. I don't know how Jacobs didn't die on the spot, and how BJ escaped with just an injured ankle. I recommend getting the tape, if only just to see this. The Styles/Sydal vs Do Fixer match was a lot of fun too. It was the first time I'd worked with 3/4 of the guys in the match (Sydal being the exception), and it was a blast. Dragon Kid is amazingly innovative, AJ's a total pro, and Genki brings the fun. All in all, had a very good time on the show.
The next night was the first of two consecutive shows in Chicago, this one apparently being called "Supercard of Honor". Lots of luminaries beboping around in the crowd - I myself saw Billy Corgan and Johnny Fairplay hanging out. I had the first two and next-to-last-two matches on the card, so I had plenty of time to hang out and watch the show. Got the opportunity to spend a good deal of time talking to Jim Cornette - Mr. Cornette is an absolute treasure trove of knowledge, and it was truly an honor for him to share some of it with me.
While the first Chicago show had a huge crowd, numbering around 1100, the second night blew it away. I believe the final count was approximately 1700 fans, making it the largest attendance in ROH history. And wow, did it feel like it. I had two of the preliminary matches, the Joe/Styles/Daniels/Yang four-way, and the tag title match with Gen Next v Blood Generation. Both matches were off the charts good, GN/BG being well worth tracking down the tape. Lance Storm made his return that night, in what looked to be the best shape of his career, and Homicide and Cabana had the blowoff to their months long feud, in a Chicago Street Fight. All in all, a great capper to an even better weekend.
The next weekend was another doubleshot, this time for EWF out of Marion. Friday night was in Dunkirk, IN, with Tracey Smothers headlining against the hometown boy, Gunner Hansen. That match was tremendous, running almost an hour long.
The next night was EWF's annual Xtreme 8 tournament, with this year's edition featuring Samoa Joe, Jimmy Jacobs, Delirious, Josh Abercrombie, and several other EWF stars. Joe won the tourney, defeating Jacobs in the finals. Another good show.
After that, we rolled on thru to the next weekend (this puts us at April 15th, for the record), and New Era Wrestling in Shelbyville, IN. Good little show, with a ridiculously hot crowd. The world's tallest woman even made an appearance! Seriously. The chick from the Guinness Book.
Anyways, I had Billy Roc v Devon Fury, which was fun - I love workin with both of those guys - and TVZ vs the Canadian Connection. TVZ is incredibly over with their hometown crowd, and the heat was off the charts. Another fun night.
Last weekend was my first break in a while, and last one for a while. Spent the weekend with my lovely and wonderful fiancee, Alicia. As much of my time as my career's been consuming lately, it was nice to have a weekend to kick back and show her how much she means to me.
Seriously, she's the motor that keeps this train chuggin along.
Anyways, this weekend's the ROH Weekend of Champions Ohio doubleshot. Friday night is Dayton, Saturday night Chicago. All the info's either on my site, or ROHWrestling.com.
Now for the big news of the blog...
I'm going to Japan!
That's right... in July, it's off to Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling for their week-long Wrestle-Jam tour. The show dates look to all be around the Tokyo area, with the tour capping off in the venerable Korakuen Hall. It looks like there are several other ROH guys going on the tour, so at least I'll already know some people on the tour - aside from the DG guys I met last month, that is.
The following is the newsblurb from the DGUSA site:
Also announced today was the WRESTLE JAM project. This will be a festival of sorts, and will showcase a Japan vs. US vs. Mexico theme. The hope is to show off the different fight styles of DG, ROH, AAA, etc on one show. CIMA mentioned he hoped to perhaps have a ladder match, and have all 4 members of Generation Next over. Overal negotiations about participation are ongoing. This will happen over 5 days:
7/8 Kawagoe Pepe Hall Atlas
7/9 Differ Ariake
7/10 Yokohama Red Brick Arena
7/11 Kira Messe Numazu
7/12 Korakuen Hall
More info as I get it!
-JH- |
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| Bloggercising |
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| 10:31am 29/03/2006 |
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So I'm blogging while doing cardio in class. Yay cell phones.
Gonna start with a condensed version of spring break. Alicia and I decided at the last minute to take a crazy weekend road trip to Philly. We drove halfway there, stopped outside Pittsburgh for the night, then continued on to our hotel just across the river in NJ. After checking in (which took way too long, thanks to a damned tour group ahead of us), we spent the rest of the day maxin n relaxin at the hotel. The next day, we woke up and drove across the bridge into downtown Philly. We hit up Independence Hall first, since we had an early tour time. Talk about humbling. We stood in the same site that the US was born 230 years earlier. Anyways, from there, it was on to see the Liberty Bell, then to the Jewish American Museum, which was in conjunction with Americas second synagogue. Very very informative.
We spent the next day driving straight home, since I had the CWF tv taping on Sunday afternoon. First time I'd done CWFs TV tapings, and WOW did they go smoothly. Every show hit the time marks perfectly. CWF - the little Indiana group that could.
Last Saturday was my last warmup for the upcoming ROH shows, so I did the TNW show in Indy. Good seeing a bunch of old friends, and meeting a couple new ones.
This coming weekend is the biggy... and it actually starts tomorrow at 9am. After my 8am class, its off to Detroit for the first ROH show of three. I have high hopes for the events of this weekend, as the company expects huge attendances and even bigger shows.
At any rate, I've got a couple minutes left on this cardiobike, so I'll sign off now. More updates as the week goes along.
Hope to see you all at the shows!
Til then, I remain...
-JH- |
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| So Yeah, I Suck At Keeping This Up To Date... |
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| 12:11pm 21/02/2006 |
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mood:  exhausted music: Wrestling Observer Live, 2-12-06
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... My apologies.
I'm not even going to pretend I'm going to try and keep this up better.
(Although I am)
First off, check out the new website design - should be up, rocking, and rolling at http://www.jasonharding.com/. If anything doesn't quite work right, or you have comments, let me know.
Also, those of you who know me probably also know Alicia. She's having semi-emergency surgery on Friday, and there's a chance it could be bad. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers, please.
Now on to the business at hand..
..backtracking to my last entry to catch up to present day.
The last weekend of January, my friend Frosty came down from Illinois to hang out and check out the ROH shows. Always good times hangin out with him, and this weekend was no exception.
Friday night was ROH in Dayton. I always enjoy ROH's shows, and I got a ton of good matches this time around. Dayton was the Trios Tournament 2006, and I was lucky enough to get both of the Embassy 6-man tags. Good times. The only mar on the evening was the appearance of Chris Hero and Necro Butcher to try and wreck our show. I won't mention the name of the company they work for, just suffice it to say the ROH locker room took care of business and got those ya-hoos out of our building.
One of my matches from Dayton is up on ROHVideos.com. You should go watch Delirious vs Nigel McGuinness. The ref is hot.
Saturday, we headed up to Cleveland for a second ROH show. Another tremendous show, with a blockbuster main event of Brian Danielson over AJ Styles. However, Necro Butcher showed up again, and Adam Pearce showed him how ROH handles ourselves in a fight.
I seriously don't know who these guys think they are, but they're in for a rude awakening if they keep trying to bring down our shows.
At any rate, on Sunday, Frosty and I headed to Lafayette for a CWF show. I know I've said it before, but CWF is quite possibly the best family-friendly promotion in the state of Indiana. If you're anywhere near one of their shows, I highly recommend checking it out.
Fast forwarding to the 4th of February, I was back in my old stomping grounds of Hoosier Pro Wrestling for a show in Columbus. HPW has been running for almost 8 years now, and they're still going strong. This night was no exception. the Soul Shooters had an excellent match with TVZ, and Brian Beech stole the show with Matt Stryker. It was good seeing a lot of old friends again, along with meeting new ones. HPW has a couple of trainees to keep your eye on. Bobby Saxxon's going to be a star in the near future.
I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day, and that you were able to spend it with your loved ones. I know I did.
'til next time, I remain...
-JH-
... oh wait, I almost forgot.
This entry's
goes to the '94 Ford Mustang engine for having a head gasket that blows entirely too often.
I tell ya, if I had another option, I'd ditch cars altogether.
-JH Out- |
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| Updates! (Hopefully...) |
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| 02:31pm 20/01/2006 |
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mood: hungry
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We'll see if this journal entry goes in - my last one never did.
Anyways, not much going on in the world of the Zebra. Lots of school. Lots and lots of school.
I'm taking 18 credit hours, between Accounting 201, Econ 202, Business Tech 201, Telecom 160 (History of Video Games)...
Plus I'm taking HPER 119 - Personal Fitness.
Time to rant a bit on that one.
Monday was a day off (Thanks, Dr. King), so our first dress-out day in that class was Wednesday.
Now, considering that the class is designed to help the student design a workout program that is most effective for their fitness & wellness, one would think that it would be assumed that the majority of the students taking the class are at least mildly out of shape (otherwise, they wouldn't need help coming up with a workout program).
Right?
Uh-uh.
I get there Thursday, and they tell us we're doing "Cardiorespiratory fitness testing".
WTF is that, you might ask?
A f*@king mile and a half run.
I haven't run since high school (six years ago, for those of you counting), and even then I couldn't run a mile and a half. And all I've done, physically, since that time, is get thrown around for a living and eat potato chips.
The one has nothing to do with the other.
The point I'm trying to make is, I'm both out of shape, and starting to physically break down a little bit.
Running a mile and a half is what the French call, "Le Motherf#@ker".
I did it, tho (ok, ran 3/4, walked 1/4), and almost blew my heart out of my chest.
That's ok, though, because I've got the rest of the day to recoup, right?
Wrong.
That's where my other class comes into play... HPER E-100. Brazilian Jiujitsu.
Which I have an hour after my personal fitness class.
So now, not only am I tired and sore, but I'm tired, sore, and getting choked out.
I'm firmly convinced... my life is a cosmic sitcom, merely for the amusement of a higher power.
First time in a long time, but this entry's
goes to me. For being so out of shape.
And to IU's HPER department, for not taking it easy on this poor out of shape broken down zebra.
Ok, just to me.
On to more topical stuff... this weekend, Alicia's interviewing for the Indianapolis 500 Princess Pageant - wish her lots of luck!
Next weekend is the Triple Shot Of Doom - ROH in Dayton & Cleveland, then CWF in Lafayette.
Updates on both of those when I have stories.
'til then, I'm out.
-JH- |
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| Anniversary, And Thoughts |
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| 12:13pm 10/01/2006 |
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mood:  nostalgic music: Styx - Come Sail Away
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Second time around at posting this, as LiveJournal apparently told me to "Eff Off" the last time I tried.
This is gonna be both introspective and retrospective, so if you don't care to read it... quite frankly, it ain't for you. :)
Today's Alicia and my second anniversary. Any milestones in our relationship like this get me thinking about past milestones, and memories... of which there are indeed a lot.
Obviously, first and foremost, our first date. I know I probably haven't chronicled it here, but it was a great memory nonetheless. Two years ago tonight, Eric and I were in Marion for an EWF show. He'd told me that he had a blind date set up for me after the show, and sent me a picture.
She was hot.
I was happy.
Anyways, after the show, we took off for Lafayette, about an hour and a half drive. He'd clued Alicia and her friend Tabatha in that we were going to be a little late getting to Tabatha's, and they were cool with that. As we were walking up to the door, Eric and I could see in the window, and there she was. An angel in cashmere. Eric's exact quote, actually... "Dude... she's pretty hot."
Yup.
Anyways, we all decided to go on a movie rental run, and pick up a pizza and Alicia's car from the mall. She and I started talking on the way there, then I rode with her back to Tabatha's after we picked up her car. Usually, on a first date, conversation is downright awkward... not with us. We were able to chat like we'd known each other forever - and I'm not convinced we haven't. We went back to Tabatha's and threw in SWAT, but we were too busy talking to pay attention to the movie. As we were leaving, I decided to take a chance and invite her down to Bloomington (at Eric's prompting) for my work Christmas party the next night. Apparently, she decided to take a chance too, cuz she said she would.
Unfortunately, by the time we finally left, that meant she'd only get like an hour's sleep, because she had to work the next day. Trooper that she is, she pushed thru, and was in town on time and waiting for me. We had a great time bowling at the Christmas party, played a little pool, and sat and talked some more.
At the party, I won a DVD player (yay me!), and we went back to the house to watch Spaceballs - we stayed up pretty late talking, and had a really good time. I think that night is when we knew we had somethin special together.
We've had so many wonderful memories together... the slumber party at Eric's, stayin up watching the History Channel all night in Bloomington, our first Spring Break together, 4th of July out on Lake Monroe, driving all over the midwest together, all the trips to La Salle, our road trip out to New York & Boston, the first anniversary at the Omni, and the trip up the Sears Tower, our Orlando spring break trip, not tipping the canoe, free dinner at Grazie's, Niagara Falls... the list of memories goes on and on, but I think the first one is still the best.
Here's a couple pics from along the way.
Bellevue Biltmore Resort - Clearwater, FL
Our first trip to the Indy 500
Niagara Falls
Halloween
Happy New Year!
I love you, Alicia.
-JMA- |
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| Merry Christmas |
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| 09:34pm 25/12/2005 |
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mood: happy
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Hope everyone out there in Myspace-land had a wonderful Christmas.
Ours was eventful, to say the least. As of last post, my car had been broken into. Nothing new on that front - hopefully I'll be getting the damage appraised tomorrow, provided the body shop's open.
People suck.
Anyways, following that, we ran a few errands, piled into the car, and headed to my folks' place. It was good seeing my family for the night.
After that, we headed up to Alicia's parents' house for their traditional Feliz Navidad Eve nacho dinner. Good stuff. We also hung out with her two best friends, which was enjoyable as well. As a result of said hanging out, we now have sake. Yaaay!
Today, being the Christmasy Christmas that it is, we opened presents. Amongst other stuff-n-things Alicia got me, , I am now the proud owner of a star. If any of you ever happen to be looking at 21h44m39.59s in the sky next to the Cygnus constellation and see a star there, back off, cuz that shit's mine. Actually, if any of you do find it, let me know, so that I can do the same. Next on the to-do list is to get a telescope to go hunting for said star.
After family present opening, we headed to her aunt's in Illinois, then to her grandma's, before we headed back home. Always good times with those folk, even if they are Illini fans. :)
We just got home about an hour ago, and decided to have an MRE for dinner that my dad brought back from helping out in New Orleans with the Katrina victims. Really makes you realize everything you've got, when you sit with a meal-in-a-pouch realizing that it is as close as some of the people fighting to protect our freedoms get to a Christmas dinner.
Kinda humbling.
Ooh-rah, boys. We appreciate you.
With that, I'm out - my last Christmas as a single guy under my belt... and I can't be happier.
God bless us, every one.
-JH |
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| Merry F$@#king Christmas |
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| 12:17pm 24/12/2005 |
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mood:  angry
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This'll be short, cuz I'm pissed.
I head out to my car earlier to go to my friend Jim's and visit him for Christmas... and I see crap all over the pavement next to my driver's side door.
Yeah, that's right - my car got broken into on Christmas Eve. They cut the top of my car (convertible repair will be fun), stole my stereo, iPod, iPod hookup, and satellite radio. Tis the season, right?
I hope the assbags try to activate the satellite radio. That shit's on hold, muhfugs.
Dammit.
-JH |
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| My dog is a CPA... |
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| 10:56am 17/12/2005 |
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mood: tired
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... chocoholic puppies anonymous, that is.
Let me explain.
Yesterday started off a great day - Alicia came down from Lafayette, we got the house puppyproofed (remember that, it'll come in handy later), and took off for Indianapolis for her birthday dinner.
Yes, I know her birthday was last weekend, but unfortunately, yoinked wisdom teeth precluded a birthday dinner. As such, it was pushed to yesterday.
So we rolled in the Zebramobile Mark 2.0 up to Broad Ripple, where we had 7:00 reservations at H2o Sushi Bar.
Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was actually pushing 8. Luckily, they were not busy.
At any rate, H2o is a badass sushi bar, with really good food. I recommend it highly. Get the Ultimate California Rolls or The Crunch. Trust me on this one.
We were havin a good time there, having "a moment", and what came on the radio? The Muppet Christmas Album. Now, I may not have mentioned it previously (actually, I'm sure I haven't), but Alicia, and I as a result, are big Muppet fans. That sold us on h2o being the greatest restaurant in the history of ever.
At any rate, once we got done eating, I took 'lish down to Monument Circle to see the big Christmas Tree thinger they do on the statue every year. It was cool. And tall. We then hit the road to head home. By way of Harding Street, which never fails to amuse me.
So we get a little bit down Harding Street (hah!) and on our way home. Shortly down the road, we hit a railroad crossing. Which started flashing and blocking the road about the time it saw me coming. This was 10:00. I'm thinking "Ok, no big deal, I wait for the train to go by, and go about my bidness", right?
Wrong.
10:30 we finally turned around and said "Eff this train" (actually, it was eff the train, the train track, the road, the cars, the company transporting stuff on the train, the people that made the lights that were flashing at me, so on, and so forth), and we proceeded to head another way home.
Grr.
The hour trip home ended up taking damn near 2 hours, and by the time we got home, we were ready to just hit the damn sack.
No such luck.
As we're walking up to the apt. door, we make a little friendly wager about how much stuff the dog would have destroyed during our soiree. We go in, and see that, yup, stuff all over the floor.
Which would have been ok, except that the first thing we saw on the floor was the box from Alicia's Belgian chocolate bar.
Oh crap.
Yes, the dog ate half a damn chocolate bar. For those of you who have not MET my dog, he's all of 12 pounds (with one eye).
So needless to say we both got on the phone to various emergency vets finding out what we need to do. The local vet told us to meet him at the animal hospital (this is at midnight, by the way), so that he could proceed to take care of the issue.
We get there, and wait. And wait. And wait. The poor emergency nighttime vet finally gets there about 12:45, and we go inside. The dog is shaking like a leaf on a tree as we put him up on the table. Doc checks his heartrate, and yep, it's elevated. So yep, he needs to be induced to vomit.
Doc takes dog to the back, and we proceed to sit and wait and discuss the merits of various nationalities' dogs. For about 15 minutes.
Doc finally brings poor dog back, and tells us what he had to do. First off, they had to induce vomiting, of course. Apparently, this entails putting a small drop of what is essentially morphine in the corner of the dog's eye. For those of you who know my puppy, he only has one to choose from. Poor little guy.
Anywho, they next put some charcoal in his system to cleanse out anything still in his G.I. tract, and then injected fluids high in electrolyte content (ok, basically puppy gatorade) into his back.
My dog looked like the one-eyed hunchback from notre dame. Poor little guy.
So now that he's been through all this, he'll be ready to hit the sack when we get home, right?
Wrong.
We got him home, and he started freaking out like a crack junkie on a bender. Twirling, rubbing his eye, etc. etc. At one point, he actually rubbed his back so hard on the bed that he took a beautiful back bump off the side. Luckily, we are lazy, and there was a clothes pile right next to the bed. Dog lived, but dog was scared. After about an hour and a half of this crap, we finally wore him out enough to go to sleep.
And then to wake us up 2 hours later to go to the bathroom. Remember, he had fluids injected into his system.
And then again an hour later.
And then again two hours after that.
So I'm a tired zebra, but, trooper that I am, I'm still hittin the road today.
Madison, Indiana, prepare for the Zebrastripe Road Tour.
Hope your night was a lot better than ours.
I'm out.
-JH- |
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| Road Trip Ruminations |
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| 12:53am 16/10/2005 |
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mood: satisfied music: Random Sirius Satellite Radio Stuff
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So I'm sitting here in the car around Cleveland, riding cuz my fiancee is an angel and driving a good chunk of the way home.
Weekend was tremendous. Cleveland was a great show, excellent debut for the new market. Thanks to the wonderful Ohio highway system, I was way behind schedule getting to the show. That sucked severely. I got to the show, checked in with Gabe, and was put into the opener, Nigel McGuinness vs Claudio Castagnoli. Great European style match, a whole lotta uppercuts. Creative ones. They ruled. Some goofiness on the finish... I'll take the blame, I should have made sure I was completely clear what was going on. Won't happen again.
Rest of the show roxored my boxers. Corino as Punk was high-larious. Joe & Lethal vs Embassy gets my match of the weekend nod. Danielson is great, and likes him some airplane spins. My fiancee made friends with Paul Turner's girlfriend, and said she was very nice. That's cool. Turner's a-ok in my book, as are Sinclair and Bruce Gray. Good group of guys.
After the show, we piled in the car and rolled out for Niagara. The drive sucked. It was late. We crossed into Canada at like 2 am. Border guard was on his game. Apparently, Canada decided it was ok for me to stay the night. That's great, since I had room reservations.
Our room ruled. It was supposedly the "Rennaissance Fallsview". Apparently, "Fallsview" means "Parkinglotview", cuz thats all we had. Meh.
We got all of 7 hours of sleep, and got up & headed down to look at water falling on rocks. It was impressive, as water falling on rocks goes.So in walking around, apparently WWE has a ride and a store in Niagara Falls. We checked out the store. Meh. Jimmy Hart's Natural Disasters ring jacket and Undertaker's gimmick hat were on display. Super sweet.
So we headed over to the show early this time. I'd been beating myself up over a few stylistic nuances I needed to work on, and tonight totally reinforced and energized me. I feel good about my work - hopefully everyone involved with, and watching the match agreed. Talked to Mamaluke, Rinauro, Corino's ring announcer (who was a very nice guy, but unfortunately, I didn't catch his name), and Nana quite a bit. I love that locker room - everyone's a professional in every sense of the word, and a bunch of genuinely nice guys, to boot.
I ended up assigned Mamaluke & Rinauro vs Homicide & Ricky Reyes. After it was done, I felt really really good about the match. There were a couple points early that I felt a little out of place, but I hit my groove a little ways in. I can't wait to see the tape.
Got some really good feedback and advice from Nigel and Reyes, and I truly appreciate their help.
Gotta wrap this up for now... the missus needs me to take over driving - more later.
-JH- |
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| Harding + Alicia vs. Canada |
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| 08:05am 13/10/2005 |
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mood: tired music: Metallica - "Turn The Page"
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First and foremost, I would like to take a moment to mention the passing of Russ Hardman, who wrestled in the area as "Sweet" Stevie Lee. I won't pretend to have been a close friend of Russ's but I did know him from various shows around the area. Russ was always one of the guys who was oftentimes the most talented, or most accomplished guy in the locker room, but was also the most genial, friendly guy you'd ever care to meet. My heart goes out to his family, as I can only imagine how hard this must be. Godspeed, Russ.
On to lighter business...
So I get an email yesterday, and I find out I'm booked on the ROH shows this weekend, in Buffalo & Cleveland. This is a pleasant surprise, as I was under the impression I wasn't needed, but it does throw my entire weekend plans into a tailspin.
Naturally, I go into hustle mode, spending the rest of the day making my various plans and arrangements - hotel, dogsitter, pack the bags, so on, and so forth - and it hits me...
Buffalo = next to Niagara Falls.
So, I check into a few hotels and... boo-yah. The missus and I are headed to Canada!
Jason Harding World Tour goes international.
That's about all I've got time for right now - more updates soon, including any cool stories from this weekend, and the story of Alicia dancing on the bar in La Salle! Stay tuned, cuz ya don't wanna miss it.
Or something like that.
I'm such an idiot.
-JH |
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