Jul 22, 2024

The Return Of Reel Rumble


Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
There was a time in my life that I tried to attend as many independent wrestling events in the tri-state area that I possibly could; particularly Ring Of Honor and Chikara.  I still enjoy professional wrestling, but I have too many hobbies and there aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with them all.


The in-ring portion of last year's Reel Rumble event was rained out, so the last indy wrestling event I attended was Reel Rumble III.  This year's Reel Rumble V event included five matches with several wrestlers that we got to see at the Mahoning in 2002, and some familiar faces from the indy wrestling scene that I followed more closely in the years before I went back to college.

The main wrestler from this card that I remember from his days in Chikara and ROH is HallowickedUltraMantis Black once led The Order Of The Neo-Solar Temple in Chikara.  Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams worked in Chikara as a masked tag team called The Colony (Soldier Ant and Green Ant), and Lucky 13 wrestled in Chikara as the masked Retail Dragon.  The card also included ROH-veteran Cheeseburger, and folks who we got to see at Reel Rumble III like Big Dan Champion, Kodama, "La Chica" Clara Carreras, Erica Leigh, and Jeff Cannonball.

Photo by Sergio Valentino
Photo by Sergio Valentino
Photo by Gene Baretta


Most of the photos that you're going to see on this post were taken by the very talented Sergio Valentino (aka: pixematize) who kindly allowed me to share them here.  A small handful of them are mine.  Those will be the ones that don't look nearly as good as Sergio's.





Photo by Sergio Valentino

Results:
  • Athan Promise defeated Ultimo Ant
  • The Lost Boys (Miles Penn and Ryan Ryzz) defeated Club Soda (Jeff Cannonball and Puf)
  • Erica Leigh defeated Vita Von Starr

  • "Honey Mustard" Drew Gulak defeated "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams
  • Trios Match
    Cheeseburger, Big Dan Champion, and La Chica Carreras defeated Hallowicked, Kodama, and Lucky 13

Many of the wrestlers hung out at the merch tables after the show to meet fans, sign autographs, and take pictures.  Ben, Avery and I all wanted to get a picture with the dude who we all became fans of at the 2002 Reel Rumble, the one and only Big Dan Champion.
 

I didn't want to bug the whole roster for a photo, especially since my spending money is a little slim after VHS Fest, but I had to get a picture with Hallowicked.  The photo on the left was taken on May 26th, 2007 at Chikara Anniversario in Hellertown, PA.  A lot of things have changed over the seventeen years between these two photos, but two things that have not are the fact that he's still wrestling in some of the most fun matches I've ever seen, and I'm still a fan of independent wrestling.

Photo by Sergio Valentino

And that's a wrap on another fun wrestling event under the big screen at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater.  That alone would have been worth the price of admission, but we also got to see the greatest movie ever to star a professional wrestling legend once the sun went down.  More on that tomorrow.