Harry Smith at Blizzard Brawl 2019

Great Lakes Championship Wrestling presents Blizzard Brawl on December 2 in Kenosha, WI. It's not too soon to make your plans. I already have.

Promoter and #Superfriend David Herro always puts on a fantastic event. There a big meet-and-greet featuring all of the wrestlers, followed by a full night of wrestling. There are always a few legends mixed with a talented bunch of current wrestlers.

A few years back, one of the wrestlers was Harry Smith, son of Davey Boy Smith of the British Bulldogs. I met Harry several years earlier when he was the first Heavyweight champ at Resistance Pro. Harry has wrestled all over the world. Harry looked great and was super friendly with the fans.

that's not a surprise. All of the wrestling guests at Blizzard Brawl are very engaging with the fans. The full list hasn't been announced yet, but "The Fannypack Kid" Kal Herro, Leile Gray, "Iron" Mike Curkov and Al Snow are good bets to be there. I'll update that list as more names are announed.

Go to GLCWWrestling.com for more info and updates. Check back here for my coverage.

Harry Smith and me in Waukesha, WI-December 2019.

Friendly Encounters:Sheri Shaw Meets Billy Corgan and Harry Smith

This is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.  If you have a celebrity encounter picture you are willing to share, I'd love to run it here in the future.  Just let me know.

I have written many times about Resistance Pro Wrestling.  R Pro is a great organization and it has been so much fun covering their live events and meeting everyone involved with them.  I have had nothing but great experiences with everyone with R Pro.  I like to think I have gained several new friends, along with gaining story subjects!
One of those friends is Sheri Shaw.  I contacted Sheri about a year ago, when I heard she was in charge of music for R Pro.  It took a while to actually connect for an interview, but eventually we got together for one and even got her music partner Brian Judy in for another.
Sheri is a great asset to R Pro.  She is as friendly as she is cool...and her music is great.  Her music sets the stage for the wrestlers and the crowd.  I think Sheri will play an even bigger role as time goes on and R Pro gets bigger.
Resistance Pro's next show is Friday Sept. 14 at Excalibur.  Come on out and see some great wrestling action, accompanied by some great music.  Sheri and R Pro are a winning combination!

Billy Corgan, Sheri Shaw and Harry Smith in Chicago, IL-Early 2012.

Friendly Encounters:Aniviel Meets Harry Smith at Resistance Pro Wrestling

This is a weekly series about friends who have met celebrities.

One of the greatest parts of covering Resistance Pro Wrestling has been meeting all of the wonderful people.  It really is like one big family and I am happy to be a small part of it (kind of like the odd cousin).
One of the cool people I have met is known as Aniviel.   She does marketing and sponsorship for R Pro and she is a contributor for HeavyMetalNation.com.
From her bio on HeavyMetal.com, I learned that she loves music.  I mean LOVES music.  I also learned other things there, too.  She calls herself a girl computer geek, having written and done many other things online.
She also licks rockstars and wrestlers.  All I know about that is that she says it is a gimmick to go with her column at HeavyMetalNation.com.  (I have to find out how that got started, but that's for another time).  Of course, she is also firmly entrenched and staunchly behind the R Pro team and can usually be seen at R Pro events.  
I knew Aniviel would have some great pictures and stories and I asked her to share some (and that was before I knew about the licking gimmick).  She was kind enough to send several pictures (which I will be featuring here periodically in the future).
The first one I will show is of her and her friend meeting R Pro Heavyweight champ Harry Smith.  Smith will be defending his title at Taken By Force on June 15 at Excalibur.  This promises to be a great show, especially in the aftermath of the title match at A Small Deadly Space, R Pro's last event, where Smith aligned with Raven.
Aniviel pointed out that she is not licking Smith in the photo, because he is too tall.  I have to think Smith did not know that or else he surely would have scrunched down a bit.
I seriously want to thank Aniviel for sharing this picture (and the future ones, too) with us.  Please be sure to check out ResistancePro.com for more info on this great wrestling group.  Also, head over to HeavyMetalNation.com for great music info, especially Aniviel's contributions.

Aniviel (left) and her friend meet Harry Smith in Chicago, IL-Early 2012.

On the Beat with Harry Smith (Again!)

Yesterday, I featured a pre-match prediction from with Rhino who was facing the heavyweight champ Harry Smith at Resistance Pro Wrestling's Obsession last Friday.  Naturally Rhino predicted he would win the title from Smith later that night.
Since we got Rhino's prediction, we wanted to get Smith's thoughts on the match.  Smith greeted us enthusiastically and eagerly gave us his opinion on who would win.
The last time we interviewed Smith was at R Pro's first event in December of 2011.  He was our first interview at R Pro.  We were very happy to talk to this young star who is carrying on the Hart legacy.
Smith has done an outstanding job as champ, both in and out of the ring. He puts on excellent matches and
is great with the fans at the meet-and-greets.  Smith is the type of wrestler who can really put Resistance on the map.
We really appreciate Smith for his time and R Pro for their hospitality.  To learn more about this young star, you can follow Harry Smith on twitter.  Also, be sure to check out ResistancePro.com, for more info, pictures and updates on Smith and the rest of the great talent.

Friendly Encounters:Tommy Else Meets Billy Corgan and Harry Smith

This is a regular feature about my friends who have met celebrities.

I first encountered Resistance Pro Wrestling last year at Wizard World.  Since then, I have been featuring R-Pro regularly here and have enjoyed their live wrestling shows at Excalibur.  During the course of my learning all about R-Pro, I came across Tommy Else aka T3.
Tommy is a Chicago area guy and also a fan of R-Pro.  Actually, he is more than a fan.  He is trying to become part of R-Pro.
Tommy has his own site, The T3 Universe.  You can read about his audition for R-Pro here.  It is a great story, full of passion and real emotion.  Making his experience even better was meeting Billy Corgan, one of his favorites.
The story doesn't end there though.  Tommy started a campaign to get into the R-Pro organization.  You can read about that campaign here and here and here.  Tommy manages to show the passion, emotion and humor of a wrestling vet.  I have seen a lot of wrestlers and Tommy could easily make a name for himself with the right breaks.
Tommy made his Resistance debut recently for the Vicious Circle event.  He is aligned with D'Arcy Dixon as part of Team D'Arcy.  I am really hoping to talk to both of these Resistance stars at Obsession on March 23.
I really appreciate Tommy sharing all of this here.  I think he has a great future and I am looking forward to watching his career develop.

Harry Smith, Tommy Else and Billy Corgan in Chicago, IL-January 2012.

On the Beat with Harry Smith

I almost met Harry Smith at the Wizard World con last August.  By the time I got to the Resistance Pro Wrestling booth, he was gone.  Fortunately, it was announced that he would be appearing at their debut event in Chicago.  That event was Black Friday, which took place last Friday.
Smith wrestled an exciting match which ended in a draw and set up a three-way for the title in January (at the next RPW show).
At the after-party, I approached Smith about an interview, which he very politely accepted.  Johngy's Beat contributor Scott Beatty (of AU Sports) conducted the interview.  In the background you can hear the party at Excalibur.
Obviously, we talked about his lineage and training.  He is the son of the late great Davey Boy Smith (the British Bulldog) and the grandson of Stu Hart (patriarch of the legendary Hart family) and he trained in the Hart dungeon.  We also discussed his career and Resistance Pro Wrestling.
Hart looks to be the real deal.  Smith looked to be in great shape.  He has size, athleticism and charisma.  He knows and respects the business.  I think Hart is going to make it huge one day.
Hart was extremely generous with his time and we greatly appreciate it.  We want to thank Hart and RPW for the interview and access.
We look for great things from him and from RPW and we will be there in January as he is crowned the first RPW champ!  After you watch the interview below, check out ResistancePro.com.  Also, you can go to Harry Smith's Facebook page to learn more about him and keep updated.