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 Sweet Daddy Siki in an early Mike Mastrandrea photo
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Mike Mastrandrea's earliest memory of wrestling was channel surfing on a lazy Saturday afternoon and stopping on an attention-grabbing, loud-mouthed, over-the-top character wearing a kilt: Rowdy Roddy Piper. After watching him battle such greats as Greg Valentine, Jimmy Snuka and Mad Dog Vachon, Piper was finally stopped in his tracks by the immortal Hulk Hogan ... and he was hooked. Hence the countless trips to Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens for Sunday shows, purchasing of wrestling figures and wearing of t-shirts. A wrestling geek was born.
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Mike Mastrandrea's SLAM! Wrestling Photo Galleries:
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Ring of Honor
> November 14, 2009, in in Mississauga, ON
WWE Raw
> October 27, 2009, in in Buffalo, NY
WWE Bragging Rights PPV
> October 25, 2009 in Pittsburgh
WWE Monday Night Raw
> September 14, 2009 in Toronto
WWE Breaking Point PPV
> September 13, 2009 in Montreal
WWE Supershow
> September 12, 2009 in Ottawa
Dragon Gate USA Enter the Dragon debut show
> July 25, 2009 in Philadelphia
Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor
> Night 1 - July 24, 2009 in Toronto
Blue Demon Jr. & Incognito at BSE Pro
> July 18-19, 2009 in Toronto
WWE Extreme Rules PPV
> June 7, 2009 in New Orleans
Monday Night Raw
> Buffalo, NY, May 4, 2009
Ring of Honor
> Markham, ON, April 18, 2009
Wrestlemania weekend
> April 2-5, 2009 in Houston, TX
Edge, Natalya and Rocky Johnson at the food bank
> Toronto, ON, December 3, 2008
Ring of Honor
> Markham, ON, November 8, 2008
Border City Wrestling
> Windsor, ON, October 4, 2008
The Score Housewarming Party with CM Punk and Natalya
> Toronto, ON, September 20, 2008
TNA No Surrender PPV
> Oshawa, ON, September 14, 2008
TNA promotional stop -- Kurt Angle, Angelina Love, Kevin Nash, Earl Hebner
> Toronto, September 2008
The Wrestler screening
> Toronto International Film Festival, September 7, 2008
Ring of Honor Gallery 2
> Toronto, July 25, 2008
Ring of Honor Gallery 1
> Toronto, July 25, 2008
Batista autograph signing
> June 21, 2008 in Toronto
WWE Smackdown taping
> May 6, 2008, in London, ON
WWE ECW/Smackdown taping
> May 6, 2008, in London, ON
WWE Monday Night Raw
> May 5, 2008, in Toronto, ON
WWE Raw house show
> May 4, 2008, in Barrie, ON
WWE Raw house show
> May 3, 2008, in Hamilton, ON
Trish Stratus' Stratusphere Yoga opening
> Toronto, ON, April 24, 2008
WrestleMania 24 - Edge-Taker; Orton-Cena-HHH
> Orlando, FL, March 30, 2008
WrestleMania 24 - Big Show-Floyd Mayweather
> Orlando, FL, March 30, 2008
WrestleMania 24 - Flair-Michaels
> Orlando, FL, March 30, 2008
WrestleMania 24 - Finlay-JBL; Women's match; Misc.
> Orlando, FL, March 30, 2008
WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
> Orlando, FL, March 29, 2008
WWE No Way Out
> Las Vegas, February 17, 2008 -- Gallery #1: Edge-Mysterio, Smackdown Chamber, ECW title bout, Kane-Benjamin
> Gallery #2: Flair-Kennedy, Cena-Orton, Raw Chamber
WWE Fan Axxess
> Toronto, February 2-3, 2008
WWE Raw
> Miami, Fl, November 19, 2007
Ring of Honor
> San Francisco, October 21, 2007
WrestleFanFest - Gallery 1
> San Francisco, October 19-21, 2007
WrestleFanFest - Gallery 2
> San Francisco, October 19-21, 2007
WrestleFanFest - Gallery 3
> San Francisco, October 19-21, 2007
WrestleFanFest - Live show
> San Francisco, October 19, 2007
Necro Butcher vs Bill Skullion - Weapons Match
> GWE Oshawa, ON, September 21, 2007
Ring of Honor Gallery 1
> Detroit, September 14, 2007
Ring of Honor Gallery 2
> Detroit, September 14, 2007
Melina, Maria, Punk & Morrison
> August 24, 2007 in Toronto at Ontario Place
Ballpark Brawl VIII
> August 23, 2007 in Buffalo, NY
Chris Benoit
> A special gallery
Smackdown
> May 27, 2007, in London, Ontario
ECW
> May 27, 2007, in London, Ontario
WWE Monday Night Raw
> May 28, 2007, in Toronto
WWE house show
> May 11, 2007, in Hamilton
Shelton Benjamin autograph signing
> May 10, 2007, in Toronto
The Condemned Toronto premiere
> April 11, 2007, in Toronto
WrestleMania 23
> April 1, 2007, in Detroit
WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony
> March 31, 2007, in Detroit
Ring of Honor All Star Extravaganza III
> March 30, 2007, in Detroit
THQ Superstar Challenge
> March 29, 2007, in Detroit
Fan Axxess with Maryse, Kenny Dykstra, JTG and Elijah Burke
> March 28, 2007, in Windsor, ON
Johnny Nitro appearance
> March 27, 2007, in Windsor, ON
Mickie James & Kenny Dykstra appearance
> March 20, 2007, in Toronto, ON
Ken Kennedy signing
> March 17, 2007, in Niagara Falls, ON
UWA Hardcore King of the Death Match Tournament
> February 24, 2007, in Bolton, ON
WrestleMania 23 Press Conference Windsor
> February 2, 2007, in Windsor, ON
TNA Bound For Glory PPV
> October 22, 2006, in Plymouth, Mich.
TNA Fanfest
> October 21, 2006, in West Bloomfield, Mich.
WWE Unforgiven PPV
> September 17, 2006 in Toronto, ON
Combat Zone Wrestling
> June 10, 2006 in Philadelphia, PA
Ring of Honor
> March 31, 2006 in Chicago Ridge, Illinois
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Fast forward many years and Mike found himself enrolled in a Photography course at Emery Collegiate Institute. One of the assignments included photographing a sporting event. While all the students decided to shoot the traditional hockey, basketball or football games, Mike was off to Monarch Park in downtown Toronto on the July 1st, 1990 long weekend to shoot at Sully's Gym wrestling show. While photographing the show, Mike was approached by gym trainer Sweet Daddy Siki and asked if he could stop by the gym next week and show the boys the photos. Opportunity knocked and for the next few years Mike was the staff photographer for Sully's Gym. During his tenure there Mike was able to photograph many future wrestling stars including Edge, Christian, Johnny Swinger/Parisi, Just Joe (aka Joe E Legend), and Rob Fuego.
Once college began, Mike faced the traditional cost of tuition problem all students face and decide to conquer that with an untraditional method -- selling wrestling photos. While spending many years hitting the road and shooting any and every local Ontario/Upstate NY wrestling Indy Mike mailed out packages to many local promoters and international magazines and steady work was found with British wrestling publication where Mike has been a photographer since 1995.
Mike's work has appeared in:
Newspaper
The Toronto Star
Magazines
Pro Wrestling Illustrated, World of Wrestling, New Wave Wrestling
Books
WOW: Best of WWF, WCW, and ECW, Adam Copeland on Edge
Staff Photographer
Sully's Gym, Renegade Wrestling Alliance, UWA Hardcore Wrestling ... and now SLAM! Wrestling
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