By: Sean Harrell
2019… What a time to be alive! Well, at least in the world of wrestling.
WrestleMania weekend is great for so many reasons, least of which for many fans is the actual WrestleMania show itself. In 2016 I went to Dallas for the festivities and flew back home early Sunday and watched Mania from my couch. Each year Mania weekend gets bigger and bigger and with more and more shows added each year, it’s become impossible to see everything live. This year I decided to challenge myself to see how many shows I could watch from the comfort of my own home. Takeover and the MSG show are obviously great but I wanted to focus on all the other shows WrestleMania weekend has to offer.
At one-point Friday there were 4 shows going on at the same time. RevPro, Mercury Rising, Black Label Pro, and Stardom. With multiple TVs, a computer, phone, and iPad it was possible to watch all 4 at the same time yet challenging to have anything sink in. Is it too much? Perhaps for some but for others, it will never be enough! It will be hard to forget Orange Cassidy, the Invisible Man (and Stan), Yoshihiko (the blow-up doll), Dustin Thomas (incredible wrestler with no legs), Nick Gage, Teddy Hart, Masashi Takeda vs Jimmy Lloyd, Spring Break Part 1 & 2, Joey Ryan’s Penis Party and DDT with all their shenanigans.
Even for the fan who watches everything… you will still see people and things that you’ve never see before.
The magic number will end up being 30 after WrestleMania on Sunday. 30 shows! With the majority taking place Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Was it too much? Absolutely. Am I crazy? Surely. Would I do it all again? Of course! And I can’t wait until next year!
Spring Break Part 2 was the perfect way to end this madness… here are some notes.
Joey Janela’s Spring Break Part 2
The show started around 12:40 am eastern after the MSG crowd could make their way over.
Joey Janela vs Jungle Boy
Janela came out yelling into the camera about how the MSG show ran long. “Fuck ROH” and “Fuck Taven” chants followed. The crowd loved Jungle Boy. Fun and fast paced match. Exactly what it should be. Tons of moves. Tons of superkicks. Jungle Boy hit 3 straight dives to the outside. A couple brutal looking apron spots including an inverted brainbuster on the apron then later a rolling DVD on the apron. Spinning trapper keeper bomb by Janela wasn’t enough. Eventually, Jungle Boy taps out Janela via the “Mushroom Lock”. They hug after the match.
LAX vs Rock N Roll Express
Crowd going crazy before the match even starts. LAX bumping like crazy for The Rock N Rolls. Typical old school tag match until Ricky Morton hit a Canadian Destroyer then hit a dive through the ropes! Had to double check I was seeing things correctly and I wasn’t succumbing to the delirium of the weekend. LAX gets the win when Santana hit a senton in the corner on Morton for the pin. After the match, LAX talked about how they wrestled 9 matches this weekend and put over the Express huge. Hugs all around. Gibson even gave his trademarked bandanas to LAX.
Masato Tanaka vs LA Park
At this point, I was wondering what dimension I had traveled to… Wild match. Chops. No selling chair shots. Roaring elbows. LA Park kept grabbing at the mouth area of his mask throughout the match. Maybe he was having problems breathing thru his mask or I was making things up in my mind. They brawled ringside. There was a bodyslam into chairs then a powerbomb thru a door. To the surprise of no one, Tanaka took a lot of punishment. LA Park won after a spear through another door for the win. Both looked pretty banged up after.
“Sweep it up asshole” chant directed at the guy cleaning up the ring between matches.
The Greatest Clusterfuck
No point on trying to recap this. This was LONG. People seemingly eliminating themselves left and right by diving over the top rope to the floor… but they weren’t eliminated. Some of the highlights were Marko Stunt and Nate Webb singing “Teenage Dirtbag”, MJF being the best heel all weekend long, SeXXXy Eddy performing a naked moonsault, Marko Stunt’s brother and Swoggle meeting hypodermic needles. There was carnage everywhere. The winner was… well, there was no winner. A group of female wrestlers invaded and destroyed everyone especially Joey Janela until the show cut out… it went to color bars then to black. I guess it was their take on the Sopranos ending? I’m only on season 3 of the Sopranos but I’m aware how the finale ended.
Here’s the list of entrants (to the best of my ability):
Necro Butcher
Nick Gage
Shlak
Georgie Boy
Swoggle
Arik Cannon
Joe Gacy
Brian Pillman Jr
Nate Webb
MJF
Joey Ryan
Sexxxy Eddy
Effy
Mick Moretti
Marko Stunt and his brother
Team WhiteWolf
Kobe Durst
Egotistical Fantastico
G Raver
Kikutaro
Teddy Hart
Homicide
Cryme Tyme
Grim Reefer
Ugly Ducklings
Slim J
Facade
Gringo Loco
AJ Gray
Ophidian
Rich Swann
“No Legs”
Brendan Brown of Wheatus
Parrow and Odinson
Iron Demon Shane Mercer
Tony Deppen
Jake Atlas and Lucas Riley
Australian Suicide
Kyle The Beast
Caveman Ugg
Crowbar
Matt Tremont
Grizzly Redwood
Chris Dickinson and Pinkie Sanchez
Michael Blais
Kip Osborne and Frankie Pickard
Fake Sting
Tracy Smothers
Mantaur
Matt Nicks
Cecil Nyx
Jimmy Lloyd
Masashi Takeda
Jeff Cannonball
Ethan Page
Essa Rios
Allie KAT
Session Moth Martina
Solo Darling
Shazza McKenzie
Su Yung
Maria Manic
Ashley Vox
Harlow O’Hara