After getting into Jersey City on Wednesday afternoon, then shutting the city down with some of the SUP crew, we got up Thursday on little to no sleep for “Family Reunion.” This was the show that secured our trip to Jersey. There was no chance we were missing the SUP 6-Man Tag in person. We had a short walk to the venue, got a beer, then posted up ringside.
IWTV: Family Reunion Recap
IWTV Independent Wrestling Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jonathan Gresham- What a start to the weekend. This was a European Rounds Match, which lent itself to Cassidy’s shtick oh so well. Like…we were in tears when he admitted he had no idea what the rules were.
We get going and before we really know what’s up, Cassidy has stolen a pin. The second round ends in a draw before Cassidy clinches victory with a crucifix pin in the third round. Post match, MJF beats Cassidy down after OC declines a Title vs. Title match. This was a ton of fun.
The Space Pirates and BMD vs. Kobe Durst, Justin Sane and Kody Lane- This was hot with all six dudes tearing shit up at times. I hadn’t seen BMD before and quickly became a fan. Good back and forth before BMD hit a 450 splash for the victory.
6-Man Scramble- Red Eagle vs. Ethan Page vs. Arik Cannon vs. Ophidian vs. Mike Verna vs. Mikey- Again, there was so damn much going on here. There was a badass DDT sequence and body slam frenzy courtesy of Mikey. Ophidian and Red Eagle stood out the most to me as they tore shit up, especially in the finishing sequence where Red Eagle eventually secured a feverish win.
Steph Delander, Caveman Ugg and Unsocial Jordan vs. Jack Bonza, Mick Moretti and Bel Pierce– God I fucking love Caveman Ugg. I hadn’t seen a ton of him prior to this, but the guy is a killer. Everything he did sounded and looked painful as shit. Solid showing from the Australians but this ended up being the Ugg show. Bonza, Moratti and Bel pick up a hard fought win.
Kylie Rae and Isaias Velasquez vs. Shotzi Blackheart and Robert Anthony- All hell broke loose in this one. Shotzi was on a goddamn warpath, though that’s not really a surprise. What was a surprise was seeing that mother fucker Frank the Clown out and about with Shotzi/Anthony. Thankfully in the closing moments, Kylie and Isaias fucked that asshole up to a roaring chorus of “Kill the Clown.” Afterwards, Kylie sinks in the STF on Anthony and that’s all she wrote.
ACTION Wrestling Championship: AC Mack (c) vs. Fred Yehi- Fred looked dominant early but couldn’t keep Mack down. When AC started to take control he kept looking for the Mack 10, but Yehi was just too slippery. So slippery that AC gets frustrated and looks for the possible DQ after grabbing his title. In all the chaos of the ref getting the title back AC hits a shot directly to Fred’s dick, then nails the Mack 10. Game, set, match.
Kris Statlander and Solo Darling vs. Shazza McKenzie and Jessica Troy- All four ladies brought it but Kris/Solo really shined through. Both are straight up mad women, which I respect oh so much. Statlander gets the pin on Shazza in a scrap.
Sadkampf (Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku) & Brett Ison vs. O’Shay Edwards, Cabana Man Dan and Mr. Brickster- From the moment Jesse took the ring we were fired the fuck up. We’ve been living for this match for months now. The interweaving storylines between all six men gave us so much meat on the bone throughout.
A few highlights include Dan flop chopping Dom, Ku fucking Dan up, Dom chucking Dan, Brick hitting a super scary Edge of Yikes on Ku, Brett with a disgusting Street Justice to Brick. All that said, the craziest shit of the match award has to go to O’Shay as he scaled the turnbuckle and nail a picture perfect moonsault that left the crowd in a frenzy. It was that D’Angelo shit. A close second has to be the finish with Dan hitting Sliced Bread from the top rope to Ku.
This was a sprint and a half that I can’t say enough positive things about. All six guys tore the shit down leading to multiple “SUP GRAPS” chants. For a split second I thought I was back in The Basement East. Getting goosebumps just thinking about it again. I just want to say congratulations to the entirety of SUP for putting this together. Y’all knocked it out of the park.
Last Man Standing: “Warhorse” Jake Parnell vs. Gary Jay- It’s no secret these two guys have been fighting all over the place the past year or so. What’s crazy is how they keep finding new shit to almost kill each other with, making each match still feel fresh. The storytelling is something that gets lost as well. I mean…when you’ve got two guys constantly attempting to murder the other, it’s easy for the story to get lost for some.
There were so many callbacks to other matches, but none bigger than Gary taking the top rope off to use which of course is how Jake got part of his face ripped off last year. Gary Jay gets the win after using a chair to smash a second chair around Jake’s neck with an absolutely sickening swing.
This was my first “Mania Weekend” show ever, y’all. It was a great start to the weekend with a lot of variety including a few faces I had never seen before. Obviously, the SUP match was the favorite but I can’t stress how absolute batshit crazy the Gary/Jake match was. Now I’m just hella fired up to head over to East Nashville on April 21st for SUP: Hold Your Ground.
More WrestleMania Week Coverage
AIW: Slumber Party Massacre Recap
Mose’s Favorite Mania Weekend Matches
The SoBros’ WrestleMania Week In Tweets
WrestleMania 35: Results And Match Ratings
John Mosley is the independent wrestling and TV aficionado of the SoBros Network. He graduated from ETSU with a degree in Radio, TV and Film along with a minor in Film Studies. Since graduating he’s done pretty much nothing but watch, film, edit or commentate for local wrestling promotions and is the current color commentator for Resolute Wrestling. #Preds #Titans #DefendOrVacateConor Follow on Twitter: @SoBroMose.
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