WrestleMania week, like acquiring the Soul Stone from Vormir, extracts a heavy toll.
“The General” John Mosley and myself went up to support our SUP brothers who worked a six-man tag at IWTV’s Family Reunion, cover all the festivities of the week (tons of content in the pipeline), and just enjoy all of the shenanigans that come with it with some of our closest friends. It’s professional wrestling’s biggest holiday.
I will be releasing my WrestleMania week diary specifically for our $8/month Patreon subscribers later this week, but wanted to share a general overview of what it was like to spend the week with the SoBros team and our friends. This account of the trip was taken directly from the mean streets of Twitter.
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 3, 2019
Part 1. Gonna be a long 13 hours. @IRONELBOW88 @ThatsGottaBLane pic.twitter.com/MqVJIsKtpM
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 3, 2019
It took exactly four minutes for Stoney to make a work station pic.twitter.com/3UaEoBejCO
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 3, 2019
This was seconds after the last video. @IRONELBOW88 is making sure @ThatsGottaBLane knows who’s running the show pic.twitter.com/MModYsy0pi
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 3, 2019
Sound on. pic.twitter.com/iLIwhMV1QP
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 3, 2019
The views here are amazing. pic.twitter.com/6jkn8USsUO
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 4, 2019
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 3, 2019
BRICK NATION in Jersey City pic.twitter.com/B7fXiTjbdx
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 4, 2019
The disrespect. @IRONELBOW88 @ThatsGottaBLane pic.twitter.com/vlQWOt1EEU
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 4, 2019
.@MC_Cash75 wins WrestleMania Week already by playing “Strokin’” on the jukebox.
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 4, 2019
Its Wrestlemaina Week!
— O'Shay Edwards // The Big Bad Kaiju (@AllDamnDayOShay) April 4, 2019
Flight delayed.
Uber Driver Outta His Mind.
Beers with my boys.
WORTH IT! pic.twitter.com/GsHAZSj6DQ
The quote of the trip:Just watching I Love New York clips with Romance himself.
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 4, 2019
You play D’Angelo, we fuckin’
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 4, 2019
My dude @RighteousJesse announced @sup_graps at The Collective….
— Robert Bellamy (@Mouse3911) April 4, 2019
SUP is one of my homes…
So happy for my dudes in the match… pic.twitter.com/WQx4PImpX4
We be at our BnB eating pizza…drinking Henny…watching JJSB and Takeover…talking shit and sharing laughs.
— O'Shay Edwards // The Big Bad Kaiju (@AllDamnDayOShay) April 6, 2019
Wanna join in?
DM me.
“Look, I need a Pop-Tart”- Marko Stunt
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 4, 2019
What a weird night pic.twitter.com/L921RUJQ1P
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 5, 2019
Not awake 30 minutes and I blow out both ankles jumping out of a bunk bed like I’m 14 and not 44 then I give myself a concussion when I hit my head on the bunk beds.
— Steven McCash (@MC_Cash75) April 4, 2019
Oh shit @IRONELBOW88 just jumped in our lyft and found @StoneyKeeley. This is not good pic.twitter.com/u9q3m32Rla
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 5, 2019
“Stoney’s kinda funny when he hasn’t slept and has been drunk for a day and a half.”
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 5, 2019
“Hell yeah I fucking love windows.”
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 5, 2019
We’ve ventured out for coffee. pic.twitter.com/QXW5IeUUbK
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 5, 2019
This crew over everything pic.twitter.com/OIepJYWDq3
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 6, 2019
HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THIS pic.twitter.com/KZqQhrFRK3
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 7, 2019
Rap Devil (2019) pic.twitter.com/QorrtGwO8r
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 6, 2019
Street justice!! pic.twitter.com/OsGBPTecJv
— Brett Ison (@IRONELBOW88) April 4, 2019
Is that D’Angelo playing? pic.twitter.com/x05VnSLcpy
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 4, 2019
All these guys!!!! pic.twitter.com/fQeLRTorrx
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 4, 2019
This entire bar just knows us as the “wrestling corner”
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 6, 2019
This shit right here tho pic.twitter.com/mISE5FPy5z
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 4, 2019
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (2019) pic.twitter.com/3Am9BXXURq
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 5, 2019
“My nose belongs to the city now.”- Stoney
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 6, 2019
All hail Garrini and Bishop pic.twitter.com/OENFUFXCht
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 5, 2019
Wait, *Redacted* you’ve had sex?”- Brett
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 5, 2019
I keep finding shit on my phone…here is a taste. pic.twitter.com/mjIPjkeikb
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 8, 2019
This happened BTW pic.twitter.com/ZUmWW6d49O
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 5, 2019
DA BOYZ pic.twitter.com/ju5v5ho7o4
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 6, 2019
Impromptu arm wrestling match with Brick and our bartender. pic.twitter.com/IiPf6Uw83M
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 6, 2019
“I like whisky”- @SoBroMose
— Steven McCash (@MC_Cash75) April 6, 2019
Me: “my hands fucking hurt.”
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 6, 2019
Man who wants to kill me: “well, you’re hittin’ ‘em too hard. It’s a work, kid.”
The saga continues… pic.twitter.com/tRKaThMOlr
— Wrasslin' on SoBros Network (@SoBrosWrasslin) April 6, 2019
“Yeah, fuck it. Let’s go to jail tonight.”
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 6, 2019
Yes they fucking did. pic.twitter.com/ZkTrpkCfJG
— Steven McCash (@MC_Cash75) April 6, 2019
New text response when I don’t know what to say pic.twitter.com/c052a4W3wf
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 6, 2019
We almost threw someone through a window tonight. MDK.
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 6, 2019
Guys I got the green light pic.twitter.com/tXoy57JQNS
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 7, 2019
Anybody can get booked on Wrestlemania week.
— O'Shay Edwards // The Big Bad Kaiju (@AllDamnDayOShay) April 6, 2019
Anybody can booked on Wrestlemania week and do a moonsault.
But only a select few can booked on Wrestlemania week, do a moonsault and the Easter Bunny mark out for you and your boys.#SUPGraps pic.twitter.com/Eo0ydSYpkE
This week has taken its toll on me. If you aren’t sitting within two feet from me, I cannot make out what your face looks like. I need to go to sleep.
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 6, 2019
Hydrate or something. @IRONELBOW88 @ThatsGottaBLane pic.twitter.com/iEMYmMH1IZ
— Cemetery Mayne (@RighteousJesse) April 7, 2019
So far I've yet to be administered the $100 cleaning fee on the BnB.
— Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley) April 7, 2019
But, nobody summed it up like our boy McCash:I guess Haley snapped this at some point since I’ve been back. pic.twitter.com/h7tj5ej9yF
— SoMoseBro (@SoBroMose) April 8, 2019
I wouldn’t trade sending this weekend with these guys for nothing in the world. @Mrbricksterr @AllDamnDayOShay @StoneyKeeley @SoBroMose @RighteousJesse @IRONELBOW88 @ThatsGottaBLane @cabanamandan @MarkoStunt
— Steven McCash (@MC_Cash75) April 6, 2019
It’s hard to put into words what this trip meant to me. I’ve been a pro wrestling fan for my entire life. When I started writing, it was strictly in the realm of sports. Even when I did break into pro wrestling writing, it was still very serious stuff.
But, it wasn’t me.
I wanted my work to be comedic – a reflection of my heart and my dry ass warped sense of humor. I wanted the freedom to do and say what I wanted, and that’s what the SoBros Network was born out of – transparent, funny guys trying to offer a positive corner of the internet and world.
Still, I didn’t know that we’d ever be accepted on the indie scene. I remember having some long talks with Cadbury, who was also in on this whole wrestling venture from the start, about whether or not we should pursue it. He’s another guy whose support has been vital to all of this, and I greatly wish he could have experienced this week with us.
I was unfamiliar with the scene when we went down to Chattanooga for SCI in 2017. I didn’t know if it’d work – would wrestling Twitter see us as a bunch of dumb bros (I mean, maybe they still do – but at least we’re lovable?)? Would they think we were making fun of it all because we’re a bunch of loose, vulgar dudes? Or, would the diehard SoBros readers who aren’t wrestling fans quit following the site?
It was all for naught. Turns out, there’s plenty of love to go around. I think our work ethic speaks for itself, and I think those non-wrestling fans still like to see us acting like asses in crazy environments. We made a lot of good friends that we still keep in contact with today on that trip. Created some good content that weekend that thousands of people saw, too.
So after that, I decide that I’d like someone on the team to cover indie wrestling all the time. Had no idea who ‘John Mosley’ was, but he took the initiative to send me a writing sample (99.9% of people want “to be a SoBro” until they find out there’s actual work involved and we don’t just sit and party all the time). I critiqued it a bit just to see how he’d respond, and instead of telling me to fuck off, he said, “whatever you need, man.”
That’s when I knew we had something special in this guy – he’s funny, he knows his shit, and he produces. The @SoBrosWrasslin account has just over 200 followers, yet he’s getting hundreds of thousands of impressions. He’s connected to the scene, and is one of the greatest relationship-creators I’ve ever seen in action. Wrestling is now a key vertical of the SoBros business strategy – how fuckin’ crazy is that?!?!
I started writing about SUP after that SCI 2017 weekend, and out of that, created a really strong relationship with Righteous Jesse. He was the first person to accommodate us for no real reason, and has been a fucking delight to work with since we started sponsoring the SUP shows. I know I’ve said it a million times, but we’ve gotten immensely better results sponsoring SUP shows than we ever got with Facebook/Twitter marketing.
Everything about SoBros Network is DIY – we make our own shirts, built our own site, everything. We saw an opportunity for a new revenue stream, and Brett Ison gave us a chance to become his exclusive merch vendor. The ‘Street Justice’ shirt became our 2nd best seller of 2018. All of this happened because these guys took a chance on me and our little rogue media company.
It’s crazy to look back at where we were two years ago and reflect on where we are today because of guys like Mose, Jesse, and Brett. But, it’s deeper than just work – I’ve made significant bonds and friendships with people like redacted, McCash, and Ben. Just shooting the shit and having fun with those guys has created memories that I’ll take to the grave.
Then, there’s the talent – guys like O’Shay Edwards, Mr. Brickster, Marko Stunt, and Cabana Man Dan (in addition to Brett), who have been an outright pleasure to work with. Not only giving me interviews upon request, but going out of their way to find me after shows to shake hands and catch up.
I never saw this coming when I started writing in 2013.
In a lot of ways, this trip was the culmination of nearly two years worth of work. It assured me that we’re doing something right here, and that we’re just getting started.
There’s a future for us thanks to the hard work and support of a lot of people. I love this team. Onwards and upwards!
For Mose’s favorite matches from ‘Mania week, click here.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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