HOOWEE, alright y’all – we made it! The final piece in our 2019 Scenic City Invitational catalog. And, there’s really only one stone left unturned – ranking the matches themselves. I’ll say – this year’s body of work from top to bottom blew me away. I mean, we saw…what? Close to 50 wrestling matches last weekend? And, I can’t think of many, if any, that had me sitting there like, “meh.”
It’s the biggest weekend in Tennessee – maybe the entire southeast – for professional wrestling. Everyone brought it in some capacity. So, as I close out another year of covering SCI weekend, I have to thank the wrestlers and everyone involved in putting on the shows for Crux, SCI, and SUP. You guys have my utmost respect.
Now, let’s rank some of these matches.
Caveat: I missed pretty much all of the The Lynch Mob vs. The WorkHorsemen match from Night 2 of SCI. For some reason, multiple people saw fit to come talk to us about our merch and buy shirts from us in the middle of live fucking matches. I ain’t complaining about it, ’cause dolla dolla bills and all. I just haven’t gone back to watch this one yet, so I didn’t feel comfortable ranking it based off of what people said on Twitter and not seeing it for myself.
Honorable Mentions: Dreamboy 001 vs. Manders vs. Lutha X vs. Blake Christian (Crux), Anthony Henry vs. Joey Lynch, Nick Iggy vs. Kevin Ku, J.D. Drake vs. O’Shay Edwards, Brett Ison vs. Matt Tremont, Tony Deppen vs. Alex Zayne, Warhorse Jake Parnell vs. Kevin Ku, Brett Ison vs. Anthony Henry vs. J.D. Drake vs. O’Shay Edwards
Top 10 Matches From SCI Weekend 2019
10. “Fans Bring the Weapons” Death Match, Crux Wrestling’s Hey Jealousy – Death match wrestling isn’t my thing. I’ll be the first to admit. But, holy. fucking. shit. How could you not appreciate the pure chaos that this thing was? Fabulous story-telling with Brett Ison showing up to deliver Street Justice to Matt Tremont ahead of their SCI Round 1 match. Then, the night concluding with Ison, Righteous Jesse, and Kerry Awful embracing in the ring? I couldn’t NOT mention this match in the top 10 – a real highlight of the weekend.
9. Alex Zayne vs. Craig Mitchell, SUP’s All Hell Breaks Loose – The trash can spot alone, I mean come ON! I firmly believe that anything either of these guys touches turns to complete gold. These guys could both be cornerstone pieces in a new era of SUP. The Midwest Bully got the win with a package piledriver from the second rope, and the gifs ran wild all over wrestling Twitter.
7. Zach Cooper vs. Gnarls Garvin vs. Manders, SCI Futures – The hoss fight of all hoss fights. Vicious strikes, brutal displays of power, and chops on chops on chops. This one was highlighted by dueling ‘corn’ and ‘beef’ chants as Manders and Garvin went at it.
8. Cabana Man Dan vs. Marko Stunt, SUP’s All Hell Breaks Loose – Emotions were at an all time high to begin with, considering it was Stunt’s last SUP show. But, man – the story here just amplified it. It was a ‘friendly contest’ that a got a little not-so-friendly, and by the end, we were all pretty much in tears.
6. B-Boy vs. Kevin Ku, SUP’s All Hell Breaks Loose – As if B-Boy’s entrance in The Basement East wasn’t good enough, the bell had to go and ring and these two warriors went at it. It was hard-hitting, back and forth, and B-Boy capped off a memorable weekend with a win.
5. IFHY vs. The Smokin’ Budz, Crux Wrestling’s Hey Jealousy – Both of these teams are so hungry and eager to prove themselves that it should come as no surprise to see them going all out. Wolf almost put David Morton through a wall. Literally. These guys stole the show.
4. B-Boy vs. Chip Day, Crux Wrestling’s Hey Jealousy – I called it a war of attrition and that’s the most accurate statement I could possibly use to describe it. I’m sweating just thinking about it. It sounded like a lot of people weren’t too familiar with B-Boy when the match started, but it wouldn’t be long before dueling ‘B-Boy’ and ‘Chip Day’ chants filled the TWE Arena.
3. IFHY vs. Violence Is Forever, SCI Futures – I was tempted not to even rank this match. I really don’t want to encourage Wolf doing dumb shit. He’s an electric factory. Shit, he and Kemp both are. But, I have to give everyone involved in this match props. It produced the clip of the weekend, but don’t let that fool you. The entire match held up incredibly well.
2. Brett Ison vs. B-Boy, SCI Night 2 – I mentioned before that these two have a unique chemistry. Now, I had to miss most of it live because someone was trying to buy a ‘Street Justice’ shirt from me….guy points to it and says, “that that big boi in the ring right now?” I replied with, “yes sir it is.” Shirt sold. So, I had to go back and catch the replay, but I stand by it. These two have a chemistry you don’t see too often. Two warriors who respect each other immensely going at it.
1. Tony Deppen vs. Daniel Makabe, SCI Night 1 – I’ve sat on it for several days, and I just keep coming back to it. These guys put on a match that was damn near perfect. We know both of ’em can do just about anything in the ring, but this was as pure and smooth a contest as you’ll ever see in any ring anywhere. When you have guys that make this thing feel like a shoot sport, you know you have something special. It was one of the most talked about matches of the weekend, and for good reason. In my opinion, it was the best.
Previous ‘Match of the Weekend’ Honors
2017 – Joey Lynch vs. Jason Kincaid
2018 – Joey Lynch vs. PCO
2019 – Tony Deppen vs. Daniel Makabe
MORE 2019 SCI COVERAGE
2019 SCI Photo Album (Patrons only)
A.C. Mack Needs To Be Held Accountable For His Actions
B-Boy Is My 2019 SCI Weekend MVP
Crux Wrestling: Hey Jealousy Recap
The Future Is Now: The Rising Stars Of SCI Weekend 2019
How I Spent My SCI Weekend: 2019 Edition
Manders Had an Absolute Star-making Weekend
My Personal Favorite Moments From SCI 2019 (Patrons Only)
Podcast: B-Boy Interview
Podcast: Brett Ison Interview
Podcast: Doug Markham Interview
Podcast: IFHY “Interview”
Podcast: Manders Interview
Podcast: O’Shay Edwards Interview
Podcast: The Smokin’ Budz Interview
SCI 2020 Wishlist
SUP: All Hell Breaks Loose Recap
Thank you, SCI
Top 10 Matches From SCI Weekend 2019
Unsung Heroes From SCI Weekend 2019
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, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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