IndyMania: Part 4 the Wrap Up

I took this photo at the Beyond show on night 1 and
it was so good I didn't bother trying to get a better one.

Here is the fourth and final post about my wrestling trip to New York City and IndyMania.  This is just the summary of the trip, you can read about the trip here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The plans for this trip started way back in July 2018 and came to fruition almost 10 months later and it definitely lived up to our expectations.  The numbers:

Dates of the trip April 3 - 8, 2019

Travel, we drove 655 miles and spent 7 hours round trip on the Amtrak train going from Providence to Penn Station and back

We attended 8 wrestling related events including a two day convention, the AAA Press Conference at Madison Square Garden and six wrestling shows in 4 days in two different States.

Still from AAA promotional video of the press conference

We witnessed 54 wrestling matches with 185 different wrestlers, 101 of them was the first time I had ever seen them live, 9 wrestlers competed three times and 43 wrestled twice over the four days.  Our first show was at a hookah bar with a hundred people and the last show was at a sold out Madison Square Garden!

Best matches of the week for me were:

Friday April 5th Revolution Pro Wrestling
British Tag Team Champions: Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay

Sheer brutality on Ospreay who got his nose broke and was just beaten and stretched by Sabre and Suzuki.  We had front row for this and to see these guys live and this close was just unbelievable.

Saturday April 6th G1 Supercard
Kota Ibushi vs. IWGP Intercontinental Champion: Tetsuya Naito

These two have always had great matches, to be there for a true classic encounter is truly a special moment.  Like being there for Flair vs. Steamboat.

Friday April 6th Pancakes & Piledrivers III
Tessa Blanchard vs Rickey Shane Page

I cannot praise this enough!  Just go watch the match.

Thursday April 4th Wrestlecon Supershow
Dragon Lee vs. El Barbaro Cavernario

I had never seen Cavernario and not for nothing I wasn't expecting much but I was blown away!  These two guys absolutely killed it and gave everything they had and somehow more.

Saturday April 6th G1 Supercard
Kazuchika Okada vs. IWGP Heavyweight Champion: JayWhite

This gets the nod for the 5th spot simply because it's Okada regaining his championship in his style match.  

Thursday April 4th Wrestlecon Supershow
Will Ospreay vs. Bandido

This gets an honorable mention because this was a dream match and they tore the house down.  This was Bandido's last indy match he had on the books after signing with Ring of Honor.

I got my photo taken with twenty two wrestlers: Faby Apache, Minoru Suzuki, Katsuyori Shibata, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Bob Backlund, Kai, Atsushi Onia, Pentagon Jr, Session Moth Martina, Blue Demon Jr, Konan, Scott D'Amore, Dave Meltzer, Will Osprey, Jushin Liger, Orange Cassidy, Taya Valkyrie, Johnny Mundo, Twisted Sisters, and Priscilla Kelly.

I also snagged a photo with New Japan English commentator Chris Charlton who was sitting behind us at the Wrestlecon Supershow.

My favorite photos of my are with Jushin Thunder Liger and Faby Apache because they are in full gear, but I loved getting pictures with the everyone that I did.

However my favorite photo op of the weekend was Jay with Minoru Suzuki!

I added 71 signed trading cards to my collection and you can view them here:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, & Part 7

My it's hard to pick favorite cards that I got because I got so many that I never thought that I would get signed like Faby Apache and all the Japanese wrestlers.  Also I love getting the NWA Wonderama card signed plus I got that sweet SCU All In card signed by all three members.

I'd have to say finally getting this card signed by the Iron Sheik was exciting.  I had gotten it signed by Nikolai Volkoff years ago and have tried many, many times to get Iron Sheik to sign it with no luck.  Sheiks health isn't the best and at 77 he doesn't make many appearances anymore. 

The AAA press conference was the unexpected surprise of the week as we went just to watch and were invited in.  The still I posted above was used in a promotion video of the press conference but I also saw it used last Friday in the opening video package for AAA's Conquista Total Circa 2019 show in Mexicali, Baja California.

Here is a video I made on my phone of us jamming out with Tanahashi during his entrance for Revolution Pro Wrestling.  The ringside photographer grabbed a photo of this and I'm still trying to find him.

This wrestling trip was amazing!  If I were to rate it on my past wrestling getaways as a whole I would put it at number 2 behind NWA Legends Fanfest in 2009.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Until next time!

Wrestled Three Matches

Zack Sabre Jr

Will Ospreay

LAX: Ortiz & Santana

Aussie Open: Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis

Rey Fenix

Pentagon Jr

David Starr

Wrestled Two Matches

Minoru Suzuki

Jushin Thunder Liger

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Colt Cabana

Tomohiro Ishii

Jonathan Gresham

Roppongi 3K: Sho & Yoh

Ryusuke Tagushi

Rocky Romero

Bandido
Christopher Daniels
Frankie Kazarian
Scorpio Sky
Orange Cassidy
Session Moth Martina
Masato Tanaka

Puma King

Arez

Sammy Guevara

Flamita

Caleb Konley

Jake Manning

Dragon Lee

Shane Strickland

Chuck Taylor

Trent?

DJ Z

Bill Carr

Dan Barry

Brian Cage

AR Fox

Shigehiro Irie

Eddie Kingston

Wrestled One Match

The Great Muta

Kazuchika Okada

Kota Ibushi

Tetsuya Naito

Taiji Ishimori

Evil

Sanada

Toru Yano

Hirooki Goto

King Haku

Shingo Takagi

Bushi

Tama Tonga

Tanga Loa

Chase Owens

Jay White

Bad Luck Fale

Robbie Eagles

Yoshi Hashi

Juice Robinson

Jeff Cobb

Rush

Dalton Castle

Tracy Williams

PJ Black

TK O'Ryan

Vinny Marseglia

Delirious

Kenny King

Cheeseburger

Beer City Bruiser

Shaheem Ali

Rhett Titus

LSG

Brian Milonas

Will Ferrara

Flip Gordon

Mark Haskins

Bully Ray

Shane Taylor

Silas Young

PCO

Brody King

Mark Briscoe

Jay Briscoe

Matt Taven

Jay Lethal

Marty Scurll

Chris Dickinson

MJF

Alex Reynolds

John Silver

Mick Moretti

Gabriel Skye

Taijiri

Hurricane Helms

X-Pac

Zane Riley

El Barbaro Cavernario

Chris Brookes

Clark Connors

Karl Fredericks

Carlos Romo

A-Kid

Kid Lykos

Michael Oku

Ultimo Dragon

Black Taurus

Mr. Iguana

Shark Boy

Shigehiro Irie

Bestia 666

Tracy Smothers

Timothy Thatcher

David Arquette

Yoshihiko

Danshoku Dino

Antonio Honda

Maki Ito

Makoto Oishi

Mao

Sanshiro Takagi

Tommy Dreamer

Mike Babchik

Matt Striker

Johnny Impact

Joey Ryan

Sexy Eddie

Val Venis

Moose

Davey Vega

Mat Fitchett

Dezmond Xavier

Zachary Wentz

Ace Austin

JT Dunn

Clayton Gainz

Daga

Ian Maxwell

Arik Cannon

John Skylar

Kyle the Beast

Lance Anoa'i

Mance Warner

Trey Miguel

Matt Cross

Adam Brooks

Rich Swann

Chuck Mambo

Jacob Fatu

Larry D

Ace Romero

Dan Maff

Fallah Bah

Madman Fulton

Joe Gacy

Sami Callihan

Dave Crist

Jake Crist

Rickey Shane Page

Tessa Blanchard

Jessicka Havok

Taya Valkyrie

Priscilla Kelly

Scarlett Bordeaux

Kimber Lee

Kelly Klein

Mayu Iwatani

Kagetsu

Hazuki

Jenny Rose

Hana Kimura

Sumie Sakai
Stella Gray
Kris Statlander
Jordynne Grace
Samantha Heights
Diamante
Su Yung
Thunder Rosa
Holidead
Allie
Rosemary

Appeared but didn't Wrestle
Gedo

Jado

Taka Michinoku

The Boys

Velvet Sky

Angelina Love

Mandy Leon

Ayla Fox

Sonny Onoo