Friday, May 3, 2019

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:


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



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