More Than Mania 2019
More than Mania ’19
Wrestlemania has long served as the bookend to the wrestling year, a grand and over the top celebration of the wild and wacky world of Pro Wrestling. Feuds are started and ended, titles are traded, and fans the world over have made the pilgrimage to see the greatest show in live entertainment. While the lion share of attention will justifiably go to the multiple nights of televisions and specials WWE has prepared, New York City will serve as beacon for fans of all promotions. Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling will run a show at Madision Square Garden, a momentous sign of the times in professional wrestling, and every independent promotion worth their salt will be represented somewhere around the big apple during the weekend. Joey Janela’s Spring Break now packs two nights of chaotic fun, German and Japanese promotions wXw and DDT, respectively, will be running shows, and dream matches abound on every stacked card. While the Stage of the Immortals at Metlife stadium will host an impressive roster of talent on its own, the smaller shows going on around the Big Apple may actually be where the best matches of the weekend take place. Here are four matches that any real fan should seek out this Wrestlemania Weekend:
- Bandido VS Will Ospreay – Wrestlecon Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow
I don’t think anyone needs me to sell this match. For my money the absolute best in the game today, Will Ospreay, locking horns with 2018’s breakout star of the year in Bandido is more than worth the price of admission. Ospreay has done nothing but rise to the greatest heights of the sport over the last three years and has expanded his repertoire from UK-backyard high-flyer to bonafide global draw. Able of working any style against any opponent on any continent, Ospreay has the AJ Styles-esque ability to pull world class efforts out his opponents. He won’t need to try that hard with the endlessly talented Bandido however, a young man from Mexico that has quickly become one of the most popular wrestlers on the Indy scene. Now a member of the Ring of Honor family, his classic ROH introduction against Rush was a wonderful introduction to the luchador. I have had the personal blessing of seeing both of these men ply their trade live, and this match has a very real chance of stealing the entire weekend.
- David Arquette VS Timothy Thatcher – Joey Ryan’s Penis Party
I don’t know who told David Arquette he wasn’t a real wrestler, but man he is really working to shut the world up. The former WCW World Champion is no doubt signing up for one of the stiffest challenges of his career in Ringkampf mainstay Timothy Thatcher. The former Evolve Champion has never been one to shy away from grapple-fests with hard slams, harder slaps, and depilating chops. I have seen and understand much of the chagrin the name Arquette conjures up in wrestling fans. After all, it’s hard to come across as a sympathetic dream chaser when connected to perhaps the single universally reviled moment in the sports history. The fall of WCW can’t rest solely on Arquette’s shoulders, but it’s hard to not see him as the physical embodiment of “Jumping the Shark.” Perhaps he really is just a fan at heart living his dream, and if a deathmatch versus Nick Gage didn’t prove that, getting battered by Thatcher just might. If you want to watch an actor get beat to death by a true shooter, look no further.
- Josh Barnett VS Minoru Suzuki – GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport
One of the most unique events of the weekend comes in the form of GCW’s Bloodsport, formerly named for NXT’s resident King of Bros and now in the more than capable hands of the youngest UFC heavyweight champion in history, Josh Barnett. Barnett and Suzuki form an interesting cocktail for a match as both have decorated careers in the realms of pro wrestling and legitimate martial arts competition. While Barnett is definitely the more well-known of the two shooters, the Suzuki-Gun leader is no slouch in his own right, notably holding two submission wins over WWF and UFC Legend Ken Shamrock. Watching these two heavyweight icons go hold for hold should be a genuine, violent delight.
- Johnny Gargano VS Adam Cole – NXT Takeover New York
Ya sure, it’s a WWE funded match, but it’s not technically a “Wrestlemania” match. Plus it’s my list, I can do what I want, there are no rules. While we all mourn the incredible match that could’ve been the close to Johnny Wrestling and Tommy Sports Entertainment’s story, the alternative promises to be just as compelling. Johnny Gargano spent the majority of 2018 finding himself after numerous heart-breaking loses to the vilest heels NXT had to offer. While his alignment with light and dark may have shifted over the last 12+ months, his abilities did not. A skilled grappler as part of a tag team or by himself, Gargano is the hero you just can’t help but root for. Plus he takes a beating like rare others in the industry can do. On the opposite end of the spectrum from this unbreakable, never-say-die, ultra-face, is the deplorable, deceitful, despicable Adam Cole. The leader of the Undisputed Era, and first ever NXT North American Champion is incredibly talented at making a crowd hate him. It does not feel like hyperbole to say this match contested under two-out-of-three falls rules has all the ingredients to be the greatest match in the history of NXT. The epitome of underdog baby-face in Gargano versus the odds in the slimy Undisputed Era, NXT’s redeemed hero taking the final step towards the mountaintop he’s been climbing for two years, and a hero to guard NXT while the specter of Tommasso Ciampa looms. What’s not to love?
