THE MANIA BEHIND ISPWMANIA
By Tommy Fierro on 3/16/2010 12:40 PM
FIERRO: THE MANIA BEHIND ISPWMANIA ON MARCH 27TH IN FREEHOLD,
NJ
By: Tommy Fierro
Later this month I will be presenting ISPW's biggest event of
the year, ISPWMANIA. The event takes place on Saturday, March
27th in Freehold, NJ at the 3-2 Count Athletic Training
Facility, located at 323A Fairfield Road at 7PM. This show will
take place the day before
WrestleMania 26,
which for wrestling fans is without question the biggest weekend
of the year. Since WrestleMania is taking place far away from
New Jersey,
I wanted to give wrestling fans a special show to jump start
their biggest weekend of the year for anyone that lives on the
East Coast. With ROH and other hardcore wrestling fans'
promotions not running in the area that weekend, I wanted to
stack the deck for ISPW's biggest show of the year and give each
and every one of them something to look forward to.
"Dirty" Dutch Mantell will be making a super rare appearance
wrestling that evening in a Legends Match against The Original
Doink The Clown, Matt Borne. I believe this is the first time
Mantell has ever wrestled in New Jersey. When planning ISPWMANIA,
I wanted to make this show stand out and be totally different
than any other indie show in this area that wrestling fans have
seen in recent years. I wanted a few names on the show that
wrestling fans don't get the opportunity to see wrestle live in
this area. Dutch Mantell was someone that fit that role
perfectly. His opponent, Matt Borne, will be debuting his new
character "Reborne Again" that evening as well. When do you ever
get the chance to see a match live with two legends like this
compete against each other? It's just unique and different,
which is something I was going for with this line-up. This match
alone is a special treat to hardcore wrestling fans out there.
Speaking of bringing in names that you don't get the chance to
see compete on a regular basis live,
Bill DeMott
will be making his return to the ring at ISPWMANIA as well that
evening. The first wrestling show I ever ran back in Rutherford
High School in the early 90's featured Bill as Crash The
Terminator against
Jim Powers.
I have always been a huge fan of Bill's work and I'm very
excited to have "Hugh Morrus" making his return to the ring at
ISPWMANIA on March 27th. Here is another example of having a
unique name on the show that is never up this way. Bill will be
taking on "The Detonator"
Rick Fuller
on this show. For those that haven't seen Fuller wrestle as of
late, he's unreal. He's not the same Rick Fuller you might
remember back in WCW as one of Goldberg's victims of his
winning streak.
Fuller has gone on to compete in
New Japan Pro
Wrestling since and is in unreal shape. He looks like a
modern day version of
The Undertaker,
his look is that good. Both of these big men can go and this is
once match I'm really looking forward to seeing.
Another match I'm really excited to see at ISPWMANIA is a tag
team match pitting The Logan Brothers against Nunzio &
Tony Mamaluke,
who will be reforming The
Full Blooded
Italians on this show. For anyone that hasn't seen The
Logan Brothers compete yet, you are in for a treat. They remind
me of a young version of The Rockers and will no doubt be huge
superstars in this business one day. If you were to tell me
today that WWE signed them to a deal, it wouldn't shock me in
the least bit. This is also a special treat for old ECW fans as
well, as the former ECW
Tag Team
Champions will be reuniting for the first time in several
years at ISPWMANIA. This match will no question be off the hook.
Speaking of old ECW fans, former ECW Original and
Tag Team Champion Danny
Doring will be in action at ISPWMANIA as well against
former WCW/WWE Superstar Big Vito. Doring recently called out
the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore in ISPW and the challenge was
answered by Big Pookie, who claimed he was the boyfriend of
Snookie. Doring played along at first and even fist pumped with
Pookie before making quick work of him at ISPW's Seasons
Beatings show. Pookie has now hired the services of Big
Vito to get revenge for him on Doring at ISPWMANIA. These two
veterans will have a great match!
Former WWF Tag Team Champion and two-time ISPW World Champion
Head Shrinker Samu will be making his return to ISPW against one
of today's hottest up and coming stars on the independents,
Chase Del Monte. Samu has always been one of my favorite
workers, his work is so good and solid. This match has a great
story as well. Here you have this huge Samoan monster up against
a young high-flying talent. This match is a great opportunity
for Chase to show the wrestling world and the boys in the back
that he can hang with the big dogs. A contrast in styles for
sure, but that's what makes this match so intriguing.
The current ISPW Tri-State Champion "The Platinum Poppa" Rob
Eckos will be defending his title against former five-time ISPW
World Heavyweight
Champion and ISPW Hall of Famer "Mr. Main Event" Ace
Darling. Eckos claims he's the new blood of ISPW and Darling is
yesterday's news. I'm really looking forward to seeing this
match as well. Darling, in my opinion, is one of the top
independent wrestler to ever come out of New Jersey. I always
scratch my head and wonder how he never had a big run in this
business. He was that good. He still is. As far as Eckos, he has
"WWE" written all over him and I would be shocked if he didn't
become a star in this business one day. Having Darling challenge
Eckos for the Tri-State
Championship at
ISPW's biggest show of the year really elevates the title in my
opinion, and Eckos as well.
A year-long grudge will finally come to a head at ISPWMANIA when
ISPW General Manager "Mr. Personality" Nicholas Nice will take
on Baby Hughie in a Street Fight Match. Last year at ISPW's
return show, twenty-one year old Smith James came into Nice's
office looking for the opportunity to compete in ISPW. Nice
ordered him to purchase a ticket to the event, which James did.
Nice then picked James out of the audience and told the ISPW
fans that he could make anyone a star. He told James if he
wanted to have a chance to be in ISPW he'd have to dress up like
a baby. James, wanting the chance to compete in ISPW, did just
that. Since then, Nice has treated James horribly and has made a
fool out of him time and time again. To the surprise of Nice,
James has taken the "Baby Hughie" character and made it very
popular at the ISPW Arena. Hughie will finally have the chance
to earn his contract if he can beat Nice at ISPWMANIA. On top of
that, if Nice loses the match, he's fired! Really great story
here that will finally unfold at ISPW's biggest show of the
year.
Speaking of a year-long feud, that brings us to the main event.
Judas Young and "The King of The World" Danny Inferno have been
feuding for the last year over the ISPW World
Heavyweight Championship. Some of their matches have included a
TLC Match and a 60 Minute Iron Man match that Pro Wrestling
Illustrated called the greatest match in the history of ISPW. Inferno
is so obsessed with the title that he faked his own retirement
last year just to screw with Young's mind. He recently did the
same to Crowbar, who was coming up the ranks in ISPW as the top
star. Inferno was the mysterious "Him" character that was
playing mind games with Crowbar for the better part of 2009.
Inferno has done a great job of playing mind games with both
guys and has recently hired Sunny, the Original Diva of the WWE,
to be his manager. There has also been some recent problems
between Young and Crowbar as well. This will all come to a head
at ISPWMANIA on March 27th in Freehold, NJ when the three will
compete in a
Triple Threat Match for the ISPW World Heavyweight
Championship.
Former WWE announcer and recent ROH hire
Kevin Kelly
will also be at ISPWMANIA as the Special Guest Host of the show.
I am a huge fan of WWE's concept of the weekly guest hosts on
Monday Night Raw and thought it would be cool to have a guest
host at our biggest show of the year. I have always been a big
fan of Kevin's and think he's one of the most talent individuals
involved in our industry. It will be very interesting to see
what Kevin has in store for both the ISPW fans and wrestlers
come March 27th.
I'm also a huge fan of
American Idol
and wanted to some how incorporate it into ISPWMANIA. I have
Antonella Barba, who was one of the top twelve finalist in
Season 6 of American Idol, to sing the National Anthem on March
27th. American Idol is so hip and so pop-culture and I think
it's really cool to have it in a small way be a part of this
event.
We are also doing a Fan Fest the afternoon of ISPWMANIA at 3-2
Count and doors open at 12 Noon for that. All of the wrestlers
appearing on the evening card will be on hand to sign autographs
and take photos with the fans. We are also going to have three
live matches in the afternoon during the Fan Fest as well, which
is going to be really cool. Out of all the Fan Slam conventions
I ran throughout the years, I never had matches taking place
during the actual convention. Should be really cool. We are also
going to have a live Who's Slamming Who broadcast being taped
during the Fan Fest, along with the ISPW Hall of Fame Class of
2010 inductions, and many more activities as well.
The morning will kick-off at 9 AM for local independent
wrestlers who will have the chance to take part in a Fantasy
Training Camp with Bill DeMott, Dutch Mantell, Big Vito, and
Head Shrinker Samu as the trainers. This is a MUST for any local
wrestlers that live in the area to learn from some of the true
greats of our industry. I will be on hand to scout some talent
for some future ISPW events, and Kevin Kelly might be stopping
by the camp to do the same.
So as you can tell, I'm very excited about this event. I hope
after reading this, you will be as well and head down to
Freehold, NJ on March 27th and be a part of it. It's a great way
to kick-off your
WrestleMania weekend. It's going to be a really cool
deal, I assure you that.
If you live in the Freehold area, be sure to pick up a copy of
this Sunday's Asbury Park Press Newspaper for a feature on
ISPWMANIA in the Sunday BEST section.
Thanks and hope to see everyone at ISPWMANIA!
Tommy Fierro
