That might be the longest article title I’ve ever had.

Each and every week there is not a pay per view, At Odds with Wrestling assigns homework. The two hosts, Joe and Adam, switch weeks and assign the other to watch a wrestling event from the past to then discuss the following week. As I write this (most likely to be posted on Thursday) Orange Cassidy is about to battle Chris Jericho on AEW. Arguably the biggest match of his career. Maybe the biggest match of OC’s career as well. In celebration this week’s homework is this show from that crazy yesteryear time of… April 6, 2019.

Now, on one hand it seems silly to do a review of such a recent event. Usually true. But last year feels like 10-20 years ago depending on the day. Talent from this show now appears on either NXT or AEW. Some talent has been “cancelled” as the kids say. There’s also the craziest thing here that I haven’t seen in forever and don’t know when I’ll see again. Fans. Crowding around, being excited, having a blast. Pro wrestling needs that energy and no amount of NXT trainees or AEW extra talent can make up for the lack of fans. Watching a show like this becomes comfort food. Memories of a time recently gone yet so far away that we all wish we could go back to.

Wear a mask!

Normal independent wrestling rules apply here. No part of the review is about any of these wrestlers as people. This is solely based on in ring work and how I felt while watching the show. If I didn’t like the in ring action that does not mean anything against the person or who they are in their day to day lives. Also, on the other side, if any of this talent has had allegations or questionable conduct no part of the review is endorsement. Again, only commenting on in ring action. With that said, lets’ go to the ring.

This show takes place from the White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, NJ. I watched it this week with a 5 day free trial of IndependentWrestling.TV otherwise known as Jerry’s Internet Wrestling Emporium. You can do the same using the promo code “AtOdds”. More on that site later this week.

Orange Cassidy comes out in his usual slothlike manner. He welcomes everyone to the event, but does not want to announce the whole evening. He looks around and pulls a random guy out of the audience. Louden Noxious will announce tonight. I believe I saw him in Chikara as Gavin Loudspeaker.

Allie Kat vs Kris Stadtlander vs Saraya Knight vs Shotzi Blackheart in an elimination Swamp Monster Lumberjack Match to become the Queen of the Swamp.

With a match name like that you know this show is going to be loads of fun. Various Swamp Monsters surround the ring. Allie, Kris, and Shotzi are awesome characters, entertaining in the ring, and beautiful – all for different reasons. Saraya scares me. That’s the girl at the bar that a single guy backs down from. I am not sure enough that I’m walking out of that bedroom the way I walked in. Anyways.

Allie wants her belly scratched. Saraya has her own rhyming version of the Punt. Group pin on Saraya. I forgot Kris has psychic powers and I loved every bit of it. First match in and the three women remaining look to be having a blast. Any entertainment is more fun if the ones creating it look like they’re having fun too. Shotzi pins Kris. Allie uses her cat scratch powers on Shotzi. Allie is about to dive through the ropes but backs down. Fans call her a scaredy cat. She dives and slowly comes through the ropes to coast on the Swamp Monsters. Back in the ring and Allie hits a piledriver for the pin.

Damn this was fun. I’m all in for the entire night, not that I wasn’t before. Shotzi is now in NXT. Kris is in AEW but at home with an injury. I’m ready to buy a ticket to see Allie Kat. This is everything fun independent wrestling can be and we’re just getting started.

Chris Brookes (w/Kid Lykos) vs Logan Easton Laroux in a best 7-out-of-13 falls match.

This match is absurd. I love getting a DQ fall at first and then taking advantage of your opponent’s pain. That gets two falls. Then it’s pin reversal after pin reversal and in a minute we’re up 6-6. Kid Lykos throws a mask on the referee and he’s blinded thus allowing the heel advantage. Of course the referee is Bryce. Arguably the best in the business today. So much fun to keep up with. A ton going on. Not a down moment in the match. Good story to follow. This crowd must have been going nuts already. Inside cradle for the final fall.

Jigsaw, Sonny Defarge, Dan Champion, Jake Atlas, Tony Deppen, Lucky 13 and Air Wolf in the 3rd Inaugural Jansport Invitational Scramble to win a $16 Gift Card at Friendly’s.

For a $20 gift card. No. For a $16.37 gift card. I’m already losing it and know this match will be fun. This was a fast spot fest that could have been a cluster but was done so well. Two guys sequence, one down, third comes in to do the next spot. It gets crazy when wrestlers start diving and land many rows in. Chairs scattering everywhere. I found myself less worried about the wrestlers or the fans they’re crashing into and instead thinking, what about Corona?! Where are your masks?! Oh right. Last year was totally different. Everyone had great moments and looked cool. Jigsaw gets the pin and has the Friendly’s card placed on him like a title.

“WrestleMania, or Fastlane part 2.” I absolutely lost it. That was a great line. But it also points out a great difference between independent wrestling and the machine that is WWE. This is a show just to have a show. Just to have fun. No stock holders. No booking towards the next pay per view. It feels more fun, more passionate, and allows the show to be enjoyed that much more.

Session Moth Martina vs Nate “Spyder” Webb in a 5 o’Clock Somewhere last person standing match.

Every 30 seconds, chug a beer. This is also done in a more comedic way and there’s no danger to either wrestler. Unlike the Sandman falling asleep in a 2CW ring during his match. Look it up kids!

The Teenage Dirtbag dance party made this a 5 star match before it starts. “God help us all, ring the bell.” I don’t know who did the sound for this event but so much is picked up from the ring and it adds to the show so much. This is a fight sometimes and a comedy match others. And both wrestlers pull off either style. Moth jogging the ropes is hysterical. The chair debate looked so brutal and I wasn’t sure who was hitting harder nor who to feel bad for. Spraying beer to get out of a submission hold is genius. Double spit. Double clothesline. Double pin. This is one of the best card’s I’ve ever seen.

Team Blue (Faye Jackson, Jimmy Yuta, Terra Callaway, Arik Royal, & Red Eagle) vs Team Red (Veda Scott, Shazza McKenzie, Jeff Cannonball, Daniel Makabe, & Sage Phillips) in a NOVA dodgeball challenge.

A dodgeball match without any dodgeball? What is this? Some Herb Abrams booking? This is my first time seeing Faye Jackson even though my friend Classick has been proclaiming her for awhile now. Faye and Veda Scott are the team captains and pick their teams while all the wrestlers are in the ring. No one picks MJF and it works into his gimmick so well. MJF gets mad and much like Stone Cold, he takes his balls and goes home. You can’t have a dodgeball match without the dodgeballs so I guess we have a wrestling match. The fans are upset and chant “wrestling sucks”. This is so delightfully absurd. Much like the Friendly’s match everyone takes a bump and then rolls to the floor. Veda vs. Faye are the only two left. Oh captain my captain. Dives to the floor. From no where a dodgeball appears! One submission is locked on. Then another one. Then another! Five submissions are applied at the same time and everyone submits at once. A five way win for the Red team.

A fan named Sarah wins the secret free giveaway: pieces of Swamp Monster! I hope she saved it. Put it in a display shadow box in the living room.

Teddy Hart comes out to do Teddy’s Reading Rainbow. OK, it’s Teddy. Do a Google search. That said, it’s a shame someone else couldn’t have come out and said the same things. Because his promo is good. Lot of love for wrestling and this show. On the other side, I’ve never seen a drugged cat before and I never want to see one again. Teddy throwing the cat in the air had me gasp in fear like nearly nothing else in wrestling ever has. Also, what is going on with the woman who comes to the ring with him? There’s good and bad in this segment. Buyer beware.

Also, speaking of identifying people. Who called this show? Because both are great and I never caught the names of either member of the commentary team. Fantastic work.

Shinjiro Otani vs Jonathan Gresham.

I had forgotten all about Otani. He was there at the start of WCW’s Cruiserweight division and then honestly that may have been the last I thought of him. Gresham is brand new to me and holy crap. These two had a hell of a match. Counters, hard hitting, innovative. This match was great. The technique in here should be studied.

Trent? vs Chuck Taylor in a 60 second time limit match.

The two best friends battle! This was so funny. Stalling the first 58 seconds. Locking up at 59 seconds. Match is a draw. Fans chanting Match of the Year. Referee agrees to five more seconds. Trent? with a surprise roll up for the pin! Bryce takes down Chuck with head scissors. Is this the end of the Best Friends? No, because they hug it out. As the woman commentator (again, I need names) exclaims, “touch those nipples together in a sign of friendship!”

If this show doesn’t make you love wrestling, nothing will.

GCW Heavyweight Champion Nick Gage (w/Dewey Donovan) vs Ultramantis Black in a non-title yuletide deathmatch.

A Christmas tree wrapped in barbed wire. Ornaments on a board. This is ridiculous in that amazing way. There’s a brief exchange to start the match and then it’s right into the weapons. Tossed into the chairs. Mantis has one of the barbed wire boards slammed on him while he’s in the crowd. Christmas tree slam. Tangled legs in the wire. So many thumbtacks. So so so many tacks. It’s violent but it never crosses over into “too far” territory. Whatever that limit is for you, this match is within it. Weapons, blood, but still within a viewer’s personal boundaries. Gage gets the pin and of course we all think the event is over.

But no, MJF returns. He hits Gage with a chair. Then he cuts this great heel promo on the show, the fans enjoying it, everything about the event. Who can stop his path of complaints?! It’s the man himself, Orange Cassidy arrives. He spits the Orange Mist at MJF. Gage hits him. Mantis hits him. MJF is down. OC pulls out sunglasses and hands them to Nick Gage and Ultramantis Black. Lackadaisical thumbs up to end the show.

Why couldn’t homework in school be this much fun? This show had great wrestling action. Lot of fun moments throughout the show. Lot of talent I was not aware of that are now on my radar. And it had a feel of sharing a moment. The couple hundred there live. The ones who have watched it since. If “cult wrestling” is a thing, this event should be on the list.