Live Pro Wrestling Review //
The Stan Stylez Intergender Bonanza 5
3/7/20
@ H2O Wrestling Center
Williamstown, NJ
Additional Photos can be found in a Facebook album located here :::
This event is available on digital download by clicking here and DVD by clicking here with thanks to Smart Mark Video.
Back when we first went to this H2O Wrestling Center for Weekend At Sean's House Night 2, I saw the poster for the Intergender Bonanza 5 and thought "That looks like fun!" Stan Stylez was also on that show and Quentin got a bracelet from him, so it became an easy sell to ask Quentin if he wanted to return in about a month to see Stan Stylez again and a number of other wrestlers I either hadn't seen before or wanted to see again.
We had time on a Saturday to not get too far behind but I also took this weird way which didn't involve the NJ Turnpike and so I was looking at the map at one point and wondering whether the doors were at 6:30 or 7:30 (luckily it was 7:30 since we didn't get there until about 7:45) We got off the highway at one point looking for a bathroom. We found a Wawa without gas-but their bathroom was broken. We went across the street to a gas station. The guy said they didn't have a bathroom, but there was one down the road at a Burger King which he also owned (So you're cool enough to own a gas station and a BK, but can't put a bathroom in them both? O... k...)
While driving down the road to find this Burger King we instead found a Walmart. This place was crazy and maybe it was just a Saturday night thing, but the parking lot was near full and the lines were insane. We looked around a little bit but I knew if we found something we wanted to buy it might take us forever to get out of there and, well, as explained earlier we were almost late as it was so we had to push forward.
When we got to the H2O Wrestling Center doors were open and we didn't have to wait long before the show started. We found our seats and the first match was the big tag match where the winners would be in at the end of the rumble and the losers would be in at the beginning. I like this show simply because of the format of it all: There was a big rumble and all of the matches leading up to it had implications for said rumble.
This was our second time seeing Ray Lyn and Stan Stylez, who were on opposite sides of the ring, but it was our first time seeing Zoey Skye, because she spent time in Stardom recently and I love both women's wrestling and Japan. The tag match was solid and not once did I ever really think about it being two men versus two women, and as I think about it now all of these matches had that concept which just seems so normal to me now.
I'm not sure who DDS is (I'm still not really sure, but his gear was... different) but I was definitely looking forward to seeing Vanessa Azure, who likes to take selfies and hits hard. Max The Impaler- who was one of those "I'm driving four hours just to see you" names- was about as scary in person as you might think. Marc Angel thought he had a win over her and they did this great part where Max beat him up saying she didn't want to go on a date with him to Olive Garden and "fuck free breadsticks".
Jamie Senegal and Allie Recks are two names that if you don't know them yet, then within the next year or two you definitely will. Their match was so much fun and the stipulation was something about going into the rumble or having a title shot at the next show but Jamie Senegal won and went into the rumble so I guess that was that.
During intermission Quentin decided he had to go to the bathroom but so did everyone else and the line was long so I asked him if he could hold it. He had a moment where he wanted to be shy- which he always seemed to do when the time called for him to talk to wrestlers- so I told him if he didn't want to meet anyone I was at least going to go and talk to Zoey Skye. Zoey Skye was nice enough to take a photo with Quentin, then we bought two bracelets (one glows in the dark!), a pin, an 8x10 and a t-shirt because Zoey Skye's t-shirts are really quite great.
Vanessa Azure had set up shop on the part of the ring right in front of us, so we went to see her next since we were sort of heading back towards our seats. She had this printed list of items for sale and prices near her display- which, if you're an aspiring wrestler, take notes- and so we bought a sticker and 8x10 and she posed for a picture with Quentin. Quentin also took a picture with Stan Stylez and the Intergender Bonanza Title for $5, which I need to email them about so I can get that sent to me.
After intermission we were straight into the rumble. There were a lot of wrestlers in this thing, some men dressed like women and some giant men I thought might never be eliminated. One of my favorite spots in the entire match was Sean Henderson proposing to Queen Aminata, which happened in the center of the ring but later on continued when he would just start yelling things like "Why won't you marry me" at her.
Somehow my other favorite part of the match also included Queen Aminata, as she was saying at one point she needed water, but then she ducked out of the ring and was moving around to the other side. Still, I sent Quentin over to concessions to buy a bottle of water and sure enough, after a short time Queen Aminata was saying something about water right in front of me and so I handed her a bottle. She was so happy as she shared it with Gemma Guliana and then spit some into the face of her enemies.
See. This is why I like to go to wrestling shows like this, especially in person. You're not always going to be part of the show in the sense that it isn't advised to get involved, but at the same time, little things like this are priceless memories I hope get caught on video so when a DVD is released or such, Quentin and I can watch this ten years from now and go "You bought that water, remember?"
Ray Lyn and Zoey Skye were the last two in this match after a surprise appearance by Matt Tremont. Okay, so... Here is how much of a surprise the Matt Tremont appearance was. I saw Matt Tremont earlier in the evening walking around near the hard camera and I didn't even put two and two together then. I just assumed he was there because, well, the same reason why you would see Jeremy Leary at a Blitzkrieg! Pro show.
I didn't think that Matt Tremont could be eliminated but somehow he was and Ray Lyn won this one and became the first ever IGB Champion. After the show some of the talent came back out. Quentin spent a bit of time running around the ring with Marc Angel and his son. I managed to pull him out for a little bit though when I saw Allie Recks because we then had Quentin take a picture with Allie Recks and also we bought an 8x10 and a hat he picked up and wouldn't let go.
As we were getting ready to leave we saw Vanity so Quentin took a quick photo with her and we headed home after also talking with Sean Henderson a bit. I'm not going to go through and count but considering the way the non-rumble matches were set up, I'd say this show had an equal number of women on it as it did men. If I'm going to a show that isn't all women then this is the next best thing. There was just so much raw talent in this building on this night it was crazy and I want to watch it all again as soon as possible.
On the way back the maps app really got to me. It told me to get off the Jersey Turnpike, even though I was trying to take it home, then go down a road where I would get back on the Turnpike on the right. Only after I drove very briefly it told me to turn left and I was like "wtf?" We found a Walmart so we pulled over to regroup and so I could get calm. Funny thing is, it was midnight and I'm waiting in line with an eight year old Quentin to buy cranberry Red Bull and two Lego sets for him. There were not nearly as many people at this Walmart as the one before, but it was likely a time thing.
I feel badly I missed the first four Intergender Bonanzas. It's a combination of my not going to live wrestling at that time coupled with my just not knowing how deep the scene goes yet. But the next one is coming up this summer and I'm going to be sure we go to that one and hopefully as long as they keep happening we'll keep going.
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