NEW Wrestlefest 19
Date: 3/6/2015
From: Danbury, CT
Wrestlefest is the flagship show for Northeast Wrestling, and the venue they are at is packed full. Former Smackdown General Manager, Teddy Long comes out and is greeted with a great reaction. The Waterbury crowd appears to be fired up for the show. Long does the usual generic putting over a wrestling company. Long says “This will not be the first time you see me in Northeast Wrestling.” I think he meant the last time they’d see him there, but it was just a funny slip up. Long mentions all the wrestlers on the show with Roddy Piper getting the biggest reaction of the bunch.
MATCH #1: JAKE MANNING VS. RANDY SHAWN
FINISH: Late in the match, Brooke gets back on the apron and slaps Manning leading to Shawn hitting a flatliner for the win.
Bob’s Take: Jake Manning is suppose to be the heel, but Randy Shawn may have turned himself heel on accident when he had Brooke Tessmacher with him and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Typically, a man getting a kiss from a beautiful woman and flaunting it is going to lead to jeers and not cheers. Manning is more a comedic heel, which is making the crowd enjoy him and that’s not helping Shawn’s attempt to maintain a face role. At one point in the match, Manning knocked Brooke off the apron and didn’t care about it. Shawn hit a dangerous suicide dive that saw him do a somersault when he wasn’t exactly trying to do a somersault, that popped the crowd. The closing two minutes or so were enjoyable. Brooke took a nice bump to the floor, and I was not expecting that to happen.
Match Rating: **
MATCH #2: DONOVAN DIJAK VS. MIKEY WEBB
FINISH: Dijak nails Webb with a modified GTS to win the match.
Bob’s Take: Despite the size difference, this quickly became obvious to being a quality match. They know each other rather well and I know in the future they’d be a tag team. Dijak was able to show his power advantage and it came across well. Webb’s fast pace offense translates well in an underdog role. At one point, Webb hits a nice running cutter over the guard railing. Webb also hit a double springboard double knee strike off the railing onto Dijak on the floor. Dijak overhead suplexs Webb over the top to the floor. This match has had several good spots. Dijak surprises the crowd with a springboard moonsault to the floor, too! Webb got a great near fall with a crucifix bomb at one point. This was honestly a great undercard match. Full of big spots and the energy was great throughout. Dijak never got a proper chance to shine in WWE, and Mikey Webb hasn’t broken out on the indies aside from a brief run in Beyond Wrestling as of 2026.
Match Rating: ****
MATCH #3: NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS BULL DREDD & RON ZOMBIE, & JYM ANDERSON VS. LUKAS SHARP & THE BATTLE BROTHERS (ANTHONY & CHRIS)
FINISH: Dredd, Zombie and Anderson win the match a trifecta pin after hitting their finishing moves.
Bob’s Take: Just from an entrance, Lukas Sharp oozes being a prick and I mean that as a compliment. Coming off the previous match they were never going to get the same crowd reaction, so they were put in a thankless spot. I honestly didn’t find myself all that invested in the match and I think it has a lot to do with how much I enjoyed the previous bout.
Match Rating: *
Prior to the next match, Cam Zagami makes his way out to the ring, but he’s not advertised on the card. Zagami puts over the show thus far and believes NEW is the place for superstars. Zagami is there to introduce one of the biggest superstars today. Zagami introduces himself. Zagami is there tonight to show how his looks can kill. That brings out Hanson. Zagami insults Hanson’s look with his skirt and boots. Zagami asks if Hanson takes care of his beard, but is met with a spin kick and a Steiner Screwdriver. I was not expecting to see the Screwdriver tonight.
MATCH #4: IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AJ STYLES VS. HANSON
FINISH: Styles pins Hanson following the Styles Clash.
Bob’s Take: They start the match with some brawling on the floor, which is a different approach than the usual slow mat wrestling in the ring that tends to happen. So, I credit them for doing something a bit different. Once they get into the ring the action is much slower pace and Hanson focuses his offense with strikes, though the crowd did like his cartwheel clothesline he pulled off during the bout. Styles went for a suicide dive, and stopped himself in what I think was a missed spot as Styles was performing it on a more restricted side of the ring. The match felt quite clunky and not as crisp as you may expect. Compared to other matches in AJ’s incredible career, this is probably a disappointment. It’s not a horrible match, but I’ve become accustomed to expect a bit better.
Match Rating: **1/2
Roddy Piper makes his way out and talks to the crowd for a bit, but is eventually cutoff by Brian Anthony. Anthony makes his way out through the crowd from behind and not down the aisle. Anthony says nobody deserves an explanation from him. Anthony proceeds to explain because it’s Piper. Anthony doesn’t understand how or why Piper is a legend in the business. Anthony claims he didn’t turn his back on the Anthony Army. Piper lists his reasons for being called a legend. Anthony says Piper is right to be a legend, but says he is just like Piper. Anthony credits Piper for causing chaos and declares he’s the new king of chaos. Anthony brings up Lawler almost dying on national TV, and that brings out Jerry Lawler to join the segment. Lawler tells Anthony he’s not fit to be in the same ring as a legend such as Piper.
MATCH #5: JERRY LAWLER VS. BRIAN ANTHONY
FINISH: Anthony jabs Lawler with his cane after the referee got knocked down and pins Lawler to win the match. After the match, Lawler complains to the referee, but Anthony denies using the weapon. Anthony hits Lawler with the weapon again in front of the referee to lay out Lawler. Lawler fights back with a dropkick and misses a strike with the weapon as Anthony bails to the floor.
Bob’s Take: Anthony bumps around pretty well for Lawler on the floor and Lawler actually uses a chair, but isn’t disqualified for using it. For the most part this is just the usual formula Lawler indie match. I was stunned that Lawler did the job even with the weapon usage. It’s the right call and I love it especially with Anthony being a new heel for the promotion. It’s a ballsy thing to do.
Match Rating: *1/2
Backstage, El Patron Alberto is attacked by the Young Bucks with a few superkicks and gets his leg smashed with a steel chair. Matt Hardy runs into the scene with a chair to make the save. Alberto struggles to get to his feet. Hardy isn’t sure if they can have a match tonight. They were originally suppose to compete in a singles match. Hardy and Alberto decide to team up to take on the Young Bucks. Alberto wants to make them pay tonight and then they’ll wrestle a singles match later.
MATCH #6: BANDIDO JR. VS. CALEB KONLEY
FINISH: Bandido hits a nice top rope hurricanrana and follows up with a springboard cutter to win the match.
Bob’s Take: This is a good spot on the show to have these guys battling. A legend losing to a local heel means the fans want to enjoy something to get them in a better mood. Bandido is an underrated worker and Konley tends to have great heel work along with good in-ring ability. Konley does the Pounce and even acts like Monty Brown, which I enjoyed. The crowd was kind of dead for the match, but it was a good match. Bandido is very enjoyable and Konley did a good job, too. A good lead in match for the main event, I’d say.
Match Rating: ***
MAIN EVENT: IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE YOUNG BUCKS VS. AAA MEGA HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION EL PATRON ALBERTO & MATT HARDY
FINISH: Patron puts an arm bar on Matt Jackson and Hardy puts a choke on Nick Jackson leading to a double submission for the win.
Bob’s Take: Patron is selling his leg from the attack earlier in the show, which the live crowd is not aware of. I don’t have much interest in Matt Hardy nor do I care at all about Alberto. It’s a fairly basic tag match. Patron gets yanked off the apron on a near tag and superkicked on the floor. Patron has minimal involvement in the match likely selling the leg injury. Patron eventually gets a hot tag and proceeds to not sell his injured leg, at all though most of his offense is using the leg. Honestly, the action was a bit better than I thought it would be. I thought this would be a lot more dull, but they delivered a quality main event to hold my interest. For the record, Patron and Hardy never have a singles match in NEW.
Match Rating: ***
Final Thoughts:
This is a good NEW show overall with plenty of solid action and Dijak/Webb especially standing out on the card. The crowd responded well to the action throughout and at just over two hours this was an easy watch to get through.
Thanks for reading.