Battle For The Brave: A Stacked Night of Wrestling in Rahway, New Jersey

written by Cabana973

What an amazing weekend it was in Rahway, New Jersey. We got a 2-for-1 special: great weather and great wrasslin'.

Battle For The Brave was such an amazing show. The event was hosted by Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo, and it was put on in collaboration with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a charitable organization created in honor of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who lost his life on 9/11/2001.

Tunnel to Towers also helps families of veterans and first responders by building homes for them, all in an effort to eradicate veteran homelessness.

The event started at 7:30 on the dot to a packed house, everyone waiting for this amazing night to kick off. There were so many great wrestlers there to showcase their talents, and we were all in for a treat.

Amazing Red (W) vs. Rich Swann

To start the show we got Amazing Red vs. Rich Swann, a dream matchup for real wrestling fans. I grew up watching clips of Amazing Red but never had the chance to see him live, and Rich Swann was someone I'd been looking forward to seeing live for the first time too.

As soon as Rich came out the energy was immediately lifted. He was grooving through the crowd and boogieing his way down to the ring. The fans absolutely loved it, and so did I. Then Amazing Red came out and the fans ate that up too. Both guys had the crowd waiting in suspense to see two high-flyers go at it. The match was solid, full of athleticism and dancing, even a little spinaroni from Amazing Red. Lots of close falls too. What a great way to open the show.

Kaia McKenna vs. Gabby Forza (W)

Next up was our first women's match of the night. I'm really happy this one landed this early on the card. At a lot of other promotions and shows the women either go on first or get buried somewhere near the end, so I'm glad Deonna Purrazzo and Steve Maclin gave the ladies a real platform to show their skills.

This match was scrappy. These two were brawling and it had a great pace to it. The fans were really into it, and so was I.

Sinner & Saint vs. Shooter Boys vs. The Rascalz (W)

The third match of the night was a blast. These guys were flying all over the place and getting busy. The best part was the surprise: nobody knew The Rascalz were going to show up, and they made it all worth it. Lots of great tagging and a bunch of slick tag moves I honestly had never seen before.

David Goldy vs. Marcus Mathers (W)

After that banger we got David Goldy, the Jersey native, against Marcus Mathers. This match was textbook. These guys really got after it and put on a great show. Marcus always delivers, so it was no surprise he did it again, and this was my first time seeing David wrestle. He looked really good, and he's from Jersey, so I love that too. Looking forward to seeing more of him.

Priscilla Kelly & Shotzi Blackheart vs. Tiara James & Emily Jaye (W)

Did you think I was done? Not even close. That's just how stacked this card was.

I can't even put into words how excited I was for this match. I saw it on the card and immediately thought it was going to be a banger, and I was absolutely right. All four of them put on a clinic of great women's grappling. I'm so glad we got so many strong women's matches on this card, because a lot of people sleep on women's wrestling and this show put the very best of it on display.

The Battle For The Brave Cup Gauntlet Battle Royal

This one was for the books, with a twist: once it got down to the final two, you had to win by pinfall. I thought that was really cool and different.

To start it off, host Steve Maclin came out and got the crowd fired up. Zachary Wentz from The Rascalz was the second entrant, and these two got after it right away, not wasting any time. Third in was Ray Jaz, who got off to a great start and laid some nasty dropkicks on everyone in the process. Griffin McCoy came in at number 4 and immediately gave up a suplex.

Brent Oakley entered at 5. It was my first time ever seeing him wrestle, and watching him come in and do his thing was really cool. I look forward to seeing more of him down the road. The number 6 entrant surprised a lot of people: my guy BDE. This dude is fast and smooth as butter, and he's got bounce too. He's a dog.

At number 7, Alec Odin entered and things really started to get crowded. Steve Gibki came in at 8 and started slamming guys around and delivering heavy blows. Number 9 was none other than Kris Statlander. The pop she got coming out was loud. She got right to work, hit a quick chokeslam, eliminated Alec and Steve, and built some momentum wrecking all the guys.

Then at number 10, here comes Brad Attitude, talking trash to Kris right away. He got kicked, then delivered a nasty cutter on her. As the match rolled on, Joey Janela came in at 11, attacked everyone, and quickly ran into Kris, where the two started slugging it out. The final entrant was none other than Richard Holliday (W), who kicked off his run with a couple of low blows.

Brad Attitude tossed Kris Statlander, then BDE eliminated Brad. BDE got the crowd hyped, then ran into a nasty punch from Joey Janela and got eliminated. Steve Maclin sent Joey packing, leaving the final three. Richard Holliday hit Zachary Wentz with a sick low blow and eliminated him, and then it was down to Holliday and Maclin. These two beat each other up, but one thing led to another: Steve got low-blowed after running into the ref, Holliday hit his finisher, and won the Battle For The Brave Cup.

Main Event: The Verdict vs. The Hardy Boyz (W)

This is the moment we'd all been waiting for. The Verdict came out and the crowd booed them while we waited for the Hardyz. Then boom, the Hardyz theme hit and the place erupted. Everyone was ready for this one to go down.

The match started and it felt like 1999 again, because the Hardyz did not miss a beat. All four guys gave the fans a tag match that's hard to forget. This one did not disappoint. The Verdict tried their hardest but came up short, taking the loss after a gnarly Swanton.

This whole show was great from start to finish. I'm looking forward to them doing it again, and I hope it stays in Jersey, because Jersey is pro wrestling.

Cabana973 is the host of the Forbidden Mix that airs on Saturdays at 1pm on Radio Garden STATE