Homicide Enters Garden State Invitational
Synergy Pro Wrestling presents the one-night tournament on July 20.
Synergy Pro Wrestling has announced Homicide as the first participant in the inaugural Garden State Invitational (GSI).
The Notorious 187 is scheduled for the one-night, single-elimination tournament on July 20. The eight participants have to have international wrestling experience, as well as a history in Synergy or notoriety throughout the industry.
“A lot of companies are not living up to the expectations of a world-class tournament,” Colin West, owner of Synergy, told The Wrestling Estate. “They are coasting on the name of their tournament. We don’t have that luxury because this is the first one. There is tradition and legacy in this area not being upheld. There’s no Jersey J-Cup anymore, which was the best tournament in this area’s history. We want to hold Synergy to that standard.”
The Jersey J-Cup ran from 2000 until 2011 and returned for one night in 2014. Modeled after the Super J-Cup in New Japan, it featured cruiserweights from promotions along the East Coast. CM Punk, AJ Styles, Colt Cabana, Joey Janela and even former Synergy Champion Frightmare have all competed in the Jersey J-Cup. Previous winners include former world champions such as Low Ki and Jay Lethal.
Homicide will have the distinction of competing in both the Super J-Cup and the GSI. One week before the tournament, Game Changer Wrestling is celebrating his 25th anniversary in the sport with “5150 – A Tribute to Homicide” in Brooklyn, New York. He’s a former Ring of Honor World Champion, three-time Impact Tag Team Champion and X-Division Champion, in addition to racking up many other titles throughout his career.
Perhaps more important to West and fellow Garden State natives, Homicide is a seven-time Jersey All Pro Heavyweight Champion and Tag Team Champion, as well as a member of the JAPW Hall of Fame.
“Everything that has driven not just me, but the people I consider friends and respect in this business starts and ends at Jersey All Pro Wrestling,” West says. ‘“Fat” Frank is the godfather of New Jersey professional wrestling. He started with a bunch of dudes who were crazy talented and had a chip on their shoulder because nobody gave them the ball yet. It means everything to me because it’s the business model that I echo.”
In May, West took over Synergy from Dan and Heather Funkenstein, who stepped away from the New Jersey-based wrestling promotion that they founded in September of 2017. The creative force behind the scenes, as well as the authority figure on camera, West has given plenty of blood, sweat and tears over the past 11 Synergy events. He creates the match graphics, event posters, DVD covers, entrance videos – he even drives all over Hillsborough, New Jersey, setting up flyers. He handles the company’s social media, books the talent and speaks with the press before every event.
Since assuming financial responsibility for the promotion, West has increased the show budget, bringing in several big names for the GSI as well as Synergy’s event in September, which will feature Rhyno fresh off his run in WWE.
“People have an expectation of what a Synergy show is in terms of caliber of athlete they see and caliber of matches,” West says. “Just because the situation up top has changed, does not mean that people are going to get any less. In fact, I’m going to try to give them more.”
2019 Garden State Invitational takes place Saturday, July 20, at a venue to be determined.
Follow Synergy on Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit www.synergywrestling.com.
You can watch all of Synergy’s past events on independentwrestling.tv. If you don’t have a subscription, you use the promo code “SYNERGY” and the first 20 days are free.
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