Jersey All Pro Wrestling announced on their official Facebook page that their 19th Anniversary event will go ahead as originally scheduled on November 14th in Rahway, New Jersey as a memorial to the late founder, Frank “Fat Frank” Iadevaia.
The announcement is available in full below:
To The JAPW Family and Friends, Twenty years ago, I remember standing in front of Charity Hall with Pierre at the Bayonne Hometwon Fair and this skinny kid (Yes, Frank was skinny) came over to talk to us with his friend Chino Martinez. They came to see if we were interested in running wrestling at the bingo hall. They pitched us their idea, talked about their wrestling group, thanked us and said goodbye.
After talking with Pierre, we thought it would be a fun thing to try. Pierre called Frank back and said yes, we were interested and the rest is history. This past week, we lost our founder, promoter, biggest cheerleader, but most importantly, our friend. When it came time for a wrestling show, no one put more effort into it than Frank. Everyday, leading up to a show, there were crazy phone calls at all hours of the morning and night, text messages and every conversation we had revolved around wrestling, he made us laugh no matter how difficult the situation.
The show was more important than anything, Frank always wanted to give wrestlers a chance to wrestle on our shows, no matter how good or bad they were. Today, we are proud that many JAPW alumni have gone on to bigger and better things in the wrestling world. Over the past few years we cut back on our schedule because of work and family commitments, but there would always be that weekly question from Frank, are we going to run another show? This past year, we decided that we would try to run a few shows each year, to keep the JAPW name alive. We also talked about continuing JAPW if either one of us were not around. The answer to that was a resounding yes.
With that said, Saturday, November 14th, we not only present JAPW’s 19th Anniversary Show, we more importantly present a Memorial Show in Frank’s honor. Special thanks to Pierre, Angel, Mark Szabo, Dom and Scott, Vic and most importantly, Frank’s wife Jen. Without your help and support, this would not at all be possible. Also, a special thank you to all our fans and friends for your kind words, pictures and your stories and special memories with Frank.
Frank, I know you are listening and reading this, I have a special seat saved for you at ringside where you will be able to watch your JAPW put on its greatest show ever for you.