Frank Iadevaia, the Jersey All Pro Wrestling promoter best known by the affectionate nickname “Fat Frank,” has passed away at 43 years of age. Jason Powell confirmed the unfortunate news at ProWrestling.net, as did Mike Johnson at PWInsider.com and Dave Meltzer at F4WOnline.com. A number of wrestling personalities have been expressing their condolences n social media, including Evolve’s Gabe Sapolsky:
Fat Frank did a lot for many wrestlers and the indie scene. Condolences to his friends and family. RIP and thank you, Frank.
— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) September 24, 2015
Frank launched JAPW in 1997 as a hardcore themed independent promotion where he was in the mix as part of top tag team NC-17. Early on, the promotion got a lot of attention when he made an elaborate prank call to the Howard Stern Show. Claiming to be an indie wrestler who had a “big match coming up against NC-17,” he said that he and friends who had been abused by their high school principal tracked him down and badly beat him. It was quickly determined to be a hoax, obviously.
JAPW took a turn in 2001. Thanks to local news coverage shining a spotlight on JAPW and rival Combat Zone Wrestling’s bloody, weapons-filled matches and New Jersey’s lack of pro wrestling regulation, the state legislature felt the need to take action. They banned “extreme wrestling,” which was defined as “an activity in which participants struggle hand-to-hand and cut, slash or strike each other or themselves with an implement to intentionally cause bleeding or perform any intentional act which could reasonably be expected to cause bleeding, primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators rather than conducting a bona fide athletic contest.”
This led to a style change, and JAPW began to load up on the best local talent in addition to producing their own through their wrestling school. Wrestlers like Homicide, Low-Ki, and Da Hit Squad made JAPW their home promotion, and their school was churning out a steady stream of promising prospects. Most of them, like Dixie, Insane Dragon, Deranged, Tony Lazaro, and Rainchild eventually quit the business, but one, Jay Lethal, is currently the man that Ring of Honor is built around. Â On that note, JAPW wrestlers made up the nucleus of the early ROH roster, and it’s hard t imagine what ROH would look like if there was no JAPW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDzD9a1pEC0
Frank was usually the head booker, and JAPW featured some of the best show to show storytelling in indie wrestling. The episodic nature of the shows lessened over time, especially once they lost their own building (Charity Hall, a converted A&P supermarket in Bayonne that doubled as the wrestling school) and thus had to run less shows. Still, JAPW continued to hook fans in good storytelling. Most memorably, the feud between Homicide and Teddy Hart that kicked off the post-Charity Hall era.
Eventually, Frank developed a relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling. It started with Jushin Thunder Liger appearing on JAPW shows and putting over Homicide, but eventually, it led to a JAPW-hosted “NJPW USA” tour of the northeast in 2011. Attendance was not bad per se, but it wasn’t enough to offset Frank’s costs. The timing just wasn’t quite right: Access to Japanese wrestling footage in the west was at an all-time low, and of the fans who were able t get anything, they were heavily concentrated in the United Kingdom. Three years later, with NJPW having added internet pay-per-views available worldwide, ROH was able to do great business for ROH/NJPWÂ dual branded shows.
Since then, JAPW had only run about once a year. Their anniversary show on November 14th in Rahway was announced with a Rey Mysterio vs. Low-Ki dream match main event, and as of this writing, it’s not yet clear what’s going to happen to that event. Since Frank generally did have some kind of outside investor, it wouldn’t necessarily be a surprise if the show still goes on as a memorial show, but that’s purely speculation on my part.
JAPW was an irreplaceable part of the indie wrestling boom of the 2000s and none of it would happened without Frank Iadevaia. Rest in peace.
