FINAL HEAVEN: The Greatest Tag Team Move You've Never Seen
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Last week, I wrote an article FROM THE VAULT about the first ever match in the history of the third ACE Arena in Union City, NJ between “the Magnificent” Giovanni Marranca and Killa S against the BS Express on August 8, 2009.
The note I made in the article that piqued my interest after posting was this line:
“The Gate”, Gio’s tag team partner, had to take some time off from wrestling, but due to the chemistry Killa and Gio had during training, the choice was made for them to team.
You have to understand the history of Thomas “the Gate” Rodriguez & Giovanni Marranca. Two kids from different sides of Elizabeth, NJ, both met each other at the ACE Wrestling Academy being trained by Jay Lethal. Both incredibly passionate with wrestling, they forged a strong bond in the squared circle. Whether as opponents or partners, the chemistry between the two was always there.
In fact, both men made history in the promotion. Gate was the final Web TV Champion and Marranca was the last Light Heavyweight Champion. Both belts were merged in March 2008 at Destined For Greatness into the Diamond Division Title, which was won by Envy.
In turn, after trying to find themselves following this tough loss, they found each other and became a tag team.
The first match that immediately popped in my brain was the infamous Gate & Gio vs BS Express tag team match from ACE Anarchy in September 2008. To me, it is still the greatest opening match in ACE history. Four young guns with nothing to lose and everything to gain. It was a fantastic tag team battle.
In the match, Marranca got Tom into a precarious bow-and-arrow and Gate delivered a Big Bang knee-drop off the top. From that move, Gate suffered a sprained knee, which could’ve been a Hell of a lot worse. Regardless, it was one of those moves that really encapsulated how great the unofficially named Pain & Suffering could’ve been. In the end, because of the injury, Ed and Tom picked up the win with the Varsity Blues.
I can only imagine what was on Rodriguez & Marranca’s minds. That move was awesome, but also caused a loss. What could you do differently with that move to stand out and limit injury?
ENTER FINAL HEAVEN.
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Footage is very hard to come by from the old days of American Championship Entertainment. Two weeks later on Action Zone, there was a rematch between the teams, and the winners would receive the #1 contendership to the ACE Tag Team Titles, held by Jorge Luis Rivera & William Wyeth.
Towards the end of the match, Tom got caught in a Gory Special by Marranca. “The Magnificent” then slid Tom down to the canvas, sort of like a standing backslide, with his arms trapped. Gate then jumped off the top rope and delivered that Big Bang to Tom’s head for the victory and the contendership!
Mind you, this is all off memory.
It was the damnedest thing I’d have ever seen.
I didn’t remember them ever doing it again. Sometimes, there are moments that are lost to time, and it stays in your memories, especially with local wrestling and independent culture.
Then, as I’m prone to do, I get obsessed with trying to find it. I hit up YouTube and went all the way back.
By chance, I came across a four-way match from the Action Zone taping on May 16, 2009. Rodriguez & Marranca were a part of a four-way Chance of a Lifetime Rumble match at Crossroads V. The person who took the loss in the match would not be entered into the 10-man gauntlet battle royal.
Again, thanks to the Bergcity316 channel for the footage.
Near the end of the match, Rodriguez & Marranca, trying to avoid losing the fall, used their tag team tendencies as a strategy. Killa S got caught into the Magnificent Gory Special, and taken down to the canvas, bound by his arms. The Gate came off the top rope and drilled the “Union City Underdog” with a vicious Big Bang.
FINAL HEAVEN.
About an hour later, I came across another match. This one was a little more than two years later following that battle. It was from a small independent promotion called Middle Village Wrestling, which was run by Tony Fatu, and was, at one time, ACE’s sister promotion.
The match was a three-way between Rodriguez, Marranca, and a guy named Leon Del Admon.
You know Del Admon better now as LSG: Leon St. Giovanni.
At this point, LSG was a young rookie, trying to break out into professional wrestling, recently wrestling and defeating JT Dunn at Beyond Wrestling’s About Time in Danbury, CT. In MVW, Leon ran into a seasoned duo of Gate & Gio.
This one was something else.
Despite the inexperience, LSG held his own. However, when he went to take out the Gate on the turnbuckles, he left himself prone to Marranca. The Gory Special was hooked, LSG was dragged to the canvas, and Rodriguez gained his bearings and delivered a spot on Big Bang.
LSG just experienced FINAL HEAVEN.
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In all my years of wrestling, I don’t think I’ve seen any team try this since or at least attempt it. In correspondence with Marranca and Rodriguez, they said they’ve done this move a bunch of times; however, due to footage and channels going away, we were lucky to have these two clips here on that awesome maneuver.
Thomas Rodriguez and Giovanni Marranca are living great lives outside of professional wrestling. To me, when they were inside, they were vastly underrated and talented as Hell. And, for prosperity’s sake, they developed the most innovative tag team move of all time. And only a few had known about it…until now.
FINAL HEAVEN: The Greatest Tag Team Move You’ve Never Seen.
Bankie Bruce
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