On Friday, January 31, we set out on our second cruise this winter season; Chris Jericho’s Rock N Wrestling Rager At Sea: Six on the Beach. We boarded the Norwegian Gem ship at the port of Miami. The ship has tons of delicious dining options, an onboard casino, hot tubs, pools, and more. For the next four days we watched watching tons of AEW wrestling, seeing different comedians, podcasts, and karaoke performances.
Fans were greeted as they boarded the ship by comedian and actor Brad Williams and professional wrestler Nic Nemeth for a sail away shot. Fozzy, a heavy metal band fronted by vocalist Chris Jericho took to the stage. The band’s current lineup consists of guitarist Rich “The Duke” Ward, guitarist Billy Grey, bassist P. J. Farley, and drummer Grant Brooks.
Their sail away performance took place at 4:15 p.m. out of Miami as guests watched the land fade into the distance. Fozzy opened with their 2017 single “Judas” to warm up the crowd. After a run through of “Painless,” Fozzy grabbed a group photo with the crowd and continued on with “Daze of the Weak.” The band closed out their first high-energy set of the cruise with “Eat the Rich,” making way for the exciting trip and entertainment ahead.
A wrestling ring is set up in the middle of the pool deck and secured with a special apparatus to combat the constant waves of the sea, maintaining safety for the wrestlers and crowd. The stars entered on the main decmk stage and did their eventful walk-outs on a ramp to the ring.
A two- hour bout of wrestling began at 5:45 p.m. in the ring on deck. Professional men and women fought hard in the ring as a wrestler from each of the eight different pairings came out victorious.
Here is the day 1 lineup with each match winner highlighted:
Mason Madden vs Jay Lethal
Viva Van vs Yuka Sakazaki
The Masked Brother vs Serpentico
Tommy Billington vs Konosuke Takeshita
Lady Frost vs Nyla Rose
The Outrunners vs Grizzled Young Vets
Alex Windsor vs Toni Storm
Mansoor vs Will Ospreay
Will Ospreay came out swinging saying he had 15 Sex on The Beach drinks before his match and Ref Aubrey Edwards rewarded him with another two after winning his match.
Scott Steiner joined Chris Jericho on his Talk is Jericho Podcast live in the Stardust Theater. Steiner has won the title of Heavyweight Champion many times. The pair talked about Steiner growing up in rural Michigan and his WCW days. Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, Steiner and his brother fought side by side as a tag-team known as The Steiner Brothers. Jericho called The Steiner brothers the greatest tag team of all time. These live podcasts are a wrestling lovers dream as you can really see the real people behind the big stage personas.
Our favorite musical new find of the year, The Nocturnal Affair played at 9:00 p.m. in the Magnum’s Champagne and Wine Bar. The Las Vegas based band focuses their sound on the darker side of life. They have performed alongside Fozzy and other well-known artists like Asking Alexandria and Pop Evil. The group is composed of vocalist Brendan Shane, Kellen Kroll, bassist Michael James, Kyle Cunnigham, and Andrew Prechtl. For their performance, they sang songs from their first album, (META)MORPHOSIS.
Great American rock band Great White played their hits on the pool deck while Chris Jericho watched from the pit in front of the stage, rocking out and singing a long to every word. The band hit their peak in the 1980’s with platinum-selling records Once Bitten (1987) and …Twice Shy (1989), leading them to mainstream success.
We finished out the night in the Stardust Theater at the Comedy Showcase hosted by Brad Williams. The night was full of comedy performances and stories by Anya Zova, Nic Nemeth, and surprise storyteller AEW wrestler William “Big Bill” Morissey telling stories about his new marriage to AEW interviewer Lexy Nair.
Day one was full of a lot of entertainment and a lot of laughs. We can’t wait to see what the next four days will bring. Check back here for more updates on the following days of Chris Jericho’s Rock N Wrestling Rager Cruise.