Monster Jam World Finals 19

Monster Jam World Finals 19 was held on March 23-24, 2018 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. A change for this World Finals is that it has been changed from three days to two. The Double Down was done on Friday morning, with the Showdown before the racing bracket on Friday night. Saturday was freestyle, as before. This was the final World Finals event to be held at Sam Boyd Stadium before beginning a rotating schedule of venues in 2019.

Double Down Showdown Line-Up

 * 1) Monster Mutt Rottweiler: Brad Allen (Double Down Showdown Debut)
 * 2) Jester: Matt Pagliarulo
 * 3) Pirate's Curse: Cory Rummell
 * 4) Bounty Hunter: Austin Minton (Double Down Showdown Debut)
 * 5) Zombie: Ami Houde
 * 6) El Toro Loco: Mark List
 * 7) El Toro Loco: Kayla Blood
 * 8) Soldier Fortune Black Ops: Tony Ochs
 * 9) Max-D #7: Jared Eichelberger
 * 10) Blue Thunder: Matt Cody
 * 11) Grave Digger #30: Brandon Vinson (Double Down Showdown Debut)
 * 12) Wonder Woman: Collete Davis (Double Down Showdown Debut)
 * 13) Grave Digger : Krysten Anderson
 * 14) Alien Invasion: Bernard Lyght
 * 15) Pirate's Curse: Camden Murphy
 * 16) Scooby Doo: Lindsey Read (Double Down Showdown Debut)

Line-Up

 * 1) Max-D #8: Tom Meents
 * 2) Team Hot Wheels Firestorm: Scott Buetow
 * 3) Grave Digger #35: Adam Anderson
 * 4) Avenger: Jim Koehler
 * 5) Mutant (Cadillac): Todd LeDuc
 * 6) Son-uva Digger: Ryan Anderson
 * 7) Gas Monkey Garage: BJ Johnson
 * 8) Overkill Evolution: Mikey Vaters
 * 9) Whiplash: Brianna Mahon
 * 10) Scooby-Doo: Steven Sims (World Finals Debut)
 * 11) Dragon: Jon Zimmer
 * 12) Wild Flower: Rosalee Ramer
 * 13) The Black Pearl: Cole Venard
 * 14) Great Clips Mohawk Warrior: Bryce Kenny
 * 15) Monster Mutt Dalmatian: Candice Jolly
 * 16) Bounty Hunter: Jim Creten
 * 17) FS1 Cleatus: Marc McDonald
 * 18) Lucas Oil Crusader: Linsey Weenk
 * 19) El Toro Loco: Becky McDonough
 * 20) Mutant (F-150): Coty Saucier
 * 21) Monster Mutt: Cynthia Gauthier (World Finals Debut)
 * 22) Zombie: Bari Musawwir
 * 23) Max-D #5: Colton Eichelberger
 * 24) Stadium Tour 1 Champion- Max-D #9: Neil Elliott
 * 25) Stadium Tour 2 Champion- Grave Digger #27: Charlie Pauken
 * 26) Stadium Tour 3 Champion- Grave Digger #33: Morgan Kane
 * 27) Stadium Tour 4 Champion- VP Racing Fuels' The Mad Scientist: Lee O'Donnell
 * 28) Triple Threat Series East Champion- Megalodon: Justin Sipes (World Finals Debut)
 * 29) Triple Threat Series Central Champion- Grave Digger #32: Tyler Menninga
 * 30) Triple Threat Series West Champion- Earth Shaker: Tristan England
 * 31) Arena Tour Champion- Northern Nightmare: Cam McQueen
 * 32) Double Down Showdown Champion- Pirate's Curse: Cory Rummell (World Finals Debut)

Double Down Showdown Racing
Bracket

Round 1
Pirate's Curse (Murphy) vs. Bounty Hunter (Crash)

Monster Mutt Rottweiler vs. Alien Invasion (Crash)

Soldier Fortune Black Ops vs. Grave Digger (Anderson)

Grave Digger (Vinson) vs. Jester Max-D vs. Scooby-Doo

El Toro Loco (List) vs. Zombie

El Toro Loco (Blood) vs. Blue Thunder

Pirate's Curse (Rummell) vs. Wonder Woman

Round 2
Pirate's Curse (Murphy) vs. Monster Mutt Rottweiler

Soldier Fortune Black Ops vs. Grave Digger (Vinson)

Zombie vs. Max-D (Crash)

El Toro Loco (Blood) vs. Pirate's Curse (Rummell)

Semi-Finals
Max-D vs. Pirate's Curse (Rummell)

Pirate's Curse (Murphy) vs. Grave Digger (Vinson)

Championship Race
Grave Digger (Vinson) (Red lights race: disqualified) vs. Pirate's Curse (Rummell)

Racing Championship
Bracket

Round 1
Mutant (LeDuc) vs. Team Hot Wheels Firestorm

Max-D (Eichelberger) vs. Dragon

Monster Mutt vs. Gas Monkey Garage

Great Clips Mohawk Warrior (Bye run) vs. Overkill Evolution (Overkill Evolution was unable to make it to the starting line)

Grave Digger (Anderson) vs. Northern Nightmare (Crash; red lights race: disqualified)

Megalodon vs. EarthShaker

Wild Flower vs. Son-uva Digger

Grave Digger (Kane) vs. El Toro Loco

Monster Mutt Dalmatian vs. Bounty Hunter

FS1 Cleatus vs. Lucas Oil Crusader

Grave Digger (Pauken) vs. Mutant (Saucier)

Black Pearl vs. Whiplash

Avenger vs. Grave Digger (Menninga)

Zombie vs. Max-D (Meents)

Max-D (Elliott) vs. Scooby-Doo

Mad Scientist vs. Pirate's Curse (Rummell)

Round 2
Mutant (LeDuc) vs. Pirate's Curse (Rummell)

Dragon vs. Gas Monkey Garage

Great Clips Mohawk Warrior (Crash) vs. Grave Digger (Anderson)

Megalodon vs. Son-uva Digger

Grave Digger (Kane) vs. Monster Mutt Dalmatian FS1 Cleatus vs. Mutant (Saucier)

Black Pearl (Crash) vs. Grave Digger (Menninga)

Zombie vs. Max-D (Elliott)

Round 3
Mutant (LeDuc) vs. Dragon

Grave Digger (Anderson) vs. Son-uva Digger

Grave Digger (Kane) vs. FS1 Cleatus 

Grave Digger (Menninga) vs. Zombie

Semi-Finals
Mutant (LeDuc) vs. Grave Digger (Anderson)

FS1 Cleatus vs. Grave Digger (Menninga)

Championship Race
Grave Digger (Anderson) vs. Grave Digger (Menninga)

Racing Encore
Tom Meents, Neil Elliott, Colton Eichelberger, Chuck Werner, and Jared Eichelberger each came out in their own separate Max-D trucks to help celebrate Max-D's 15th anniversary. A new black Max-D paint scheme, based off the 2017 Blackout toy, was unveiled during the encore as well. Chuck drove the original Maximum Destruction, Neil drove the Candy Apple Red Max-D, Colton drove the Gold Max-D, Jared drove the normal Max-D, and Tom debuted the new Black Max-D. Tom and Chucks trucks were brought onto the track riding on dump trucks, with Tom's even having fireworks. Jared, Colton, Neil and Chuck attempted stoppies at the same time. Colton and Jared then performed reverse backflips, followed by Chuck, Neil, and Tom performing various stunts with a specialized ramp while Colton performed leaps next to them.

Freestyle Pre-Show Donut Contest
Before the Freestyle Show, Heavy D in Grave Digger 30, and Diesel Dave in Maximum Destruction (Max-D) came out and performed a Donut Contest.

Grave Digger* vs. Max-D

* Grave Digger was the actual winner of the event, due to Max-D failing to perform donuts. However, Max-D was humorously declared the winner to encourage Heavy D to jump in the freestyle fountain, which his brother had done just seconds earlier.

Freestyle

 * 1) Son-uva Digger - 9.182 (Crash)
 * 2) Mutant (LeDuc) - 8.995
 * 3) Grave Digger (Pauken) - 8.778 (Crash)
 * 4) Lucas Oil Crusader - 8.691
 * 5) Megalodon - 8.530
 * 6) Dragon - 8.452
 * 7) Zombie - 8.184
 * 8) Max-D (Elliott) - 8.145 (Crash)FC7T5643.JPG
 * 9) Monster Mutt Dalmatian - 7.998
 * 10) Gas Monkey Garage - 7.571
 * 11) Team Hot Wheels Firestorm - 7.347 (Crash)
 * 12) Grave Digger (Kane) - 7.209 (Crash)
 * 13) Max-D (Eichelberger) - 7.188
 * 14) Wild Flower - 7.153FC7T5890.JPG
 * 15) El Toro Loco - 6.856 (Crash)
 * 16) Mutant (Saucier) - 6.801 (Crash)
 * 17) Monster Mutt - 6.772 (Crash)
 * 18) FS1 Cleatus - 6.683
 * 19) Whiplash - 6.364
 * 20) Pirate's Curse - 5.858 (Crash)FC7T5158.JPG
 * 21) Grave Digger (Menninga) - 5.801
 * 22) Max-D (Meents) - 5.634 (Crash)
 * 23) Great Clips Mohawk Warrior - 5.492 (Crash)
 * 24) The Black Pearl - 5.440 (Crash)
 * 25) VP Racing Fuels' The Mad Scientist - 5.184
 * 26) Grave Digger (Anderson) - 4.728
 * 27) Overkill Evolution - 4.409
 * 28) Bounty Hunter - 3.833
 * 29) Scooby-Doo - 3.586
 * 30) Earth Shaker - 3.531 (Crash)
 * 31) Northern Nightmare - 2.827
 * 32) Avenger - 2.633 (Crash)

Freestyle Encore
The three new Rampage trucks (George - Tom Meents, Ralph, and Lizzie) came out and hit a series of buildings set up for the trucks. Two Soldier Fortune trucks came out to reprimand Ralph and Lizzie. The three Rampage trucks then did their own backflips, with George (driven by Meents) almost completing a double backflip. Afterwards, all the Racing competitors, Freestyle competitors, Double Down competitors, and display trucks came out and flooded the track.

Other Awards
Awards list
 * Technician of the Year - Tim Mente (Storm Damage/Hurricane Force)/Dennis Fultz (FS1 Cleatus)
 * Rookie of the Year – Brandon Vinson (Grave Digger)
 * Rising Star – Cynthia Gauthier (Monster Mutt Dalmatian)
 * Arena Two-Wheel Skills – Cam McQueen (Northern Nightmare)
 * Stadium Two-Wheel Skills – Lee O’Donnell (VP Racing Fuels Mad Scientist)
 * Donut – Tom Meents (Max-D)
 * Arena Freestyle – Tyler Menninga (Grave Digger)
 * Stadium Freestyle – Ryan Anderson (Son-uva Digger)
 * Crash Madness – Randy Brown (Grave Digger)
 * Arena Save of the Year – Justin Sipes (Megalodon)
 * Stadium Save of the Year – Morgan Kane (Grave Digger)
 * WOW Factor - Ryan Anderson (Son-uva Digger)
 * Extreme Air – Rosalee Ramer (Wild Flower)
 * Outreach – Camden Murphy (Pirate’s Curse)

Reception
World Finals 19 was met with polarized reception, with some fans saying that it was one of the better events of 2018, while others thought it was near the worst. Some of the complaints included many of the trucks breaking down, or crashing early, while the converse argument pointing out that the trucks who managed to stay driving, like Mutant and Son Uva-Digger, had spectacular runs that more than helped to make up for some of it. Another complaint was for the Rampage and Max-D encores being sub-par, with the Max-D encore not going to plan, and the Rampage encore being an advertisement for the movie of the same name. But the converse argument made by the other half argues that the stunts that managed to be accomplished for both encores made it incredible.

Pit Party Trucks

 * Airborne Ranger
 * Axe
 * Bad News Travels Fast
 * Big Kahuna
 * BKT Ride Truck
 * Bucking Bronco (race)
 * Bucking Bronco (ride)
 * Cyclops
 * Cyclops (Restored Version)
 * Devastator
 * Enforcer
 * Extinguisher
 * Grave Digger 11
 * Hillbilly Deluxe (Race)
 * Hillbilly Deluxe (ride)
 * Iron Outlaw
 * The Law
 * Maverik Monster Trakker
 * Maximum Destruction
 * Maximum Destruction (destroyed version)
 * Max-D (Gold)
 * Max-D (Red)
 * Over Bored
 * Paddy Wagon
 * Play'n For Keeps
 * Rampage (George)
 * Rampage (Lizzie)
 * Rampage (Ralph)
 * Rat Attack
 * Scarlet Bandit
 * Scooby-Doo (Friday only)
 * Sergeant Smash
 * Soldier Fortune
 * Stealth
 * Taurus (Restored Version)
 * Taurus (Vaters)
 * Time Flys
 * T-Maxxx
 * T-Wrecks
 * TNT (Did not appear, but was signed up)
 * Train Wreck (Did not appear, but was signed up)
 * Unnamed & Untamed
 * Warrior
 * Wheels of Freedom
 * Wicked Strong

Hosts

 * Scott Douglass (Award Ceremony)
 * Ryan LaCosse (main)
 * Leslie Mears (TV only)
 * Scott Jordan (pits)
 * Mitchell Rains (stands- left)
 * Casey Gagliardi (stands- right)
 * Lola (BKT Zone)
 * Matt Isbul (RC World Finals)
 * Keith Jones (pit party)
 * Ken Navitsky (main stage)
 * K Yung (main stage)

Entertainment Zone

 * FMX
 * BMX
 * Drifters
 * Freestyle Sport Bikes
 * Trial Riders

Trivia

 * During practice Tom Meents hit a barrier in thunder alley and ending up destroying the sign in the right lane (yellow lane)
 * Wild Flower was the only truck to qualify with a full body on.
 * Avenger, Northern Nightmare and Cory Rummell's Pirate's Curse were the only trucks to qualify with completely no body on.
 * The fastest qualifier was Todd LeDuc, driver of the Mutant monster truck.
 * On Friday, Scott Buetow revealed a prototype of his upcoming diecast truck based off the truck he competed in, scheduled to come out with Case H of the 1:64 scale line in May
 * 20180324 171651(1).jpgg the parade on Saturday, the restored Taurus truck broke down, and the engine caught fire. It was swiftly extinguished, and the truck was towed away.
 * Over Bored was displayed on the Trouble Maker chassis.
 * A Scooby-Doo was displayed during the Friday pit party on the Double Trouble chassis.
 * The Black Pearl body was put on Over Bored for the pit party, while the normal Black Pearl was kept at the trailer until Cole competed.
 * Alex Blackwell joined Justin Sipes as a display driver on Saturday and Myranda Cozad acted as a display on Friday during Steven Sims Jr's break.
 * After the Freestyle Encore, two spectators were injured when the fireworks flew into the stands.
 * During the Rampage encore, the Soldier Fortune/ Black Ops trucks did not have any decals on them. Not even Monster Jam ones.
 * Son-Uva Digger (Ryan Anderson) recorded the lowest winning score in not just World Finals history, in the whole Monster Jam history with a 9.182. This is mostly due to the fan judging online system.
 * At this particular world finals, only 8 of the 32 trucks were able to fill the entire clock for freestyle Mutant (LeDuc), Son-Uva Digger, Grave Digger (Pauken), Dragon, Zombie, Gas Monkey Garage, Lucas Oil Crusader, and Max-D (Eichelberger) meaning 75% of the entire lineup did not complete their runs.
 * This is the second World Finals to not have a home video release.
 * Adam Anderson and Grave Digger qualified for racing at the 21st position making him the slowest qualifier to ever win the world racing championship title in World Finals History.
 * The Black Pearl's racing crash was cause by a broken tie rod, that the truck received by hitting the side of Thunder Alley. After flipping the truck crashed into the wall, damaging the truck, but not the stadium.
 * During racing, Candice Jolly recorded her first Round 2 appearance in World Finals Racing