By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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House of Glory “High Intensity”
Streamed on FITE TV
August 27, 2022 in New York, New York at Terminal 5
This venue has the ring lit but the fans sitting in the crowd. We have commentary. The ring announcer said this is the largest crowd in HOG history.
1. Violet won a battle royal. The match was underway as the show began, but I don’t recognize anyone in the ring. There were 19 men and woman named Violet. Violet outlasts the handful of men remaining in the ring to win the battle royal. She cried on the mic and said how much this win meant to her. She challenged Natalia Markova for the women’s title, saying “where is she?” (Answer: at the NWA pay-per-view).
2. Encore & Ken Broadway defeated Carlos La Sombra Ramirez & Roachie Roach and “HOG PD” Officer Sweet Cheeks and Detective James in a three-team tag match at 14:02. Ramirez is tall and muscular and wrestles in blue jeans; think a Latino version of W. Morrissey. Encore and Broadway are essentially the Street Profits or Private Party. HOG PD wore black police bulletproof vests and they seem to be a comedy act. One of the police officers put up yellow caution tape on the top rope. Funny.
Ramirez and Broadway entered at 3:00 and the intensity picked up. Detective James hit a huracanrana off the top rope to the floor on several men. In the ring, Ramirez beat up Officer SC. In the end, Broadway hit a German Suplex on Detective James for the pin. I immediately assumed HOG PD was in this match to eat the pin, and that turned out to be correct. Broadway and Ramirez are clearly the two to watch of these six.
* Killer Kross was slated for the next match but has withdrawn after re-signing with WWE, and was replaced by Bandido. I like Kross’ intensity, but I’d rather watch Bandido’s athleticism, so this is a step up in my eyes!
3. Low Ki defeated Bandido at 8:53. Low Ki is wearing his Hitman outfit in the white button-down shirt and red tie. He is just ageless; he really looks no different than when I first saw him circa 2002 ROH and TNA. This is Bandido’s HOG debut. Standing switches with Bandido cocking his gun-finger at Low Ki. Ki worked him over in the corner with a series of strikes. Bandido hit an Asai Moonsault to the floor at 3:30. In the ring, Bandido hit a corkscrew press out of the corner. Bandido gave him a one-arm overhead press into a Michinoku Driver at 6:00.
Ki hit his backdraft kick to the head and took charge. Ki set up for the Warriors Way double stomp, but Bandido fought out of it, and Bandido nailed a top-rope fallaway slam for a nearfall at 8:00, drawing a “holy shit!” chant. Bandido hit the 21-Plex out of the ropes. However, Low Ki flipped and landed on his feet! Low Ki hit a double stomp to the chest, then the Ki Crusher for the pin. Good match but wish it had been longer. They shook hands, and the announcers pointed out it was a big sign of respect from Low Ki.
4. Mighty Mante defeated (C) KC Navarro, Nolo Kitano, Grim Reefer, Buddy Matthews, Brian XL in a six-way elimination match to win the Six-Way title at 14:02. Mante, also known as Mantequilla, is a masked luchador. Kitano is “the ghetto samurai,” waving two long swords as he ran to the ring. Huge pop for Buddy Matthews. BXL is a Black man and the announcers said it is his first HOG match in five years. Buddy attacked XL at the bell and slammed his left leg against the guardrail on the floor, and XL was helped to the back, just seconds in the match. Reefer lit a joint and offered it to Buddy, who stood stoically. Reefer dove off the top rope onto several opponents.
Reefer tied up Nolo on the mat, so Nolo grabbed the joint out of Reefer’s lips and threw it to the ground, earning some boos. Matthews and Navarro traded mid-ring strikes. KC dove between the ropes, but Matthews caught him and slammed him on the apron at 4:30. Nolo dove to the floor. Mante dove through the ropes. In the ring, Matthews hit a top-rope Meteora kneedrop, then a Bucklebomb on Navarro, then a Rolins-style stomp to the head. Matthews then hit Murphy’s Law (Angle Slam) on Reefer for a pin at 6:17. The announcers didn’t realize this was an elimination match, so we are continuing. Brian XL returned to the ring and brawled with Matthews.
Brian XL got a chair but the ref took it from him. Brian shoved the ref, who immediately disqualified Brian XL at 8:35. Matthews got the chair and he attacked Brian XL with it and he “Pillmanized” the ankle. The referee then announced Matthews was also disqualified at 9:30, but Matthews continued to batter Brian XL with the chair. Matthews finally left, so we are down to three competitors. Mante got a backslide to pin Nolo at 11:35. Nolo shook Mante’s hand, but then he slapped him. Navarro hit a low blow on Mante for a believable nearfall. KC and Mante fought on the top rope, but KC ripped off the mask, earning boos. However, Mante no-sold losing the mask! Mante hit a top-rope chokeslam, then a mid-ring Code Red for the pin.
5. Jacob Fatu vs. Brody King ended in a draw at 2:00. This should be hard-hitting. They immediately traded mid-ring blows, then brawled to the floor and fought in front of the fans at ringside. King threw a chair at Fatu’s face. The bell rang but they kept fighting. The crowd chanted “let them fight” but the ring announcer said it was a double DQ at 2:00. The crowd changed to chanting “bullshit!” The lights went out, and when they came back on, Malakai Black was in the ring. Malakai beat up the security. King hit a sit-out piledriver on a security guard. This brought out Amazing Red!
* Malakai got on the mic said the people here came to honor the House of Black. Amazing Red got in the ring and said “This isn’t the House of Black, this is the House of Glory,” getting a pop. Red turned to Fatu and asked to turn this into a tag team match.
6. Amazing Red and Jacob Fatu defeated Malakai Black and Brody King via DQ at 12:07. Red and Malakai started but they avoided each other’s kicks. King and Fatu tagged in and went back to stiff forearm shots. King missed a top-rope crossbody block. King hit a top-rope superplex at 3:00. Black and King began working over Red. KIng applied a Boston Crab at 5:30; this is a massive size difference. Fatu finally made the hot tag at 7:30 and he hit a dive through the ropes to the floor.
Fatu hit a top-rope crossbody block in the ring on King for a nearfall, then a Samoan Drop, but he missed a top-rope moonsault. King hit a clothesline on Red. King leveled Fatu with a forearm shot. Red hit a top-rope summersault splash to the floor at 10:30. In the ring, Fatu hit a running butt splash in the corner on King. Malakai and Fatu fought to the floor, while Red and King fought on the ropes.
Red hit the second-rope Code Red on King, but his leg was injured and he was slow to make the cover. As Red climbed on King, Buddy Matthews jumped in the ring and attacked Red, causing another DQ. Good while it lasted. Low Ki made the save. He got on the mic and challenged the House of Black to face the House of Glory’s top wrestlers.
Short intermission
7. Charles Mason defeated Joey Janela at 15:25. Mason wore a red jacket like one worn by a theater employee. Janela has been competing overseas recently and missed the last few GCW shows. They brawled out of the ring at 2:00 and onto the stage. Janela hit a top-rope crossbody block in the ring, then a running sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall. He went for a dive to the floor, but Mason sprayed fluid in his eyes, and that allowed Mason to take control of the action.
Mason hit a top-rope superplex at 7:30. Janela nailed a dive between the ropes to the floor. Mason hit a rolling Death Valley Driver for a nearfall. Janela hit a brainbuster, and they were both down at 9:30. Janela went for a top-rope elbowdrop, but Mason got his knees up to block it. Mason hit a piledriver along his back for a nearfall. Mason got angry and grabbed the referee. The ref confiscated a weapon. The referee got bumped. Mason hit a head-capture suplex and applied a front guillotine choke at 12:30, but there was no referee.
Ken Broadway hopped in the ring and attacked Mason, allowing Janela to get a nearfall. They fought on the ring apron, where Janela nailed a Death Valley Driver. Janela then nailed a butterfly piledriver for a believable nearfall. Janela got a chair from under the ring. They fought in the corner, where Mason dropped him head-first on the top turnbuckle. Mason then hit an Air Raid Crash onto the open chair in the middle of the ring for the pin. Just so-so action.
* Max Caster came out and cut a short rap, that basically shouted “it’s the main event!” He got the crowd hyped for the next match.
8. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe defeated “The Main Event” Jay Lyon & Midas Black and “Private Party” Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy in a three-way tag match to retain the HOG Tag Team Titles at 10:57. Lyon wore a blue lion mask. The announcers agreed this was the biggest match of Black and Lyon’s career. This was supposed to be two-on-two, but before the bell could sound, Private Party hit the ring, and they got a massive pop, turning this into a three-way. Early on, Mark and Lyon traded offense. Private Party hit simultaneous dives on the Briscoes at 2:00. Lyon hit his flip dive through the ropes onto the four opponents.
In the ring, the Briscoes began working over Lyon. Midas made the hot tag at 5:30, and he hit a stunner on Mark, then a spin kick on Jay. Isiah Kassidy tagged in and brawled with the Main Event. Jay hit a decapitating clothesline on Kassidy, and the Briscoes began working over Isiah. They hit their team shoulder block at 8:00. Marq Quen made the hot tag and hit a cross-body block, then a missile dropkick onto both Briscoes. He then hit a flip dive to the floor on each Briscoe, then a top-rope 450-splash for a nearfall.
Lyon nailed a Monty Brown Pounce on Quen. Lyon hit an Asai Moonsault to the floor. In the ring, the Briscoes worked over Midas Black. Jay nailed the Jay Driller piledriver, and Mark hit the froggy bow top-rope elbow drop to pin Midas. Really good and I wish it had gone longer.
9. Eddie Kingston defeated Naomichi Marufuji at 7:41. An intense lockup, and Eddie almost immediately took down the straps of his singlet so they could trade chops to each other’s exposed chests. Marufuji hit a dropkick at 2:00 and they traded more chops in the corner. Eddie no-sold a clothesline. Eddie nailed a T-Bone suplex for a nearfall. Naomichi fired back with a Sliced Bread #2 out of the corner for a nearfall.
They traded more chops, with both men really selling how much they hurt. Naomichi caught him with a superkick at 7:00, then some knee strikes to the jaw. Eddie hit his spinning back fist to the jaw for the pin out of nowhere. That was fun but wow, that finish was just completely unexpected at that point.
Final Thoughts: This show looked fantastic on paper. And I wouldn’t say that anyone phoned it in or took the night off. That said, we had too many short matches that left me wanting more. The main event was really good but felt like we were seven minutes into a 15-minute story when it was suddenly over. Bandido matches tend to be short so I was a bit more prepared for that. I have written this a lot this year — Bandido loses way too often for a guy who was ROH world champion last year. I really enjoy the matchup of Ki and Bandido, but I wish this had gone twice as long as it did.
The six-way match was fun, but it sure was strange that no one other than the wrestlers and referee seemed to know this was an elimination match.
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