By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
We are looking for reports on all WWE, AEW, NXT, Impact Wrestling, MLW, GCW, and other notable live events. If you attend a show, you are encouraged to send a report or even basic results to dotnetjason@gmail.com
GCW “Wasted Time”
Streamed on FITE TV
December 3, 2022 in Sauget, Illinois at Pop’s NightClub & Concert Venue
The venue is a night club, and the fans were pressed up against the ring. David Prazak and Nick Maniwa provided commentary. This small building is packed with perhaps 600 fans.
Unfortunately, snow in the Seattle area has kept Nick Wayne at home. The rising star was slated to wrestle fellow teenager Starboy Charlie on Sunday, so this is a disappointing, but understandable, development.
1. Starboy Charlie defeated Jack Cartwheel at 13:37. Charlie is the teenage rising star. Standing switches to start. Jack hit a shotgun dropkick. Cartwheel hit his rolling Death Valley Driver and a standing moonsault for a nearfall at 4:30. Cartwheel stayed in charge, applying a Stretch Muffler on the mat. Cartwheel hit a backbreaker over his knee.
Charlie fired back with a spin kick to the head, then a Poison Rana at 8:00. Cartwheel hit a German Suplex. Charlie hit another spin kick to the head. They traded more forearm shots. Cartwheel missed a top-rope Shooting Star Press, but he applied a cross-armbreaker. Charlie hit a dropkick into the corner and a Phoenix Splash for a nearfall.
Charlie applied a Crippler Crossface on the mat, but Jack reached the ropes at 12:00. Cartwheel hit a springboard press, then the Sasake Special to the floor, and the crowd was hot. Cartwheel went for a top-rope corkscrew press, but Charlie got his knees up. Charlie applied a Rings of Saturn double-arm submission hold on the mat, and Cartwheel tapped out. That was a really, really good opener.
2. Shane Mercer and Axton Ray defeated Davey Bang and August Matthews at 7:28. Mercer is the muscular guy with Brian Cage-like athleticism. Axton Ray is the former cheerleader who looks like a football player, and I have compared him to Brutus Creed. Ray and Matthews started, then Mercer entered to face the much smaller Bang, and he hiptossed him all the way across the ring at 2:00. Mercer then hit a fallaway slam, tossing Bang over his head onto Matthews. Bang hit a dive to the floor, so Matthews then hit a dive.
In the ring, the faces hit some quick kicks on Axton. In a cool spot, Mercer hit a German Suplex on Bang, with Axton catching Bang and turning it into a sit-out powerbomb at 5:00, and I’m really liking this team-up. The Bang Brothers hit their team spear move and got a nearfall on Axton. Mercer hit a pop-up powerslam, then his second-rope moonsault with Bang in his arms to pin Bang. Really good show of power.
3. Sawyer Wreck defeated Mad Man Pondo in an intergender hardcore match at 11:17. Pondo is really fat and looks really unhealthy, to the point that he could collapse trying to wrestle. Wikipedia says he is now 53. Sawyer is 6’1″ but she is so much smaller weight-wise. They sat across from each other on chairs to open the match and traded blows. She dropped him on the chair, destroying it. They brawled to the floor.
In the ring, she slammed one chair into another chair into Pondo’s groin at 4:30. In a gross spot, she used a garden tool that looks like a pizza cutter across his forehead. She used a staple gun to put money on his forehead, and he was bleeding a lot. She used the staple gun on his cheek, too.
Pondo got the staple gun and he stapled money over her crotch, then on her butt. I am not amused. He now gouged her in the forehead with a knife at 8:30. He hit her on the head with a stop sign. He leapt off the second rope, but she moved and he crashed into an open chair. She then hit a chokeslam onto the folded chair for the pin. Ugly.
4. “Second Gear Crew” Mance Warner & Matthew Justice defeated GCW Tag Team Champions “Los Macizos” Extremo Miedo & Ciclope and Sandman & 2 Cold Scorpio in a three-way non-title tag match at 6:45. Los Macizo’s tag titles were NOT on the line. If you’ve read my prior reviews, you know I have no interest in watching 50+ year-old legends in the ring. Scorpio hit the ring solo and peppered the SGC with punches. The SGC slammed him stomach-first to the mat. Mance (unnecessarily) tossed a chair at Miedo’s head. Suddenly, everyone was down at 3:00, and right on cue, Sandman came to ringside, drinking beers and celebrating in the crowd. Scorpio hit a second-rope moonsault onto Mance, who was lying on a table in the ring. Justice got a rollup out of nowhere to pin Ciclope. Deeply underwhelming match; this barely even got started when it was already over.
5. Jimmy Lloyd defeated Jake Lander at 8:22. Lander appears to be quite short, but he put Lloyd on his shoulders early on, showing off his strength. Lander hit a German Suplex. Lloyd hit a sit-out Dominator stomach-first slam for a believable nearfall. Lander nailed a Poison Rana at 3:30. Lander again put Lloyd on his shoulders spun around, and spun him to the mat for a nearfall. Lloyd nailed a piledriver on the ring apron, with Lander rolling to the ground after the move.
Lloyd flipped Lander onto a stage that is set up near the ring. The cameras missed Lander getting up and flying off the stage onto Lloyd. Lander hit an Asai Moonsault to the floor at 6:00. In the ring, Lander hit a Death Valley Driver and a piledriver for a nearfall. Lloyd fired back with a flipping DDT move for a believable nearfall, and the crowd popped for the kickout. Lloyd hit the Homicide-style Copkillah backslide driver for the pin. Kudos to these two; the crowd didn’t care at all when this match started but they got the fans really hot by the finish.
* Weapons were set up around the ring. Ugh.
6. Effy defeated John Wayne Murdoch in a hardcore match at 11:40. This is a first-time-ever singles match, although they’ve battled in multi-man matches in the past. They immediately traded chops and forearms. Effy got a chair and slammed it across Murdoch’s back. Murdoch grabbed barbecue skewers and jabbed them in Effy’s butt, earning a “you sick f—!” chant. Murdoch dumped tacks in the center of the ring, then he hit a back suplex, dumping Effy onto the tacks.
Murdoch stayed in charge, and he applied a sleeper on the mat. Effy recovered and got a door and more chairs from under the ring. Murdoch nailed a Canadian Destroyer from the second rope through a door set up in the ring, but Effy popped up at the 1-count and hit a Fame-asser legdrop. Effy hit a TKO stunner at 10:30. Murdoch hit a low blow punt kick, then a brainbuster onto an open chair for a believable nearfall, and the crowd rallied for Effy. Out of nowhere, Effy got a jackknife rollup for the pin.
7. Tony Deppen defeated Jordan Oliver at 31:59. Mat reversals early on, and it’s obvious they are planning to go long. Lots of standing switches and non-descriptive action. They began trading chops at 10:00. Deppen began working over the left arm. Oliver hit a side slam at 14:00 and they were both down. Oliver applied a Boston Crab, but the pain in his left arm caused him to let go of the hold. Oliver hit a mid-ring Spanish Fly, and they were both down at 19:30.
Deppen hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall, then he applied a sleeper on the mat. They traded blows on the ring apron at 23:00, and Oliver hit a piledriver. In the ring, Oliver hit a second-rope Clout Cutter for a nearfall. They traded mid-ring kicks and were both down again. Oliver again applied the Boston Crab as he has worked over the lower back, but Deppen reached the ropes at 27:00. Deppen hit a second-rope Russian leg sweep and he immediately applied a crossface in the center of the ring, with Oliver reaching the ropes.
Oliver nailed a Tiger Suplex and a Mafia Kick, then his sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall at 30:00. Deppen applied a crossface-chickenwing, and turned it back into a crossface, and Deppen hit repeated kneestrikes to the face, but Oliver refused to subit. Deppen turned him over into a Rings of Saturn move and hit more elbow shots to the head, until the ref called for the bell. Prazak noted that Oliver didn’t give up.
8. Nick Gage defeated Cole Radrick to retain the GCW Title at 12:14. Radrick is the James Ellsworth-meets Gomer Pyle dork, and he attacked Gage as Gage walked to ringside. However, Gage immediately hit Radrick over the head with light tubes, right next to the fans. (This seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen.) In the ring, they used pizza cutters and light tubes. Gage hit a twisting Vader Bomb for a nearfall at 4:00. Gage hit a snap suplex, sending Cole through a pane of glass set up in the corner. Needless to say, both men were bleeding. They traded headbutts on the mat. Gage hit a piledriver through a pane of glass set up between two chairs to score the pin. Meh.
* Tony Deppen, who already has earned a title shot in Los Angeles later this month, immediately hit the ring and confronted Gage.
Final Thoughts: Deppen-Oliver was good, but it wasn’t great. They could have told the same story in a 17-minute match. It just didn’t warrant going 32 minutes. That said, I’ll still give it best match. I’ll go with the opener for second-best, and the Mercer/Axton tag match third-best.
I generally think GCW opens its shows really strong with top-notch indy wrestlers, and the shows devolve into hardcore death matches, and that was the case here. It is clear we don’t need to see Mad Man Pondo and Sandman in a ring in 2022. I would like Sawyer Wreck to leave this hardcore garbage behind. With her height and similar style to Rhea Ripley, she could have quite a wrestling career. She doesn’t need to participate in this garbage.
I know I’m a broken record on this, but GCW doesn’t use guardrails. The fans are far too close to the ring. When someone tosses a chair at another competitor, you aren’t just risking chipping a tooth or breaking a nose, you are risking injuring a fan.
Be the first to comment