By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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GCW “Gringo Loco’s – The Wrld on Lucha 2023”
Streamed on FITE.TV
April 1, 2023 in Los Angeles, California at Ukrainian Cultural Center
“The Collective” is a series of 10 wrestling shows, led by Game Changer Wrestling, held over WrestleMania weekend, with all the events at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Most of the shows have a specific theme (there is a lucha show, a show highlighting Black wrestlers, and another featuring the LGBTQ community.) This venue can probably hold 600.
This is a review of “Gringo Loco’s Wrld on Lucha ’23,” which began at 10:15 p.m. Pacific Time, Saturday, April 1, 2023, after WrestleMania night 1 wrapped up. (It is the final event of the 10 Collective shows.) Nick Knowledge and Emil Jay provided commentary. This was considered a near sell-out, and is probably the third largest crowd of the Collective, behind the Janela spring break and the Bloodsport shows.
1. Jack Cartwheel defeated Shane Mercer, Jimmy Lloyd, Willie Mack, Bobby Flacco and Mago in a six-way scramble at 9:47. We no sooner started that Willie Mack started dancing, and everyone just stood back and watched him. Mago hit a dive to the floor then a tornado DDT as he got back in the ring. Mack and Mercer, the two biggest men in the match, squared off and traded shoulder tackles. Mack hit a flip dive on four opponents at 5:30. Flacco hit a top-rope dive onto everyone on the floor. Mago hit a flip dive through the ropes on everyone.
Mercer hit an Asai moonsault; I didn’t expect that from him. Cartwheel hit a Sasuke Special, doing a cartwheel over the top rope onto everyone. In the ring, Mercer suplexed Mack at 8:30, and suddenly everyone was down. Lloyd hit a package piledriver. Mercer hit a Jackhammer. Mercer hit a twisting powerslam on Flacco. Mago hit a tornado DDT on Mack. Cartwheel nailed a top-rope Phoenix Splash to pin Mago. That was fun.
2. Dulce Tormenta defeated Sexy Star at 12:22. Star wore a red robe she stole from the Charlotte Flair collection, and her outfit is black. Dulce is in pink and blue singlet. Both ladies wear masks; I’ve seen them both before but they are identical in size and hair length so I could easily get them confused. Dulce hit a huracanrana, then a dive through the ropes at 2:30. They fought on the floor in front of the fans. In the ring, Sexy Star speared Dulce against a board in the corner but it didn’t break, so Star gave her a Death Valley Driver through the board for a nearfall at 5:30.
Sexy Star dumped thumbtacks in the ring. However, Tormenta hit a powerbomb onto the tacks at 7:30. Tormenta hit a Meteora double knees to the chin for a nearfall, and she switched to a half-crab. They got up and traded forearm shots; Star has tacks in her back. They hit open-hand slaps to the face. Star hit a German Suplex, and they were both down at 9:30. Star hit a running knee to the face, then a double-arm faceplant for a believable nearfall. Star hit a series of punches and was in charge. Tormenta hit the Three Amigos rolling suplexes at 12:00, drawing the “Eddie!” chant. Tormenta then nailed a nice spinning package piledriver for the pin.
3. Komander, Aramis, and Rey Horus defeated Arez, Latigo, and Black Taurus at 14:06. I love Arez and Taurus. All six brawled at the bell, and the three babyfaces dove onto the rudos. Aramis has a black-and-gold mask and pants here. Komander, dressed in red, hit a huracanrana on the heavyset Latigo, sending him to the floor at 2:30. Arez hit a shotgun dropkick. Horus, in gold mask and pants today, traded lucha reversals with Arez. Taurus entered and hit several quick moves to slam Horus.
Aramis hit some quick armdrags on Taurus. Taurus hit his pop-up Samoan Drop on Komander at 5:00. The rudos began working over Aramis in their corner. Latigo hit a crossbody block as Aramis was tied in the ropes. Taurus ripped at Horus’ mask, earning some boos. The rudos hit a team powerbomb on Horus at 7:30. Komander walked the top rope, but Arez yanked the rope, Komander crashed to the mat, and the rudos stomped on him repeatedly. Taurus began ripping at Komander’s mask too.
In an insane spot, Komander jumped on the shoulders of two heels and he hit a moonsault to the floor. Horus hit a moonsault to the floor at 10:00. In the ring, Aramis put Arez on his shoulders and did maybe 15 rotations, before slamming him and getting a nearfall. Horus and Komander hit a team Canadian Destroyer on Latigo. Taurus hit a double Crucifix Takedown. Aramis hit a Canadian Destroyer on Taurus. Taurus broke Horus’ back with a backbreaker over his knee at 12:00.
Horus hit a tornado DDT on Latigo. Arez hit a lungblower, and suddenly everyone was down. The crowd was hot for this action. They all got up and traded punches. Komander walked the top rope and hit his springboard Shooting Star Press for the pin. That was fantastic; if you don’t like this, you don’t like lucha.
4. “Los Macizos” Ciclope and Extremo Miedo defeated Damien 666 and Bestia 666 at 12:25. Despite seeing most of the Collective shows by now, this is my first time seeing Los Macizos this weekend, which is a bit surprising, as they have been a GCW staple. Damien is Bestia’s father; I’ve seen them before, mostly in NWA. Ciclope and Damian started, and Ciclope dropped him with a shoulder tackle. Bestia and Miedo entered at 1:00, and they had a quicker exchange. Everyone brawled to the floor, with Los Macizos hitting their opponents with chairs.
They got in the ring, and they all brought chairs and a wood door with them. Miedo hit a superkick on Damian at 5:00. Miedo accidentally hit Ciclope with a Singapore cane. Damian and Bestia hit simultaneous dives through the ropes at 6:30. Emil Jay said Damian is 61 and has wrestled for 40 years! In the ring, Los Macizos slammed Bestia through a door bridge at 8:00 for a nearfall. Bestia hit a German Suplex, and suddenly everyone was down.
Damian did the Old School tightrope walk, holding Miedo’s hand, before turning it into an armdrag. Ciclope hit a shotgun dropkick. Bestia hit a superkick on Ciclope at 10:30. Bestia set up for a Musclebuster, but Miedo escaped. Miedo hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall on Bestia. Ciclope hit a Doomsday leg lariat on Damian, sending him through a door bridge, for the pin. Fun brawl.
5. Negro Casas defeated Tony Deppen at 11:32. A nice hero’s welcome for Casas. Emil Jay says Casas has wrestled for parts of six decades; a quick internet search says he’s 63. They fought on the mat and Casas applied a cross-armbreaker. Deppen bit Casas’ hand. Casas kept Deppen tied up on the mat; Deppen rolled to the floor at 5:30 to regroup. Back in the ring, they traded chops and forearms. Deppen tied up the arms and he shook his hips, earning some boos. Casas applied an STF at 10:30, Casas hit a clothesline, then a rollup for the clean pin.
* Casas got on on the mic and spoke in Spanish. “Viva Mexico!” he shouted to a nice applause.
6. Gringo Loco defeated Psycho Clown in a hardcore match at 23:19. Loco dove through the ropes onto Clown to kickstart the match. Clown hit him with a chair, and they fought on the floor. Clown crotched Loco around the ring post. Loc whipped Clown into a row of empty chairs at 2:00. In the ring, Loco hit a moonsault for a nearfall. After a chair shot to the head, Clown was bleeding at 7:30. His mask was peeled back enough to show his forehead. Loco used a scissors across the head. The crowd is taunting him with a swear word in Spanish.
They brawled back to the floor. Loco brought a board into the ring at 10:30. However, Clown picked him up and ran him back-first into the board in the corner. They brawled back to the floor. Clown used the scissors across Loco’s forehead at 14:00, and he was now heavily bleeding, too. This isn’t my sort of match. Loco hit a nice top-rope Spanish Fly at 16:00, but he missed a senton.
They went back to the floor, with Clown setting up a door bridge on the floor. Clown dove off a ladder and hit a frogsplash onto Loco, who was lying on the door bridge on the floor, at 18:30. The announcers said Loco tried to get his knees up, but both guys looked pretty damaged by the move. They got back in the ring, with Clown setting up another door bridge. Clown hit a Spanish Fly onto the door bridge, which had two cinder blocks and thumbtacks on it. However, Loco got a rollup out of nowhere for the pin. Terrible ending, and a blah hardcore match. This would have been far better if it were shorter, in the 15-18 minute window.
7. El Hijo Del Vikingo defeated Laredo Kid at 12:34. So good to have Laredo Kid back in action after a serious stomach injury. Quick reversals to open and Laredo dove through the ropes at 1:00. In the ring, Laredo Kid hit a frogsplash for a nearfall. Vikingo hit a running Shooting Star Press from the ring apron to the floor, and they were both down at 4:00. Vikingo hit his second-rope (from the outside of the ring) corkscrew splash into the ring for a nearfall. Laredo fired back with a Poison Rana and a Michinoku Driver, a first-round moonsault, a second-rope moonsault, and the top-rope moonsault elbow drop for a nearfall, and he was in control.
Laredo hit a kneelift to the groin at 6:30 and Vikingo sold the pain, and the crowd loudly booed Laredo. (Until that point, this had been face-face.) Vikingo leapt off the ring post and hit a Canadian Destroyer onto the ring apron, and they both rolled to the floor at 8:00. Vikingo dove through the ropes, with them both landing deep into the crowd. Back in the ring, Vikingo hit a stiff kick to the back, then a pretty spin kick to the head for a nearfall. Laredo hit a standing powerbomb for a nearfall at 9:30.
Laredo hit a flipping Dragon Suplex to the mat for a nearfall. Cool move. Vikingo hit his top-rope swinging uranage for a nearfall at 12:00, then a Meteora running double knees to the jaw. Vikingo then nailed the top-rope 630 Splash for the pin. Good match; they didn’t attempt some of Vikingo’s more insane spots, like that 630 Splash over the top rope onto a table, which I’ve seen him do three times in the past six weeks.
Final Thoughts: The six-man tag was fun. Every move hit and looked great. You can’t say enough about how Taurus, Latigo and Arez are perfect opponents for the high-flying luchadors, because they know how to catch them and make their moves look so good. The main event was good, but it wasn’t epic. Nothing wrong with it, but it certainly didn’t top expectations. I’ll go with the show-opening scramble for a distant third place.
Maybe it was because this was the 10th of the 10 Collective shows (and I’ve now seen 7 of them!), and maybe it was because many of these fans were likely at WrestleMania for 4+ hours… but this crowd was dead. In this same building a day earlier, the crowd was hot for hardcore action involving the Second Gear Crew. Here, this crowd was fairly lethargic for a Gringo Loco-Psycho Clown match that went on way to long and felt fairly repetitive.
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