By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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GCW “Please, Buddy”
Streamed on FITE+
November 3, 2023 in Sauget, Illinois at Pop’s
Dave Prazak and Carmen Michael were on commentary. This is a bar and attendance is 400-500. Prazak said there would be a whopping eleven matches.
1. Blake Christian defeated Warhorse to retain the GCW Heavyweight Title at 13:16. A bit surprising they are opening with this. Blake got on the mic and talked about how the Internet is going to hate his match going on first. Funny. He said he asked to go first “because I want to get the f— out” of this city. He offered that they don’t even fight, but then he attacked Warhorse. Warhorse took control so Blake rolled to the floor to stall. Warhorse finally went to the floor at 2:00 and chopped Blake in front of the fans, then he hit a dropkick. Blake leapt off a short stage and nailed a flipping summersault onto Warhorse at 4:30.
In the ring, Blake hit a rolling splash for a nearfall and he was in charge. He went for a top-rope frogsplash but Warhorse got his knees up at 7:00. Warhorse hit a clothesline and he was fired up. He hit another clothesline while Blake was on the ring apron, then he nailed a flip dive to the floor with them both landing deep into the crowd, rightfully earning a “holy shit!” chant. In the ring, Blake hit a 619, then a top-rope diving headbutt, but it had no impact on Warhorse. Blake nailed the Springboard 450 Splash for a believable nearfall at 9:30.
Warhorse avoided the Stomp to the head, and he applied a Sharpshooter in the center of the ring. Blake nailed a Pele Kick. Warhorse hit an Ilja-style diving headbutt, then a top-rope elbow drop for a nearfall at 11:30. He went back to the Sharpshooter, but Blake quickly reached the ropes. Blake nailed a kneestrike for a nearfall. Blake got a chair from under the ring but the ref confiscated it. Blake hit him in the head with what appeared to be a railroad spike! Prazak thought it was a wrench. Blake nailed the Rollins-style Stomp for the pin. Good match.
* A video package aired from the most recent GCW show from Los Angeles.
2. Jordan Oliver defeated Alec Price and Man Like Dereiss in a three-way to retain the JCW Title at 11:59. Dereiss is a Black, British star and he rapped his way to the ring. I’ve compared his look to a young Shelton Benjamin and I’ve always been impressed with him. Price wrestled a night ago in Massachusetts for Wrestling Open. Prazak said Cole Radrick, who has been teaming with Price lately, is on a tour in the UK right now. Prazak pointed out that Oliver beat Dereiss on the UK tour a month ago. Oliver is planning to spend several months this winter in Europe; I bring that up because I wouldn’t be surprised if loses that title at any point before he leaves. The crowd chanted “happy birthday!” to 25-year-old Price. Prazak joked about whose face will wind up going into the birthday cake. “This is pro wrestling, after all,” Prazak said. Funny because it’s true.
All three traded quick reversals. Price hit a huracanrana on Dereiss. Price hit a tornado DDT on Oliver, then a dive through the ropes onto Dereiss, then a dive onto Oliver. In the ring, Dereiss hit a fallaway slam on Price at 3:00. Oliver hit a basement dropkick on the knee on Dereiss, then a Dragonscrew Legwhip. He hit one on Price, too. Dereiss launched Price onto Oliver in the corner at 6:00. He hit a German Suplex on Price, then a hard clothesline for a nearfall. Price nailed a Doomsday Blockbuster! Dereiss nailed a sit-out powerbomb on Price for a nearfall and everyone was down at 8:00.
Dereiss avoided Oliver’s Acid Kick, and he hit a stunner on Jordan. Price hit a half-nelson suplex on Oliver, then one on Dereiss at 10:00. Price hit a second-rope legdrop for a nearfall. Oliver hit a superkick on Price. Price hit a tornado DDT on Oliver for a nearfall, but Dereiss hit a 450 Splash to make the save. Price hit a huracanrana on Dereiss, sending him toward Oliver, who hit a stunner! Oliver then nailed the Clout Cutter to pin Price. Fantastic.
3. “Bullet Club War Dogs” Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd defeated Davey Bang and August Matthews at 9:03. Emil Jay joined Prazak on commentary. Bang and Matthews came out first and were attacked from behind before even getting in the ring. They brawled all over the floor. Gabe hit a piledriver on Bang on the stage. The ref called for the bell at 1:30 to officially begin the match. The BCWD chopped August and worked him over, as the commentators assumed Bang wasn’t returning to the match after that piledriver. I can’t stress enough how much thicker Coughlin is than the slender Mathews, as he caved in August’s chest with chops. Bang actually climbed onto the ring apron.
Alex hit a fallaway slam at 3:30. Kidd missed a senton, and August was able to make the hot tag to Bang. Bang hit a stunner and a Flatliner on Alex, then a top-rope crossbody block for a nearfall on Kidd. Bang and Matthews hit stereo enzuigiris. Bang hit a moonsault to the floor while Matthews hit a dive through the ropes at 6:30. In the ring, Bang and Matthews hit a stereo doublestomp on Kidd’s back. Bang nailed the Spears Tower team spear; he went for the top-rope 450 Splash but Kidd got his knees up. Kidd and Coughlin hit a team chokeslam on Bang for a nearfall, but Matthews made the save. Bang again tried to hit Spears Tower, but Coughlin caught him and hit a gutwrench suplex. Cool. The BCWD hit a spike tombstone piledriver to pin Bang. Wow that was a lot of action in a match that short.
4. Maki Itoh defeated Shazza McKenzie at 8:38. Shazza is taller, but not by much. Standing switches with Maki dancing. Maki hit a Facewash kick in the corner at 2:00, but she missed a Kokeshi falling headbutt. Shazza hit a neckbreaker for a nearfall. She hit a bulldog for a nearfall at 4:00. She slammed Maki’s head into the turnbuckle, but Maki struck her head several times on the turnbuckle to show it has no effect on her. Maki nailed the Kokeshi, then a top-rope flying crossbody block for a nearfall at 6:00. Shazza nailed a fisherman’s suplex out of the corner, then a second suplex for a nearfall. Shazza did the splits and dared Itoh to do it, too. As Itoh slowly stretched her legs and went down, Shazza attacked her. Itoh hit a headbutt and a DDT. Itoh tied Shazza’s legs up, as if going for a Texas Cloverleaf, and Shazza tapped out. Fun.
5. Gringo Loco defeated Mike Bailey at 17:33. The crowd was HOT and split before they locked up. Quick reversals with neither landing anything early on. They traded overhand chops, and Bailey hit his Speedball Kicks to the ribs at 3:00, then a huracanrana to the floor. Loco nailed a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker over his knee on the floor. Ouch! Loco hit some chops on the floor; the fans are seated so ridiculously close, Loco had to (politely) move one fan back so he had room to work at ringside. In the ring, Loco tied up Bailey on the mat, then he slammed him stomach-firt to the mat for a nearfall at 6:00. Bailey fired back with a series of kicks, then a running Shooting Star Press for a nearfall.
Bailey hit a handspring back-elbow and a buzzsaw kick to the head for a nearfall. He set up for the tornado kick but Loco blocked it. Loco hit a top-rope fadeaway stunner for a nearfall at 9:00. He dropped Bailey back-first on the top turnbuckle. Bailey hit a Frankensteiner out of the corner, then a Poison Rana, then the Triangle Moonsault to the floor at 11:00. However, Bailey kicked the ring post! They fought up onto the stage that’s about four feet tall, and these fans are NOT moving to give them room to work. Bailey hit his moonsault kneedrop to the chest at 13:00.
Bailey hit a moonsault off the stage to the floor. Loco nailed a Base Bomb swinging powerbomb onto the ring apron at 14:30. They fought on the top turnbuckle, where Loco hit a Spanish Fly for a nearfall at 16:00. They got up and traded chops. Bailey nailed the Tornado Kick, but he couldn’t get the Ultima Weapon. Loco dumped Bailey on his head. Loco nailed the top-rope Base Bomb for the clean pin. A stellar match as expected. They shook hands and hugged.
6. “Violence is Forever” Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini defeated “Bussy” Effy and Allie Katch at 10:43. Prazak noted that ViF in their short time in GCW already have victories over Bussy, as well as over tag champs Los Macizos. Effy and Garrini opened and immediately traded punches. Ku and Allie tagged in at 1:00 and they traded chops; I find this exchange so ridiculous because he is so much bigger, thicker, stronger than her. Bussy hit their team buttbumps on Ku. Effy hit his Whoopee Cushion buttdrop at 3:00. Bussy began working over Ku’s left arm. Garrini hit a gutwrench suplex on Allie for a nearfall, and ViF began working her over.
Ku hit a kneedrop to the base of her neck at 6:00. Effy made the hot tag and hit a double Blockbuster. Effy hit a Death Valley Driver on Ku, dropping Kevin onto Garrini for a nearfall. Garrini hit a fisherman’s suplex on Allie. Effy hit his Fame-asser legdrop for a nearfall at 9:00. Ku and Allie traded more absurd forearm strikes. (It’s not quite as if Marko Stunt stood toe-to-toe with Braun Strowman, but it’s comical in it’s absurdity.) ViF hit the Chasing the Dragon spin kick-and-brainbuster combo, with Ku pinning Katch. Laughably bad at times, and I’m such a big fan of ViF, but I just can’t buy into Allie’s toe-to-toe strike exchanges.
7. Santana Jackson defeated Dan the Dad at 7:50. This should be all comedy… if you find them using a tribute act to an alleged pedophile funny. I just can’t stomach that they use a Michael Jackson tribute act. Shameful and embarrassing in 2023. Maybe they can bring out a Bill Cosby lookalike to hand out pudding pops to kids and sleeping pills to women in the front row, too. Or maybe Santana can team with a Jeffrey Epstein tribute actor. Or a Danny Masterson tribute performer. Santana hit a DDT for the pin.
8. Tony Deppen defeated Kevin Lee Davidson, Brayden Toon, Bobby Flaco, Adrian Alanis, and Jeffrey John in a six-way scramble at 8:41. I don’t think I’ve seen the bald, massive KLD; he is BIG. The smaller guys charged at KLD but just bounced off him. Deppen hit a hard kick to Davidson’s spine. Davidson responded by tossing Deppen over the top rope onto the other four on the floor. John hit a flying forearm on Alanis. Toon hit a snap German suplex and a second-rope moonsault on John for a nearfall at 3:00. KLD hit a Stinger Splash into the corner and a powerbomb move for a nearfall.
Alanis nailed a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall, then a discus clothesline on Deppen, then a standing powerbomb. Flaco hit a DDT for a nearfall. Flaco hit a top-rope dive onto everyone on the floor. John hit a flip die onto everyone on the floor. In the ring, Toon hit a running Shooting Star Press; impressive move from a man that big. KLD and Toon traded chops at 6:30. KLD nailed a Pounce on Deppen, then a spear on Alanis. Flaco dove onto KLD, but KLD caught him and slammed him. However, Deppen hit a running knee on KLD, then jumped on the knocked-out Flaco to steal the pin. Decent scramble with some lesser-known names here. The massive Davidson made a good impression.
9. Masha Slamovich defeated Joey Janela at 15:41. They immediately traded forearm strikes and this is nearly as absurd as Allie trading blows with ViF. They brawled to the floor. In the ring, Janela hit a German Suplex at 4:00. He took control of the offense. She hit a Helluva Kick and a spin kick for a nearfall at 6:30. She hit some headbutts. Janela hit a powerbomb, and he tied her up on the mat, but she reached the ropes at 8:30. They traded forearm strikes while on their knees, then while standing. She hit a spinning back fist. He fired back with a hard clothesline, then a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall at 11:00.
She hit a second-rope German Suplex, then a Shining Wizard for a nearfall. Janela hit a tombstone piledriver for a nearfall at 13:00. She hit an Air Raid Crash into the corner for a nearfall. She hit the White Knight piledriver on the ring apron. She got him back into the ring, hit another White Knight piledriver, and scored the pin. Okay.
10. Matt Cardona and Steph De Lander defeated Charli Evans and Everett Connors at 12:38. This is the first time I’ve seen SDL since she got injured in Australia, so glad to see she’s back. She got on the mic and said “this place is a f—ing shithole” and the crowd seemingly agreed by cheering. Cardona told the crowd he is one-half of one-half of the WWE tag champs. “I should be at Smackdown right now, not this piece-of-shit bar.” Cardona bashed Jimmy Lloyd for being chubby and never having been in a gym. Everett Connors is the pink haired guy in a race car driver’s outfit with Mountain Dew written across the chest. I’ve seen him on some Australia shows but was aware he is a U.S. native.
SDL tied up with Connors, and she’s taller and likely has the weight advantage, too. The tiny Charli tagged in and she stood toe-to-toe with SDL, who has at least six inches on her. SDL got on her knees to make fun of Charli’s height, but Evans hit some Yes Kicks to the chest. Cardona entered and took Charli’s head off with a clothesline at 2:30. Everett hit a Trustfall to the floor on both heels. SDL slammed Connors onto the ring apron at 5:30, and the heels worked over Everett in the ring. Matt removed his shirt and choked Connors with it. Evans hit Facewash kicks on SDL at 9:00.
Cardona got a chair and slammed it across Charli’s back. Everett made the hot tag and he dove through the ropes on Matt at 11:00, then he hit a DDT back into the ring for a nearfall. Evans got a chair and she hit SDL, but then she accidentally hit Connors with it! Matt immediately hit the Fame-asser legdrop on Connors for the pin. Solid match. Jimmy Lloyd suddenly appeared and hit a Double Noggin Knocker on Cardona and SDL.
11. Jimmy Lloyd and “Los Macizos” Ciclope and Miedo Extremo defeated 1 Called Manders and Mance Warner and John Wayne Murdoch in a death match at 10:55. Manders’ team carried boxes of light tubes to ringside. Typical hardcore stuff with them brawling in and out of the ring. Ciclope used the jagged wood edge from a door and shoved it into Manders’ forehead. Gross. Glass panes were set up in corners of the ring. They all grabbed light tubes and whacked them over each other’s heads (keep in mind the fans are dangerously close to the ring on the floor with no guardrails separating them from the wrestlers). Murdoch kicked Lloyd headfirst through a glass pane. That seems stupid. Mance speared Murdoch and Lloyd through a glass pane in a corner at 9:00. Ciclope hit a flying crossbody block on Manders, and his team piled on him to score the pin. Below-average even by hardcore standards.
Final Thoughts: The typical GCW show… it starts with the strong, superb indy matches I tuned in for, then it gets bogged down with not one, not two, but three intergender matches, followed by a garbage match with too many light tubes and blood. No surprise that Loco-Bailey put on the show-stealing best match, with Oliver-Price-Dereiss being a strong second place. Blake Christian continues to be a great heel champion and his match with Warhorse earns third place. I can’t stress how much I loved the first half of this show, as the War Dogs match and Shazza-Itoh were both good for the time given.
But then the wheels fell off, between three intergender matches, the pedophile tribute match and the garbage hardcore match. They could have done Masha vs. Charli vs. SDL vs. Allie in a four-way that could have been a show-stealer, instead of sprinkling them across three intergender matches. I’ve seen plenty of intergender matches and usually a woman acknowledges she is at a size and strength disadvantage and hits offense that is at least somewhat believable. Not here … Allie was trading blows with men that just aren’t believable when she is so much smaller than these guys. I just found it laughably bad. And yes, I think using a Michael Jackson tribute act is the most tone deaf move GCW does.
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