By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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GCW “Si or No?”
Streamed on FITE+
November 4, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia at Center Stage
I’ve always liked this venue. Attendance is 500 or more; seating is in risers so the ring is ‘in the round.’ GCW was in the St. Louis area a night earlier, so it was just over an eight-hour drive to Atlanta. John Mosely and Dave Prazak provided commentary.
Vetter’s Note: We once again hear from Brogan Finlay, who strongly hinted once more that he’s headed to NXT without directly saying it. Read more below.
As the show began, five of the six men in the first match were already in the ring. Man Like Dereiss rapped his way to the ring and we got under way!
1. Alec Price defeated Man Like Dereiss, Hunter Drake, Brayden Toon, Rico Gonzalez and Mr. Danger in a six-way scramble at 7:07. Hunter hit a snap German Suplex. Brayden hit a modified Death Valley Driver on Drake. Dereiss nailed a fallaway slam on the big Toons. MLD and Price traded chops. Toon hit a running neckbreaker. Hunter hit a running Shooting Star Press. The scrawny Mr. Danger hit a Swanton Bomb. Price dove over the top rope onto everyone at 5:30. Toon dove onto everyone from a balcony/ledge 10 feet or so up. In the ring, Price hit a top-rope Blockbuster, then his Surprise kick/step-up mule kick on Mr. Danger to pin him. A fun sprint.
2. Charles Mason (w/Parrow) defeated “Action” Mike Jackson at 8:02. Jackson is 73 or 74 now, and I quite frankly hate to see him in the ring, as I’m fearful of watching him get injured or killed and I’m not kidding. He’s in great shape; heck my dad is that age and is fairly immobile. Mason got on the mic and told Jackson he was going to make his wife into a widow; Jackson immediately attacked him. They brawled to the floor, where Mason slammed him face-first into a fence along the wall at 2:00. The signal was briefly lost from the building but it returned, and Jackson was in charge in the ring. Jackson did his Old School tightrope walk (with the aid, of course, of Mason.) Mason tied him up on the mat but Jackson got to the ropes. Mason applied a sleeper and Jackson tapped out. Acceptable considering Jackson’s limitations; Mason is a good choice to wrestle him as he’s such a personality and draws so much heat for doing little things.
* Parrow picked up Jackson and appeared ready to hit a shoulder breaker, but Richard Holliday ran into the ring and attacked Parrow and Mason with a kendo stick. Holliday and Mason brawled up the stairs and out into the loading dock area and through the backstage area. There are some humorous backstage scenes in the background as they brawled, including Matt Cardona ‘making out’ with Steph De Lander, and some unfunny stuff, like opening the door on Jimmy Lloyd using the toilet. Very juvenile humor.
* A video package aired of the suburban St. Louis GCW show from Friday.
3. Maki Itoh and “Bussy” Effy and Allie Katch defeated Jordan Oliver and Davey Bang and August Matthews at 11:27. Oliver carried his JCW Title belt. Effy and Oliver opened. Allie and Bang entered, with Davey hitting a dropkick at 2:30. Matthews hit a standing moonsault on her for a nearfall. She suplexed August. Itoh tagged in to a huge pop and she hit aDDT on August for a nearfall, then one on Bang. She hit a Facewash on August for a nearfall at 4:30. Effy hit his Whoopee Cushion on Matthews. Oliver’s team began working over Allie and they were booed. Oliver hit an Acid Kick for a nearfall at 7:00.
August and Matthews hit doublestomps on her back for a nearfall. Bang and Matthews went for Spears Tower, but she cut it off with a kneestrike. Effy made the hot tag and hit a Blockbuster, then Helluva Kicks at 9:00. He dropped August onto Oliver and got a nearfall on Jordan. Effy came off the ropes but Oliver caught him with a stunner. Everyone hit their finishers. Oliver hit a Helluva Kick. Bang nailed Spears Tower on Effy, with Jordan getting a nearfall on Effy. Allie slammed Oliver onto Bang and she was fired up. Itoh’s team hit triple Kokeshi falling headbutts on August and pinned him. The crowd loved the silliness here.
4. Tony Deppen defeated Brogan Finlay at 5:49. Prazak acknowledged the rumors that 21-year-old Finlay has been offered an NXT contract, saying he “might be winding down his days here in GCW.” Deppen charged at Finlay and was met with a superkick. Deppen leapt off the apron onto Finlay on the floor, and they brawled at ringside. In the ring, Deppen hit a powerbomb for a nearfall and a series of kicks. Finlay hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall at 2:30. Deppen hit a German Suplex out of the corner, then a Meteora double knees, then the doublestomp to the chest for a nearfall, and Tony glared at the referee. Finlay suplexed Deppen into the corner. They got up and traded forearm strikes. Deppen nailed a half-nelson suplex. They went to the ring apron, where Brogan nailed a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall at 5:30. In the ring, Deppen got a crucifix driver for the pin out of nowhere. Didn’t see that coming at all!
* Finlay got on the mic and said “there has been a lot of talk on the Internet about me and my future in wrestling.” He said he’s in his hometown. Brogan announced this was his last match in GCW, and he thanked everyone in the back. He shook hands with Deppen. However, Jacob Fatu hopped in the ring and beat up Brogan! Deppen wisely turned and left. Fatu gorilla pressed Brogan to the floor. This bump actually looked pretty dangerous. Two guys (Bobby Flaco and someone else) ran into the ring but Fatu put them both across his shoulders and hit a double Samoan Drop.
* A video package aired of the GCW show in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
5. Jimmy Lloyd defeated Steph De Lander in an intergender match at 8:53. SDL got on the mic and said she should be on WWE’s Crown Jewel, “instead I’m in f–king Atlanta? This place is a shithole,” she said. SDL has the height advantage but he definitely outweighs her. They brawled to the floor and up the stairs. In the ring, she hit a snap suplex at 4:00 and was in charge. Ref Scarlett Donovan got bumped in the corner. Lloyd hit a stunner for a visual pin at 7:00 but we had no ref. Lloyd hit a Death Valley Driver but Steph essentially landed between two open chairs, for a nearfall. Steph chokeslamed Lloyd across an open chair for a believable nearfall; I thought that was it. Steph swung a chair and it ricocheted and struck her head. Lloyd nailed a Fame-asser (Cardona’s move!) on De Lander for the pin. Okay brawl.
6. “Bullet Club War Dogs” Gabe Kidd and Alex Coughlin defeated “Second Gear Crew” 1 Called Manders and Mance Warner at 9:58. Gabe and Mance opened with an intense lockup, and they traded chops. Manders and Coughlin entered and they immediately traded intense chops and I’m loving this, as is the crowd. Coughlin hit a gutwrench suplex, so Manders responded with his own German Suplex. Coughlin hit a German Suplex, so Manders hit his own German Suplex at 5:30. Unsurprisingly, Mance is bleeding from his forehead and suddenly everyone was down. SGC hit front-and-back clotheslines on Coughlin.
Coughlin hit a fallaway slam on Mance. Coughlin hit a Doomsday Device clothesline for a nearfall on Manders. Suddenly, Jacob Fatu ran into the ring (AGAIN!) at 9:00 and beat up Mance and Manders! “I think we have a security problem here tonight,” a commentator (not Prazak!) said. Fatu hit his impressive moonsault, and he left the ring without touching the BCWDogs. Coughlin immediately hit a piledriver on Manders for the cheap pin. Prazak said he wanted a rematch. Really, really good action throughout, and the cop-out finish is acceptable here considering these teams’ positioning in their respective promotions.
7. Santana Jackson defeated Mike Bailey at 11:49. I am such a big fan of Bailey and so disappointed he’s been booked to fight the act that pays tribute to an alleged pedophile. Maybe Bailey should have brought a Jeff Epstein lookalike to be in his corner and let the fans laugh and cheer at him, too. This is just disgusting that GCW honors an alleged pedophile in this way. Rather embarrassing and tone deaf. Santana hit the Moonwalk DDT for the pin.
8. Blake Christian defeated Tank to retain the GCW Heavyweight Title at 11:26. Tank is in his mid-50s, is bald with a graying beard, quite rotund, and has a significant size advantage. I remember seeing him in IWA-Mid South shows I attended 20 years ago. Blake charged at the bell and hit a dropkick on a knee, then he bailed to the floor to stall. In the ring, Tank hit some punches and he hiptossed Blake across the ring. Tank hit a clothesline on the ring apron at 2:30. Blake dove through the ropes, but Tank caught him and slammed him back-first into the fencing against one wall.
Tank sat down across from Blake and they traded punches, and Tank hit some headbutts. Blake leapt off a barricade and struck Tank with a forearm. Blake returned to ringside and got a door and threw it into the ring. Tank accidentally punched the ring post. In the ring, Tank charged, but Blake moved, and Tank crashed through a door in the corner at 6:00. Blake choked Tank and kept him grounded. He applied a sleeper on Tank’s back, but Tank charged into a corner and slammed Blake through a door, getting a nearfall at 9:00.
Blake hit his handspring-back-enzuigiri and some 619s. Blake nailed a top-rope diving headbutt, then a springboard 450 Splash, but Tank kicked out at 10:30. Tank got the belt and he struck Blake with it! He got a nearfall. Blake hit a low blow kick, then a Rollins-style Stomp on the head, sending Tank face-first onto the title belt for the cheap pin. Acceptable; I don’t feel their styles meshed well.
9. Masha Slamovich defeated Gringo Loco in an intergender match at 13:17. A third intergender match on one show? Sigh. The crowd was hot and split. She hit a running penalty kick to his chest for a nearfall at 3:00. He dropped her throat-first on the top rope and immediately hit a decapitating clothesline, and was booed. Loco hit a swinging sideslam for a nearfall at 5:00. Masha fired back with a second-rope missile dropkick for a nearfall, then a second-rope Canadian Destroyer, and they were both down at 7:00. She hit a jumping kneestrike to the jaw and a spin heel kick for a nearfall.
They fought on the ropes in the corner; Loco shoved her to the mat and hit a moonsault for a nearfall, and they were both down at 9:30. He tossed chairs into the ring and wedged one in the corner. She hit a spin kick to his head and an Air Raid Crash onto an open chair for a nearfall at 11:30. He went for a corkscrew moonsault but she moved; she immediately hit a running knee for a nearfall, then she nailed the White Knight piledriver for the pin. Good intergender brawl.
10. “Violence is Forever” Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini defeated “Los Macizos” Ciclope and Miedo Extremo to win the GCW Tag Team Titles at 13:00 even. ViF already have a victory over Los Macizos from a few months ago. ViF charged and attacked. They all brawled to the floor. Ciclope put a chair on Ku’s head and hit it with another chair. Both Ku and Garrini were bleeding from their foreheads. Ciclope shoved a chair into Garrini’s throat at 2:30. Garrini is really bleeding heavily. Garrini hit a Lungblower move on Miedo. ViF slammed Ciclope through a door in the corner at 4:00. Miedo hit a senton for a nearfall.
They all got chairs and beat each other over the head with them until they all collapsed at 6:00. ViF hit a team Air Raid Crash move on Ciclope onto an open chair for a believable nearfall. Miedo and Ku traded forearms, and Miedo hit a high back suplex for a nearfall. Los Macizos got a glass pane and made a bridge with it in the ring. ViF hit a Chasing the Dragon spin kick-and-brainbuster on Ciclope, dropping him through the glass pane bridge, for the pin! New champions! That was violent and more blood than I prefer, but I still enjoyed it.
11. Joey Janela defeated Jacob Fatu at 22:38. They traded punches at the bell. Fatu hit a senton. Janela hit a top-rope flip dive to the floor on Fatu at 2:00 and they brawled at ringside. They got back into the ring and traded forearm strikes, and Fatu was in charge. Fatu slammed Joey’s head onto a chair wedged in the corner at 6:30. Fatu went for an Arabian Press, but Joey got his knees up to block it. Janela hit a Death Valley Driver onto the ring apron. They got into the ring and traded chops. Fatu nailed a clothesline. Janela hit a suplex, and Fatu rolled to the floor at 9:00. Fatu dove through the ropes onto Joey.
Janela hit a running stunner. Fatu hit a handspring-back-moonsault for a nearfall. Fatu nailed a pop-up Samoan Drop onto an open chair for a believable nearfall at 13:00. Ouch! Fatu got doors from under the ring. They brawled up the stairs, with Fatu dragging a door and a wood board with him into the seating area. Janela splashed off the balcony and down onto Fatu in an entryway. Janela dragged him into the ring and got a nearfall. Fatu nailed a top-rope frogsplash for a nearfall at 20:00. Sawyer Wreck hopped in the ring and attacked Fatu, but Jacob hit a superkick on her. Mance Warner hopped in the ring and hit Fatu with a chair to the back. Mance hit him in the face with a kneestrike. They piled folded chairs onto Fatu’s chest. Janela then nailed a top-rope doublestomp onto the chairs on the chest to pin Fatu.
Final Thoughts: An okay show; there wasn’t a standout like Friday’s top two matches (Gringo-Bailey, Jordan-Price-Dereiss), and also, Friday had a better Blake Christian match (against Warhorse) than here (against Tank.) So, I guess I’ll go with Janela-Fatu for best match but reiterating that it wasn’t as good as Friday’s top three. ViF-Macizos earn second and the title change was a pleasant surprise. While I generally abhor intergender matches, I’ll go with Gringo Loco-Masha for third. Women don’t just ‘compete’ against men in GCW, they usually win. Here, women were 3-0 in matches against men.
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