By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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GCW “Now and Forever”
Streamed on TrillerTV+
August 2, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio at TempleLive at Cleveland Masonic
Dave Prazak and Veda Scott provided commentary. Absolute Intense Wrestling held a show in this venue on Thursday. This is an attractive venue, and the building holds 1,100 for wrestling, and they sold 625 in advance, according to Wrestletix. I’ll be blunt — the lighting is much better here than it was a day ago for AIW, as the ring is really well-lit. The hard camera faces the stage today; a day ago, it faced the crowd, with the stage on the right. I’ll add there are around seven wrestlers booked to work both shows.
* It is worth pointing out that TNA is having a taping tonight, so regulars Mike Bailey and Masha Slamovich aren’t here.
1. Davey Bang and August Matthews defeated “CPF” Danny Black and Joe Lando at 8:36. CPF are from the UK and they competed in the U.S. before. Bang and Black opened with quick reversals. Lando has a tint of red in his hair and he hit a standing moonsault for a nearfall on Matthews. B&M began working over Lando. Black got the hot tag and hit a rolling Koppo Kick on August. Black hit a half-nelson suplex. Black hit a Lungblower and Lando immediately hit a moonsault as CPF worked over Bang.
B&M applied stereo Octopus stretches. Black dove through the ropes and hit a stunner on the floor at 7:00. Bang hit his moonsault to the floor, while Matthews dove through the ropes. Bang hit the Spears Tower, then a top-rope 450 Splash to pin Lando. That was really, really high-energy action and a great way to start the show. Bang & Matthews got a big win in GCW action last week, and another here, so it appears they are finally on a roll.
2. Allie Katch defeated Sonny Kiss at 6:58. This is an unadvertised bonus match. Kiss came out first and got a big pop. They played to the crowd early. Katch hit a big boot at 2:30. She hit a stiff kneestrike to Sonny’s jaw for a nearfall and she was in charge. Sonny hit some chops. Allie hit a Stinger Splash, her butt bump in the corner, then the rolling cannonball for the nearfall at 6:00. Sonny hit a Snapmare Driver move for a nearfall. Allie hit her piledriver out of the ropes for the pin. Okay action.
* A video package aired that showed some highlights of last week’s Bloodsport event.
3. Sidney Akeem (f/k/a Reggie/Scypts) defeated Gringo Loco at 10:34. I admittedly was never a fan of Reggie’s work in WWE, but he has been paired in GCW with wrestlers that really compliment and enhance his style, and this should be no different. The crowd was behind Gringo as we opened with a handshake. Some fast-paced reversals early on with neither man able to connect and they had a standoff at 2:30. Sidney went for a Poison Rana but Gringo Loco blocked it and hit a sit-out powerbomb. Loco hit some loud chops. Sidney fired back with a twisting crossbody block at 6:00.
Loco hit a superkick, but he missed a top-rope moonsault. Sidney immediately hit a moonsault press on a standing Loco for a nearfall. Gringo hit a mid-ring Spanish Fly. Akeem now hit the Poison Rana for a nearfall at 8:00. They fought on the top rope, where Loco hit an Angle Slam move that dropped Sidney stomach-first to the mat for a nearfall at 10:00, and that got a huge pop. Sidney hit a top-rope twisting splash, then the FInal Act (two backflips-into-a-stunner) for the pin. Really good action throughout, and Sidney remains undefeated in GCW.
* Jeff Gorman joined Veda and Prazak on commentary.
4. Zilla Fatu defeated Josh Bishop at 10:47. Zilla is the most buzzworthy rookie I have seen in years. Cagematch.net shows he still has wrestled in just 20 matches, and right on cue, Prazak says the stat I just looked up. An intense lockup to open. Bishop dropped him with a shoulder tackle. Zilla went for a crossbody block at 2:30, but Bishop caught him and hit a fallaway slam. They went to the floor and traded LOUD chops in front of the fans, and Zilla whipped him head-first into the ring post at 4:00. Zilla crashed into the ring post, too. Bishop slammed him back-first onto the ring apron.
Zilla hopped to his feet and hit a dive to the floor on Bishop! Zilla got a door from under the ring and slid it into the ring. Bishop hit some chairshots to the head and I hate those. Bishop got a nearfall in the ring at 6:30. Bishop chokeslammed Zilla onto the door but Zilla bounced off it, so Bishop did it again, and this time it broke; Bishop got a nearfall. Zilla hit a Samoan Drop through a door in the corner for a believable nearfall at 8:30. Bishop ducked a Samoan Spike and he hit a spear for a nearfall. They took turns whacking each other over the head with door shards. Fatu hit a second-rope Samoan Drop, then the Samoan Spike to the throat for the pin. Really good, hard-hitting match.
5. Jack Cartwheel, Arez, and Galeno Del Mal defeated Dustin Waller, Alec Price, and Marcus Matthews at 11:05. Waller’s team are all top stars in the Northeast, while Arez’s team are Mexico/California stars. I will reiterate that the massive, masked Galeno makes me think of DC’s Bane; he is just a huge luchador. Cartwheel and Mathers opened, and Marcus hit a dropkick. Arez hit his one-footed Lionsault on Mathers. Waller entered and hit a tornado DDT. Galeno entered at 2:00 and stood toe-to-toe with Waller. Galeno hit a flying shoulder tackle. Price hit a huracanrana on Galeno, then a springboard crossbody block.
All six got in the ring and ref Scarlett Donovan is on the verge of losing control. Yep, all six brawled. Team Northeast hit stereo dropkicks. Waller hit a flip dive over a ring post onto Team Lucha. In the ring, Mathers hit a crossbody block on Mathers. Galeno hit a double clothesline at 5:30. Galeno hit a running splash in the corner, then a splash onto Mathers on the mat. “That’s a big luchador,” Gorman said. Mathers suplexed the big Galeno! Price got the hot tag at 7:30 and hit a top-rope leg lariat, then a half-nelson suplex on Arez.
Jack caught Price with a superkick. Arez hit a Northern Lights Suplex on Price for a nearfall. Mathers hit a backbreaker over his knee on Arez. In a cool spot, Mathers hit a dive to the floor and turned it into a Canadian Destroyer on Arez on the ramp! Price hit a dive onto Galeno! Jack and Waller traded offense in the ring. Jack nailed the Sasake Special to the floor. Arez hit a top-rope doublestomp on Waller, and Jack finished Dustin off with a top-rope corkscrew press. Stellar fast-paced offense.
* A video package aired showing Raj Dhesi (f/k/a Jinder Mahal!) debuting and attacking Effy. “General Manager” Matt Cardona joined Veda and Prazak on commentary.
6. Effy vs. “The Maharaja” Raj Dhesi went to a no-finish at about 12:00. Raj hit a boot and immediately applied a tight headlock. Effy dropped to his knees for his lewd humor but Raj stomped him in the face! He hit a kneedrop to the forehead at 3:30 and he tied up Effy on the mat. Effy hit a Whoopee Cushion buttdrop for a nearfall. Dhesi tore Effy’s fishnets and got booed. Effy hit a Blockbuster, then a spear for a nearfall at 6:30. Dhesi dropped Effy across an open chair, then he hit a Death Valley Driver, barely grazing the open chair, for a nearfall.
Raj slid a door into the ring, and he jabbed a folded chair into Effy’s spine at 9:00, and he built a door bridge. Effy powerbombed Raj through a door bridge. However, the two masked men ran into the ring and attacked Effy. Effy unmasked them but no one recognized them. Two more masked men got in and attacked Effy. These two unmasked and it is the “Bollywood Boys” Harv Sihra and Gurv Sihra! The crowd went nuts for them! Raj picked up a crowbar and was about to use it, but Allie Katch and 1 Called Manders ran into the ring to make the save! So, this ends without a pinfall or any call from the ref.
7. 1 Called Manders defeated Parrow, Sam Stackhouse, and Isaiah Broner in a four-way at 8:16. Four BIG guys here. Stackhouse tops 400 pounds, and Parrow is muscular. Broner is a big name here in Cleveland but is relatively new to GCW. All four brawled at the bell; not tags here. Manders chopped Stackhouse, while Parrow and Broner brawled. Manders and Broner traded loud chops! Stackhouse hit a spinning heel kick! Stackhouse hit a splash on Parrow. They did a Tower Spot out of the corner, earning a “holy shit!” chant and Parrow got a nearfall at 4:00.
All four got back to their feet and Stackhouse peeled off his shirt. They all traded chops as the crowd chanted “beef!” Sam hit a big legdrop on Broner’s neck at 6:30. Sam missed a moonsault; Broner just saved his life by moving! Broner hit a hard clothesline on Sam. Manders tossed a door into the ring, and he jabbed Broner with it. Parrow speared Broner through a door. Manders immediately hit a decapitating clothesline to pin Parrow. A good use of these big guys; this didn’t need to be any longer than this.
* General Manager Matt Cardona (w/Broski Jimmy) hit the ring to “make a major announcement.” The crowd of course chanted “We want Chelsea!” Cardona ripped on the crowd. He announced Raj Dhesi and the Bollywood Boys will team up against Effy and partners at the GCW “Homecoming” event. Cardona said he is still recovering from a “life-threatening injury.” Cardona announced he is clearing himself to wrestle on Homecoming as well, and he doesn’t care who his opponent is.
* Mance Warner came to the ring. He has a mystery “pick your poison” opponent! Cardona said Joey Janela missed his flight. (Janela announced he is dealing with internal issues, and hopefully he recovers well.) Cardona has picked an opponent for Mance! Prazak and Veda talked about Janela’s health issues and stressed it is actually pretty serious.
8. Mance Warner vs. Cool Ass Andy went to a no finish at 0:50. The crowd knows Andy but I do not. He wore a dorky cartoonish outfit. Mance attacked Andy to start the match, and he tossed him to the floor. Mance got on the mic and demanded better competition.
9. Mance Warner defeated Matthew Justice at 18:06. Veda said it has been more than a year since Justice has been in GCW, which I truly can’t believe is true. (I have seen Justice in MLW and Wrestling Revolver so I hadn’t even realized he hadn’t been in GCW.) They immediately brawled to the floor. Justice hit a splash as Warner was against the guardrail. Justice held Warner’s arms and allowed kids in the front row to slap Mance at 3:30. In the ring, Justice hit some chairshots to Mance’s back. Back on the floor, Mance slammed Justice onto a metal ramp at 7:00.
In the ring, Warner hit a DDT onto a door at 11:00. Justice hit a Death Valley Driver through a door in the corner of the ring. Justice hit a coast-to-coast missile dropkick for a nearfall. Mance slammed him onto a chair. Justice hit a crossbody block through a door for a nearfall. Justice buried Mance under a pile of door debris. Wow this is dull and the crowd was dead. Jimmy Lloyd returned to the ring. Mance hit a DDT onto a door for a nearfall. Justice speared Jimmy through a door in the corner. However, Mance hit Justice in the head with his GCW title belt for the cheap pin. That was shockingly lackluster and felt stuck in second gear.
10. Blake Christian and Shane Mercer defeated “Los Macizos” Ciclope and Miedo Extremo at 7:23. Blake and Shane came out first; Los Macizos charged in and all four brawled. Los Macizos slammed Shane onto Blake at 4:00. Blake hit a slingshot DDT for a nearfall. They all got up and traded forearm strikes. Blake hit a stunner on Miedo. Ciclope hit a Doomsday clothesline. Miedo hit a clothesline on Blake for a nearfall. Mercer hit a powerslam, and Blake immediately hit a Rollins-style Stomp to Miedo’s head for the pin. Unexpectedly short.
11. Maki Itoh defeated John Wayne Murdoch in an intergender match at 5:50. The height and overall body size advantage here is so vast that it makes this match ridiculous. Itoh started to sing her song, but Murdoch attacked from behind, and Prazak called him a “piece of garbage.” He got a barbed-wire chair and shoved it onto her chest. She hit a tornado DDT onto the hardwood floor at 2:00. Back in the ring, Murdoch was in charge and he kept her grounded. She hit a stunner, and he fell backward onto an open chair. She immediately got a schoolboy rollup for the pin. Acceptable.
12. Matt Hardy vs. Nick Gage went to a draw at about 16:00. Gage has missed some matches of late with injuries, so I admittedly don’t have high hopes for this one, as Nick was already fairly immobile. More than a bit surprising that Matt Hardy is here and not at the TNA taping, and this is his GCW debut. The bell rang but then Matt Cardona and Jimmy Lloyd came out. “Who booked this shit? It certainly wasn’t me, the general manager.” Cardona told Matt “he’s too good” for this match. “You know who this guy is? He’s a f—en criminal. He’s been to jail. You are better than Nick Gage.” Matt got on the mic and said he too has been to jail, but he gets what Cardona is saying. “If you thought I was going backstage with you, you can go f— yourself.”
It is now 3:00 and they locked up for the first time. (As I noted, the bell sounded before Cardona’s monologue.) Gage hit some punches. He hit a DDT on the floor, and he whipped Matt into a guardrail at 6:00, and he dropped Matt throat-first on the guardrail. In the ring, Matt hit a Side Effect for a nearfall at 8:30. Gage hit a spinebuster. Hardy hit a standing neckbreaker, and he built a door bridge. Matt hit an elbow drop onto Gage on the door bridge for a nearfall at 11:30. Gage hit a Flatliner. He hit a Twist of Fate on Hardy!
Gage stood on several open chairs and hit a piledriver move (the chairs collapsed and Matt’s head came nowhere near the chairs.) Cardona and Lloyd ran into the ring and attacked them both. Gage hit a DDT on Lloyd. Hardy hit a Twist of Fate on Cardona! So, we are back to just Hardy and Gage. Matt grabbed a mic and said “Yo, what the f— was that shit?” Matt said he and Nick were going to beat the shit out of each other, and Matt robbed us of that. (Why? Every match in GCW is a no-DQ match! This could keep going!) Matt challenged Cardona and Lloyd to a tag match at a future show. Gage got on the mic and vowed he would make Cardona bleed.
Final Thoughts: As is so often the case with GCW, the show started hot with some great matches early on, but the show loses steam and momentum as it goes. Seriously… the bell never sounded to end the main event. After Hardy and Gage dispatched the heels to the floor, they could have resumed fighting. The inconsistent rules of GCW are maddening and frustrating for someone who watches nearly every show. How many times have I heard Prazak and Veda tell me there are no disqualifications in GCW? We’ve had numerous matches where outside interference didn’t end the match. And both Matt and Gage claimed they wanted to keep fighting… so why not keep fighting? The refs didn’t suddenly bar them from continuing! What a deeply disappointing ending to what had been a decent main event at that point.
I frequently write “this match isn’t for me, but the crowd loved it.” I expected to write that sentence when the Justice-Mance match began. But for whatever reason, Mance-Justice did not play well in front of a Cleveland crowd that was into most everything else. Compared to many other matches here, the crowd was just quiet.
Okay enough venting about what I didn’t like, because there was some really good action here. The Galeno six-man tag was every bit as good as I hoped and that takes best match. Akeem-Loco was a fun blast and takes second, and that high-energy show-opening tag takes third. The return of the Bollywood Boys was a fun surprise, too.
It holds much more than 1,100. That’s how many tickets were put on sale not how many people the place holds. There was a whole section that was never put on sale