Twas the night after Christmas and all through the ring, Jimmy Lloyd had created a show full of fuckery. Okay, I needed a Christmas special to round out the year and what better way than with some GCW? The Last Outlaw company had tasked Lloyd with putting on a show of Xmas treats and from the card, it looked like he’d delivered. There appeared to be all kind of presents under the wrestling tree to enjoy including Dan Maff’s last ride in GCW. Plus, Joey Janela was there too on commentary. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Jason Cade defeated Lucky 13 via Chair Assisted Backslide Driver

This was an exceptionally strong way to start your show. They took a new debutant in Cade and the current H20 Champion in Lucky 13 and gave them about 15 minutes to beat the shit out of each other. It started rather slow as 13 injured his knee early on, giving Cade a target to work over. It continued in this one-sided fashion for a while until 13 was able to power up and start getting back into it. Though half the time when he did, he ended up shooting himself in the foot by pulling off moves that aggravated his knee injury further, meaning he couldn’t get the pin. From here it became an out and out who can hit the best strike or move and keep the other down, including a chair duelling segment that saw Lucky 13 get a face-full of three chair shots. He would have won the match had he not gone for a top rope move and slipped because of his injury. This left him hanging off the ropes and allowed Cade to hit a final combo and win the match with a Backslide Driver onto two chairs. Cade gets a win over a tough opponent in his big debut. Though I doubt he was very happy with it, he spent most of the match being booed by the GCW fans for being a dick. Lucky 13 still has a lot to prove if he wants to get on the GCW Japan shows.

Homicide defeated 1 Called Manders via Second Rope Ace Crusher

My first showing of 1 Called Manders saw him fighting against the Homicide, a legend of the independents and the former TNA. It looked to be a strong match as it opened with a battle of “fuck you” chants courtesy of Homicide. What a match. Manders seemed to have the advantage at every turn, manhandling Homicide like he was a child. He seemed to be faster and stronger in every exchange. This would continue throughout the match as Homicide had to turn to eye-pokes and well-timed strikes or moves to actually get some attacks in on the big man. Manders got to be the star here though, even as he lost to a crafty Second-Rope Ace Crusher after a very beefy strike battle. The pair chopped and slugged the hell out of each other to try and prove a point. The crowd loved it and Homicide seemed to be having fun. This is probably the closest to a traditional match we had on this show. I see a lot of potential in Manders, he’s a very fun throwback act with some very classic moves in his arsenal. Oh, and he came out to Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi, that should be respected too.

Tony Deppen defeated Ophidian via Roll Up

With these two names involved, you had to know this was going to be good. Ophidian is an independent and CHIKARA darling and Deppen may be one of the fastest rising stars on the planet. The two were going to burn the house down. In the early stages of the matches, Ophidian was running rings around Deppen, slithering into holds and dodges like it was second nature. Ophidian had Deppen rocked and only upped this when Deppen disrespected him. Deppen came back with a Lariat on the outside and mimicked Ophidian with a trust fall off the speaker area. From there, he unleashed his vicious side and slowed down the match, pummelling Ophidian with some brutal strikes and knees. All as Ophidian mocked him. The pair kept trading with Ophidian hitting Diving Double Knees and a Quebrada. He once again went to work tying up Deppen. The pair traded again with different Suplexes. It was continuously back and forth with strikes, kicks and potential KO’s. The closest being a Powerbomb Lungblower from Ophidian. It all looked to be over as Deppen was locked in the Cobra Clutch but Deppen escaped with a Backpack Cannonball into the corner. You get the message, these two were pulling off all sorts of madness. It was fast, furious and Deppen won in the most Deppen of fashions with a roll-up. After all the cool shit that he’d done, a roll-up won the match.

Six-Way Scramble: Treehouse Lee defeated KTB, Grim Reefer, Steve Sanders, Dougie Mosa and Jonathan Wolf via Twisting Elbow Drop

So, I recognised maybe half the guys in the match at best? Scramble matches are great for learning about new guys and occasionally laughing at bad spots. There were heroes and villains in this match as KTB, Treehouse Lee and Grim Reefer all got big receptions whilst everyone hated on Steve Sanders. I hope you were ready for some high spots as Steve Sanders brought a blunt to the match and shared it around. KTB pulled off a double Springboard Arm Drag and a Tope with a blunt in the mouth which I guess is impressive? Dougie surprised everyone with some flippy shit until Grim Reefer murdered him. In fact, everyone was showing off with some fancy flying. Treehouse Lee was on fire with some exceptionally creative kicks. Also, remind me never to piss off Jonathan Wolf, that guy does not play about, those were some stiff as hell strikes. That guy should be BJW bound. Somehow Dougie kept impressing people with his unbelievable flippy stuff. The commentary was in awe. Turns out he may just be Jimmy Lloyd’s backyard wrestling friend. He’s now a corpse as KTB put him through a door.  Treehouse Lee took advantage of this by taking out KTB with a chair mounted Leg Drop then hitting a Spinning Leg Drop on the dead Dougie. This was silly fun but hey, I saw some potential stars here. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Beyond Wrestling Presents: Uncharted Territory Finals, Chris Dickinson defeated Rickey Shane Page via DQ

 

The vilified usurper of the GCW Championship was in action next as a crossover with Beyond Wrestling. Rickey Shane Page fought Chris Dickinson in the season finale of Uncharted Territory. This was going to be good. Dickinson is the best of the best in unsigned talent and Rickey Shane Page, despite being hated by GCW, is amazing in a normal wrestling match or a deathmatch. Yes, my bias is showing… anyway, these two took their spot and showed off. It went from smooth as silk technical exchanges to Dickinson showing off a ton of Lucha skills to Rickey Shane Page dominating through pure size. It’s rare to see the Dirty Daddy overpowered. He came back and overcoming injury started to lay in the strikes he is famous for. The surprise of the match came as RSP climbed to the top rope, rope walked and hit a Frog Splash on Dickinson. That didn’t end it though as a fired-up Dickson started lashing back, hitting even more lariats on RSP. They even went for the ring breaker by Dickinson hitting a Superplex into a Falcon Arrow on Page. It all looked to be over when Violence is Forever and the Legit Legends to set up for their New Year’s show, Heavy Lies the Crown. A great match sacrificed to story but I get it. I was hoping Dickinson would win setting up a GCW Title match for a future show.

Matthew Justice defeated Allie Kat via Death Valley Driver off the Balcony

This was classed as a first-one to die match. An intergender bout with death being the ultimate finisher. This was going to get ugly. The pair shook hands and began their match to the death. Justice let Allie get the first shot in before beginning the beating. He gave her another shot and she gave him a cat scratch before she bolted from the ring. She came back with a chair. Justice gave her three shots with the chair before he collapsed. Justice returned the favour by running Allie into the same chair twice. This led into a Banzai Drop onto the chair from Allie. It turned into all flavours of chair shot, including the Masato Tanaka chair run. Justice continued to ramp up the pressure on the Kat going Coast to Coast, well trying to, Allie managed to skin the cat on it, coming back with some chair assisted hip attacks and a Cannonball. She returned the favour to Justice by hitting a duo of chair runs before eating a Snake Eyes. It kept on going with Allie going for some hardware before Justice turned her to paste with a huge Spear. This led into a Dudebuster on the bar, poor Allie. She got her revenge by hitting an Avalanche Piledriver onto a door. Somehow both were still alive. Justice put Allie through a door with a Death Valley Driver before signalling for a trip up to the balcony. He concluded that trip by throwing Allie off the balcony into a pile of indie wrestlers. That ended it and Justice was declared the winner. This was a tad disjointed at times and quite a clumsy match but again it was fun to watch so I don’t mind the messy nature. Allie Kat had survived so technically did the match actually end?

Blake Christian defeated Jordan Oliver (w/Ellis Taylor) via Elia (Spinning Splash)

Now for the match to piss off Jim Cornette (just check Twitter to see how badly it’s gotten to him.) This was the flippy shit festival match that introduced me to moves I can’t describe. Blake Christian is on his own level. It started fast and only got faster. Oliver tried to cheat early on and got a chair kicked into his face for his troubles. Oliver came back with some strong kicks and a series of power moves to slow down Blake. However, since he was being so cocky and since he had some backup in his stable Young, Dumb and Broke he barely ever went for the cover. The fight moved to the bar with Oliver dropping Blake onto it, hard. Blake kicked out at one and survived an onslaught of YDNB interference, taking them all out. Blake hit Oliver with a Superplex off the stairs after beating down the rest of YDNB. The pair traded a bunch of strikes and kicks with Oliver fighting out of the Dragon Sleeper. Oliver got revenge with a weird move on the turnbuckle with Blake landing directly on his neck. The match fell apart slightly here as YDNB attacked again causing both men to miss their moves. They made up for it with some fighting on the apron that looked like it was ripped from a Jackie Chan movie. The pair fought on the bar with Blake treating YDNB like bowling pins to his Cannonball. It was madness. Blake was able to hit a Springboard Frog Splash from the ring all the way to the stage putting Oliver through a door. it was more Ocean to Ocean than Coast to Coast. That was followed up by Elia that ended the match. Bar the miscommunication partway through the match and the constant interference, this was excellent action from 2 young talented guys that are too athletic for Jim Cornette.

Dan Maff defeated Jimmy Lloyd via Burning Hammer

It was Jimmy Lloyd vs a tank next as Lloyd gave Maff his final match in GCW. Lloyd may be tough but as I said, he was fighting a walking veteran tank in Maff. Maff clearly had every advantage early on, be it strength, size or experience. Not speed though, as Lloyd used his speed and cunning kicks to take advantage and launched a flurry at Maff. Jimmy tried to go for a dive and hit the floor prompting Maff to go for a dive of his own. Lloyd was able to kick out of two Spears but he was clearly rocked. However, he came back with a rolling headbutt and a Swanton Bomb. The match became Lloyd’s playground as the ring filled with hardware. Maff wasn’t playing around busting Lloyd opening so Jimmy retorted with a low blow and Destroyer. His momentum didn’t last long as Maff pounced him through a door and hit a Burning Hammer for two. He hit a Piledriver and survived Lloyd breaking the door pieces of his head. He continued the beatdown with a Rainmaker and another Burning Hammer. As if sensing Lloyd was about ready Maff ended it with one more through a door. Maff just killed someone. This was a mugging. Danny Maff went out of GCW a tank. He left Lloyd broken and bleeding in a ring full of broken wood and chairs. He left the ring to chants of “Thank you Maff.” This was definitely one of the most decisive matches on the card as Maff never had that much difficulty with Lloyd. To round it off, he ended it with a heartfelt speech thanking the GCW fans for their support and kindness whilst letting Lloyd know the world would be his.

H8 Club (Matt Tremont & Nick Gage) defeated Jeff King & SHLAK via DVD to King

I had no idea who Jeff King was. I just saw this man in a singlet following SHLAK to the ring in replacement to the unfortunately injured Markus Crane. He was in for a rough time against the H8 Club, Nick Gage and Matt Tremont. It was going to get violent. Champion or not, it’s still MDK all day in GCW as Gage was the most over guy in the building. H8 club ran the match early on as Tremont dominated King and Gage dominated SHLAK. The Public Animal came back and set King up for a Tope to the outside. Back in the ring, a board of cut-up cans appeared, that Gage was then dumped onto and Tremont afterwards. Gage and Tremont got revenge as Gage punched King to the floor and Tremont lived up to his Bulldozer nickname by driving SHLAK through a door and some cans to the face. King showed his hardcore side by taking a cheese grater to the face and Tremont’s fork to the dome. H8 club really went to town on him. It was not pretty. Even King’s ear got some grating from Gage. Tremont ramped it up further by bringing barbed wire to the ring. King tried to fight back and had Tremont in a Sleeper Hold but this just ended up getting him dropped back first into the barbed wire. As if things couldn’t get worse for King, the H8 Club retrieved a pane of glass from behind the bar. It didn’t last long as SHLAK basically bulldozed his way through it and tried to suffocate Tremont with a plastic bag. Gage tried to make the save but was dropped on the glass and barbed wire for his troubles. Gage was then thrown through another glass pane courtesy of SHLAK. King went one better, performing a Moon Sault through a glass pane onto Gage. Tremont remembered he was in the match and levelled both King and SHLAK with DVDs. SHLAK ate a chair and Tremont murdered King with 2 more DVDs. Post-match, Nick Gage made sure the crowd respected Jeff King and praised how much fun it was fighting SHLAK. Lastly, he delivered a heartfelt message to Markus Crane.

So, there you have it, GCW’s Jimmy All the Way reviewed for your reading pleasure. This is one of those shows designed for a certain type of audience. It isn’t flashy and it isn’t exactly top tier but it’s fun and varied. This is outlaw wrestling, designed to cater to the backyard style fans with something more high value. GCW killed it here with fun matches and a wild audience. It wasn’t all perfect but every match delivered something. The main gave me a violence rush and the Blake/Oliver match was a hell of a fast fight, even if it won’t be for everyone. If you want something different, give this a try. It will introduce you to new guys and other sides of people you thought you knew. GCW are kings of the indies for a reason. Also, they had candy cane coloured ropes so they were Christmassy as hell.

All images courtesy of GCW Twitter, ThatRoseTattoo Twitter, Jonathan Wolf Twitter, Jordan Oliver Twitter, Beyond Wrestling Twitter, KVR216 Twitter, TaitPaints Twitter, HeyyImRob Twitter, Zack Carls Jr Twitter 

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