WARNING: STRONG VIOLENCE AND LANGUAGE AHEAD
Welcome back to GCW. After a few weeks to collect themselves after the Collective, it was time for the company to put on another super show. JCW (which is free on YouTube and worth the watch) had opened the day and now GCW was about to close it in style on the card tonight, Atticus Cogar would battle the Gatekeeper, Tony Deppen, Bussy fought the IronBeast, Jordan Oliver got a shot at the GCW World Title and much more leading to the main event that would be a whole ton of glass. G-Raver was out to write the final chapter of this little revenge story and that meant creating the glass ceiling. This show was going to be a special one. Let’s get into the action.
Atticus Cogar defeated Tony Deppen via Wrist Tape Garrotte
Tombstone Destroyer??? #GCWAshes pic.twitter.com/50DKoY0GBb
— Tripping Balls (@IsThisWrestling) May 2, 2021
The show opened with a duo of 44OH! moments. Rickey Shane Page came out to open the show but quickly left angry as he learned he’d been sent to JCW. After that, it was time for Tony Deppen vs Atticus Cogar. 44OH! had just been dealt a serious blow, could Cogar right the ship? Cogar tried to start with a distraction but Deppen made him pay for it. From there he gave Cogar a lesson in wrestling and trash talking as the crowd lapped it up. Cogar conned his way back into the match and gave Deppen his own brand of wrestling lesson. Deppen got pissed off and the match found a new intensity as he really didn’t want to be outdone or disrespected by Cogar. Things got more competitive as both entered the next gear and both upped their counter game. The slaps came out and Cogar baited Deppen into the Springboard Moonsault. Deppen dodged a second Moonsault and whiplashed Cogar with a springboard Stunner into a lethal dive. He went for a lungblower but Cogar turned it into a Tombstone destroyer. When Deppen kicked out, Cogar garrotted Deppen with his wrist tape and put Deppen to sleep. This opener kicked ass, Deppen had Cogar wrestling his style of match and it brought the best out of both. Tony Deppen is always a great way to open the show.
Cole Radrick defeated Brayden Lee via Cracker Jack Bomb
Springboard 450 splash from @BraydenxLee!#GCW #GCWAshes @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/stKvlPc0ZU pic.twitter.com/IcHzja4QQW— Rob (@HeyyImRob) May 2, 2021
Next up was something more maddening. Cole Radrick is the Wildheart but he was about to go to war with someone who is straight brazy. This was going to be an athletic spectacle from both of these high-flying, hard-hitting innovators. As expected, things went from technical to crazy as Radrick unleashed his style of flying. They fought outside and Radrick nailed the Bobby Knight Kick. Not to be outdone, Lee fired back with his braziness and had the crowd erupting with his reckless springboard moonsaults. These two continued to beat the hell out of each other as they both flew, swung at, and slammed the other hard. This was a proper showcase of the Indiana style of insanity as this match never went below 100mph. These guys went through a war and Radrick came out the victor with his ever-innovative slamming techniques and the Cracker Jack Bomb. These two make for the perfect opponents and hopefully continue to fight in the future.
IronBeast (Shane Mercer & KTB) defeated Team Bussy (EFFY & Allie Katch) via Asmodeus Bomb on EFFY
Coast-to-coast DVD through a door from @KTB_mauls!#GCW #GCWAshes @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/stKvlPc0ZU pic.twitter.com/hpAE2hQGoB— Rob (@HeyyImRob) May 2, 2021
Time for some tag team brutality. Bussy was about to get into the fight of their lives as they were going against the IronBeast. EFFY was ready for fun and Allie Katch wanted to kill. Her targets weren’t going down easy though since KTB and Mercer are borderline unkillable. Katch was subjected to the IronBeast double-team but took their eyes off EFFY who took them out with a double blockbuster. He sent both of IronBeast to the outside and Buss tried for dives but both got caught. They used this to their advantage though and drove Mercer into KTB, then took both out with dual seated cannonballs. From there it became a back-and-forth battle of OTT power, OTT ability, and OTT double-team. Once Katch got the tag, she had Mercer rocked and took charge of Bussy. They had both of IronBeast trapped in submissions but IronBeast launched them off. Katch ate a Gorilla Press Powerbomb and IronBeast got the doors, well tried to, EFFY cut both of them off with a dive. Bussy set up a door but KTB was ready to throw both of them away. KTB put Katch through the door with a rope-walking DVD and EFFY brought the fight to Mercer. It wasn’t quite enough though as Mercer caught him for Moonsault and Battery, then tossed him to KTB for an Asmodeus Bomb. IronBeast had won the day but it had not been a cakewalk. Bussy had broken all expectations and thoroughly beaten down IronBeast before collapsing to their raw might. This rocked.
Lee Moriarty defeated Joey Janela via Super Flatliner
Ah, here we go, a true battle of the indie darlings. Joey Janela used to be considered the indie’s favourite but now, I feel Lee Moriarty has taken that mantle and taken it to new heights. It was time to see if TAIGASTYLE would be able to best the Bad Boy. Janela started with some playful technicality and when Moriarty gave it back, we got some serious technicality. Janela continued to try and mostly succeed at matching Moriarty’s technical ways. He started getting mean and threw that technicality out of the window in favour of his more traditional style of fighting. We saw horrific Germans and dives go against the TAIGASTYLE. The wrestling chess game was in full swing as Janela looked to try and brutalise Moriarty, we even saw him reverse a sleeper into a Tombstone. The intensity continued to rise as Moriarty tried to break Janela’s arm and counter the Bad Boy antics. Both guys took horrible head bumps, Janela from an arm-wringer slam and Moriarty from a crunch DVD. The fight went to the top one final time and Moriarty snapped Janela’s fingers and dropped him face-first with a top rope Flatliner. This might be one of my favourite Janela matches in recent memory. It stripped away the plunder and let Janela show how good he can be when he is forced to wrestle. Lee Moriarty continues to prove he is a Swiss army knife of pro-wrestling as he can work with and bring the best out of anyone.
Mance Warner defeated Nolan Edward via Tube Door DDT
TOP ROPE CHOKESLAM THROUGH THE LIGHT TUBES #GCWAshes pic.twitter.com/b6jVyV7txS
— Tripping Balls (@IsThisWrestling) May 2, 2021
When this fight was announced, the world shuddered. Mance Warner is one of the best brawlers in GCW and he was being let loose on Nolan Edward, the no flinch carnie with a pain tolerance higher than anyone else. This was going to get ugly and the assorted fuckery around the ring did nothing to dissuade that. They opened by throwing hands and went to the Junkyard Dog playbook of headbutts when they both got downed. Edward tried to mark his territory and Warner pelted him with a chair. The pair brawled around ringside and Warner played the cymbals on Edward’s head with trashcan lids. Edward forearmed back and dropkicked Mance through the crowd seats. Mance fired back by lobbing a crutch at him and a bar fight broke out. The eye poke god won the fight and the violence returned to the ring. Mance assaulted Edward with heavy strikes and knees and Edward fired back with the same into a Regal-Plex. He set up a barbed-wire door and tanked Mance’s strikes to put Warner through it with a rope-bounce slam. Edward nailed the Liability but it wasn’t enough to keep Mance down. More hands were thrown and a tube door was set up. The fight went up top and Mance took Edward to tube hell with a top rope chokeslam. Edward kicked out so Mance ended things quickly with a DDT into the remnants of the door for the win. Yet again, Nolan Edward took the fight to a hardcore icon and came out with the loss after an excellent fight. Nolan’s back was a horrific bloody mess after this one. These two really did just tear the house down.
Scramblefuck: AJ Gray defeated Yoya, Ninja Mack, Dante Leon, Frontman Jah-C & Ken Broadway via Death by Lariat to Yoya
.@NinjaMack1 with a corkscrew to the outside!#GCW #GCWAshes @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/stKvlPc0ZU pic.twitter.com/55ZEfUjRSU— Rob (@HeyyImRob) May 2, 2021
It wouldn’t be a GCW show without a Scramblefuck. Oddly, AJ Gray had turned up angry and was ready to murder five other fighters. Three of which had taken part in the JCW show earlier. We had Frontman Jah-C, Dante Leon, and Ninja Mack going for round 2 alongside Yoya and Ken Broadway. Mack was too popular so everyone kicked him and Leon sent him packing with the shooting star cutter. Leon was sent flying with a superkick and everyone turned on Jah-C. Yoya used his speed to get the better of everyone until Broadway snapped him with a tornado backbreaker. Gray took the fight to Broadway as everyone else brawled outside. Jah-C took advantage with fast kicks and Ninja Mack was well Ninja Mack. Leon and Mack were more interested in fighting each other and completely ignored Jah-C, something he couldn’t stand. Luckily Gray and Broadway were happy to give him the attention he wanted and launched him out of the ring. Broadway and Gray went for round 2 and Yoya battled Jah-C. Mack continued to be Mack until Broadway stopped him with Bread and Butter. Leon took out Jah-C with another flippy car crash move and Yoya jumped off Jah-C to deliver a Destroyer. Gray re-entered pissed off and murdered Yoya with a chokeslam, multiple powerbombs, and multiple lariats because he was sending a message to the whole GCW roster. This scramble was wild as personalities and styles clashed in amazing ways to create one hell of a scramble. Gray took violence to a whole new level here, even delivering a promo as he choked Yoya out with a belt. He demanded his title rematch and come Vegas, come Draft Day, it finally happens in a deathmatch.
GCW Word Title: Nick Gage defeated Jordan Oliver via Chokebreaker
Hail to the king. Nick Gage had his title back and it was time to remind people what a Nick Gage title defence looks like as he took on the YDNB leader Jordan Oliver. This isn’t the same Oliver that Gage fought in the Acid Cup 2, it was a much-improved Oliver with a new technical edge. Oliver is a star-killer, would he defeated Gage before he could get to Vegas? We got both guys going for their styles and working around the other. Oliver took the fight to Gage as both men went counter for counter and strike for strike. Gage shocked everyone with a top rope cannonball to the floor and the pair brawled around the outside. The fans got involved as Gage took weapons from the fans to introduce to Oliver. He was in Gage’s world now and it was going to leave its mark. They fought around a door and Oliver took too much time to gloat. Gage fought back up to the top and the pair tumbled down from the top. The two continued to beat the shit out of each other as Oliver found his fire and nearly took out Gage with the Yakuza Kick. Oliver continued to mash Gage with Cutters but it wasn’t enough to stop Gage who crushed Oliver with a spinebuster. Neither man would stay down and Oliver got thrown out of the ring onto a door. They fought across to another door and Gage sent Oliver through it with a back body drop. Oliver returned to the ring as Gage carried a shard of the door. He didn’t use it as he went for chairs after a Tiger Bomb. He dragged Oliver into a barfight but Oliver found his momentum cut off by a shank to the head. He took too long celebrating though and Oliver booted a chair into his face. Gage ate a Clout Cutter to a chair but managed to kick out, so Oliver targeted the formerly injured leg with a calf crusher and more chair shots. Gage fought through the pain, caught Oliver into a Fisherman Buster, and ended the match with a Chokebreaker. It had been a wild, messy ride but Gage had survived Jordan Oliver and retained the title for the Gray fight. Gray came out to congratulate him but Gage turned his back on him, so Gray attacked him. Jordan Oliver tried to defend Gage but Gray just killed both of them with sickening lariats. Gray will no longer be fucked with, he’s coming for he’s due.
The Glass Ceiling: G-Raver defeated Jimmy Lloyd via Scaffold High Glass Pane Swanton
Another iconic image for GCW #GCWAshes pic.twitter.com/X1JnZ1mvbK
— Tripping Balls (@IsThisWrestling) May 2, 2021
This is it; the Glass Ceiling was upon us. There were glass panes as far as the eyes could see and a construct of elevated panes forming the match’s namesake. This would be the ground for the final chapter of the G-Raver and Jimmy Lloyd saga. They had gone to war across several different matches with several different stipulations and none had sufficed. Now, we had a new extreme fight that would see Raver return to the thing that had wounded him so badly, glass. This was going to get fucked-up. Within seconds, Raver had thrown Lloyd through a pane and rubbed his face into the glass. Raver escaped a powerbomb attempt and sent Lloyd through another pane outside with a jumping arm-drag from the apron. He carved up Lloyd with broken glass and threw Lloyd back in the ring to shower him with glass and stomp his head. Lloyd tried to fight back but Raver countered, smashed him in the face with knees, and smashed another pane with the twisting rope-hung backbreaker. Lloyd finally got a foothold in the match with a head kick and drove Raver through a pane with a backpack cannonball. He carved up Raver with broken glass and tried for another glass whip but Raver reversed it and Lloyd went through another pane. Raver set up a pane to decapitate Lloyd but Lloyd fled to the apron. Lloyd wasn’t safe out there though as Raver put him through a five-pane contraption with a step-up knee.
.@StaySickGRAVER sends Jimmy Lloyd through a door topped with FIVE panes of glass!#GCW #GCWAshes @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/stKvlPc0ZU pic.twitter.com/xdJcQt2vf9— Rob (@HeyyImRob) May 2, 2021
Raver made glass angels and Lloyd struggled outside. They fought on the scaffold and Raver tried to stab Lloyd with tattoo needles but Lloyd turned them on Raver. He took fuck Raver to hell with a superplex through the glass ceiling and started a glass-fuelled slugfest. Lloyd fired up and tossed Raver out of the ring with a powerbomb through another pane into a stack of doors. Raver kicked out at one and threw Lloyd onto another pane with a half and half. Lloyd drove Raver back into the mat with a Michinoku Driver but again Raver popped up and hit Lloyd with a glass pane senton. The Meteora followed but it wasn’t enough. He broke even more panes on Lloyd and set one final pane up before climbing to the scaffold again. He hit a Swanton Bomb through the pane and Lloyd to put the final nail in Lloyd’s coffin. This was a beautiful bloodbath of a match. I haven’t seen G-Raver this happy in some time and to see him back amongst the glass made this match all the more special. It may not be the perfect bout but it was one of the best deathmatches I’ve seen this year. It was ballsy, insane and a hell of a way to cap off one hell of an amazing GCW show. G-Raver is really back and bloodier than ever.
G-RAVER SOARS OFF THE SCAFFOLD #GCWAshes pic.twitter.com/u14UL9eA7w
— Tripping Balls (@IsThisWrestling) May 2, 2021
All images courtesy of GCW Twitter, FITE TV, IsThisWrestling, HeyyImRob,