WARNING: STRONG VIOLENCE AHEAD
Welcome back to GCW and to the bright lights of LA. It was time for a whole host of dream matches as the outlaws had brought along their best and brightest for the show that would see Minoru Suzuki kick off his indie dream tour against Jonathan Gresham. Alongside that, we’d see EFFY vs 2 Cold Scorpio, Chris Dickinson vs Jacob Fatu, Alex Colon vs G-Raver in a deathmatch extravaganza and so much more as we look to see who is the highest in the room. Oh, and we’d see the wrestling debut of Ron Funches as he took his blood feud with Tony Deppen to the next level. Let’s get into the action.
Scramble: ASF defeated Gringo Loco, Arez, Eli Everfly, Everett Connors & Jimmy Lloyd via Cazadora Roll-up on Arez
.@YeezyCon with a DDT-stroyer!#GCWHighest @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/rUqNrlTdm4 pic.twitter.com/BllvJNePrc— Rob (@HeyyImRob) September 18, 2021
It wouldn’t be a GCW show without a scramble. We had 6 fighters ranging in styles as Luchadors met high fashion in Everett Connors and sheer eclectic insanity in Jimmy Lloyd. The bodies were going to fly in this one as ASF, Gringo Loco, Arez and Eli Everfly were all involved and love to take to the air. As expected, the action came thick and fast as everyone quickly went after each other with dives, grappling and blisteringly quick Lucha. This was definitely one of the more adrenaline-pumping scrambles as there was just continuous pulse-pounding action. No one wanted to be left out and it showed, with everyone showing off what makes them unique, Connors especially trying to show up everyone with his match fit and head dropping abilities. Arez continues to be one of my favourites to show up because of his unique style and ASF is continuously showing why he’s so popular. This was just pure joy to watch and started the show off with a bang. Connors may have hit the greatest Tower of Doom DDT-Stroyer ever in this match and that didn’t even win this thing. This is one of those matches where no amount of writing will do it justice.
2 Cold Scorpio defeated EFFY via The Bomb
Up next was the ultimate clash of personalities. We had the Daddy of the Air, 2 Cold Scorpio, one living legend taking on the future legend of the business and the Daddy of GCW, EFFY. This was a matchup that had the crowd torn on who to cheer for, you were making two favourites fight here. They started with a dance battle and we saw Scorpio play EFFY’s game. Both had mind games to play and blows to dish out. it was part technical war, part spanking contest and part backhand contest as Scorpio played dirty. He even showed that he’d been watching tape and made sure to avoid firing EFFY up. That didn’t stop EFFY from bringing the fight back and giving us an incredible little match with a whole lot of tension and intensity under that layer of fun. Scorpio gave EFFY hell but EFFY was ready to give it right back, kicking out of the killing blows. This was as much a battle of wits as it was a battle of guts because EFFY had to find ways to use Scorpio’s own momentum against him and make the match his. Even the nipple action wasn’t enough to stop Scorpio. In the end, Scorpio dumped him on his head and took him out with the Bomb. This rocked. EFFY and Scorpio put on the best match they could whilst having fun with it.
Alex Zayne defeated Jordan Oliver via Taco Driver
.@AriSterlingWWE flips into a frankenstiner off the middle rope!#GCWHighest @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/rUqNrlTdm4 pic.twitter.com/957G4dFqFM— Rob (@HeyyImRob) September 18, 2021
Now, this was going to be interesting. Alex Zayne had come home to GCW and he was looking to pick up where he left off. GCW had given him the challenge to get him started by putting him against the Star Killing Clout Cutter Jordan Oliver. Could Zayne upset Oliver’s insane win streak or would Oliver upset that welcoming The Sauce was getting. They started fast trying to hit instant finishers but reached a stalemate as both were too wise to the other’s stuff. From there, we got another hyper-competitive match as Oliver forced Zayne to play defensively, nearly scoring the win with the Acid Kick. Zayne had to use his high-flying prowess to get back into the match before going strike for strike and power for power with Oliver. Both guys kept slugging the hell out of each other until both had collapsed on the mat. Zayne came back with a fury and took the fight to a new level, showing everyone he hadn’t missed a step in his short absence and once again went like-for-like with Oliver. Zayne knocked Oliver loopy with the Crunch Wrap and went full Taco Bell Supreme with the Taco Driver to win. Welcome back Alex Zayne, you weren’t away long but man is it great to have you back. This match kicked ass with Oliver nearly upsetting such a big return. We had one ace battle another here, with both showing respect to the other.
Atticus Cogar defeated Ninja Mack via Brain Haemorrhage
Time for another clash of styles. It was everyone’s favourite master of flippy shit Ninja Mack taking on the Silver Teeth Satan Atticus Cogar. 44OH! was fine but when it came to GCW, Cogar was setting his own rules and carving his own path, starting with Mack. Mack tried to open with a handshake but Cogar just spat at him. This played out like a technical war as Cogar trapped Mack in a whole host of chain wrestling holds, keeping control with bites if necessary. Mack could keep up and showed Cogar he was more than flips. Mack tried to pick up the pace but Cogar was very deliberate with his actions and pacing, threatening the skewers when Mack tried to power up. Mack just booted them away and brought out the flips, landing on Cogar in and out of the ring with ease. Cogar found his way to control the match again and ground the match to a halt to piss people off. He cut off Mack again mid-comeback and tried to use the Camel Clutch but Mack threw him off. Cogar cleverly dodged the Phoenix 630 and hit the Brain Haemorrhage but only got two. Now he was pissed and brought out more skewers. He stole Mack’s mask, adorned it and skewered him against the ropes. The Brain Haemorrhage came again and Cogar was the winner. Cogar had made a statement here. He was done playing nice and had not only beaten Mack, a fan favourite, but he’d also humiliated him in the process. This was pure evil and it’s only the start.
The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice, Mance Warner & AJ Gray) defeated Starboy Charlie, Lucas Riley & Nick Wayne via Powerplex Combo on Wayne
Stereo topes from @LucasRiley099 and @starb0ycharlie!#GCWHighest @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/rUqNrlTdm4 pic.twitter.com/E9e2oYs1xw— Rob (@HeyyImRob) September 18, 2021
Crank up the Pantera and bring out the body bags as SGC were in the house and they were bringing the pain. Gray, Mance and Justice were joining up to beat the shit out of the young generation as they took on Starboy Charlie, Nick Wayne and Lucas Riley. I’m all for an underdog story but I was pretty sure I was about to witness a murder in the middle of this chaotic hurricane of a match. To their credit, this match was very damn even. The young generation was smart and ready to use their strengths to outmanoeuvre the SGC. They showed some excellent teamwork but everyone falls to the SGC eventually and as time went on, the violence kept getting up. Gray even pulled out that picturesque Brainbuster he can hit. They weren’t going to play nice because they were against younger talents. Charlie took the brunt of this but always found a way to survive. Both teams had their time in the sun and much like the scramble, trying to describe a match like this just wouldn’t do it justice. It wouldn’t be an SGC match with plunder and that came out eventually as doors and chairs entered the mix. However, those doors would nearly cost SGC as the young generation drove them through them. SGC brutally broke up those pins and took each member out one by one with plunder piledrivers, DDTs and the killing blow, the Blue-eyes White Dragon on Charlie. SGC decided Wayne would be the pin and took him out with the Powerplex Combo. They had given SGC hell but they couldn’t quite best the killing faction of GCW. This was an excellent lesson though, in pain, providing it and taking it. Everyone got a kick out of this match and it proved to be a nice change of pace.
Deathmatch: Alex Colon defeated G-Raver via Camel Clutch
Time to get bloody. We were getting the ToS finals we were robbed of years ago as two of the deathmatch elite collided in a tube-filled fuckery bout. G-Raver and Alex Colon have never fought since a barbed-wire rope mess-up caused G-Raver to miss the finals of ToS 4. Now, we’d see what could have been. They opened by dancing around tube ladders and Raver forced Colon to break the first tube with a sliding flapjack. He bailed and Raver followed with a Tope Con Giro. Raver glassed Colon again and started carving into his head. Colon dragged Raver into the ropes and used the momentary stun to hit the tube dive, smashing the tube square into Raver’s head. Another ladder entered the mix and set up new deathly furniture, pausing only to pelt Raver with a chair and cut him up with another tube. He forced Raver to take a seat and ran the distance to knock him out with a flying lariat. The action returned to the ring and Colon kept carving away at Raver’s head and body. The fuckery was set up all around the ring and Raver avoided going through a tube ladder with a Suplex. He caught Colon off the rope with the rope-hung Uranage onto the tube ladder for a two, then started unleashing lethal knee strikes. They battled around another death drop and Colon dodged a shoulder charge to put Raver through an apron-hung door with a double stomp. That got two so Colon rearranged the furniture again and took tubes to Raver’s legs. He looked to end Raver with a tube Spanish Fly but Raver knocked him down and snatched away the tube for the hanging senton. Raver risked taking the fight to the top and dropped Colon onto the other tube ladder with a super Frankensteiner. He tried to crush Colon under the ladder with a Swanton but Colon held it up and Raver took himself out. The exhausted duo slugged it out and Colon broke Raver’s face and a tube with a knee lift. A Code Red followed but that still didn’t do the job. Colon set up a chair but Raver drove him into it with a ladder run-off DDT. Raver kept going with a tube-breaking diving knee drop but Colon instantly popped up. Another slugfest broke out and Colon launched Raver with a Sleeper Suplex and put Raver to sleep with the Camel Clutch. This was a fucking epic. Colon is the best of the best in deathmatch and he put on a masterclass with another elite in G-Raver. This was wild, raw and a blast to watch. Great stuff from both.
Chris Dickinson defeated Jacob Fatu via DQ
What’s scarier than one hyper-athletic big man in a match? Two hyper-athletic men in a match. That was the perfect definition for Dickinson vs Fatu. This was going to be a kaiju clash that would end in blood and disaster. Things started traditional enough with Dickinson trying his best to control the pace and Fatu. Obviously, you can’t keep a force like that down and Fatu booted his way back into the match and manhandled Dickinson, trying to wreck his back. From there Dickinson got defensive, then he got angry and mean, throwing those heavy kicks. It was a very back-and-forth bout of heavy hits, heavy falls and shots that would drop most fighters. We got to see the beautiful Fatu Moonsault get a two-count so things got very ugly when Fatu smashed Dickinson around with a turnbuckle iron after bloodying him with what looked like a spike. It was ruled a DQ and all hell broke loose as Fatu kept trying to kill Dickinson. The Dirty Daddy has a reputation for being unkillable so Fatu looked to do just that without care for victory. Fatu destroyed anyone who stepped in his path as he continued to assault Dickinson for kicking out of the Moonsault. Starboy Charlie came to the rescue but just like the others fell before Fatu crushed him with the pop-up Samoan Drop. Dickinson saved Charlie but Juicy Finau came in pretending to be a peacekeeper. He attacked Dickinson too and showed that he’d formed a bond with Fatu. That is a hellish pairing of Samoan destruction.
Tony Deppen defeated Ron Funches (w/Paul Scheer & Danhausen) via Low Blow Roll-up
.@RonFunches WITH A DESTROYER!#GCWHighest @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/rUqNrlTdm4 pic.twitter.com/6qlSGFwYSL— Rob (@HeyyImRob) September 18, 2021
After that collision of carnage, it was time for one of the oddest blood feuds to take place in a GCW ring. Ron Funches, beloved comedian and wrestling podcaster was stepping between the ropes for the first time against the gatekeeper of GCW, Tony Deppen. I was not sure what to expect as Funches looked at the part and had Paul Scheer in his corner but could he act the part. As expected, Deppen wasn’t taking this seriously. He was his usual brand of abrasive and disrespectful yet somehow worse as he thought nothing of Funches. He paid for that though as Funches showed off a whole lot of wrestling talent. Sadly, for Funches though, a pissed-off Deppen is even deadlier than regular Deppen. He tortured Funches so Danhausen came to the rescue. He rocked up, a jar of teeth in hand to offer his support-hausen. Danhausen taught Funches the power of attacking the groin and Funches made full use of that, even showing the fans the moon. We got both men hitting the Tequila Kicks on Deppen but as always, the crafty veteran found a way to spoil the fun. He brought out a door and threatened to break rental chairs. This bit him in the arse though as Funches powerbombed him through the door and booted him into a chair. Funches even pulled out a Canadian Destroyer (Funch Wrap Supreme). This was incredible. Funches set up for the kill when Scheer hit him with a bucket. Deppen dealt with Danhausen so Allie Katch came to the rescue and hit the Piledriver on Deppen. She then set her sights on Scheer and pulled out her knife on him, chasing him away. With an even playing field restored, the pair punched it out and Deppen took the win with a low blow. Deppen took the win here but it took him a lot more effort than he thought it would. Funches showed off a whole wealth of wrestling knowledge and respect. He got it done nicely and really impressed me. This was more than a throwaway celebrity match.
Minoru Suzuki defeated Jonathan Gresham via Gotch Style Piledriver
Holy shit what a dream match. One of the greatest masters of shoot-style wrestling and MMA taking on one of the greatest pure wrestlers on the planet. This was the main event for a reason. We were seeing the ultimate collision of Jonathan Gresham, the Octopus taking on the King, Minoru Suzuki. This was going to be an epic. They didn’t open with a handshake; Suzuki ignoring such a thing and went right into the competitive chain wrestling. The sadistic strikes were unleashed as warrior spirits were tested. Suzuki was loving the blows whilst Gresham had to shake off Suzuki’s vicious blows. Suzuki was having fun but the Octopus was formulating a game plan and started breaking Suzuki’s knee. Gresham had Suzuki’s legs locked up and Suzuki did his best to weather the storm and to claw back. Suzuki made the ropes so Gresham milked the hold, forcing the ref to dislodge them. This just earned the wrath of Suzuki though as he trapped Gresham with an over-the-ropes finger-breaking armbar. He kept working over Gresham’s arm and smacked him up with a chair, showing no matter where in the world he goes, Suzuki Gun brawls will follow. With that arm damaged, Gresham’s chops and holds had just been severely nerfed. However, you take away a limb, Gresham will just adapt. He caught Suzuki in the ropes with a dropkick and went right back to the knee, Suzuki doing his best to block. Both guys stared down in a dual Indian Deathlock with Suzuki purposely daring Gresham to hurt him. Gresham succeeded temporarily, then like a man possessed Suzuki sat up and dared Gresham to do more. Both guys kept suffering in the hold and nearly pinned each other. The blows returned as the hold finally broke after a barrage of palm strikes. Gresham found his feet first and brought Suzuki back up for another striking standoff. They started teeing off boots and Enzuigiris with Suzuki stumbling whilst trying to run. Gresham sensed blood in the water and Moonsaulted into an ankle lock. Suzuki gave Gresham an ankle lock too and choked him out with a Sleeper to set up the Gotch Style Piledriver. Gresham fought out and rocked Suzuki with multiple sliding forearms but couldn’t keep Suzuki down. Suzuki went right back to the Sleeper and ended things with the Gotch Style Piledriver. It had taken his knee but Suzuki had just bested one of the world’s greatest pure wrestlers. It had been a cerebral chess game of a match with both utilising every technical tool in their arsenal to destroy the other. Suzuki owns any building he’s in and for GCW this was no different.
.@TheJonGresham with a running forearm!#GCWHighest @GCWrestling_
▶️https://t.co/rUqNrlTdm4 pic.twitter.com/snLN81HBYj— Rob (@HeyyImRob) September 18, 2021
The fans gave the King his due. With the announcement of a new Bloodsport show coming up October 22nd, we might see Suzuki even more than originally planned. Alongside that, we got a standoff for the ages. One King met another as the God of this Shit Nick Gage appeared to give Suzuki a GCW welcome. Suzuki didn’t want to talk, he grabbed a chair and took it to the outside wanting a fight. If we get that match, then all hell will break loose. Guess what, Gage laid down the gauntlet for October 23rd. Suzuki seemed to accept the challenge as he only said three words, “I’ll kill you.” We’re getting Gage vs Suzuki. That is insane.
All images courtesy of GCW, FITE, Screenshots, HeyyImRob