Hear ye, hear ye! The time is now! After a few practice runs, for me, its time for the my posts to join the big leagues.
That’s right, folks, GCW is getting the POPS & BOTCHES treatment!
GCW’s latest show comes to you from the beautiful White (Claw) River State Park in Indianapolis, Indiana. When we last saw GCW, Rickey Shane Page (jerk) was standing, mouth agape, as Nick Fuckin’ Gage had won a future title shot at Page. Unfortunately, due to an injury suffered at Beyond’s show earlier that day, we have no idea when that match will happen.
Once again, get well King. So, how was GCW’s Keep In Touch? Well, on with the show!
POP: Opening with a bang(er)!
Tony Deppen is the gatekeeper of GCW. If you want to prove yourself, you have to go through him. Well, that’s what “The Prodigy” Benjamin Carter plans to do. I spoke about Carter in my previous GCW coverage, and this dude is legit. This match started off hot as the pace was quick from the get go. Deppen is a pro, add him to the list of guys I would book in my imaginary Indie Cruiserweight tourney.
Also know that, Deppen is an asshole but, he’s GCW’s asshole. These two got some time and I appreciate that. Seeing Carter in a ten plus minute match showed me all I needed to see to make him a new favorite mine.
We got a Code Red, super kick, standing shooting star press combo from Carter that got a two count. Deppen, a star in his own right, came back with a brain buster, kick to the back of the head, double stomp combo for a two count of his own. We had a long slap exchange, a dive battle, and gorgeous frog splash from Carter. Deppen ended up scoring the pin with a running knee strike after Carter missed a phoenix splash.
Wow! Thank you, GCW for always starting shows off right.
POP: All flippin’ day, Kylie Rae!
BONUS POP to J-Rose, ring announcer extraordinaire, for giving Kylie the Nick Gage intro.
So, this match was suppose to be Cole Radrick versus Nick Gage but. . .
We got a fantastic replacement in Sabotage Wrestling’s War Of The Genders Champion, MDKYLIE RAE. Some of you may know her as Impact Wrestling’s Kylie Rae but, the picture I have of her with two of my kids will always make her Sabotage’s Kylie Rae. Kylie is a big star on the indies and, soon, she’ll be the star of Impact’s Knockouts Division.
The match starts of with Kylie, clad in the gang affiliated colors of The King, whipping out one of her signature bows for Cole. Cole seems skeptical at first but, he allows Kylie to apply the bow to his hair, which elicits a holy shit chant from the crowd.
Looking ever so precious, Cole strikes Kylie’s signature pose, which allows Kylie to sneak in and try and score a quick pinfall. The attempt is unsuccessful, thankfully, gifting us with a wonderful match. We got a great rolling pinfall countering spot between the two.
Kylie was able to display her strength by throwing Radrick around, and even busting out a chaos theory suplex on Radrick. Radrick fights back and has set up door on some chairs outside the ring. The two battle and, as is customary for the individual who sets up the door, Rae puts Radrick through the door with a powerbomb off the apron.
Rae rolls Radrick back in but, only gets a two. Radrick hits a backpack stunner, which only gets him a two count. Radrick ends up hitting a chokebreaker and then a piledriver for the win.
After the match, Radrick calls out Nick Gage, letting him know he still wants to fight him. Please, Wrestling Gods, let this happen. Great showing for both competitors.
POP: Big Meaty Men Slapping Meat, Part: Whatever!
Look, I love all types of wrestling but, when big meaty men slap each other count me in. The best thing about this match though is, KTB and Tankman are quite agile as well. Don’t let the size fool you, these dudes came to lucha for a bit. Some scary dives, and flippy shit allow us to ooh and aah as these two go at it.
At one point, Tankman attempts a standing moonsault. He misses it but, the fact he actually did it was good enough for me. Bravo! There was a tense moment later, where it seemed the ring might collapse under the weight of these two men, when KTB hit Tankman with an avalanche death valley driver.
This finish came when KTB applied a half crab to earn the victory. Not sure if Tankman tapped or verbally submitted but, the ref did call for the bell. KTB is great! Tankman is as well. Give me these guys over and over again, please.
POP: 205 (or fewer) reasons why these guys rule!
My love for Christian is know. He’s my new Ginger Messiah, sorry Sami! Equal love to Tre Lamar, the more I see him the more I want to see him again. These guys kick it into high gear to start the match. Diving back and forth into the loving arms of the sweet State Park grass.
They do slow it down a bit, trading some strikes and rest holds but, it doesn’t over stay its welcome and we get back to the flips and dives these guys are known for.
That’s not to sell the short, they ARE wrestlers, they just happen to be able to walk on air. Christian closes it out by hitting an elia, which has been described as a “Diving Reverse Twisting Splash” on prowrestling.fadom.com. Yep.
POP: UGH . . .THESE GUYS.
Good news, everybody! Rickey Shane Page and 44.OH aren’t in the main event.
Bad news, everybody! Rickey Shane Page and 44.OH are still here. Luckily, Eddy Only isn’t ringside smoking a cigarette, so it only 80% sucks?
Oh yeah, THESE GUYS SUCK.
Match time! Allie Kat and Effy are the best. Effy, the Inspire Pro Pure Prestige Champion, has the only mustache in wrestling that matters. “White Paw Wasted” Allie’s matches are always a scratchin’ good time! Effy and Rancid Soupy Poop, I mean Rickey Shane Page start out.
Oh wait, they don’t, RSP tags out before the action even starts. See, that’s why no one likes you, Rickey. Despite 44.OH’s involvement, this was a fun match that saw the “debut” of a double team move from Bussy (EffyKat) called, Puss n Boots. What is this Puss n Boots move I speak of? Well, glad you asked. Its when Effy kicks the opponent’s head, Cogar in this case, right into Allie’s ‘kitty”. If you get my drift.
Allie dominates Cogar until Cogar turns the tide a bit, allowing RSP to get in and literally toss her around. 44.OH control the match for a bit before Effy gets the hot tag and comes in like a house of fire. Effy hits a blockbuster but, it only gets a two. Allie hits a cannonball splash on Cogar for a two.
Effy grabs a door and some chairs, at Allie’s request. They set it up, and are about to suplex Cogar through the door when RSP comes in, jumps on the door and breaks it.
Side bar: Rickey, why do you hate fun so much?
Eventually, 44.OH gains control and, the GCW World Champion, RSP hits a chokebreaker to score the win. Boo! Something shocking (didn’t) happened, neither Iron or Ryan interfered in the match. Guess Only must be the Master of Shenanimonies. Whatever, fuck those guys! 44.OH continues to dominate GCW. Someone, needs to stop them.
CUT TO:
Me: Looking sullenly at the bandana, camo short, and MDK shirt sitting silently on a chair.
POP: Indie-Wrestling-Guy-Fieri vs WCW’s Ace!
But, first . . .
MEGA POP: LIKE FINE CHINA FOR YOUR 20TH. . .
We all know Nate Webb comes out to one of the greatest songs of the aughts, Wheatus’s Teenage Dirtbag. But, did you know that this is the 20th Anniversary of the song’s release? Well, you do now. And, to celebrate, Nate Webb debuted the 20th Anniversary re-recording of said song.
That’s right, A GCW EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE!!! Its also because of that, that we got to hear the song in its entirety. Ahh, nostalgia.
Back to the match, which KICKED ASS!
We finally saw blood spilled on this day, when Warner was busted open by Webb. These two beat the shit out of each other. While Warner was trying to recover, Webb set up a door on some chairs on the outside. When Webb got back in, Warner flipped him out of the fucking ring, over the top rope, right through the door on the outside!
HOLY SHIT!
These two beat the shit out of each other some more, Warner eventually sets up a door on some chairs. As my theory from earlier said, you set the shit up, you go through it. Webb hits a chairsault, that’s a moonsault while holding a chair, onto Warner putting him through the door. Then, another door comes into play, as Warner spears Webb into, but not through, a door. Eventually, Warner jumps off a chair slamming into Webb finally breaking the door.
After trading some more blows, Webb gets the advantage and sets up a double decker door and chairs. So, chairs with a door on it, topped with two more chairs with a door on them. Got it? Good. Bad idea by Webb, who doesn’t subscribe to my theory, as Warner chokeslams Webb from the top rope through the double decker. This only scores a two count though, so the fight continues.
It finally ends when Warner DDTs Webb onto the chair and door carnage to earn the three count.
No death match, no problem. These dudes brought it. The two combatants share a beer after the match and walk off into the sunset to get the after party started early.
POP: Scrambled eggs & crunchy tacos!
Its GCW’s bread and butter, The Scramble Match!
I love this match! The scramble is so great because, everyone always gets a moment to shine. Oliver is his usual shithead, flippy self. Mercer is the muscle, who can also flip. Velasquez is the speedy, non-shit head, flippy guy.
Zayne is the innovative high flying flippy guy who Lives Mas. Jimmy is the King. Ace Austin is the guy most folks was the guy everyone was super hyped to see when he was announced. For those that may not know, Ace Austin is an Impact Wrestling star who should probably be their champ because he is fried gold, but I digress.
These dudes put on a great match, with the highlight being when Oliver hits a sunset bomb on Mercer, who was on the top rope holding Ace Austin, producing a moonsault slam as the end result. The finish came when Zayne hit the Taco Driver, boy sure does love his Taco Bell, to win. See this match! Again, everyone got to show stuff and made what could have been a trainwreck into an outstanding match.
You know, with these last three scramble matches, I’m convinced Jimmy Lloyd is the secret ingredient in these matches that makes them go down so well.
POP: MORE MEAT!!!
Chris Dickinson and AJ Gray gave us a legit strong style match. Lots of hard hitting, submission, and psychology. Both men’s fighting spirits were on display here. I always enjoy watching these two, no matter who they face or what the match stipulation is.
Put them in a match together, and I’m in heaven. Some heavy shots were thrown in this one. Dickinson hit some nasty looking dragon screw leg whips that were a big story of the match. Perspiration flew every time these guy landed their blows.
Gray hit a superplex, but couldn’t capitalize as he was favoring his leg that Dickinson had been exploiting throughout the match. He continued to fight, hitting a powerslam and then a leg drop from the top rope. Gray could only get a two count as he took too long to make a cover, as the leg drop took as much out of him as it did Dickinson. Gray, summoned the strength, to hit a tiger driver only to score another two count. Gray went up top, again, but Dickinson powered up and hit a hurricanrana.
Dickinson locked in a half crab, eventually transitioning into an STF before Gray broke it up by biting Dickinson. The two trade strikes again. Gray hits his BBC lariat, still only a two. Eventually, Dickinson puts Gray away by locking in what looked like a Texas Cloverleaf. Hell of a match.
POP: A pro wrestling match! (That’s a compliment.)
ACH & Joey Janela are your main event. These two had a pro wrestling match. Again, that’s a compliment.
Its also not a dis to every other match, or wrestler, on the card. GCW excels at giving you a little bit of everything wrestling has to offer. This one was the pro wrestling match.
These guys are finished products, or as close to finished as can be. Again, no disrespect to anyone else but, that’s why Janela’s in AEW. That’s why ACH has been in New Japan, Ring Of Honor, and WWE.
These guys are fully evolved. Not to say there aren’t other folks on the indies or this show who aren’t, its just these guys are arguably two of the best and the match they put on was made for television. ACH and Janela battled in and out of the ring through out the contest. With Janela showing off his loose cannon type aggression and ACH showing off his strength, speed, and craftiness.
These two had a match for the ages that told a wonderful story of a frustrated ACH unable to put Janela away. ACH tried everything. Deadlift german on the ring apron. Tiger driver from the top rope. A superplex. Then a brainbuster. None of these could put the Bad Boy down. Finally, ACH had enough, after surviving a package piledriver and a moonsault to outside from Janela. ACH decides to end it by hitting Janela with a low blow, in front of the ref (?), achieving victory with a crossface submission.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I love having ACH back.
Post match ACH, with a sly smile, let Janela know it wasn’t personal just business and he did what he had to do to protect his undefeated streak. ACH then attempted to share a White Claw with Janela but, Janela tossed it away. That there is how you know Janela was pissed. Janela loves him some White Claw. ACH leaves, celebrating. Janela leaves defeated, in more ways than one.
Well, there you have it. The first ever Pops & Botches for GCW. Yes, it was all pops but, I’m a GCW mark and it was a great show! They’re honestly gonna have to do something really bad to earn a botch from me. No, that was not a challenge. I’m looking at you, 44.OH.
Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed the show! Even if you just appreciate it, that’s good enough for me as well.
See ya with more GCW coverage on August 22nd for Tournament Of Survival 5, and Jimmy Lloyd’s (YES!) Jersey Shore on August 23rd.
Thanks for reading. Be safe, take care.
Wear a mask.
