GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 7 - 22/10/2021
Starboy Charlie vs. Yoya
This is what I call a Junior Heavyweight style Bloodsport match. Both are smaller and have a tendency to fly more than, let's say Erik Hammer will have. Yoya had a proper fun bout against Lio Rush during WrestleMania weekend so I have faith that this style with these types of wrestling can work. Clearly Josh Barnett agrees. This was a cool opener too. It was very mat heavy with both guys being comfortable with just grappling. Starboy Charlie apparently had a background in amateur wrestling so he was able to escape Yoya’s holds easily but he couldn't finish, so this lead to more strikes being thrown which led to his undoing. Starboy Charlie took Yoya down but when he tried it again, Yoya hit a spinning wheel kick and a soccer kick for the ref stoppage. Great finish. ***
Zeda Zhang vs. KZT
These two went at each other hard with punches and submission attempts. KZT wrenched on Zhang’s arm trying to extend it for the cross arm breaker, almost popping the elbow out of its socket, and Zhang’s punches looked rough to take. The grappling was so fucking good with both women having clear skill and knowledge in setting up submissions and opening as well as being able to defend against them, making the work come off as credible. Zeda Zhang got a little gassed towards the end, in the stand up positions in particular, but the match quickly went back to the mat where Zhang won after tying KZT up in a crucifix and punching her until the ref intervened. ***1/4
Royce Isaacs vs. Clark Connors
New Japan Strong is here. There was a bit of a singular story to this with Clark Connor coming into the match with an injured shoulder and it came up at several points. Isaacs attacked the arm, as he should but Connors caused some problems of his own when he used the left arm in a striking attack. Connors had a ton of success in the exchanges though. He was very light on his feet, being able to counter and outmaneuver Isaacs well enough. The finish was a good example of that with Isaacs losing his grip on the cross arm breaker, allowing Connors to apply a rare naked choke for the sub win. ***
Marina Shafir vs. Masha Slamovich
I didn't have any doubts that Marina Shafir would excel in this style of match. The obvious background makes that a foregone conclusion. Masha Slamovich is usually the favourite in her other matches but she was the weaker of the two and worked rather well in the role. She used the ring-out to her advantage, blind siding Shafir with a cannonball when the chance presented itself but Shafir was never in any danger and seemed comfortable leading each exchange. Shafir won in 4 minutes. **3/4
Tom Lawlor vs. Alex Coughlin
This was awesome. And I’m not just talking about the Gotch Lift, which was insane, but everything was pure intense wrestling. The only thing, like most matches tonight, the length was little too short to become great, although this had elements to be so. Tom Lawlor had some good character work, stemming from his heel gimmick in New Japan, copying Coughlin’s look, mustache and all. The heel hook at the end looked particularly nasty. Earlier, Masha Slamovich had one locked in but she didn’t fully sink it in, to protect Shafir whereas Lawlor had Coughlin dead to rights. ***1/2
Davey Richards vs. Yuya Uemura
This was very traditional. It was mat-heavy but this had a basic pro wrestling story of Davey Richards targeting the arm of Uemura with holds and kicks. Yuya Uemura looked good. He showed a ton of promise and had some stand-out moments on offense like when he nailed Davey with a knee strike. Davey won with a knee bar. ***
Josh Barnett vs. Tiger Ruas
This was an interesting match to put on. You have a very accomplished Amateur Wrestler, who has dabbled in other Martial Arts against a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. And for the most part worked it in a methodical technical way. Ruas was the dominant one of the two, mainly manoeuvring around Barnett's back, trying to set up an armbar or a choke but Barnett just survives and comes back until Ruas hits a Capoeira kick for a great false finish. The finish went Barnett's way however with the Michinoku Driver into Cross Armbreaker combo. It's nice to see Josh Barnett taking the Akira Maeda torch of carrying the second main event loads despite being older and not being the thinnest of athletes. Someone has to. ***1/4
Minoru Suzuki vs. Chris Dickinson
This was a little different from the tired Minoru Suzuki formula. More purposeful character, good selling, more focus on grappling than usual, too. Dickinson was game for everything and wasn't afraid to slap Suzuki to bits and take what Suzuki threw back. Very good main event. ***1/2
GCW War Ready - 23/10/2021
Jonathan Gresham vs. Alex Zayne
I think it's easy to say this was technical wrestling vs aerial wrestling but Gresham showed both excellent character work and great high flying work. Some of his headscissors/arm drag takeovers were a thing of beauty. Gresham had some great looking submissions, straight out of the school of Lucha Libre in how he'd modify the hold and make it more tricky to escape, rendering Alex Zayne helpless at points. Zayne brought some cool dives to the outside and used Gresham’s size to come up with some unique offence but I thought he was generally underwhelming outside of that. Zayne needs more of a hook to him, in my opinion. I didn't care for the finish either. It was the usual Guerrero/Malenko roll up exchange spot, ending with Gresham losing out to Alex Zayne. This was a good Gresham performance. ***
Chris Dickinson & Starboy Charlie vs. Jacob Fatu & Juicy Finau
Juicy Finau! What a behemoth he was. Juicy was absolutely huge and worked like it. He and Jacob Fatu beat the shit out of Starboy Charlie with chops and strikes. Fatu didn't seem too friendly to the 18 year old, in particular. Starboy Charlie walloped Juicy Finau with a hard punch in the face and Finau stiffed him back with a headbut so I'm liking this kid already. He's skinny and moves like the average GCW wrestler (flips and moves) but he was surprisingly solid in the FIP role and he showed some personality and drive in that potato he threw, although he paid for it. Dickinson was a good hot tag. He got the momentum back for his team, getting rid of Juicy and getting the best of Fatu before Starboy Charlie came back in. The guts on Charlie is admirable. He almost got the win via a Mistica into a cross face before being stopped by Juicy, leading to the closing stretch. Dickinson brought in a door only to go through it, taking him out of the match, leading to Starboy Charlie having to defend himself two on one. He survived a pop up Samoan Driver, to a big pop, took out Jacob Fatu and pinned Juicy Finau after hitting him with a bit of a broken door. Amazing scenes. The heels didn't take kindly to the upset win, attacking Starboy Charlie and Chris Dickinson during the celebration. Fatu hit the Samoan Driver again and hit the Moonsault to end out the angle to boos. This was fucking awesome. ***1/2
GCW Tag Team Title Match: The Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner & Matthew Justice) (c) vs. The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe)
Dem Boys venturing out of Ring of Honor was something that always warrant viewing. And Matthew Justice and Mance Warner are good opponents for them to work with because of what they are willing to do. Mance's personality fits in with the Briscoes' schtick well too. The match was a pretty fun brawl with unprotected head shots and reckless dives to the outside although I think this had a few needlessly complicated setups for some spots and could've been done in a more tight, compact fashion. This had some insane moments though, like the double door spot where everyone went through them. Poor Mance taking the worst of the bump, being on the receiving end of the double suplex. The Briscoes won the GCW Tag Team Titles after a Jay Driller/Froggy elbow combo. It was a great finish. I definitely would like to see a rematch between the teams and now the Briscoes are the champions, that seems very likely. ***1/2
Psycho Clown vs. Effy
Fucking Psycho Clown!!!! He's such a star even in the United States. It doesn't always come across on AAA shows just how stiff Psycho Clown works or just how charismatic he is. Just when the GCW crowd was starting to get on Effy’s side, Psycho Clown would do something to rally them back. This was surprisingly hard hitting, vicious, and most importantly, fast paced. Psycho Clown stiffed Effy who'd hit him right back. It was a very even match with the momentum switching constantly, mixing serious wrestling with some comedy spots here and there. All of it worked within the match and didn't seem out of place whatsoever. The finish had Effy pulling the mask and rolling Psycho Clown up which was shocking. Psycho Clown got protected in defeat but a loss is a loss. Hopefully this isn't the end of Psycho Clown in GCW or America. He'd clearly get over massively. ***1/4
Nick Gage vs. Minoru Suzuki
The entrances were sublime. You couldn't even see Nick Gage for most of it because he was swarmed so heavily. More so than usual and Suzuki seemed pretty pumped up from the loud response he got but that's where the match peaked for me. Everything that followed was a total lacklustre disappointment. The match was poorly filmed and what we do see is pretty poor brawling. The first exchange between the two sucked all the anticipation I had out of me - some of the softest elbow exchanges you'll see out of a Suzuki match. The finish (A Gotch Style Piledriver through a door) was good but you have to do more than that to save this mediocre display. **
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