Welcome to our coverage of The WLRD on GCW as Game Changer Wrestling presents a sold-out show from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
RESULTS:
*GCW Tag Team Championship: Nick Gage & Matt Tremont over The Briscoes (champions) in 5:37
*GCW World Championship: Jon Moxley (champion) over Homicide in 11:26
*Jeff Jarrett over EFFY in 11:14
*Ruby Soho over Allie Katch in 9:30
*Matt Cardona over Joey Janela in 19:41
*Blake Christian over Lio Rush in 12:37
*Arez, Demonic Flamita & Gringo Loco over Bandido, Laredo Kid & ASF in 14:11
*Grab the Brass Ring Ladder Match: AJ Gray over Alex Colon, PCO, Jimmy Lloyd, Jordan Oliver, G-Raver & Tony Deppen in 15:16
*Pre-Show Six-Way Scramble Match: Grim Reefer over Ninja Mack, Dante Leon, Jack Cartwheel, Alex Zayne & Shane Mercer in 7:48
*Pre-Show Battle Royal: Big Vin wins in 16:03
The PBR kickoff show began with Lenny Leonard and Pollo Del Mar hosting the pre-show. After a brief intro, they immediately throw to Emil Jay with the first match.
PABST BLUE RIBBON BATTLE ROYAL
Dave Prazak and Kevin Gill are on commentary for the pre-show.
Psycho Clown, Dark Sheik, and Parrow begin the match and then new participants started to join with Cole Radrick and Hoodfoot immediately entering the match.
Hall of Famer Ruckus was the next to enter followed by KTB, Juicy Finau, Steve Scott, Brandon Kirk, “Spyder” Nate Webb (who came out to Wheatus), Big Vin (the son of 911), Janai Kai, and Dustin Thomas.
There have been no eliminations, so the ring is just filling up and this is basically a match designed for pops on the entrances with surprises.
The next entrances were Marcus Mathers, Yoya, Charles Mason (from Jersey Championship Wrestling), and B-Boy.
LuFisto entered and received a great response after a terrific speech at the Hall of Fame on Saturday. She hit Yoya with a Burning Hammer. She eliminated B-Boy and Nate Webb.
Thunder Rosa was another surprise entrant and the audience began chanting loudly for her. Rosa used a head scissors counter to eliminate Parrow.
It came down to LuFisto, Thunder Rosa, Charles Mason, and Big Vin (the head of the ring crew and weapons director)
LuFisto and Thunder Rosa traded strikes when Mason snuck up from behind and threw out Rosa.
Big Vin placed LuFisto on the apron and Mason knocked Vin into LuFisto, and she fell to the floor.
Vin caught Mason with a chokeslam from the ring to the floor and won the battle royal.
WINNER: Big Vin in 16 minutes and 3 seconds
As a battle royal, it was not much but this was designed for the crowd to pop for all the names with a few surprises and the audience seemed to love it.
It was a nice start to the party atmosphere they are selling.
Big Vin shared a beer with his Dad afterward.
Nasty Leroy joined Lenny Leonard and Pollo Del Mal and kept rambling until Leonard cut him off and threw it to the next match.
GRIM REEFER VS SHANE MERCER VS DANTE LEON VS JACK CARTWHEEL VS NINJA MACK VS ALEX ZAYNE
Reefer lit up a joint before hitting a springboard dive to everyone on the floor.
Dante Leon flipped out of the corner into a cutter on Ninja Mack.
Mercer demonstrated his power and did a spot lifting Ninja Mack for a vertical suplex with Mack doing several rotations when coming down and was nuts.
Cartwheel hit a modified Spiral Tap followed by Leon with a corkscrew into a cutter coming off the top.
Mercer draped Zayne on the middle rope when Cartwheel hit a shooting star press on Zayne and landed on the floor.
Reefer avoided a DVD off the turnbuckle and transitioned to hit a flying DDT sending Mercer off the turnbuckle through a chair, although didn’t hit the mark perfectly. Reefer pinned Mercer.
WINNER: Grim Reefer in 7 minutes and 48 seconds
It was start-to-finish insanity with some incredible high-flying and ambitious ideas that had a heavy success rate. This was a great demonstration with Cartwheel standing out in a big way as a special talent down the road.
Brett Lauderdale came out with Chris Dickinson to speak to the audience. He spoke about the difficulty of the past two years and losing Spring Break 4 due to the pandemic in 2020. He repeated the line they were told about ‘there being a million GCWs that have come and gone, it will never last’ and he said, there is only one GCW.
Dickinson gave a pep talk to the crowd and said he would return from injury at Spring Break.
The pre-show ended with a tribute video of people that have passed away that were connected to GCW.
JORDAN OLIVER VS ALEX COLON VS TONY DEPPEN VS JIMMY LLOYD VS PCO VS G-RAVER VS AJ GRAY – GRAB THE BRASS RING LADDER MATCH
Lio Rush was not part of the match after previously being announced.
The six participants were introduced in the ring. They were joined by AJ Gray, who was the seventh participant added to the match.
Oliver paid tribute to the late Jimmy Rave with a swinging neck breaker. Oliver went for a dive and got his foot caught in a ladder but completed the dive. PCO followed with his own dive to the floor.
Deppen hit a double springboard somersault to everyone on the floor.
Oliver was on a ladder, which was tipped, he landed on the middle rope and sprung back for a cutter. PCO choke slammed Oliver off the ladder and followed with a package piledriver on the ladder.
G-Raver placed a ladder on Colon’s back, climbed the wobbly ladder, and nearly lost his balance before delivering a senton, this was insane and super dangerous. Lloyd took G-Raver and hit a Razor’s Edge with G-Raver landing on a ladder and table on the floor.
Gray went for a dive off a ladder, came up short, and crashed into another ladder with a nasty-looking landing.
John Wayne Murdoch attacked Colon on the floor.
Gray knocked Lloyd off the ladder and grabbed the brass ring.
WINNER: AJ Gray in 15 minutes and 16 seconds
There will be some sore individuals coming out of this one. There were a few frightening moments where the damage could have been worse. Some of it was impressive, some of it was really sloppy, but it was a ladder spectacle, which this was sold out. Not the most impressive ladder match you will see but they had a lot of unique ideas, they just didn’t hit them all.
ASF, LAREDO KID & BANDIDO VS GRINGO LOCO, AREZ & DEMONIC FLAMITA
Stephen D’Angelis announced the wrong team as they entered the ring and then caught himself and read the correct Trio.
Bandido did an Eddy Guerrero tribute in the beginning.
Arez and Demonic Flamita applied Tapatias on the floor as Gringo Loco dove onto both while in the submission.
Bandido, Laredo Kid & ASF cleared the ring with simultaneous multi-rotational tilt-a-whirls to their opponents.
There were so many unique multi-man spots and they were gelling well as opposed to some of the sloppiness in the previous match,
The three teams were stacked on each other’s shoulders leading to ASF with a powerbomb from the top position and all six were down as the audience applauded.
Laredo Kid caught Arez with a one-man Spanish Fly to the floor and got a lot of height on it.
ASF went for some type of leaping spot from the top with Gringo Loco, who just came off the turnbuckle and hit a Gotch piledriver to pin ASF.
WINNERS: Gringo Loco, Arez & Demonic Flamita in 14 minutes and 11 seconds
This was terrific and the first really great match on the show, it was spectacular and I think everyone in the match has to be happy with how this came off and felt like a great showcase.
The audience threw money into the ring.
Blake Christian came out and said Jonathan Gresham is not here tonight and there are things we cannot control. Christian said he wants his ROH title shot but he came to fight at the Hammerstein Ballroom and prove he is one of the best in the world and they reveal Christian’s new opponent.
BLAKE CHRISTIAN VS LIO RUSH
Ian Riccaboni joined Kevin Gill on commentary for this match.
This was positioned as two high-level pros that are trying to outdo the other. It was a departure from the previous matches as this one started out more methodical and presented like a chess match with each drawing from their arsenal of moves.
Rush went for the bounce off the bottom rope but was drilled with a knee from behind and Christian hit him with a standing Spanish Fly and springboard 450 splash for a two-count.
Rush rebounded out of the corner into a poison ‘rana and hit the Final Hour, which Christian kicked out of.
Christian hit a Fosbury Flop but the way he landed, proceeded to lift and hit Rush with a tombstone on the floor followed by a springboard double stomp for the win.
WINNER: Blake Christian in 12 minutes and 37 seconds
It started off at a nice pace and really escalated in the final five minutes and probably could have reached another level with a few more minutes. The finish happened when they were showing a replay with picture-in-picture, but the chemistry was strong and they really peaked the match well.
MATT CARDONA w/ Chelsea Green VS JOEY JANELA
Cardona teases the crowd with ‘Enter Sandman’ for his entrance and comes out with Green and a flannel shirt that reads, ‘Fuck Mick Foley’. Then, he spits beer at a fan and makes out with Green on the floor.
Cardona cuts a promo stating the locker room, Brett Lauderdale, and the fans are ungrateful with the show sold out because of him. He is going to end Janela’s career before Tony Khan can say, ‘you’re fired’.
Cardona immediately hits the Rough Ryder and brings a door into the ring. Janela turns the table and puts Cardona through the door with a Death Valley Driver.
Janela came off the turnbuckle and missed Cardona and crashed through a chair.
Green stopped Cardona from using a chair and hit a low blow on Cardona. Everyone thought she was helping Janela but it was a ploy as Green crotched Janela on the turnbuckle as Cardona was wearing a cup.
Janela grabbed the Internet championship when “Smart” Mark Sterling came out and said if Janela used the belt he would be disqualified, per the contract. Sterling brought someone that was influential in Cardona’s career and they brought out Virgil, who was wearing a Vince McMahon mask – it was a nice attempt but this didn’t land well.
Cardona tried to use the belt on Janela but hit Sterling by mistake. Janela hit a DVD onto the edge of the apron and Cardona was bleeding from the nose.
Hornswoggle was under the ring and sent Janela into the ring post. Sam Stackhouse rolled Hornswoggle into the ring and hit an Avalanche in the corner and missed a moonsault off the second turnbuckle.
Marko Stunt appeared and hit Hornswoggle with a chair. Cardona stopped Stunt with an Inverted DDT.
A door was balanced on a pair of chairs with Hornswoggle placed onto the door as Stunt hit a double stomp while Janela dove to the floor with an elbow putting Cardona through a different door.
Green struck Stunt with the belt and a Canadian Destroyer.
Cardona returned and hit Janela with a chair and a DVD onto a chair.
Green used a kendo stick on Janela, he broke the cane and hit her with a piledriver.
A mystery person appeared in riot gear and speared Janela through a door, it was revealed to be Brian Myers.
Cardona hit the Rough Ryder to Janela through a door and pinned him.
WINNER: Matt Cardona in 19 minutes and 41 seconds
This was overbooked to the tilt but it was designed to be the type of WWE circus with tons of twists, turns, weapons, surprises, cameos, and near-falls.
It certainly felt long and dragged near the latter portion but Cardona is very good in his role and plays the ex-WWE star perfectly.
Sean Waltman appeared after the match to attack everyone and save Janela and they played the DX theme from the WWF Aggression album by Run DMC.
Mance Warner came out and said GCW works because they have the best locker room in the business, the best commentary team, photographers, ring crew, security, and praised the staff. He thanked the fans because without them they would not be in the ring.
Warner is interrupted by Atticus Cogar and calls this a ‘spot show’ and ‘fuck Brett Lauderdale, fuck Giancarlo’. Warner said his doctor said he can’t wrestle but nothing about beating someone’s ass and they fought. Matthew Justice ran down and speared Cogar as 44OH! members joined the brawl. Cogar had the skewers when the lights went out.
A whistle blew, and Sabu appeared in the ring with Bill Alfonso and they attacked with chairs. Alfonso blasted Gregory Iron with a chair and Justice hit him with a splash and they counted three.
ALLIE KATCH VS RUBY SOHO
The video package for the announcement of this match is so great. They played it again before the entrances.
Katch attacks with multiple hip attacks and a cannonball in the corner. Soho cut her off with a suplex.
Soho connected with a basement ‘rana and Katch kicked out at two. Soho hit the previously known Riot Kick and Katch kicked out, which upset Soho and she got into the face of the official.
Katch struck her with a knee and a piledriver for a near-fall.
Soho blocked a piledriver from the second turnbuckle and turned it into the Riot Kick as Katch came off the turnbuckle with Soho pinning her.
WINNER: Ruby Soho in 9 minutes and 30 seconds
The two hugged after the match.
I wouldn’t say this match got to the next gear and came late in the show where the audience has seen some spectacular stuff. The match had its moments and the near-fall by Katch worked for the crowd in the building.
Soho was very strong as the veteran presence and really put Katch over after the finish.
EFFY VS JEFF JARRETT
Jarrett came out with a remix of his old ‘My World’ theme from TNA.
Jarrett grabbed Vladimir the super fan by the throat on the way to the ring.
Effy goes down to his knees as Jarrett runs the ropes, Jarrett complains to the referee as the announcers call it ‘mind games’.
Jarrett whipped him with his belt and attacked an official at ringside with it. Jarrett continued to use the belt on Effy as they returned to the ring and tied his wrists to the corner.
Effy broke free and hit Under the Rainbow after strikes in the corner.
Jarrett grabbed the guitar but Effy hit a low blow and tore his fishnet stocking off to choke Jarrett. Effy got the guitar, Jarrett took it back and nailed Effy it followed with The Stroke and pinned Effy.
WINNER: Jeff Jarrett in 11 minutes and 14 seconds
The crowd was into the match throughout the time it lasted. It was a brawl from the beginning and it appears it’s the start of the chapter involving Jarrett in GCW rather than just using him for a one-off. Jarrett played this outlaw character really well and had more of an edge to him while looking in very good shape. The audience was solidly behind Effy.
The announcers pushed that Effy would seek revenge.
JON MOXLEY VS HOMICIDE FOR THE GCW CHAMPIONSHIP
Lenny Leonard noted that Homicide won the ROH championship from Bryan Danielson in this building in 2006.
The bell rang and the audience chanted, ‘Fuck Bully Ray’.
Homicide used a pair of exploders followed by the tope con hilo to the floor.
Homicide hit the Ace Crusher off the turnbuckle and went for the Cop Killa, which Moxley blocked.
Moxley hit the double-arm DDT for a two-count and applied the bulldog choke but made it to the rope. Homicide was bleeding from the mouth and the announcers suggested he lost a tooth but it was hard to tell.
Moxley brought chairs into the ring and hit the Paradigm Shift on them and Homicide kicked out.
Homicide gave him the middle finger and went for a jackknife cover for a two-count. Moxley came back with a Paradigm Shift through a chair and won the match.
WINNER: Jon Moxley in 11 minutes and 26 seconds to retain the GCW championship
The two worked very hard for the short time they had. I would be curious how it sounded in the building because on the broadcast it didn’t seem the audience was as engaged for this one but the work was good and Homicide put on a big performance given the stage and the opponent.
Homicide remained in the ring alone and walked out to his music.
The final match of the night is the open challenge from The Briscoes for the GCW tag titles.
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS VS MATT TREMONT & NICK GAGE FOR THE GCW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
They began fighting with doors and breaking them over one another. Dewey Donovan brought out the pizza cutter but Jay Briscoe stopped Gage.
Mark sent a chair into Tremont, who dropped and bounced his head on the apron coming down.
Gage hit a choke breaker out of nowhere and pinned Mark Briscoe.
WINNERS: Nick Gage & Matt Tremont in 5:37 to win the GCW tag titles
The match was largely nothing and the real main event was Nick Gage’s entrance and the audience was more than happy to get that.
Gage cut a promo as the locker room emptied and joined him inside the ring. Gage said he took some time off to get his mind, body, and soul right. He thanked the MDK gang for telling him to ‘keep his head up’. Gage called GCW the best promotion in the world and loves his mother fucking gang.
