GCW: The Art of War
Saturday, September 3, 2022
Grand Sports Arena, Hoffman Estates, IL
The Grand Sports Arena was absolutely packed and the production quality for this event was on another level. I love when they use the jib camera, it adds an extra element to the overall feel of the production. The Art of War Match is what Blood and Guts should’ve been.
PBR Presents: DDT Extreme Title Two Ring Ladder Match: Joey Janela (champion) vs. Gringo Loco vs. Tony Deppen vs. Cole Radrick vs. Drago Kid vs. Dante Leon vs. Shane Mercer
Before the action commenced, all of the competitors shared a PBR, Drago Kid and Gringo Loco were the first ones to face off with Shane Mercer also getting into the mix. Drago Kid was thrown by Mercer from one ring to another and took out Gringo Loco with a Rana. Drago introduced the first ladder into the match as he and Mike Bailey ran a couple of spots around the ladder; Bailey hit his triangle moonsault and took out the rest of the competitors on the floor. Tony Deppen dropkicked the very large ladder into Cole Radrick and Mike Bailey and eventually hit a tope onto a ladder that he threw at the competitors on the floor. Cole attempted the Shelton Benjamin spot by attempting to run up a ladder but he kind of got caught and hit a messing-looking plancha to the floor. Gringo Loco set Dante Leon up on his shoulders on the second rope, Dante was able to reverse it and hit a top rope sliced bread followed by a Swanton to the floor. Mercer picked up Drago Kid along with a ladder and press slammed Drago Kid with the ladder on top of him. Mercer then attempted to gain some speed but Janela pulled the ropes down and hit Mercer with a DVD from the apron to the floor through a door. Gringo Loco and Joey Janela climbed the big ladder the rest of the competitors followed them up there with ladders of their own; eventually, everyone was knocked off the ladder except for Drago Kid and Janela who pushed over the ladder, Drago tried to springboard off the top rope but took a nasty spill to the floor. Bailey and Dante Leon worked together to place Janela and Radrick on two sets of doors, both men climbed to the top rope and hit stereo shooting star presses. Dante Leon has been working dates in NOAH and there is a definite difference in his game from the last time we saw him. Mercer set up the large ladder in the center of the ring and went searching for an opponent to throw around and Drago Kid was the unfortunate victim. Mercer climbed the ladder with Drago Kid, Mercer’s military pressed Drago Kid off the ladder and Drago Kid was able to turn that into a Destroyer which took out Tony Deppen. Tony Deppen was placed on a ladder which was strung between the two rings, Mercer grabbed Radrick and hit the moonsault and battery to the floor through two doors. Janela climbed the large ladder and took out Tony Deppen with an elbow drop for the victory.
Joey Janela Retained his DDT Extreme Championship and won the case of Pabst Blue Ribbon
Singles Match: Alex Shelley vs. Blake Christian
The two men started with a stiff lock-up followed by a brief scramble for control of the match; they eventually reset and locked up again. Both of these men are incredibly quick when it comes to their evasion and offensive strikes, it is amazing to watch. The action spilled to the floor where Alex Shelley proceeded to chop Blake Christian on the ring posts, Shelley ended up missing and Blake Christian was able to regain some control of the match-up. Shelley was able to turn the momentum in his favor when he hit Blake with a dragon screw and other offensive shots. Christian caught Shelley off guard with a stiff kick to the head followed by another shot to the chest. Shelley took a powder on the floor and was briefly able to sucker in Christian but Christian shoved Shelley into the ring post and took him out with a tope. Shelley had Christian scouted as he came off the top rope and locked in the Boarder City stretch but Christian was able to scramble to the ropes and broke the hold. Christian went for a 450 but pulled up short once he saw that Shelley already had his knees up, both men got to their feet and traded stiff forearm shots in the center of the ring. Blake Christian is very good but when he is in there with a seasoned veteran and all-time great like Alex Shelley you can see the gaps in his game, this could be more fluid than they are. Shelley hit two consecutive DDTs followed by the Boarder City Stretch, Christian went for a leveraged pin attempt but Shelley kicked out, Christian then rolled up Shelley for the victory.
Blake Christian Defeated Alex Shelley
Tag Team Match: Jordan Oliver & Nick Wayne vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)
Mark Davis and Jordan Oliver started the match with a couple of brief exchanges and power moves; Davis had the size advantage so he was able to repeatedly take Oliver off of his feet. Fletcher and Wayne entered the match next with Wayne getting the advantage first with a series of Rana’s that sent Fletcher into the corner, Oliver came into the match up to aid his partner and they beat down Fletcher and eventually took both men on the floor with a sprinting tope. Oliver and Wayne both went for another stereo dive but they were caught by Aussie Open and driven into each other twice. Fletcher sent Oliver head first into the turnbuckle and tagged in Davis who continued to get the heat on Jordan Oliver; once Aussie Open gained control of the match the pace slowed down and they focused more on grinding away on their opponents rather than high-impact flying moves. Oliver was able to launch himself off of the second turnbuckle and took out Fletcher with a lariat and tagged in NIck Wayne who ran wild on both members taking out both with various highflying and impact moves. Nick Wayne was able to get a close near fall after he Ordered the Code Red onto Fletcher; Fletcher started to fight back by absorbing some forearm strikes from Nick Wayne and landed a handful of his own. Fletcher muscled Wayne up but was able to slink out of it but was still caught with a twisting powerbomb variation followed by the Aussie Arrow for a near fall that was broken up by Jordan Oliver. Oliver and Wayne hit stereo superkicks, they attempted stereo clout cutters but Aussie Open was able to scout them and them both with a series of chops. Wayne came off the top rope, and Fletcher got back to his feet and hit Wayne with the El Generico-Esque brainbuster on the turnbuckle. Wayne landed nasty but Oliver was able to make the save on the pinfall. This has been an incredible back-and-forth matchup between these two extremely talented teams. Aussie Open pinned Nick Wayne after they caught him coming off the top rope and planted him high on the back of his neck for the victory.
Aussie Open Defeated Jordan Oliver and Nick Wayne
Matt Cardona Promo:
Cardona came to the ring and did his usual act of riling up the GCW crowd and started to complain about his renewal ceremony and how Nick Gage ruined the ceremony and called him out. Gage wasn’t there so Jimmy Lloyd was called out instead because he lost the rings during the wedding ceremony. Cardona challenges Lloyd to a match and if Cardona loses he leaves GCW forever.
Singles Match: Jimmy Lloyd vs. Matt Cardona
Cardona rushed in right away and was caught with a DVD from Jimmy; Jimmy continued his pursuit as he laid in strikes on Matt Cardona in the corner. Jimmy got caught by Cardona who hit a running boot scrape, Caronda went for the Rough Ryder but Lloyd powerbombed him and locked in the Boston Crab, Chelsea flashed Jimmy Lloyd and was rolled up by Matt Cardona.
Matt Cardona Defeated Jimmy Lloyd
AEW wrestlers Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal were spotted in the crowd. During the last weekend in Atlantic City, WWE’s Seth Rollins was spotted at one of the shows.
Deathmatch: Charli Evans vs. Sawyer Wreck
Sawyer has the massive height and strength advantage so Charli’s only hope of making any impact was when she started using the various weapons that were around the ring. Sawyer was the first one to break glass as she broke a tube over Charli Evans’s skull. Visually the height difference is as stark as Great Khali vs. Rey Mysterio, which makes the match hard to ‘believe in’ but the weapons help. Sawyer broke another tube over Charli’s head and started to carve away at her forehead; Charli was able to turn the tide and used the same tube to carve away on Sawyer’s head. They continued to brawl on the floor with each laying in stiff shots and strikes; Sawyer went looking underneath the ring for something but couldn’t find it so she just grabbed a bundle of tubes and placed those across two chairs, Evans was able to turn the tide and suplexed Sawyer through the tubes for a close near fall. Sawyer responded to this action with more carving of Evans’ forehead. They grabbed a bunch of tubes and kneeled in the center of the ring trading shots over each other’s heads. They tried to hammer fist the tubes into each other but they both missed a couple of times. Sawyer regained control of the match with a bundle over the head followed by a gusset plate into the top of Charli’s head. Charli hammered one into the side of Sawyer’s head but this only fired up Sawyer who took Charli down with a vicious lariat. Charli responded with a handful of tubes across the back of Sawyer Wreck followed by a running knee strike to the side of Wreck’s head. Charli has some heavy colors. Sawyer press slammed Evans on a bundle Charli kicked out at one which riled the crowd up, she broke some tubes on her head as Sawyer took a powder on the floor. Sawyer blasted Charli over the head with a bundle of tubes, chokeslammed her, and got the pinfall victory.
Sawyer Wreck Defeated Charli Evans
You know you’re going to see an amazing Deathmatch when legendary Deathmatch weapons director Eugene is helping set up the match. The way he so fluidly works with barbed wire is crazy. I saw Eugene and his stepson Tom set up the wire for the main event of TOS 7 in less than 15 minutes.
Nick Gage came to the ring before the match started and whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Nick Gage announced that the Nick Gage Invitational 7 will be held in Summit Park District, IL this year.
GCW Tag Team Title 5 Way Art of War Games Match: The Briscoe Brothers (champions) vs. Alex Colon & John Wayne Murdoch vs. BUSSY vs. Los Mazicos vs. Second Gear Crew
Second Gear Crew and The Briscoe Brothers are the first two teams to enter the chamber, and both teams received massive reactions as the match got underway. All four men each grabbed steel chairs and started to beat on the cage with them, they then turned the chairs onto each other with each team taking out a member. SGC started to set up doors but Mance got caught with a tube over the head from Jay Briscoe who proceeded to beat down Justice and sent him face first into the steel cage. The Briscoe Brothers threw Justice from one ring to another sending him crashing through a door. BUSSY was next to enter the match. EFFY hits a blockbuster onto the Briscoe’s right away, Allie followed him up there and hit a cross body that took out SGC. Both members of BUSSY hit splashes and kicks to their opponents in the corner, Katch hit Mance with a piledriver while EFFY Sabu’d a chair at Justice. Both members of BUSSY broke tubes over Justice’s back while the Briscoe Brothers were able to recover and attack BUSSY. Los Macizos entered the match-up next. They immediately went on the offensive taking out Allie Katch and EFFY with a series of chair shots to the head and back. They then turned their attention to SGC as they took out Justice and Warner with their high-flying offense. All of the teams attacked each other with broken bits of doors and lightubes, Miedo threw a tube across Justice’s face which only made him bleed even more. EFFY and Justice unloaded on each other with light tube shots, Allie tried to take out Jay Briscoe but Mark came to his brother’s aid and took her out with a tube of his own. All teams tried to recover as much as they could before the fifth and final team The Mega Bastards, John Wayne Murdoch, and Alex Colon made their way to the ring with bundles of tubes, once the Bastards entered the match the level of violence increased exponentially. All 5 teams traded light tube shots in the center of the ring while Matthew Justice climbed to the top of the scaffolding and executed a flip dive off of the railing of the scaffolding, he took a massive risk and it paid off as he was able to take everyone out which allowed Mance Warner to attack the others. Jay Briscoe and Allie Katch traded fists in the corner as SGC set up a double-door bridge. Justice and Murdoch were on top of the scaffolding, Justice was sent off the top and crashed through the double doors. Alex Colon locked in a choke and Matthew Justice tapped out. Second Gear Crew was Eliminated by the Mega Bastards. Katch fired back up, taking a couple of shots at Murdoch before turning her attention to the scaffold, she was caught halfway up by the Bastards and all three of them crashed off the side into a pile of barbed wire doors. It should be noted that everyone in this match is bleeding pretty heavily, EFFY had to get his arm tapped up due to a laceration. EFFY got caught in a tube-assisted J-Driller and was pinned via Froggy Bow from Mark Briscoe. BUSSY was Eliminated by the Briscoe Brothers. Los Macizos tried to jump the Briscoes from behind but it wasn’t effective as they were caught and hit with a doomsday device, Macizos turned the tables on the Briscoe Brothers after they hit a handful of power moves ending with a sit-out piledriver and pinned the Briscoes. The Briscoe Brothers were Eliminated by Los Macizos. The remaining four competitors traded tube shots in the center of the ring, Miedo Extremo caught Murdoch with a DVD followed by a moonsault from Ciclope. Alex Colon was able to break up the pin at the last second. Miedo planted Colon on a bundle of tubes, placed a bundle on his chest, and hit a 450 splash for only a two count. Ciclope climbed to the top of the scaffolding, and Alex Colon was placed in the center of the ring as Miedo handed his partner a bundle of tubes. Ciclope came off the top with a splash but they weren’t able to secure the victory due to John Wayne Murdoch breaking up the pin. Colon hit a double knee through a bundle of tubes that took out Los Macizos but they were still able to kick out. John Wayne Murdoch Sabu’d chair at Miedo Extremo’s head as he reset the ring with door and glass bridges. Alex Colon has lost a lot of blood, easily the most compared to all the other competitors. As the Bastards were setting up the contraption in the center of the ring, Miedo took a climb to the top of the scaffold, he was quickly met by John Wayne Murdoch who sent Miedo flying off the top through the doors and pane of glass; Alex Colon hit the one man Spanish fly on Ciclope through a door and glass pile of his own and pinned him for the victory. This was an incredible match that delivered on all levels of violence, storytelling, and crowd reactions.
The Mega Bastards won the Game Changer Wrestling Tag Team Championships
