Matches from GCW If I Die First 2/5/22

Ninja Mack/Dante Leon vs. Jordan Oliver/Nick Wayne  

ER: I loved this. This tapped into a great 10 minute high spot opener tag that all my favorite American indies have produced. Ever since Jersey All Pro gifted us with this kind of wrestling, there's been some bad copycats and some inspired acolytes. This match was the latter. You watch these guys work bigger and more complicated stunt spots that build to multiple physics defying spots, and you begin to notice...Jordan Oliver has a peach fuzz beard...Nick Wayne has a puka shell necklace...Dante Leon looks like he deals E...there's an actual ninja...this basically IS 2001 Jersey All Pro. All four are guys with cool stuff to show off and a good idea about where to put it. Dante Leon looks like a weenie but throws the hardest elbows of the match, also whips himself into the mat on back bumps and arm wringers. Oliver has precise timing and knows how to build to and payoff big bumps: Early on he sees Ninja heading for the turnbuckles and heads him off at the pass, sending him flipping fast in a crash to the floor; later Ninja Mack stops him on his own trip to the top, and Oliver crashes to the floor 3/4 of the length of the ring away. Ninja Mack is pure uncut joy to watch, the most 2001 JAPW guy we've been gifted with, showing it's still possible to be an innovative flyer. Everybody here gets great showcase dives and they all rule, but Ninja breaks out a double handspring top con giro that was so fast I thought the video started glitching. He has strike combos that go directions you don't expect, and he takes bumps that land in ways you haven't seen. The finisher train looked great, everyone found increasingly stupid ways to get themselves cuttered, and Ninja Mack's finisher just shows that he's an Evolved Sasuke. Great mood-setter right here.  

PAS: Very fun stuff, just four kids with ideas, some of which are great, some of which maybe not so much. I have been watching a lot of GCW for my Ringer column, and they do this kind of spotfest a lot, and it is almost always worth watching. Ninja Mack is Blitzkrieg level crazy, as wildly athletic as anyone in wrestling ever. He is perfect in these kind of throw at that wall see what sticks matches, and has so many fun possible opponents. Can you imagine if Claudio works some GCW dates? A Low-Ki rematch? Chris Hero returning from podcasting to beat his ass? Wayne is a high school kid, and has already signed a AEW contract. I imagine he has quite a future, and already fits well in this kind of thing.

John Wayne Murdoch vs. ASF

ER: This is a great wrestling match story. ASF is the new guy local who wasn't booked on the show, who steps up above his weight when a storm prevented the travel of several real Murdoch opponent. That's a match set-up I really like and this delivered. Maybe ASF got to show off too much cool stuff, but for a new guy he does have a lot of cool stuff. He has a real knack for smacking his head into things painfully, flying headfirst into a propped up chair, later going forehead first on a Flatliner. When it's his time for crazy highspots, he hits a Homicide-like tope con giro through the ropes that sends he and Murdoch through several rows of chairs, and follows up with a big flip dive. There's some punishing in-ring stuff, like Murdoch putting ASF kidney first through a folding chair, or a swinging ASF DDT that looked like something that could have pinned JWM. Great plucky energy from ASF, and JWM played off it well. 

Gringo Loco vs. Psycho Clown 

ER: Gringo Loco has been a real asset as the traffic director and big base of the GCW lucha matches, and here he gets the chance to throw down and have a wild through-the-indoor-sports-complex lucha brawl with one of the biggest luchadors in the world. He gets that chance, and flies into it head first. This had blood, big dives, big falls, big weapon shots, and several dangerous bumps. Loco gets thrown through ringside chairs a bunch, and shows off how well he can catch a dive when Psycho hits a beautiful diagonal dive past the ringpost, Loco absorbing all of it and sending him flying back into more chairs. Loco rips Psycho's mask and gets the blood flowing, Psycho bashes Loco with a chair and gets his blood flowing, and pretty soon they're brawling to bigger and bigger spots. A couple of doors get involved, and I like how doors continue to get used as weapons after they've been exploded. Some wrestlers would attack opponents with pieces of broken table, but it seems far more common when a door gets broken, and I like that. They were good about punching each other to build to big moments, taking a tour through the sports center and showing off what a fun playground it is for this type of match. But even then I wouldn't have predicted a dive off the goal posts. They did a good job of punishing stunt set up. If either man took too long to set up a stunt spot it almost always backfired on them, and after Psycho sets up a door on some chairs, he catches that fire. Hats off to GCW's camera crew who captured Loco's journey as he balance beam walked out on support beam attaching the goal posts to the wall and then flew off the posts with a swanton. Psycho gets hits own plancha off the top of the staircase, and I love how amped Clown always gets after one of his big dives or falls. The fight back in the ring was strong (my favorite was Loko nailing a full extension superkick, only for Psycho to shake it off and run at him with a bull rush headbutt that staggered Loco back into the ropes), and the Spanish Fly finish looked deadly. 

PAS: Phil wrote about this match over at The Ringer. 

Grim Reefer vs. Deranged vs. Alex Zayne vs. Atticus Cogar vs. Dark Sheik

ER: This was kind of messy with several bad landings and one that looked especially dangerous, but it also had a Grim Reefer performance that kept getting bigger and better, some wild dives, and a couple nice surprises. I was mainly excited for this because Deranged doesn't make tape that often and I try to go out of my way to support Special K alumni. Deranged still gets as much quick rotation on his spin kicks, will fly dangerously onto a dog pile powerbomb, will almost smash his face on the apron on a high moonsault to the floor, and will take a couple of gruesome bumps for great yarder offense. Grim was the star here, making a comedy smoking spot work tremendously by throwing perfect worked punches while taking huge drags from a joint. He had a couple of long arm strikes (including punching Deranged in the throat) and other nice strikes while everyone ran at him, Reefer hitting every beat of his timing without missing a puff. He even puts the joint out on Cogar's forehead! Reefer's bumping is also a cut above, getting absolutely spiked on a cutter and taking a Zayne knee strike flush to the head. Zayne can have a few too many steps to his work, but has a lot of ideas and some innovative stuff. I loved his nutso Diamond Dust tope and his big ripcord driver to Deranged. There was a dangerously messy tower spot where Deranged flipped over the top of everyone stacked on the turnbuckles, and Cogar almost died in three different ways. I think everyone got their vertebrae crunched at one point or another, with the worst being Sheik getting stung taking a Deranged cutter off Cogar's shoulders. Sheik barely moved the rest of the match and everyone worked around her, one of those sick things that can happen in a scramble. 

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IWC Legacy Lucha Road Report 10/24/21

Made a trip to my first post-COVID wrestling show with my five year old Zach to watch some lucha. This is the most indy-brained of all of the Denver Lucha promotions. They announced Fred Yehi, Heddi Karaoui and Jake Crist who were all no-shows, but this was still fun shit.

Fuji Man vs. Johnny Crash

PAS: This was a dark match I guess (not sure if this was a recorded show, but they ran a dark match). Johnny Crash looks like a fatter Boom Boom Mancini. This was basically a short comedy squash, with Crash doing some spots around his giant belly. It amused Zach, and was a fine 4 minutes.

Red Viper vs. Big Poppa Lypto

PAS: These are two local luchadores and this was probably the best match on the show. Stiff uppercuts by Viper and punches by Lypto (who came in with a low rider bike which was dope). Nothing super fancy, but we got a couple of nice dives and some big bumps to the floor. Clearly a pair of guys who trained together, but they had everything really solidly together and worked their stuff smoothly. Very entertaining local lucha.

Hijo Del Fishman/Delta Jr. vs. Bruce Wayans/Provider

PAS: This was originally a spot for the uncanceled Crist, but instead they used a local heel tag team. Wayans had a nice spinebuster, Provider the less said the better. Fishman had a dive and threw some hard chops, but this wasn't the Fishman who hellaciously brawls his way through the lucha indies. Zach was into the Tower of Doom spot (his first Tower of Doom), and the finish was cool with Fishman hitting a big splash after Delta hit a top rope rana. It had it's moments, and some moments which weren't much.

Ninja Mack vs. Rey Leon

PAS: Ninja Mack is a guy who does a couple of things incredibly. He may be the most agile wrestler in the world and if you put him in the position to showcase that agility you will get something pretty great. Mack was working as a stooging rudo here, throwing weak chops, yelling at the crowd, getting frustrated at lucha chants. It isn't what he does and he just kind of stopped it at one point to hit a crazy flip. We still got the highspots (including a no water in the pool 680 moonsault) but as a whole it didn't connect. Still Ninja Mack is a guy totally worth seeing live, like a crazier Blitzkrieg.

Hijo de LA Park/LA Park Jr. vs. Anthony Henry/Alex Zayne

PAS: Really interesting to see Alex Zayne, another wild high flyer, also miscast as a stooging rudo, but Zayne was great at it. If Alex Zayne is the reason you bought a ticket you don't want to see him work as Dougie Gilbert, but he is a surprisingly great Dougie Gilbert. He totally bought into work Parka spots with the junior PARKS, and was a nasty cut off rudo when it was required. He did hit one awesome looking pop up rana, but the rest was all serving as a foil. Henry seemed more eager to get his shit in, and the worst parts of this match were Anthony Henry doing his stuff. I mean Christ I still have to watch a tough guy NJ elbow exchange in a goddamn LA Park Jr. local indy match?, I can never escape that shit? LA Park Jr. has a great fat tope like his dad, and he hits it twice. Zach was scared of the skeletons so he watched my phone. 

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Matches from Pizza Party Wrestling 4/3/19

ER: I somehow wound up at this show, the first show of WrestleMania weekend. You know, the Wednesday evening portion of the weekend. This show was nowhere near most actual WM happenings, at least a half hour north of where we were staying in Jersey City. We landed Wednesday evening at Newark, dropped our stuff off at the Air BnB, and immediately Uber'd our way up to Ridgefield Park. The venue was smack dab in the middle of a quiet upper class neighborhood, and the colored lighting inside was soft and warm. They had so-so pizza slices for sale for a good price, and an old American Legion member making cheap cocktails in the back corner near the pizza. It was the kind of place that I would happily go to watch wrestling every couple months, although I can safely say that I will never watch wrestling in this venue ever again (nothing personal, just what are the odds of me winding up in Ridgefield Park again). Makabe vs. Yehi was the match that made this a no brainer show to attend, and it delivered everything I wanted. I was still pretty bleary eyed from travel so don't have a fresh memory of the rest of the card, but let's rewatch to jog that memory!


Tony Deppen vs. "Tyrannosaurus Flex" Ezekiel James

ER: This was a bummer, just because there were at least a dozen people on this show who would have made a much more interesting partner for Deppen than what we wound up with. James is someone who I know nothing about. He flexed his arms, he froze up on more than a couple spots, and they weirdly worked this as if James was a giant. James is bigger than Deppen, but not demonstrably so. The best parts of this were when Deppen would just throw strikes, with the best being a hard right hand to the jaw followed up immediately by a headbutt. James couldn't catch dives in an interesting way, and he wasn't quick so it didn't leave Deppen with much to do. Deppen takes a nice bump on a DDT, James completely whiffs on his pop up uppercut that was supposed to directly set up the finish, and then they just go to the finish anyway. Super disappointing use of Deppen.

Alex Zayne vs. Robbie Eagles

ER: This had moments that hit, and then some of the absolute worst half speed dance fight wrestling I've seen. There were several moments where the missed strikes looked like the two of them going over sequences back stage, like they forgot they were in front of an audience. There was a Zayne missed legsweep that was thrown so light that it wouldn't have swept the leg of a child. There were several moments where Zayne worked like he was concussed, like a hilarious moment where Eagles was on the apron, and Zayne literally walked towards him, with Eagles already waiting in position to hit the enziguiri, and here's Zayne walking right to the spot where the kick was supposed to land. It was such a pathetic disconnect, Zayne not even bothering to make it look like he was attempting to charge in with any kind of move, just walking dully to the position he needed to be in. Eagles had some nice running knees and a couple big power moves, and was at least putting some energy into things. Nearly every single move Zayne hit fully relied on Eagles bumping to make it look good. I've seen Zayne hit a great dragon rana in the corner, here Eagles had to catch Zayne's legs around his armpits and waist and do the rest of the work. I had long checked out by the time we got to a heatless strike exchange, and at least Zayne took a reverse rana with a nice vertical pause and flattened Eagles with the match ending spiral tap. Still this was an awful match from Zayne. He worked it like he was told his father just died right before he went through the curtain.

ER: I would have written up the 4 way Street Fight, but resent that the promotion tricked me into cheering for a pedophile without letting me know he was a pedophile. Now there's video footage of me literally standing next to a pedophile, cheering for him. So long political career.

Oswald Project vs. Ezekiel James

ER: This wasn't a match by any means, but was certainly a weird and memorable moment live. Tyrannosaurus Flex and his manager some back out to remind everyone of that disappointing Tony Deppen match and challenge any newcomers to take a crack at T-Flex. So they brought in a smallish young guy from the crowd with long curly hair, who introduced himself as being raised in a petri dish on some government site as part of The Oswald Project. And then when James tried to attack him, Oswald started bending in all sorts of freaky ways, like he was suffering from that "no bones" disease that so afflicted Richard Dunn. He got hit in the back of the head and scorpioned himself, rolling through it like some bizarre horror creature. It didn't function as a match, but it made for a great unexpected weirdo surprise. I know they've used him on future shows, and I'd certainly check him out in an actual match. Really, he's the only wrestler who could replicate the crab walk scene in Exorcist.

Van Valley vs. Champagne Douglas vs. Everett Cross vs. Matt Vertigo vs. Russell K. Best vs. Zacky Strutts

ER: This wasn't a good match. It was a fairly rushed 6 man with a lot of unknowns, a lot of waiting for dives, a lot of guys not good at occupying themselves, and a lot of head drops. We had a reverse rana within the first 30 seconds or so, and a lot of lying around in wait. But let me tell you the thing I genuinely love about this match: On paper, every single person in this match sounds like someone who is being paid in "exposure" to perform on Cedric the Entertainer's "Cruisin', Schmoozin', Laffs 'n' Gaffes" Caribbean cruise. You can just picture the days' schedule of events, and then twist yourself into knots trying to decide whether to see Champagne Douglas's afternoon set at the Lido Lounge, or go see Zacky Strutts at Guy Fieri's Deckside Burger Bar. Why did they book those sets to overlap!? But it will all be worth it to see the after hours adult sets from Russell K. Best and Vicious Van Valley. Russell K. Best's clean material frankly doesn't hold up as well, but you know his after hours set will slam! I'd have much rather seen a set of Zacky Strutts' catchphrase comedy ("You know Zacky don't run away from that mess...because you KNOW...Zacky Strutts") than this match. Just a bad match filled with guys who have done regional warm up work for Kat Williams. Champagne Douglas alone sounds like a fantastic once a season Martin character. The on paper names in this match probably gave me more joy than anything else before the main event.

18. Fred Yehi vs. Daniel Makabe

ER: This was the match that got me to go to Ridgefield Park, and one of the matches that got me to fly across the country (and since Makabe vs. Arik Royal got scrapped this match had even more pressure to deliver). And after sitting down and re-watching this show nearly a year after the fact, imagine if this match HADN'T been on the card!? This was a card saving match for sure, as I don't think there was anything else I would even casually recommend going out of your way to see before this main event. And luckily, this match delivered on its on paper potential and sent me back to Jersey City a tired and satisfied wrestling fan. I knew the grappling would be great, and I loved how these two moved off each other. Makabe controlled a lot of action with quick go behinds, and a Yehi kept relying on his fantastic single legs to upend Makabe. The first single leg saw Yehi just grabbing Makabe by the heel and completely tossing him skyward, as if Makabe had been standing on a landmine. Yehi would really make Makabe pay for leaving a limb out there, like when Makabe did a quick dropdown that ended quickly after Yehi stomped his hand on the mat. Yehi had some great torture holds, loved him sitting on Makabe's butterflied legs and daring him to do anything about it. Makabe hit him with a slap, but it was a trap, Yehi seemingly knowing that Makabe wouldn't be able to do much damage at such close range, then pays him back with a harder slap. Makabe pays that back eventually with an amazing spot I've never seen, as he snaps the top rope into Yehi's face as he's getting into the ring, feeling like a use-of-ring spot that Fit Finlay would kick himself for not thinking of.

I liked how Makabe kept responding to Yehi's actions by moving the match to a more elevated direction, like how he was the first to throw a punch (and loved his hand sell afterward which set up a different run of Yehi torture) and starts working over Yehi's arm in different ways (throwing sharp knees to his elbow and tricep), and I love how great Makabe is at showing his work as he's going through holds. You really get the strong sense watching him that he's breaking things down in learnable steps, the way he forces Yehi's jaw toward the opposite arm by forcing his forearm down the length of jaw, leaving the arm wide open, the way he holds his weight against Yehi to prevent counters. Yehi pays him back later by trapping Makabe's arm in the top of the ringpost and kicking him off the apron in a real nasty moment. The submission roll throughs were all really engaging, with holds that all looked like finishers. Makabe had this ridiculously slick go behind off the ropes into a cattle mutilation that was so sudden and cool that I thought it was the finish. After Makabe's early match punch Yehi definitely worked in more strikes, big Mongolian chops, a great seated dropkick, big clubbing shots, and some big fists while trapping Makabe in the Koji Clutch. Now, the whole finishing stretch was fantastic, but those punches in the Koji were so beautiful, as they directly lead to Makabe's victory. Had Yehi just locked in the Koji Clutch, Makabe was likely done. But Yehi starts throwing punches, allowing Makabe the opening to catch and hold that fist, breaking the clutch, rolling through with the arm, and setting up the bridging pin. My god. I loved it all.

PAS: This is exactly what you wanted this match to be, two really solid hard charging grapplers, doing cool innovating painful looking shit. I loved Yehi's stuff with the ringposts, he has broken that out sometimes in ACTION and it is just about the coolest bit of signature offense in wrestling. I have no idea how Makabe didn't just tear all of the ligaments in his arm. They were able to do some very nifty different chain wrestling without it every seeming like a dance routine, which is super rare in today's wrestling. I loved the subtle mixing in of harder shots as the match went on. I am so immersed in all of this new French Catch footage I am viewing a lot of things through that lens, but this had that same feel. It started tricky and scientific and escalated into a fight and it is a real credit to the talents of both guys, that they can make both parts of the story look credible and impressive.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Zayne vs. Makabe

63. Daniel Makabe vs. Alex Zayne 3-2-1 Battle! 10/18

PAS: Both of these guys are 321 Battle regulars who have broken out into more high profile indies in the last year, and this was their big return match. This was a very cool contrast in styles, with Makabe being a technician and Zayne being a really dynamic highflyer, and they had a bunch of nifty variations on those tropes. I loved when Makabe goes to the floor and instead of Zayne hitting a dive, he has to bail mid dive and then turns around a gets blasted by Makabe breaking out his own dive. Zayne does hit some crazy shit, including an inside out spring board Phoenix splash and a flip dragon rana, but this match was made by Makabe's selling. He gets dumped with a side suplex and comes up with a stinger, and for the rest of the match he has to compensate for the bad neck, including switching up a bridge on a German suplex and failing to hold a roll up. Zayne dumps him one time again on the neck, and that's a wrap, no 2.9 kickout and fighting spirit, his neck is fucked and he is done. My only quibble is the strike exchange stuff, Makabe looked good, but Zayne's forearms were pretty dainty and he should cut them completely out.

ER: I was there live for two of those high profile Makabe indy breakouts, his WM weekend match against Yehi, and obviously his SCI tournament victory (Road Report coming by 2022!), and I always love a good The Man Returns story. This one started a little slow for me, but even in some of the off moments there was gold. Zayne stumbled a bit on the ropes, leaving Makabe waiting a hair too long for him, so Makabe does the Bring It On hand motions before catching him, the same way Tracy Smothers used to do while waiting an eternity for Nova to set up a dive. And Makabe's small detail selling added a lot to this, especially in a moment where he caught a Zayne springboard in a triangle attempt and still sold the fact that Zayne had landed hard on his inner thigh and groin. I love Makabe against fliers, as he's a good base who you also always expect to come out on top after a flying move, waiting for him to catch an errant limb. This match really kicked up another level for me on the dive, with Makabe going over the top to the floor and immediately taking a powder into the shadows, the camera helping with the illusion, as Zayne whips fast over the ropes to stop his dive only to find out too late that Makabe had sprinted back into the ring to hit a great tope con giro of his own, flying into Zayne sideways and flattening him. Things felt really tight after that, with that dragon rana spot looking fantastic, and set up uniquely, with Makabe fighting off a couple of attempts at something else before Zayne surprised him with the dragon rana. And the neck injury really cemented this. Zayne's side suplex really whipped Makabe over, and Makabe is someone who is really good at integrating an injury into a match in interesting ways. Hit hits a German but can't hold the bridge, so leans into the cradle with his side; he tries to lock in an STF but the torque on his neck means he can't close it, allowing Zayne to grab the ropes, and he can't even hold his trademark legs trap roll up. The finish was perfect, with Zayne catching Makabe in a quick fisherman's driver, scooping and dumping him before anything could be stopped, and that's all that was needed, and with Makabe's selling it surely looked like all that was needed.


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