REVIEW — The WRLD on GCW (Jan 23, 2022)
Just as an FYI, this was my first viewing experience of Game Changer Wrestling. Other than the odd Youtube clip or discussion on Busted Open Radio, my knowledge of GCW was mostly limited to whatever involvement Jon Moxley had. In saying that, the buzz around this event was noticeable to even me, and I figured I would pony up the $40 CAD and see what all the fuss was about. I was not disappointed and that is an understatement.
This event was very solid. Like VERY solid. The match quality was high. The guest appearances were pretty amazing. The atmosphere at the Hammerstein Ballroom was absolutely insane. It really gave off ECW vibes, and I am sure that was what they were going for (just check out the merch they were selling for proof). I don’t have much to complain about, but the event wasn’t perfect and we’ll get into that.
Lets start off with the match-ups. I won’t go into the pre-show stuff; you can find that on Youtube and I highly recommend checking it out. The PPV event started off with the Grab the Brass Ring Ladder Match, with the winner able to cash it in at any time for a shot at any title. The match was supposed to feature Lio Rush but he was replaced by G-Raver, and we would find out why a little later on. AJ Gray was also a surprise 7th entrant at the last minute. The GCW Extreme Champion was supposed to have battled Eddie Kingston at this event but Kingston has an injury and was forced to withdraw, so it was nice to see Gray still get in on some action. And Gray ended up winning this match in fact, which could set up some interesting match-ups in the future. This match was pretty insane, with some really crazy ladder spots. The ladders themselves didn’t seem to want to cooperate, which made for some scary moments but they made it through and the right man won.
The next match on the card was a Trios match under luchador rules with Team Bandido taking on Team Gringo. This match was all the proof needed to see why lucha libre wrestling needs to be seen on TV more often. Some of the spots in this match were absolutely insane. At one point all six men were stacked in two towers of three men, with each level fighting their counterpart in the other stack. It was certainly one of the coolest wrestling spots I’ve seen in awhile. In the end Team Gringo pulled out the win with Gringo Loco getting the pin after a spike piledriver on ASF.
Now here is where we get the LIo Rush match that we were promised, even if not what we thought we were getting going into the night. Unfortunately, Jonathon Gresham was unable to appear due to health and safety protocols, so the ROH World Championship match had to be cancelled. Enter Lio Rush, taking Gresham’s spot in his match against Blake Christian. Now I haven’t seen Gresham wrestle much and I was excited to see this match, but it is what it is, and Lio Rush knows what he’s doing. Blake Christian grabbed a mic to express his frustration, and made it be known he still deserves that title shot at some point. The match itself was great. These two guys deserve a lot of credit for putting together a match on such short notice. The ending with Christian landing a 450 double stomp on Rush before snagging the pin was outstanding, and its very obvious that Blake Christian has a bright future ahead of him.
The next match was one of the battles I was most looking forward to going into this event. It was one of the only matchups where I was familiar with both competitors, and had been following the feud through instagram, and I am of course talking about Matt Cardona vs Joey Janella. This match was mostly a handicap match with Chelsea Green basically being another competitor against Janella, but he held his own through most of this match. While starting off as a good old fashioned grudge match, this battle devolved into absolute chaos and I am totally here for that. There was constant interruptions from the likes of Swoggle (from under the ring), Marco Stunt, Brian Myers (spearing Janella with a motorcycle helmet on) and after Cardona got the win and was setting up to beat down Janella even more, the DX music hit and Sean Waltman (Xpac) came in for the save. Like I said, this match was a complete clusterfuck and I loved every minute of it. The competitors were clearly going for a 90’s WWF overbooked match vibe and they certainly accomplished their goal. Great match.
Following the previous match would have been a tough go, but Allie Katch vs Ruby Soho did an admirable job of finding a way to get it done. The match started with a video package featuring Allie Katch talking about how this was her dream match, and these two ladies lived up to that. This was definitely the biggest match of Katch’s career, and although Ruby got the win, these two women put on banger and showed that the future is bright for both GCW and AEW with these women respectively.
While I enjoyed the following match, it kind of came off as kind of a miss. Jeff Jarrett vs Effy seemed like an odd combo, and there didn’t seem to be enough story build to really know the motivation for Jeff Jarrett here. That being said, I am a sucker for an absolute legend getting in the ring, and Jarrett walking to the ring with the dope theme and dressed like the Man in Black, I have to admit I marked out pretty hard, The match itself was nothing special. There was what felt like 10 minutes where the two men just beat each with Jarrett’s belt. They kind of made Jarrett out to be a bit homophobic, and while he can clearly still go, the match was a little more slow and deliberate than anything else on the card. I enjoyed the ending, with Jarrett breaking his guitar over Effy’s head and then slamming him to the ground for the pinfall, but its clear that this feud isn’t over yet and I’m not sure that’s such a great idea.
The GCW World Championship match was next, which felt odd at the time, since it wasn’t even the main event. The reason for this became clear later, but I am still a firm believer in the title match should end the card. Regardless, it was great to see Moxley again after his match on Friday against Ethan Page on Rampage. To be honest, this really does seem like Moxley in his element too; he’s clearly a violent guy, and this kind of promotion just seems like such a natural fit. And don’t get me wrong, I want Mox in AEW until he retires, but it’s nice to see him broadening his horizons. Not to mention that Homicide is an indie wrestling legend (he was inducted into the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame the night before) and I was expecting an absolute banger, but in actuality this match was mostly a let down. To be clear, this was more of a fight and that was perfectly fine too, but I feel like this could have been more. The saving grace was that image of Mox holding the title up after his victory in a sold out Hammerstein, which definitely made up for any shortcomings of the match itself.
Then it was time for the main event, which was the Open Challenge for the GCW Tag Team Titles with the Briscoes facing off against an unnamed opponent. I truly believed that this was going to be FTR showing up, which was the only reason that it made sense to me to throw this match on last. But I was wrong, and the challengers were GCW legend Matt Tremont and the leader of the MDK Gang, Nick Fucking Gage. I was stoked to see Gage but was disappointed that it wasn’t FTR. The match was fast and furious, but it was also really short. I had read somewhere that the event had to be over by 11pm and that didn’t leave the competitors much time. Whether that was true, or it was always supposed to be this kind of match, it reached the desired effect and took the titles off the Briscoes and the fan’s got to have their hero Gage walk out with a belt. The highlight of the last match was actually the post-match gathering of the GCW locker room in the ring with Gage, most drinking a spirituous beverage of some kind (most likely a PBR) with Gage thanking the fans and celebrating an amazing night. Even though the match maybe didn’t live up to expectations, the final hurrah certainly made up for it.
On the whole, this event was extremely successful, and I am not even talking about financially. This was a sold out legendary wrestling venue (I believe I heard an announcer say around 2000 people) by a company that is only gaining popularity by the day. The card itself was stacked and most of the matches were very entertaining if not legitimately awesome. Were there some minor production issues? Yes, but this isn’t WWE or AEW. This is an indie promotion putting on a PPV and I think they hit it out of the park. I know personally I will be paying much closer attention to Game Changer Wrestling, and I know many more people will be too.
