GCW: The WRLD Is Theirs

If you ask me, the 90's was the golden age for many, many things. Music, television, music television, the overall quality of life, style...a whole lot of things. Professional wrestling was certainly hitting it's golden age in the mid-late 90's. It almost seems a lifetime ago of having the now infamous Monday Night Wars between Vince McMahon and Ted Turner. While those two got all the glory, many people would consider ECW as the scrappy underdog that may have been the most entertaining of the bunch. It had nowhere near the budget or television opportunities as the other two, but ECW had this deviously charming way about it that always made it stand out on its own. It was grainy, gritty, maybe more realistic. I'll put it this way, you'd be guaranteed some moments that would both make you cringe and say holy shit multiple times every show, where you couldn't always guarantee that with the other two. It was simpler times, and when ECW folded, it was a sad moment for the world of wrestling. The one with all the true hardcore passion had to be the first one to go. It ain't fair, but it was what it was.

Simpler times at Heatwave 98

Of course, as time moves on, things can get back into the groove. And here we are in 2022.

The last couple of years has been a boom for the wrestling biz. Between the arrival of AEW becoming a viable threat to WWE, shows like Dark Side of the Ring drawing in current and older fans, a bunch of big names leaving WWE to reinvent themselves with their own creativity (which went wasted in WWE), there is a whole lot of exciting content out there. If you remember back in the 90's, Vince McMahon promised that WWE (F back then) was the "cure for the common show". He didn't want to insult his audience with unbelievable characters and snooze-worthy storylines.  I look at WWE now and...what the shit happened? I'm not kidding you, Raw had an academic challenge last night, and they have already confirmed a Scooter Race (seriously) next week on Raw. 

As a member of the audience? I'm fucking insulted.

...die of boredom from Raw

Thank God for AEW. It was long overdue for Vinny Mac to get some competition, and he certainly has it now. As AEW continues to grow, GCW is also growing at a rapid rate, and most importantly, it's living up to the G part of it's name: gamechanger. 

this aged poorly

To me, GCW is like the off-broadway version of today's wrestling landscape, and I mean that as a huge compliment. It won't always be perfect and have the greatest showmanship and performances every single night, but you better believe that there is an incredible amount of talent and waaay more heart there which makes it stand out. I was young when ECW was in it's final days, but I still remember being blown away by it as a kid, and I still enjoy throwing on their old shows via in the interwebs. It had that punk, indie, low budget feel to it, but it was so damn authentic that it was hard not to watch it. 

I feel the same exact way about GCW.

sheesh.

I first took real notice of GCW with the whole Jon Moxley and Nick Gage faceoff at Spring Break of Wrestlemania Weekend. They really got Mox? They got the biggest star of AEW to show up to a basically a parking lot to face their new champ with a bunch of light tubes and shit? The intrigue was there immediately. I already knew some of the names in GCW, mostly Joey Janela, Nick Gage, Allie Katch and Effy, but suddenly I took way more notice of who was there and what they had going on over in GCW. Also, it was hard not to ignore the legend of Jimmy Lloyd, who had just recently (unofficially) joined WWE's Hurt Business that same weekend Mox showed up. 

For me, you can throw on any GCW or ECW show and not worry so much about storylines. You can tell immediately that whoever is out there is just there to kick ass, and quite frankly, it's refreshing as hell. You never know who is going to show up, and trying to guess outcomes is pointless. Just in the last couple of months, GCW has hosted Mick Foley, Kevin Nash and Sabu(!). They've worked with a bunch of big name AEW and Ring of Honor stars, numerous Japanese wrestlers (Minoru Suzuki was still wild to me personally), and countless other legends who can still hang today (2Cold Scorpio and Ricky Morton, I'm looking at you dudes). You don't know what you're gonna get at any GCW show, and that's what makes it so damn exciting. 

Fast forward a bit and I've bought my fair share of shows they've put on, and I haven't been disappointed yet. I love that you have such a mix of competition and styles. You obviously have the brutal deathmatch shit, but you also get incredibly skilled lucha matches and classic mat wrestling in the mix as well. The cast of characters is pretty wide ranging as well. If you were to tell me a year or so ago that I would willingly buy a show that had Zack Ryder in the main event, I would've thought you were crazy. If you had told me he would be fighting Nick fuckin' Gage in a deathmatch that would involved light tubes, tacks, staples doors, whatever the hell else they could use, and then a riot would breakout in the crowd, I really would've thought you were off your damn rocker. 

As annoying Ryder..no...Matt Cardona is (which I guess means he's doing a damn good job), I give him all the credit in the world for reinventing himself since his release. Love him or hate him, any wrestling fan knew he didn't get a fair shake with the idiots in Stamford. I'd give him more credit and praise but I'm still pissed off he beat Joey Janela so...I'll stop there. Besides him, there's so much talent there and up and coming guys that it's going to be a lot of fun to keep watching. Blake Christian is going to be a stud. Jordan Oliver and Nick Wayne has crazy bright futures. Then you even have guys like PCO still doing the damn thing. They have dudes like Alex Colon and Second Gear Crew who I hope I NEVER spill a drink of theirs at a bar. GCW is another destination for wrestlers to go and do their own thing, which is great for the business. McMahon had a stranglehold on this business for too long, but the tides are kinda starting to turn. 

The easy thing to do is just compare it to ECW back in the day. I hope that doesn't offend them in any way with that comp, it's just...kinda true. Back in the 90's and early 00's you had WWF/E having their dick measuring contest with a floundering WCW, and you had ECW right there in the wings doing their own crazy shit with a rabid cult following. I don't think it's unfair to say right now that we have a new peak in wrestling, just some of the cards have been shuffled. Now, WWE is the new floundering WCW (seriously, a scooter race next Monday), AEW is the WWF/E and GCW is the new ECW. (On a quick side note, it really is amazing how WWE has dropped the ball with NXT2.0. They had a good thing going and they crashed and burned like Antonio Brown on the Buccaneers. Sad!). To me, GCW is their own brand of wrestling and it's just as enjoyable as AEW. 

Just rearranging the living room a bit...

This past Sunday night GCW sold out the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City  and put on a hell of a show. It had the grit and crazy spots that it should have. Not everything was perfect, which was perfectly fine at the same time. I almost had to watch that opening brass ring ladder match through my fingers due to some of those crazy ass spots. The Joey Janela/Cardona match was a clusterfuck in the best way possible. I loved the crazy twists and turns, the return of X-Pac, the nod to Edge with Brian Myers coming out in the motorcycle helmet, it was so chaotic and fun and had the crowd truly amped up. You felt the disappointment when Allie Katch lost to Ruby Soho, but hey, that just means she's over as hell to the GCW faithful, and that's something to be proud of, isn't it? Team Gringo vs. Team Bandido was a banger that had some moves that I had never seen before, which is something that seems to happen more often than now in GCW. The entire show, really, was something else. Hell, you even got Jeff Jarrett to have a relevant match in 2022 thanks to Effy! 

Poor Effy, I like that Effy!

Although the match itself was brief, the main event was memorable just for the return of the King himself, Nick F'n Gage as a surprise opponent. I love the shot of some of the fans on the stage when Dewey Donovan made his zombie-like way to the crowd. Their faces were just in disbelief that in any second that bell was going to go dong and they weren't gonna go crazy for the Undertaker. No, that bell tolling was Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" which can only mean one thing: Nick Fucking Gage. MDK all day, and at the end of the day it was the perfect way to go out. Nick Gage getting the crowd into an absolute frenzy. 

The Ensuing Chaos, sponsored by PBR

I absolutely mean it when I saw bravo to Brett Lauderdale and the GCW crew. The haters are gonna hate, but no matter what, you guys sold out the legendary Hammerstein Ballroom, and you have more eyeballs on your company than ever. This was your show to prove everyone wrong, and you did. People may look back years from now and view The WRLD on GCW as one of those game-changing (pun absolutely intended) nights for the company. Long live GCW.