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Attendance at the Gr8 Sk8 Plex was 80 compared to 220 when the event was last run in May 2009. Blame it on the lousy economy, the ice cold status of pro wrestling in general or how badly burned out the Columbus area is with wrestling. Whatever. It can’t be a good sign.
The show was about as good as it could be under the circumstances. Booker Taylor McKnight’s storylines work pretty well. They’re taking their time in telling them, and they have a nice mix of logic and surprises.
Cages matches aren’t the ultimate spectacle in this venue because of the low ceiling, which creates a claustrophobic vibe and prevents any spots involving the top of the cage. GCW ought to consider putting barbed wire up there and making it a true zero escape/zero interference scenario.
The other thing is that the overall talent level isn’t what it once was at GCW. The promotion still features solid veterans like Bull Buchanan, Johnny Swinger Micah Taylor and David Young on top, and they have a star in the making in Kyle Matthews, but they’re using a lot of guys from the WWA4 school underneath, and the depth just isn’t there.
(1) Beauty & The Beast (Shane Curtis & Seth Edwards) beat Gym Class Heroes (Jimmy The Kid & Eric Mayne) to retain the GCW Tag Team Championship in 10:05. On this night, B & B looked like low level indies guys. They’re dragging the titles down and taking Gym Class Heroes into the abyss with them. The story is that Heroes lost the belts to B & B because of Mayne’s bum leg, so Jimmy has been wrestling singles. Jimmy was taking heat but was hesitatn to make a tag because of Mayne’s injury. He finally did. They did a four way legsweep off the ropes. Contrived as hell and took forever to set up. Curtis kicked out of Mayne’s pin attempt. Edwards took out Mayne’s bad leg and he was pinned by Curtis. Bad match.
Afterward, dissension reared its ugly head between Gym Class Heroes, as Kid walked off on the gimp.
(2) Gorilla Mic beat Curry Kid in 3:51. A virtual squash. Gorilla is the same guy that used to go by Big Nasty. He was a nasty gorilla in this one. He pulled Curry’s shirt up for the chops and cut off Kid’s quickness comeback with a push up lariat followed by a Michinoku driver. Mic won it with a People’s Splash. Kid was crawling to the back,. Wearing his ring announcer hat, McKnight called for Curry’s music to fire him up enough to get off the floor.
(3) Kyle Matthews beat Corey Hollis in 7:58. For the actual wrestling, this was the best match of the night. Matthews is at the point where he is capable of bringing out the best in his opponent. He also has enough variety in his game that he gives you a different match every time out. The personality aspect is a work in progress, but the pop for Matthews is based on his wrestling ability not charisma. Not to discount Hollis, who clearly has skills. He’s gotten a lot more consistent. Hollis hit a double underhook suplex and kept it on the ground. Mathews fought up from the bottom to launch his comeback. The near falls were well done. Hollis sat down on Matthews’ sunset flip for two. Matthews hit a release german suplex, but Hollis answered with a Pele for a near fall. Matthews used a Flatliner for a near fall. Matthews hit a flying roundhouse kick followed by the Slurpee Kick. Hollis sold the finishing sequence great.
Mathews said he was going to Japan for a month and when he came back it would be with one goal in mind: the GCW Championship.
(4) Johnny Swinger beat Micah Taylor (with Tracy Taylor) in a steel cage match to retain the GCW Championship in 17:03. The story is that Micah has reason to believe that Swinger invaded the Taylor’s privacy by taking photos of Tracy. Swinger claimed to have proof it wasn’t him, but Micah tore it up before the fans could see it, so the jury is still out. Since his return, Micah has regained his spot as GCW’s most over babyface. Tracy was purely window dressing in this match. Such is the lot of the babyface valet. Swinger spent the early part of it trying to escape every which way. Micah would have none of that. He focused on punching Swinger’s face in. Punches were Micah’s main weapon in this match, and indie wrestling would be better off if more guys threw them the way Micah does. The most entertaining element was Swinger’s comic selling. Swinger nailed Micah with the title belt and crotched him on the top rope. He used a pen that he had concealed in his tights. Story of the match was Swinger continually flaunted the no DQ stip. Micah rallied. Swinger sold atomic drops ala Rick Rude. Micah returned the favor with a stomp to the nuts, use of the foreign object and the cheese grater deal on the fence. Micah unlocked the cage door, but Swinger kicked the ropes to crotch him yet again. Swinger used a Flair style low blow. He was setting a record for nut shots. Swinger missed a headbutt to the nuts. They did a big collision spot to set up the finish. Kids were chanting like crazy for Micah. He climbed over the top of the cage but Gorilla came to ringside and pulled Swinger out, and Swinger touched the floor before Micah. Good for what it was. The story was clear. Crowd was into it, especially the kids.
(5) Team Deathrow (Deathrow & Rob Adonis & The Butcher & Jake Diamond) beat Team Buchanan (Bull Buchanan & David Young & Ric King & Nation) in the War Games in 24:45. Buchanan and Butcher did the first five minutes. Butcher worked over Buchanan’s taped ribs, which had been bashed into the ring barricade the week before. They used roughly three minute intervals between entrances. Diamond was first in, followed by King, Adonis, and Nation. The pattern was as it should be: the heels dominated when they had the numerical advantage, the babyfaces whomped and stomped when the odds were even. Deathrow entered with chairshots to the heads of Nation and King, but Buchanan got away. Butcher, King, Nation and Diamond ended up battling outside the cage. Young entered with Deathrow and Adonis beating on Buchanan. Young grabbed the chair. The heels backed off. Young then cracked Buchanan with a chairshot. Young hit the spinebuster on Bull. Deathrow then applied the bearhug to an unresponsive Buchanan to win the match. The heels continued to beat on babyfaces and left all three of them laying. Fans didn’t immediately react to Young’s turn, but the crowd was pretty heated before it was over. Match was OK. It was over in a heartbeat once all eight were in. You had four guys, promising though they may be, that are not main event level workers. And it’s weird seeing two cage matches with shots into the fence and all and no blood.
