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On Friday 8/17, Gamechanger Wrestling debuted at the Melrose Ballroom in NYC for Joey Janela...Lost in New York. The show, designed to play off of the cult hit shows branded around Janela that have taken place over Wrestlemania, was an extremely entertaining independent show. It was very much a throwback to the days where the independents meant very zany and oddball match lineups and shows that were just meant to be a fun three hours of wrestling, as opposed to everyone trying to be the next big company. The show felt different and had a really good energy to it as the audience, cultivated on social media, very much were a big part of the show. This show may not have been for everyone, but for those who "got it", it was likely the highlight of their Summerslam weekend.
MJF pinned Nate "Spider' Webb. For many years, Webb has been coming out to the song Teenage Dirtbag, so GCW booked the band that performs it, Wheatus, to play him out to the ring. It was a cool scene that made the show come off like something special and different. This was a fun match mixing comedic shenanigans with MJF, who has some of the best facial expressions in wrestling and some brawling around the ring. They did a spin on the old Eddie Guerrero "toss a chair and act like I was hit with it" where they each tried to convince the referee that the other did it. Brendan Brown, the lead singer of Wheatus even got involved and hit a DDT. Thoroughly fun opening match.
The Kyle The Beast Open Challenge....out came someone named Marko Stunt, who was perhaps one of the shortest wrestlers I've seen in a long time and then ended up completely stealing the show. He took absolutely insane bumps and also whipped out tons of crisp moves. It reminded me of the first time I saw the Amazing Red, where everyone laughed at him in the ring at the old Elks Lodge in NYC and then when he hit a Phoenix Splash, scores of people jumped out of their seat, shocked into a standing ovation by how great he was. I expect Stunt will end up getting a ton of bookings just off this performance and the new "hot" guy on the indy scene. KTB was perfect in the role of beating the hell out of him. KTB scored the pin but Stunt was the real winner here.
Wheeler Yuta came out with Stokely Hathaway when they were interrupted by The Sandman. Remember when I wrote completely zany, random things? This is one of those. They did the entire Enter Sandman entrnace, which is always fun. Hathaway said that he thought the Sandman was dead. Well, he was, then he woke up in the emergency room and still made his ECW booking that night. True story. Then Hathaway was murdered with Singapore Cane shots. You knew what you were getting here but the crowd loved it.
Teddy Hart pinned Chris Dickinson with a Canadian Destroyer. The lure of this was seeing what would happened with Hart, always known for being a little off his rocker faces off with Dickinson, who is known for being a tough guy who doesn't want to deal with anyone's sh**. Hart dedicated the match to Jim Neidhart. Dickinson controlled the early portion of the bout and was just wrecking Hart by slamming him on the outside edge of the ring apron over and over. He went to suplex Hart out of the ring but Teddy reversed it into a DDT. They began whipping out back and forth big moves but neither could get the fall before the Destroyer. Decent match.
*Jimmy Lloyd won the Grab the Brass Ring Ladder Match. This was just all out insanity with wacky and crazy spots from a cast of characters all trying to get noticed and get over while entertaining the fans. Gringo Loco, Orange Cassidy, Tony Deppen, Eli Everfly and G-Raver were the other competitors. If you like highspots and aerial moves that are nuts, you will love this. If you are looking for a cohesive story with ring psychology, you probably weren't going to order this show anyway. But, this was a ton of fun as a highlight reel and the audience loved the hell out of it. They did all sorts of stunts with setting up ladders, sort of similar to the Jung Dragons vs. Three Count Starrcade 2000 match and tried some unique and creative stuff, including stacking guys on different ladders in the corner to set up a big doublestomp spot. They also used a bunch of doors. Yes, doors. Some of it hit, some of it didn't work perfectly, but the work ethic here in terms of taking punishment and doing insane things was a lot of fun to watch.
*GCW Champion Nick Gage pinned Sabu, substituting for Haku. Haku had pulled off the show to attend Jim Neidhart's funeral but Sabu was more than a suitable replacement, especially for the audience GCW was gunning for. At this point and time, Sabu obviously can't do what he did in his original breakout period of the early '90s. Like Indiana Jones once famously said, it's not the years but the miles. That said, this was a pretty damn good Sabu match and Gage was a great opponent for him. They did some good brawling and Gage was a nice base for the traditional Sabu spots. At one point, Sabu set up a door between two chairs for an Arabian Facebuster. There are so many doors under this ring, I am wondering if the Monsters, Inc. factory is hidden down there. Sabu went to the top for an Arabian Facebuster but slipped and Gabe nailed him. Gage finally got the pin with a package piledriver. Solid, entertaining stuff. Gage is probably the most underrated guy when it comes to charisma.
Intermission was all 1990s eras commercials on the iPPV feed. That was clever.
*Ethan Page pinned Penelope Ford. Page acted early on like he knew this was a joke and disrespected Ford as he threw her around. Ford responded by slapping him hard and nailing a nice dropkick that sent him to the floor. At that point, it was on and he wasn't happy, nailing her as she followed him to the floor and whipping out several backbreakers and a slam. From that point on, it was Ford kicking out of big moves. Ford slipped out of a powerbomb attempt but was caught with a superkick to the face. She took a Marty Jannetty-style inside out bump off that was pretty cool. Ford still kicked out of a powerbomb but was locked in a Sharpshooter. Page pulled her back into an evil position, and was so far back he could grab her face with a free hand. She finally tapped, having fought the valiant fight.
*Jinsei "Hakushi" Shinzaki pinned Joey Janela. The entire idea of the show was a '90s themed event, so Janela gets a dream match against one of the most impressive talents from that time period. The early portion of this was Shinzaki controlling Janela on the mat with armbars and grappling with him. He went for the nerve hold to set up the crowd ralling behind Janela. Janela hit a great dive that speared Shinzaki into the barricade. Shinzaki avoided a moonsault. He went to the top and hit a shoulder tackle then began working over Janela. He nailed a Michinoku Driver for a two count. Janela made a comeback but couldn't put Shinzaki away. They battled on the top and finally Shinzaki nailed a chokeslam off the top and scored the win. Solid, OK stuff. The lure was a rare Shinzaki appearance and the crowd got what they wanted out of it. It was smart not to have this close the show.
*PCO pinned Matt Riddle. One of the more insane and fun stories of the year has been the resurgence of the former Quebecer Pierre, remade as a sort of a living monster who feels no pain and dishes out tons of punishment. He's always been a very good in-ring performer but this twist has really resonated with the audience. Riddle, in one of his last independent appearances, didn't hold back as he and PCO chopped the living hell out of each other with burst blood vessels everywhere. PCO began wiping out Riddle with a series of suplexes. Riddle scored a close two count with a German suplex. Riddle scored another two count with a tombstone but PCO kept escaping before the three count. Riddle began beating the piss out of him with kick after kick. He went for a senton off the ropes but PCO rolled out of the way. Ridlde nailed a German suplex and both guys were out. Music played and out came an old man with a car battery. He attached cables to PCO and "shocked him back to life" since he's playing pretty much the Frankenstein Monster and why not go all the way with it? This of course revived PCO. He chokeslammed Riddle and nailed a moonsault off the top for the pin. That was fun.
GCW promised something fun and different and well, they delivered. In a world where it's extremely hard to be unique since all the themes have been turned into theme parks, GCW shined on a big weekend, just by having their own twist and trying to give the audience something fun. It very much reminded me of early 2000s CZW with the obvious ECW nods as well. As an event designed for this weekend, they succeeded in all aspects.
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