4/5 Game Changer Wrestling – Matt Riddle’s “Bloodsport”: No ropes, KO or Submissions only, with Riddle vs. Suzuki, Thatcher vs. Gage, Severn vs. Dickinson

Game Changer Wrestling: Matt Riddle’s “Bloodsport”
April 5, 2018
Kenner, La. at the Pontchartrain Convention Center
Aired on WWN Live and Fite TV
Report by Jose Marrero (@jmarrrumbling)

So I decided to kick off my WrestleMania weekend with this show. This show takes its theme from the Jean Claude Van Damme movie Bloodsports kumite tournament. For those who have never seen it the movie itself is an underground martial arts tournament in which its participants compete in bouts that can only be decided by submission, knockout or by killing your opponent. So while not a tournament (although there is always next year I guess), this years show’s bouts are competed in a ring with no ropes, in which you can only win by knockout or submission.

Show opens with Paul Crockett and Drew Cordero on commentary as ring announcer Larry Legend explains the rules of the nights bouts to the audience.

(1) DOMINIC GARINI vs. KTB

The story of this match is that while KTB is a big powerful guy he really isn’t much of a striker and had no submissions, while Garini is a BJJ purple belt. So while KTB could pretty much rag doll Garini he couldn’t do much with him.  This was a pretty short simple bout and didn’t last long.

WINNER: Dominic Garini via triangle choke. I felt this one was just to kind of introduce everyone to the concept of the show, and well it did that.

(2) TRACEY WILLIAMS vs. EDDIE KINGSTON (w/Matt Riddle)

Striker vs. technician here. This one reminded me a bit more of the old UWFI bouts from back in the 90s as both men traded strikes and holds with no one holding the advantage very long. Kingston at least committed to the theme of the event leaving his wrestling boots in the back and taping his feet up. It was a bit awkward watching him throwing standing round house kicks but for the most part I enjoyed this match.

WINNER: Eddie Kingston via spinning back first KO. The way the referee jumped in to stop it was kind of reminiscent of UFC fights and the two combatants shook hands afterwards.

(3) MARTIN STONE vs. MASADA

I have to say this, all of that time Martin Stone spends going back and forth between NXT pays off as when he comes out he actually feels like a star instead of just a guy. This was a match up pitting the European style of Stone vs. the hard hitting style of Masada. Masada who is more known to be a hardcore guy kind of surprised e a bit I this contest as he traded holds early on and didn’t look uncomfortable in doing so. I know fans pay to see Masada do the barbed wire bats and such but it was nice to have a change of pace with him. Weird moment in this match as the ref called for a break when the participants were close to the edge of the ring, even though this was supposed to kind of be a no rope break match, although I guess there were no ropes, but  there was still breaks.

WINNER: Masada via KO via triangle choke and strikes. The finish of the match seemed very clunky and even the announcers seemed confused as to the ending of the match as the referee didn’t even let Masada start striking before he almost initially called for the bell.

(4) TOM LAWLOR vs. WALTER

Tom Lawlor is amazing as he went into this weekend despite having a broken arm that required surgery less than 2 months ago. For all of Lawlors submission expertise he had difficulty throughout the bout with the sheer size of Walter who once he established his size and power advantage over Lawlor immediately went to work on the injured arm. Once he did, this match felt the most like a wrestling match as it went on with Walter playing the heel taking off Lawlors protective wrap and the babyface Lawlor refusing to quit despite being badly outgunned. I was really enjoying this till Lawlor took me out of the match going for a Superman punch imitating Roman Reigns. I don’t think any of the characters inn the movie bloodsport did that.

WINNER: Walter via rear naked choke. The finishing sequence was really cool as they rolled through submissions with Walter finally getting the choke in. Up until this point this was probably the best match of the show and I would’ve enjoyed it more if not for Lawlor imitating Reigns.

At this point the show went to intermission which even seemed to surprise the announcers since the show started a half hour late due to what was a server issue and wasn’t even 45 minutes in.

(5) CHRIS DICKINSON (w/Jaka) vs. DAN SEVERN

Thanks to the videos that played during intermission I was able to see this match had a bit of a story leading up to it. Chris Dickinson felt he was too dangerous for this event and would only participate if he could take on Dan Severn. Dickinson came out with a shirt that read “FUCK YOU We Are Doom Patrol” and Severn made his way with 3 men holding his UFC titles in tow. Although it had its moments mostly due to Dickinson trying to get strikes in whenever he achieved separation this match was every Dan Severn UFC fight as they spent most of the fight in each other’s guards. When Things did get going with Dickinson striking Severn with elbows while he was in half guard the referee for some unknown reason stood them up leading to the resulting finish.

WINNER: Dan Severn via rear naked choke KO. I really don’t understand the refereeing here and even the announcers made mention of it. It doesn’t make sense unless the plan is to come back with this match in another venue this weekend. Post match involved Dickinson going after Severn which led to Matt Riddle and Tom Lawlor coming out to separate the two.

(6) TIM THATCHER vs. NICK GAGE

Gage is the GCW champion although you would never know it since the announcers never mentioned it once. Early part of this match had Thatcher just having his way out wrestling Gage and then finally after 5 matches someone went outside the ring and now we were in Gage’s element as Gage proceeded to get more offense in once we got out there. I was curious to see if this would break down into a hardcore type match at that point but it really didn’t and before long both were back inside trading strikes and well the story of the match was Thatcher was the wrestler and Gage was the striker so you can see where this one is going.

WINNER: Nick Gage who wound up getting Thatcher down and ground and pounded hi to win via KO. Gage cut a promo post match. He said he waited all year for this show, it was a dream come true and put over the crowd as the greatest fans in the world. IT wasnn’t the greatest promo but Gage was the biggest star in the world to these fans at this point. I suspect that was about to change with the next match though.

(7) MATT RIDDLE (w/Eddie Kingston) vs. MINORU SUZUKI. 

Low Ki was originally scheduled to be Riddles opponent but pulled out due to a neck injury, and somehow GCW was able to secure Suzuki as Riddles new opponent. Matt Riddle as everyone knows is a former UFC star turned wrestler but what some fans may not know is Minoru Suzuki is one of MMA’s first stars as he was one of the co founders of the Pancrase promotion which was the forerunner to UFC. So you would think this kind of match would place both guys in there element. Announcers mentioned this was the second time these 2 competed against each other,I guess since they didn’t I’ll tell you that the first was for NJPW/RevPro Global Wars 2017 and Suzuki won that encounter.

Easily the best match of the entire show as both men got to showcase that which makes them both great as they traded shots inside and outside the ring. It didn’t last as long as their previous encounter but I enjoyed it more to be honest.

WINNER: Minoru Suzuki via rear naked choke KO. Post-match saw Suzuki actually embrace Matt Riddle which for those who watch Suzuki regularly is something he never does. Even though Suzuki won, he left the ring to Riddle who closed out the show with a promo putting over the crowd.

FINAL THOUGHTS: All in all it wasn’t the worst show in the world but it wasn’t the best either and I kind of hope this is a one time thing as I don’t need to see it again every year. If you missed it,  don’t worry as the show barely went two hours with the 20 minute intermission and probably isn’t worthy paying for on a replay.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS REPORT: 4/1 WWE in Macon, Ga.: Bray Wyatt returns and updates status of his character, Hardy invites him to team with him, plus Bliss, Reigns, Asuka, more