6/18 GCW YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND REPORT: Jon Moxley vs. Tony Deppen, more

GCW YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND 2022 SHOW REPORT
JUNE 18, 2022
AIRED ON FITE.TV
REPORT BY JUSTIN MCCLELLAND, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

GCW Announcers: Kevin Gill, Veda Scott, Emil Jay, Jake Black, Drew Parker

(1) COLE RADRICK vs. ALEC PRICE vs. JORDAN OLIVER vs. JOMANDER vs. JACK CARTWHEEL vs. JOHN WAYNE MURDOCH vs. BLAKE CHRISTIAN – Scramble Match

Christian pinned Price in 9:40 with a spiked curb stomp

(McClelland’s Analysis: This was what you would expect from a multi-man opener – non-stop moves, limited psychology. It was very good for this type of match with all the guys looking crisp. Price and Komander (in his GCW debut) in particular stood out. The ending was out of nowhere and a little anti-climatic considering the craziness that had come before. I also don’t think the crowd was expecting Christian to win and he was not the crowd favorite although the reason he won became apparent later.)

(2) ACTION MIKE JACKSON vs. JOEY JANELA

Jackson pinned Janela in 13:00 with a top splash through a door. Jackson is a 50-year vet so the basic idea of the match was Janela being a disrespectful jerk to him and getting taught a lesson. Jackson did more than you’d think a 72 year would or should do including a tope suicida and taking a German suplex. Jackson wowed the crowd by doing the Undertaker rope walk completely around the ring then doing a similar walk on the barricade.

(McClelland’s Analysis: Match had an understandably slow pace but not in a boring way. I’m not sure Jackson should be bumping like he does but the match itself told a good story and despite the gimmick Janela did a good job in making Jackson look good. Jackson took a good 75% of the match. After giving Jackson so much, I was pretty surprised to see Janela lay down for the finish.)

(3) NINJA MACK vs. JACK EVANS

Mack pinned Evans in 7:32. Evans looked to legit knock himself out when he missed a 630 and Mack quickly covered and ended the match. Evans left on his own after a few scary seconds.

(McClelland’s Analysis: Up until the finish this was a fun back-and-forth match with each guy continually trying to one-up the number of corkscrews and flips they put into each dive. Given the sudden end, it’s hard to say much else about it.)

(4) MARKO STUNT vs. MASHA SLAMOVICH

Masha pinned Stunt in 12:24 with a jumping piledriver. Stunt’s gear was a tribute to Big Show. Slamovich dominated Stunt with power early. Stunt would mount the occasional comebacks by eluding Slamovich but she would catch him again. Masha reversed a cazadora into a dragon suplex in a great move. Stunt hit a chokeslam but Masha popped up with Stunt was celebrating. Slamovich used the Deadeye for a near fall as well. The crowd sang Happy Birthday to Slamovich afterwards.

(McClelland’s Analysis: These two meshed surprisingly well and the result was a really good match. These two told a good power vs speed story that exceeded what I would have expected. I personally would have ended with the dragon suplex or deadeye but the jumping piledriver was fine.)

(5) THE S.A.T.S vs. GRINGO LOCO

Gringo pinned one of the SAT in 14:18 with a top rope falcon arrow. SAT’s gave ASF a diving doomsday device to the outside. SATS worked over Drago kid, the smallest member of his team with power moves and submissions. Kid escaped the SATs but then it was ASF’s turn to get worked over. Match became a battle of back-and-forth non-stop moves for the final five minutes.

(McClelland’s Analysis: Match started with a crazy exhibition of dives but then settled down into the a more grounded tag match with Gringo’s team constantly fighting from underneath. Not as crazy as the opener but probably a better overall matchup.)

Brendan Brown from Wheatus was supposed to perform Teenage Dirtbag (Nate Webb’s theme song) but instead Charles “The Root of All Evil” Mason came out.

(6) SPIDER NATE WEBB vs. CHARLES MANSON

Mason pinned Webb in 4:34 with an Air Raid crash where Mason spiked Webb on his head. Brendan from Wheatus showed up to try and stop Mason from using a piano wire on Webb only for Webb to accidentally strike Brendan when going for Mason. The distraction of all that led to the finish. Mason choked out Brendan with piano after the match.

(McClelland’s Analysis: Wasn’t much to the match. I assume this is setting up a death match down the line.)

(7) GRIM REEFER vs. HOMICIDE

Homicide pinned Reefer in 9:05 with a top rope ace crusher. This was billed as the battle of two New York indie wrestling legends. Lot of brawling around the ring to start. Reefer lighting a joint was a high spot of the match that got a big pop. Afterwards Homicide put Reefer over and paid tribute to the late Trent Acid, whose birthday was Saturday.

(McClelland’s Analysis: Match was fairly slow and felt like just going through the motions until Homicide reversed a top rope move into an Ace Crusher. Even still it never got out of second gear and unless you are into the drug humor was pretty much a dud.)

(8) SECOND GEAR CREW vs. JIMMY LLOYD & LOS MAZISOS

Miedo Extremo pinned Manders in 6:58 with a German suplex. Nick Gage was the guest commentator for this match.

(McClelland’s Analysis: The obligatory weapons match of the show and not a particularly good one with no real flow beyond guys just doing things to each other while the crowd waited for the doors to get broken. Way, way too many unprotected chair shots to the head in this match as well.)

(9) BUSSY vs. THE MANE EVENT – GCW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Bussy retained the titles in 11:44 when Effy pinned Lyon with a Sack Rider. This was an unannounced open challenge from the champs. Mane Event have a circus style, Lion and Lion tamer gimmick. The do a move where Lyon jumps through a hoop held up by Black to deliver a tope.

(McClelland’s Analysis: Bussy is one of GCW’s most popular acts and I think Mane Event could get a following on the indies with their gimmick. This was a fun match with the challengers giving the champs unexpected trouble before the end.)

(10) JON MOXLEY vs. TONY DEPPEN – GCW World Championship

Moxley retained the title in 17:15 with the Paradigm Shift. Match started with an intense exchange of technical holds and counters. Crowd was surprisingly split 50/50 between the two competitors. Moxley finally overpowered Deppen with chops. Deppen sent Moxley to the floor and followed with a summersault dive. Moxley countered a fireman’s carry into a rear naked choke and transitioned to his 12-to-6 elbow strikes. Deppen dropped Moxley with an arm wringer DDT on the apron and worked over Moxley’s arm, blocking the champ from reapplying the rear naked choke. Moxley was finally able to stop Deppen with an underhook superplex but Moxley’s arm was too hurt for him to take full advantage. Moxley was able to drop Deppen in a strike battle but when he applied the bulldog choke, his injured arm allowed Deppen to reverse and nearly pin Moxley with a shining wizard. Deppen applied the crossface chicken wing but Moxley made the ropes. Moxley escaped a triangle choke and stomped on Deppen’s head. Moxley looked to subdue Deppen with elbow strikes but Deppen kicked out of the pin. Deppen wouldn’t quit but was finally put away with the Paradigm Shift.

After the match, Blake Christian came out and had a face off with Moxley. The announcers said Blake Christian will face Moxley for the title on Friday, July 29 in Nashville as part of Starrcast.

(McClelland’s Analysis: This was such a great main event. Both guys brought serious intensity and told a strong story with Moxley’s injured arm giving Deppen hope and foiling some of Moxley’s key moves. Moxley has been firing on all cylinders for a while but Deppen is one of the more underrated guys on the indie scene and I hope this match will give him some well-deserved attention.)

FINAL THOUGHTS: GCW is not my favorite promotion but I thought this was one of the better shows they have presented. They made up for the inability to do a death match – one of their signatures – with more high-flying matches which was a positive in my opinion. The show lost a lot of steam after the SATs match, but was saved by a tremendous main event. They also kept significantly better clock management than their last New York show, with this show clocking in at just over 3 hours including an intermission.

CATCH-UP: 5/28 GCW DOWNWARD SPIRAL SHOW REPORT: Joey Janela vs. Johnny Gamechanger, Cardona in action, more