Oak Canyon Park, Santa Ana, CA
GCW returns just six days after putting on Spring Break 4 during The Collective weekend with Last Resort. It was a great show with some great matches and I am glad I got to review it.
JOEY JANELA VS. AJ GRAY
The match starts with AJ Gray dodging a lock-up, putting Janela into a rear waistlock. Janela escaped the waistlock with an arm wrench, only for AJ Gray to sweep his leg and attempt to put Janela in an ankle lock, only for Joey to avoid it and lock one of his own in. Janela transitioned out of it into an arm wrench, with Gray reversing it but Janela got to the rope and then rolled out of the ring to prevent Gray from taking over. Janela puts Gray into a sideheadlock, with Gray throwing him off into the corner. Janela avoided an attack in the corner, with Gray eventually taking him out with a pounce to Janela’s lower body, with a Monty Brown reference on commentary. Gray continued the attack with a chop in the corner. Gray then took Janela down with a spinning heel kick after bouncing him off the ropes.
Gray hit Janela with another chop, sending him into the corner, hitting Joey with another vicious chop. Janela comes back and hits Gray with a few of his own chops. Gray reverses an Irish whip from Janela and wipes him out with a back elbow. Gray kicks Janela while he’s down until Janela gets back to his feet with Gray hitting him with a strike. Janela avoids another attack from Gray with a knee, and then drops AJ with a swinging neckbreaker. Janela then dropped a quick elbow on Gray, getting a two-count. Janela attempted another clothesline but Gray ducked it and dropped Joey with a huge one-handed Spinebuster. Janela avoids a diving headbutt from Gray, rolling out of the way just in time.
After both Janela and Gray avoided hitting each other with one, Janela eventually dropped Gray with the Death Valley Driver, getting a two count. Gray avoids an attack in the corner with a boot to Janela’s face and then catches Joey off another attack in the corner, launching him over his shoulder with a back body drop. Gray then drops a HUGE diving leg drop, getting another two-count. Janela and Gray then trade strikes until Janela slaps Gray, and AJ gave him a smack back for good measure, dropping Joey to the mat. Janela began cranking on Gray’s arm, only for AJ to roll through and hit Janela with a huge big boot. Janela hypes himself up and hits Gray with a high knee and then locks him in a tilt-a-whirl armbar, which he transitions into a crossface until Gray got to the ropes, forcing Janela to break the hold.
Janela nailed Gray with a running knee strike, while Gray was hung up in the ropes. AJ Gray avoids a Janela Swanton Bomb by getting his knees up. Janela quickly gets back into it by dropping Gray with a backstabber, kicking him to the outside. Janela then took Gray out on the outside with a suicide dive, sending him back into the ring. As soon as Janela got back into the ring, AJ Gray took him out with a massive lariat, getting a two-count. Gray followed it up with a Gutwrench Powerbomb, getting another two-count. Janela reverses a Falcon Arrow into a stunner variation, hitting Gray with a superkick and then taking him down with a lariat of his own. Janela drops AJ with a brainbuster, getting a two-count. Janela goes to the top rope but AJ Gray hits him with a high enzigiri. Gray then took out Janela with a powerslam from the top rope, getting the three-count and the victory.
A main event caliber match opened the show at GCW Last Resort with AJ Gray picking up a huge victory over Joey Janela. I see big things coming from AJ Gray, with Gray really showing what he’s made of during The Collective weekend. Incredible match.
ADRIAN QUEST VS. DANNY LIMELIGHT VS. CHRIS DICKINSON
Quest and Limelight start the match off by teaming up against Dickinson, with Limelight taking him down with a jumping reverse neckbreaker. Quest then took out Limelight with a top rope springboard arm drag, following it up with a hurricanrana and taking out Limelight with a springboard spinning splash.
Dickinson gets back into the ring, hitting Quest with a kick to the midsection and then takes him down with a boot. Quest attempted to take Chris down but Dickinson caught him, placed him into a powerslam hold and then shoved him into the corner. Dickinson attempted a Staten Island Stampede but Quest avoided it and then hit Chris with a headscissors, sending him into the middle turnbuckle.
Quest took out Limelight with a running European uppercut in the corner, following it up with another one, this time to Dickinson in the adjacent corner. Quest attempted another attack on Limelight in the corner, only for Danny to hit him with a boot, with Dickinson taking him down with a back elbow.
Limelight then took to the middle turnbuckle, avoided an attack from Dickinson by walking on the middle rope, taking out Dickinson and Quest with a sprinboard diving double clothesline. Limelight took out Dickinson with a superkick after getting him down to one knee. Quest avoided an attack from Limelight by locking in a tilt-a-whirl armbar, only for Quest to transition out of it by nailing a vicious looking lungblower, with Dickinson breaking up the pinfall at two. Limelight struck Dickinson with a strike, a back elbow and two kicks to the chest. Limelight attempted a springboard dive but Dickinson caught him and rolled through, dropping Limelight with a Death Valley Driver, getting a two count. Dickinson dropped Limelight with a brainbuster, only for Quest to break it up at two.
Quest hit Dickinson with a running European uppercut in the corner but met Dickinson’s boot on the second attempt, with Chris taking him down with a hard chop. Limelight sent him back into the corner with a high knee. Limelight continued the attack with four kicks in the corner. Dickinson got out of the corner with a double powerbomb, taking out both Quest and Limelight. Dickinson then locked both Quest and Limelight into an ankle lock, with Limelight breaking it up by reaching the ropes.
Dickinson rushed at Limelight on the apron, only for Danny to stop him with a high kick. After losing his footing, Limelight took Dickinson down with a springboard DDT, getting a two-count due to Quest breaking it up with a running shooting star press. Limelight ducks a high kick, by rolling Quest up getting a two count. Dickinson rushes at Quest, only to miss him and take out Limelight, causing him to fall to the floor on the outside, with Quest getting a two-count from a schoolboy. A high kick from Quest takes down Dickinson, with him quickly following it up with an picture-perfect 630 Senton, getting another two-count, due to Limelight dragging him out of the ring. Limelight and Quest hit each other with strikes on the outside until Dickinson takes them both out with a baseball slide. Dickinson rolls Quest in, and, after a missed clothesline, Dickinson nails a huge lariat, turning Quest inside out, getting the three-count.
A great triple threat match, with Dickinson overcoming game competition in Quest and Limelight. Dickinson is very slowly becoming a favourite man, especially from his Bloodsport match with Jon Moxley during The Collective weekend. A great showing by all three.
SABU VS. MATTHEW JUSTICE
Before even locking up, Justice and Sabu both went to the outside to grab weapons. They start off with dueling chair shots until Justice throws a chair at Sabu, who catches it. Sabu then launches the chair into Justice’s face. Justice is then clotheslined over the top rope. After trading strikes back and forth on the outside, Justice sets Sabu up on a steel chair and somersaults towards him, only to meet an empty steel chair.
Sabu repeatedly throws a chair at Justice. Sabu then uses a chair to launch himself at Justice in the corner, following it up with an Arabian Facebuster. Sabu then sets up a door in the corner, only for Justice to spear him through it. Justice follows it up with a Superfly Splash, getting a two-count. Matthew retrieves another door from underneath the ring and sets it up in the corner.
Sabu then whacks Justice with a piece of door, with Matthew hitting Sabu right back with another piece of door, leaving a dent in the door. Justice keeps the attack going, hitting Sabu with a chair shot to the back. Sabu avoids a death valley driver through a door, by spearing Justice through said door. Sabu and Justice keep trading shots with the door until Justice lifts up Sabu and puts him through another door with a Death Valley Driver, getting another two-count.
Justice brings another door into the ring, setting it up onto a chair using the ropes. Justice sets Sabu up on the top rope, only for Sabu to powerbomb Justice through the door. Sabu then hit a springboard moonsault, with Justice kicking out at one. Sabu hits Justice with another chair shot, even launching the chair into Matthew’s face. Sabu hits another Arabian Facebuster, getting the three-count and the victory.
Not a very long match but it was good for what it was. Wasn’t surprised at all to see the amount of weapons used, especially as a chair was used in the end result. Good match, with Sabu making Justice look really good.
ELAYNA BLACK VS. ALLIE KAT
They start off with a lock-up, with Elayna transitioning it into an arm-wrench. Allie Kat transitioned it into her own arm wrench. A few more transitions ended in Allie Kat tripping Elayna, cartwheeling and then hitting her with a low dropkick. Allie sent Elayna into the ropes with an Irish whip and dropped down but Black got her back up and hit an arm drag, following it up with a hurricanrana. Elayna then hit Allie Kat with a high-knee in the corner, snapmaring Allie to the floor and attempting a kick, only for Allie to duck and roll Black up for a two-count. Black then came back and hit a Sunset Flip, getting a two-count of her own, with both Elayna and Allie then trading pinfalls.
Allie catches a clothesline attempt from Elayna and hits her with a few strikes, until Elayna got some strikes in of her own. Allie didn’t take too kindly to that and dropped Black with a headbutt. Black tried to get back into it with strikes to the stomach, only for Allie Kat to send her hard into the corner, getting a two-count, due to Elayna getting her hand on the bottom rope. Elayna attempted to get back into the match, hitting Allie with an elbow strike, only for Allie to kick Elayna in the face. Allie Kat sent Elayna hard into the corner once again, getting another two-count. Allie then sends Elayna across the ring with an arm drag variant, putting her in a headlock, whipping her back onto the mat, and then hitting her a standing senton, getting another two-count.
Allie gave Elayna too much time to recuperate and Black took advantage of that by hitting her with strikes and then a step-up enzigiri, sending Allie into the corner. Elayna hit Allie with a running back elbow in the corner, sending Allie into the adjacent corner, dodging an attempted attack with a step up kick to the stomach, sending Allie back into the corner. Elayna rolled Allie Kat up, only for Allie to roll through but Elayna nailed her with a super kick, getting a two-count.
Black attempted a double-underhook DDT, only for Allie to avoid it and hit Elayna with a huge kick to the side of the head. Allie then hit Elayna with a hard elbow in the corner, only for Black to hit Allie with a hard elbow in the opposite corner. Allie’s attempt at an attack is stopped with a back elbow from Elayna. Allie hit a kick to Elayna and lifted her in a fireman’s carry, only for Black to escape it and drop her with a reverse DDT variant, getting a two-count.
Before Elayna could continue an attack, Allie forced her into the corner. Two more attack attempts from Allie are both avoided with a kick. Black then charged into Allie, only to be caught and dropped with a Death Valley Driver and quickly followed up by a piledriver, getting another two-count. Allie attempted a lariat, only for Elayna to duck and then lock Allie Kat into an Octopus Hold variant, which Allie escaped by getting to the ropes. Allie runs into Elayna on the top rope with an elbow to the stomach, with Elayna avoiding a powerbomb out of the corner with a sunset flip, getting a two-count. Allie Kat then took Elayna out with a huge Lariat to get the pinfall and the victory.
A great match between two very talented women. I’ve rated both Allie and Elayna highly for a while so I knew that this would be a great match to watch and they did not disappoint. Good back-and-forth action.
ULTRA VIOLENT DEATHMATCH
JIMMY LLOYD VS. ELI EVERFLY
The only way to describe this match would be violent. Everfly and Lloyd used the weapons surrounding the ring to their advantage. Lloyd focused on using the light tubes to his advantage, really taking Everfly out each time he used them. Everfly even attacked Lloyd with multiple chair shots and light tubes. Everfly even took out Lloyd with a headscissors from the top rope, landing onto a steel chair. One of the biggest parts of the match was when Everfly took Lloyd out with a Spanish Fly, sending them both through a barbed wire door. Everfly even put Lloyd through a door in the middle of the ring with a Canadian Destroyer. The end of the match came when Jimmy Lloyd took out Everfly with a running Tombstone onto light tubes.
I’m not a big deathmatch guy so I couldn’t sit through the entire match and review it piece by piece but, for what it was, it had great action, with each weapon being used to perfection, with Lloyd walking away with the victory, putting Everfly through light tubes to score the pinfall.
DEATHMATCH
SCHLAK VS. ATTICUS COGAR
Another deathmatch followed as Schlak took on Atticus Cogar. Although Cogar took control in the early parts of the match, Schlak got back into it, using smashed pieces of the light tubes to cut Cogar open, even using a plastic bag to try and axphixiate Cogar. Schlak even used pieces of door to open up Cogar’s head. Schlak even busted light tubes through Cogar’s body in the corner, continuing to break light tubes off of Cogar’s entire body, but more regularly, his head. Schlak picked up the victory with a powerbomb through a door, covered in light tubes.
Another extreme deathmatch with Schlak dominating the majority of the match, picking up the victory over a game Cogar. Again, not a deathmatch guy myself but it was good for what it was, which was an all-out hardcore brawl.
NON-TITLE MATCH
RICKEY SHANE PAGE VS. BLAKE CHRISTIAN
The main event saw GCW Champion Rickey Shane Page take on Blake Christian in a non-title match. Christian put up a great fight, looking as though he’d pick up the victory a few times in the match, but, after a slight distraction from Atticus Cogar, Rickey Shane Page picked up the victory, hitting Christian with a Chokebreaker off a springboard attack, after taking out Cogar on the outside. A good match, with Christian really showing how great he is. Rickey Shane Page continues his reign as GCW Champion, once again, not putting the title on the line but still showing how good he is in that ring. When will RSP defend the title again, if ever? And can Christian earn another match, only this time, for the title?
Overall, a great show from GCW with an absolutely amazing opening contest between Joey Janela and AJ Gray, along with a great showing from Allie Kat and Elayna Black. I’m not sure when the next GCW show is but let’s hope Rickey Shane Page defends his title like champions should!