GCW Lifestyle 2023 Results and Review

Finally catching up with GCW Lifestyle, which aired live from Las Vegas. It had a somewhat raucous crowd, and it started fast. There were already people in the ring at the time of the show beginning, and away we go with the action and my thoughts on it. This event happened on 5/26/23 and it was from the Silver Nugget Casino.

Alec Price defeated Billie Starkz, Damian Drake, Jimmy Lloyd, Matt Vandergriff, and Sam Stackhouse in a Six way scramble match

From what I gathered, this was a match where anyone can be in the ring at any time, and the majority of the back and forth was one on one with different talent in the ring fighting. That being said, this was fun, with a lot of brawling, and some great moves overall. Sam Stackhouse stood out to me as a huge wrestler, and Billie Starkz was rad with her move set. The rest were good too, and everyone had turns with their specific offense, making this a fun romp under 10 minutes. Alec Price got the pinfall victory with what looked like a mule kick off of someone’s knee. They called it a surprise kick, good stuff for sure.

Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Jordan Oliver

I’m a fan of Zack Sabre Jr. as he’s one of the most complete technical wrestlers I’ve seen. He faced off against Jordan Oliver, whom I’ve seen in MLW before. Oliver surprised me with his offense against Zack Sabre Jr. I was astonished that Zack didn’t just bulldoze Oliver in this one. Of course, I would type something like that and recall Zack focusing on Oliver’s shoulder and arm with some stellar technical wrestling. Despite some great offense from Oliver, it was Zack Sabre that pulled this one out with one hell of a submission, with an armbar backwards that jus pretzeled Oliver. Great back and forth, and another Zack Sabre Jr. win.

Maki Itoh defeated Sandra Moone

Maki Itoh impresses me again. Sandra Moone is no slouch, but Itoh is just so fun to watch. Moone put up a good battle against a fast Itoh. The crowd was firmly behind Maki Itoh, and it was interesting to hear them riled up. Moone hit some nice offense, and Itoh would get her shots in, including an interesting falling headbutt that I marked out for. Maki Itoh gets the win here, but not without having to take on some Sandra Moone’s offense. A good women’s match for sure.

After the match Itoh got beat up by Steph De Lander and Matt Cardona, until out came Nick Gage. This is going to lead to a match, I’m sure. It just hasn’t happened.

Joey Janela and Sawyer Wreck defeated Matt Cardona and Steph De Lander in a tag team match

With mixed tag matches you often don’t see the men fighting women, but not the case here. They are all fair game, and it’s not half bad. Janela and Wreck started this one fast, hitting a lot of chops, and good offense overall. The tables would turn a bit, though, and things would be tough for both teams. Cardona and De Lander had some serious heat, and the two had a good amount of offense. De Lander speared Janela through a door at one point, which was rad! Another door was set up, and the two teams fought to stay from getting through it, but out came Maki Itoh and Nick Gage and helped Wreck and Janela, which let Sawyer Wreck chokeslam Matt Cardona threw a door! Then she picked up the pinfall victory, which was fun to see. Fun match!

Blake Christian defeated Dark Sheik

I’ve never seen Dark Sheik but wow, what a performer. She really put on a show against Christian. Blake was able to thwart some of her offense, but it wasn’t easy. Some good back and forth offense was found in this one, and I found it to be fun overall. Sheik’s top rope spinning heel kick was rad, as well as some of her other offense. Christian’s reversals, and moves were cool too, but he didn’t have an easy time with this match. Blake would hit a curb stomp and then choked out Dark Sheik, and that was that. Good match, fun stuff, about 17 minutes of action, fun!

Bussy and Mance Warner defeated Los Macizos and John Wayne Murdoch, Jack Cartwheel, Starboy Charlie and Titus Alexander in a six man tag team three way match

I admit, I was falling asleep at my desk when watching this one. It’s not a terrible match, but it’s overbooked so it can be rough around he edges. Everyone should get a Mancer t-shirt. In the end, it felt like a fast one, and it had some good innovative offense, lucha style,  and modern style mixed. An ok match overall.

El Hijo del Vikingo defeated Gringo Loco, and Komander

The trio here put on an amazing display of lucha libre. This was a purely lucha libre match with everything out the window Each person threw down some amazing moves, and it was incredible to see the wrestling style that each one had. At one point , even though they were high flying, Vikingo ran Komander through a door. Vikingo would hit a 630, I kid you not, a 630, on Gringo Loco for the win. I was impressed, you should be too.

Rina Yamashita defeated Cole Radrick in the GCW Ultraviolent Title Match

Fans of death match wrestling will enjoy this one. This was a back and forth hardcore match with light tubes, doors, glass windows, chairs, and brawling to boot. This was steady, paced well, and had a lot of blood for those that like that. Modern wrestling fans may not be big on this one, as it is brutal to say the least, but if you’re a fan of hardcore wrestling and independent wrestling too, this is a good match to check out. There were some nice moves, and action, so it wasn’t just punch kick, fun match to end the night.

Overall Thoughts

I love GCW and am looking forward to seeing them in person. Until then, I have to watch them on FITE and I suggest everyone get a subscription to it. This was a lot of fun, good pacing, fast matches, slow matches, and some hardcore action too. I definitely recommend this one, so check it out on FITE and see GCW wherever they go, they put on fun times.

AEW Dynamite 5/31/23 Results and Review

Well, I had a couple of days off from work so I decided to wait before reviewing all of the things I missed in wrestling. So here we go, let’s play catch up so that we can enjoy a little bit of wrestling and banter, for all two of you readers.

Blackpool Combat Club defeated The Lucha Brothers and Bandido

There’s a lot of trios matches in AEW, which I don’t mind, but it is apparent that they really like them. Not only that, we got some luchadors up front, which is always cool in my book. El Chapulin lives with the awesome outfit from one of the lucha guys, Bandido. A fun opener with a lot of back and forth action, and some great tags. This was a lot of fun with some great high flying moves, and some reversals from the Blackpool Combat Club. Smart moves, psychology was there, and well, the BCC just gets the win, but it wasn’t a pushover matchup in any way. Fun is how I’d describe this one, as the crowd was into it as well as I was.

Jay White and Juice Robinson came out, and I was falling asleep so this was meh, just an interview segment. It’s ok I guess. FTR came out and the four men started to brawl, and set up a match I’m sure, but I was so tired that this wasn’t that grand for me. I’m sorry, I just think this will lead to a great match next week with Ricky Starks.

Swerve Strickland defeated Big Bill and Trent Beretta in a triple threat match

Big Bill was mopping up at one point, truly using his size to throw the others around. I found it interesting overall, as he was being booked like a larger wrestler, slow and methodical. Swerve and Trent didn’t just roll over, mind you, but they were definitely having to deal with the bigger man. I found that psychology to be good, and interesting overall. A double suplex impressed me, and the crowd went wild too for it, making this triple threat a lot of fun to watch. Swerve would get the pinfall after some nice counters, and seizing the victory with an interesting finisher and crucifix pin. Fun stuff.

Don Callis and Takeshita get booed out of the building, in a promo. It wasn’t bad. There will be a match with Kenny Omega I’m sure.

Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy defeated Gates of Agony in a tag match

The team of Gates of Agony had this match sewn up for the most part. They threw around their opponents left to right, and then some. I couldn’t believe how much attention was paid to the beatdown that was going on. Cassidy and Allin scored a pinfall after the coffin drop, and some previous fast offense. However, the Gates of Agony delivered a beat down throughout, and I was personally impressed with how it went down. It was a fun match.

Sting came down with a bat, and the crowd went nuts.

Kris Statlander defeated Nyla Rose in the AEW Women’s Title match

I gotta admit, the women’s division in AEW impresses a lot. This was a hard hitting match, and both women put in some work, getting some hits in and moves that you don’t usually see with women’s wrestling under 5 minutes ala WWE sometimes. I found this to be great fun, with Statlander escaping, because Nyla Rose is no joke as a competitor. A good back and forth match, with some nice maneuvers. I liked it a lot. A 450 splash and Statlander got the victory, in a hard hitting match.

Adam Cole and Dr. Britt Baker defeated Chris Jericho and Saraya in a mixed tag team match

A nice back and forth match here. Saraya wrestling is cool, and Britt Baker is always fun to watch too. Jericho and Cole hit each other hard, with some heavy chops, and great overall back and forth. Baker even got some offense on Jericho! That was fun to see, and the crowd was all over it. Cole and Baker would get the win, but it was not an easy battle, there was a good amount of back and forth here.

Overall thoughts

A good night of Dynamite if you ask me. It had a little bit of everything you could ask for in a wrestling show. It had a lot of fun, and some good wrestling. They also announced some fun matches for next week as well. This was just a fun night of wrestling, and definitely had me enjoying every bout.