United States
Game Changer Wrestling – The Block is Hot & The Last Ones Left – Friday & Saturday – Ashbury Park. And Chicago.
GCW is really banging out the shows over the past few weeks. Four shows over WrestleMania week, Crime Wave last week and now two shows this week. It’s a busy time for the most innovative promotion in the world. This week’s shows see them in New Jersey on Friday for The Block is Hot, before traveling to Chicago on Saturday for The Last Ones Left. Joey Janela will be appearing on both show, challenging Nick Gage for the GCW title on Friday, before facing Orange Cassidy on Saturday. All three have to be considered amongst the most popular wrestlers on the independents and I’d be expecting GIFs aplenty to emerge from both matches. Other standout matches over the two shows include Jonathan Gresham vs Tony Deppen, and Mance Warner taking on Homicide. Both of those could be a lot of fun. Both shows will be available to watch on Fite TV.
Beyond – Lethal Lottery – Sunday – North Kingston, Rhode Island.
Beyond Wrestling has really hit the ground running with their live weekly show, Uncharted Territory on IW.TV, with every show so far delivering great matches with very little streaming problems. I’ve been very impressed with everything they’ve presented so far, and on Sunday they host their first big show since the weekly shows began. Lethal Lottery is a fun concept, where the wrestlers will be drawn into four random tag team matches, with the winners moving on to compete in the Beyond Battle Bowl later in the night, and the winner of that will be able to pick their opponent for Americana. This year’s competitors include Joey Janela, Chris Dickinson, Orange Cassidy, Jake Parnell, Penelope Ford, Curt Stallion, Joey Ryan and many others and sounds like it will be a hell of a lot of fun. There will also be a couple of singles matches built up through Uncharted Territory, with Kris Statlander facing Kimber Lee, and Anthony Greene going up against Stevie Richards. More info is available on their website.
House of Glory – Code Red – Sunday – NYC Arena, Jamaica, New York.
Going into WrestleMania week, House of Glory was one of the shows I was looking forward to checking out. With a card including The Lucha Bros, Amazing Red, The Great Muta and Tajiri, on paper, it looked like it could be a hell of a show. Unfortunately, Amazing Red announced his retirement a few days before so his much-anticipated match with Rey Fenix fell by the wayside, and the show eventually turned out be a bit of a dud compared to some of the other awesome stuff happening in New York. It was such a disappointment, but the show must go one, and on Sunday they host their first show since then, teaming up with Impact wrestling for Code Red. The best of both companies will be at the NYC arena, with Johnny Impact, LAX, Taya Valkyrie, Tessa Blanchard, Anthony Gangone, Ken Broadway and Brian Cage all scheduled to appear. Let just hope they do a better job than they did three weeks ago. Visit their website to find out more.
United Kingdom
IPW:UK – Sabian vs Ridgeway – Loser Leaves IPW – Wednesday – Unit Nine, Milton Keynes.
Poor IPW. If GCW were the true winners of WrestleMania week, then I think it’s fair to say that IPW:UK were the losers. Running a show that apparently sold only 12 tickets, the show has to be the biggest calamity of the year by far. In fact, if it wasn’t for the many hundreds of people waiting for the Stardom show witnessing the dozen or so fans escape from IPW, then I wouldn’t be sure it actually happened, since there seems to be no actual record of it online and the company themselves have swept it under the rug like it never happened. It really is a shame as like I’ve mentioned here in the past, IPW:UK was one of the very first Indie shows I went to over 10 years ago and my regular visits to their old haunt in Orpington are among my favorite memories in wrestling. But whatever possessed them to travel to New York and put a show on when they have no presence in the States is absolute madness. Anyway, their first show since that mysterious event is on Wednesday, at Unit Nine in Milton Keynes. The show is being built around the Loser Leaves IPW match between Chris Ridgeway and Kip Sabian. Since Sabian is AEW bound, is would seem that this is his send-off from the company, although they did a similar thing with Jimmy Havoc recently then began advertising him for their show in New York. Ahh well. David Starr will also be appearing, as he defends his IPW World Championship against Brian Pillman. That match should be pretty good, while Pillman is still improving, Starr is one of the best in the world. Visit their website for more.
North Wrestling – NCL.17 It’s Them – Saturday – Riverside, Newcastle.
A trip to Newcastle next for North Wrestling’s, NCL.17: It’s Them, in Riverside on Saturday. A promotion that slips underneath the radar in the UK but consistently put on great shows with a line-up consisted of some of the best non-contracted talent in the UK and Ireland. Current NORTH wrestling champion, Rory Coyle, is the promotions first champion, having won the title in a scramble match over a year ago.  Here he will make his 6th defense of the title against TK Cooper, who himself is having a bit of a resurgence this year after a pretty awful 2018. The Irish will also be in the house, as More Than Hype will be taking on Spike Trivet and The Anti Fun Police in a 6-man tag match. Sugar Dunkerton, Candy Floss and Charli Evans will also be appearing. You can find out more here.
Rev Pro – Live at the Cockpit 41 – Sunday – Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone.
Rev Pro is back at the Cockpit on Sunday for Live at the Cockpit 41, their more intimate shows where they showcase some of the lower card, non-New Japan talent. Like normal with their smaller shows, they don’t announce an awful lot, so I’m made to decipher the card through the small scraps they leave available on their various social media outlets. So far, all I could figure out is that both Josh Bodom will be facing Brian Pillman Jr, and Sha Samuels will be appearing but I’m guessing that more talent will be announced over the coming days. The show will eventually be available to watch here.
Australia
Explosive Pro – Showcase #3 – Friday – Malaga, Perth.
Starting another busy week down under is the Perth based promotion, Explosive Pro Wrestling, who host another Showcase show on Friday. A trainee shows to showcase the best of their young talent, the main event will see one of the veterans of the Aussie scene and CWC competitor, Damian Slater, take on one of the most promising young talents in the country, Gavin McCann. Both considering themselves pretty adept at technical wrestling, the match will be contested over 3×5 minute rounds rules, with the winner being the man who gets the most pinfalls. The EPW Coastal championship will also be defended, with Scotty Ryan putting the title on the line against Dan Steel, and there will be a Rising Star quarterfinal match between Chadwick Jackson and Joel Hagan. More is available on their website.
Wrestle Rampage Australia – Uprising – Saturday – Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Wrestle Rampage are up next for Uprising in Port Adelaide on Saturday. The current Australian National champion, Punch Drunk Istria, is a man who recently impressed a lot of us Euro fans during his recent European tour, appearing for wXw, Rev Pro, OTT, ATTACK and North Wrestling last month. Back home, he will defend his title in the main event against the young powerhouse, Tommy Knight. The promotion has released a really good hype video for this match on their Facebook page. So make sure you check it out and see what they have to offer.
Wrestlerock – May the Fourth – Saturday – Corner Hotel, Richmond, Victoria.
Melbourne City Wrestling will be giving us a little Wrestlerock on May the Fourth, a night of wrestling and rock ‘n’ roll at the Corner Hotel in Richmond, Victoria. The side brand of the biggest promotion in the country, the show will be part wrestling show, part rock gig, which I am all for. The wrestling side of the show will see Mitch Waterman defend the Wrestlerock championship against CK Dowie. Check out their website for more.
Rest of the World
German Wrestling Federation – Mystery Mayhem – Saturday – Berlin.
A really interesting concept for the German Wrestling Federation’s ‘Mystery Mayhem’ on Saturday. Fitting with the title, all four titles, the GWF World, GWF Berlin, Loserweight and tag titles, will be on the line, with the challengers being picked on the night from random. Justin Wylde, John Klinger, Michael Kovac and Pascal Spalter will be getting a mystery envelope, with each one determining which title they will be challenging for. The current champions; Tarkan Aslam, Angelico, Arash and the tag champs, Die Muskel-Kater will all be hoping to leave Berlin with their titles intact. I like it when promotions try something different, and this sounds like it could be pretty fun. More is available here.
New European Championship Wrestling – NEW Extreme – Saturday – NEW Hotspot, Bayern.
Another all gimmick show in Germany this week for NECW’s NEW Extreme show on Saturday. All matches will obviously be of the more hardcore nature, with Tommy Blue Eyes defending his NEW World title in a barb-wired TLC match against both Mexx and Hektor, Team Turbulence put their tag title on the line in a kendo stick match against Nathan Wolf & Balian Bull, and there will also be a table match, a chain match, a street fight, thumbtacks match and a beach blub party brawl. If you like your wrestling hardcore and gimmicky then this could be the show for you. Visit their website.
Lucha Memes/Mexa – Battle of Naucalpan – Wednesday – Arena Naucalpan, Estadio de Mexico.
Bandido vs Ultimo Guerrero, oh hell yes. That match will be happening at the Lucha Memes and Mexa wrestling joint show at the Arena Naucalpan on Wednesday. Jonathan Gresham will also be in Mexico, facing Mexican legend, Virus, in what I’m pretty sure will be continuing his recent run of awesome matches. There aren’t many better than Gresham right now. The show will also include the first-round matches for the Battle of Naucalpan tournament. With one of the best high fliers in the world, Arkangel Divino facing Laredo Kid, Arez wrestling Puma King, and Rey Horus goes up against Stevie Pain. Check out their Facebook page.
PWA Canada – Friday, Saturday, Sunday – Duncan, Victoria, Campbell River, British Colombia.
PWA Canada will be taking a tour through British Columbia from Friday to Sunday, with three shows throughout Duncan, Victoria and Campbell River. Carlito will be appearing at all three shows facing Bishop in Duncan, before a tag match the following night, and Krofton on the final show. There will also be appearances from Bishop, Eddie Osbourne, Scotty Mac, Fire Wasp, and fresh off of his awesome match with Jonathan Gresham for 3-2-1 Battle last week, Danial Makabe will be appearing at the Victoria show taking on Judas Icarus in what is being billed as an Epic encounter. For more info, check out their website.
Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling – Montreal Mayhem – Saturday – Theatre Paradox.
Our second show in Canada is Montreal on Saturday for Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling, who present Montreal Mayhem at the Theatre Paradox. I got a bit of a shock while researching this show as I had no idea that Indie legend, Dru Onyx was still wrestling. The veteran powerhouse will be teaming up with his Bone Collectors tag partner, Mike Marston, to take on Sabotage. There will also be a British Commonwealth title match, with Genesis defending against Dom Boulanger, and young prospect Sheldon Jean will be taking on Alex Ace. More available here.
Southern Pro New Zealand – Battle Lines – Saturday – Corinthian Centre, Invercargill.
Finishing in New Zealand for Southern Pro, who host Battle Lines on Saturday in Invercargill. Former partners reunite, as JK Moody and Kane Khan take on the SPW New Zealand tag champs The Detention. In the main event, Markus Kool will be defending his Heavyweight title, and the always awesome Caveman Ugg will making be appearing. Visit their website.
