Game Changer Wrestling
The Art of War Games
September 4, 2021
Grand Sports Arena
Hoffman Estates, Illinois

Watch: FITE

GCW has been on a roll since crowds started back up earlier this year. A roller coaster of a Collective 2021 weekend culminated in a super hot Spring Break show that climaxed the Nick Gage, Rickey Shane Page feud. They followed that by starting feuds that pitted Gage against both Jon Moxley and Matt Cardona, peaking in one of the biggest GCW shows ever, headlined by the already infamous Gage, Cardona match. Now, GCW headlines their All Out weekend show with two rings and War Games, heating the Gage vs RSP feud back up and presenting an ambitious War Games match. GCW can sometimes get in over their heads with these colossal ideas. It will be interesting to see if they can pull it off.

Billie Starks def. Janai Kai

THINGS THAT WERE GOOD

  • Kai got busted open somehow. It was a cool visual for a match that relied on striking and stiff moves.
  • There was no GCW comedy or BS here; just two competitors trying to beat each other up and win. Kai especially had some cool strikes.

THINGS THAT WERE BAD

  • There were some sloppy moments and incohesiveness.

SHOULD I WATCH THIS?

  • Not really. It was a fine opener, with no major flaws, but it also had no major highlights.

Tony Deppen def. Allie Katch

THINGS THAT WERE GOOD

  • Deppen worked very hard. He bumped around like crazy and did his best to make Katch look strong.
  • By the end, the crowd bought into the story and were cheering for Katch and buying her comebacks, culminating in a big piledriver near fall.
  • Kevin Gill is bad but he made a Cro-Mags reference, which is good
  • The match ended when Katch draped Deppen in the corner to deliver a Shattered Dreams, only for Deppen to blow snot in her face, hit a flying Codebreaker off of the top, and win by putting his feet on the ropes. The crowd went crazy for this.

THINGS THAT WERE BAD

  • This seems to be a match built to show that Katch can hang with a “technical” wrestler but that doesn’t really play to her strengths-charisma and fearlessness. She came off a bit sloppy and not at the same level as Deppen. Sometimes it was hard to buy her as an equal opponsent, as she was a half-step off.

SHOULD I WATCH THIS?

  • If you have time. It was a solid match with a cohesive story that the crowd really bought into.

Afterwards, Deppen called out comedian/commentator Ron Funches, who he’d been going back and forth with on Twitter. Funches got in the ring and was immediately slapped by Deppen. Funches got up and tackled Deppen, which was quickly broken up by the ring crew. Funches then challenged Deppen to a match at GCW’s return to Los Angeles later this month, so yeah I guess that is a thing that is happening.

Two Ring Ladder Fuckfest
Ninja Mack def. Shane Mercer, Jake Lander, Jordan Oliver, Dante Leon, Nick Wayne, Ninja Mack and Yoya

THINGS THAT WERE GOOD

  • GCW scrambles are usually bad, but they are a staple of every show. Adding ladders to a format that relies on big spots and craziness is a fun way to refresh the concept.
  • Shane Mercer has become one of the real highlights of GCW. He stands out as major league in a promotion where many don’t. He’s one of the few that really shines in this scramble format because he can just throw around and destroy everyone. After giving multiple gigantic superplexes and falcon arrows early, he threw Yoya from the ring multiple rows into the crowd. Awesome.
  • I’m glad that they utilized both rings. It made the match feel more chaotic (in a good way).
  • Mack and Leon were attempting a ring crate challenge outside. Instead of it turning too goofy, Mercer just threw Lander from the ring right into the crates, causing both guys to fall. This was incredible.
  • Jake Lander climbed a ladder that was upside down and did a swanton off of it through bodies and tables on the outside. Why did he climb up it upside down? No clue! But it ruled.
  • Ninja Mack can be pretty sloppy sometimes, but he shines in these spotfest matches. Here, he hit a nasty 630 onto a ladder placed over someone else.
  • Minutes later, he won the match with an insane sunset bomb off of a 20 foot ladder. Dante Leon was halfway up the ladder, Mack jumped off of the top and executed the sunset bomb perfectly. This was pretty unbelievable.

THINGS THAT WERE BAD

  • These scrambles are usually sloppy, and that didn’t change here. Mercer was a real highlight, but in his ambition messed up a few things/had to reattempt them, including a botched double superplex and pressing Yoya overhead on a ladder.
  • Lander gave Mercer an airplane spin powerbomb with the back of Mercer’s head landing right on a ladder leg. This looked like it sucked.
  • There were a lot of long plunder setups and awkward slow parts throughout the match.

SHOULD I WATCH THIS?

  • Yes! I usually hate GCW scrambles. Obviously, this was different from a normal one, but still, the ladders and multiple rings added to the concept and made the match much better. There were spotty and sloppy moments, but overall there was so much craziness that I really enjoyed it.

War Games
Team MDK (AJ Gray, Alex Colon, Effy, Mance Warner, Matthew Justice & Nick Gage) def. 44OH! (Atticus Cogar, Bobby Beverly, Eddy Only, Eric Ryan, Gregory Iron & Rickey Shane Page)

THINGS THAT WERE GOOD

  • First of all, I was skeptical about GCW pulling off the War Games setup, but the rings and two cages look great. No tops to the cages, but I’ll give them a pass – that would be an insane setup for an indie.
  • The format is exactly like a traditional War Games match: two men start in the ring, a new competitor enters at intervals, and the match only starts after all men are in the ring.
  • Immediately, the Effy and Gregory Irons entrances felt huge. This felt like a gigantic event.
  • The traditional “heels outnumber faces” formula was switched around. Obviously, that can be a little awkward sometimes. However, I appreciate when seemingly obvious things get switched up sometimes.
  • Eddie Only smoking cigs mid-match is back!
  • RSP came out at the same time as Eric Ryan and locked Gage out of the cage, finally turning the numbers to 44OH’s favor.
  • After all men were in the ring, chaos ensued. It was hard to keep up with everything, but people were going through glass and light tubes were being smashed left and right.
  • Colon and Cogar climbed to the top of a scaffold, where Colon Hit a Spanish fly off the scaffold through a door in the ring. This was absolutely bonkers.
  • RSP was finally vanquished when he was thrown off the scaffold through light tubes and glass. Gage hit a choke breaker and that was it.

THINGS THAT WERE BAD

  • The chaotic feeling of the match was a positive, but also a negative. It was hard to really get a grasp of what was going on at points.

SHOULD I WATCH THIS?

  • Yes. It’s a complete spectacle. An indie company was able to competently pull off a very difficult match style. It was a bit of a mess sometimes, but the crowd was completely into it and brought everything up. GCW doesn’t need to do another War Games match for a long time, but this one worked.

Matt Cardona came out with a spinner belt and a crowd that said “King of the Deathmatch” to massive views. After complaining about the unsafe working conditions, he proclaimed himself the GCW Universal Champion. He finally called out his open challenge opponent. The Infamous Frank the Clown came to the ring.

GCW CHAMPIONSHIP
MATT CARDONA (c) DEF. FRANK THE CLOWN

THINGS THAT WERE GOOD

  • It lasted 3 seconds when Cardona hit Frank with the belt immediately.

THINGS THAT WERE BAD

  • Frank

Cardona grabbed the mic again and said he will forever be the champ. G-Raver’s druids and music hit, and Raver made his way to the ring. Raver stared down Cardona, then sent the druids after Cardona. They quickly retreated, leaving one druid left.

GCW CHAMPIONSHIP
JON MOXLEY DEF. MATT CARDONA (c)

After slivering around, the druid hit a Paradigm shift and took off his cloak to reveal a Slayer shirt and JON MOXLEY. He hit another Paradigm Shift through tubes, pinned Cardona (I didn’t realize this was a match) and is the new GCW Champion.

Cardona previously debuted in the company the same way, dressing as a druid and pretending to be Moxley to attack Gage. Moxley had disappeared for a few months after beginning a feud with Gage. After Cardona left, Gage came out. Moxley told him that Gage knew where to find him and left. Gage then cut his typical show-ending promo and sent the crowd home happy.

Final Thoughts

The Art of War Games was an ambitious show from a company that sometimes overshoots its means. It mostly delivered, giving the fans exactly what they expected with the War Games match. Most importantly, their new champ is one of the biggest names in wrestling right now. Cardona did a great job as a translational champ to get the belt from Gage to Mox without burning that match yet and helped GCW feel like a major promotion. A home run show.