GCW Gringo Loco’s The Wrld on Lucha 2
April 1, 2023
Ukrainian Cultural Center
Los Angeles, California
Full WrestleMania Weekend Event Schedule
If you’re still kicking after WrestleMania Saturday wraps up, The “Base God” has got you covered with the second iteration of his namesake event, Gringo Loco’s The Wrld On LUCHA 2.
Game Changer has built quite a reputation for booking absolutely insane matches featuring talent from the lucha world, and Gringo Loco deserves a lot of the credit. Whether or not he’s actually involved in the matchmaking, he’s been a consistent presence each time an all-star lucha six-man tag has stolen the show on a major GCW event — and they always do. Look back at the total stunners that went down at 2 Cups Stuffed, The Wrld on GCW, RSPring Break in 2021, and last year’s edition of this very show.
This year, we’re looking at an even more impressive slate, with the biggest standout being…
*Scans the card for a match with Sadika in it*
Uh…
*Finds none*
I dunno, actually. I guess we should take a look.
Matches to Look Out For
You might wonder why more people aren’t talking about the matchup between Hijo de Vikingo and Laredo Kid. After all, they are two of the best active luchadors on the planet. And they have a proven track record — their last match in October got five stars from Meltzer!
The problem is Hijo de Vikingo is just too hot right now. Elsewhere over the weekend, he’ll have first-time matchups on higher-profile shows with the likes of Komander and Speedball Mike Bailey. Impossibly, a matchup with Laredo Kid, a pairing that’s never failed to deliver, is only his third or fourth most hyped match of WrestleMania Weekend.
That said, don’t be like those other dummies and sleep on this match. Unless you’re actually sleeping, which is understandable because it’s gonna be late as hell.
Negro Casas will make his GCW debut against Tony Deppen. Deppen’s making his rounds in the aging maestro circuit — over the past couple of years, he’s tangled with the likes of Virus and Skayde, and he was even booked against Negro Navarro in a match that fell through. He’s a fan of the style, and it showed in the effort level he put out in last year’s Gringo Loco show against Psicosis. The 63-year-old Casas won’t need much help, though. The guy is still deceptively mobile after all these years, never having really slowed down over a four-decade career. Casas is much more willing to get his hands dirty (and more capable!) than most wrestlers with his status and legacy in Mexico, and it’ll be very cool to see him in front of a GCW audience.
Gringo Loco, as I mentioned earlier, has been the glue and the throughline in GCW’s reputable catalog of six-man tags featuring Mexican talent. With that in mind, I’m a little sad to see him in a singles match here, but if anyone’s earned the one-on-one spot with Psycho Clown, it’s him. And let us not forget, these two have created fireworks before — their falls count anywhere match at last year’s GCW “If I Die First” show was super well-received and above all, nuts. If, somehow, you’ve opened this link and you don’t know who Psycho Clown is, I got you: Imagine a wrestler named Psycho Clown, okay? That’s wild, right? Now double the crazy and give him a flamethrower.
GCW will look to add a chapter to their hallowed six-man canon with a bout between the teams of Black Taurus, Toxin, and Latigo and Komander, Arez, and Aramis. Komander is the internet’s new shocking GIF darling, Arez and Aramis are workhorses whose matches together have been consistently must-see, Black Taurus is possibly the best base in the world (don’t tell the guy who booked the show), and the Los Vipers team of Toxin and Latigo have found their stride together and received a ton of well-deserved praise from American audiences. Honestly, this might be the most stacked six-man lineup that Game Changer has rolled out.
Or at least it was.
Since I started typing this preview, Toxin’s been pulled from the weekend with a torn retina. That’s okay! There will be no shortage of masked wrestlers in LA, and there’s so much talent in this match that as long as his replacement can walk and chew gum at the same time, this still stands as a contender for best match of the entire weekend. I mean that!
Where and How to Watch
Gringo Loco’s The Wrld On LUCHA 2 goes down on April 1 at the Ukranian Cultural Center as part of GCW’s Collective shows at 10PM PST. The show will stream live on FITE+.
Full card:
- Hijo del Vikingo vs. Laredo Kid
- Negro Casas vs. Tony Deppen
- Sexy Star vs. Dulce Tormenta
- Gringo Loco vs. Psycho Clown
- Los Macizos (Ciclope & Miedo Extremo) vs. Familia de Tijuana (Damian 666 & Bestia 666)
- Black Taurus & Los Vipers (Latigo & Toxin) vs. Komander, Arez, Aramis
