Non WWE Mania Weekend Shows

[sek69]

So clearly WWE isn't a lot of people's jam right now for both in and out of the ring reasons, but there's still some fun things going on. I watched Joey Janela's Spring Break and while GCW is also not everyone's jam (for entirely different reasons), they are extremely good at the fun kind of pro wrestling bullshit. Sandman's last match was just what it should have been and the whole build to Brodie Lee Jr's match was great. Yeah the Effy vs Allie Katch was some peak HBK overwrought nonsense at times but it was the payoff that was supposed to happen last year before Allie went and did a Sid on her leg. 

Speaking of Effy, watching the Big Gay Brunch and so far it's more entertaining pro wrestling bullshit. For all the jokes wrestling fans have about the homoerotic undertones, it's fun to see a show just drop the pretense and be as gay as humanly possible. 

[El-P]

Might as well post this here then.

The Sandman's retirement match at Janela's Sprink Break was the clusterfuck it needed to be. Although like everytime on Janela's shows, it went overboard. Cut the middle part of the match and only do the Invisible men bits (keep Missy Hyatt showing up because come one, although it looked awful it was cool to have her), the HILARIOUS hundred ref run ins and the awesome Mick Foley appearance (yes) and it would have been perfect. Then again, perfection for Sandman would have been wrong. 

Brodie Lee Jr. vs Joey Janela was as good as you'll see a 14 years old work an epic main event match. Give Janela tons of credit for this (he's still underrated), but Brodie looked great for what it was. Maybe if he's serious about it he can be the next Nick Wayne, teenage prodigy. Chris Bey showing up was cool, it's always cool to see Chris Bey walking around. 

Jack Perry teaming with Marko Stunt was tons of fun too.

Masata Tanaka is 53. How the fuck does he looks and works so *great* still ? 

Show was overall way too long though and really it doesn't hit like it used too, as the context is very very different from 7-8 years ago. Effy vs Allie Katch was pretty horrendous, the Atticus Cogar vs Hayabusa match was kinda there, it was odd for me to see Hayabusa II as I was a huge FMW fan back then but he has the blessing of Ezaki's family and looks decent at it (but nothing special either, although I probably should not judge from an Atticus Cogar match). The one thing that is obvious watching these indy shows on Mania weeks is that really, unlike years ago, most of the best talent is already signed or featured one way of another in a major company.

Josh Barnett basically saying it was the end of Bloodsport for now and making vague reference about keeping his integrity tells me some shady WWE business was going on. The latest shows, which I passed on, was tons of WWE people, which really negated this idea of cool super indy matches in a shoot-style environment. I always came off feeling the the Bloodsport shows were better on paper than execution anyway. There was usually 2-3 really cool matches, but also tons of tedious stuff on these. Oh well. Maybe he'll just do straight WWE Bloodsport next year for Mania week-end.... (see what I did there)

[El-P]

I also watched MLP's show, which was a very easy two hours. Steven Borden looks eerily like his father without the paint, kinda circa 1987. I dunno what you do with this. He's gonna get opportunities other people don't get, but I think he's already past 30 and just starting. May turn allright. May turn annoying overpushed nepokid. Genes are creepy to me.

Really enjoyed Ricochet & GOA vs Oku, Akeem & Swann, the main event of Mistico, Mascara Dorada & Amazing Red vs Rascalz and Hechicero vs Jonathan Gresham (in full sneaky heel bastard, which I love). Paul Walter Hauser vs QT was what you can expect from them. Houser sure loves this shit, and he's not doing it for the money or the clout, I mean, bumping on tacks on an MLP show. The 4 way women match was pretty decent too, I always enjoy Gisele, Killer Kelly made a surprise appearance and I thought Shotzi looked quite good. She's tagged as "MLW" but whenever she gets freelance I would not hate her showing up on AEW/ROH.

Also, you had botH SoCalVal and D-Lo on announcing. No Mauro. MUCH better.

The total absence of TNA talent on these shows is pretty noticeable (Swann technically is, but on a PPA contract I believe). I know the Hardies worked HOG, but I think that's about it. TNA really got themselves isolated from the entire landscape.

[hammerva]

Of the shows that I have watched this weekend, the best show I have seen is the El Deperado Death Vegas show.  Great mix of all styles and if you are a death match guy the main event was one of the better ones GCW has done in years.  I would also recommend the Dragon Gate and Progress shows.  I would be Janela's spring break over Progress but not the Dragon Gate one.  The Wrestlecon SuperShow was good but it really feels like the luster of the show is declining. 

There are a few shows on ITWV like the ACTION show that I would like to see but replays are their usual slow stuff on that channel.  

This is apparently the last Josh Barnett Bloodsport show and based on this year I can see why.  The energy of these shows just aren't there since the WWE guys started appearing on it

[El-P]

Interesting response from Lauderdale to Josh Barnett saying Bloodsport is basically done because it doesn't work on an indy level and he wanted to push further (I'm guessing he was hoping for some WWE backups, considering how the last few cards were clogged with WWE people), stating basically GCW owns the Bloodsport brand and it wasn't ending there. With GCW apparently moving away from WWE (I think the ID show this year was not part of the Collective) and being friendly with AEW again (judging from the number of AEW workers on indy shows during Mania weeks), I wonder... Deathriders Bloodsport incoming ? 

[Dale Wolfe]

Of all the modern quasi indies I have probably enjoyed Bloodsport the most and at least it had a fresh concept, though there has definitely been a lot more shit matches than good in terms of the last few cards. 

In a lot of ways it is a shame you aren't in the DVD era anymore as you could easily get a 2 hour "Best of Bloodsport" comp together that would make it seem incredible. 

I think if it is changing moving forward, a shift towards a Karate Combat style pit as opposed to the current setup could be an idea, but we have looked at it a bit on our local level and the cost is a bit prohibitive maybe

[El-P]

In the midst of the Carlos Silva Wrestlecon show debacle, it's funny to think he really could not prevent Tessa Blanchard from doing the job to Persephone on the CMLL show. This was literally TNA vs AEW too. And the closest thing Tessa can hope to work against in the US against big company talent. Match was quite good too.

Of course Blue Panther vs Ultimo was the sensation match of the week especially for those who had not seen it before. They really could re-run this on the Zero Hour of Forbidden Door for instance.