GCW Columbus | Detroit Double Shot Weekend HOT TAKE
Whether it be the shining lights of New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom, the grimy fairgrounds of Dallas or the intense vibrancy of Los Angeles, Game Changer Wrestling is home no matter where the ring is erected, no matter what competitors step inside and no matter what city the FITE stream emanates from.
GCW is a revolution, a state of mind, a piece of resistance. It never settles, never compromises and marches forth, unrelenting to all places near and fall, for all fans who crave discerning professional wrestling designed to shock the system, to stagger the masses and convert the non-believers.
GCW is here to stay, conquering over all and spreading the gospel of a new professional wrestling, one that celebrates diversity in all of its colors and permutations, all styles of professional wrestling styles, all backgrounds from which these unique competitors hail from and all dreams that explode from within the squared circle to entrance and inspire the collected audience watching across the globe on FITE.
This weekend, having decimated Los Angeles and trampled Dallas, GCW sets its sights back on Ohio and Detroit with a one-two punch of combat sports greatness not seen since the greatest Mike Tyson KO victory.
It all begins this Friday night from Columbus, Ohio when GCW and FITE present Find You Again, spotlighted by a true dream match as Alex Shelley, one of the true masters of scientific professional wrestling in all its forms will enter into a one on one contest with Jordan Oliver, the ever-evolving, ever-improving Jordan Oliver. Oliver and Shelley will push the boundaries of what true professional wrestling competition will be, allowing GCW's rising tide to once again raise all ships.
The 16-year old sensation Nick Wayne will return to the GCW rings this weekend, facing the high-flying Alex Zayne in an encounter that promises to shatter the stratosphere, taking all out aerial warfare to the extreme and beyond. With each performance in GCW, Wayne's legend continues to grow but in Zayne, he may have found an opponent who not only matches him in pure, raw wrestling skill, but someone who would relish knocking Wayne out of his upward trajectory. Columbus will be the site of what could prove to be a truly historic contest.
Since Joey Janela's Spring Break, Janela has been on an obsessed quest for destruction, seeking to tear down the sanctity of Game Changer Wrestling in order to rebuild it in his own vision. This Friday in Columbus, Janela will cross paths with the ultraviolet John Wayne Murdoch, someone who will happily engage in bloodlust and destruction to make himself smile, much less to win the prize money involved. As Janela looks to rebound from his recent loss to Dark Sheik, Murdoch is going to be anything but an easy night at the office.
Alex Colon may be one of the most frightening, dangerous men walking free but if there's one thing he hungers for, it's true competition. He'll have found it in Columbus as Tony Deppen will step into the ring, seeking to match each strike, kick and all-out assault with one of his own. This unique encounter between two hard-nosed, smash and strike masters will have long-lasting ripple effects long after GCW escapes Columbus.
Find You Again is also slated to feature the ever-impressive Black Christian battling Dante Leon while The Second Gear Crew, AJ Gray & Mance Warner & Matthew Justice enter into six person competition, battling The Big Starkz Brand, Billie Starkz & Calvin Tankman & Cole Radrick as two uniquely sublime trios take it to each other within and beyond the GCW ring.
All of this is just the appetizer for the main course when GCW roars back into the Motor City of Detroit, Michigan this Saturday for The Old Me, an event that will feature several historic, unique attractions, including two of the world's most renowned, tough-man veterans battling for the first time ever anywhere in the world as ECW and WCW alumnus 2 Cold Scorpio, who can still dazzle from the air as quickly as he can throw fists will thrown down with the legendary Minoru Suzuki of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Only a fever dream promotion such as Game Changer Wrestling would have the vision and courage to match two truly badass veterans against each other, all in the name of pure competition. It's the dream match you never knew you wanted, until NOW.
GCW Extreme Champion AJ Gray will defend his championship against the might of Alex Colon. If there were ever two competitors who truly relish the ability to get downright criminal and lethal in a fight club environment, it is Gray, who has battled through some truly hellish landscapes in order to succeed and emerge as the GCW Extreme Champion. Alex Colon's scarred body tells the novel of what he's willing to submerge himself and his opposition into in order to claim the ultimate victory and prove that out of the most twisted, diabolical combatants in GCW, he is the worst of the worst, which would mean, as can only be the case in Game Changer Wrestling, that he is the best of the best. War is coming and no one is safe, but the masses shall certainly be entertained this Saturday, live on FITE.
The new GCW World Tag Team Champions EFFY and Allie Katch are still living off the high of their championship victory over Mark and Jay Briscoe in Los Angeles, but this Saturday night, they'll need to prove they aren't one night wonders as they enter their first championship defense against a team drastically different from Dem Boys. The lucha sensation Gringo Loco, in the midst of having a career year, will unite with the high-flying ASF as they seek to unseat the new champions. These are the types of encounters that GCW built its foundation on, matching unique personalities and styles and letting them go with unadulterated creativity. As EFFY and Allie Katch look to continue their winning ways in 2022, they'll have to look to the sky to someone upend ASF and Gringo Loco.
The Briscoes, meanwhile, are not happy chicken farmers. After losing the ROH and the GCW World Tag Team Championships in recent weeks, Mark and Jay Briscoe are looking for a fight to take their aggression out on someone. Lucky for them, they'll be stepping into a most unique fighting environment against The Second Gear Crew's Mance Warner & Matthew Justice - HIGH INCIDENT, with stacked tables in and around the ringside area and an insane battle raging above them. One of the most notorious matches in professional wrestling history, High Incident has never been replicated, until NOW.
As if all that wasn't enough, how about two of the most insane, tough men in professional wrestling being unleashed on Detroit to savage each other? That's right John Wayne Murdoch vs. Hoodfoot will go down this Saturday in the Motor City with Hoodfoot returning to the scene of his GCW debut this past January, seeking to once again steal the hearts and minds of the GCW faithful by putting his body and soul through hell to prove his greatness. In order to do so, he'll have to solve the riddle of how to defeat John Wayne Murdoch in an ultraviolent setting, a seemingly insurmountable task that no mere mortal dare accomplish…but Hoodfoot is no mere mortal. There will be blood and chaos this Saturday.
Joey Janela vs. Bandido. That's right. Say it with me. Bandido, one of the greatest in-ring performers in the world, has erupted back onto the Game Changer Wrestling scene like a bat out of hell, seeking to make up for lost time and score countless victories en route to some sweet GCW gold. To continue his quest, he'll have to dispatch perhaps the most sour of all of GCW's fighters, Joey Janela, who's bitterness radiates off him like Alaska's Northern Lights. This unique clash of champions from different walks of life should explode like a big bang, leaving no doubt as to who the superior in-ring competitor is - and which combatant will be climbing the ladder of GCW success.
This Saturday on FITE, GCW will also present Chris Dickinson vs. ACH live from The Harpo Theater in another classic meshing of different styles designed to shock and awe the world at large. Dickinson is coming off the big checklist moment of signing with New Japan Pro Wrestling while rebounding from a hellacious hip injury. He is seeking to ground and pound and beat someone into submission, but his opponent this Saturday is no ordinary man - it's ACH, who has built one of the most resilient and compelling high-flying resumes ever etched across the sky. ACH is seeking to ascend to heaven in order to take Dickinson down to hell, so he can score a major victory, but hell is a place Dickinson is already well educated in, having crawled out of that crater in order to return to the ring. He's seeking to pluck ACH from the air and smash him into defeat. No matter what hybrid style proves itself to be the dominant one this Saturday, it will be the FITE fans who will be endlessly enriched by the experience.
GCW is back this weekend, tearing its path of destruction through Ohio and Detroit, once again leaving unforgettable memories, violence, dreams and action in its wake, something that can only truly be captured and cherished in the moment live on FITE!
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.