GCW Presents W.O.M.B.A.T. 2
Live from the Gypsy Joe Arena in Tullahoma, TN
Streaming on FITE.tv
December 7, 2019
by Tiffany Rose
You know something? I love GCW. I love that damn promotion to the point of driving hours and hours from good ol’ Little Rock all the way over to east Tennessee (and that ain’t no short trip, people, we’re talking a 6-hour drive)...JUST. TO. SEE. WOMBAT.
And friends, it was worth every mile driven and every penny spent on gas. GC-dub, y’all. GC-dub.
Tonight’s Commentary: Joey Janela, Kevin Gill and Dwyndl (Papa Stunt)
Tonight’s Announcer: Mr. Brickster himself, Ricky ‘Romance’ Perillo! (Thanks for the ice cream!!)
Out first to the commentary table is Team GCW (Nick Gage, AJ Gray, Brett Ison, and KTB) letting Team WOMBAT know that they are here to dominate and not only put WOMBAT out of Tullahoma but out of commission completely. With a seriously dangerous team like this you know they’re not fucking around, either. With those statements made we go to the ring to see Team GCW put action to their words.
Match 1: Team GCW vs Team WOMBAT (Spank Michaels, “Hot Tamale” Daniel Perez, Kyle Francis, Jaden Newman)
Speaking of domination, that’s what went on in this opening match. The first wave of WOMBAT wrestlers were no match for Team GCW, systematically getting eliminated until all 4 GCW members were the only ones left standing. Once the damage was done, WOMBAT looked to be avenged as “Mr. Walk-It-Out” John Poe quickly came to ringside after everyone was defeated, but despite his guts in standing up to Team GCW he was savagely beaten down for his efforts. After this decisive victory, GCW has made it VERY clear that tonight this arena belongs to them!
Match 2: Blake Christian/Cabana Man Dan vs. Smokin’ Budz
I took a HUGE hit of that big-ass joint that the Smokin’ Budz came to the ring with, so this put me in an even better mood than when I found out CMD would be teaming up with Blake Christian. It’s nice to see a tag match with Blake Christian here when he’s been featured in scrambles and singles matches in GCW much of the time. This was a fun match with everyone getting the opportunity to shine in front of the Tullahoma crowd, but things went sideways quickly after an errant kick from CMD to Christian that would cost their team the victory once the Budz capitalized on the mistake. After the match it seemed like both Dan and Blake would be gracious in defeat...but as it turns out, Blake Christian showed absolutely NO heart to his tag team partner tonight, turning on him after the loss and delivering a devastating cutter to the master of the Flip Flop Chop.
Match 3: “Kung Fu” Donnie Janela vs. Jimmy Lloyd
Joey Janela was pleased to announce that there’s another Bad Boy in the family looking to break into the business, but I’m not so sure if Donnie’s ever gonna get to his cousin Joey’s level. Prior to Kung Fu Janela’s match with Lloyd, Joey instilled a little motivation by stating that Donnie should win this match for their heroin-addicted Uncle Steve, who I’m pretty sure was probably not watching this show. The Different Boy was not having the kung fu techniques in this match, though, and went for the plunder down under the ring early in the match when he pulled out a chair (and Donnie pulled out a kendo stick in response). For some reason Joey really thinks Donnie’s got a future in Impact (which he called TNA, LOL) or even MLW. I will say this for Donnie, though, the kid has luck on his side. Jimmy Lloyd delivered not one but two piledrivers and somehow at the pin Donnie was able to grab the rope and save himself from the three-count loss. As Lloyd argued with ref Jesse Fields about the pin, Donnie took the opportunity to roll Jimmy up for the pin and win, making cousin Joey proud (but not quite AEW-level proud).
Match 4: Levi Everett vs. Tony Deppen (WOMBAT Amish Heritage Championship Match)
That Levi Everett sure is a pure soul. Kind and gentle and damn that boy can churn some butter. It’s a great contrast to Tony Deppen, who is anything but kind or gentle and I highly doubt Deppen’s got those butter skills either. At the beginning of the match Levi was good enough to let Deppen have a hand (or two) at the churn Levi brings to the ring, showing him how to do it with slow steady strokes. Deppen, of course, jerked it hard and fast...would we expect anything different? From there the match stayed at this pace: hard and fast. If Deppen thought he’d have a quick and easy pass here with Levi he was wrong; this Amish boy can GO. I’m hoping we see much more of Levi Everett in the near future and Beyond (get it? Beyond?), but in the meantime Deppen was able to pull out a dirty victory here by using technology - the bright flashlight from a cellphone - to distract Levi off the top rope and get the pinfall win. Dirty Deppen strikes again, but good on Levi for taking the battle to him!
Match 5: “Wildfire” Tommy Rich/”Action” Mike Jackson vs. Mance Warner/1 Called Manders (WOMBAT Tag Team Championship)
Well I *was* happy to see the arrival of the WOMBAT Tag Champs as you all know I do love me some Mancer and Manders. HOWEVER, the Southern Psycho and the Cornbelt Cowboy had a different frame of mind when they came out this evening as the reigning champs. According to Mancer, the fans weren’t so accepting of them ever since they won those titles and now they were anything but gracious to the Tullahoma audience. Even yours truly wasn’t safe from their disdain, if you noticed while watching the live stream on FITE.tv. I won’t deign to repeat what Mancer dared to say about me right there to my face (or rather as I turned my damn back to his bullshit) but I’ll have everyone know my reputation remains pure as the driven snow...or at least maybe snow that’s been driven over once or twice. Fuck it. Anyway, Tommy Rich and Action Jackson were not here for this nastiness towards their people and they came out to handle some damn business and maybe even take those WOMBAT tag titles as well. Folks...Mike Jackson still HAS. IT. The man is up there in years but let me tell you, he took these two big young dudes to task like a real veteran would. It does my heart good to see Action Jackson still going hard in the ring, and Tommy Rich is still as over as he was when I was watching him as a kid. Damn good time, this one, and the fans damn sure were avenged when one of the biggest surprise victories of the evening happened as Action Jackson and Wildfire not only went to battle with Mancer and Manders but WON, yes won the WOMBAT tag titles! Like Mike Jackson said after the match, “I still got it but I don’t know what to do with it!” Here’s to hoping those tag titles give him some ideas, hot damn it. We still need these dudes on the scene!
Match 6: Logan Stunt vs Juicy Jimmy (Waffle House Deathmatch)
So what does a Waffle House deathmatch entail, exactly? Well, it’s waffles...on everything dangerous or sharp or potentially breakable that you can imagine. It’s like a sheltered, helicopter-parented fat kid’s nightmare. Thankfully Logan Stunt’s parents are badass, because not only do they support their boy in this match but we have both Papa and Mama Stunt on commentary for this one! He’d need all the support, too, because Juicy Jimmy is a damn big boy. So what kind of waffle fuckery and waffle plunder did we have? Man, there were waffle-covered doors, waffle skewers, waffle-covered light tubes, staple gun spots involving waffles, and waffle slap-fests. Waffles. Flying. Everywhere. This one ended with Juicy Jimmy taking the victory after sending Logan through a waffle-covered door for the pin, but damn you sure have to love the Stunts for their dedication to everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) those boys do.
Match 7: GQ vs Effy (Dollar General Gift Card on a Pole Match)
In hindsight I really don’t think this match was about the DG gift card even though that may have been obvious to most from the jump (despite GQ’s claims that his family needed to eat). No, I think these two dudes just wanted to fuck each other up, and damn it that’s what they did. Brutal match, this one, but what was most brutal was the ladder itself. This was probably the most difficult-to-win ladder match I’ve ever seen, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a sliding extension ladder used instead of the usual stepladders. So the guys had to get creative here, God bless ‘em. And credit to Effy, too, for keeping the savagery going in the match while the crew worked with the ladder to poise it for someone to win. Shit got real at the end of this one, though, after GQ took an incredibly hard bump to the outside through a door and the crew held the extension ladder as Effy went up and got the gift card for the win. GQ was out for a minute after the match was over as his head was busted open from crown to forehead...VERY scary looking and hopefully GQ’s going to be all right after that one and hopefully his family can still look forward to meals from Dollar General, gift card or not.
Match 8: Shlak vs Tank (Bob Wire Match)
I put my 3M industrial breathing mask on for this match, because there were just too many broken light tubes involved to play it risky. Shlak and Tank don’t fuck around and they went to bloody hellacious war here. Duking it out was the rule here when these two weren’t busting light tubes over each other’s heads (right in front of me in the front row, no less), murdering each other with chairs, or sending each other flying through doors. Tank even got creative enough at one point to literally waterboard Shlak...how fucked up is that?! Loved how wild this one got and at the finish it was Tank taking the win over an exhausted Shlak after rolling him up on broken glass for the win.
Match 9: Team WOMBAT vs. Team GCW (Loser Leaves Tullahoma)
The second wave of Team WOMBAT was originally supposed to have Mr. Walk-It-Out lead the crew, but since he’d been so brutally attacked earlier in the show there’d have to be some sort of change in guard. Nick Iggy was more than happy to lead the charges into battle for Team WOMBAT, but would it be enough to take out Team GCW? Even though the second time around lasted much longer for the WOMBAT team, GCW would not be stopped tonight, even as they played guest on a much different playing ground. Nick Gage rallied his team to an all-out brawl and just as it seemed that once again Team GCW would have a dominant team victory after all WOMBAT members but Uncle Biff had been eliminated, out came the injured John Poe himself with a chair! Mr. Walk-It-Out was limping but looked as if he was not going to take the WOMBAT loss without a fight. After Poe made it in the ring with a chair and faced off all 4 GCW competitors, he shocked us all by slamming the steel chair into Uncle Biff’s head and sending him out as the last WOMBAT team member to go down to defeat. Not only did Team GCW get a decisive victory, but it looks like we’ve got a new member of the GCW crew as well!
Post-Show Thoughts
One word: HEADLOCKS!!
Seriously though, for my first live GCW event I could not have asked for a better time. Everyone there from fans to crew were awesome and I had a great time shooting the shit before the show with everyone. This was a completely different vibe than any WWE or even “run-of-the-mill” independent wrestling show I’ve ever been to, and it has to be experienced to be appreciated. Many thanks to GCW and Crux Wrestling for bringing the fun, games, blood, and fuckery to Tullahoma!
