GCW Presents ‘Keep In Touch’
Live from White River State Park in Indianapolis, IN
August 2, 2020
Available on FITE.tv
And now for something a little different.
Before I dive into recounting this weekend’s GCW excursion (while still partly recovering from Homecoming weekend in New Jersey) I want to tell you a little bit about myself as a fan. I think it helps not only connect you a little better to your intrepid Arkansas traveler/writer/messy dishevelled stoner but it also serves as a pretty good lead-in to how I spent this past Sunday afternoon in the park.
When I was a little kid I was absolutely terrified of wrestling. Keep in mind I grew up in the South during the early 80s. My first memories of wrestling were raucous fights on NWA on TBS (when my father could afford cable or steal it) and gritty mid-south territory wrestling that we’d sometimes see on local Little Rock television on Saturday afternoons. I also want you to understand that I grew up in a family full of 100% assholes when it came to raising children properly, which kind of explains the way I am today. Nobody let me in on the secret, naturally. These were mean men, and if I misbehaved then some clown of a cousin or an uncle would threaten to call the wrestlers on the phone to take care of me. There I was at 4 years old, watching men beat the shit out of each other and then go yell angrily into the TV camera...and I thought they were coming to get me.
Shit. In a way, I guess they did get me.
Anyway, it wasn’t until I saw the sanitized and much more kid-friendly WWF in 1984-85 when I was around 5 or 6 that I started to enjoy what I was seeing. It was much to my father’s disappointment that I didn’t latch on right away to the more realistic and brutal type of wrestling. That process took a couple more years for me.
With that said, my old man would have taken to Rhylynn right away. She’s 4 years old and loves the hell out of what scared the piss out of me as a child. I bonded with Rhylynn almost immediately after meeting her on Sunday; even though I never had any desire to have children of my own life has played a funny on me by having a large part of my adult life spent around kids. I get along more easily with little children than I do a good number of grown folks as a result. So when my friend Mayson let me know about his niece, I was fascinated. A little girl who loved deathmatches and GCW? How the hell could I not want to hang out with her?
Compared to the personal debauchery of the previous weekend, Keep In Touch was by far the most wholesome GCW show I’ve attended this summer. We were all buoyed on the positive vibes of the previous Indianapolis show in June, and despite the clouds that threatened a good time I’d like to believe it was this wave of happy energy that kept the rain away. Not to say I was an angel at this event, though; I still managed to toke up and slam down several cans of White Claw, more beers than I needed, and a few sips of whiskey throughout the event. Somehow I was able to repeatedly maneuver myself over the park rocks and chase after Rhylynn between matches without busting my ass. I lead a charmed life sometimes.
Watching GCW with a little kid hits completely differently. Not that I was afraid to let loose with shouting out the usual raunchy language during matches or anything like that; Rhylynn wasn’t the delicate type of kid at all. What she did for me, though, was inspirational. There’s something really special about seeing what gets the children going at a live wrestling show. When I got back home yesterday and ordered the replay on FITE, I really did feel like I was watching the solid GCW product I’ve come to know. Still, the second ‘at-home’ viewing of Keep In Touch didn’t spark the same joy for me that I had down by the canal at ringside. I enjoyed watching it all play out on screen, but damn if it isn’t wonderful to be right there in the moment (with a small child crushing empties at my side).
On commentary: OG Kevin Gill and Dave Prazak
The best thing about watching the replay was hearing Prazak once again doing the honors at the table with our boy KG. Dave was the man this past weekend in Indiana, having done commentary for both nights of IWA Mid-South’s King of the Deathmatches 2020 event and then making his way to Indianapolis for Keep In Touch. Hopefully he’ll work more with KG and GCW at more shows before the year is out; I’ve missed his wicked sense of humor on commentary.
The crew and I arrived shortly after the dark tag team match of Thunderkitty and Logan Stunt vs. Manders and Levi Everett. Damn it, if I’d known this was the dark match I’d have hauled ass to get to the park earlier. I never like to miss a Logan Stunt match, and from all accounts this was a pretty good tag team pairing. More Thunderkitty on the main card please, because she’s great and late-asses like me demand to see her featured more prominently on shows.
Match 1: Benjamin Carter vs. Tony Deppen
When I’m at a live GCW event the first match is my drinking match, so it’s nice to have Tony Deppen open these shows. Beer goes well with Deppen’s personality. You know what else compliments Deppen’s temperament all too well? The Prodigy Ben Carter’s skills, that’s what. If Tony wasn’t buying into Ben being the fast-rising new guy who earned his spot on GCW shows, I think Ben knocked some sense into him. It’s no secret I’m a Deppen fan, but you couldn’t help but pull for Ben Carter in this one. The guy’s brilliant in the ring, and I’m hoping all of the new fans laying eyes on the product are paying attention to him. Deppen gets the win in the meanwhile, but the Prodigy sure as hell didn’t provide the short and sweet match he was expecting.
Match 2: Kylie Rae vs. Cole Radrick
By the second match, Rhylynn was begging to come sit at ringside with me. We’d been best buddies all afternoon and by that point we were inseparable, so why not? This was the perfect match for her to see up close, too. I wanted her to see sweet and kind Kylie Rae get tough in the ring and know it’s cool for girls to do so. In fact, I wanted the world to see the same. Look, every person’s allowed their opinion, but to come after so-called ‘intergender’ matches is a solid gatekeeping move on the part of wrestling fans who try to disguise their malcontent as concern. Somehow it seems like the men are the only one concerned, too. Here’s to hoping after this match we’ll see more like them, because Kylie and Cole went to war and it was legit.
My favorite part of this match was that gorgeous deadlift German suplex Kylie pulled off mid-match. The lady is strong as hell. When she sent Radrick through the table her reaction was unmistakably true to character, which was great to see. In the end although I was pulling for Kylie I wasn’t upset to see Radrick get the victory. He’s still got his match with Gage to think about, so he wasn’t going to miss a prime opportunity to show everybody he’s a worthy opponent.
Shoutout to Kylie Rae for being so very nice to Rhylynn after the match, too! She immediately wanted to go meet Kylie, who was gracious enough to share a few words with my little sidekick after a hard-fought match. Good stuff indeed.
Match 3: Calvin Tankman vs. KTB
The big boy banger was up next. The hometown crowd clearly went with Tankman for this one, too. Being a fan of KTB’s new physique, I went with the Beast from the Woods. Tankman’s been pretty dominant in scramblefuck matches as of late, so it was fun to watch him go one-on-one in the GCW ring against one of the more established guys. Again, Tankman’s agility shined here against the Beast, who’s moving at an impressive pace this summer in his matches. Calvin, however, definitely has his place in the GCW ring and this singles match proved it. KTB’s devastating avalanche DVD was the deciding factor in the end, though, and despite Tankman’s solid work the Beast got the win.
Match 4: Tre LaMar vs. Blake Christian
Blake Christian is some kind of aerial wrestling genius. I swear he must spend the better part of his day just thinking up crazy shit to do, and then I’m sure he messages Alex Zayne to see if he thought of it first. Tre LaMar, though? Man, he’s in the same position that Blake was last year. He’s had this summer with GCW to build his name and use opportunities as a platform, and he’s doing so in a time where that platform is pretty hard to reach. You’d have to be dead to not enjoy the one-upmanship games in this one. It’s like Tre’s actively trying to follow the successful trajectory that Blake Christian’s had over the past year. With more matches like these, Tre has the potential to land even further within a year. It’s a good time watching the future of the independent scene show themselves off. Excellent match with Blake Christian taking the victory after hitting his patented top rope finish.
Match 5: Allie Kat & EFFY vs. Rickey Shane Page and Atticus Cogar
Rhylynn was back at my side at ringside for this tag match, and she was quite interested in Allie Kat and EFFY as a team. She in particular liked EFFY’s fishnets, which I thought was excellent. Wanting to keep my little buddy on top of all things GCW, I made sure that Rhylynn knew that RSP and Cogar and their little buddies on the outside of the ring were the bad guys. Somehow, though, I don’t think she was convinced. Maybe it was their stupid green pants and suspenders that caught her attention, I don’t know. Rhylynn was pretty excited by the time the chairs and doors came out from under the ring, and by then I think she was turning towards 44OH’s side. Damn it, we have to teach our youth, people. Once RSP hit the backbreaker on EFFY for the pinfall win, Rhylynn asked if she could go meet everyone after the match. Sure, why not, if they’ve all got a moment?
Ok, so whatever, maybe 44OH just made a new little fan. As everyone made their way back from the ring Rhylynn’s brave little ass stepped up to each of them to make her presence known. I think RSP must have respected this because she was rewarded with a little fist bump. Not bad. And then Rhylynn met Atticus Cogar…
...and Cogar knelt down ever so graciously just to flip the bird right in little Rhylynn’s face. That’s right folks, people from Ohio give the middle finger to 4 year old little girls! I was Karen-level appalled, man! But, hey, guess who took it all in stride? All Rhylynn did was wonder why the hell he flipped her off. Fair enough, people from Ohio are confusing. From what I understand this was the general consensus when Rhylynn proceeded to tell everyone including Allie Kat what Cogar did. Well. He’s from Ohio. That’s what they do.
Match 6: Spyder Nate Webb vs. Mance Warner
This was my favorite match on the card, bar none. Mancer set a nice stage for this match with an amazing promo just days before the show. From what he said, it was clear that this was going to be a war between two men who really are great at what they get up to in the ring. I adore Nate and it’s fun to watch how badass he is when he’s really called out. He’s one of the best veterans in wrestling today and I’m glad I was there to see this one live and in person.
And the best part? I watched this match with a 4-year old little girl and she had the best time. I asked her who she picked for the winner and Nate was her choice (by then Mancer had gotten color and I guess that may have swayed her decision). I looked at her sweet face right after Nate hit a moonsault-with-a-chair that sent Mance crashing through a door set up on two more chairs. This kid was loving it and so was I. I live for moments like these, you know? Then there was the spot that had us all freaking out, the double decker doors and chairs. Friends, I’d been waiting to see this shit go down right in front of me. Thank God for GCW. This fucking match was unforgettably wild. Mancer hit the pay winda in the finish with the DDT on Nate straight into a pile of chairs. Rhylynn and I were sufficiently hyped by the finish, and damn we rode on that energy for the rest of the show.
Match 7: Alex Zayne vs Ace Austin vs Isaias Velazquez vs Jimmy Lloyd vs Jordan Oliver vs Shane Mercer (Scramblefuck match)
I watched a good part of this one from the upper section of the park, and the view was gorgeous. There’s something about watching the sun shine off the river in the background while guys are doing the best of flippy shit in the ring that’s set right there by the canal.
The scramblefuck matches continue to top themselves! What kind of monster or machine is Shane Mercer, anyway? The Iron Demon had a substantial showing in Indiana this past weekend at both King of the Deathmatches and then on Sunday in the scramble match. The general consensus is that the man needs to be going places like now. I completely agree. Then there’s Isaias Velazquez, who made himself known to the world in this match. Honestly, with all of the new fans getting to know GCW this is the best time to introduce new names in scramble matches, and I enjoy seeing newcomers like Isaias and bigger names like Ace Austin mix it up with scramble masters like Jimmy, Jordan, and Zayne. I really hope Ace Austin makes his way back to GCW for some singles matches in the near future.
Like I mentioned before, I think there’s some sort of communication between Alex Zayne and Blake Christian to where they’re constantly thinking up crazy spots. The finish to this scramble with Zayne hitting the Crunchwrap Supreme on Jordan Oliver and then ending it with a Taco Driver on Mercer was as close to perfect as it could get. Good on Hot Sauce for getting the victory in a hell of a scramble.
Match 8: AJ Gray vs. Chris Dickinson
AJ Gray is the gospel truth; I’ll say that for anyone who doesn’t know it. He showed the hell up in Indy with a fresh new look and a focus that you love to see in this match against Dickinson. What I enjoyed best about this match is that it took the time to deliver solid drama to the viewing audience. In my opinion, Dickinson’s become a master at telling a story with his body and AJ Gray worked very well with the Dirty Daddy here. Gray’s a formidable opponent who on his best day could very well beat Dickinson soundly. However, this wasn’t that moment for AJ. Once Dickinson focuses on one body part and weakens it (in this case AJ’s left leg), he’s got any opponent where he wants them. That was the case here, even though AJ stayed in the match from beginning to end. It would take a submission victory to put Gray out for good for the finish, and once Dickinson did enough damage to AJ’s leg he ensured himself a win by tapout. This one’s immediately one of my favorite AJ Gray matches.
Match 9: Joey Janela vs. ACH (DDTPro Ironman HeavyMetalWeight Championship match)
In my opinion, little Rhylynn set the tone for this match. It was the main event, she was energized and pumped up on sugary lemonade, and it was her rallying cheer of “GO GO GO GO GO GO GO” immediately after the bell that let me know she was living. Definitely my kind of people. She stood on her chair for the majority of this match. Occasionally Rhylynn would use all this sudden energy to deliver picture-perfect crossbodies to me as I sat and/or lay on the ground next to her. By that time the action between Joey and ACH had gone outside of the ring; it was everyone for themselves and she was going to get her spots in too at that point.
The main event was a frenzy of chops, death valley drivers, a tiger driver, a piledriver, and even a figure four submission coming into play for good measure. ACH got full rowdy with Janela, and anybody who still remained wondering if ACH could fit into the GCW style surely got their positive answer with this match. One thing I took away from this, and it may seem random, but still - ACH delivers a beautiful brainbuster. No matter what, though, the Bad Boy would not stay down despite taking the best of what his challenger had. Joey was determined to hang on to the DDTPro championship, but ACH got the better of him with a dirty low blow and a win by submission. Oh yes. He’s one of the outlaws for real, and he’s a new champion as well by the show’s end.
If you’ve been following the events after the show, GCW’s tweeted videos that followed ACH in the beginning hours of his championship reign and...well, without giving away too much you’ll see the progression in which Joey Janela manages to regain the Ironman HeavyMetalWeight Championship in less than 24 hours. Things got pretty wild that night and the morning after in Indy, but at least the Bad Boy returned home with the gold he brought to town.
Post-Show Thoughts
Part of me wishes I could have been more like little Rhylynn when I was a kid. That early appreciation of ‘the good shit’ leads to a lifelong love of wrestling. I’m way impressed with her father and uncle for facilitating that affection. It reminds me of my own dad and how we bonded back in the day. :)
I saw Keep In Touch as a love letter to Indianapolis. The city that welcomed GCW back in June after the period of waiting and uncertainty will always have the appreciation of the fans. The weather held steady after a weekend full of rain and it was another great day in the park that stretched into a great evening of kicking it with the crew at the afterparty down the street. I couldn’t have planned a more apropos way to end the weekend than with the vibe we had on Sunday night.
My summer of chasing the outlaws is coming to a close. The season will end with a bang in Atlantic City in just a couple of weeks when I go back to the beach for Tournament of Survival and Jersey Shore, though. After that? It’ll be time to recharge my batteries. I’ve made so many great memories and met so many wonderful people and traveled so many miles that it’s time to slow the party down for a little while and start putting all of these experiences in chapters. Trust me, I even still have enough brain cells after the incessant partying to remember at least some of the details.