Party in the New Mecca: GCW Presents Bring ‘Em Out
Live from Celebration Amphitheater at White River State Park in Indianapolis, IN
September 6, 2020
Available on FITE.tv
Indianapolis has become the epicenter of independent wrestling in this brave new world of ours. I’m absolutely here for it in words and spirit. As fans, the wave we’re riding now is an unprecedented ride. I really do feel like I’ve been a part of something momentous this past summer, having gone to every GCW event since the return of live events at limited capacity. I feel like these shows have an unmatched personal quality to them even though those in attendance did their damndest to social distance from one another. It’s an intimate setting even though we’re all spaced out (in every sense of the phrase). We’ve all gotten to know each other better over the past few months at the Indy shows. Faces that were new to you in June are familiar by Labor Day weekend. Each show seems to bring out more and more brave souls venturing out of the monotonous security of quarantine just to live a little while trying to survive.
I’ve never seen anything like it before, and once shows are back to full capacity - whenever that will be - we’ll never see anything like this summer again. I can’t say that’s a bad thing, either. I won’t miss quarantine and testing and social distancing whatsoever. What I will miss, though, is this sense of being on the threshold of something brand new for independent wrestling. This is a scary place but I’ve gotten used to being here. We're moving on from this eventually, though. I want to see where the future leads us and where it takes all of the promotions I’ve grown so attached to.
GCW’s Bring ‘Em Out was an exceptional precursor to this year’s Collective events. You may need a specific show to watch and to sell you on why you should make the worthy trip to Indianapolis for the three-day par-tay in October. Let this show in particular be the one to help convince you. Now, that’s high praise but please know that I don’t even consider Bring ‘Em Out to be the best show GCW’s had in the park - that honor goes to last month’s Keep In Touch with June’s WRLD On GCW 2 as a close second. What makes the Labor Day weekend show such a good sell is that it’s got a stacked card that’s reminiscent of what you’ll see at shows like Spring Break. This was the longest of GCW’s summer trilogy in Indianapolis with ten matches that came off well despite several changes to the original lineup.
On Commentary: Dave Prazak and Kevin Gill
All the thanks to KG and Prazak for giving me something to look forward to when I’m home again and ready to watch everything that went down on FITE.tv. Being there and experiencing the event in person will always be an absolute thrill, but there’s something to be said for having just the right commentary with just the right energy there to accompany every move and sick spot. Both guys did yet another quality job throughout the show.
I wasn’t at the Amphitheater in time to catch the pre-show match between Thunderkitty and Billie Starkz, and that was certainly my loss. From what I hear from the GCW family in attendance prior to the event it was a match that should have been featured on the live stream. Both Kitty and young Billie are fantastic talents; Billie’s got a great future ahead of her and I’d love to see her work more with GCW in the months ahead.
Match 1: Ben Carter vs. Jordan Oliver
Hot, hot opening match between the Prodigy and Big Breakfast himself, Jordan Oliver. The curse of the outdoors opener hit here and the sun came out in full force, heating things up quickly. I have nothing but respect for both Ben and Jordan for giving every bit of their energy in this one and leaving it all in the ring despite the sun blazing directly on them. Jordan Oliver took the victory and this was a win for him to be proud of; Ben Carter took him to his limits in this one.
Match 2: Alex Colon vs. Chris Dickinson
For this match I was back with my little partner-in-crime Rhylynn, who you’ll remember from my last outing in Indianapolis. I was curious to know Rhy’s thoughts on which guy would walk away from this match as the winner. She was solidly behind the Dirty Daddy while I was of the opinion that Alex Colon had a lot of momentum coming from his big win in Atlantic City at Tournament of Survival. I truly did think that this would be the match that derailed Dickinson’s hot streak of victories this summer, and by the time fifteen minutes had passed and Colon was still hanging with the Dirty Daddy I was convinced Alex would win. Such was not the case, though, and after twenty minutes of hell in the sun, Dickinson got the victory over this year’s Tournament of Survival winner and deathmatch master. Give it up for Colon’s diversity, though - he’s shown us what he can do to survive a deathmatch and he’s proven he can go in the ring in a legit war when the situation calls for it.
Match 3: Tony Deppen vs. Calvin Tankman
I enjoyed the whole hometown hero vs. snotty (literally snotty) out of towner vibe that this match between Tankman and Deppen had. This was a fine match that I would have liked to see go a little longer; the ending with Deppen stealing the victory was not unanticipated but it was very abrupt. A good part of this match was Tankman ragdolling the hell out of Tony; if not pressed for time we might have seen more of Deppen’s endlessly entertaining offense. I had fun watching this one, I’m a sucker for big guy dominant matches where the underdog can’t be underestimated.
Match 4: Lee Moriarty & Tre LaMar vs. Iron Beast (Shane Mercer & KTB)
You really can’t ask for anything more ‘best of today’s indie wrestling scene’ than these two tag team combinations. This was a great match; one I’ll gladly deem a favorite of any GCW tag match I’ve seen between this year and last year. I can’t get enough of Tre LaMar and neither could little Rhylynn either. She made her bold prediction that ‘the man in the orange’ would win and I backed her on that, but our unwavering support was no match for the savagery that Iron Beast delivers. Mercer’s kicked ass this summer on his own, but the man looks absolutely great in the ring with our new and improved KTB. Moriarty & LaMar didn’t get the win here like I’d expected, but I can’t help but want to see more of Iron Beast as a team going forward.
Match 5: Allie Kat’s Open Meow-llenge
This was a quick but notable moment in the show that led us to have Ethan Page appearing in this year’s Clusterfuck at Spring Break in October. Page (another guy who used quarantine to his advantage in looking absolutely done to fuck) answered the Meow-llenge with a challenge of his own, going up against Allie Kat with his career on the line. That wasn’t the best of decisions, as he lost this high-stakes match in just a couple of minutes. Thankfully for Ethan Page his savior career angel Joey Janela was around to grant him a spot in the Clusterfuck at this year’s Spring Break in October. Honestly, the Clusterfuck is out here launching and saving careers.
Match 6: Mance Warner vs. AJ Gray
Don’t refer to this one solely as a hoss fight, because it’s a hoss fight kicked into second gear. After seeing AJ Gray go fucking wild in deathmatches this summer it’s still a good time watching him in a straight up beast battle with one of his good friends. Enjoy this one for the solid old-school beating these two give each other. I couldn’t make my mind up for my pick to win this one, but I’ll tell you I wasn’t expecting AJ to go on ahead and choke ol’ Mancer out. Damn, man. That’s a hell of a way to remind us all that AJ’s not playing around in GCW; he wants and deserves his rightful title shot.
Match 7: Ace Austin vs. Cole Radrick vs. Nate Webb vs. Dyln McKay vs. Atticus Cogar vs. Jimmy Lloyd (Scramblefuck)
We should have known we were in for trouble when Atticus Cogar interrupted Spyder Nate Webb’s legendary and fun-as-hell entrance. This scramblefuck seemed shorter than usual but that made it all the more hectic with guys flying from all four corners at any given moment, hitting their spots and even incorporating a ladder. How legit are Cole Radrick’s moonsaults?! I was breathlessly impressed with Dyln McKay in this scramblefuck, too - he busts out a magnificent shooting star press on Jimmy Lloyd at one point and then eats a sick ladder moonsault from Nate Webb, who actually had this match won. Well, he had it won until Atticus Cogar stole the glory by covering McKay for the pin after the laddersault. Damn it, fuck Ohio, etc...and Cogar flipped off Rhylynn again.
Match 8: Joey Janela vs. EFFY
This Janela/EFFY banger turned out to be the start of a triple header main event, and damn if these two didn’t put on a match that would be a tough act for anyone to follow, let alone close out the show. If you’ll remember in my last write up, Rhylynn was all about EFFY winning his match last month at Keep In Touch. This time, though, she was enamored with Joey Janela’s hair. I’m not even sure whether or not she wanted Joey to win the match, she just wanted to see him take his ponytail down. I’m happy to have seen this match live as it’s an excellent EFFY match to show anyone who’s new to how Daddy gets down. It’s also a great victory in the end for Janela, who got to ‘be himself’ in the GCW ring for nearly 20 minutes with Daddy. I hope AEW fans are watching these matches so that they can see the real Joey.
Match 9: Matthew Justice vs. Rickey Shane Page
It wasn’t until after the show was over that I’d heard the live feed went dead for this part of the show. All ‘FITE hates RSP’ jokes aside, I do want to say that Justice and RSP went hard here and it’s too bad the live stream audience didn’t get to see the majority of this match as it happened. Little Rhylynn still has an odd devotion for RSP (I think it’s because he fist-bumped her at the last show) and so she was on his side here. To her credit, however, she does have a Matthew Justice-themed outfit. Kid’s not too far gone. Both of us liked this match even though RSP won, because fuck Ohio. At least Rhy got another fist-bump from RSP.
Match 10: Blake Christian vs. ACH
They gave these two dudes the main event and they absolutely shone with it. It’s wonderful to see how far ‘All Heart’ Blake Christian has come within the past year - from his GCW debut to now he’s enjoyed a lot of well-deserved success. In my opinion, the planned Collective in Tampa back in March would have been the place where Blake Christian officially made his name noticed worldwide. I can’t be too upset with the way things turned out for him, though, especially when looking at him go against ACH in this match. Blake is that man you want to close your show because he’s going to leave everybody with something to remember. ACH isn’t a stranger to closing out a GCW show either, and overall this match was a great look for him as well. He provided a formidable challenge, but it was Blake who got the win in this classic. Pretty satisfying end to the show!
Post-Show Thoughts
I write all these thoughts and notes out and I miss the weekend that went by far too fast. I miss walking around and driving around (and around) downtown Indianapolis. I miss hanging out with my GCW crew and family and just being excited about a wrestling show. When there’s such little joy in the world you tend to signal boost whenever you come across happiness like this. You travel for that feeling of excitement. It’s worth it, because it turns into a party. It’s becoming a fun little challenge for me in Indy to differentiate where the pre-show celebrating separates from the actual show, and where that separates from the afterparty. Most of the time I can’t make out where the line is, and a lot of the time I can’t even really tell if the party has ended or if I’m just home for a little breather until the next road trip or plane ride.
And then there’s the desert. Oh, my. There’s me and us and GCW and THC and the desert.
That’s the next stop before the Collective. One big heady trip into the lawless land before we’re back to the sweet haven of this new mecca of independent wrestling for three days of what we love the most.