Something Extraordinary: GCW Presents The Collective 2020
Live from the Marion County Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, IN
October 9 - 11, 2020
Available on FITE.tv
I’m writing this piece somewhere in between Indianapolis and Orange County. My mind, however, is for the moment back in Austin in January of 2020 - back at GCW’s Take a Picture. That seems like a damn long time ago. It was my second time going to a GCW show, and by then I was ready to travel to Tampa in the spring for the Collective. I remember going home from Austin more excited for Wrestlemania weekend than I’d been in years, and I wasn’t even going to anything Mania-related. That long weekend in Florida would be everything I’d gotten to love again about wrestling all in one place. Indie wrestling. The cool people I’d met at my first two shows? Many of them would be in Tampa. The promotions that grew so important to me so fast within the past year? They’d all be there in Tampa running an event at the Collective. It was the best way to say ‘hey, damn, I’m a lapsed wrestling fan returning to the fold via the backyard instead of the white picket gate and it’s wonderful’.
Shit fell apart so quickly in March. When all hope was lost for the Collective in Tampa, all anyone could do was sit back and wait through that depressing period of time. The word was that the event was postponed, not outright cancelled. There was hope. When you look back on it, though, that one weekend back in April was full of so many missed opportunities for independent wrestlers. I wanted to see promotions do well at a time when the indies were gaining momentum just to have the brakes put on early in the year. By June my sense of adventure was clawing at every nerve. I needed to get out of the damn house before I spiraled into what was shaping up to be profound despair. This 2020 society was not made for me. I can’t stay still. The universe didn’t piss on my year for too long, however, because then came June and then came GCW in Indianapolis. Then came August and September at GCW in Indianapolis. By summer’s end and three shows down I was pretty damn appreciative of that city.
It made sense to move the Collective to Indy. I think now everyone’s pretty well aware that the event was the genius child of Spyder Nate Webb, who’d done a remarkable job of kick-starting indie wrestling again from his own home town. To think of how Nate pulled off not just the Collective but multiple GCW events over an entire season in Indianapolis is overwhelming to think about. There’s a ton of love that fuels that sort of dedication. I understand it, too. When you believe in something extraordinary like wrestling and you want to see it do well, you’ll do every single thing that’s needed to make things happen. My respect for Nate Webb knows no bounds after this past weekend at the fairgrounds.
So I spent three wild days there in Indianapolis, having flown in instead of driven this time. The eight hour drive from Little Rock didn’t seem like it’d be a fun road trip back that Monday. I’m a seasoned fan now and can anticipate hangovers like storm chasers predict tornadoes. Surprisingly, I landed in the city completely sober that Thursday night. Rarely do I go to excess in drinking and general malfeasance at home; I save that for trips to shows. By the time the wheels went down, my tolerance was low and my spirits were high. That evening I arrived, a good deal of the weekend’s attendees congregated for Nate Webb’s preshow party. The accepted notion was that we’d all get decently buzzed (or rip-roaringly fucked up) prior to the next day and we’d start off Day 1 the right way. Shoutout to Nate for making sure my drunk ass had my backpack before the crew and I left for the night, too - dude gets all my appreciation for every single thing he did over the weekend.
I admit it, I was crazy in thinking I could do all 12 shows. After the first day at the fairground and four shows back to back I realized that my mind was willing to accomplish attending every Collective show but my body was not having it. Overall I attended 8 of the 12 shows presented, and with each day there was something worth seeing on each card. Friday, also known as ‘Day 1’, was the ass-kicker, my marathon day, my ‘let’s do it all so I can say I did it’ day. Saturday was the fuck-it day. Both shows I attended on Day 2 were made for maximum fun, so I planned to do it to death. Day 3 was a beautiful sendoff to a fantastic weekend with two shows that enforced my passion for independent wrestling. I played it all by ear, just like I do most of my day to day living, and thankfully I came up from the weekend still alive and quite eager to share the experience.
Day 1: Jimmy Lloyd’s Degeneration F, Southern Underground Pro’s Swing of the Axe, AIW’s Thunder in Indianapolis, GCW’s For the Culture
You’ll be able to go just about anywhere and see the results from all four shows on Friday. I’m not particularly focused on a match-by-match review of each show in this piece although I’m very keen on repeated re-watches and gif creations of what I did see. That especially goes for Swing of the Axe, which turned out to be one of the best shows I’ve seen all year. SUP hit the home run of the day with their show, but there was no better way to close out the night than For the Culture. The whole lineup of Friday shows seemed to be just where they needed to be.
Starting things off with Degeneration F was entertaining as hell. What I liked about the Marion County Fairgrounds was that there wasn’t a bad place in the house to watch the action. The acoustics were great; if you were in the building then even the quarter-capacity crowds still sounded like a full size arena when anyone would hit a big spot. I sat behind Tony Deppen and Kevin Gill as they did the commentary duties for the show and loved seeing familiar names again that I’d first seen live back in December, like my guys ‘Kung Fu’ Donnie Janela and JJ Garrett and the Smokin’ Budz. Those boys showed out at Degeneration F and I was damn proud to see it! Logan Stunt is another one I was happy to see making a big presence throughout the weekend. He and Manders tore it up in their match, which I thought was one of the best on the card. I expected Blake Christian and Starboy Charlie to steal the show in their match and they most certainly killed it to close things out. Welcome to the GCW main event, Charlie, I’m hoping the world is ready for you!
I was riding on a huge wave of energy by the time SUP’s Swing of the Axe began. This was their first show back since March and it surpassed every expectation I’d had. If anyone out there is a fan who’s shied away from following indie promotions before because there’s no depth of storytelling, I encourage you to watch this show or share this show with someone who’s unfamiliar with the scene we have going today. Case in point - the main event. I was predicting that there’d be a changing of the guard when it came to SUP’s Bonestorm Championship. The match that was set was Manders vs. AC Mack, and this was a match that had a build going ever since everything was shut down in spring and Manders was the number one contender for the championship. Now, finally, he’d get his moment. At least it seemed that way. No, SUP has a way of turning the story around in ways that don’t miss the mark. We saw AC Mack win over Manders, but then we had Manders’ fellow Second Gear Crew brother AJ Gray come to the ring and make his challenge for the Bonestorm Championship. Now this was a situation that I could get behind. AJ Gray closed out Swing of the Axe by defeating AC Mack to become the new Bonestorm Champion. The drama and the payoff to the main event alone should sell you on how good this promotion can get. Now here’s to hoping we’ll have more SUP shows between now and the end of the year, because I’m more than ready to see them get back in stride again.
Between SUP and AIW I was 3 drinks in and more than a few tokes over the line. There’s a picture of me happily flat on my back in the fairground parking lot. The atmosphere at this point was that of a carnival, a camping trip, and a church lock-in all at the same time. Nobody really wanted to leave in between shows because the hotels were at least a good 15 minute drive away, so we all tailgated in the parking lot and enjoyed the company of fellow wrestling fans who love to party as much as I do. We’re a rare and beautiful breed.
My second live AIW show was Friday night’s Thunder in Indianapolis. I’d been to their Labor Day show, I Assure You, We’re Open and it left a solid enough impression on me to where I wanted to show up and support them at the Collective. Thunder was the third show of the day and by this point I was starting to feel the fatigue of day-drinking and bouncing around boundless like a child with a credit card between downtown Indianapolis and the fairgrounds. The show still managed to keep my attention, though - especially when it came to that banger three-way match between Alex Shelley and Tre LaMar and Lee Moriarty. I also had a great time watching Mance Warner go to battle with Mr. Brickster in a rowdy grudge match that had a good story behind it too (again, fans who think the indies don’t tell stories just aren’t watching the indies enough). I was really expecting Matthew Justice to pull off the win in the main event and retain the Absolute Intense Championship, but good on Josh Bishop for being that dude who took Justice of all people to his limit in a barbed wire match. Great show and I had just enough energy left in me for the day’s final event.
Being there and present in the For the Culture audience meant a lot. This was the show I wanted to attend when we’d all first learned about Collective 2020 events. I wanted to be there to support men and women I’d met within the past year who have done well for themselves despite the tough circumstances we live in. The young talent who showed up and showed out for this event can take their careers anywhere upward from this point, I’d bank on that notion. The legends who came out to shine one more time like 2 Cold Scorpio did the damn thing and had us glad to see them again. My particular favorite match of the show (among a couple others!) was the tag team three way where 40 Acres made one hell of a name for themselves and people got to see how amazing everybody really is. Christian Casanova, Tasha Steelz, Air Wolf, and Angel Dorado ate that match up with Tre LaMar and Pretty Boy Smooth. The future of tag team wrestling is solid. Second favorite bout of the show was Lee Moriarty vs. ACH. I swear, Lee had the best weekend when it came to match quality. Top to bottom the rest of the card couldn’t have been booked better. This show was my first time seeing Trish Adora live and I was all eyes during her match with Suge D, which was a classic. My Day 1 ended on this great note of high self-assurance. I was beat, I was tired, and I didn’t get to sleep until well past 4 am, but I’d seen some amazing wrestling and the last thoughts in my head before my body shut down from exhaustion was ‘man, tomorrow’s gonna be even better…’
Day 2: EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch, Joey Janela’s Spring Break 4
Day 2 of the Collective, fueled by Loughmiller’s Pub.
Seriously, any decisions I made during the morning or evening events can be co-signed by the concession. Loughmiller’s was the cordial host of all GCW afterparties this past summer, so they recognized me right off whenever I sauntered up to the stand for a mimosa that morning at the Big Gay Brunch.
I was powering through Saturday morning, though; I’d gotten about four good hours of sleep but was in no mood to attempt any kind of clothing. I rolled up to the Fairgrounds shortly before 11am in my pajamas and sleeping cap. Thankfully there were no outward signs of judgment from the fellow attendees. In fact, among the friendly faces I saw was sweet Cranberry, Effy’s precious little girl. Cranberry gave me lots of kisses to greet me (what a darling baby!) and I had a mimosa in my hand within moments. This was just how I wanted to start the day.
I got to spend time with so many wonderful people at the Brunch. The energy of that show was as addictive as caffeine. Everybody in each match wanted to go at a hundred percent and I’m sure everyone in attendance felt this. I don’t know if everyone enjoyed Still Life vs. Dark Sheik as much as I did but I damn sure had fun cheering on Still Life, as this was my first time seeing them in person. The opening tag match between the Sea Stars and AC Mack/Ashton Starr was a fine way to start off the show hot. There was just the right balance of serious talent and upbeat good times at work at the Big Gay Brunch. Of course there are those fans who will never understand what it’s like to have actual fun. When you see gifs or clips of the more outrageous moments that went over so wonderfully with us there in attendance, you’ll have the whiners and complainers who just ‘don’t get’ that sort of thing in wrestling. Verily, I say unto thee, the Big Gay Brunch is meant for those of us who not only get it but we want it. We want big main event matches like Cassandro vs. Sonny Kiss. We want the craziness of ‘Too Hot for TV’ matches. We want both sides of that coin and it’s totally doable. This show proved it.
I spent the next few hours sobering up for the next round. Spring Break 4 was the perfect ‘don’t give a fuck, let’s GO’ show and by the time the festivities started I was there with a lei around my neck and a rum and coke in my hand, already buzzing off of a mango White Claw from just moments before bell time. Off we went for the party.
I can’t really recall in great detail how I made it down to ringside halfway through the show. There were several drinks involved and a wandering trip to the restroom happened. From there, I was gone. There was Janela vs. Ricky Morton and I, a native Arkansas girl who grew up on Memphis ‘rasslin, was suddenly transported. It was 1986 and I wasn’t in Indianapolis anymore, I was in the Mid South Coliseum and I was a little kid caught up in the action. That’s the magic of the Rock and Roll Express, I imagine. I jumped up out of my chair, whooped and hollered for Ricky to rally back and win, yelled and drank another White Claw. This was good shit, people.
Then there was the Clusterfuck. Oh yes, the Clusterfuck. It was my first time seeing one live, and I’m pretty sure from my point of view it was akin to how a toddler feels when walking into a circus for the first time. The brain is registering everything around you as real but you can’t be too certain. The one thing I did know? I was there for the talent I love to support. I was there to see Clusterfuck debuts from Cabana Man Dan and Kerry Awful and Nick Iggy and Donnie Janela and Nasty Leroy. I was there to see Spyder Nate Webb to win that damn thing. From the Teenage Dirtbag entrance to his whole participation in the Clusterfuck, I wanted to see Nate stay in there and take the victory home. The other thing that I knew was that I was fucking wasted. WASTED. By the end of the Clusterfuck I was left standing there in rapturous awe, celebrating Nate Webb’s huge win and somehow still holding Kung Fu Janela’s ring gear. Oh yes...the Clusterfuck.
After the Tremont/Colon main event I was dead to the world. Perfectly content, but severely fatigued. It was as if I’d gone through an entire castle of light tubes and hit a pot of gold at the bottom. That’s what kind of show Spring Break 4 was. I stumbled back to the hotel room thanks to my beloved crew and promptly passed out while still wearing my flower lei. Day 2, ya’ll. Day 2.
Day 3: Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, Paradigm Pro Wrestling’s Trapsoul
On Sunday I didn’t leave bed until well into the early evening. I honestly could not move. My legs were jello from all of the jumping and running around I’d done on the previous night at Spring Break 4. My body was screaming ‘FUCK YOU, REST’ when I made any attempt to sit upright, so I followed my brain’s lead for once and fell back asleep. I made some sort of compromise with myself - okay, sleep now, but you have to go out with a bang on these last two shows of the weekend.
And I did just that. :)
What I like about Bloodsport is that it’s not your conventional indie wrestling show. The rowdiness factor isn’t there in the crowd, it’s all there in the ring. You get to enjoy it more as a result. Yeah yeah, there’s not always ‘blood’ involved in Bloodsport matches, but I think anybody who was expecting open wounds or broken noses or bleeding foreheads or whatnot may be thinking of deathmatches, not shoot-style fights. I hope everyone who watched the show, however, came away from it with a better appreciation of this type of event. WWE has done its job in introducing the already-established idea to the mainstream audiences, but it’d be nice if a good amount of curious fans checked in on this card to see what the real deal is like. The card was full of satisfying finishes; I was pretty hyped to see Calvin Tankman’s win and the Lawlor/Homicide match ran away with the show up until the main event. Moxley took the win, but if the universe is anything right and just then the wrestling world will keep its eyes on this match in particular for Chris Dickinson. The Dirty Daddy showed the grand-scale viewing audience exactly who he was and what he could do in the ring against a major player. Let’s keep that momentum going for him, please.
Between Bloodsport and Trapsoul there was inside my head a ball of energy. It was a big bright ball of energy that exploded like a firework behind my eyes and left my brain alight for the remainder of the evening. There was no way I was leaving the fairgrounds, not with the last show of the weekend about to play out in front of me. Not when I’d planned to be there. I wasn’t going to eat the cost of this ticket over something silly such as fatigue. I made a damn good decision, too. The Paradigm show felt like an underground meeting of indie talent who were ready to shut the whole damn weekend down themselves with one last shout. That ball of energy somewhere in my brain kept me going all through this show, I was everywhere following the action and jumping from place to place to see it all. Suge D going toe to toe with O’Shay Edwards. The Naptown scramble where Billie Starkz scared the hell out of us all with that wild dive (girl!!). Kevin Ku versus his tag partner Dom Garrini. Hoodfoot giving Erick Stevens an absolutely amazing send off match. The street fight. The main event death match. The tag team championship match where I couldn’t shut up about how great Nolan Edward is. That was how I spent my last night of the Collective, a wild thing chasing the action like a cat chases a laser pointer, trying to see every last bit of wrestling that I could.
That’s how I want to remember the weekend. Me, a wild thing running on some sort of stored energy, eager to see everything in and out of the ring before it was all over.
In Praise of History Made
It didn’t really come to mind until I was on the plane ride back to Little Rock that I’d just witnessed something huge happen right there in person at the fairgrounds. The Collective made history out of a thing that seemed entirely impossible. To be so bold as to step forward and take the initiative in uncertain times is the behavior of game changers and outlaws. Nothing gets done when you sit and wait for someone to give you their moral nod of the head; you just go and do. The result of all of this planning could have gone either way, but what we saw happen over three days was monumental. GCW took the risk on shows and Indianapolis was so generous as to provide a stage. As a wrestling fan with oftimes more passion than reason, I wanted to be there to support the cause in person. I’m satisfied with the decision. It’s a decision that left me with the memories I was supposed to collect in Tampa.
Shoutout to the GCW crew for providing this alternative to sitting on my ass at home, depressed over this shitty world. I wanted an escape. I needed an escape. The fairgrounds provided that escape. Shoutout and love to everyone I shared a moment with at the Collective, whether it was a joint or a drink or a wink of the eye, I’m grateful to know that I’m not alone in my pursuit of happiness. It means the world to me to know that we were finally all together in one place to enjoy wrestling, a seemingly simple motive that became one of the hardest things to do in 2020.
They did that shit though, didn’t they?