No Animals Were Harmed In The Making of This Mudshow:
GCW Goes to Wyoming
Outlaw Mudshow at the Range Arena in Laramie, WY
June 19, 2021
Available on FITE.tv
There are still places in the United States that have gone virtually untouched by any kind of professional wrestling for many, many years. I complain that I’m from one of those areas despite the fact that WWE comes to Arkansas fairly often; Little Rock and Jonesboro are two of the fed’s regular locales in the south for RAW, SmackDown, and house shows. It’s like a food desert here when it comes to wrestling, though. More often than not, all we can find here in my corner of the world is the McDonalds of ‘sports entertainment’: big-box, big-business, big-bank. Big deal. I like looking for whatever tastes different and new. Give me the food trucks and dive bars and every roadside stop in between. I guess wrestling fans in and around Wyoming might feel similar, seeing as the pickings are far more slim up around Laramie for dining or entertainment or damn near anything else.
Laramie, Wyoming...when was the last time they even had a wrestling event? As far as I know, the closest thing they’d have to an independent scene would be down in Colorado. When I rack my brain for facts about Wyoming all I can think of is cattle, dirt, and sky. It’s unfinished America, land that belongs to the country that our developers and planners never got around to screwing with. Forgotten and therefore ripe for fun. You can get away with so much more when nobody’s really looking, and there’s the sweet paradox I found after watching Outlaw Mudshow - in this middle of nowhere place, a fairground with the GCW ring set up in the middle of a barn, there were several new fans being made around the world. People from Wyoming and all around were looking at this event held by out-of-towners, the cattle lowing in the background between the sounds of bodies crashing down on the mat. The locals in attendance got to see live wrestling and probably more blood and fire than they were expecting. In all honesty, I’m a little envious if this was your first time experiencing or watching GCW; this show was the show to start with if you’re just now learning about the promotion from Dark Side of the Ring or the crazy word of mouth that’s spread over the past year.
I’d wanted to go to Laramie for Outlaw Mudshow, but unfortunately this show wasn’t in my travel schedule this time around. The weekend of down time will probably turn out to be in my benefit as 2021 progresses, however, because there’s a LOT of GCW to be seen in the next few months ahead of us. The outlaws are riding back to the old familiar places in LA and Chicago, and they’re breaking new ground again in Mexico and Detroit. The whole start of this crazy summer, however, kicked off in Laramie with a legend. Ricky Morton opened the show accepting an award from GCW for now having wrestled in all 50 states. That’s an achievement not everyone will live to see in their career; how great is it to be able to give these accolades to deserving wrestlers while they’re still here to say thanks? It was a touching opening to see Morton, a man I’ve watched wrestling on TV since I was a little kid, still stepping in the ring and getting cheers from one more new set of faces.
That was the beginning of the Outlaw Mudshow. From there it all went crazier than a shithouse rat, which is something I’ve never seen before but I’m sure you could find that type of rodent (and a shithouse still standing) in Wyoming.
I was only halfway through a lit joint when Gringo Loco was the first one out for the opening match, leading a goat to the ring. This was one of those “you’ve never seen this in GCW but somehow you could only see this in GCW” moments. Had a few of those at the Mudshow, actually. Whatever you may have heard about the promotion, just know that the goat was not sacrificed but instead served as a very fitting symbol for the opening match between Loco and Jordan Oliver. A strong opening match started the show off with J.O. getting the win and looking mighty GOAT indeed by the finish.
Scorpio/Dickinson followed the opener and boy, did it carry some huge dick energy with it. If the goal was for these two to have us all feeling like we were watching a 1992 classic from Atlanta, they delivered above and beyond the call of duty. Not to be outdone, Allie Katch and Jimmy Lloyd went all out balls out for the third match. If you’re not accustomed to Allie’s style these days, make it a point to watch this match to see how much she’s evolved in her two-year ride thus far with GCW. This is a whole ‘nother cat we’re seeing in the ring. Jimmy got the win, but damn if it didn’t take him literally having to break Allie’s face to do so. They don’t come any tougher. You’ll also want to watch this match for Jimmy’s very memorable on point, on brand, and off the wall entrance involving a donkey and a tip of the hat.
Gotta admit, I had to go back and watch the Justice/Manders bullrope match because this was the second match in a row where we had animal entrances that had me killed dead with laughs. When I heard ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ hit I knew there’d likely be something cool for the cowboy’s entrance in Laramie, and I anticipated seeing a horseback entrance much like Adam Page. Not a bad idea, right? Only if the horse thinks it’s a good idea, as it turns out. I’m sure the horse had the best intentions of wanting to make its GCW debut but noped out with a sudden case of stage fright and turned right back out of the barn doors with Manders right atop. And from there the now popular “FUCK THAT HORSE” chant was born. What’s funny is halfway through the match Kevin Gill let everyone know via commentary that the horse did come back towards the ring and then left again, I figure the poor thing was ready for its big moment but decided the guys were already doing their thing. And do the damn thing, they did - Manders and Justice made excellent use out of that bullrope and put on an old school brutal banger of a match. Manders earned every bit of that win.
It can’t be just me who thinks EFFY vs. Warhorse was the show-stealer of the Mudshow, right? Damn that was the type of match that justifies breaking new ground and absolutely the type that keeps names in people’s minds and mouths. It’s been a minute since we’ve seen Warhorse in GCW, and he made up for any and all time in between appearances when he stepped in the ring with everybody’s most beloved Daddy. As much as I love Warhorse he does make a bitchin’ bad guy and very fun to boo (the reprise chant of “FUCK THAT HORSE” directed towards Warhorse is still funny as hell to me). This match and the next one featuring AJ Gray vs. Orin Veidt were two good examples of what independent wrestling delivers today. Solid matches that you could put on in damn near any city and it’ll hold the crowd’s attention from bell to bell. The Ricky Morton/Atticus Cogar match was short, sweet, and very satisfying with Morton getting the pinfall victory on Cogar. I’m really not sure what I enjoyed more about that match, if it’s the fact that Morton won after wrestling in his 50th state or if it’s just the fact that asshole Cogar lost fair and square to a legend. I’ll stick with ‘both’ for my answer.
The main event to a show named Outlaw Mudshow could have only ended the way it did here, folks. When you were younger and reading Inside Wrestling or Pro Wrestling Illustrated and they’d publish the pictures of matches out of Memphis or Philadelphia with men wearing the crimson mask or getting cutlery jabbed into their head...you know what you’d wonder. “Is this REAL? Is this really allowed? How are they still alive? Where can I see this?”
Yes, it’s real, it’s...kinda allowed...nobody knows how they’re still alive (because Nick Gage has died and come back at least once), and you can see this all on FITE.tv for the satisfyingly low price of thirteen bucks.
I stayed mightily intrigued by the blood and guts side of wrestling for decades. Fast forward a few years of my life to watching Nick Gage vs. Mance Warner in June 2021 for the GCW championship in Wyoming. If you ask if Laramie was ready for this, the answer is a resounding HELL NO they were not ready. Well, the cops were ready to arrest someone, but that’s the only level of readiness that the city had for this main event. My question is at what point during Mance/Gage did someone decide to phone the authorities? Was it the mid-match pizza cutter? Was it the fire at the finish? Either way, the 5-0 was on the case after Gage picked up the win to retain his championship. I gotta say I give Mancer all the respect in the world, it’s not every day you go through all that hell to try and win the gold and then directly afterward have to speak to the cops and tell them what just happened.
Lord above, how I love them outlaws.
Despite the kerfuffle with Laramie’s local constabulary, I’d wager it won’t be terribly long before GCW finds its way back to Wyoming now that a trail’s been blazed. Speaking of ‘blazed’, Laramie’s not too far from good ol’ Denver. Next time around it’d be pretty cool to see who among the local talent wants to shine, too. If I’m going to attend the next party at this barn down at the fairgrounds with all of the cattle roaming, however, I’m invoking my deathmatch policy - wear no sandals.