I just don’t know what it is about the state of New Jersey. Just when I think I’ve gone for my last time, a wrestling company pulls out another Japanese Deathmatch Legend to pull me back in. In 2021, it was Atsushi Onita being brought in by H2O Wrestling for one more round with Matt Tremont. Last year, it was Abdullah Kobayashi coming to the United States for the first time in years to take on the rising star in HoodFoot for ICW No Holds Barred. This year, Game Changer Wrestling pulled out all the stops in bringing in not just my favorite members of the Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS roster, but also one of the absolute greatest Deathmatch Wrestlers of all time: Jun Kasai. Not only that, but the FREEDOMS contingent would be mixing it up with GCW’s finest in this year’s Art of WarGames Match. It was a lineup I could not refuse. So I got my tickets, booked my room at The Showboat, and soon enough, I would be embarking on Atlantic City for the first time to see GCW’s Fight Club Weekend.
This is typically the part where I talk about the feel that the venue has. In this case, all I can say is that The Terminal Convention Center at The Showboat doesn’t really have a whole lot to it unfortunately. It is a wide open space no doubt, with enough space to house a double ring set up, plus several more people comfortably. However, its just that: a wide open space. Adorned in the space are white walls and a big concrete floor. Though the black entrance curtain does break things up a bit, as does the various event banners depicting talent and matches. Ultimately it was the in ring action that counted at the end of the day.
While I don’t have too much to say about the standard fare of matches during GCW’s cards over Fight Club Weekend, I will point out two of my personal highlights. The biggest highlight to me was Jack Cartwheel’s performances across both nights. Cartwheel took absolute advantage of both spots he was in. Starting with the Four Way Match against GCW cornerstones Joey Janela, Masha Slamovich, and Jordan Oliver, he took part in two of my favorite spots of the match. He first took advantage of Joey holding Masha in a Fireman’s Carry by using them as a stepping stone to hit a Spiral Tap on the downed Jordan. Jordan would get his revenge; whipping Cartwheel off the top rope with a Hurricanrana into a Powerbomb onto the mat by Janela. While he wouldn’t come out victorious in the Four Way, he had a chance at an upset against Masha Slamovich on Night 2. Again, he would come out on the losing end, but he would still leave it all in the ring against one of the hottest Independent talents out there today. Cartwheel manages to find a way to hit some gorgeous offense mixed with his outrageous athleticism; including hitting a picture perfect Neckbreaker off of a back cartwheel dodge onto Masha that made my jaw drop. I hope GCW continues to put Cartwheel in these big match situations and let him show out against whomever they have lined up.
Another highlight to me was getting to watch Alec Price for the first time in a long while. Admittedly, I find myself more so watching Deathmatches now a days because it resonates with me most out of everything available. Though this weekend reminded me of how spoiled I am as a New Englander to seen Alec Price grow and become the performer he is today. Watching Alec Price face off with another one of my favorite wrestlers: Tony “Best Bout Machine” Deppen was an absolute treat. Between this match and the following day’s Tag Team Match with Cole Radrick against East-West Express, Alec pulled out a couple moves I hadn’t seen him hit before. Price blew my mind hitting Tony with a Reverse Springboard DDT into the ring, and again when he dove into the ropes for the Rebound Lariat. He is really showing a continued growth in the ring that will most definitely push him to higher places when they come calling. Mark my words.
Great young wrestlers aside, the reason for the season was all about the Ultraviolence during Fight Club Weekend. The big ticket for the weekend kicking off the bloodshed was The Art of WarGames Match between Team GCW and Team FREEDOMS. Just watching the set up had me excited for the violence to come as the ring was filled with various Glass Implements. Just when you’d think that was enough, the crew added a couple of Scaffold set ups around the ring with Glass and Door fodder prime for diving through. Admittedly the match itself was a bit hard to follow between the two rings in person. Though at the same time, it was unpredictable, chaotic fun. You would be watching one ring, and then at a moment’s notice, you’d hear the popping of Lighttubes the next ring over and snap your head to watch. The match itself revolved around the moments. Like Violento Jack plunging off of a Scaffold with Ciclope onto Doors and Glass, leaving a red splatter beneath them. One of my favorite moments, and one of the more humorous moments in such a bloodbath was Takashi Sasaki getting his full entrance in, despite his teammates getting worked over in the second ring, and him getting ambushed immediately after. And of course, there was the unreal, otherworldly one-on-one showdown between Jun Kasai and Nick Gage. Despite this only happening for the end of the match, I was still shaken at seeing these two Deathmatch icons standing across from each other. Gage would send Kasai to the mat with a Piledriver through Glass for the final elimination and the win for Team GCW.
While Saturday night contained the huge matchup of the weekend, next day produced some fantastic Deathmatch Wrestling. Things started with a fun Six Person Tag Team Deathmatch featuring Barbed Wire and Doors. While it may have felt more like a set up for the Japan tour that was to come (with Toru Sugiura & Takashi Sasaki staring down Los Macizos, and Violento Jack doing the same with John Wayne Murdoch post-match), all involved put in a great performance in the night’s first Deathmatch. Things would only escalate in thrills and danger from here as Mance Warner took on Masashi Takeda in a violent affair. This match featured one of my favorite things: Mance Warner in a big Singles Match. As much as I love him in a good Second Gear Crew brawl, he truly shines when he gets to slug it out with an equally bad ass opponent. And Masashi Takeda is just that. The crowd absolutely ignited when the duo decided to have a stab off with a pair of Scissors driving into each others’ head. Ever resilient, Mance Warner endured superhuman damage from the Crazy Kid; taking several rounds of Glass and stabs, both with Scissors and a Gusset Plate. It seemed like Ol’ Mancer could not be put down. Then Takeda broke out the Lighter Fluid, and soon a Door would erupt with fire. Takeda would finally put Mancer down with a slam through a Flaming Door for the victory. That was most definitely the best Mance Warner match I have ever seen, and certainly up there with many of Masashi Takeda’s other battles in the Deathmatch World.
Then came the Main Event of both the show and the weekend as a whole. Two of the world’s most renowned Deathmatch Legends would collide in an International Dream Deathmatch. In recent times, there is this newfound trend of referring to wrestling “cinema.” Well if wrestling is now considered cinema, then these two put on an absolute Kaiju flick. Matt Tremont and Jun Kasai stood amid a ring full of Glass, with half of the ring’s ropes fastened together with Barbed Wire. And surely all those implements that stood around them would be turned to shards in mere minutes. Kasai would be catapulted into a Lighttube Cross, and yet he did not fall. Tremont careened onto a Door mounted with Lighttubes on the outside, and yet he would pull himself up and fight on. A Pearl Harbor Splash by Jun Kasai, a move that has put away many a Deathmatch Wrestlers, would prove fruitless against The Bulldozer. And so would the following rounds of Lighttube shots to try and keep the big man down. Ultimately, it would take a Skewering at the top of a Ladder to send Tremont tumbling down for one last Pearl Harbor Splash to finish Tremont for good in this legendary encounter.
Epilogue
With this being my first time in The Showboat, its an obviously fact that I never had the chance to step foot in the famed Carousel Room that Game Changer Wrestling had played to so many times before. Upon my arrival from the well over three-hundred mile journey to The Showboat from my home, I saw the famed ceiling of the room where I had watched so many great matches and moments unfold from my screen. Alex Colon’s famous threepeat of Tournament of Survival, Rickey Shane Page & 44.OH! being pelted with trash after defeating Nick Gage at Run Rickey Run, Jun Kasai’s initial return to America at They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. Despite the fact that Pac-Man & Inky were sitting where blood was once shed, I couldn’t help but crack a smile thinking about all the cool things that once happened in this room. I may not have gotten to experience it first hand, but I still could feel the energy.
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