Mike Reviews JCW Fully Loaded 2022

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Reviewing something new today, with Jersey Championship Wrestling, which is a brand that operates under the banner of Game Changer Wrestling I believe (So Al Ollie will be happy to see this one at least). JCW Fully Loaded 2022 has actually been uploaded to GCW’s YouTube channel, so I felt I might as well watch some free wrestling to see what JCW is all about.

I’m going into this one almost completely blind without much knowledge of the promotion or the roster, but I’ll be using CageMatch.net in order to find out some backstory on some of the wrestlers. I suppose it’ll be a good test at how easy it is for a first time viewer to get into the product though I suppose.

You can view the card for this even by clicking below and you can view the event on the Tube of You by clicking HERE

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=341385&page=2

The event is emanating from Atlantic City, New Jersey on the 5th of June 2022

Calling the action at different points are Nick Knowledge, Veda Scott, Billy Dixon and Deshawn Scoleville

Opening Match
The Self-proclaimed “Good Guy” Azrieal Vs The Straight Edge Ledge Dyln McKay

Azrieal is actually someone I recognise as he worked quite a few of the east coast indies in the 00’s and 10’s such as ROH and CZW. McKay seems to mostly wrestle in GCW along with some other independent promotions. According to the commentary, McKay was previously teaming with Marcus Mathers but now both of them are giving it a go in the singles ranks. That’s good commentary as it immediately lets you know that McKay will be out of his element against a more experienced opponent.

McKay shines in the early going by using his speed and sending Azrieal out of the ring for a dive. That all looks nice, but Azrieal is able to dodge another high flying move back inside before working some heat. McKay sells the heat well and Azrieal’s work looks solid. For some reason they haven’t bothered with putting a cover on the apron, meaning you can see under the ring, which kind of gives away the illusion a little bit when everyone can see how it’s constructed under there.

One of the big spots in this one is Azrieal sending McKay out to the floor during the heat and then dropkicking him into a load of chairs, which looks good but the crowd still gives Azrieal some stick for doing it after the initial pop of surprise at the big move. McKay eventually makes a comeback, although he’s limping and not able to make the comeback at full speed. We head out to the second hardest part of the ring, the ring apron, where both wrestlers trade strikes until McKay wins that one with a Pele Kick.

However, Azrieal to replies with a headlock driver onto the apron and then follows that up with a Frogsplash for two. Both wrestlers trade near fall attempts following that, with McKay continuing to bring the high flying action with a Cody Cutter and a Swinging DDT for two. They are sure doing a lot of stuff here in this opener, although it’s looked nice and the crowd has dug it, so I guess it’s working for what they are going for. McKay eventually gets a wacky neck breaker from an Electric Chair position, and that’s enough for three.

WINNER: DYLN MCKAY
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: This was a solid opener, although they possibly did a bit too many big moves for an opening bout. That being said though, I was entertained by it and McKay’s flashy moves looked good, partly thanks to Azrieal being an experienced worker who knew how to bump and base for it all

Match Two
Lindsay Snow Vs Janai Kai

Snow has been wrestling since 2016 and did some shots for AEW in 2020. Kai has been going since 2018 and has worked some matches in Japan this year. Kai apparently had nearly 70 matches in 2022, which isn’t bad at all when you consider how many bouts a younger indie worker might wrestle on average per year. Snow looks to have a metal thing going on whilst Kai is giving Mortal Kombat vibes with her attire and entrance music. I think I have seen Kai before on one of the Josh Barnett Bloodsport events actually.

They trade leg kicks to start, with both of the wrestlers looking to aim for a more realistic striking and submission style. It’s worked quite well actually, although it’s not a style that everyone is going to enjoy. As someone who has watched his fair share of BattlArts, I’m fine with this, although things do gradually move into more of a traditional style wrestling bout when Snow cuts off Kai with a clothesline. Kai fights back and eventually they both take one another down with a big boot, giving us a “J C Dub” chant from the crowd.

Kai tries to win it with a nice looking Dragon Sleeper, which sees Kai reaching around and locking her arms for maximum pressure, but Snow survives that and fights back, leading to both wrestlers having a chance to win it. The strikes could possibly do with a bit more stank on them, but the big moves look nice and the two work well together. Kai eventually cleans Snow’s clock with a Trouble in Paradise and that’s enough for three. That kick looked darn good at least.

WINNER: JANAI KAI
RATING: **1/4

Thoughts: I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the opener, but I thought it was decent enough for an under card bout and they tried something different from the opening match by focusing more on strikes and submissions

Both wrestlers show respect to one another following that.

Match Three
Edith Surreal and Steve Scott Vs Young Dumb N Broke (Charlie Tiger and Ellis Taylor)

Surreal apparently used to wrestle under the name “Still Life With Apricots And Pears”, which might honestly be one of the most bizarre, yet strangely awesome, names that I’ve ever heard a wrestler use. Surreal mostly worked for CHIKARA during the early portion of her career before that company went out in a blaze of horror in 2019, leading to Surreal finding her way to GCW. Scott debuted in 2007 and worked for JCW originally back in 2013. Tiger and Taylor’s team name is pretty darn great, and they appeared to wrestle a lot for CZW early on in their careers before finding their way to GCW.

There’s someone in the crowd wearing CM Punk baggy shorts, even though we’re 5 months out from October. According to the commentary, Surreal has pinned both members of the opposing team at different points. Things are a bit ropey between Tiger and Surreal to start, as they don’t seem to be on the same page, but they push through that and Surreal ends up doing a nice spot with both of them in the shine before giving Taylor a DDT. Scott gets to work a shine with Taylor as well, and they work well together, leading to Scott putting both of the opposing team in a dual submission hold.

Scott and Surreal seem to have some communication issues, and that leads to Scott getting cut off and worked over, which he sells well. They’re doing a good job here of telling the story that Tiger and Taylor have better chemistry as a team, which is why they have the other tandem on the back foot after Scott and Surreal were controlling things in the early stages. Scott has a window for the hot tag at one stage, but he hesitates and that continues the heat segment. The wrestling itself hasn’t been perfect in this one, but the story they’ve told has made sense and has been executed well.

Surreal eventually decides to just tag herself in when the opportunity presents itself, leading to a very brief comeback until Scott tags himself back in, drawing a smattering of boos from the crowd. Taylor runs wild with some TOPE SUICIDA’s thanks to the tired Scott getting back in the ring and a big double team move onto Scott finishes it straight after, as the regular team beats the makeshift one.

WINNERS: YOUNG DUMB N BROKE
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: The wrestling was a bit hit and miss here, but the storytelling was on point and the crowd reacted to it as required. One of those matches that exists more for storyline advancement than it does for actual wrestling quality

Match Four
The East Coast Ace Jordan Oliver Vs The Shooterweight Yoya

Oliver is a name I’ve heard of, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wrestle. His curriculum vitae mostly includes CZW and GCW, with some other indie work as well. He’s also a member of Young Dumb N Broke. Oliver gives off some Jack Evans vibes with the way he looks actually, except he’s wearing more traditional wrestling gear. Yoya has also wrestled as Cambodian Dragon, and joined up with GCW in 2021. Yoya is very short and skinny, but he is very athletic and carries himself well despite his smaller stature. I get a bit of a Kaz Hayashi feel from him actually.

It’s quick paced action here to start, with Oliver towering over Yoya but being happy to sell for his high flying moves, which are executed in a way that makes up for the size discrepancy. They do a nice spot where Yoyo hits a series of TOPE SUICIDA’s onto Oliver, but Oliver doesn’t actually bump for any of them because he’s so much bigger, but he will bump for flippier moves that require momentum as opposed to strength. Oliver eventually cuts Yoya off with an indie styled flippy back suplex and starts working Yoya over, with Yoya taking some good bumps and selling well throughout.

My only critique of this one really is that some of the strikes have a bit of air on them and it’s quite obvious at points. I’m not asking for them to go in there and leather one another if that isn’t their personal jam, but loose strikes don’t look too good so make it look convincing. Aside from that though, I quite enjoy this one and Yoya ends up making a comeback by focusing on more high flying and some delivering some Dragon Screw’s, which again makes sense due to the size disparity and both wrestlers do a good job of making it look believable by making the smaller guy have to use speed to get the bigger man on the back foot.

Oliver bullies Yoya around following the comeback with some big forearm strikes, with them looking good and Yoya taking some nice bumps for them. Yoya tries fighting back with some kicks, but ends up taking a wacky Stunner and a Powerbomb for two. Yoya manages to counter a move from the top with a DDT for a two of his own and tries to win it following that with a Single Leg Crab, but Oliver survives that and powers out of it before sending Yoya into orbit with a German Suplex and following with the Orange Crush for the three count.

WINNER: JORDAN OLIVER
RATING: **3/4

Thoughts: This was a really indie styled match, so if you don’t like that type of wrestling then you probably won’t like it, but I appreciated it for what it was and thought they did a good job, with the only criticism being that some of their strikes looked a little loose. Aside from that though, this was a fun match and they worked the Big Vs Small aspect of it well. I can see why Oliver gets some hype as he clearly has charisma and he wrestles this sort of match well. I get Scott Oberman vibes from him when I watch him actually

Oliver shows respect to Yoya following that one.

Match Five
The Trash With The Stash Bam Sullivan Vs The Cornbelt Cowboy 1 Called Manders

Sullivan is apparently a hardcore/deathmatch guy who wrestled a lot for New York Wrestling Connection and H20 before hooking up with GCW in 2021. He looks like a Deathmatch guy, as he’s wrestling in a baggies and a vest, although he does have a lovely beard. Manders is supposedly a brawler who has worked for a load of indie companies, including the likes of MLW, H20, GCW and Black Label Pro. Manders has a Stan Hansen cowboy look going on here, complete with “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi as his entrance music.

Both wrestlers head outside the moment the bell rings in order to put some doors into the ring, as this apparently just became a match on MDickie’s Wrestling Empire, where you can basically use anything you want as a weapon. Sadly the doors can’t be magically put back together after they’ve been broken like you can do in the game. Manders is quickly put through a door in the corner, as I guess JCW uses ECW rules where DQ’s don’t apply and you can just do what you like?

They mostly just brawl in this one, both inside and outside the ring, and it’s entertaining for the most part. There haven’t been any weapon based brawls on the show thus far, so this gives the event some variety, as did the second match when they focused on doing strikes and submission attempts at the start of their bout rather than just doing high flying indie stuff. If seeing wrestlers hit one another with weapons and brawl around isn’t for you, then I’m not sure how much mileage this one will have for you, but if you like that sort of thing then this should scratch an itch for you.

Manders gets some chair shots on the floor to Sullivan and then Spears him through a door back inside for two. That leads to both wrestlers clobbering one another with shards of door, which wasn’t something I was expecting to type today, and I’m not hating that I had to in all honesty. It’s nice to have something new to write about once in a while, no matter how wacky it is to see two burly blokes clobbering one another with the remains of a broken door. Manders puts one of the remain doors atop of two chairs and tries to put Sullivan through it, but Sullivan fends him off and then gives Manders a Spicolli Driver through a different table in the corner for two.

Sullivan decides to stack some more chairs and another door on top of the already set up chairs and door in order to create a double chair/double door torture device of mass discomfort, before trying to fling Manders through it all. Well, it’s something to do isn’t it? Manders fights Sullivan off though and body slams Sullivan through all of the chairs and doors for the three count. And I should bloody hope so too!

WINNER: 1 CALLED MANDERS
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was all kinds of silly, and I enjoyed it because of that. Is putting people through doors a regular occurrence here in GCW/JCW? I wonder how long before they start driving people through Ikea shelves?

Manders grabs the mic following that and says he wants a Bunkhouse Stampede on the next show in July, and invites Sullivan to bring some jeans and cowboy boots for the occasion, as he’s officially the first wrestler invited to it.

Match Six
The Highest Flyer In The Game Grim Reefer Vs The Prize Alec Price

Reefer has been going since 1999 and has worked for seemingly every promotion on the east coast in that time such as CZW, ROH, JAPW, NYWC and others until making his way to GCW in 2016. Price has been going since 2017 when he was wrestling for a company called UFO, which I bet presented a product that is out of this world. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Price made his way to GCW in 2021, which quite a few folks on this card seemed to do. I’m guessing GCW brought in a lot of fresh blood around that time in order to have folks for this JCW brand?

The commentators push the idea that Price is a bet of impudent hot head, whilst Reefer is a more patient veteran, so that could end up being an issue for the younger wrestler, which kind of proves itself to be true when Price goes at 100 miles per hour in the early stages and ends up leaving himself open for a DDT onto the apron, at which point Reefer takes over. They head out and brawl on the floor, which might be a bit of a mistake seeing as he had brawling in the previous match so it might have been smarter to have a more regular style match here because otherwise it can burn out the crowd.

Prize fights back and gives Reefer some suplexes onto the apron, and then follows up with a second rope springboard cutter back inside for two. Reefer’s selling is a bit hit and miss here, as he’ll take a big move and go for 0 to 100 far too quickly. It’s like he knows he has to go down for a little bit because he took a move, but once he’s done that he can get straight back up to keep wrestling. Reefer ends up doing a Sandman impression by lighting one up during the match before making a comeback.

Reefer does get a very slick counter to a springboard attempt from Price by countering it into a Ukrainian Leg Sweep in mid-air; although I can see some thinking it looked a bit contrived. It was executed very smoothly though, so I’ll give them that. Price fights back with a series of big moves and gets a kick to the head for three after a spotty outing.

WINNER: ALEC PRICE
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: Some nice moves, but it felt pretty disjointed, like they were just sprinting to the next spot in the list rather than focusing on telling a story. Those sorts of matches can be entertaining, but this one didn’t really land for me

Main Event
GCW Tag Team Titles
Champs: BUSSY (Allie Katch and Effy) Vs Space Jesus Billie Starkz and The Young Prodigy Marcus Mathers

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Katch or Effy wrestle, but I’ve heard of them, with Effy notably running the “Big Gay Brunch” shows. Katch has wrestled for a smorgasbord of indie companies, with her first stepping into GCW in 2019. Starkz is still super young and only recently appeared on an episode of AEW because it fell on a day where she wasn’t at school. Mathers has been going since 2019, with his first events showing up on CageMatch being in 2019 for H20.

The Challengers get the better of things in the early going, leading to them hitting stereo dives out onto the Champions, but the Champs eventually decide to start taking this more serious, with Katch doing a number on Mathers outside of the ring whilst Effy gives Starkz a suplex onto the apron and then works her over back inside the ring. Starkz gets beaten up in the Champs corner and sells that well, with BUSSY doing a good job of controlling things in an effort to get the fans behind Starkz.

A chair gets involved at one stage, which the referee allows because it’s a match for the GCW belts. The commentary team took the time to explain that actually, so good on them for that. Starkz ends up making the Champs regret that though, by giving Effy a Raven styled drop toe hold onto the chair before making the tag to Mathers, who then runs wild on the Champs and looks good doing so. We get another door involved, as this company seems obsessed with using them as weapons for some reason. Was Brett Lauderdale brutally assaulted by a door salesman one day or something?

Starkz ends up going through that table courtesy of a Spicolli Driver from Katch, as things break down in this one. All four wrestlers are eventually going at it in the ring, leading to suplexes from Katch and Starkz onto Mathers and Effy respectively before they face off and trade some strikes. Starkz looks to have Katch beat, but Effy comes back with a chair throw to put a stop to that, before flinging the chair at Mathers as well. Mathers hangs Effy in the Tree of Woe and has some doubts about using the chair himself, but he eventually does do and then comes off the top with a 450 Splash before Starkz follows with a Swanton for two when Katch breaks up the pin.

Effy responds with a double Buff Blockbuster to the challengers, as they’ve really kicked this one into a higher gear now and it’s been good fun. The Champions eventually manage to put the challengers away when Effy catches Mathers with a Leg Lariat and then Katch follows that up with a snap Piledriver for the three count.

WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: BUSSY
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: I enjoyed that one quite a bit, as they told a good story of the challengers pushing the Champions to the limit until the Champs finally managed to see them off after a couple of scares. Good fun all round

Billy Dixon joins us to say goodbye as he’s leaving the promotion. He does a nice speech and puts lots of people over, including the commentary team and Billie Starkz. He’s not allowed to retire gracefully though, as a guy called Charles Mason runs down and attacks him, which makes me think Dixon might be back for revenge at some point. Mason actually waterboards Dixon at one stage, possibly because he couldn’t find a plastic bag at such short notice. Eventually some of the babyfaces run down and chase Mason up. A visit to CageMatch reveals that Dixon would indeed return for some matches with Mason following this, which makes sense.

In Conclusion

There weren’t any amazing matches here, but most of the show was watchable to good, and I thought the commentary team did a good job of helping a newer viewer along when it came to characters and storylines, which isn’t always something you can rely on at this level of wrestling so kudos to them for doing their job properly.

For a free 2 hours of wrestling on YouTube, this was “perfectly cromulent” as Scott Keith would say and I think I might check out the show that followed this one as it has Konosuke Takeshita on it, and I’m morbidly intrigued to see just how silly that Bunkhouse Stampede might end up being. In the meantime though, this show is a thumps up.

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