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GCW: For The Culture
October 9, 2020

by Samoa Rowe

Live from Marion County Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana at 11:59 PM. This is one of many live events being presented by GCW and other top indie feds this weekend as part of "The Collective" which is making good on lost 'Mania weekend shows. There is a LOUD, socially distant crowd spread out in a tiny arena. Our hosts are Joey Richards and Percy Davis.

Scramble Match:
Mike Outlaw vs. AC Mack vs. Mo Atlas vs. Timmy Lou Retton vs. Zay Washington

Mack talks some smack and cheap shots with the mic to gain a short lived early advantage. The ring quickly clears out so two guys can have their turns trading spots. Washington seems to be the most athletic of the bunch and he connects with a springboard moonsault! The big guy pops the crowd with a surprising tope suicida. Everyone returns to the ring to take turns hitting stiff shots. They shift to hitting finishers until Outlaw ambushes with a Yakuza kick for the win at 6:21. This was dark match level stuff, as they hit the fast-forward button on the scramble formula, but anything below ** feels disrespectful.
Winner: Mike Outlaw

Trey Miguel vs. JTG

JTG poses on the buckles and Miguel cheap shots with a running dropkick. Miguel quickly follows with a tornado DDT onto the concrete floor. JTG attempts a lawn dart, but Trey counters to send him into the post. Back to the ring, Miguel picks JTG apart despite being an undersized heel. Miguel teases a running tree of woe dropkick, but punches the groin instead. That's just evil. JTG escapes a chinlock and counters a back handspring into a back suplex neckbreaker! Fans chant "JTG!" JTG makes a plucky babyface comeback, hitting a Regal Cutter and Sling Blade. Miguel blocks a facebuster, but JTG counters into a gutbuster. Spinning side walk slam by JTG gets a nice 2 count. Miguel shows off his crafty side as he superkicks JTG's head through his legs, but JTG answers with a hard lariat. Miguel enziguris the back of the head and hits another stuffed superkick. 619 variation by Miguel but he misses Meteora. JTG hits Brooklyn's Edge for the win at 10:06! Fun match and a nice comeback win by JTG. With his size and respectable ring work, some major company should take a chance on JTG, ***.
Winner: JTG

JTG shakes Miguel's hand, despite him being a rat-bastard, and we get a nice moment.

40 Acres (Tre Lamar and PB Smooth) vs. Top Flight (Air Wolf and Angel Dorado) vs. Culture SZN (Christian Casanova and Tasha Steelz)

Air Wolf starts against Casanova with some chain wrestling. Air Wolf pats Casanova on the head after a break, which leads to Casanova shoving and throwing chops. Air Wolf returns fire and whips Casanova into Dorado's corner for some tandem offense. Lamar tags himself in and dropkicks Dorado into the buckles. Smooth flapjacks Dorado into the corner, setting up Lamar's shotgun dropkick. Smooth is the biggest guy in the match, but Steelz happily tags in and walks right into his chest. Steelz hits a flurry of punches but Smooth cuts her down with a big boot. Match brakes down with Casanova throwing Steelz onto Smooth, who throws her onto Top Flight, who throw her back for a rana on Smooth! That sequence was AWESOME! Top Flight catch Lamar with a tandem dropkick, but Casanova sprints in for a springboard lariat. Top Flight clear the ring, but Smooth blocks Dorado's tope. Smooth slams Air Wolf into a leg drop. Smooth chokeslams Air Wolf into Lamar's neckbreaker! Dorado blocks a superplex and catches Lamar with a missile dropkick. Everyone is down, so Casanova dives onto Smooth. Air Wolf hits a crazy running dive and nearly misses his targets but connects, and Steelz follows with a somersault senton onto the field! Everyone gathers together again for a telegraphed dive by Dorado. Crowd loves all of this. Dorado hits a ridiculous spinning dragan rana, but Casanova answers with a spinning facebuster! Air Wolf helps with a rapid Destroyer! Casanova recovers with a springboard guillotine leg drop. Smooth returns and decapitates Casanova with a lariat, and serves a sitout powerbomb for the win at 11:58! This was tons of fun, and showcased some truly clever high spots along the way, ***½.
Winners: 40 Acres

It's good to see staff disinfecting the ropes between bouts. COVID-19 is still with us whether we like it or not.

Pan-Afrikan World Diaspora Wrestling Championship:
Trish Adora © vs. Suge D

Sude G smokes an incense stick on his way to the ring, but holds the ropes for Adora like a gentleman. Adora looks for a knuckle lock but Suge pulls her into a wristlock. Suge works a cravat but Adora reverses into a hammerlock. Suge repeatedly twists around to break, and pops out of a pinning predicament at 1. Suge goes for a hammerlock, but Trish runs him around the ring and thrusts him out through the ropes. Adora makes a clear point by holding the ropes for Suge to reenter. Adora goes for the wrist, Suge hits a fireman's carry, but Trish refuses to let go of the hold. Suge hits a power slam, but Trish is STILL holding the wristlock. Suge finally breaks free with a closed fist to the gut and the crowd is not nearly as pissed about this as they should be. Suge continues his mean streak with a boot to the face and snap suplex. Suge has a field day working Adora over, using extra painful variations of submission holds in addition to needlessly rough attacks like double knees to the gut. Adora makes a comeback with well targeted attacks to the arm. Back heel kick by Adora and a German suplex! Suge responds with a grapevine ankle lock, and then a sick armbar. Adora breaks free and hits a lariat for 2. Trish waits for Suge D to stumble to his feet before hitting another stiff lariat. Adora applies a crossface and traps the other arm to prevent a rope break and wins at 13:05! Outstanding creativity on display in this technical wrestling treat. I want to see much more of Trish Adora and if match is any indication of what she brings to the table, I cannot believe she hasn't been signed to WWE, AEW, or Impact yet, ****.
Winner and still Pan-Afrikan World Diaspora Wrestling Champion: Trish Adora

O'Shay Edwards vs. Calvin Tankman

This has the potential to be a cool hoss fight. They lock up and get an aggressive break. They lock knuckles and ram chests. Edwards wins the exchange but Tankman answers with a wild POUNCE that sends Edwards rolling to ringside. Tankman's dive is blocked by Edwards' uppercut. They jockey for position until Edwards nails a brutal spear! Tankman recovers with a dropkick through the ropes and then finally hits a tope suicida! Tankman misses a running SSP and Edwards nails a German suplex! Tankman counters with pop-up elbow, but they both wipe out with duel crossbody attempts. Crowd chants "This is awesome!" while they take a breather. They get up and trade short arm lariats, and Tankman dishes out a backbreaker and burning lariat for 2! Edwards counters into a sitout spinebuster. Tankman answers with a spinebuster of his own and an elbow to the head. Tankman's Piledriver finishes at 9:13! Satisfying and brutal back and forth war, this is what I wanted Will Hobbs vs. Brian Cage on Dynamite to be, ***½.
Winner: Calvin Tankman

Willow Nightingale vs. Faye Jackson vs. Marti Belle vs. Devon Monroe

Jackson goes right for Belle's hair, and it leads to a sequence of rapid pinning predicaments. Jackson shoulder tackles Belle, and Monroe interrupts by spanking. Monroe hits a twisting armdrag off the buckles and catches Willow with a running elbow, who answers with a cartwheel superkick and rolling suplexes. Belle interrupts and hits Willow with a penalty kick. Willow hits Belle with a side Russian legsweep into a head scissors, but Monroe locks her head, and Jackson breaks it all up with a drive by kick. Jackson wipes everyone out with a somersault senton off the apron! Belle sprints into a tope suicida onto Willow and Jackson, and Monroe capitalizes with a slingshot plancha. Willow superplexes Monroe but struggles to roll into a suplex, and Jackson breaks it up. Belle catches Jackson with a high crossbody and everyone is down. No ovation from the crowd, but they do clap the competitors to their feet. They stumble up for a round of still shots that leaves them down again. Belle catches Monroe with a Codebreaker, but Jackson plants her with a Samoan Drop. Willow drops Jackson with a DVD, but Monroe ambushes with a springboard jawbreaker. Monroe's hot streak is ended by Willow's sitout powerbomb for the win at 7:23. Compact and fun spotfest, just lacking an engaged crowd (to be fair, it's well past everyone's bedtime), **¾.
Winner: Willow Nightingale

I think some fans are falling asleep in the stands. It is 1:30 Eastern Time, which I believe means it's 12:30 in Indiana.

Dezmond Xavier vs. AJ Gray

They lock up and Xavier forcefully breaks loose, and applies a headlock. Gray launches Dezmond off and stands his ground for a hard shoulder block. Xavier quickens the pace and somersaults in front of Gray to fake him out. Xavier hits a dropkick, prompting Gray to take a time out. Gray tries to reverse a springboard moonsault but tips over, but Xavier saves face with a lateral press. Gray kicks the gut of Xavier, and traps him in the ropes to whip his face into the canvas! Gray stiffs Xavier with chops and shoulder blocks, but Xavier's basement dropkick buys some time. Xavier hits a running cannonball to the back for 2. Gray comes back with a hard spinebuster and powerbomb for only 2! Diving headbutt by Gray (makes me groan) connects but Xavier surprises with a Dragon Sleeper. Enziguri by Xavier and back hand spring PELE KICK! Final Flush by Xavier but Gray kicks out! Both men are in a stupor as they trade slaps. Gray misses a lunging slap, but saves face with a BURNING LARIAT but Xavier kicks out! Superkick by Xavier but he springs into Gray's Burning Hammer onto the ropes, followed by a DECAPITATION LARIAT and Gray wins at 11:25! Gray looks like the baddest man on the planet, ***½.
Winner: AJ Gray

Lee Moriarty vs. ACH

Lee offers a handshake and ACH accepts. They lock up and ACH hits a waistlock takedown, but Lee breaks free. Lee works a hammerlock, but ACH spins into a headlock. Moriarty reverses into a wristlock, but ACH chops loose. High elevation armdrag by Lee but ACH swats away a dropkick and throws more chops. Moriarty dropkicks ACH to ringside for a big boot off the apron. They brawl at ringside and ACH accidentally chops the ring post. Back to the ring, Lee continues the assault with a short armbreaker. ACH leap frogs to double stomp the back. This gives ACH an opening to work over Moriarty's back. Moriarty comes back with a leg drop and double stomp to the arm. Tornado DDT by Moriarty gets 2. ACH trips and dropkicks the head. Moriarty answers with a leaping cutter for 2. Moriarty snaps the fingers to block a superplex and stomps the weakened arm of ACH. They both sit on the apron and stare each other down before resuming the battle. Moriarty hits a brutal hammerlock slam onto the ring frame! ACH desperately hits a dropkick to buy time. They duke it out until ACH delivers a Tiger Driver for a great nearfall! Moriarty manages a Fujiwara armbar but ACH gets the ropes. ACH puts together a stiff string of attacks and nails a BRAINBUSTER FOR 2 but misses a splash, and Moriarty catches him in a pinning predicament for the upset at 16:09! Top level athleticism and a compelling story make for a **** effort.
Winner: Lee Moriarty

It's about 2:13 in the morning, and it's MAIN EVENT TIME! Everyone in the building looks exhausted.

AR Fox vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

The fans give Scorpio a hero's welcome and Fox offers a friendly handshake. They lock up and Scorpio scores an arm drag. Fox answers with a snapmare, but Scorpio shakes him off. Dropkick by Scorpio and armdrag into an armbar. Scorpio shoulder thrusts Fox into the corner and hits a running clothesline. Fox answers with a corner clothesline and slingshot dropkick. Scorpio pulls Fox to ringside for a beatdown. Fox misses a somersault leg drop and hits the apron hard. Fox recovers with a Yakuza kick and follows with a DDT for 2. Fox misses a Swanton Bomb and Scorpio hits a spinning leg drop for 2. Fox hits a tornado DDT, but Scorpio rolls away to avoid a dive, so Fox improvises with a coast to coast dropkick! Fox delivers a running dive, and it looks like Scorpio was supposed to counter but falls over instead. Fox drapes Scorpio on the apron and hits a guillotine leg drop. Swanton Bomb by Fox only gets 2. Scorpio surprises with a front flip heel kick and then hits a somersault leg drop for a great nearfall! Scorpio hits the Moonsault Leg Drop, but Fox kicks out! Scorpio struggles to hit any kicks and Fox hits a cutter and 450 splash for the win at 14:07! This was more than rough around the edges, with Fox basically wrestling himself for long stretches, but Scorpio came through when it really mattered down the stretch, **¾.
Winner: AR Fox

Final Thoughts: For The Culture is a joyful celebration of black excellence in professional wrestling. I would like to offer a heartfelt recommendation for this event, and for you to look up the key participants. Strong Thumbs Up.

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