PREVIEW: The show kicks off with an introduction to all the wrestlers in order of appearance. A very UFC-esque event that may not be for everybody but if you enjoy violence you’re in luck! Two fantastic matches from both Thatcher & Moxley you definitely need to see. Let’s take a look at what went down at GCW Bloodsport 8.
BELOW AVERAGE Masha Slamovich vs Janai Kai: A classic striker vs grappler match up here with Masha taking Kai down into a rear choke pretty quickly shortly followed by a nice led lock with Janai getting the upper hound with a momentary ground and pound but Masha transitions straight back into the sleeper. Masha absolutely outclasses her opponent for most of the match with Janai getting in the occasional bit of offence. Northern lights into cross armbar and Masha picks up the win by submission.
Results: Masha Slamovich wins via Cross armbar
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 2
GREAT Yoya vs Ninja Mack: Ninja de-masks on his way to the ring. it’s about to get serious. Mack offers Yoya a handshake but Yoya declines and the two lock up. A pretty slow paced match until Yoya hits him with a spinning kick and a second before Yoya puts Mack into a sleeper and the two roll out the ring. They wait out the ten count before fighting for position again. Mack hits a judo toss and attempts a capoeira kick but misses and lands an impressive flip. Yoya attempts a submission but Mack powerbombs him into the canvas. The two exchange blows. And Yoya gets the upper hand with a belly to back suplex. Mack attempts a gutwrench but Yoya counters into an ankle lock. Mack breaks free and immediately gets running slammed out of the ring. The two return to the ring and Yoya sets in a deep single leg lock. Mack then flies into the air and knockouts Yoya with a spinning 540 kick for the K.O. win
Results: Ninja Mack wins by Knockout.
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 3.75
AVERAGE Bad Dude Tito vs Royce Isaacs: both men look fantastic physically. Isaacs kicks things off with a wrist lock attempt. With Tito quickly countering into a sleeper. Isaacs wails on Tito, sending him to the floor outside. Tito returns to the ring and the two men exchange impressive suplexes. Tito locks in another leg lock really focusing his offence on Issacs legs but Isaacs counters and locks in a rolling guillotine for the submission finish.
Results: Isaacs wins via rolling guillotine
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 2.75
GOOD Slade vs Alex Coughlin: The two square off nose to nose immediately. Coughlin gets the first takedown but Slade manages to escape. Coughlin delivers a flurry of vicious chops and gets a second takedown. Slade counters and hits him with a barrage of heavy elbows. The two exchange some New Japan calibre blows ending with Coughlin delivering a backdrop piledriver and Slade pops up immediately delivering a strong DDT. Coughlin locks in a rear naked choke and puts Slade to sleep picking up the submission win. After the match Slade smiles in the face of Coughlin looking tormented as ever.
Results: Coughlin wins via Rear Naked Choke.
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 3.25
AVERAGE John Hennigan vs Simon Gotch: John Hennigan gets Johnny Bloodsport chants which was fantastic. Gotch goes to the outside almost immediately, bidding for time. Hannigan gets a leg sweep takedown and the two begin wearing each other down on the mat. Hennigan finds the knee bar but Gotch breaks out hitting John with a few stiff blows. Gotch avoids all of Hennigans offence until John hits him with a lariat sending him to the canvas. Gotch gets up and hits a solid suplex but Hennigan gets to his feet and delivers a flurry of kicks to Gotchs leg and hip. Hennigan locks in an armbar but gets countered into a chinlock from Gotch. The two exchange blows with Hennigan getting the advantage he floats over him on the ground locking in a guillotine and Gotch taps out.
Results: John Hennigan wins via Guillotine
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 2.75
BAD Marina Shafir vs Zeda Zhang: Both women exchange blows back and forth with Shafir getting the upper hand cartwheeling over her opponent and locking in a rear naked choke. Zhang counters but quickly gets taken back down by Shafir. Shafir picks Zhang up from the floor, gets to her feet and slams her into the canvas. Zhang manages to climb onto Shafir’s back and locks in a rear choke but Shafir throws her to the canvas. back on their feet the two exchange blows again. Shafir escapes from a choke hold and the two continue wrestling. Shafir locks in a crossface armbar and picks up the win by submission.
Results: Marina Shafir wins via Crossface Armbar.
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 1.5
AMAMZING Timothy Thatcher vs JR Kratos: This is the match I’ve been most excited for Thatcher’s first match since leaving WWE. The two lock up and Kratos shows his power hitting Thatcher with a belly to back suplex. With every hit Thatcher looks more and more like he enjoys the pain and Kratos looks concerned. Thatcher shows his lack of ring rust applying pressure with a solid defence. He gets Kratos up stretching him across his knees with Kratos breaking free into a headlock on thatcher. Thatcher breaks free and starts delivering boston crab death drops followed by a side headlock pinning Kratos’ arm hitting a barrage of blows to his skull. Thatcher attempts a suplex but Kratos lands a crosbody and picks Timothy up for a suplex of his own. Kratos eats a knee and a heavy headbutt from Thatcher, sending him to the canvas dazing Thatcher in the process but giving us our first blood of the night. Kratos hits a Huge Lariat turning Thatcher inside out. He looks like he’s about to pass out from a side guillotine but escapes delivering a suplex to the giant. Kratos piledrivers Thatcher and finishes the job with a superman punch for the K.O Victory. The crowd weren’t too happy with the finish but i thought it was great.
Results: JR Krots wins by Knockout
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 4
GOOD Yuya Uemura vs Mike Bailey: Yuya pays homage to Inoki sporting a red towel around his neck. Yuya feels the sting from Bailey’s first kick but quickly delivers a strong take down landing Bailey on his head. Bailey gets a high kick to Yuya’s head, dropping him to the canvas. Yuya tries to defend from the floor but Bailey hits some strong kicks to his legs and torso. A Flurry of elbows from Bailey quickly transitions into a barrage of punches from Uemura. The two spill to the outside both showing fantastic offence so far. Back in the ring Bailey hits four kicks and just when you think Yuya is out he hits Bailey with an air raid splash into a cross armbreaker for the submission victory.
Results: Yuya Uemura wins by Cross Armbreaker
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 3
AWFUL Josh Barnett vs Jonah: A slow match and doesn’t get much quicker. The two spend the first 2 minutes “wrestling” on the mat looking more like an extended rest hold. This continues on for most of the match and the crowd is pretty quiet. Jonah manages to lock in a crossface but Barnett escapes applying a cross arm-breaker to Jonah. Another side headlock from Jonah and the match grinds to a halt. Barnett hits a few leg kicks but Jonah counters with a giant crossbody putting Barnett down. Jonah rocks Barnett with a big strike to the head. Barnett retaliates but gets put down with a headlock the two return to their feet and Barnett hits two suplexes and locks in a leg lock forcing Jonah to tap. A very unexciting match overall.
Results: Josh Barnett wins by Submission
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 1
AMAZING Jon Moxley vs Biff Busick: the two go back and forth wrestling for position with Moxley getting the first takedown of the match trying to lock in an armbar but Busick breaks out. Clubbing blows to the back of Biff’s head and another takedown from Moxley leads to a side headlock to Biff who rolls over and gains side control. Moxley tries to break free scooping Busick up and slamming him to the mat. Stomps to the head from Moxley get transitioned into another side headlock from busick but Moxley counters dumping biff onto his head and big knee send him to the outside. Moxley delivers a suplex on the outside busting biff open. In the ring biff chops Moxley who graciously accepts the assault but a kick sends biff to the canvas. Moxely locks in a choke but Biff escapes delivering even more blows but Moxley returns biting Busick’s bloody head. Back to their feet both men exchange blows trying desperately to lock in a wrist lock. Busick hits two outstanding blows that send Mox to the canvas but Mox sees red and begins laying into Busick with some stiff strikes to the head. Biff gets in some offence of his own but Moxley changes the tide hitting busick with a deathrider. After receiving multiple knees to the head biff flips Moxley the bird, Mox responds with a running knee strike to the head ending the match by K.O. an absolutely brutal bloodbath from start to finish. Yet another fantastic match from GCW Bloodsport.
Results: Jon Moxley wins by Knockout
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 4
AVERAGE Minoru Suzuki vs Chris Dickinson: It’s time for your Main Event. A slow start as Suzuki calmly goes to work plotting out his offence almost immediately getting Chris in a headlock. Watching Suzuki breakdown his opponent piece by piece is always a nice treat. He escapes every submission attempt Dickinson tries. This match won’t be for everyone its quite slow paced and very mat based with lots of submission attempts and counters. Dickinson hits a heavy strike to Suzuki who sits up like the undertaker and the two exchange stiff chops back and forth with Suzuki gaining the advantage applying a leg lock receiving two strong chops to Suzuki. They return to their previous back and forth and Dickinson drops to his knees. A combination of slaps sends Chris to the mat again. A step up enziguri drops Suzuki followed by a brainbuster and repeated elbows to the head for the knockout win for Dickinson. Suzuki throws a chair and storms out of the arena. Dickinson says if you step in this ring you are in my house.
Results: Chris Dickinson wins by Knockout.
Kofi Taylor WR Star Rating – 2.75
Overall A solid PPV from start to finish with very few stinkers. Moxley and Thatcher have to take joint “Man of the Match” for this card as the two were extremely impressive to watch putting on fantastic matches respectively. Ninja Mack pulled out all the stops and made me very excited to see what his future holds for him. If you’re planning on watching this PPV honestly just skip over the Jonah vs Barnett match, trust me it’s not worth your time. A fantastic display of violence and brutality very reminiscent of UFC. If you enjoy combat sports this is the PPV for you.
Matches: 1/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 1/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.25/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.25/1 Stars
Overall Rating. 3.25/5 Stars
Photo Credit – @GCWrestling_
