GCW Effy’s Big Gay Brunch 6 

 

April 1, 2023 

 

We’re in LA at the Ukrainian Cultural Center. Hosts are Val Capone and Veda Scott. I’ve seen one Big Gay Brunch. We’re now up six of these? Time flies in a pandemic when you stop watching wrestling.  

 

AC Mack vs. Honest John vs. Richie Coy vs. Jai Vidal 

Vidal had a good match with Carlos Romo on this show last year. I thought Romo was booked? He isn’t on the card. Richie Coy catches the eye here. Lots of kinetic energy. It’s better put together than a lot of scrambles this weekend because there are less moving parts and nobody sucks. Honest John is the only new competitor for me and he does ok. I do briefly think he’s about to die on a Styles Clash but that’s because I don’t realise Vidal is about to do an arms tucked version of a powerbomb. AC Mack hits a Pepsi Plunge to pin Coy. I thought Coy was the stand out here. Decent scramble.  

 

Devon Monroe vs. Keita Murray 

Devon Monroe is OVER at the Brunch. Monroe has a really unique look. It’s so stylish but it also breaks up the long body, which is something that plagues the Indies. Long skinny dudes that look awkward. Monroe is helped by being graceful. The combination of style and elegance are an ideal contrast to the violence of pro wrestling too. It’s somehow more satisfying. Does that make sense? I haven’t slept much this weekend. This gets rough around the edges. There’s a few times when they counter, and it doesn’t work and a bump looks harsh instead of clean. The latter helps, the former does not. Keita’s bumps look off centre. But it seems to be all of them so it might be a choice, a la Ric Flair. The match has a lot of false finishes until Keita goes low twice and hits his Cutter finish for the win. *** 

 

Steph De Lander vs. Sandra Moone 

De Lander points out she was in NXT a year ago. Yeah, and they got rid of you. De Lander isn’t even good for this level. Christ knows what WWE were thinking putting her on TV. Comms actually call her a “cunt”, which is funny to me. When the Americans are dropping the C-bomb, you know there’s something up. De Lander isn’t as bad here as she was against Slamovich. I saw Sandra wrestle Kenzie Paige this weekend and that wasn’t good either. It’s safe to say my expectations for the match are low but they safely get over them. Moone struggles to connect on strikes because of the height difference. It’s no coincidence that her best strike comes with De Lander on her knees. Sometimes, when wrestling someone much bigger than you, a different approach is required. Moone does a lot of elbows, which look especially bad with the height difference. De Lander takes it with a sitout version of the Rack Slam. This was better than I was expecting, in that it wasn’t terrible. Fair play both. Lots of work needed from both if they’re to make inroads into the wrestling scene though. 

 

Karam vs. Fred Rosser 

Karam is from Jordan. Rosser used to be Darren Young in WWE. He inexplicably started wrestling for NJPW during the pandemic. While I appreciate him being openly gay in WWE, which must have been a huge leap of faith, I’ve never rated his in-ring. He feels like an Impact level worker. On this show, he feels like a bigger deal. Karam looks ok but has no personality to speak of. He seems to be gunning for ‘monster’ but his moves aren’t scary enough. Rosser does a bang up job trying to make him look frightening but you have to follow through on clotheslines properly if you’re a beast. His chokebomb however, is tasty. Rosser doesn’t even have to sell that. Ooof. They fuck the finish up. Karam neglecting to kick out and Rosser decides he’s going to do the real finish because he’s an idiot. The bell has rung, you fool. He’s already been counted down! 

 

The great thing about a show centered around positivity is a raucous crowd is guaranteed but that’s also an issue. While it’s great to experience live, on tape you’re looking at the celebration of everything. Not everything needs to be celebrated. I like that everyone on this show has a place where they can go and wrestle and feel accepted and seen. People saying it’s not necessary to do this show are not listening to the experiences of people in this community. Gisele Shaw having to put up with being verbally abused, in public, by Rick Steiner is a prime example. I guess what I’m saying is, I like positivity but find criticism is made harder in this environment.

 

Kidd Bandit vs. Sawyer Wreck 

This is a weird one as they have a big key, from a video game or something, and it has barbed wire on it. The use of barbed wire here is very reckless and stupid. You want barbed wire to stay put in matches and never get wrapped around a body part. There’s a whole bunch of plunder and none of it works. Bandit uses a scooter in the ring at one point and I could have told them that wouldn’t work. It has tiny wheels, that’s canvas, it won’t roll. Sawyer does the only good looking move in the match; killing Bandit with a powerbomb off the apron, through a door. However, she had to bail to set the door up earlier. It was a lengthy process. Bandit gets put through another door and that finishes. This was really bad. A total mess. The crowd give it a standing ovation. You see what I mean?  

 

Aaron Rourke, Ashton Starr, B3CCA, Dillon McQueen & Rico Gonzalez vs. Abigail Warren, Anton Voorhees, Da Shade & Money Power Respect (Fabuloso Fabricio & Marco Mayur) 

Oh dear god. This is East Coast vs. West Coast because apparently that’s an issue in America outside of gangsta rap. It’s immediately over with the crowd though. They try to do five on five stuff and no one can get on the same page. It’s such a mess. If this was synchronized swimming someone would have drowned. I’m not even sure who to blame because it seems to be different people every time. Money Power Respect seem to be the biggest culprits, which is weird because they’re a team. For a match with a lot of bad wrestlers in it, this is very, very long. Over 20 minutes. It’s painful. At least it’s over with the fans.  

 

Vipress vs. Max the Impaler 

The look of Vipress is stunning. The half and half hair, the spiky jacket and her knowledge of when to stop and soak everything in. Max also has an amazing look. The Mad Max look blew me away the first time I saw it. If you look blowaway good before you do anything; you’ve already won over the crowd at this level. The concept of the match is that Vipress can’t get anything going because of the size difference. They still resort to Max taking some pointless bumps that ruin their own storyline. Vipress tries an interesting second tack; trying to turn Max on. It doesn’t work, but I guess it was worth a shot. Plan C is “fuck it”. Vipress ties her hair up and tries to wear Max out with strikes. A vicious lariat finishes for Max. I enjoyed this. They tried to tell stories. Vipress experimenting with ways to overcome the power of Max the Impaler only to get destroyed. *** 

 

Thrussy (Allie Katch, Dark Sheik & Effy) vs. Mason’s Mercenaries (Billy Dixon, Charles Mason & Parrow) 

This is less terrible than the last multiple person match. It helps that Mason is an asshole. He tells Effy they only sold out today because they booked a straight man. He’s also paying Billy Dixon to be here as his mom needs to pay her medical bills. In booking lots of middling talent on the show, Effy gets to look like a stud here. He also bleeds an absolute gusher to play babyface in peril. Billy Dixon turns back face during the match, stopping Mason from getting a pin. “I own you” he yells at the black man as he kicks him out of the ring. There’s a fine line between heel heat and you probably shouldn’t say that. Effy ready to push some serious heel buttons today. There’s a big plastic bag spot, which Billy Dixon fucks up. Dark Sheik finishes Parrow with a leg drop off a ladder. They couldn’t even have Mason take the pin here after advocating slavery? Effy bled buckets here but the match structure didn’t allow him a bunch of heroic kick outs, which is just bizarre.  

 

The 411: 

From an in-ring action POV, this was a bad show. The vibes and happiness everyone had during the show was a joy to watch though. Representation is important. I’m glad everyone had a blast here.