GCW Jimmy Lloyd’s D-Generation F 

 

March 31, 2023 

 

Hola! We’re in Los Angeles, California at the Collective’s building; the Ukrainian Cultural Center. I’ve already seen five shows from this venue. We’re on day 2. This show does not have a good card and I would much rather watch Tokyo Joshi Pro. However, there are Circle 6 shows in between this and ROH and I have more time to watch them if I do this. TJPW is going to have to wait.  

 

Sidenote: I have not had time to proof read this at all. Apologies for that. Hopefully nothing dim slips through the net.

 

Terry Yaki vs. Lucas Riley vs. Brogan Finlay vs. MBM vs. Man Like DeReiss vs. Bobby Flacco vs. Midas Kreed 

MBM hails from “Europe”. Haha. I’ve already seen three scrambles this weekend and they’ve all been bad. I don’t why I even bothered listing the participants. No one cares. Some of the wrestling here is absolute shit. Flacco’s ‘missing punches’ in the corner are fucking terrible. Finlay takes a rana at one point, and I’m scared he’s landed on his head. Everything is so rushed and frantic. DeReiss derails this completely by stopping and thinking about a moonsault off the apron before looking around to make sure all the dudes, stood staring at him, are ready. Urgh. Terry Yaki, as usual, throws himself into some wacky shit. I’m worried he’s going to hurt himself. He does a running powerbomb too. Someone is getting crippled if they keep doing this shit. Terry gets the pin with an awful looking DDT off the top. Match was a complete mess.  

 

Titus Alexander vs. Cole Radrick  

Titus is new on me, but I am immediately sold. He looks comfortable in the ring and smooth, for the most part. He seems to have a little trouble getting up off the mat but apart from that he looks decent.  

I’m not sold on his name. Cole does ok on the mat. It’s a nicely smooth match up. Radrick’s unusual look has never really worked for me but his in ring has improved. Just as I type that he attempts, and fucks up, a 619 in the corner, which looks dreadful. This is the dichotomy of Radrick. Awkward man in big pants, but occasionally smooth technician. The duality of man.  

Cole picks up the win. This was ok at times with the odd fuck up. Sebastian’s Curse doesn’t hit me as a finisher.  

 

Jack Cartwheel vs. Hunter Drake 

Comms suggest doing a shot every time you see a cartwheel. I have too many shows to review mate. Jack is wrestling rake thin Hunter Drake. He’s a flippy boy. This crowd is already dead. I can only assume they’re all hungover or have jetlag. Drake has a few spots in this where he’s supposed to get a foot or knee up to block Cartwheel and he’s either way too early or not obvious enough about it. The lack of experience is palpable. Drake fucks up kicking Cartwheel as he springboards into the rope. That’s a full on botch. Crowd have turned on him. Cartwheel tries to take charge and his flying, especially the SSP that finishes, has a beauty about it. Drake wasn’t at the races though.  

 

Sandra Moone vs. Kenzie Paige 

Sandra does a couple of nice things involving the ropes. Little slide through and over bits.  

Both of them are eager to please but rush their spots. Paige tries a satellite into a crossface but they both fall over in mid-spot. “Ain’t nothing pretty about this” say comms. Ain’t that the truth brother. Kenzie sometimes stops, tries to get her character over by giving the fans funny looks, but never really follows through on it. They fuck up a urinage, dubbed “rough” by comms. The finish is a Moone gutwrench…something. Kenzie lands on her head. This was rough and hard to watch.  

 

Bodhi Young Prodigy vs. Jimmy Lloyd 

Jimmy, who booked the show, has himself in with a 15-year-old. And they wonder why wrestling has a bad reputation. Bodhi knows a bunch of cool lucha shit. They blow a rana spot that almost goes horribly wrong. It’s worrying how many times that’s happened on this show. Credit to Bodhi, he keeps getting back on that horse. His moves occasionally confuse Jimmy, who bumps them weird. Maybe the communication isn’t there. Lloyd kills the child with a Package Piledriver. Bodhi looked like one of the better, if green and untidy, talents on the show. Fair play to him. He was clearly out here to impress and not everything came off, but he didn’t let him phase him.  

 

Starboy Charlie vs. Alec Price 

Charlie is 20 years old and wears dungarees. He didn’t break out in GCW until the pandemic so I’ve not seen him. Price is a gangly looking lunatic. He looks supremely comfortable in the ring, which is a good sign. He also finds the time to stop and argue with the fans. Run your mouth, kid.  

This is technically solid. They do a leapfrog blocked into a Manhattan Drop, which is particularly good, but they don’t even pause to sell it. Right into the next sequence. Sometimes, less is more. A lot of their better ideas almost get lost because they don’t let anything breathe. We’re always straight into something else. If you have a cool spot, let it breathe. The match isn’t without other issues either. Occasionally they attempt something, and it just collapses. One or the other thinking a different spot was about to happen. My biggest issue with Price is how lightweight he looks. He’s tall and thin and he looks small. Charlie, who is actually small, looks better proportioned. Charlie gets the submission and we’re out of here. Match of the night to this point. Good effort from both but too long. *** 

 

Bobby Orlando vs. Sawyer Wreck 

Uh, hello?  

 

I saw Sawyer Wreck last year. She was in some weird death match. She’s very tall, which must be off putting for the Indie lads who are all 5’10”. Orlando throws “Bobby Jr” at Wreck but she catches the goat and yeets him across the building. Sawyer is ok in the ring but spends ages pulling out plunder and setting it up. At least it pays off with Orlando hitting a cutter on her through a door. Urgh, doors. Fucking doors. Orlando then goes and does the exact same thing, leaving Sawyer to go and set up some plunder. This match has actively descended into shitsville. The same thing happens with Wreck taking advantage and hitting a Baldo Bomb for the win. Sawyer Wreck looks ok but it’ll be tricky to find opponents for her that don’t look awkward. I’m sure there are matches out there.  

 

Four Way Tag Team Match 

Bang Bros (Davey Bang & August Matthews) vs. Best Bros (Baliyan Aki & Mei Suruga) vs. vs. Wasted Youth (Dyln McKay & Marcus Mathers) vs. CPF (Danny Black & Joe Lando) 

This is the main event. I’m on half and half screen with Circle 6 because Mr Iguana is on. If they wanted my full attention they should have booked Mr Iguana. I’m back for Mei Suruga. Capes are awesome.  

Mei Suruga has a nice time here. I guess someone has to. Ali and Matthews do a triple reveral by the ropes because they can’t decide who’s throwing who out of the ring. Mei is the one who stands out because she’s too small and light and do what she wants. Everyone else hits a bunch of interchangeable spots. Mei is just so good at selling and emoting. Her being deafened by Joe Lando getting chopped is great.  

Mei Suruga doing different things really works for me. I’m drawn to whatever happens when there’s a squeal. There are too many other spots in the match with everyone standing around waiting to catch a dude doing a dive. Then Mei hits a pair of chokeslams off Aki’s shoulders and the crowd is chanting “holy shit”. Less is more! Wasted Youth end up going over and the crowd politely applaud. Lots of spots in this but the crowd, and myself, were only really drawn in by Best Bros. ***¼  

 

The 411: 

A couple of half decent matches but let’s face facts here; I will not remember anything about this show apart from Mei Suruga. And I knew she was good already. Starboy Charlie, Bodhi Young Prodigy and Alec Price are all worth keeping an eye on.