GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XV (4.17.26) review 

 

April 17, 2026 

 

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK REVIEW #11  

 

We’re at the Horseshoe, again. Different vibe here though with the ropes down and we’re shooting from the hip PARDNER.  

 

Matt Mako vs. Angel Verduczo 

This is fine. Lots of grapplefuckery, as you’d expect. It goes a bit long for my tastes. The opener shouldn’t drag. Mako gets a head shot with a kick and then mounts with slaps for the win. ** 

 

Ulka Sasaki vs. Joe Dashou 

First piggy sighting in Sasaki. He’s suckered into a belly to belly immediately. Haha. Back to the pigpen, bitch. Dashou goes after a single leg and Sasaki knees him in the face for the KO. YES, BITCH! YES! **¾  

 

Ray Jaz vs. Zack Sabre Jr 

Sabre gives Jaz an insane amount of the match. He should be creaming this guy. It’s like Euro 2021 all over again. Zack eventually pretzels the poor bastard, and that’s it. *¾  

 

Miyu Yamashita vs. Janai Kai 

Kai, the “kick demon”, gets shown what some actual kicks look like. The striking, with blocks, aren’t bad here. Jai may have finally learned to land a decent kick. They do some really stupid stuff at the finish as they both swing for the fences, and Miyu gets a KO with a roundhouse. * 

 

Royce Isaacs vs. Shane Mercer 

Two beefy boys here. They do very little. It’s really dull. Then Isaacs fucks up a transition into a kneebar, and we turn on the match. It just goes on forever. Shit punches. Armbar. They sit it in for ages. Then more stuff happens. Bleh. Isaacs wins. Boring. DUD 

 

Pete Dunne vs. Masashi Takeda  

Question; are scissors allowed under the Bloodsport rules of conduct? This starts strongly, but Pete goes after the fingers, which is illegal under Bloodsport’s rules of conduct. They do some strikes and Peter finds out he’s out of his element. Takeda has it won, but Dunne goes after the fingers, again, which, again, is illegal. DQ! DQ! Takeda is forced to give up as Dunne, the fucking CHEATER, wins by cheating. A disgrace to the name of Bloodsport. The actual work here was great, but the massive stupidity of not following your own rules? What the fuck is that? ***-ish match, DUD booking, DUD logic. 

 

Erick Stevens vs. Fuminori Abe 

Abe does some lovely dodging in the early going, making Stevens look like a chump. They do some good work clutched up with slaps and headbutts at close range.  

Stevens busts himself open on a headbutt and then crossfaces Abe, who’s bleeding from the mouth. Abe mounts Erick and headbutts him until the ref calls it. *** 

 

Timothy Thatcher vs. Charlie Dempsey 

Two similar sized guys. Thatcher has a far better understanding of pro-wrestling, in general, and this style of pro-wrestling, in particular. Tim even sells the drop out of the ring being a thing. He’s telling logical stories, all the time. Tim drives his knee into the tricep in a lovely spot.  

Thatcher is the master of making little things make sense. You get the small stuff right, and the big stuff comes together. They also do a great job of making the strikes look good without making it look like a finish. Dempsey elbows his way into a chickenwing and Tim taps. ***½  

 

Nattie Niedhart vs. Shayna Baszler  

They start slow but Shayna teases the Sharpshooter and then tells Nattie to go fuck herself. YES, LADIES. I want some god damn heat in this thing.  

We get an exchange of sub finishers and Nattie decides to punch Shayna in the face as hard as she can. BLOODSHED AT BLOODSPORT. Sadly, we get Shayna throwing Nattie out of the ring to escape, but the seconds catch them.  

They end up doing a stupid count out finish, and everyone spills in to break up a potential post match scrapperoonie. Man….this was going great and then they hit the floor and fucking ruined it. Fuck. **¾  

 

Yuji Nagata vs. Josh Barnett 

Two fat old guys just having a nice little grapple. They start picking the pace up around ten minutes in, looking for holds that will finish or big bombs.  

Nagata goes after the arm, and Barnett just lies there in holds for ages. Barnett wins with a roundhouse and mounted punches. Awful finish. Meh match. ** 

 

Post Match: Josh Barnett says Bloodsport is done. Based on this show…I can see why.  

 

The 411: 

There are so many problems with this show. WWE interference with the booking, Josh Barnett’s obsession over getting his wins back, Pete Dunne’s outright cheating and there being too many matches. Nothing really crushed it either. The Thatcher-Dempsey and Baszler-Neidhart matches were both going somewhere very cool when they just finished. Remember when this was routinely the best thing on the entire weekend?  

 

 

Show Ranking:   

NJPW Death Vegas 7.5  

Wrestlecon Supershow 6.3   

Dragon Gate USA: Gate of Sin City 5.8   

Progress 5.6   

Bloodsport 5.5  

Ladies Night Out 16 4.5   

Hybrid x PWU Midnight Xpress 4.1   

MDK Fight Club 4.0   

CCW High Rollers 3.4   

Podermania~! 3.1  

Juggalos 2.2   

  

Best Matches:   

Tremont & Gage vs. Takeda & Yamashita vs. Desperado & Kasai (NJPW Death Vegas) ****¼   

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Fuminori Abe (NJPW Death Vegas) ***¾   

Mark Davis vs. Masato Tanaka (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***¾   

Man Like Dereiss vs. Michael Oku (Progress) ***½   

Tim Thatcher vs. Charlie Dempsey (Bloodsport) ***½  

Manders vs. Thomas Shire (Hybrid/PWU) ***¼   

Bandido vs. Galeno del Mal (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***  

Ben K & Hyo vs. Aero Panther & Fight Panther Jr vs. Jordan Oliver & Alec Price (DGUSA) ***  

Fuminori Abe vs. Erick Stevens (Bloodsport) *** 

  

Number of coffees drunk; 6  

Number of Geoguessr seeds played as a welcoming distraction: 8  

Number of motivational/tactical Irn Bru’s drunk: 3