GCW New Year's Weekend HOT TAKE
The world of Game Changer Wrestling has never been about the easy path. It is a promotion splattered in crimson, forged in muck and grit, sneering at all who dare challenge it. GCW's very foundation built upon the broken teeth and broken dreams of those who came before it's courageous combat sport puglists.
GCW was never meant to be glitzy and slick. It's the throwback rage against the LED Machine of today, spotlighting the war that takes place inside and around the squared circle when true men and women show how tough they truly are within. It is the home to battles that define unbridled as they swarm all corners of the arena.
GCW is the lone tree standing defiant against the F-5 tornado, refusing to budge, refusing to break, because it carries the strength and spirit of all the mavericks that came before it, all the anarchy that sparked the chaos theory, all the heart and soul of what true punk rock professional wrestling is.
GCW was empowered by those who want something deep, dark, special and different - and 2021 was the year where Game Changer Wrestling, its combatants and its brethren all bellowed to get out of the way, because GCW was here to stay, forever.
Next year, GCW will invade the historic Hammerstein Ballroom and take another step towards carving its own unique brand of pro wrestling greatness, but before that memorable moment, Game Changer Wrestling and FITE unite once more to bring viewers across the globe a ringside seat into the frenzied mayhem that will be GCW's return to Atlantic City, New Jersey for New Year's Weekend 2021.
TIL INFINITY
On New Year's Eve at 8 PM EST, Game Changer Wrestling returns to its roots in the Garden State of New Jersey, once more invading Atlantic City, a destination that can change one's fortune forever, enriching them or cursing them into financial ruin. It is truly a do or die town, no different from the GCW ring that will sit in the center of The Showboat as GCW's toughest denizens seek to hit Blackjack in the center of the ring to mark the perfect farewell to 2021 as the world ushers in 2022.
One of the competitors seeking to enforce their will and smash his way into the New Year is PCO. The former Ring of Honor World Champion's career was resurrected in GCW and now the French Frankenstein has returned to his old haunt to once again carve a new chapter in equal parts power and pain. Having laid out an open challenge to face anyone, the wrestling world is already taking bets on who will stand up to the might of PCO and what ripple effect that may have on GCW and beyond as FITE rings in the New Year.
Til Infinity features a number of special attractions that exemplify Game Changer Wrestling, but perhaps none more than Alex Zayne & Blake Christian vs. Dante Leon & Ninja Mack. For Zane and Christian, GCW was their home before national professional wrestling came calling. When they proved to be too unique and rebellious to be contained, they returned with a force to GCW rings. On December 31st, they close out their tumultuous year the best way possible, inside a completely unbridled GCW ring with no restraints and no restrictions, seeking to push themselves athletically to show they are indeed, the best in the world. Their obstacle in that goal is their opposition, as Dante Leon and Ninja Mack have carved their own reputation in GCW over the past year. Ninja Mack has captured the imagination of the entire FITE global audience with his daring aerial assaults and endless courage. His partner, the Seth Rollins-trained Dante Leon has been wowing fans from Texas and beyond since his 2016 debut. With Mack and Leon having recently lost to GCW World Tag Team Champions Jay and Mark Briscoe, they seek to rebound by ending the year with a massive win on a massive stage. To accomplish that, they have to get past two of the most driven individuals in GCW today. The only surefire prediction for this bout is insanity.
Everett Connors will battle Atticus Cogar at Til Infinity, just a few weeks after Cogar proceeded to inflict one of the most insane felonious assaults in GCW history on Jordan Oliver. Connors has become one of the most beloved competitors to come out of St. Louis in years, an endearing soul who has succeeded despite GCW's harsh, competitive environment. If there is one competitor who radiates light in the bleakest of fights, it is Connors. Whether Connors can even stand up to Cogar, who has been one of the most violent, depraved antagonists in GCW history remains to be seen. Cogar has a no ropes barbed wire showdown with Oliver in Los Angeles, but what will happen when they are both in the same building on New Year's Eve?
The unique attractions continue for GCW and FITE's New Year's Eve extravaganza as one of the most talked about second-generation stars to explode across the pro wrestling cosmos in years, Colby Corino steps into combat against the mysterious and dangerous Dark Sheik. In GCW, there are no restrictions upon talents, creating unique once in a lifetime dream matches such as this as The Dark Sheik seeks to capture the biggest win of her career while Corino, celebrating a number of major milestones in 2021 including the worldwide attention of the battle against his own father, Steve Corino, looks to continue his momentum with another victorious notch on his belt.
While Jordan Oliver is looking towards his revenge on Atticus Cogar, he stands united at Til Infinity with his brothers in Young Dumb N Broke, Charlie Tiger and Ellis Taylor as they head into a six man tag team battle with GCW's Second Gear Crew, AJ Gray, Effy, and Matthew Justice. This war promises battles across the ring and well above it as all involved are beloved stalwarts of Game Changer Wrestling who have shattered the boundaries of what is physically possible in combat sports, becoming some of the most beloved and respected combatants in GCW. Now, in Atlantic City, the world stands witness to one of the most promising battles of the year, or the next!
GCW and its fans have never shied away from violence and Atlantic City has seen its fair share of beatings over the years, but when G-Raver and AKIRA face off, the expectation can only be insanity. In a world forged on pain and suffering, AKIRA has submerged himself in the best Deathmatch competition the world has to offer, leaving blood and cartilage and pieces of his soul behind in pursuit of proving he is the toughest man alive. The only problem with that proclamation is that G-Raver is the fighter across the ring from AKIRA in Atlantic City. Raver has long been one of the most versatile and creative souls in that violent genre of combat sports. While GCW pushes the envelope of great wrestling, it's dark rings can also have an insatiable hunger for blood, barbed wire and violence. For once, it may have met its match. This New Year's Eve attraction will be the farthest thing from a Dick Clark production anywhere in the world this weekend.
Ho Ho Lun has become known worldwide as the best professional wrestler to come out of Hong Kong in years, fighting his way through the WWE Cruiserweight Classic and back home again. Now, he migrates to GCW, seeking new challenges as 2022 kicks off and in Atlantic City, he'll find perhaps his greatest in Jimmy LLoyd. New Jersey's "Different Boy" will be in his element personified with a return to Atlantic City, showing the world once again why his askew approach to combat sports may be one of the biggest riddles to solve in the ring. Whole Lun is known for high flying technical excellence, LLoyd has forged this unique amalgamation of traditional offense and deathmatch attacks, becoming a beloved GCW institution in the process. In professional wrestling, smart promoters pit different fighting styles against each other and this weekend, GCW will do that to create one of the most offbeat showdowns of the year in Lloyd vs. Lun.
If there is one woman who has become the DNA of Game Changer Wrestling, it is the ever-improving GCW loyalist known as Allie Katch. Her boundless energy and continued pursuit of leveling up as a competitor has been one of the true GCW cornerstones of 2021. She ends the year facing off with Charli Evans, who made her way to GCW this year in pursuit of love and championship glory alike. With her beau Everett Connors by her side, Evans looks to strike forward in hopes of capturing the biggest win of her career by taking down Allie Katch. It would be a moment that shocks GCW to its core, but the thing about New Year's Eve is that anything is possible as an entire new world opens up to us all when the clock strikes midnight….
DIE FOR THIS
On January 1st, the calendar begins anew and GCW begins its march to NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom, Atlanta's Center Stage, Detroit's historic Harpo Theater Hall and all destinations in between. 2022 will undoubtedly be GCW's biggest undertaking to date and it all begins where it should, in GCW's home of New Jersey with one more stand at the Showboat.
The main event of Die For This will see Mark and Jay Briscoe, the forefathers of ROH now set loose upon an unsuspecting world, returning to defend their GCW World Tag Team Championships in what can only be seen as a dream match against the high-flying might of Alex Zayne and Blake Christian. In a world like GCW where the mettle of man is tested in every in-ring exploit, Christian and Zayne seek to ascend to the next level with a Tag Team Championship victory. To accomplish that accolade, they'd have to somehow solve the problem that an infinite number of competitors have failed at accomplishing, taking down the pride of Delaware, Mark and Jay Briscoe. This unique battle promises bruising, punishing action that will set the stage for the entire year in GCW.
If the world will be a pristine white at the start of 2022, GCW aims to end that awfully quick as Alex Colon, perhaps the most frightening competitor in all of Game Changer will clash with John Wayne Murdoch, promising to stain that pristine new year in scarlet crimson, unleashing the bloodletting, the glass, the barbed wire and everything else Santa Claus failed to deliver on time. In the immortal words of the legendary Clubber Lang, "I predict pain." GCW's most demented souls will once again dive into combat on the most surreal, violent plane in existence. Don't say FITE didn't warn you.
And then, how about something a little bit different? If there was ever a textbook example of different fighting styles, it's Calvin Tankman and his explosive, powerful offense and "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams' scientific technical prowess. One is designed to decimate and destroy an opponent with maximum carnage in minimal time. The other is a slow but decisive systematic breaking down of one's soul in order to achieve total victory. But, placed against the other, will each competitor neutralize the other? Will GCW be looking upon the most unique game of chess ever unleashed in a professional wrestling ring? Only FITE fans will know firsthand, live, across the globe.
As if all that isn't enough, former ROH World Champion Homicide will return to GCW, bringing his Bed Stuy Do or Die attitude and a very unique brand of violence with him. With a fork in one hand and his Gringo Killer ready to be unleashed, what sort of toxic insanity will combust when Homicide is added to the insane chemical makeup of Game Changer Wrestling? Die for This may be aptly titled, indeed.
You can watch everything that goes down this weekend when FITE and GCW broadcast live from Atlantic City, New Jersey, possibly taking the entire city down with them!
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.