There’s not much “new” wrestling going on right now, so we’ll take what we can get. What’s that, two US indie stand-outs in a tournament? We’re on it!
We’re going to peek at a match from the first round of the second Acid Cup – it’s a two-day show that GCW held on IWTV in front of no fans. Well, I say “no fans” – like AEW, there’s wrestlers in the crowd as fans, as we’ve got a cameraman standing on the bar. I think that’s the least of the Health & Safety Police’s concern…
The Acid Cup 2 – First Round: Benjamin Carter vs. Blake Christian
Both these guys were generating some buzz on the undergraps scene before the shutdown… Joey Janela on commentary tells us Carter was meant to be debuting over the GCW Collective shows, but of course, that’s not going on.
We open with a tie-up and a headlock takedown from Carter, who’s apparently over in the States on a sports scholarship. He’s originally from the Channel Islands, and that blows my mind. Second career waiting for you back in the UK when things blow over! Christian comes in with a wristlock, but Carter flips and floats out to reverse the hold before a springboard armdrag had Christian down. Blake Matrix’s out of a clothesline as they end up reaching the natural indie stand-off. A dropkick from Carter has Christian powdering to the outside, but the dive’s aborted as Christian ends up nailing a tope instead.
Carter’s thrown back in, and he’s right back out with a tope of his own as Joey Janela opens another can. That’s quickly drowned out with a missile dropkick from Carter, before chops keep Blake in the corners. Christian returns fire with machine gun chops, before Carter moonsaults out of the corner into a Final Cut elbow. Nice!
Christian shoots back in with a low 619 and a 450 splash as the match swung around in a heartbeat… and almost led to a win for Blake as well! A headbutt to the back of Carter’s head leads to a Saito suplex for a near-fall, before Christina misses a Hidden Blade and almost lost to a small package. Carter tries to rebound with an enziguiri, but a backfist and a headbutt has him down as the pair trade pinning attempts, before Carter hits a spinning suplex and a frog splash as his latest flash led to another two-count. A Phoenix splash looked to follow, but Carter misses and ends up taking a half belson suplex before a Falcon arrow into a rear naked choke tried to force the stoppage… but Carter managed to wriggle towards the ropes to force a break.
Christian heads up top next, but gets caught with a one-man Spanish Fly as Carter was still breathing… before a Phoenix Splash drew another near-fall. That looked nasty! Carter tries to go up top, but gets caught with a reverse Spanish Fly from Christian, and a Hidden Blade before a 450 splash got the job done. A nice little slice of action here – and if you’re into high flying stuff, well these two guys are going to be the future when things get back to normal. ***½
At time of writing, they’ll be back for night two on Friday March 20… with the remainder of the tournament, and the first ever Social Distancing Match. That’ll be suitably wacky. There’s an IndieGoGo that’s been set-up to give to the wrestlers on this show, to help keep the lights on in these weird times. If you can, chip in at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gcw-presents-the-acid-cup-airing-live-on-iwtv–2#/
- You can watch the VOD of this show on iwtv.live – sign up for a free trial using the promo code “gamechanger”…