Lio Rush vs. Starboy Charlie - GCW Draft Day, 05/15/2021
American indie wrestling = good??
I won’t name names, but there are a lot of wrestlers on the American independent scene right now who tick the box of “good, solid hand,” but don’t look to have much more potential than that. This year’s WrestleMania weekend was full of competitors like that: warm bodies who can put a match together before you immediately forget everything that happened once the three count is rendered.
Lio Rush and Starboy Charlie decidedly do *not* exist in that category. In terms of pure athleticism, there may not be two wrestlers on the indies who can match up to these two. In an ugly building with a horrendous production package1, they combined their talents to create something great.
It’s always interesting seeing wrestlers play roles they’re not necessarily used to, and Rush being (1) the bigger man and (2) the more experienced competitor by far is not something you can say often about his matches. But alongside his athleticism, it is Rush’s unorthodox nature that makes his matches stand out. You never seem to know exactly where he’s going to go on an evasive maneuver, and that made for a nice story as he out-wrestled Charlie for the majority of this match.
This was a spotfest, yes, but one that told a nice, simple story along with it: Rush was prepared for all the rudimentary, basic wrestling stuff Charlie had to offer but was susceptible from a surprise counter or big move that’s beyond Charlie’s years. As long as the work is great, that’s all you need! Neither man is a heel — there’s no way I’d boo Rush after his white-hot return to the indies, and despite Charlie’s future-proof punchable face, nobody’s booing a kid — but Rush’s advantage in just about every aspect of the game allowed him to effectively and compellingly work on top.
There were loads of great little sequences here, from Charlie’s almost TOO effortless flip dive to the floor to a thrilling back-and-forth exchange resulting in a phenomenal bridge nearfall to Charlie’s classic comeback crushing Rush with a German and a series of lariats to boot. Notice anything about those? Just about every “high spot” in this match resulted in some shine for young Charlie. That’s how you get fresh wrestlers over. It’s reminiscent of a PWG first-timer’s debut performance in that Charlie was given every chance to showcase what he could do against one of the best unsigned talents out there.
Charlie, to his credit, lived up to the task. The dude’s unbelievable, already in the upper echelon of wrestlers on the indies; to quote MJF, he’s not “good for his age,” he’s just GOOD. I’m not entirely familiar with his background, but he has the body control of a gymnast, placing his strikes and bumps exactly where they need to be.
This match went 19 minutes and felt like it went about eight. You knew Rush would win, but the journey to get there was about as much fun as I’ve had in an American indie match all year.
(****)
My GOD, the commentary on this show (as in most GCW shows) was a train wreck. You had everyone’s least favorite announcer Kevin Gill, who’s never seen a match he didn’t think was match of the year, paired up with the barely-there Ron Funches, who unquestionably cares more about what weed he can consume before and after the show than whatever match is going on in front of him. Seriously, what the FUCK is wrong with independent wrestling companies? You’d think after constant feedback — not just saying “it could be better,” but saying “this is garbage” — there’d be some changes. But nope!
The thing is, we KNOW they can do it right. The BLOODSPORT commentary team was stellar and Suge Dunkerton provides a ton of charisma and useful perspective in his limited opportunity. Instead, however, GCW continues to seemingly attempt to make it as ear-splittingly bad as possible.