Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport recap: Shoot-style pro wrestling comes to New Orleans and delivers big

GCW presents Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport kicks off our WrestleMania weekend action and I’m bringing the format I used for Spring Break last year back, folks. So for full results, check here, but this recap is going to be straight up bullet points of everything cool / exciting / neat that happens during the show. Let’s go!

• First off, a quick reminder on the rules here. No ropes. No pinfall. Victory by knockout or submission only, just as wrestling was intended to be!

Dominic Garrini vs. Kyle the Beast

• Okay so everybody’s having their fighting style announced and that’s the coolest thing.
• Strength vs. grappling early, Dom so smooth and effortless and KTB right with him.
• Kyle with a slick kneebar transition outta nowhere.
• Clinch knees and overhead elbows into a wicked right but Garrini’s able to grab the triangle when he closes for the kill!

Really fun match, great way to open the show.

Eddie Kingston vs. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams

• Kingston coming out to Ecstasy of Gold, awesome.
• Also Matt Riddle is his cornerman and now I want nothing more than for them to tag up somewhere.
• AND Eddie’s barefoot! Love when folks go barefoot for the shoot style.
• Hot Sauce just has Kingston completely outclassed on the mat early, despite the former Chikara Grand Champion’s best efforts to fend him off, but when action turns to the striking Eddie’s right back in charge!
• Guillotine choke is countered with slaps!
• Williams brings him up lame with a kneebar!
• Continuing on the leg with the Prison Lock but Kingston is all hard slaps and forearms to escape!
• Sleeper suplex into an arm triangle from Eddie!
• Hard elbows into a cross armbar and Hot Sauce kicks the far arm away to get extension but Kingston reverses into the deadlift powerbomb!
• BACKFIST TO THE FUTURE!

This was so good. Underdog Eddie fighting from underneath against the Powerbomb.tv Independent Wrestling Champion, using every ounce of wiles and strategy to keep the young man off his back.

Martin Stone vs. MASADA

• MASADA SPITS IN STONE’S FACE!
• He follows it up by attempting to grapple, however, which might prove to be a mistake.
• Stone trying to suffocate him, taking his back, but MASADA’s size and strength let him get out with relative ease.
• Big slaps but Martin cuts him off, jockeying for position with leg holds.
• Nice leg pick into an ankle lock but Stone peels his fingers apart to force a break!
• Trading slaps in the center of the ring!
• Big German suplex from Stone!
• MASADA’s forced to turtle up and the ref ends up standing both guys up!
• A knee, a kick, back to the mat, Stone is able to get back to the grind but MASADA locks a triangle on!

Bit of an abrupt ending but it’s really cool to see MASADA in a different context like this and Martin Stone always rules in these kinds of matches..

Tom Lawlor vs. WALTER

• Note that Tom’s forearm is still in a brace from where Dominic Garrini broke it in half with his head at AIW recently.
• Lawlor pulled his mouthguard out of his shorts, gross.
• Stalemate on the mat and Tom wants more!
• WALTER throws a chop and knocks Lawlor down but Tom is able to take advantage!
• Going for a sleeper... the Ring General uses the bad arm as a lever to force him off!
• Huge Karelin lift!
• And right into torquing the arm and slamming it to the mat.
• WALTER rips the brace off! The double wristlock is in!
• Jim Breaks special to a hammerlock, WALTER adds a deathlock, turns it into an STF and then stomps the bad arm for good measure!
• Chops on chops!
• Tom fights on one-armed but WALTER’s power is unmatchable!
• Lawlor ducks a lariat and manages to get a German suplex off!
• Gojira Clutch is in but Tom throws him aside... SUPERMAN PUNCH!
• WALTER COUNTERS A SECOND SUPERMAN PUNCH WITH A CHOP!
• LARIATOOOOO!
• GOJIRA CLUTCH... LAWLOR REVERSES INTO AN ARMBAR BUT WALTER IS ABLE TO COUNTER INTO THE POWERBOMB EASILY!
• Clubbing crossface blows into a top wristlock choke!

Awesome match. Loved WALTER, a man who’s been in AMBITION for wXw many times, going “eh, I’m going to do my normal pro wrestling match to really sell the clash of styles”. Plus he was announced as fighting in the style of pro wrestling, so it makes sense!

Chris Dickinson vs. Dan “the Beast” Severn

• Dickinson coming out to I Love It Loud, remains a great choice.
• Severn still has the whole entourage with all the title belts, fantastic.
• Dan catches a leg kick but Chris keeps him from doing anythign with it!
• Struggle on their feet, takedown, the Beast goes to grappling and catches him with a headlock but the Dirty Daddy is able to turn around into mount and paste him with palm strikes!
• Severn returns the favor!
• Dickinson blocks a leg pick and continues pounding Dan’s head in before grabbing a guillotine choke and falling back.
• Kidney punches to escape!
• Chris maintaining the bodyscissors, he tries to transition to a kneebar but the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion won’t be put into peril that easily.
• Denver Colorado on commentary reminds us that if Dickinson and Jaka can hold onto the Evolve Tag Team Championship they’ll get to defend them at WWE Axxess, and that remains incredible.
• Back to their feet and Dickinson lands a flash kick to the ribs!
• Into the ground and pound but Severn is able to keep his wits about him and smother the Dirty Daddy!
• More kicks... SEVERN CATCHES A ROUNDHOUSE INTO A LEG PICK!
• Maneuvering into a sleeper but he can’t get it so they go back to standing.
• Wild tossing back suplex, Dickinson returns with a spinebuster and we’re back on the mat!
• Severn turtling up, Chris with punches but Dan’s able to grab the beginnings of an arm triangle to hang in there.
• Dickinson turtling up himself now, Severn raining those punishing palm strikes of his down AND THE SLEEPER IS IN!
• Chris with a huge right, Dan ducks away but gets caught into a guillotine choke!
• Escaping, knees and elbows to the ribs!
• Overhead elbows from Dickinson! The referee separates them and the fight continues!
• Severn back to the sleeper, transition to a German suplex and back to the sleeper hold!

Another great match here, and I’ve kinda come around on the bad calls as a way to increase the shootiness of it all. Certainly it didn’t make this match any less enjoyable. 59-year-old Dan Severn still very much has it and I’d like to see him wrestle all the grapply lads.

• DICKINSON ATTACKS THE BEAST AFTER THE MATCH, CHOKING HIM AGAINST THE BARRICADE!
• SEVERN WITH OVERHEAD ELBOWS AND MATT RIDDLE COMES DOWN TO BREAK IT UP!

Nick Gage vs. Timothy Thatcher

• First off, Tim’s got his proper guitar version of Dvorak, as it should be.
• FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS!
• Thatcher went for a suplex over the edge like ten seconds in this is great.
• Karelin lift denied and Gage comes at Tim with the waistlock takedown!
• Locking up, struggling to the edge of the ring and Nick cold coks Thatcher in the face!
• Tim going after a leg, the standing half-crab, stepping over and sitting back, looking for a cross armbar.
• GAGE BITES THE LEG TO BREAK!
• GROUNDED PUNCHES!
• Thatcher working a double wristlock, rolling through... AND NICK FALLS TO THE FLOOR!
• Brawling on the floor, Gage rams Tim into the barricade and chokes him out with a cable!
• Nick just threw a table at Thatcher like he’s Genichiro Tenryu!
• Diving lariat off the apron!
• Forearms on a chair!
• Tim goes for a suplex on the floor but Nick reverses to his own!
• Back in the ring trading forearms with abandon, Thatcher finishes with his enzuigiri!
• Gage takes Tim to the mat and throws repeated clubbing forearms!

This was everything I wanted it to be. Gage working a bit of his shockingly sharp mat grappling early, Thatcher beating his ass, the violence on the floor... this was absolutely worth waiting three years to finally see. Deathmatch rematch sometime, maybe? Zandig’s Tournament of Survival is coming up...

• Nick gets on the mic and says he’s been waiting all year for this and thanks the fans for making this possible.

Matt Riddle vs. Minoru Suzuki

• KAZE NI NARE!
• Suzuki and Riddle head-to-head during the ref instructions!
• Probing kicks and slaps from both men, into an early armbar attempt from our Bro!
• Dueling heel hooks and they talk shit at each other before wrenching back!
• Minoru demands equal representation from the crowd!
• HOLY HELL PALM STRIKE CITY!
• Riddle with the takedown, Suzuki has guard but Deep Waters maneuvers around him looking for the armbar.
• Suzuki looking for the sleeper, rolling close to the edge, the referee tries to stop him but Minoru doesn’t listen and Riddle is able to get to the floor and throw strikes at his head!
• Jockeying for position apron to floor, Suzuki gets the hanging armbar and wrenches back, this is incredible stuff.
• Looking for the double wristlock, Bro can’t get it, grabs a sleeper, Suzuki levers his arm away so he fires elbow after elbow but Suzuki just grabs the arm and wrenches him to the floor with a Fujiwara armbar!
• Repeated stomps and Suzuki’s had enough of the referee, running him off with a chair!
• Minoru’s having fun now, which is scary.
• Trading big slaps to the jaw, the respect between the two men grows but Suzuki fakes him out into strikes and the sleeper!
• Deep Waters reverses, German suplex!
• High jump senton into knees and hammer blows! Looking for a sleepr of his own but Suzuki levers his bare foot to try and break.
• Armbar denied, Minoru back to a sleeper, Riddle stands up, teeters to the edge but decides to try and counter with a senton in the ring!
• BRO’S GOT NOWHERE TO GO BUT HE’S NOT DONE YET!
• The ref calls it but Suzuki won’t let go of the sleeper!

Holy crap, what a match. And it felt like the entire show was building to it, with the ref drama and the increasing temptation to go off the edge of the ring and the greater and greater intensity... this is an achievement, and you should make a point out of watching it.

• THEY HUG AND MINORU RAISES RIDDLE’S HAND!
• MATT DOES THE “WE’RE NOT WORTHY!” BUT SUZUKI DRAWS HIM BACK UP AND RAISES HIS HAND AGAIN!
• Riddle addresses the crowd to thank everyone for supporting his show and he promises it won’t be the last Bloodsport!

There you have it, folks

Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport started the weekend off on an incredibly high note with a show that was a) short and snappy, as befits a shoot-style wrestling show; and b) had three great matches on it in the form of WALTER/Lawlor, Gage/Thatcher, and Riddle/Suzuki. Even better, aside from some silly finishes, none of the other matches were anything approaching bad!

And in particular I’d like to take a second to put over the mix of talent here. Deathmatch guys, technical wrestlers, brawlers, MMA fighters, shoot-style legends, they all came together and created almost an early-days UFC atmosphere of style clashing on style, trying to prove which way of fighting is the best that really hit the spot for me. Hopefully Bro’s parting words will prove to be true and we can franchise this bad boy up and quick!

These GCW Good Wrestler’s Cool Show events have become an immediate highlight of WrestleMania weekend and Bloodsport is no different. Watch it as soon as you can, on WWNLive or FITE VOD, folks.