For the tenth time, Josh Barnett hosts the most violent night of fighting at The Collective, as he presents Bloodsport X. The rules of Bloodsport are simple: fights can only be won by knockout, submission, disqualification… or death. With no ropes surrounding the ring, the fighters must remain on the canvas at all times, and will have a 10-count to return to the ring as required. Mainstays of the Bloodsport series including Timothy Thatcher, Matt Makowski and Josh Barnett himself are all on the card, which includes for the first time ever contracted WWE competitors Charlie Dempsey and Shayna Baszler.
+ Shayna Baszler (w/ Zoey Stark) vs. Masha Slamovich (w/ Jordynne Grace): I had a discussion with someone recently about what a big deal it was to have even someone as relatively ‘low’ on the WWE totem poll as Shayna Baszler appear at an independent show like this. To me, it’s unheard of under Vince McMahon, and a sign of perhaps interesting things to come in the longterm. Slamovich is an interesting opponent, as clearly the GCW crowd were going to strongly prefer her over the ‘outsider’ in Baszler, but that just made the fight more fun. The ending in particular was a little bit wonky, but this was still the best women’s fight on the show
+ Axel Tischer vs. Timothy Thatcher: on name value alone this one was a must see, and once the fight started it was clear that was going to be the case. Old friends make the best opponents, and these two immediately smacked the crap out of each other. I’ve long been a big Thatcher fan, and I believe he is almost the perfect representative of what Bloodsport could and should be and someone like Tischer (the former Alexander Wolfe) is a great opponent. This was a lot of fun
+ Takuya Nomura vs. Fuminori Abe: gosh darn, these two went hard. The strikes, submissions and (as much as I hate them) real heatbutts from each other continuously escalated the fight until the ending, which I enjoyed. This was another good showing from two names who perhaps aren’t quite as high on the pecking order as some others
+ Charlie Dempsey vs. Matt Makowski (w/ Tracy Williams): this was excellent, the first match on the show to really click in the way I like Bloodsport fights to go. Dempsey looked smooth, as someone with his regal pedigree would, and Makowski has been in enough of these Bloodsport shows by now to always look good
+ Marina Shafir vs. Janai Kai (Bloodsport Tournament Semi-Final): there were a lot of really good strikes and submission attempts in this one, and a great finish that I really enjoyed. Marina Shafir is good at this fake fighting; funny that
+ Nic Nemeth vs. Mike Bailey: the amateur wrestling versus Taekwondo story here was something the early UFC days might have showcased. I really enjoyed this one, though I certainly wish it went for longer
– Josh Barnett vs. Johnny Bloodsport: frankly this was a disappointment. Josh Barnett might well be an MMA pioneer and arguably even an Indy wrestling star at this stage, but at this point he is not fit to be the selling point of these shows. It’s no doubt he could murder everyone else on the card, but for a MMA/pro wrestling hybrid show, he’s not the right decision. That said, neither is Johnny Bloodsport who despite the flashy capoeira stuff, looked out of place and akward. This was a frustrating watch after the good stuff before it
– Bloodsport Tournament Final: this was okay, maybe even good, but the ending was so painfully bad that it retroactively ruined the match for me. I don’t even fault the fighters themselves, but it just didn’t work the way they intended and the match suffered because of it
– Minoru Suzuki vs. Royce Isaacs: this was okay, but felt somewhat lacking to the other ‘big matches’ on the show. Suzuki is always a joy in these events, and Isaacs of course certainly looks the part. Still, I felt underwhelmed
– Erik Hammer vs. Lou Nixon: I’m not really sure what to make of this. It didn’t do anything for me, and the ending was kinda bland. I guess that’s part-and-parcel of what ‘real fights’ can be and sometimes are, but honestly this was a miss
– Lindsay Snow vs. Lady Frost (Bloodsport Tournament Semi-Final): this was not good. Straight up, these two did not click and nothing they did looked dangerous or correct
– Victor Benjamin vs. AKIRA Way: it is an expected negative that some matches will not end in a way pleasing to the crowd, but I didn’t mind this as a result. The specific ending was perhaps not great, but the match itself was well worked to that point. Benjamin looked like a killer, but the finish took something away from what otherwise a surprisingly heated fight
Should you watch this event: It’s a shame the last two matches fell a little bit short, as the rest of the show was generally quite good. Dempsey/Makowski, Thatcher/Tischer and especially Nomura/Abe were all great and worth watching. If you’re a diehard fan of Barnett or Johnny [lastname], you might get more out of the main event than I did, but otherwise stick to the positives above.
MoshFish Reviews 