Review: GCW’s The Acid Cup 2

By
Tiffany Merryhill

GCW Presents The Acid Cup 2

Now is the most trying time for independent wrestlers. The pain of canceled bookings is hitting many people overwhelmingly hard, and the great minds and greater hearts at Game Changer Wrestling stepped up to help ease the struggle as best as they can. GCW reintroduced the Acid Cup tournament, named in tribute to the late Trent Acid. This second tournament would also serve as an opportunity for the wrestling community to give back to its hard-working performers. Fans could not attend this event but instead were provided a link for donations. All donations are still welcome and both nights of The Acid Cup 2 are available on IWTV. The action taking place on both nights is well worth a charitable contribution!

Night 1: First Round Results

The first night of the Acid Cup 2 tournament featured a lineup of stellar matches. Instead of fans surrounding the ring, wrestlers would be working in front of the members of their own roster. In the opening bout, KTB defeated Cole Radrick via submission. Shane Mercer defeated Lucky 13 after hitting the Moonsault and Battery from the ropes and getting the pinfall victory. Allie Kat defeated Atticus Cogar via rollup after assistance from Nick Gage, who was looking to take out any 44OH lackey he could get his hands on.

In a first-rate match that had two members of Young, Dumb, & Broke taking on one another, Jordan Oliver won against Ellis Taylor via pinfall. Matthew Justice won a savage first-round match with Jimmy Lloyd. Blake Christian defeated Benjamin Carter in a show-stealer of the evening, but believe me, Ben Carter’s a name you’ll want to remember in the future! Chris Dickinson defeated his Team Pazuzu partner Pinkie Sanchez in a memorable bout.

The main event of the first round matches had Nick Gage taking on Manders in a brutal banger. Both men were ready for this battle, though, and Manders brought a damn good fight to Gage. This first-round victory belonged to the King, though, and Gage got a pinfall victory over the Cornbelt Cowboy.

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Night 2: Second Round, Clusterfuck Match and Semifinal Results

After an excellent first night, the second night of the Acid Cup started just as promising with Shane Mercer defeating KTB is a great match. Mercer would advance to the semifinals and take on Chris Dickinson, who won his match against Allie Kat. Blake Christian defeated Matthew Justice and went on to take on Jordan Oliver, who took a cheap and easy victory over Nick Gage after Atticus Cogar and Ellis Taylor interfered on Oliver’s behalf. In the semifinal matches, Dickinson defeated Mercer in a heavy brawl of a battle. Blake Christian won against Jordan Oliver in a fantastic sequel to their first match. The finals were set – Blake Christian would take on the Dirty Daddy, Chris Dickinson!

The Clusterfuck match (Joey Janela’s brilliant creation) returned as well. A mix of competitors including the ones you seriously would not expect was involved. Who could have predicted the t-shirt guy getting a spot in this? Who could have predicted John Cena and the corpse of Pitbull making an appearance? Nick Gage finally had enough and put an end to the fun and games by eliminating a headless Pitbull and therefore becoming the Clusterfuck winner. You’d think that we’d have had our fun, right? Maybe it’s time to move on to the finals? Sure. But first…

Acid Cup 2
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Joey Janela vs. Jimmy Lloyd: Social Distance Rules

You have to see this match to believe it. If you’ve seen the gifs on social media, you still need to watch this match in full to appreciate it. Joey Janela and Jimmy Lloyd gave us a five-star classic treat with the world’s first Social Distance Rules match. The rules? Both competitors must maintain a six-foot distance at all times. This made for some of the most interesting and all-out funny-as-hell spots I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match.

Seriously, we saw the very first Canadian Destroyer take place when both guys are six feet apart! Memorable, to say the least, and even though this match may not be everyone’s cup of tea it was damn sure entertaining. For all we know, though, this could be the future of matches in the dystopian virus world we live in now!

Acid Cup Final: Blake Christian vs. Chris Dickinson

The final match of the Acid Cup tournament was a true classic. There were two very different styles of wrestler pitted against each other. The speedy high flyer Blake Christian would have to match the hard-earned grappling skills of Chris Dickinson. Fans saw Christian take a lot of damage here, but ‘All Heart’ is not one to be counted out that easily. Both men gave their all in this match with Christian returning as much punishment as he could to the Dirty Daddy. In the end, however, it was a Pazuzu Bomb that allowed Dickinson to get the pinfall victory and win the Acid Cup.

In an emotional post-match speech Dickinson took to the mic and reminded us that despite the incredibly rough situation at hand, he’s a wrestler and will continue to wrestle at any opportunity. Dickinson also made the point that for many wrestlers there is no ‘shoot’ job, wrestling is how they make a comfortable income. The donations from fans watching on IWTV are essential when the future is so uncertain for so many. Dickinson spoke directly to the viewers, letting them know that their enthusiasm is his reason for doing what he does. Those heartfelt words were very moving to me, and I’m proud of the Dirty Daddy for the Acid Cup win as well as the stellar 2020 he’s had up to now. Here’s to better days ahead!

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