GCW Presents Nick Gage Invitational 6. When you hear the name “Nick Gage,” what visuals come to mind? Blood? Broken glass? Shattered light tubes? A room full of screaming fans? Good thing then that this past Saturday, the sixth annual Nick Gage Invitational tournament delivered on all expectations, and then some. On November 13, 2020, Game Changer Wrestling hosted the NGI6, an unforgiving deathmatch tournament that showcased some of the most ruthless, barbaric wrestlers the promotion has to offer.
“The world will watch as we burn it all down in his name,” the narrator says during the opening hype package. A red hue shines down on prison corridors as each tournament participant is briefly shown locked in a cell, morbidly foreshadowing the crimson-colored blood that is to be spilled over the next three hours. An audio track plays of the G.C.W. faithful chanting “Nick f**kin’ Gage!” continuously until the titular deathmatch legend’s face is shown, indicating that savagery will be done “in his name.”
Before the tournament starts, legions of bloodthirsty fans are already on their feet chanting “N.G.I.” as the ring crew fills the squared circle with weaponry, turning it into a battlefield.
1st Round
GCW Presents Nick Gage Invitational 6
Atticus Cogar vs. Rina Yamashita
A crescendo of “fuck Ohio” chants fill the Summit Park District as Atticus Cogar makes his way to the ring with a sinister grin. His opponent, however, Rina Yamashita, comes out to a standing ovation. The FantastICE Champion made her Game Changer Wrestling debut a night prior at G.C.W. Evil Deeds, where she defeated fellow female deathmatch wrestler Charli Evans in a match that arguably stole the show.
Once the bell rings, both Cogar and Yamashita begin exchanging forearms. The former is the first to grab a light tube from the corner of the ring, smashing it over his knee and carving Yamashita’s forehead with the jagged end. Once she retaliates, both participants cooperate to set up a bundle of light tubes in the centre of the ring. They take turns grabbing one and smashing it over the other’s head until Cogar breaks their unspoken unanimity by grabbing the rest and throwing them full-force into the face of Yamashita.
After both wrestlers kick out of further light tube offense, a frustrated Cogar pulls out his dreaded green skewers and impales two handfuls into both sides of Yamashita’s head. With her head still skewered, Cogar delivers a headlock driver and wins by pinfall. Cogar leaves the ring in quick fashion, leaving a bloodied, but smiling Yamashita in the ring as the fans in attendance chant her name.
Winner: Atticus Cogar
Kit Osbourne vs. ???
Fans in the Summit Park District are on their feet as Kit Osbourne returns to G.C.W. after a four-month absence due to a nasty leg injury in August. His mystery opponent is yet to be revealed, though, and each audience member’s eyes are directed towards the entranceway when his music cuts.
“The Violence Artist” Charli Evans walks through the curtain, and to say the fans are excited would be an understatement. Like Yamashita, Evans was already in high-regard to the G.C.W. faithful thanks to her deathmatch at the previous day’s Evil Deeds event. When Evans enters the ring, she and Osbourne begin sizing each other up, but they’re interrupted by some familiar dissonant guitar chords as the audience is now in a collective moshpit.
Shlak is back in G.C.W.! Shlak violently struts to the ring, and immediately begins overpowering Evans and Osbourne. The two smaller wrestlers briefly work together to overpower the “Human Meat Grinder,” yet their alliance is short-lived thanks to a light tube shot to the head courtesy of Osbourne. When Shlak recovers, he immediately begins to annihilate Evans and Osbourne, this time with the help of some weapons.
Gusset plates, light tubes, barbed wire… Just ordinary Shlak stuff! Charli is quickly able to tame the beast, throwing him from the top turnbuckle onto a bundle of steel chairs and light tubes at ringside. Her speed allows her to quickly roll Osbourne up into a small package in the middle of the ring, granting her the win.
Winner: Charli Evans
GCW Presents Nick Gage Invitational 6
Akira vs. Alex Colon
What do you get when you put a three-time Tournament of Survival winner in the ring with the “Death Samurai?” I’ll answer that for you. Pure, unadulterated violence. Both Colon and Akira enter the ring holding knives and among the bell ringing, immediately begin swinging at each other’s heads. Both men manage to do some chain wrestling while incorporating the knives into the sequences, causing the crowd to give them a standing ovation.
Outside the ring, Colon sits Akira down onto a fan’s chair as he instructs the nearby attendees to move out of the way. Colon runs around the perimeter, and delivers a weak clothesline to Akira, softly knocking him and the chair to the floor. The crowd jeers, yet unbeknownst to them, Colon wasn’t finished. The “three-peat” T.O.S. winner grabbed a light tube, got a further running start, and did the same…
Then again with two light tubes in hand… Three-peat! Back in the ring, plenty of knife and light tube action on Colon’s part is interrupted by some amazing technical wrestling on behalf of Akira. A poison-rana from the top rope, a muta lock, and a back suplex onto a knife-board shows to do little harm to Colon, however, as once he applies his camel-clutch to Akira, the Death Samurai falls unconscious.
The fans give both men a standing ovation for the story they told, and once Akira is alone in the ring, chants of “please come back” ring throughout the venue.
Winner: Alex Colon
Masashi Takeda vs. Eric Ryan
The last first-round eliminator match of the night starts off grim right from the entrances, as current G.C.W. Ultraviolent Champion Masashi Takeda walks through the curtain holding a pair of scissors, and 44OH’s Eric Ryan enters holding a fork. Both men take in the crowd’s adulations, before grabbing a bundle of light tubes and jumping on them back first, creating an explosion of fluorescent-bulb smoke and shattered glass on the canvas beneath their bodies.
The commentators geniusly refer to the masochistic act as “deathmatch training school.” Only a couple of minutes into this match, both men’s foreheads are already bleeding profusely thanks to toothed light tube ends, scissors, and a bundle of forks Ryan brought to the ring.
One particular moment that elicited a huge pop was a scissors-assisted S.T.F. courtesy of Takeda, in which the interlocking fingers in a standard S.T.F. were replaced with a pair of scissors’ blades. Takeda has the upper hand throughout the entire last quarter of the match, continuously blasting light tube bundles over Ryan’s face, yet Ryan keeps on kicking out.
Fans begin chanting “this is awesome” as both men begin hockey fighting in the middle of the ring. One more bundle to Ryan’s face, followed by a light tube-assisted right hand by Takeda, allowed the Ultraviolent Champion to pick up the win after a final pinfall attempt.
Winner: Masashi Takeda
Scramble
The only non-tournament exhibition match of the night saw a seven-way scramble match between some of G.C.W.’s best technical wrestlers and high flyers. None of the wrestlers were announced prior to the event, so fans were delighted to see independent and hardcore wrestling legend Spyder Nate Webb enter the ring first, to the sounds of Wheatus’s “Teenage Dirtbag.”
Following Webb was the incredibly athletic Ninja Mack, the small, yet ruthless Yoya, technical whiz Cole Radrick, high-flying luchador A.S.F., the amazingly strong Brayden Lee and the deceptively acrobatic Gringo Loco. All seven men are flipping around the ring at unreal speeds, so much so that the cameras have a hard time keeping up.
Each camera cut shows another spot, including Lee delivering a corkscrew moonsault to all seven men on the outside and A.S.F. landing a slingblade to Yoya, who is on the shoulders of Ninja Mack, who is on the shoulders of Gringo Loco. The match ends when Mack and Lee land stereo 630 splashes onto both Loco and A.S.F., followed by Mack pinning Lee after a sneaky sunset flip.
Winner: Ninja Mack
GCW Presents Nick Gage Invitational 6
Semifinals
Alex Colon vs. Charli Evans
The battle scars are beginning to show as both Charli and Colon make their way down the ramp with their skin and attire stained in blood from their previous matches. The match begins with a test of strength that is interrupted by Charli, who smashes a light tube into Colon’s back once he is defenseless.
Colon gets his payback soon after, using the broken end of the same light tube to carve up Charli’s arm, eventually making his way up to her head. At the corner of the ring, Colon picks up a bucket of thumbtacks and pours them onto a prone Charli, yet she manages to take him down before any damage could be done.
She does some damage with the thumbtacks, before delivering a swinging D.D.T. to Colon onto a steel chair, causing a large gash on the top of his head. Charli is ruthless in her offense, using a flurry of light tubes, yet once Colon recovers, he attempts to end it following a superplex through a pane of glass.
To his very evident shock, Charli kicks out immediately, causing the crowd to collectively lose their minds. A panicked Colon quickly smashes one more bundle over her head and places her in the camel clutch. Charli loses consciousness with her middle finger in the air, as the crowd loudly chants her name. The two performers hug and Charli’s former rival, Yamashita, helps her to the back.
Winner: Alex Colon
GCW Presents Nick Gage Invitational 6
Masashi Takeda vs. Atticus Cogar
It’s clear that despite Cogar being as detestable as ever, the crowd is very split from the beginning of this match. His sadism and tendency for violence resonates with deathmatch fans and his previous showing in this tournament is hard to jeer at. Despite this however, Cogar has replaced his grin with a scowl, and wastes no time drawing blood from the Ultraviolent Champion.
In a demonstration of his very clear cruelty, he cuts the head of Takeda and smashes him through a massive bundle of light tubes. When it comes time for Cogar to skewer Takeda, the Ultraviolent Champion begins dancing, demonstrating his liking for pain, even if it is delivered unto himself. After a gusset plate is jabbed into Cogar’s head, Eric Ryan and Eddy Only interfere to come to the aid of their 44OH brethren.
Jordan Oliver though, who has been feuding with 44OH for quite some time now, won’t let Cogar win this way and comes to assist Takeda. Takeda asks Oliver to bring something out from under the ring, as the “East Coast Ace” pulls out a comically-large bundle of light tubes. Masashi Takeda skewers the inside of Cogar’s cheek quickly before delivering a reverse D.D.T. onto the aforementioned bundle.
Takeda pins the Cogar for the three, and soon after puts his hand out in a show of respect. In typical Cogar fashion however, the “Silver Teeth Satan” gives the retaining champion the middle finger and makes his way to the back with the rest of 44OH.
Winner: Masashi Takeda
GCW Presents Nick Gage Invitational 6
Finals
Masashi Takeda vs. Alex Colon
As the cameras come back on from an intermission, both the inside and outside of the ring could be seen covered in light tubes, doors, chairs and ladders. This is the NGI6 finals, and this absolutely looks like the finals to a deathmatch tournament. It looks straight out of a horror movie. Both men rush to the ring, and immediately as the bell rings, they begin fighting.
There’s some back and forth with some strike attempts, yet Colon and Takeda soon realize their surroundings and use the light tubes to their advantage. Hammer throws and dropkicks to the ring ropes mean that both men are being smashed into light tubes continuously, as glass gradually covers the ring canvas.
Outside the ring, there is a bundle of light tubes being supported by two ladder legs, and Colon delivers an exploder suplex to Takeda through it. Not but two minutes later, Colon superplexes Takeda to the outside onto two doors suspended by four steel chairs and a glass pane, causing an explosion of shrapnel and debris to fly above both men.
At this point, both men’s heads are profusely bleeding and it looks as if every scar on Takeda’s back is opened back up. The ring crew rushes to bandage up Colon’s head, as blood is literally pooling into his eyes. Later and back in the ring, Colon delivers a Spanish fly through a bundle of light tubes, before tapping Takeda out to the camel clutch.
Winner of the Nick Gage Invitational 6, and new G.C.W. Ultraviolent Champion: Alex Colon
GCW Presents Nick Gage Invitational 6
After The Tournament
A bloodied and broken Colon takes a microphone as no audience member is sitting down. He tries to talk, yet his voice is drowned out by a deafening “you deserve it!” chant. When the crowd settles down, Colon cuts an impassioned promo thanking Takeda and the G.C.W. locker room for what they put their bodies through on a regular basis. He’s emotional as he communicates his love and his appreciation for deathmatch wrestling.
The crowd is just as emotional, and in the heat of the moment, he briefly calls out current G.C.W. World Champion, Jon Moxley, before putting the microphone down. The fans are on their feet, clapping and chanting at the prospect of Alex Colon vs. Jon Moxley in G.C.W.
All of a sudden, a man in a black hoodie and mask rushes into the ring with a light tube bundle in hand and smashes it over the back of a celebrating Alex Colon. The mysterious man removes his hood and mask, revealing himself to be I.W.A. Mid-South’s and I.C.W. No Holds Barred’s John Wayne Murdoch. The shocked Illinois crowd becomes unglued at the reveal, yet begins booing at the realization of their fallen Nick Gage Invitational winner. Fade to black.
Replays of GCW NGI6 are available on FITE TV.
*****
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