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Welcome to my official blog for the 2023 Wrestlecon Mark Hitchcock Supershow! We will have a traditional play by play report, but since I'm here, I'm blogging from the stage on the Globe Theater. This was a show I wanted to see for fun, so don't expect a crazy long or deep blog. I'm just writing to keep myself company as I watch!
As noted, We are live inside the Globe Theater in Los Angeles!
Tonight's show is streaming live at Highspots.TV!
Your ring announcer is Bobby Cruise.
The announcers are Veda Scott and Ian Riccaboni.
The legendary George Napolitano is shooting photos at ringside.
Mick Foley came to the ring. The crowd chanted for him. He said it was great to be part of the greatest week of the year, Wrestlemania week. He said that every year, Wrestlecon likes to honor the late Mark Hitchcock. They played a video in his honor. Foley asked everyone to enjoy the evening and the weekend and said, “May all your days be nice.”
The opening bout is Blake Christian vs. Michael Oku. They had some really nice back and forth wrestling early on that the crowd appreciated. They battled back and forth until Christian speared Oku outside on the apron. Christian was in control but Oku kept kicking up. Oku, who is a hell of a talent, hit a big bodypress off the top. Since this time last year, Oku's ability to play off the crowd and interact with them has improved. Christian returned fire with some nice leaping kicks and nailed a catapult into the corner. Christian has gotten much more verbose in the ring as well. Lots of really big dives. They battled back to the apron and fired back and forth on the other. Oku was hit with a scary looking Dragon suplex on the apron. He then nailed ANOTHER. Christian hit a swinging slam off the ropes then nailed a beautiful 450 splash for the pin. Very fun opener. They shook hands and raised each others' arms after Oku recovered.
Our next bout is Tom Lawlor & mystery guest vs. KENTA & Bryan Keith. Keith is a Texas star who has really started to break out over the last few months. Locally, he's considered one of the best from the Lone Star State right now. The mystery guest was Christopher Daniels, replacing an injured Josh Alexander. They brought out Ken Shamrock as a guest enforcer. Crowd saw this as a big surprise. Keith and Daniels started. Some nice back and forth action. Lawlor tagged in and blasted Keith with a big forearm. Lawlor began tossing him around and said it was a tribute to Dan Severn, the true Beast, a funny shot at Shamrock. KENTA finally tagged in but Lawlor tagged out to Daniels to avoid him. The crowd chanted, "Strategy." Daniels and Lawlor took turns working over Keith. Lawlor worked over Keith's arm, trying to wear him down for submissions and slammed him. Daniels accidentally struck his own partner, setting up Keith finally get the hot tag to KENTA. KENTA unloaded on Daniels with kicks. It built to Lawlor and KENTA fighting back and forth. KENTA nailed a hanging DDT off the ropes. KENTA hit a big running dropkick in the corner. Fans chanted for the GTS but Daniels intervened. This turned the tide as Lawlor worked over KENTA with some hard throws and slams. KENTA came back with a submission but Daniels hit the referee and dumped him. KENTA was tossed, leaving Keith to fight Daniels and Lawlor two to one. They overwhelmed him but Shamrock got into the ring and refused to count. Daniels mouthed off to him, so Shamrock slugged him. Lawlor confronted Shamrock. KENTA rolled him up and scored the pin. Shamrock snapped Lawlor and put him in an anklelock after, which the crowd loved.
Next up was Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas! A fun reprisal of their classic feud. Chris Jericho sent in a video message thanking them for all they did. Lots of really fun matwork and old school lucha storytelling here. Casas was going to the top and Dragon dropkicked him from behind and he took a bump from the top to the floor. That was nuts given his age. Dragon went to the floor and kicked him but Casas popped him hard. They battled to the top, where Dragon nailed a superplex. Ultimo cinched in a Dragon Sleeper and Casas submitted. Fun, fun, fun stuff if you knew their history. This was BEYOND cool to see.
Next up is a Lucha Trios bout with Rey Horus & Aramis & Galeno Del Mar vs. Latigo & Arez & Toxin. This was just an awesome lucha bout with lots of the hallmarks of why that style rules when done right. Galeno Del Mar was a damn beast in this, using his might to beat the crap out of Latigo's crew. There were some damn awesome dives and I thought Aramis and Horus were going to crash into the balcony they were so high. This was just pure fun and just an example of everything just hitting right in the right environment on the right night. FUN. Galeno's team won and I was breathless after watching this. Just a tremendous, tremendous trios match!
They followed this up with the Tokyo Joshi Pro ten woman tag team bout, which was absolutely tremendous to the point that I am going to regret not going to their show tomorrow here in Los Angeles. I wish I was more intimately familiar with them but the entire crew here put on a FUN spectacle, to the point I forgot to type and just watched. I can't remember the last time that happened! Just go order the show at Highspots.tv.
By the way, the same referee officiated the Lucha six man and the Tokyo Joshi Pro ten woman tag and was just FN tremendous as a referee with her reactions and timing. Great work.
Mike Bailey vs. Shigehiro Irie is next. Massive pop for Bailey coming out to The Beastie Boys' Brass Monkey. Bailey had some cool offense early but Irie wiped him out with a hard forearm and began enforcing his will, beating him. Bailey kicked off a charge and hit a nice missile dropkick off the ropes. Bailey nailed a nice moonsault off the top to the floor. The crowd was loving him. Irie smashed Bailey to the floor off the apron and then killed him with a big cannonball. Speedball fought back with some really great fire using the karate kicks and strikes. This was just a physical war. Irie was a monster and caught him with a series of elbows to the neck, leading to a referee stoppage. Great stuff.
Aussie Open & Jeff Cobb vs. Time Machine is next. KUSHIDA controlled the ring early and we got a lot of the Machine Guns' tag team tandem offense. Crowd was loving screaming for Aussie Open. Cobb tagged in and just manhandled the hell out of Sabin. The crowd chanted for him. The United Empire isolated Shelley and worked him ovr for a long time. This is a really damn good six man tag. Shelley and Kyle Fletcher had a great exchange battling with strikes and forearms. Cobb, Mark David and Fletcher destroyed Shelley with a series of hard hitting moves but he kept kicking up. They went into a dive sequence. Sabin nearly took out an entire section of the floor with a dive on Cobb. The crowd chanted "This is awesome" and they are right. United Empire scored the pin on Sabin. Kyle and Shelley had words after. Aussie Open have really evolved into a HELL of a team.
Main Event time! AAA Mega Champion Hijo del Vikingo vs. Taurus vs. Komander! I expect all headlocks. Just kidding. Everyone went to shake hands but Taurus was like the hell with that and disrespected them. He tossed Komander into the crowd from a pres slam onto Vikingo and then hit a crazy dive on them. Back in the ring, he controlled them, chokeslamming Vikingo onto Komander. They fjnally had enough and took Taurus down and then hit stereo dives on him on the floor. They then walked the ropes at the same time and hit stereo moonsaults off the middle of the top rope onto Taurus.
With Taurus out of the way for now, Vikingo and Komander went nuts with all sorts of crazy spots until Taurus returned to the fray. Vikingo did his crazy inverted flip into a rana. Komander did some insane springboard spots leading to a big Canadian Destroyer. He then hit a backbreaker that was insane, spinning Vikingo in mid-air before crashing him down across his knees. Komander did the rope walk and dove into the crowd on Taurus. Vikingo then hit an insane twisting dive to the floor off the ropes. The fun continued with all sorts of near falls and spot, more than I can ever convey typing in real time. The crowd chanted, "This is awesome." They went into an absolutely batshit crazy sequence that ended with everyone down and the ringside fans charging the ring to bang on the canvas.
Vikingo hit an insane flipping dive from the ropes to the outside, taking out both competitors. He then hit a big dive on Komander. He wiped out Taurus witn a spinnng splash and scored the pin. A GREAT MATCH.
There's a reason why I wanted to come to this show. It's literally a bunch of matches that are fun with no politics or concerns about the future booked to be FUN. It's a self-contained world for the night with all sorts of talents from all over the world. WHAT A SHOW.
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