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WWE STARS COMPETE & MORE: 7/28 JOSH BARNETT'S BLOODSPORT REPORT FROM NYC

Live from the Roulette Intermedium in New York City (big weekend for wrestling in NYC with House of Glory "High Intensity" this past Friday) and on Triller.TV+, Game Changer Wrestling presented Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XI, his MMA-infused brand of pro wrestling, one of the most unique concepts in wrestling.

Bloodsport is clearly Switzerland out here with stars from TNA, WWE and AEW on the card. Some returning faces, some debuts.

The cards tend to be long (11 matches) but few matches even get close to 10 minutes so it goes by pretty fast.

I really like the roster walk out before the event.

Dan Barry, Emil Jay and Veda Scott on commentary with Jay and Scott alternating.

International star "The French Submissioner" Heddi Karaoui defeated Northeastern standout talent, Brian "Mecca" Johnson, locking in a hammerlock with his legs and a choke with his hands, forcing a submission.  Johnson was in full heel mode with is trash talk and even at the end, refusing to shake hands.  Decent opener.

"The King of the Cross Armbreaker" Matt Makowski returned (2-2 coming in) but fell to NXT star, Julius Creed.   It was a match up of a high level striker against a high level wrestler with ended ironically with Creed beating Makowski with a stiff sliding clothesline and forcing the referee to stop it with ground and pound.

TNA rivals meet again as TNA Knockouts World tag champion Masha Slamovich faced Jodi Threat, a former TNA KO tag champ.  These two were in the tag title match at TNA Slammiversary event on July 20 and had a singles match at the subsequent tv taping (which will air soon) so they are very familiar with each other in recent history.
Tough, physical fight here.  Slamovich got Threat with a German suplex, followed quickly by a running knee. Masha forced a stoppage with ground and pound.

"The Mile High Samurai" Royce Isaacs beat NXT competitor Charlie Dempsey.   The longest match to this point (9 and a half min) with a lot of excellent back and forth grappling and suplexes.
Isaacs used his superior power to drop Dempsey with a tight Saito Suplex and roll into a choke, which Dempsey was able to fight off.
Isaacs stayed on him, practically mauling him until he forced a submission to a Bulldog choke. Great finish.

TNA X Division champion "Speedball" Mike Bailey, a Bloodsport favorite, quickly dispatched Major League Wrestling star AKIRA in the shortest match of the event (a second under 3 min).  They started off hot with exchanging stiff strikes.  AKIRA got cut over his left eye and leaking pretty good.  A final striking exchange saw Bailey land a perfect left kick on "The Death Fighter's" chin for the KO victory.  Impressive bout.

AKIRA coming to and being furious the fight was stopped was the most realistic thing I've seen in pro wrestling in a while.  Run it back!!

Brutus Creed from NXT defeated former MLW World champion and former MMA fighter "Filthy" Tom Lawlor.  This was okay.  Props to Lawlor for clearly guiding the young powerhouse in this one where the smaller but far more experienced veteran took on a much young and bigger competitor.  Not in love with the finish.  Lawlor seemed to be in complete control but a powerbomb by Creed followed by a sliding clothesline was enough for the ref to jump in and half the contest, giving it to Creed by TKO.  Felt rushed.

Battle of NYC guys (and former members of two very successful versions of LAX) as the legendary Homicide faced TNA star and House of Glory champion Mike Santana.  This was had some good basic pro wrestling psychology thrown in with Homicide working as a grizzled, sneaky veteran doing anything to get a win, including a lot of fouls either out of the eyeline of the ref or forcing the ref to break it before he released.
Santana looked great but got trapped in a STF with the ref stopping the bout when Santana couldn't answer him.

After the match, Homicide went from still wanting to continue the fight to calming down and coming across almost disappointed, possibly at his own tactics. Interesting.

Bloodsport founder Josh Barnett defeated MLW National Openweight champion Bad Dude Tito.
This was mat wrestling heavy and played into the strengths of Barnett.  Tito looked good in bursts when he could display his power but Barnett's no slouch in that dept either.  A straight kick, followed by a spinning heel kick and Barnett finishes Tito with tight ground and pound.

He's catching his breath when MVP walks out, surprising everybody.  Great exchange as MVP challenges his old friend Barnett, who accepts. Not only does Barnett accepts, he invites MVP to bring along any friends he might have that want to participate. Well damn.

Josh Woods of the Premier Athletes in AEW battled Timothy Thatcher, the one person to defeat Barnett at a Bloodsport event, to double count out as both men were brawling on the floor and neither would allow the other back into the ring.  I enjoyed this a lot.  They were going at it like guys who had beef and laying it in on both sides.  Stiff and physical with a lot of tension.  Again, RUN IT BACK!

In the final match, "The Queen of Spades" Shayna Baszler from WWE was victorious over Miyu Yamashita by Technical Knock Out.  Strong main event with Yamashita matching Baszler with the grappling but having an edge with her kicks, which are beautiful.  I'm not sure I love the tombstone piledriver finish but I had already seen a Falcon's Arrow and a rolling cutter on this show so it's fine.

Good closing speech by Baszler putting over Barnett and Bloodsport.

I love this event. A lot of matches but there is a concerted effort to make the matches not all be the same which would be an easy trap to fall into.

The Real Uncle Dave grade: A (93 out of 100)





 

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