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Wrestling Open RI “Opening Day”
3/31/25 - Cranston, RI
Building off the “Every Thursday Forever” energy they’ve built over three years, Wrestling Open has a second regular night and new venue to build a crowd at. Rhodes at the Pawtuxet is a FANCY venue. It reminds me of a taller version of the Blitzkrieg Pro venue in Enfield….or as someone put it “The White Eagle but with class”. Unlike Worcester, we’re a seated crowd on four sides. Rich Palladino is our announcer and let’s kick off with the first Monday night match!
Spotlight Match: Georgio Lawrence vs Brando Lee
What a good way to kick things off, with two of Open’s quickest rising stars! This also gives us an early taste of how this room FEELS. The floor shakes with every bump. Noise reverberates from these walls and high ceilings. It’s cool. Georgio showing off his kicking skills, landing so many thudding shots. Lee keeps the crowd behind him, finally hitting a rolling dvd and a top rope moonsault for the three! Good opener, crowd was pretty energetic as we kick this off.
Denver Colorado grabs the mic to let us know that we should keep our potty mouths in Worcester. The goal of Open RI is to be a family friendly show but the crowd needs to keep that rule too because they are aiming to have the show put on broadcast TV in the future.
Match 1: GAL (w/ Nick Batee) vs Ichiban
Gal and Batee have an intro that truly endears them to the Cranston crowd. Batee is carrying a megaphone so he can provide his own commentary and motivation for Gal. That said, Ichiban was Wrestling Open champion for a long time. He has the speed and moves to stay ahead of Gal…but maybe this motivation from Batee is really helping him stay focused and not preening so much. Wait no…I was wrong. He’s flexin. Gal tries the Pendulum chokeslam finish him off but gets rolled up for the three!!! Batee just showed off her with his skills on that megaphone, Good match but this was probably my biggest takeaway here.
Jermaine Marbury has business with Nick Batee so he hits the ring before Ichiban has cleared out.
Match 2: Jermaine Marbury (w/ Benny the Basketball) vs Nick Batee (w/ GAL)
Gal on the megaphone is way less interesting. What a dummy. Marbury is running the relative newcomer in Batee over until he gets plexed into the buckles. They must have had a decent walk up as I see they are starting to add a section of chairs nearby. Marbury with the ankle breaker juke, a cutter and a top rope splash get the three and leave the Gym Rats at 0-2 for the night! Gal says they will get the last laugh tonight. UH OH….
Match 3: Lucas Chase vs Pedro Dones
This was the first REAL test of the crowd’s ability to keep things “family friendly” and I think we passed. Chase may not be Steven Stetson but we have certain things with think, say and do when it comes the Ranch. It doesn’t feel right…but we’ll figure it out. Dones drawing on his connection with the crowd, the power of “WE”…but the weapon of the Stetson Ranch is just brutalizing him. STOP SAYING FOR THE RANCH, THE CROWD CAN’T HANDLE THE TEMPTATION! Dones rallies but Chase plows into him with a spear for the win. What a rough landing, hope everyone’s okay there. The Ranch continues to be a force, even without their top hog.
Match 4: $10,000 Championship Melt Women’s Gauntlet Match
First Round: Liviyah vs Notorious Mimi
Mimi nearly ends this quick and painlessly with a sweep and seatbelt pin. That’s the strategy right now…both of these ladies have a LONG journey if they hope to win the big cheese. Liviyah and Mimi trade several pin attempts. Mimi whiffs a spinning back kick and Liviyah rolls her up for the three. Mimi is shocked and isn’t feeling particularly sporting about taking this L.
Second Round: Liviyah vs Paris Van Dale
Paris with the sort of bravado she is known for. We start seeing some serious damage here as she hits an air raid crash and starts working over the back. Liviyah keeps kicking out, even popping out of Paris’ short ddt finish! Liviyah with a couple of dropkicks and a showstopper gets the three! Three more to go!
They play the music for the next competitor but no one comes out? Who is missing??? Was it Spike? What happened to Spike? Looks like they are moving to the next person in the rotation!
Third Round: Liviyah vs Little Mean Kathleen
We have a little comedy break as Liviyah and LMK yell at each other about how much they want this, while trying to slip in sneaky pins. They scramble quickly, LMK blocks the showstopper, Liviyah pushes off the bulldog and folds LMK in half with a spear for the win.
Final Round: Liviyah vs Tiara James
James gets in the ring and just goes on the attack. Liviyah is worn out after the last several minutes of competition and James is taking full advantage. It wouldn’t shock me if James had something to do with Spike’s absence earlier. It’s very one sided but just like earlier with Paris, Liviyah is kicking out of all of Tiara’s biggest shots. James gets caught taunting again, doing squats with Liviyah on her back. Liviyah slips it and hits another show stopper for the win and gets the $10,000 and a lifetime supply of grilled cheese! Liviyah makes sure to tip Rich Palladino as she leaves with her first of many trays of sandwiches.
It’s time for the IWTV Open Challenge! Who will give Marcus Mathers his 7th defense of the Independent Wrestling Championship? It’s…Georgio Lawrence? What a…NO WAIT ITS A TRAP ITS DJ POWERS.
Match 5: Marcus Mathers vs DJ Powers (w/ Georgio Lawrence)
Powers attacks Mathers from behind. It’s a smart tactic but he can’t sustain it and the champ sends him for SEVERAL rides across the ring. DJ resorts to using Ref Gina as a distraction so Lawrence can get a shot in from the outside. Powers unloads the clip but can’t get it done. Mathers scouts and dodges a second interference attempt from Lawrence. Lawrence tries one more time but he accidentally gets superkicked off the apron, letting Marcus hit the Bozo Buster for the win! This place has definitely filled in more as another section of chairs got added. Good match, loved the swerve with Lawrence but there was no way we were getting IWTV Champ DJ Powers. No way.
Match 6: Brett Ryan Gosselin vs Bobby Orlando
BRG might be from RI but he hates it here. Very endearing. Bobby tears him up with several chest rakes. BRG starches him with a superkick and hangman ddt. He’s very hateable, that BRG. Brett just stays on our mom, keeping the beatdown going. He’s enjoying making us sad. Bobby starts the comeback but BRG plants him with a swinging neckbreaker for two. Elbow drop whiffs! Bobby tries to capitalize but BRG rolls him up with a handful of shorts for the three. Booooo! As a vehicle to remind us what a slime BRG is, this match delivered in spades.
Post-match, we get word that someone was ejected for swearing. FCC rules matter here if this is intended for broadcast TV. Not much you can do. Someone near me starts in like they wanna shout the “ol’ d*** twist” but his gf talks him off that stupid idea. Good move.
Match 7: The Rude & Lawless Residency (RJ Rude & Rex Lawless) vs Waves & Curls (Traevon Jordan & Jaelyn Brandyn)
The Residency make a point of stealing W&C’s theme to sing it to the ring.…we hate this. That doesn’t stop the first standing crowd pop of the night when the real article blows through the curtain! The crowd connection that Jordan & Brandyn have is unmatched. The Residency get under their skin by singing their theme even more. Rex and RJ keep Jaelyn down for a long time but the hot tag to Jordan gets that bulldozer rolling. It comes down to the two big men of the tandems…but RJ is in position to hit a cutter on Jordan. Jaelyn makes the save, superkicks Rex and they hit the Wave Check to RJ to give them the win!
GAL and Nick Batee hit the ring and blindside Waves & Curls. The Residency clears out and lets the Gym Rats do their thing. They stand tall and get the last laugh on us, it seems. At least it wasn’t during the main. <phew> Sounds like Waves & Curls will be back to settle this unfinished business.
Main Event: Fancy Ryan Clancy(c) vs Brad Baylor (for the Wrestling Open Championship)
Clancy failed to relieve Baylor of the tag titles on Saturday…and in fact, got a clean pin on Clancy in that match. Will lightning strike twice? Baylor is noticeably WITHOUT Ricky Smokes at his side tonight. I’m sitting here thinking about WHAT A RIDE it has been for Clancy going from the first episode of Wrestling Open in Worcester three years ago to this inaugural episode in RI. Brad complaining about nonexistent hair pulling in the lockup. Ah, it’s gonna be THAT kinda match? Naturally, Brad is the one grabbing handfuls of hair. Clancy keeps in control early and frustrates Baylor in taking a long walk into the crowd. Baylor walked in very confident but Clancy is in another gear tonight. Baylor finally shotguns Clancy into the buckles and the swagger comes back. Hard slaps and reminders that Baylor is SUPERSTAR material. Clancy with the KO dropkick but Baylor has it scouted…but he hasn’t landed the kill shot yet. We get a cool like BOO/YAY spot with them switching holds. Clancy with a bridging butterfly suplex for two! Baylor on the apron, Clancy connects with the KO dropkick which sends him crashing to the floor! Clancy bring him back into the ring cause he doesn’t want a count out win. Baylor reverses a superplex and hits the swinging corkscrew slam that got him the three in Foxboro! They both almost get counted down but Clancy makes the kickout when Baylor finally rolls into the cover! Both guys swinging for the fences as we hit the 15 minute mark. Clancy goes for the side Russian but Baylor grabs the ropes and sneaks a low blow in. Another corkscrew slam…Clancy barely kicks out! Baylor is furious and tries to put Clancy to sleep. Clancy fights off but Baylor really wants the sleeper. Clancy shoves Baylor off the ropes and the KO Dropkick hits the mark! Baylor is down and Clancy gets the win! Awesome match. Both guys killed it here in Open RI’s first main event.
Sweet Victory! BRG is back out there. He congratulates him for beating a tag team champion and a WWEID talent. But he hasn’t beaten BRG, the true “king of Rhode Island”. And Brett wants the Wrestling Open title. Clancy says it may not be next week but….CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Gosselin agrees that they shouldn’t fight for the title next week but maybe they can have a little warmup tag match.
Hell of a first show. Looked to be a couple hundred in the crowd by the time the show was in full swing, definitely a step up from the 58 of the original Worcester Open three years ago. The venue is SWEET, classy as hell. I also like the fact that the doors were open to the Bar/Lobby almost two hours before bell time, allowing people to grab food from the Championship Melt truck. The other thing I noticed was just how big this venue COULD be. If you see the room on camera, they could easily fit another couple hundred in chairs. But the both side walls open and it seems like you COULD get over 1000 people in there if the right show called for it. Going forward, I’m very curious how the Rhode Island Blue Brand will interact with the OG Worcester Green. Are the champs committed to working both shows? Will story lines cross brand boundaries? TBD, I suppose. But for a first look at the possibilities Cranston offers, this was a cool experience.
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