Green Mountain Wrestling presents The Beginning
Date: 5/7/2023
From: Barre, VT
MATCH #1: RYAN MOONEY VS. SIGMA
FINISH: Sigma picks up the win following a northern lights bomb. After the match, Sigma cuts a post-match promo. Sigma says he’s hungry for championships. Sigma says this is just the appetizer and he has his sights on the heavyweight championship.
Bob’s Take: Kind of a funny moment where there was a delayed ring bell to officially start the return to GMW. Quickly into the match it’s clear that Mooney has charisma. There’s a little bit o comedy early on, which doesn’t overwhelm the bout by any means. Mooney makes it obvious he’s the heel of the match by biting Sigma at one point. The action picks up about ten minutes or so into the match once Mooney embraces his heel antics fully. The crowd popped for Sigma returning the biting to Mooney. Sigma had good fire on his comeback hitting a handspring elbow in the corner as the crowd rallied behind him. The second half of the match was quite good. Did the match need to go around 20 minutes? Probably not, but the crowd remained hot for the action and it was a fun opener.
Match Rating: ***1/4
MATCH #2: SHANNON LEVANGIE VS. ELLE VALENTINE
FINISH: Valentine pins Levangie following a fisherman suplex. After the match, Elle Valentine cuts a promo introducing herself and says Green Mountain Wrestling has become her new territory.
Bob’s Take: Elle Valentine may be the most relatable wrestler for me because she’s apparently obsessed with energy drinks, and that’s literally me and Sugar Free Red Bull (not an ad). Elle started off strong with fast pace offense including a cannonball splash in the corner. These two provide some good hard hitting action and don’t waste the time they are given. Shannon is less than two years into her career and since become a regular for Beyond Wrestling. Elle leans into her energy drink obsession and takes a sip before getting into her comeback against Shannon. It’s a quality women’s match and far exceeded my expectation.
Match Rating: ***
MATCH #3: GABRIEL SKYE VS. ABED ARRONIZ VS. JOE KRULE
FINISH: Skye pins Arroniz following a top rope double stomp.
Bob’s Take: Alright, I’m only familiar with Skye and that’s only because I recently watched a match he was involved in for Remarkable Wrestling. Abed Arroniz is easily dislikable just based off his entrance as he’s loud and obnoxious. Skye has a superstar look and if someone were to tell me that Skye was on national TV leading into this event I’d totally believe it. Krule and Arroniz work as a tag team for Remarkable Wrestling and end up working together to beat on Skye. At one point, Skye dove off the stage and over the front row of the audience to take out Arroniz and Krule on the floor. Krule ends up turning on Arroniz, but that’s likely because it’s every man for themselves. The crowd voiced their appreciation with the match by chanting “this is awesome.” This was a great three way dance and I enjoyed all three men. However, I think Skye looked fantastic and came across as if he’d be a major building block for Green Mountain Wrestling.
Match Rating: ***1/2
MATCH #4: SCRAP IRON VS. BA TATUM
FINISH: Tatum picks up the win following a Rock Bottom. After the match, Tatum wants all the tough guys in Green Mountain Wrestling. Tatum wants a piece of Sigma and says he has a midnight snack for him.
Bob’s Take: Scrap Iron looked a bit concerned heading into the match with BA Tatum, who looks to be an absolute badass and is known as “The Last Street Fighter.” For some reason, this match appears to have been clipped or edited and isn’t presented fully. It seems as if they may be far more inexperienced than the other wrestlers that have been showcased. That’s not to say they are bad at professional wrestling, but rather they are rough around the edges so to speak. Tatum looked better of the two and the crowd enjoyed his powerhouse offense. Tatum may be better suited as being the muscle for another act long-term. Regardless, this wasn’t a horrible match by any means.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #5: CC BOOST VS. SAMUEL RADCLIFFE
FINISH: Late in the match, the referee takes the wrench away from Boost and that allows Boost to low blow Radcliffe and wins with a rollup.
Bob’s Take: CC Boost is a bit of an odd character as he’s a masked wrestler and gives off the vibe of being a convict or something along those lines. Boost does remove the mask and has white face paint with darkened eyes. It’s almost like he’s an emo character? Meanwhile, Radcliffe has a gimmick of a ring mechanic. This seems a bit goofy and I’m not sure the crowd knows how to react to this after witnessing some great action earlier in the show. Radcliffe actually ‘repairs’ the ring during the match at one point because he didn’t like the ropes. They wrestle under the ring and apparently Boost hit Radcliffe with his oversized wrench. There was some good psychology in the match with Radcliffe learning from his mistakes. Boost hits a Coast to Coast during the match, which is impressive. I feel like the action isn’t too bad here, but I also couldn’t connect to it because I wasn’t vibing with the characters. Match Rating: **1/4
MATCH #6: PRESTON DOUGLAS VS. BRODY JACKSON — OPEN CHALLENGE
NOTE: This is an open challenge made by Preston Douglas. BA Tatum comes out and confronts Douglas saying that he just talked about open challenges. Tatum suggests wrestling him tonight. Douglas backs off and says the referee accepted the challenge. The referee, Brody Jackson, had no idea that he had accepted the challenge. Douglas avoiding Tatum is good business.
FINISH: Douglas pins Jackson following a middle rope frog splash.
Bob’s Take: The commentator noted that none of the local businesses wanted to sponsor the match because of Preston Douglas, which is a good bit. It is noted that Brody is a wrestler in other promotions in Vermont, which I think I would have avoided saying to add some shock value to this match. Brody played his role as the underdog well. Douglas is someone that I can see being a very good heel for GMW. A couple spots towards the end fell a bit flat. I think they need to build Douglas up to get a ton of heat before one of the faces gets the big moment to beat him.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #7: THE ULTIMATE POWERS (JOBZ & MULLET MAN) VS. THE COLLECTIVE (DEVIN JUSTICE & RYLIE O’NEIL)
FINISH: Mullet Man pins O’Neil while Jobz does an airplane spin on Justice.
Bob’s Take: Mullet Man comes across as if he could be a cult favorite in Green Mountain Wrestling. Ultimate Powers came across as if they’re mostly a local tag team and don’t have a ton of experience. The Collective came across as a solid heel team. Mullet Man is beaten down for an extended period of time. There was a good spot where Jobz was yanked off the apron and it was timed perfectly to prevent the tag. There appeared to be a close call on a pin attempt on Jobz at one point. It’s a mostly basic tag match.
Match Rating: *1/2
MATCH #8: ARMANI KAYOS VS. OWEN BRODY
FINISH: Brody wins following a top rope elbow drop.
Bob’s Take: Owen Brody tries to be funny, but the crowd is clearly not into him. Armani Kayos is a flamboyant character. Kayos has a ton of charisma and keeps the crowd engaged throughout the match. It seems as if by the end of the match that Brody won over the crowd, which isn’t something I was expecting to see happen. I liked Kayos a bit more and enjoyed his offense. It’s a fine undercard match, but not memorable.
Match Rating: **1/2
MAIN EVENT: THE COLONY (ELECTRO ANT & ULTIMO ANT) VS. THE COLD HARD GUAPOS (DIEGO ALVAREZ & JOHNNY PIERCE)
FINISH: Colony hit a double crossbody off the top onto Pierce and win the match. After the match, the Colony cut a promo about being the best team in Vermont.
Bob’s Take: The Colony were a popular team in CHIKARA and I’m not sure if I’ve heard of them in many years. The Colony isn’t a tag team that I’m overly aware of, nor a fan of, really. It’s a style of gimmick that never really connected with me and thus I was never a CHIKARA viewer. The first half of the match is kind slow, but did include a dive by the Colony to the floor and some comedy spots at the Guapos expense. They do a decent heat segment on the Colony not being able to get a hot tag. The crowd pops well for when Electro gets the hot tag eventually. The finish didn’t feel right and almost felt like the match was suppose to continue as the referee kind of short armed the pin, but nobody kicked out nor broke it up. Considering the earlier matches, I thought this was a letdown of a main event.
Match Rating: **1/4
Final Thoughts:
The show started off with a strong first three matches and I was thinking that Green Mountain Wrestling could be a top tier independent company in-ring wise. In-ring quality dipped a bit following the first few matches, but it’s not a bad wrestling show. It went from a clear thumbs up show to a slight thumbs up. I’d watch the first three matches for sure, though.
Thanks for reading.