Wrestlemania week is not only a big week for those in the WWE, but independent wrestlers also get to show the world their skills. This year’s Wrestlemania was held in Las Vegas and there were independent wrestling events all over the city. There were so many great independent wrestling matches and shows that it is hard to just pick one wrestler to be the top star…so I picked a few.
A lot of us had our eyes on Vipress going into Mania Week. Vipress was an easy choice, because she not only had some of the most matches of anyone in Vegas, all of her matches were high quality. She had a match of the week candidate against El Desperado in the main event of GCW’s Gringo Loco’s The Wrld on Lucha in a Lucha Extrema Match. She also started the night out at Ladies Night Out in a fast paced match against AEW’s Lacey Lane.
In another hardcore match, Vipress defeated Charli Evans and Rina Yamashita at GCW’s MDK Fight Club. This was an extremely violent and exciting match that included doors, chairs, and more. While she may not have won the Grab The Brass Ring Ladder Match at Spring Break, she was surely a highlight, when herself and Shotzi Blackheart kissed on the top of a ladder and jumped from the top onto their opponents. She also had one of the best matches at Effy’s Big Gay Brunch and got a couple more kisses in the process. Her and her ex-partner Mercedes Martinez had an incredibly hard hitting match that saw Vipress come out on top. Then, after the match Cheerleader Melissa and Taya Valkyrie came out to each give her a kiss. After that, Vipress has an impressive showing at The Clusterfuck, being one of the final three combatants, along with Slade and the eventual winner Shotzi Blackheart.
Matt Tremont may have not had the amount of matches as Vipress, but each match that he was in was insane and he told a great story up through the final show of The Collective. It seemed like Matt Tremont was constantly coming after VNDL48 the whole week. He finally got his hands on Otis Cougar inside of a steel cage to kick off the Immortal Clusterfuck event. Once the BLK OUT and VNDL48 match got out of control at the PWU event, Tremont came out to run off the Vandals. This led into his match against Gangrel.
This was a short, but fun match that showed Tremont come away with the victory. His next match was a 3 way tag team match. It was a death match that included some of the best deathmatch wrestlers in the world. Tremont teamed up with Nick Gage to take on El Desperado & Jun Kasai and Rina Yamashita and Masashi Takeda. This match started out with light tubes all around the ring. There were gussets and scissors used against Tremont. This would not deter “The Bulldozer”, as he picked up Rina and threw her through glass onto her opponent. He then choke slammed El Desperado through a pane of glass and Nick Gage got the pin for their team.
Tremont may not have been part of the Grab The Brass Ring Ladder Match, but when we saw Christian Napier come out and attack Vipress, he had to run him off. This all led to Tremont putting his career on the line to regain the GCW Ultraviolent Championship. This match took place in a steel cage that had weapons everywhere. This match starts out fast and it does not take them long for each fighter gets bloody. Tremont hits Otis with a DVD through a barbed wire door, and ties Ottis up in the ropes, but that brings out Atticus Cogar and Christian Napier. Otis misses a dive off the cage. This lets Tremont turn the tables and tie up Atticus and Christian. Tremont hits a dive onto some tubes and Otis for the win. Tremont is now a two-time GCW Ultraviolent Champion.
Laynie Luck continued to stand on top of the women’s WWEID division and have great matches while doing it. She has been on an absolute tear since winning the WWEID Women’s Championship, and that continued during mania week. Laynie is someone that can wrestle any style and be entertaining while doing it. She can work a lucha style, a technical style or just throw fists with her opponent.
When she stepped in the ring with Charli Evans at St. Louis Anarchy, it was her time to throw fists. This was a hard hitting, back and forth match with CHEVS coming out on top.
Laynie then defended her WWEID title against Notorious Mimi in an incredible match. This may not have been Laynie’s flashiest match, but she looked determined and focused on keeping her title, while Mimi was doing everything she could to take it from her, including cutting a few corners. These two wrestlers have had a bit of a history. Mimi attacked Laynie after Mimi received her WWEID contract at Wrestling Open earlier this year. Toward the end of the match, Laynie and Mimi exchanged submissions, then Laynie hit Mimi with a DVD into the corner for the win.
Some other wrestlers that had very good weeks were 1 Called Manders, who defeated Paul Walter Hauser, won a great match against his tag team partner Thomas Shire and won the Grab The Brass Ring Ladder Match, which gives him an opportunity at the GCW World Championship anytime he wants.
Izzy Moreno had a very impressive week. She was involved in three triple threat matches. She only won one of them, but all three stole the show of the events they were on. I will always say that every Izzy Moreno match is a must see match.
Finally, Nick Gage made a triumphant return to GCW, as he teamed up with Matt Tremont in a crazy triple threat tag team match. The building exploded when Gage’s music hit at Joey Janela’s Spring Break, and Gage was announced as Megan Bayne’s surprise partner against Mance Warner and Steph De Lander. Gage looks to be in the best shape of his carrer, and the fans always go insane for him.
There were so many fun shows in Las Vegas that it was impossible to see them all. However, if you like wrestling, there was something for everyone.