Fourthy's Indie Match Recommendations for 2023

[Marty McFourth]

January
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Gringo Loco - GCW Don't Talk To Me

Feburary
Jordan Oliver vs. Alex Shelley - GCW/JCW Jersey J-Cup 2023 Session 1
Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham - GCW/JCW Jersey J-Cup 2023 Session 1
Jordan Oliver vs. Joey Janela - GCW/JCW Jersey J-Cup 2023 Session 2
Jordan Oliver vs. Mike Bailey - GCW/JCW Jersey J-Cup 2023 Session 2
Blake Christian vs. Willie Mack - GCW Middle Of The Night
The Rascalz (Myron Reed, Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz) vs. The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders, Mance Warner & Matthew Justice) - REVOLVER A Night At The MOXbury

March
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Alex Zayne - GCW Holy Smokes
Mike Bailey vs. Gringo Loco - IWS Vs. GCW UnFnSanctioned
Masha Slamovich vs. Nick Gage - GCW Eye For An Eye
Masha Slamovich vs. Mike Bailey - GCW Worst Behavior 2023
Kota Ibushi vs. Mike Bailey - GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 9
Timothy Thatcher vs. Josh Barnett - GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 9
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Mike Bailey - GCW Joey Janela's Spring Break 7
Kota Ibushi vs. Joey Janela - GCW Joey Janela's Spring Break 7
The East West Express (Jordan Oliver & Nick Wayne) vs. Moonlight Express (MAO & Mike Bailey) - GCW vs. DDT
Timothy Thatcher vs. Robert Martyr - Prestige Nervous Breakdown

April
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Laredo Kid - GCW Gringo Loco's The Wrld On Lucha 2023
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander - GCW Into The Light
Blake Christian vs. Alex Zayne - GCW Scene Of The Crime
Jacob Fatu vs. Willie Mack - HOG Final Hour

May
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tony Deppen - GCW Fight Night: Brooklyn
Zack Sabre Jr vs. Jordan Oliver - GCW Lifestyle
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Gringo Loco vs. Komander - GCW Lifestyle

June
Toru Sugiura vs. Joey Janela vs. Tomoya Hirata -GCW Tournament Of Survival 8
El Desperado vs. Joey Janela - GCW Cage Of Survival 2
Masha Slamovich vs. Rina Yamashita - GCW Cage Of Survival 2
Blake Christian vs. Gringo Loco - GCW Ride Or Die
Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Blackwood - Prestige Black Sunshine

July
MAO vs. Mike Bailey - JCW Big Ass Extreme Birthday Bash
Joey Janela vs. Billie Starkz - JCW Big Ass Extreme Birthday Bash
Maki Itoh vs. Billie Starkz - GCW Now And Forever
Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bailey - REVOLVER Cage Of Horrors 2

August
Masashi Takeda vs. Masha Slamovich - GCW Planet Death 2023
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Gringo Loco - REVOLVER Heat Em Up

September:
Rina Yamashita vs. Mike Bailey - GCW Crushed Up 2023
Blake Christian vs. Leon Slater - GCW In Liverpool 2023

October
Team GCW (Ciclope, John Wayne Murdoch, Miedo Extremo, Nick Gage & Rina Yamashita) vs.Team FREEDOMS (Jun Kasai, Masashi Takeda, Takashi Sasaki, Toru Sugiura & Violento Jack) - GCW Fight Club 2023 - The Art Of War Games
Jordan Oliver vs. Tracy Williams - JCW Pumpkin Spiced
Masashi Takeda vs. Mance Warner - GCW Fight Club 2023
Rina Yamashita vs. Takayuki Ueki - GCW To Live And DIE In Tokyo
El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Gringo Loco - GCW The Wrld On GCW 2023
Jun Kasai vs. Joey Janela - GCW The Wrld On GCW 2023
Rina Yamashita vs. Masha Slamovich - GCW The Wrld On GCW 2023
Arez & Gringo Loco vs. Aramis & Rey Horus - GCW Blood On The Hills 2
Billie Starkz vs. Marina Shafir - REVOLVER Women's Grand Prix

November
Masha Slamovich vs. Joey Janela - GCW Please, Buddy
Mike Bailey vs. Billie Starkz - JCW The Quick And The Dead
Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher - West Coast Pro Whiplash

December
Masha Slamovich & Rina Yamashita vs. Miracle Generation (Dustin Waller & Kylon King) - GCW C'mon Dude
Blake Christian vs. Alec Price - GCW C'mon Dude
Maki Itoh vs. Mike Bailey - GCW What Is Your Choice?
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Mike Bailey - REVOLVER Season Finale 2023
Matt Makowski vs. Calvin Tankman - BLP Slamilton 2023
Bang And Matthews (August Matthews & Davey Bang) vs. Violence Is Forever - BLP Slamilton 2023
Bryan Keith vs. Masaaki Mochizuki - West Coast Pro MONSTER
Chris Hero & KENTA defeat Kevin Blackwood & Titus Alexander - West Coast Pro MONSTER
Satoshi Kojima vs. Tom Lawlor - MLW/WTF One-Shot 2023
Emi Sakura vs. Hyan - DREAMWAVE Uprising
Rebecca J Scott vs. Heather Reckless - DREAMWAVE Uprising

 

[Marty McFourth]

Just a note to say this list is heavily GCW, Revolver and JCW based as those are the main indies I watch consistently.

 

[Alexa]

Yeah, this list is close to what I would have

 

[Marty McFourth]

To those who don't have Fite or other services but would like to watch some of these matches, I have compiled a list below of some available on YouTube.

Arguably two of the best matches of the year are in this list. Both of Roderick's Strong matches.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Josh Barnett - GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 9


El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Mike Bailey - GCW Joey Janela's Spring Break 7


Kota Ibushi vs. Joey Janela - GCW Joey Janela's Spring Break 7


El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Gringo Loco vs. Komander - GCW Lifestyle


Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Blackwood - Prestige Black Sunshine


MAO vs. Mike Bailey - JCW Big Ass Extreme Birthday Bash
Joey Janela vs. Billie Starkz - JCW Big Ass Extreme Birthday Bash


Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bailey - REVOLVER Cage Of Horrors 2


Jordan Oliver vs. Tracy Williams - JCW Pumpkin Spiced


Mike Bailey vs. Billie Starkz - JCW The Quick And The Dead


Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher - West Coast Pro Whiplash

 

[TOP GUY TIME]

Just because Fourthy forgot, I'd recommend Griffin McCoy vs Jordan Oliver from Dog Days as a match to watch

 

[Marty McFourth]

Added in December matches so far, also whilst I'm doing that I thought I'd think back through this year and try to whittle down my Top 5 shows/performers.

Shows:
1. GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 9 - Whilst there has been better Bloodsport events, I thought this was one was made really special by Kota Ibushi returning to the ring at this event. Thatcher vs. Barnett in the main event was excellent.

2. West Coast Pro Whiplash - An excellent show from top to bottom. All of the matches were great and it remained incredibly consistent throughout the whole show. Hero vs. Thatcher was an awesome technical bout that took me back to some of the older indie matches I've seen.

3. GCW Cage Of Survival 2 - A great Deathmatch show and I loved seeing El Desperado work such a violent match with Janela. The main event was very good as Masha and Rina have incredible chemistry. The way they had Blake cash in for the World Title was pretty genius.

4. REVOLVER Women's Grand Prix - A perfect all women's event to me and I really liked how it was structured. The main event was really good on this show, Marina Shafir I think had her best showing so far and they really gave Billie Starkz such a star making performance here.

5. JCW Big Ass Extreme Birthday Bash - I could put a few shows in this spot but I'm recommending this one in particular because it was free and I think it's insane we got such a caliber show on such a lowkey promotion, and likely a lot of people haven't seen these matches. It was an amazing event and you got some awesome Japanese talent such as MAO, Kushida and Utami Hayashishita.

Performers:
1. Mike Bailey - Not a surprise here I'd imagine. He's consistently delivered some of the best matches of the year in the Indies and beyond.
2. Masha Slamvoich - She's such a joy to watch with her hard hitting style and her matches with Rina Yamashita in particular are amazing.
3. Jordan Oliver - An absolute workhorse for GCW/JCW and his Jersey J-Cup performance I'd recommend to everybody.
4. Maki Itoh - She has become such a staple of GCW and her whole Maki Death Kill transformation and teaming with Nick Gage has been so genius.
5. Joey Janela - I think Joey deserves a mention. I think he has really grown as a performer and he's always really reliable hand in GCW especially.

 

[Alexa]

4. Maki Itoh - She has become such a staple of GCW and her whole Maki Death Kill transformation and teaming with Nick Gage has been so genius.

She is also the cutest in the world, dont forget that

 

[Marty McFourth]

She is also the cutest in the world, dont forget that

I could never

 

[Alexa]

I could never

I love Nyla in the back