A Perfect Spot From... a Backyard Wrestling (Tribute) Show?

Tony Deppen throws a nice chair Screenshot via GCW YouTube

Backyard wrestling has a checkered reputation, but overall, I think it's something to celebrate. There's something charming about kids who defiantly "try this at home" and in the process learn how to wrestle in the most DIY way possible, eschewing paying thousands of dollars to go to wrestling school in the process. Many current wrestlers today have backyard histories, like Fred Yehi for example. Backyard wrestling is a phenomenon that uniquely shaped wrestling in the last 25 years for better or worse. I'd probably say it's for the better, but that's just me. Game Changer Wrestling also seems to think it bettered the wrestling world, because they ran a show in tribute of backyard wrestling on July 4.

The show had all the trappings of a backyard wrestling extravaganza, including a ring set up in someone's backyard (obviously), current wrestlers doing shitty backyard gimmicks, and "pyro" that amounted to guys shooting off Roman candles, in one case, shooting one accidentally at himself instead of in the ring. It wasn't perfect, although I'd chalk that imperfection up more to the fact that GCW can't stop booking SHLAK. Seriously, even if you buy that he isn't a Nazi anymore, the dude wrote and hasn't apologized for writing a song that calls rape "surprise sex." No one should book him. At all. Even if the goal is just to shoot fireworks at him, but he'd probably like that too much.

Not everything at this show was bad, and I'd venture to say that it was mostly a refreshing and vital show in the wrestling parlance. That's at least the word from people who watched it. I could only follow along with .gifs but one of those moving pictures was so stunning that I have to share and comment on it. Alex Zayne, an up-and-coming dude from the Mid-South/Ohio Valley area got the invite to the show to wrestle Tony Deppen, who GCW and Chikara faithful know incredibly well. Check this spot out from when Zayne tried to do a long-distance shooting star press:

HOLY FUCK!!!!! @Tony_Deppen HITS ZAYNE IN MID AIR WITH A CHAIR!!! #GCWBACKYARD#GCW@GCWrestling_https://t.co/hW3vzscrhKpic.twitter.com/VbjhFk5Z4u

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) July 4, 2019

Allow me to break it down. First, the spot's conceit is a backyard staple, doing a high spot from an elevated surface that's not the top turnbuckle. It looks like he jumped from the roof of either a shed or the production trailer. Either way, that's ten points for authenticity. Second, that is a form-perfect shooting star press. Like, it doesn't get any better than that, just beauty in rotation. Third, that chair throw is not only perfectly timed, but it went right into his shoulder. Granted, you're not going to pull off a spot like that in a perfectly "safe" manner; no spot in wrestling is perfectly "safe." But if you're gonna rocket a steel chair into your opponent, you're better off going for the shoulder and not the head. And the chair was thrown with such velocity too. Finally, what is a notable backyard wrestling spot that doesn't have a hint of danger? Zayne almost went headlong into a cinder block. Thankfully, he did not, but man that added hint of danger was the cherry on top of the sundae.

Spots like this are what make backyard wrestling not only fun but vital to the lifeblood of wrestling. It gets a bad reputation, but honestly, where would wrestling, deathmatch, indie, or otherwise, be today without kids indulging their love of the sport/art firsthand and not just through watching or playing video games? I'm glad GCW paid tribute to the backyard ring, because honestly, that promotion in general would not be what it is today without backyard wrestling.