D6W Glorious Redemption Review

Taking a look at D6W’s Glorious Redemption from December 8th, 2018 in Barstow, CA. Featuring awful wrestling and child endangerment.

Before I start I want everyone to remember or know that D6W General Manager said that “law will be in order” when he took power and that there would be no more interference in matches.

American Oni w/ Pris vs. Frankie Frank (Osiris Mittens)

Frankie Frank is doing a swing music enthusiast gimmick. It got no reaction from the crowd. Pris doesn’t know how to work as a valet. She was cornering Oni, who was the babyface and spent the entire match yelling and complaining. She did nothing to get the crowd to back Oni. At one point as Oni was in control, Frankie Frank begged him to shake his hand in an effort to prevent Oni from hurting him. Oni shook Frankie Frank’s hand after helping him up. This would lead to Frankie making Oni to slap himself with his own hand. The crowd started to care less about Oni after this. It’s never good to have your babyface seem like an idiot, and it always kills the crowd’s interest in them.

The in-ring work in this match was bad. American Oni has always been pretty awful, so this was no surprise. Frankie’s heat segments had no heat. There was also no reaction for Oni’s comeback. During the finishing stretch of the match, Pris got on the ring apron and kept yelling. The referee couldn’t be bothered to remove her. She ended up distracting Frankie Frank by yelling a bunch of nonsensical shit. Oni tried to take advantage of this but almost ran into Pris after Frankie Frank moved. The referee finally decided to take action on Pris, resulting in Frankie Frank hitting a low blow as the referee was distracted. Frankie got the win with a schoolboy. After the match, Pris got in the ring and slapped Frankie Frank. Then she yelled more.

This was mind-boggling on so many levels. I’ve written way too fucking much about this match. It didn’t even go ten minutes! There was so much stupid shit in this match. Pris is awful and doesn’t know how to work. Oni is also still awful inside the ring. So much for Bill Chew making sure D6W law would be in order.

Biggie Biggz vs. B.A. Marcus Fray

This was my first time seeing Marcy Fray. He looks like a cross between Radio Raheem from Do The Right Thing and Gusto from CB4. Not Chris Rock’s Gusto. Charlie Murphy’s Gusto. He looks like a bad guy straight out of a late 80s/early 90s ghetto movie. What is it with professional wrestlers and their inability to be contemporary? Anyways, this was a basic heavyweight match. Both guys started out trying to establish a strength advantage. Then Marcus Fray went into a heat segment two minutes into the match after cutting off Biggie when he had a brief advantage.

The layout of the match was very ineffective. And shitty. Marcus Fray was able to make Biggie look like a total jobber, causing the fans to not care for a hope spot from Biggie. It also didn’t help that he was yelling “GET HIM OFF!” as Marcus Fray had his leg tied in the ropes. How are fans supposed to care about a heavyweight babyface if comes off like a crybaby bitch who needs a referee to fight someone off?

Like I said, the match layout was shit. Lots of heat, limb work, and Biggie hope spots. Othello did a run in, causing Biggie to lose by distraction after Marcus Fray hit him with a spinebuster. Thankfully the referee in this match actually tried to keep things in order by dealing with Othello, unlike the referee in the last match. So far we’ve had TWO matches where an outside party has influenced the finish. The law is really in order here in D6W, and the booking is really dumb.

Bigge also did the kick out after three spot that Hulk Hogan used to do in the ’80s to look strong. Sadly, Biggie didn’t realize that moment of going into business for himself wouldn’t work after he was just made to look like a total chump. I can’t say anything about Marcus Fray. This wasn’t a good match to judge him on.

Sean Black vs. Guy Cool

Before the match, Sean Black challenged Guy Cool to a dance contest. Sean then danced to “Taki Taki.” Guy Cool refused to dance and opted to do a rap instead. The crowd chose Sean Black as the winner of this impromptu talent contest. After that, Guy Cool attacked Sean Black to start the match. Sean Black would get an early advantage though. Guy Cool stalled outside the ring, causing Sean to go after him. After Sean went after him, Guy Cool was able to cheat his way to an advantage. When they got back in the ring, Guy Cool went for a slingshot senton on Sean but it looked like he missed completely. A kid in the crowd can be heard laughing at this.

Sean Black began to mount a comeback, but Guy Cool cut him off with a highspot. Guy Cool is supposed to be a heel in this match, so this wasn’t a good call. Sean Black made another comeback and the action evened out. The match came to an end after Sean countered a senton splash from Guy Cool, followed by a spear. This wasn’t a bad match, but it wasn’t necessarily a good one. After the match, Sean Black invited Guy Cool into the ring to dance in the ring with a bunch of kids to “Taki Taki.” Very appropriate song for little kids to dance. Especially when Cardi B’s part is up.

Divine Intervention interrupt Anthony Desire

This was a really stupid segment that made no sense. As ring announcer Anthony Desire was about to begin intermission, Freddy Flores and Freddy Hellmuth came out with a kendo stick. They are the current D6W Tag Team Champions. They’re also heels. Hellmuth got on the microphone and complained about not having a match on the show. Keep in mind, they’re fucking HEELS. Usually, heels are trying to get out of defending their titles. Hellmuth also called the fans “marks,” to which a kid went “marks?” This audience that is mostly children and people who aren’t smart… to the business. They’re not going to know what that meant, so that was stupid and pointless.

After rambling for a few moments, they went “on strike” by sitting in the middle of the ring. Freddy Hellmuth said they didn’t come from “the gutters of Southern California” to be in front of the people in attendance. There was no need to insult OCCW like that. That was just uncalled for on his part.

D6W General Manager Bill Chew came out and got on the mic. He kept flubbing his lines during this segment. Not only is he a bad referee, but he’s also a bad actor. Bill said that he warned them that he’d strip them of their titles if they brought their kendo stick to this show. Hellmuth replied by saying Bill couldn’t do anything since they weren’t in a match. Bill Chew then said he was banning the kendo stick from the building. Hellmuth kept trying to argue technicalities, making Bill Chew look like the shittiest authority figure in pro wrestling history.

After several minutes, Bill Chew ordered security to get them out. Two staff members got in the ring to try and get them out, but Divine Intervention attacked the security guards. During this, Bill Chew kept trying to order them out of the ring. As all this was happening, one of the referees grabbed the kendo stick and gave it to Bill Chew. Divine Intervention kept attacking the security guards and left without being stripped of the tag team titles. Layin’ the law. Once again. Prepare for war. D6W!

LTP vs. Sexy Chino

(Update 2/16/19: In  light of current events regarding LTP, I retract everything I’ve said about him and implore promoters not to use him or anyone who is under investigation for, or has committed sexual acts on a minor.)

Nothing against Sexy Chino as a person. I have never met anyone who has had a bad word to say about the guy. But he’s not good inside the ring. Despite that, LTP was still able to get a watchable match out of Chino. He was solid during his heat segments and was able to hit spots where he didn’t need much cooperation from Chino. LTP got the win with a submission.

The Kings of Suplex (Angel Stone & Blake Grayson) vs. The Feelyons (Osiris Mittens [Frankie Frank] & Señor Buttons)

Before the match, Freddy Hellmuth and Freddy Flores sat on the stage to watch. D6W GM Bill Chew did nothing about it. Law and order baby! I saw Blake Grayson have a match in IWL with Douglas James during Douglas’ rookie year. Blake seemed solid and like he had potential, but he hasn’t done anything or lived up to that potential. I thought he seemed solid in this match as well and could get better if he could get better bookings.

Despite Blake’s performance, this wasn’t a good match either. One thing I kept wondering was how the Kings of Suplex could name themselves that and not do many suplexes during the match. At one point the action spilled to the outside, and the Kings off Suplex back body dropped Osiris Mittens onto Divine Intervention as they were sitting on the stage. The match continued for a few more moments before Divine Intervention ran in to cause a no contest.

After the match, Bill Chew got on the mic. Instead of stripping them of their titles, he booked a tag team title match between the three teams for the next show. So not only did Divine Intervention assault two security guards, they interrupted this match (trespassing and assault). And instead of being punished, they were given a match. Which is what they fucking wanted. Total law and order here in D6W as always.

Mikey O’Shea vs. Othello w/ Richie Slade

During his ring entrance, Othello tried to do a taunt on the apron but slipped off. The match started off with Mikey getting early momentum after hitting a body slam on the much larger Othello. Othello headed outside of the ring where the action continued. During this, Mikey O’Shea whipped Othello into a guardrail. The guardrail wasn’t secure and fell into a fan at ringside who had a child on his lap. The child was okay, but D6W’s image couldn’t look more bush league. To Mikey’s credit, he immediately went to go check on the child. He went to check on the child again after the match and gave her a hug. Not only was that the ultimate babyface move, but it was also a good show of class on Mikey’s part.

D6W: Where fan safety matters.

After that, the match was mostly Othello working Mikey over for heat, with Mikey getting a few hope spots. Richie Slade also got involved and interfered while the referee was distracted. I should also mention that this was in front of D6W GM Bill Chew, who said law would be in order at D6W when it came to interference. Just felt like I had to remind you of that again. Later in the match, Mikey made his comeback before Richie Slade ran in to cause a disqualification. He tried to hit Mikey with the D6W title, but Mikey stopped him. Mikey was about to hit him with a move before Marcus Fray ran in to save Richie. Marcus then held Mikey up for Richie, who hit him with his title.

Richie Slade got on the mic and cut a promo where he declared himself, Fray, and Othello as the franchise of professional wrestling.

The match itself was actually good for D6W standards. The match layout wasn’t bad, and the action was mostly solid. Sadly, the match was overshadowed by the guardrail incident. While I don’t think any harm was meant by Mikey or Othello, they should’ve known better than to do that spot. Despite that, I don’t blame them for this. Instead, I blame D6W for not having secure guardrails. Not only did it put the performers in a bad situation, but it put a child’s safety in danger. Thankfully the little girl wasn’t hurt, but D6W once again comes away looking amateurish.

D6W High Desert Championship Match: Rudy Rodgers (c) vs. Azrael w/ Divine Intervention

Azrael used Limp Bizkit’s version of “Behind Blue Eyes” as his entrance music. Ugh.

Back in October, Rudy and Azrael had a ladder match to crown the first ever D6W High Desert title. Rudy, the babyface, won the match. Now we have the rematch with no stipulation or gimmick attached. I don’t know why this shit was booked, but it shows how the people at D6W don’t know how to book a pro wrestling feud.

The story of the match was very basic. Azrael kept working over Rudy for heat. Divine Intervention interfered. Rudy made a few comebacks, but interference from Freddy Flores and Freddy Hellmuth cost him the match. Less than two months after winning it in a gimmick match that would usually be a blowoff to a feud, Rudy lost the D6W High Desert title to Azrael in a normal match. This wasn’t very good. Not in the sense that the action was sloppy and full of botches. This was just dull and poorly booked. What a way to build a title’s prestige.

After the match, Ashley Grace ran out with the kendo stick that was banned by Bill Chew earlier in the night. She threw it to Rudy, who laid out Azrael with it. Then she took the kendo stick from Rudy and chased off the other members of Divine Intervention. Where the fuck was she during the match? She would’ve been more helpful if she was out there earlier.

D6W Championship: Richie Slade (c) w/ Marcus Fray vs. Olijah Friday

Before the match, some kids at ringside gave a kid named Ray some heat for farting. That kid got more of a reaction than some of the matches on the card did.

Richie Slade got on the mic and said his original opponent didn’t show up and that he was supposed to face a mystery opponent. He then said the surprise was ruined since the music guy had Olijah come out first. Richie cut a promo where he implied Olijah was a loser. He obviously either failed or skipped Promos 101 when he was in wrestling school. You just don’t bury your opponent. It just makes you look like an idiot if you lose and a chump if you win.

Once the match started, some kids at ringside were fascinated by Marcus Fray’s chains. One was asking him if they were real. Someone in the crowd tried to start a “Justin Bieber” chant, even though nobody in the match resembled him in any way, shape, or form. Olijah got some offense early before Richie took over and slowly worked over Olijah for heat. Marcus Fray got involved when he distracted Olijah as he had Richie pinned. Olijah got up when tried to go after Marcus Fray even though he was about to win. They ended up doing a spot where Richie accidentally did a tope into Marcus Fray. The match went on and Richie eventually got the win with a uranage. This was a really boring match.

D6W Women’s Championship – Casket Match: Ashley Grace (c) vs. Auntie Hydie

If there was an award for “Worst Feud of 2018” in SoCal, Auntie Hydie vs. Ashley Grace would be the landslide winner. This match would not do the feud any favors. It was a complete mess in every aspect. The in-ring work was garbage and the layout was stupid. Plus the psychology was really bad. The casket was hardly even utilized in the match! They just did a bunch of shitty brawling around the venue and not much else.

There was another moment on the show where an unsecured guardrail nearly flew into children at ringside when Hydie threw Ashley into one on the opposite side of where the first incident happened. There was a referee standing next to it, but he was too busy joining a shitty “This Is Awesome” chant after a D6W staff member started it. Glad to see fan safety is a priority that ranks behind starting chants at D6W.

Another fine moment from D6W.

There were so many instances where Hydie looked like she could’ve broken a leg or suffered a knee injury. I can’t even begin to explain how hard it was to see her sitting on her knees and falling backward. She also kept bending her legs in positions where they could’ve snapped while trying to prevent Ashley from closing the casket door. Someday her knees are going to tear or something is going to break from all these mistakes.

Most of the match was poorly planned out. With the way the venue is set up, it would be hard for people to see most action when it spilled to certain areas outside of the ring. There was even a portion of the match where they brawled in the balcony area where workers, friends, and family watched the show. That segment ended after Ashley “pushed” Hydie down the stairs. I put “pushed” in quotation marks because it was more like Hydie rolling herself safely down the stairs. It was so bad that I felt embarrassed while watching it.

Another stupid aspect about the match was when they did a worked injury spot. After the two got to the ring, they did a spot where Hydie hit a leg drop on Ashley as she was laying on the ring apron. Then the referees ran to ringside to check on Ashley and one threw up the “X” sign. Keep in mind, this was after they used multiple weapons and after Ashley “shoved” Hydie down some stairs. Somehow they want the audience to believe that a simple leg drop causes as much damage as a steel chair or attempted murder. Yay psychology!

After a few moments of the referees pretending to know what they’re doing, the match went to the final stretch. The closing moments saw Ashley gain the upper hand on Hydie. As she opened the casket lid to try and put Hydie inside, Marriah Moreno stood up in the casket. Ashley was distracted, leading to Hydie taking advantage and hitting a Tombstone Piledriver on the stage. Marriah ordered Hydie to throw Ashley in the casket, leading to Hydie becoming the D6W Women’s Champion.

After the match, the stupid ass referees stood around confused and argued as Ashley laid unconscious in the casket after getting her head spiked on a stage by a Tombstone Piledriver. None of them tried to open it to check on her, but the leg drop was somehow worthy of their attention. Moments later, Rudy showed up and did an awful job at acting like he was concerned about Ashley. One fan yelled out “Oh now yo ass show up. Rudy where were you?” The show came to an end with Ashley being helped to the back.

Final Thoughts

Where the fuck do I begin?

D6W is an embarrassment to the Southern California professional wrestling scene. It is legitimately being run by people who don’t understand how pro wrestling works. You can see it in the booking of the shows and storylines. This promotion has been running since August and held six shows. Since its debut, five champions were crowned and a tournament was held (although none of the titles were crowned in a tournament, which would’ve made sense). Shit was just like “hey, this is now a title match.” One of the champions hash’ event been back.

Oh, let’s not forget how D6W booked Rudy vs. Azrael to determine the first High Desert champ in a LADDER MATCH in October, and then the rematch in this show was just a normal one with no gimmick stipulation. Even Vince Russo would think this type of booking is ridiculous. At this rate they’re gonna end up doing a 2 out of 3 falls match and blow off their feud in a Barb Wire Exploding Cage With Circus Elephants Firing Rocket Launchers Death Match. Whoever gets that obscure reference will get a prize.

Beyond the terrible management of their in-ring product, D6W came off as amateurish based on the guardrail incidents. Look, sitting front row at a wrestling show will always come with hazards. BUT if you’re running a show and you have guardrails up, you have to make sure they’re secure to minimize the risk to your paying customers. This shit happened TWICE on this show with unsecured guardrails. The workers probably should’ve known better, but this falls on D6W’s staff in the end.

Another thing, this show really highlights how poorly trained some workers in SoCal are. I’m not just talking about the sloppy and poor in-ring work either. Some schools in the territory have really been failing at teaching proper face/heel match structures. They also do a terrible job at teaching character development and storytelling. As a result, we have this growing crop of performers who suck at what they do.

On shows like this, it shouldn’t be so hard to stick to the basic fundamentals of pro wrestling psychology. Nobody here is expecting a high-volume work rate match on shows like this. Simple wrestling should be enough for this type of audience, and everything should be easy, even for the most novice worker. But somehow the majority of the workers in D6W manage to fuck that up.

I really can’t with this promotion anymore.