Return To Inspire: 10 Years later

 Hello Austin and visitors from other places.  Inspire Pro had their 10-year anniversary show of Ecstasy of Gold yesterday and while I was there at the very first show and for years didn't miss a show, Covid and job restrictions limited my ability to go, as it did others I know and sadly that became the norm.  Once it was fairly safe to go back it was no longer factored into our time, budget, or travel.

This was the sad truth, and it took many years for us to get back. Last night was a blast even though my older self struggles with things I didn't used too, being outside in the heat, the chairs that are tough on you after 4 to 5 hours. I want to stress this is my discomfort and issues and nothing that INSPIRE or any other wrestling company can do anything about as no one controls the weather and I choose to go to shows.

But enough about me, let's get to the point of this returning blog. Shana and I returned to Inspire Pro for Beyond Ecstasy of Gold last night and it was great to see everyone. There are the longtime friends and family such as Ellis, Ryan P, Sam M, and Eamon. There were only a few wrestlers I had seen before as it has been so long. A few others I knew by name but never saw perform and so many more I sadly didn't know but hope to rectify that in the coming months and years.

The Thoughts and Feelings of SHANA ROY!

The Scene:

Central Texas in mid 2023. It's hot. The glare of the sun washes out most colors. You're standing on a quiet suburban street near a public high school. Both sides of the road are lined with parked, older-model cars. The only sound is the constant drone of cicadas. 

Across the street an apartment door slowly opens. At first, just a few inches. Then, all the way. Standing in the doorway is a white, middle-aged couple--a man and a woman. Pale of skin and dark of hair. They blink against the sunlight.

"Is it time?" He asks.

"It's time," she says.

Hello, everybody! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Shana Roy, one half of the couple depicted in the spoof above. My husband Brandon and I have been fans of Inspire A.D. from the very first bell of their very first show. COVID, changes in work schedules, life, laziness, and, frankly, stupidity have prevented us from attending a live show in FAR too many years, so I'm sure there are a ton of you reading who I haven't met.

Let's change that! Come find me at a show (I'm hard to miss: glasses, pigtails, and pale-as-a-ghost complexion) and I'll buy you a drink! 

So let's talk about Beyond Ecstasy of Gold. This isn't going to be a traditional-style review of an indie wrestling show, because I'm not the kind of person who writes traditional reviews in any event. But also because I approached this event without the requisite background knowledge for such a thing. So I'm not going to go down the card match-by-match and do anything resembling a play-by-play. I'm instead just kinda going to fangirl out and tell you why I love indie wrestling and Inspire A.D. so much.

Since I have been a fan of Inspire and indie wrestling for some time now, there were a few wrestlers who have been on the scene for a bit who I've had the pleasure of watching in the ring before: Gary Jay, both at Inspire and at Anarchy Championship Wrestling (a promotion that is now under new management and going by a different name), T-Ray, also at both promotions, and The Great Depression and Red Scare at Inspire, of course. 

Brandon and I saw the very beginning of Ethan Price's association with Roxy Castillo. *tear* Oh! Her Big Strong Boy! That was such a meaningful moment.

With all of that being said I'd like to offer my thoughts on just a few Moments of Note from Beyond Ecstasy of Gold. Everything I say is just my perspective, of course, offered for whatever it's worth, and with nothing but love for professional wrestling and the entire Inspire A.D. Community.

Standout Matches of the Night:

Will Allday v Kevin Knight was hands-down the match of the night from where I sat. I feel like I may have seen Will Allday before? But I don't remember the details, so this was the superior match. And while both men absolutely BROUGHT IT to the ring, I've gotta say I feel like Kevin Knight shone the brightest. I cannot wait to see him many, many more times.

Yuya Uemura v Danny Orion was definitely my second favorite match. They're both phenomenal athletes with long careers ahead of them. And Yuya has a great entrance song! I tried to shazam it but was unsuccessful.

The Born Haters v the Camachos was WAY more fun than I anticipated. I'm not always a super fan of trios matches. They can get a bit chaotic and hard to follow for me. But the storytelling of this match was top-notch. When time paused (or just seriously slowed down?) to allow Don Rodrigo to have that whole inner monologue I just about lost my shit. How inventive! How fun! I seriously love professional wrestling.

Gimmicks I love:

Killa Kate's look is great and I love what I saw of her wrestling style. I think she's going places. Same with Victor Analog. Kind of an old-school media theme for the night? Boomboxes and fat lil' TVs with tubes! LOL

Of course I have a special place in my heart for the faction that includes The Great Depression, The Red Scare, and The Hollywood Strangler. I know they're heels and I'm supposed to boo them. But god-DAMN I love that gimmick.

Title Ranking Match

Now let's talk about that main event. I had never had the pleasure of watching Raychell Rose in action before. I believe I have seen Dimitri Alexandrov before. I am a BIG fan of women's wrestling and intergender wrestling. I came into this matched HYPED and ready to cheer Raychell as she ripped Dimitri apart. 

Full disclosure, and at the risk of making this about me: I am a survivor of domestic violence. There is almost nothing I love about professional wrestling as much as I love watching women kick the ever-loving shit outta men. That's just the way it is.

I have seen intergender matches at a number of promotions in the past: Inspire (obviously), ACW, TCW, and Sabotage (they're GREAT for intergender, if you're not already familiar), among others. When it's good, it's GREAT. When it's not so good, it can be...uncomfortable. Done well, intergender wrestling is feminist as fuck. Done poorly, it can be triggering. I can tell you, as a survivor, I don't necessarily NEED the woman to always win, though of course that's my preference. But It depends on the story. And I'm down for a LOOOOOONG story arc. I can be patient. Sometimes. LOL

The point of good intergender wrestling is that it treats both participants as equals. It doesn't approach the match as a cisgender MAN versus a cisgender WOMAN. It approaches the match as a battle of two strong, athletic OPPONENTS. And this title ranking match started that way. In fact, Inspire's unique approach to title ranking actually lends weight to that storytelling aspect of this match. 

Love it. Love ALL of it. Was SO excited at the start of the match. Dimitri started tossing Raychell around like a rag doll. Ooof. Ok. Nothing wrong with that. They're equally ranked opponents and she wanted this match. She wanted to prove herself. I'm still down. Then he starts taunting her, in a very specific way: "I don't want this, Raychell. I don't want to do this. Why are you making me do this?"

Yeeeeeeeeesssshhhh. Abusive husband vibes. Holy hell. But, still. I'm down for a long story arc. And I'm reminding myself that I came into this show without the benefit of backstory. I don't know what their history is. I'm assuming he's the heel. I am supposed to hate him, which is good! Because talk like that makes me hate him! 

This was me mid-match: FUCK YOU DIMITRI! KILL HIM RAYCHELL!!

But then, when Raychell was down on the mat and Dimitri was about to hit her with a chair, out from the shadows came Max, the creative force behind Inspire, to interfere and prevent him from presumably getting the pin!

OMG why? 

That interference allowed Raychell to ultimately get the win! That's what we all wanted, yes. But she deserves the win without an asterisk next to it! AND WHY WOULD MAX ASSUME THAT SHE COULDN't GET THE WIN WITHOUT HIS HELP??? That's not feminist! That's not approaching the match with the perspective that the contenders are two EQUAL opponents!

Raychell Rose deserves a rematch! Let her win ON HER OWN MERIT!

So for this return to Inspire I didn't take detailed notes or keep track as I usually do as I just wanted to experience this and take it all in to see the new and returning wrestlers do their thing. I am just going to go over fun moments, cool matches and what I thought was the strongest and weakest moments in my thoughts and opinions.  Since there were so many new to me wrestlers, I am not going to be able to list them all here. We will also get Shana's opinion and thoughts on the show since she enjoys different things and looks at matches through her own eyes and thoughts.

There were lots of great matches this night with Singles, Tag Team, and Trios matches. Championship matches and bragging rights.  Some fun new to me talent from goofy and fun gimmicks to just plain tough and badass workers. I will just go over briefly my thoughts on the matches and which ones stood out. The opening match was a good start with three teams going at in with Tornado Tag match rules. All the teams were new to me but most of them seemed popular and it set the pace being fun and mostly faced paced to get people hyped up.

Next we had a 5 way elimination match with a mix of people I have seen and ones that I had not had the pleasure of watching before, It marked the return of Gary Jay who I used to watch in several other promotions as well as Inspire. I have seen Cam Cole before as well but only once or twice. Everyone else was unknown to me. Korey O'Neal was a big country hoss who was a good addition to this fight, Victor Analog has a fun gimmick with a TV style mask they come out wearing and finally a graduate of Carsons Lions Pride we had Shimbashi who had shirts you could buy, one saying you love Shimbashi and one you hate Shimbashi. This was a fun match that Gary Jay managed the win with help from the tag team that came to the ring with him.

Void Vs Void was next. Void has a long history with Inspire and having been away awhile so not sure what the current stories or backgrounds on them, though one was unmasked after winning here.  Next came a singles match with one of the wrestlers a woman I had not heard of and the other I had but never seen as Danni Bee took on Killa Kate who has a boombox and was fun. This match was invaded by Pistolero, Lil Evil, and Studstache where Danni Bee joined them, can't expect much more from someone from OK!

As it was the next match I am going to talk about it here but also a later match due to I believe either match could be the match of the night. First was Will All Day vs Kevin Knight, who both did amazing. I know I have never seen Knight before and he was amazing, I was told I have seen Will All Day but it must have been quick as I am having trouble recalling him which sounds bad but seeing this match I can't believe I have as he was very good. While he goes ALL DAY, Kevin let him know he can go all Knight! This match had it all and I really hope Kevin Knight returns soon.

Next match was not the next in order but the other match I felt could be the match of the night with Danny Orion vs Yuya Uemara and both of them had very vocal sections of the crowd on their side and the match was a constant back and forth with no one really getting and keeping the upper hand. Yuya came out the victor but it was a fantastic match.

We had a Trios match after the Will and Kevin match with Roxy C and her Right Hand of Vengeance team of The Great Depression, The Red Scare, and Hollywood Stranger. All are long time Inspire Pro members with The Great Depression being the longest established and Hollywood Strangler the newest. They faced off against Roxy's former client Big Strong Boy Ethan Price and The Superiority Complex which had Ethan trying to unmask any of the other team and a heartfelt plea after the match for Roxy to turn from the bad guys and be by Ethan's Side again which seem to work.

The following match was also a Trios match with Mysterious Q, Brick Savage, and T-Ray vs Pistolero, Lil Evil, and Studstache. There seemed to be some major animosity between Brick Savage and T-Ray but the match was pretty good. The first team was all powerhouses and Pistolero was a faster lighter fighter, Studstache was a big powerhouse and Lil Evil was sort of in the middle and liked to use crotch shots and low blows. The match was sometimes tough to follow as Pistolero's team started out knocking out the ref who pretty much stayed knocked out most of the match though neither team did much cheating so it didn't make much sense.  Also Brick and T-Ray fought each other almost as much as they fought the other team.

The final trio match has The Camachos vs The Born Haters whose leader had the lawless darkness title, something introduced way back when we were first going and grant you almost limitless power. No DQ, No ring outs, I don't think you can ignore a 3-count pin and you can't make up rules or change things. In a match like this you could be in the ring as the "illegal" man with your partner and double team your opponent. The Born Haters were tons of fun. They are a mystery solving team who also each represent their own things from Drakkar Noir to the Lawless Darkness. One of the best things is they do this Inner Monologue gimmick where everyone freezes (like Zac Morris in Saved By the Bell!) and it comes over the air while the wrestler doing the voice over can walk around and set up things. It was so much fun.

Final match of the night was Inspire Pro champion Raychell Rose vs Pure Prestige Champion Dimitri Alexandrov to decide which belt was higher ranked or more prestigious. Something that had been done before and is a cool idea. Sadly this was the weakest match for me, granted the weakest match on an Inspire Pro card is miles above good to best matches in many other places.  Not going to go on a rant or bash anyone or anything, going to use wrestling language to describe it and go with sometimes great wrestlers have styles that just don't mesh. I feel that was the case here, I don't feel these two had good chemistry and while they both did good it just didn't click for me. I know from Twitter others really liked it so maybe I am an anomaly. It happens sometimes where the match sounds good but doesn't work quite as well as you hope. That was this match for me.