ZeeWI: The Officially Unofficial GFW Grand Championship Rankings (Week 3)

A new week brings us to a new set of rankings for the toughest title in all of Global Force Wrestling, the Grand Championship! This past week on Impact, the focus was on the upcoming Destination X special, which led to a show that was not too heavy on Grand Championship activities, as the X Division looked to take center stage!

Still, in a division as open as the Grand Championship Division, any win in any situation can possibly leap you into contention in the blink of an eye!

So, while we may not have seen Ethan Carter, III in action, or Moose, or even E_Li_Drake… there was still so much insanity going on at the Impact Zone, that the rankings had to have been affected… right? Did guys like Matt Sydal, Low Ki, or Dezmond Xavier stay in the rankings? Or did someone else bring the heat to take their spot?

Let’s get to it! But first, please do remember…

In ranking the contenders, the following scientific criteria shall be considered:

1. Wins / Losses in recent outings
2. Crowd Response / Interest
3. Momentum Meter (Green, Yellow, Red)
4. Megamove

As Global Force Wrestling can, at times, be the Wild West, it is always difficult to try and instill some order, and that’s understood. Still, the second most important championship needs to have a clear path for those who hope to win it, and I intend to provide it.

To that end, we will break down the Top 5 in the Grand Championship Division, and hope to show the Global Force Wrestlers exactly where they stand!!!

On to the rankings! (Writer’s Note: Don’t forget – if it hasn’t aired, it isn’t official!)

Grand Champion: Ethan Carter, III (EC3)
Last Week: Champion

The beauty of being inactive while being the champ, is that you stay the champ! EC3 may not have had much on his plate this past week, but that’s probably a-okay with him. The chance to rest up after the brutal encounter with Moose the week prior can only be a good thing, and allows Carter the chance to size up the division and his prospective challengers with a calm mind.

Carter knows that Moose is still an absolutely live contender, coming off that supremely questionable decision that made EC3 the champ in the first place. With Bruce Prichard opting to not comment on what happened, we still have no answers, leaving Carter in the weird spot of needing to legitimize his reign, despite all he’s accomplished in the past.

There’s no question that Carter, on any day, absolutely can beat Moose… it’s that we don’t know if he actually did the last time, and until that’s settled, a dark cloud will hover his time as the Grand Champion of Global Force Wrestling. Of course, he might not really care too much about what the rest of us think, since he’s only concerned with wins and belts. Then again, he definitely has shown that he cares about his legacy, and having a heavily disputed Grand Championship reign on the docket can’t be too helpful.

This columnist is going to assume that, much sooner than later, we’ll see EC3 and Moose settle this with a definite ending.

#1 Contender: Moose
Last Week: #1 Contender

In basically the same spot as EC3, Moose was never going to lose a spot in the rankings coming off that kind of a loss, and so we find him still as the #1 Contender for the belt many feel he didn’t lose.

As I mentioned last week, Moose really needs to take this down time as the chance to tighten up some loose ends in his game, and refine his attack so that he is as close to unbeatable as humanly possible. He brings incredible strength, astonishing agility, and baffling speed to the table – but his killer instinct just hasn’t been on full display as of yet.

If he can take the loss to Carter as something from which to learn, then there’s no reason to doubt that Moose could close in on a third Grand Championship reign in the not-too-distant future. If he’s going to simply believe that Prichard and Prichard alone cost him everything – and not his absolute refusal to go for broke in Rounds 1 and 2 against Carter – then he’s going to find himself spinning his wheels for the foreseeable future.

Moose might do well to take a match against someone who isn’t EC3, as well – a tune-up fight, if you will, to just get back in there, get a win, feel good about himself, and then be ready to challenge for the belt once again. Maybe he could even show off some improved techniques, too. A match with someone like E_Li_Drake could work well as a #1 Contender’s match of sorts!

#2 Contender: Low Ki
Last Week: #3 Contender

Low Ki moves up a spot partially due to the inactivity of E_Li_Drake, and partially for his role in securing a victory for his team in a six man tag. Low Ki’s Warrior’s Way was the tool needed to secure the win for Ki, Lashley, and Trevor Lee against the team of Alberto El Patrón, Matt Sydal, and Sonjay Dutt, with Dutt being the one vanquished with the maneuver.

While it wasn’t the victory over Patrón himself that Ki most certainly wanted, it was a victory over the man’s team, and a victory for Low Ki, which was most important. Low Ki was able to secure the much-needed momentum for his upcoming match with El Patrón at Destination X, putting the World Champ on the defensive heading into the match.

Adding to all of this was some breaking news that came out yesterday, as Global Force Wrestling apparently stripped El Patrón of his GFW World Title. The company later announced that the much maligned Bruce Prichard would, at Destination X, make an announcement regarding the belt. Will Ki be kept in his current position as the #1 Contender for that title? If not, will he look to get payback by taking things from others, like EC3’s Grand Championship? Especially when it’s a champion backed by Prichard, who would be the one keeping Ki out of the World Title match?

Destination X was already shaping up to be a huge night in the legendary career of Low Ki, but with these current circumstances, we could be in for an even bigger surprise than first imagined!

#3 Contender: Kongo Kong
Last Week: Not Ranked

After simmering a bit, Kongo Kong finally erupted into a full boil on this past episode of Impact, as he absolutely dominated Grado and Joseph Park, making them feel his full fury as revenge for attempting to steal away Laurel Van Ness.

Kong has been someone to watch since his debut, but has been sidetracked a bit in having to deal with the many issues caused by Laurel Van Ness. Cast as her official protector once Maria and Mike left, Kong hasn’t truly been able to cut loose on the roster, as he has always been needed by his more-than-slightly off-kilter cohort.

But his showing on Thursday was enough to jump him up huge in the rankings, and with good reason. Winning a handicap match is always pretty impressive, even if it’s between a smaller guy and a lawyer who isn’t feeling like returning to his dark roots. Kongo was decisive and brutal in this match, before finishing off Park with a cannonball. But he wasn’t even close to finished.

Looking to inflict more pain on the two, Kong would stack them up and head to the top rope, only to be stopped by Van Ness. When it looked like Kong would instead attack her, Tyrus would appear from out of nowhere to save the day, with Van Ness dragging Kongo Kong back to the locker room.

Kong hasn’t had many opportunities in Global Force Wrestling, but if he takes advantage of the few he gets like he did on Thursday, then this columnist doesn’t see many people who can beat him. Should he face off with Tyrus and emerge successful, Kongo Kong could find himself on a fast track to championship glory. If I’m EC3 or Moose, I’m not very excited about those prospects.

#4 Contender: Ishimori
Last Week: Not Ranked

Ishimori takes the place that was occupied by Dezmond Xavier last week, and for the same exact reason: he punched his ticket into the finals of the Super X Cup with a big win in a very spirited contest with ACH. That win, of course, puts him on the collision course with Xavier this week at Destination X, which could see the winner move up these rankings even further.

Ishimori made his name in Pro Wrestling NOAH, but has been very impressive during his brief run with Global Force, and his advancing to the finals of the tournament should not be a big surprise to those that have watched him compete.

Against ACH, Ishimori showed the poise needed to deal with ACH’s sometimes odd style, while still having the ability to stay with him, move for move. He may not be the aerial wizard that ACH is, but he has more than enough skills to take to the air every once in a while, especially with his impressive 450 splash.

Ishimori’s goal has to be assumed to be a double champion – the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, and the GFW X Division Champion – but why stop there? I mean, the man beat Davey Richards and sent him packing from GFW, so he could very easily contend for either the Grand Championship or World Championship, as well.

With all of that in mind – his recent victories, his incredible skill, his championship pedigree – Ishimori absolutely belongs here for the time being. Of course, should he falter against Xavier in the finals, then his stock will take a hit, and he’ll probably lose this spot on the ladder.

#5 Contender: E_Li_Drake
Last Week: #2 Contender

When you’re inactive for a few weeks, and others are trying to make some waves, you definitely risk falling a bit, and that’s what’s happened to ZeeWI favorite, E_Li_Drake.

The man has it all, and has shown the ability to do it all, but recently, he hasn’t done much of anything, at least as it pertains to one on one matches. Still, his inactivity allowed him to avoid losing, which is something that someone like Matt Sydal can’t say, which ultimately dropped him from the rankings completely.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Drake can very well be EC3’s great rival. He can be the equal to the best guy here, best guy there, and best guy everywhere, if he can just focus long enough on the task at hand. That’s the key to Drake – if you can distract him, you have a good chance at permanently running him off the track he wanted in the first place. He can be rattled, and he can definitely get sucked into a battle of bravado.

If, however, Drake knows that the world is his after Destination X, when the spotlight won’t be so big on the X Division, and anything he does won’t fly under the radar. Yours truly firmly believes that Drake has something big in store. He’s been far too quiet lately, and as we know, that’s just not really his style.

Further GFW Impact Musings…

While neither man figured into this week’s rankings, the upcoming match at Destination X between Lashley and Matt Sydal has to be considered one of the more important matches taking place for the company.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen videos of Lashley training with his teammates at American Top Team, and have heard from some of those teammates and coaches, with some of them expressing a desire for Lashley to leave wrestling behind, and focus full-time on his MMA career, where a run at the Bellator Heavyweight Championship isn’t at all out of the question.

Others, like King Mo, have said that Lashley can – and should – do what makes him happy, even if that means doing both, where he could reign as champion in both worlds. But, for this journalist, the idea that we’re even talking about Lashley leaving Global Force – leaving wrestling – makes me wonder where his head is really at these days.

Was Lashley’s confidence irreparably shaken in his defeats to El Patrón? Is Walking Armageddon looking for a way out, and hoping to use some kind of questionable outcome to his advantage in leaving? Does Lashley just feel like, overall, he is not a valued part of the company anymore?

All he was looking for was a rematch that he felt he was deserved, only he was getting the runaround from the always non-committal Prichard. He wasn’t trying to disrespect Sydal – in fact, he didn’t care about Sydal one way or the other. But, already angered by Prichard’s nonsense, Sydal deciding that he was going to take offense didn’t make things any better, and Lashley attacked him. That could have been it, but Sydal just had to get Lashley back.

Which brings us to today, so close to Desitnation X. Sydal has been a man possessed in recent weeks, and wants to prove to the world that he is so much more than just a really good X Division wrestler. He knows what the mission is, and he knows just how difficult it is going to be to accomplish it. However, if Lashley is entering this match pulled in all sorts of directions, distracted by all sorts of ideas of being wronged, and maybe with his heart not in this anymore… we could be watching a huge upset Thursday night.

Well, as big of an upset as an X guy beating a Heavyweight Wrestler is in this land, historically speaking.