ZeeWI: The Officially Unofficial GFW Grand Championship Rankings (Week 4)

A new week brings us to a new set of rankings for the toughest title in all of Global Force Wrestling, the Grand Championship! We are coming off the heels of an insane night of action at Destination X that saw the entire organization turned upside down! While the spotlight was on the X Division wrestlers, 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!

Did Matt Sydal return to the rankings, or was his rise permanently halted by Lashley? Did either Ishimori or Dezmond Xavier keep an X Division guy in the rankings? Do we have a new #1 contender? So many questions, and luckily, I have the answers!

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!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxXdTtC9jNY
Grand Champion: Ethan Carter, III (EC3)
Last Week: Champion

EC3 found himself inactive for the second week in a row after defeating Moose for the Grand Championship, but he managed to get himself in front of new boss Jim Cornette, where he (along with Moose) would ask for – and receive – spots in the upcoming gauntlet for the vacant GFW Global Championship.

Carter was smart to make a play for a spot in the Gauntlet – reigning as Global Force’s dual champion would increase his stock exponentially, and he knows it. Somehow, he’s managed to keep a really low profile since the Bruce Prichard decision handed him that Grand Championship, and with nobody laying out a challenge for his belt the last couple of weeks, he was more than happy to try to add to his collection.

There is risk, though, and Carter should be aware – injury can happen at any moment, and if something goes wrong in the Gauntlet, Carter could find that instead of holding two belts, he’s left with none. No one expects him to take it easy in the Gauntlet – not with the Global Championship on the line. Still, Carter may find himself in a position where he needs to choose between ultimate glory, and self-preservation. He’s come back from devastating injuries before, sure, but one has to assume he’d simply prefer to not find himself in that type of situation again.

Will he go all out in the Gauntlet? Can EC3 walk out with both championships? Or is the Grand Champion setting himself up for a painful failure? Luckily, we don’t have to wait too much longer to find out.

#1 Contender: Moose
Last Week: #1 Contender

Moose, much like the champ above him, keeps his spot as the #1 Contender, due to a combination of the overall inactivity in the division the last couple of weeks, the questionable nature of his loss to Carter, and the fact that he has yet to receive his rematch as of this juncture.

However, the time has come for Moose to either shit, or get off the pot, as the saying goes. The man that yours truly has called out for a lack of killer instinct has only demonstrated this further since losing the title. Where’s the anger? Where’s the fire? He hasn’t demanded anything. He hasn’t gone on a rampage, vowing to hurt anyone and everyone until the wrong has been righted.

Instead, he showed up side by side WITH EC3 to ask Jim Cornette for a spot in the Gauntlet? Seriously, it was like he was getting chummy with the man that took his Grand Championship in the first place, and I gotta say, this columnist was absolutely not surprised to see Moose do such a thing.

Maybe his athletic gifts have made it so he’s never had to get really hungry to find success. Maybe Moose has never really had to overcome adversity. He was a big deal in Ring of Honor, and he’s had a pretty easy go of things so far in Global Force. Perhaps asking for Moose to give a crap is asking too much. Perhaps he is just the kind of guy who shows up when he’s told to, wins his matches, and is happy leaving it at that.

If that’s the case, then the former Grand Champion may find himself falling down the rankings in the upcoming weeks. One thing is certain – he needs to do something to keep himself in the mix, and hanging out with the champion all buddy-buddy isn’t the way to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPGbpyw3Tp8
#2 Contender: Matt Sydal
Last Week: Not Ranked

When you can prove your doubters wrong, it’s always a good time. When you can walk into a match with Bobby Lashley as a monumental underdog, but you can walk out a winner, it’s even better.

This columnist felt like Lashley wasn’t in the right frame of mind heading into the match, and the performance more than proved it to be true. Lashley seemed more than happy to take his time with Sydal, never once feeling threatened by his opponent.

At times, it seemed like wanted to make Sydal pay for ever getting in his face. At other times, it felt like Walking Armageddon wanted to show off for his American Top Team teammates, who were sitting ringside for the action. When Lashley would introduce a steel chair to the match, he would end up eating a spin kick, Van Daminator style. Lashley would be able to avoid the Shooting Star Press but, still clearly dazed, would attempt an ill-fated spear that would send him flying into the ringpost, where Sydal would roll him up for the win.

Matt Sydal now finds himself in quite the enviable position. Of course, this match was promoted as Shot vs. Shot, with Lashley hoping to get a crack at the GFW Global Championship he recently lost, while Sydal was originally hoping to earn a shot at X Division gold. While that is still absolutely an attainable goal, one has to wonder if Sydal will take this win as a sign that he can do bigger things, and perhaps he’ll try to use this guaranteed “shot” that he’s earned for a chance at the Grand Championship.

If that proves to be the case, then Sydal, riding what has to be the most monumental of waves of confidence, will look to continue the journey with a huge win. I sure hope EC3 was paying attention this past Thursday, because the news has been delivered: Matt Sydal is for real.

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

Low Ki takes a slight fall this week, but it’s only due to the huge win of Matt Sydal providing “Reborn” with a big push more than anything else. Well, that and the fact that Low Ki’s much anticipated shot at Alberto El Patrón’s GFW Global Championship was taken away when El Patrón was stripped of the belt by Global Force Wrestling after quite a bit of bad press outside the ring.

And so, what could have been Low Ki’s crowning moment, instead became a series of threats from LAX to Jim Cornette until Low Ki was given the advantageous 20th position in the upcoming Gauntlet match. With Low Ki poised to be the freshest man in the match, he has to be considered a big favorite, if not the biggest.

However, one has to wonder about the mental state of Low Ki after being pulled around by the historically atrocious TNA/GFW Front Office. After preparing for a huge match against an incredible contender, Low Ki couldn’t even be given a heads up about the situation, nor could the company find a replacement opponent to keep the Championship bout together. Jim Cornette had a lot to say about people not just being handed titles while he’s in charge, but he then made a match for the Global Championship that is probably 18 guys too big. We all know that Low Ki doesn’t take too kindly to being slighted, and if he’s carrying that sizable chip on his shoulder heading into the Gauntlet, it could end up being a costly mistake.

Should Low Ki win the match – or, at the very least, make a good showing for himself regardless – then he maintains a spot high atop the roster, with a move for the Grand Championship an absolute possibility.

But, as we should know by now, we’ll have to wait and see. One wrong step can send Low Ki plummeting from these rankings just as quickly as he rose through them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8dr0T5_pxM
#4 Contender: Dezmond Xavier
Last Week: Not Ranked

Out of the rankings last week due to a) his inactivity and b) Ishimori’s win to advance to the finals of the Super X Cup, Dezmond Xavier came back and had a hell of a night at Destination X – second only to Matt Sydal – and defeated Ishimori in a barn burner of a match to reign supreme as the Super X Cup winner.

Obviously, Dezmond’s main goal is the X Division title, as he made clear shortly after winning the Cup. He’s young, has a plan, and is looking to stick to it for the time being. Eventually, though, one has to assume that the same bug that has bit nearly every other X Division wrestler will eventually bite Xavier, and he’ll be looking to prove himself in the “non-specialized” divisions in Global Force. And if that’s the case, the Grand Championship could very well be his first target.

It’s been a while since a newcomer took the company by storm like this, and Dezmond Xavier, at this point, shows no signs of letting up. His mix of breathtaking aerial attacks, solid grappling, and crisp strikes has made him someone to keep an eye on in a staggeringly short amount of time. For the time being, Sonjay Dutt is in his crosshairs. But Xavier’s stock is as high as it’s been, and we aren’t afraid to acknowledge that fact here in the Grand Championship rankings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZiAQ6QIyxw
#5 Contender: E_Li_Drake
Last Week: #5 Contender

In pretty much the same position as Moose, but without the safety net of having been robbed in a decision, E_Li_Drake hangs on to the #5 spot this week, but just barely. He was spotted at Destination X, crashing the Moose/EC3/Jim Cornette party to request a spot of his own in the Gauntlet match. However, that ended up proving to be a huge miscalculation after Drake, proclaiming himself as “the #1 man in this business,” found himself being put into the first entry slot of the Gauntlet.

Let it be known that yours truly had no problem at all with Jim Cornette’s decision. It was his first day back, and he wasn’t about to let Drake run his mouth without any repercussions. However, Drake really put himself into an unenviable spot and, speaking as someone who considers himself a fan, this columnist feels like Drake needs to do something big to stay relevant in these rankings.

When Moose was the Grand Champion, Drake seemed intent on taking the man down. Once the title shot went to EC3, and Carter came out the winner, Drake hasn’t appeared to care one way or another about much of anything. So, in that sense, it was nice to see a little fire from the man as he petitioned Cornette. At the same time, it was some more of that “easily distracted” trait that was called out in these very pages not too long ago that can sidetrack the man at a moment’s notice.

Even when he’s taking a step forward – and make no mistake, getting any type of chance at winning the Global Championship is most definitely a step forward – Drake manages to make the situation more difficult than it needed to be, as he’ll now have to outlast the other 19 guys if he hopes to wear more gold in Global Force Wrestling. It’s not impossible, but it definitely seems unlikely that he can walk out as the champion.

If Drake can make a good showing in this match, he can still be a threat for the Grand Championship. If he turns in an underwhelming performance, though… he might find himself on the outside looking in. Don’t get lost in the sauce: this Thursday is a huge day for E_Li_Drake!

Further GFW Impact Musings…

As far as the Grand Championship Division is concerned, it’s definitely been a quiet couple of weeks. And that’s to be expected when it’s time for Destination X, a time when the focus usually shifts solely to the X Division, giving them center stage. That’s not to say that nothing else was going in the company, though.

Destination X also saw a development that yours truly was personally hoping to see happen for a while now, as Bruce Prichard and his terrible decisions were run out of town (for the time being, at least) by Jim Cornette, speaking on behalf of the Anthem bosses.

Fancy that – Anthem apparently didn’t take too kindly to the choices that Prichard had made these last few months, either. And while they were willing to look the other way when it came to landing big free agent talent and then giving them immediate championship opportunities, they couldn’t continue to ignore things when Prichard was having such a direct effect in the actual matches themselves, like his atrocious judging in the EC3/Moose Grand Championship match a few weeks ago.

Whether TNA or GFW, the tolerance of the Front Office has always been something that has driven this columnist quite mad. There was a time when fans were attacked and wrestlers were assaulted in their homes, and the Office gleefully allowed it because it garnered hashtag mentions.

With this one move, the Anthem group showed that they are not going to believe that “any press is good press,” and they weren’t going to allow Prichard to drag the whole place down with his ridiculous calls. The man has a place in wrestling, of this there is no doubt. But it isn’t a place that grants him unchecked powers.

This isn’t to pretend that Jim Cornette is some beacon of light wrapped in perfection. We all know that he isn’t. We know that he has a view of what wrestling should be, and that this vision has, in recent years, put him at odds with a few talents that have climbed that would go on to climb the mountain.

Yet, while Cornette is most undeniably stubborn, it shouldn’t be assumed that he’s impossible to work with. We just saw this in action at Destination X when he was able to work with Low Ki after Ki’s Global Championship match was removed. Cornette and Ki don’t get along well, as has been documented, but Cornette was still able to put business first and do the right thing by Low Ki, even if he had his entire LAX group with him threatening Jim. Everyone walked out happy.

That’s the difference between Cornette and Prichard – one does what he has to do to keep himself in the limelight, while the other does what he honestly believes – right or wrong – is the correct thing. With the focus (hopefully) back on in ring results and not on how friendly you are with the boss, here’s to hoping that Global Force can fully get back on solid ground.

So long, Bruce.