Sweden! Oh your beautiful fjords, endless supply of blonde air stewardesses (apprently) and pro wrestling. Yup pro wrestling. I discovered this little gem of a PPV while searching for matches featuring Jenny Sjödin. For those of you who don't know who Miss Sjödin is she is a very accomplished grappler and pro wrestler. Meaning she is a genuine hard case as well as a top Euro Joshi talent. I had heard great things about her and wondered if she was as good as all that. Turns out she is. Anyone who grew up on All Japan Women and was trained by Fergal Devitt is pretty much going to be all right in my book, but she has a star quality and the skills to back it up.
That aside of course having watch the first match it would be rude not watch the rest and I was pleasantly surprised. GBG's Night of Thunder is a tight show in the European style with a healthy dose of characters and a mix of grappling, high flying and straight up brawling. It reminded me greatly of Chikara, especially in its early days. The setting is a night club, but they clearly look after their audience. VIP seating areas with champagne hats a plenty. Their main crowd is pretty much what I would expect to see at a niche indie show like Lucha Britannia or Chikara; punks and hipsters on a night out you also get more hipsters in the ring itself. Sporting sleeve tats and ill advised beards hardly any of these guys are going to make the cover of Muscle and Fitness, but they know their crowd and know how to work. They even have one guy, Kid Gorgeous who is clearly a total hipster heel, cutting a promo on how he has tricked out his fixie in a calm moderated tone. Its in Swedish, but you get the gist. Anyone who can take the piss out of their own audience and fill a nightclub while putting it on IPPV is doing the right things. The ring work is competent if not spectacular, the outstanding performer is clearly Sjödin, she has the background and training to make things seem effortless, but there are competent aerialists with a good understanding of modern wrestling.
The work is not state of the art, but that is no bad thing. No one takes a ridiculous bump, no one is blading, in fact there is not a drop of blood in sight and the fans are a lapping it up. As Jim Cornette has said many times, when you do the big stuff it's harder to make the small stuff work. You can often tell more about a wrestling company from its fan reaction than you can from the performances in the ring, really check out Terry Funk in 70's Japan, the crowd sits their as quiet as lambs while Terry gives it his all yet he was the most over gaijin ever in Japan at the time. At a guess there are probably very few full time performers on this card and it is hard to give your all when you have work Monday morning. Much like the British performers of old, who saved the risky stuff for when they really needed to do it. The result is an old school feel and and old school response. Some top comedy, (wrestling has the international language of prat falls going for it), with some seriously scary looking heels makes for a great few hours entertainment. I am sorry I can't give you much more information but their website offers the following clues to their existence;
GBG Wrestling started in 2002 in Gothenburg darkest docklands and has since grown to become Sweden's most professional, extravagant and impressive wrestling federation. GBG Wrestling gives its audience an experience and feeling that can not be found in any form of entertainment anywhere. Good is set against evil, speed pitted against strength, cunning pitted against honor - and blood, sweat and tears are sure to flow, every time. You MUST see GBG Wrestling live to fully understand, and to fully experience the priceless feeling of being a part of the magical atmosphere created, the wrestlers and the audience together. Intrigues and conflict followed up in the ring and there is always something to make up for. Come and look, roar, cry and cheer. Today is owned and controlled GBG Wrestling unanimously by Lady Dolores, the union president.
There isn't a whole lot more to say about GBG. Just cause I can't find much on them. They clearly run professional slick and entertaining shows. So enjoy Night of Thunder. That's all till next week.
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