Professional wrestling has maintained its level of popularity through history because it offers something for every fan on their shows. Promotions like Ring of Honor provide a focus on pure wrestling while WWE provides family-friendly content and AEW has been able to cater to an older demographic. By providing variety on their shows, wrestling promotions are able to hold on to their audiences by giving them what they want. Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) caters to an ultra-violent segment of the audience, who appreciates seeing violence and bloodshed in their matches.

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In order to corner the market, GCW's matches feature an above-average amount of violence and weapons, but they have also found a way to incorporate mixed-martial-arts into their shows. GCW's Bloodsport events began in 2018, with Matt Riddle's Bloodsport, followed by what is now known as Josh Barnett's Bloodsport. With matches being contested in a no-rope wrestling ring which can only be won by knockout or submission. This unique atmosphere gives off a "real fight" feel and is something that must be seen to be believed. Many wrestlers have walked into Bloodsport that the average fan would not believe.

10 Nick Gage Vs Timothy Thatcher

Nick Gage in AEW Cropped

Nick Gage was introduced to national wrestling fans through AEW when MJF brought him in as the second "Labour of Jericho". While he was sold to fans as a deathmatch expert, there is little way to prepare for how violent Nick Gage can be. As a legitimately tough man, Gage brings realism to his matches that cannot be fake.

On the other hand, Timothy Thatcher has made waves for himself in NXT for his realistic Fight Pit style matches. Putting these two wrestlers together in a traditional wrestling match would not mesh well together, but Bloodsport's environment made perfect sense. At Bloodsport 1, Gage defeated Thatcher by TKO, which only served to showcase what this unique environment would be all about.

9 Minoru Suzuki Vs Matt Riddle

Matt Riddle pointing

While WWE's version of Matt Riddle is a lovable goofball, he was once a well-known MMA wrestler with legitimate fighting ability. Riddle's WWE work has been well-received by fans, but the idea of him being a threatening force due to his wrestling skills has been lost. Thankfully GCW was able to capture that, and the very first Bloodsport had Riddle's name at the top of the card.

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Riddle's first and only Bloodsport encounter was against Minoru Suzuki, who was introduced to North American wrestling fans at AEW All Out 2021. However, fans of New Japan Pro Wrestling prior too this would recognize him from being one of the most dangerous wrestlers on the roster. With a legitimate shoot fighting background himself, he submitted Riddle in the main event of his own show.

8 Davey Boy Smith Jr. Vs Killer Kross

Karrion Kross

With all the WWE roster cuts that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were some very head-scratching names that were let go who showed great promise. One of the most surprising was Karrion Kross, who was enjoyed a great run as NXT Champion and looked poised for a big run prior to joining the main roster. Part of this promise came from him looking like a legitimate threat in the ring.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. is someone who also enjoyed success in WWE in the tag team division, but was let go from his second chance with the company in 2021. These two would meet prior to their most recent WWE stints at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport in 2019, and would be able to showcase what they were really capable of. Looking at both of them in WWE, fans would not think they would fit in this environment, but they proved that they were.

7 Masashi Takeda Vs Jonathan Gresham

Jonathan-Gresham
Portrait of Jonathan Gresham

Pure wrestling and Bloodsport do end up going hand-in-hand as the technical nature of wrestling works very well in this environment. When it comes to pure wrestling, there are very few wrestlers who are better in the current game than Jonathan Gresham. Gresham debuted at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport in 2019, and fans were excited to see what he could do in this serious atmosphere.

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Unfortunately for Gresham, his first and only Bloodsport outing ended in the very first knockout in the event's history. Masashi Takeda knocked him out after seven minutes. While the loss did not lessen Gresham's skill set in any way, he is certainly more suited for a match with ring ropes.

6 Frank Mir Vs Dan Severn

Frank Mir at a weigh in
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While the UFC and WWE have crossed paths before, Bloodsport provides the opportunity for a true link due to the real-fight atmosphere. Never have two former UFC Champions tangled in a professional wrestling match on a big stage, but one of the big matches of Josh Barnett's Bloodsport offered exactly that.

Frank Mir is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and Dan Severn is a highly decorated MMA fighter and a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Both clashed with Mir coming out on top in less than four minutes, and Mir has continued on a professional wrestling career ever since.

5 Anthony Carelli Vs Simon Grimm

Santino Marella

Santino Marella was very successful with his WWE comedy gimmick, but it overshadowed his legitimate fighting and Judo background. Outside of WWE, Anthony Carelli has great wrestling and striking abilities, even when he is not wearing a green sock on his hand.

Simon Grimm had a short stint in WWE as Simon Gotch in one of NXT's early tag teams, The Vaudevillains. This match ended up being one of the best for each of these wrestlers in recent memory, as it allowed them to showcase their toughness in a setting that WWE did not allow during their stints.

4 Killer Kross Vs Nick Gage

Killer-Kross

The national wrestling world saw what both Killer Kross and Nick Gage were capable of when they joined WWE and AEW respectively, but it was not the versions that GCW fans were exposed to during Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 2. Bloodsport's environment allows wrestlers to show off their shoot fighting skills, which is exactly what these two monsters did.

Kross was able to make quick work of Gage in just over three minutes at Bloodsport 2 by submitting him with a rear naked choke. By this point, it became clear to fans that Kross was someone special and could make waves in the industry if given the opportunity.

3 Sumie Sakai Vs Lindsay Snow

Sumie-Sakai

During Bloodsport 3, a women's tournament began to showcase female wrestlers in the shoot fighting environment. Many brave women entered the tournament, but the finals came down to Sumie Sakai and Lindsay Snow after several matches.

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Lindsay Snow would be crowned the winner of the tournament after winning two matches that night. Female matches would become a fixture of Bloodsport events going forward, and would ultimately become some of the most exciting matches on the card.

2 Allysin Kay Vs Masha Slamovich

Allysin Kay posing

Given the unique nature of Bloodsport, matches do not end by way of pinfall. Bloodsport contests can only through submission, knockout or by referee stopage. Throughout the first five events, matches had only ended by submission or knockout, and the matches had been fairly back-and-forth encounters.

The first time a referee had to become involved in order to stop further damage to someone's opponent was between Allysin Kay and Masha Slamovich. In order to protect Slamovich to for experiencing further harm from Kay, the referee had to step in and stop the match from continuing.

1 Chavo Guerrero Jr. Vs Rocky Romero

Chavo-Guerrero

Bloodsport events prominetly feature independent wrestlers who are seeking to make a name for themselves in the shoot fighting realm. However, since the events have began to gain some serious momentum for GCW, more established names started to participate in the events.

Bloodsport 6 featured former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero Jr. in his first encounter with GCW defeated Japan veteran Rocky Romero. Chavo is not known for is shoot fighting skills, but the unique nature of Bloodsport brought him out of the wood work.