The Accession of Blake Christian

The Rise of What Could Be The Next Big Thing

I am going to be 100% honest. Before January 23rd of this year I had no idea who Blake Christian was. I started seeing his name pop up on certain GCW and Warrior Wrestling cards late last year, but honestly did not know a thing about him. I did not know that in his first two years of his career he made enough headway that he grabbed the attention of Brett Lauderdale of GCW, and Scott D’Amore of IMPACT, and was brought into both locker rooms. Hell, I didn’t even know that Christian was Trey Baxter from NXT!  I remember watching his debut match against KUSIDA, and thought it was great, but I completely lost track of him during the disappointing Breakout Tournament.This is certainly not on him, no I take full blame. However, I can tell you that after January 23rd 2022 I for damn sure know who Blake Christian is.

You see January 23rd 2022 was the biggest card, in front of the biggest crowd GCW has ever done, The Wrld on GCW from the Hammerstein Ballroom. This was GCW’s opportunity to establish themselves amongst the truly prestigious and renowned independent promotions in the United States. Top the bottom the card was perfect for a GCW show. It had everything from the Kickoff Battle Royal, and Scrambles, to an insane lucha trios match, two great angle matches  with Matt Cardona taking on the second face of GCW Joey Janela and also the return of Jeff Jarrett taking on Effy. The show included Jon Moxley, Lio Rush, Ruby Soho, Allie Katch, The Briscoe Brothers, and so many more. It also had the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship match of the champion Jonathan Gresham versus Blake Christian.

Again, I did not know anything of Blake, I did know a considerable amount about Gresham though. I have been following him from afar since he first started showing up in Pro Wrestling Gorilla. I figured if GCW and ROH at the time thought Christian certainly should be someone of certain significance. Unfortunately Gresham was unable to attend the event due to illness, so the Championship would not be defended. That did not mean that Blake did not have a match though. Through some last minute efforts, Christian had a match against a top performer not only for the promotion, but considered to be one of the best in the world in Lio Rush. 

During the match I became instantly inthralld with Blake. Not only was he keeping up with Rush (who was having a significant resurgence himself), in speed and moveset, but he was even outperforming him! Blake impressed me with not only his high flying ability, but his ability to go strong, and also mat wrestle in a way that was more than impressive. The match against Rush was everything that I love about the current wrestling product. I was invested from the ring of the bell, and was truly blown away. For GCW to go out and build a card to take the promotion to the next level, and have every wrestler put on their best match in order to do so; Christian, in my opinion, had the match of the night.

Blake put the wrestling world on notice that night, and I was not the only one to take notice. Christian was called in, along with Wheeler Yuta, to replace Davey Richards and Jonathan Gresham in one of the premiere United States  independent tournaments, PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA). On night one, both wrestlers showed the intense PWG crowd everything they had.  In the end, Yuta moved forward into the tournament, but Blake’s weekend was not done. Night two, provided Blake the ability to continue to show off his prowess, this time in an eight-man tag which included the likes of JONAH, Kevin Blackwood, Rey Horus, Bandido, Jack Cartwheel, JD Drake, and Lee Moriarty. In a night where Daniel Garcia received all the headlines for winning the tournament, Christian received all the notoriety for this:

Blake Christian’s star has continued to grow bigger and stronger since The Wrld, and BOLA. He is being consistently booked throughout the country.  He is a regular for New Japan Pro Wrestling American outlet, New Japan Strong. A constant upper card standout for GCW, facing the likes of Minoru Suzuki. He had an allstar performance during Wrestlemania Weekend where he killed it at Joey Janela’s Spring Break Part 1, and also been used by AEW and IMPACT once again. Plus, he just had an insane match for The Wrestling Revolver last weekend against Trey Miguel, Ace Austin, and Lince Dorado. 

So that leaves us to the present, Warrior Wrestling XXI this Saturday night, from Bendix Arena, in South Bend Indiana. This Saturday, Blake will be going up against a more senior version of himself, in Will Ospreay for the Warrior Wrestling Championship. What I see in Blake is something similar as to what I was seeing out of Ospreay five to six years ago. A young, hyper athletic kid, who can practically do anything in the ring that one would ask for. I am truly excited about what both of these wrestlers can do, and this is  a match that will be GIF’d to high heaven, and remembered as a true turning point in Blake Chirstian’s career

Warrior Wrestling XXI

Saturday, April 23rd 2022 8/7PM Central

Bendix Arena, South Bend, Indiana

• Warrior Wrestling Championship:
  •  Blake Christian vs. Will Ospreay (c.)
• Triple Threat Match for the vacant Warrior Wrestling Women’s Championship: 
  • Athena vs. Skye Blue vs. Shazza McKenzie
• Singles Match:
  • Swerve Strickland vs. Adam Brooks
• New Japan Strong LA  Dojo Showcase:
  • Karl Fredricks vs. Clark Connors
• Warrior Wrestling Lucha Championship:
  • Sam Adonis (c.) vs. Aramis
• Singles Match
  • Alex Zayne vs. Storm Grayson
• Tag Team Match: 
  • Top Flight vs. Brian Cage & KC Navarro
• With Appearances by:
  • Frank the Clown and Thunder Rosa

Now obviously the match to be on lookout for is Ospreay and Christian, why would I write this if it wasn’t.  Ospreay coming off the great match from NJPW Windy City Riot (watch here) against Mox only has us all buzzing about him again going up against a younger version of himself. I am also really excited about the Women’s Championship match as Athena, Skye Blue, and Shazza McKenzie are all incredible wrestlers. Swerve is absolutely killing it right since he is back on the independent scene and in AEW, and how can we not want to see Top Flight in action. This is a killer card, with a ton of potential. Click here to watch it!