WWE legend Val Venis tops entertaining GLCW event
By Mike Pankow
April 6, 2021
The fans were at the edge of their seats, awaiting a familiar refrain.
“Hellllllooooo, ladies …”
WWE legend Val Venis delivered his signature catchphrase before his main event match against Ohio Valley Wrestling Champion Luscious Lawrence at the appropriately-titled Great Lakes Championship Wrestling event, “The Big Valbowski” on March 26 in Cedarburg, Wis., north of Milwaukee.
Val Venis, right, is held by Luscious Lawrence as Hollyhood Haley J attempts to interfere in the main event of the GLCW’s “The Big Valbowski” in Cedarburg, Wis., on March 26, 2021. (Photo by Mike Pankow)
Venis, whose wrestling pinnacle came during WWE’s Attitude Era in the late 1990s and early 2000s, wore his towel but competed in white cargo shorts and t-shirt. But his ring attire didn’t really matter as he brought a hard-hitting match against Lawrence, a School of Morton alumnus, a rising star in OVW and a native of Chicago’s south suburbs.
After Lawrence’s second, OVW Women’s Champion Hollyhood Haley J, attempted to interfere, local favorite Sierra came out to avenge her nefarious loss earlier in the evening and neutralize Haley. Venis followed with an uranage on Lawrence to get the 3-count to a roar of approval.
Following the match, Venis cut an impassioned promo to thank the fans and send them home happy. Venis also worked the next night in Merrill, Wis., to round out GLCW’s two-stop weekend.
There were five other matches on the show in Cedarburg, including Backwoods Brown’s successful retention of the GLCW Championship in a victory over Joey “Jet” Avalon. In another hard-hitting match, Brown pulled out the victory after it seemed that Avalon was on the verge of ending the champions’ 14-month reign.
The burly Chicago native took advantage of some interference from his second, Val Malone, to secure the win, following a Bossman slam.
The younger generation shined in a six-man tag team match as the second-generation trio of Kal Herro, Jordan Kross and Gavin McCoy defeated the GLCW Tag Team Champions “The Express,” Ryan Kross and Dr. Jeff Luxon and their partner, Koda Jacobs. The veterans dominated the middle of the match before the youngsters turned the tables. Jordan Kross got the pin on Luxon for the win.
GLCW Champion Backwoods Brown unleashes a leg drop on Joey “Jet” Avalon during their championship match at “The Big Valbowski.” (Photo by Mike Pankow)
In the first half of the night, Lou Zhuur, ironically earned the victory over Perfection and “One Man Dynasty” Darius Latrell a triple-threat elimination match. Perfection used sneaky tactics to get the 6-foot-8 Latrell, a former UIC basketball player, counted out of the ring to make it a 1-on-1 match. Zhuur, a Milwaukee native, with a little help from Latrell, got the best of the cocky Perfection with an Unprettier to win the match.
Next up, Redus the Body and his 65-year-old manager Angel Armani defeated TW3 in a 2-on-1 handicap match. It started out as Redus vs. TW3 in a regular bout, but in the early going, Armani stuck his nose into the contest, grabbing TW3. TW3 took the microphone and pleaded with Armani to get into the ring and compete. Armani finally obliged and the match was restarted. The double-teaming and dirty tactics of Redus and Armani were too much for TW3, who took a backslide pin from Redus.
In the final match before intermission, Hollywood Haley J retained the OVW Women’s Championship by defeating Sierra after hitting her with a foreign object, while Lawrence distracted the referee, and getting the pin.
The pair of OVW Champions appearing continued a string of appearances of wrestlers from the Louisville-based territory ran by WWE legend Al Snow, who has a close relationship with GLCW promoter David Herro.
GLCW finished the weekend with the Merrill show on March 27 as Venis defeated Avalon in that main event. The show also saw Brock Hall defeat Shane Black, Lou Zhuur won a four-way match over Rylie Jackson, Brandon Nytroe, and The Wanderer, Ragnar defeated Perfection, Hollywood Haley J beat Koda Jacobs in an intergender match, and Kal Herro, Jordan Kross and Kyle Pro got the best of Redus, Lawrence, and Ryan Kross (with Angel Armani and Hollywood Haley J).
GLCW returns to Cedarburg on Saturday night, May 8 with “Too Sweet 2” with former WCW and WWE star Buff Bagwell as the special guest. The main event will feature IMPACT Wrestling/AAW Pro star Rohit Raju (aka Hakim Zane) against Ruff Crossing, GLCW Champion Backwoods Brown defends against Jake Something, plus Vic Capri and Marshe Rockett are also advertised.
Special thanks to David Herro and Jordan Kross for their hospitality and assistance.
For a gallery of over 100 photos from the event, click here: https://www.windycityslam.com/glcw-big-valbowski-photos.
Catch Windy City Slam editor Mike Pankow talking local and national pro wrestling every week with Chris Lanuti on The Windy City Slam Podcast. Episodes drop early Tuesday morning wherever you download podcasts or at https://windycityslam.podbean.com/.
We are looking for guests to appear on future episodes of the Windy City Slam Podcast! Please contact Mike at mikepankow@windycityslam.com, message him on Facebook or DM him on Twitter.
