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Is Gallows’ Bump Card Almost Full?

Posted: Jun 17th 2021 By: C. M. Burnham

“Bump card”. For those who don’t know, it’s a term pro wrestlers use to refer to their time in the business. Envision a giant punch card like some restaurants have as a rewards offer. But instead every time you bump in the ring, you get the card punched.

When you’re a young rookie sensation starting out, that card has lots of time on it. But every year, it gets more and more full.

And if you try to convert from regular wrestling to hardcore wrestling, the bumps count for two or three times as much.

For much of his career, EPW All-American Champion Drake Gallows has been involved in matches that stretch the limits of the rules. Call them hardcore, Impact Rules, Clockwork Orange House of Fun....whatever it is, Drake has participated in them. This is a man who stood in the ring with Abyss and was able to walk out.

The past two months have shown that perhaps Gallows needs to be more aware of the time left on his bump card. At OKX, he was destroyed by his former best friend Sam Stackhouse in a Hardcore match. The anger and ferocity that built up between these two men for not just weeks, not just months, but over a year and a half spilled out much like the blood did from both of them. And while it is true that Gallows was able to walk away under his own power, that might just have been a lucky happenstance.

Just two weeks ago, Gallows took on Samedi in a “Samedi’s Sanctuary” Match. Again, Gallows found himself surrounded by weapons and multiple assailants and was not able to procure the victory, though in this instance, there would have to be some consideration of magic in the end of the match. Still, the punishment that Gallows took during that match was no illusion and again, while Gallows was able to walk away, the accumulated damage had again taken its toll.

And that’s the main issue with Gallows: he won’t take time away because he is a dual champion (technically triple, if you count titles defended outside Oklahoma) and feels a responsibility to entertain the people every week. He won’t even cut down on the number of matches he competes in, often wrestling 3 times over any given weekend while other competitors are happy to remain “once-a-month”-ers. Is this a bad thing? Perhaps it depends on the perspective. Gallows gives his fans what they want, but the expense may soon be too much.

And the two matches mentioned before are against people who are not Hardcore specialists. Stackhouse started out doing lots of that, but has been a more traditional competitor for several years. Samedi has never been known for hardcore skills. Even K. J. Everly, who Gallows faced at the UWO event last Saturday afternoon, is accustomed to using his incredible power and size against his opponents. And that was plenty to overwhelm Gallows. This was probably one of the biggest signs that Gallows’ body is trying to send a message. Everly punished Gallows so much that the referee stopped the match and declared it a TKO. In all likelihood, Gallows suffered a concussion during that match that rendered him unable to continue.

And yet he still competed later that night. And not against just any wrestler. Against one of the absolute most brutal men that Oklahoma has to offer. A man who he had faced before, but not in almost 10 years. The “Oklahoma Hardcore Legend”, Kareem Sadat. For so many years, Sadat was synonymous with hardcore wrestling in this state. If there is anything surrounding the ring and it’s not nailed down (or, in some cases, even if it is), Sadat will find a way to utilize it.

So, despite the injuries, the potential concussions, the overall wear-and-tear, Drake Gallows stepped into the ring in the main event of the BCW show last Saturday at the Rock-A-Tavern against Kareem Sadat. And as soon as Sadat arrived, the weapons started arriving in the ring: crutches, cheese graters, cookie sheets, kendo sticks, And that was just the beginning. Both men lit into each other with everything available to them. But after about 5 minutes had passed, a surprise as Scott Sanders appeared and decided that he wanted to get involved. And instead of Gallows and Sadat continuing to beat each other up, they took the opportunity to focus their attention and violence against Sanders. And that was when Gallows began round two of “What’s under the ring?” Wooden table-tops and a bowling ball were probably the biggest discoveries and Sadat scored a strike on Sanders, making him wish he could join a different league. After both men took their aggression out on Sanders and dumped him from the ring, they went back to beating each other up and it wasn’t long before Sadat delivered a piledriver to Gallows onto a pile of thumbtacks to secure the win.

Drake loves to proclaim before every match that “Drake Goes Over!” And while he certainly still walks away with many victories, the evidence suggests that he may need to consider some alternatives soon. The hardcore matches are not turning out the way he wants them to and soon his traditional matches may look the same way. He is known to be wrestling injured and that can have a long-term effect on him. Drake’s legacy is firmly established. He has nothing left to really prove. He’s wrestled all level of people in many different states and been recognised many times as the #1 competitor in this state. While there is no need to completely halt things, perhaps taking a minor step back could prolong the career. Otherwise, that bump card fills up really quickly and there’s no getting a second one.