Deathmatch Interest Thread 2 (NSFW)

[Ro_y Disco]

15 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Jack Harrop is bonkers.

I was, unfortunately, too close when he bladed his arm one time and the subsequent open wound was so gnarly I nearly threw up. 

I think about this 'incident' on a regular basis and I only saw it on my telly. Cannot imagine seeing that live. 

[waters44]

It’s July 2018, the day of England’s World Cup quarter final against Sweden, and I wake up throwing up. My wife thought I had a bad hangover so went out for the day and let me wallow and suffer the consequences of my self inflicted trauma. Turns out I wasn’t hungover at all, I had a really bad infection that peaked on that Saturday and I’m in a bad way

I spend the afternoon hallucinating that I’m actually at the England game. It feels so real but so unreal all at the same time. It was a feeling I had never felt before or since…. until today.

Ive just watched CZW TOD 22 and I feel like I’ve just been on a massive trip. A crazy fever dream.

I think I saw a shark take a light tube to the dorsal fin? 

I need some time

[Merzbow]

Some very shameless self promotion here but I'm putting on another gig in Coventry in November with this one having a deathmatch slant to it, each act will have different matches being shown. I'm still waiting on a headline act but it'll be a hardcore punk band either way.

[waters44]

Capitol Sports Promotions
18th July 1987
WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship 
Carlos Colon vs Hercules Ayala
Texas Deathmatch

I’m still enjoying GCW and Big Japan but other current stuff isn’t turning me on at the moment. I’m increasingly finding myself looking backwards and falling down YouTube rabbit holes. 

Capitol Sports Promotions (later known as World Wrestling Council) from Puerto Rico keep coming up and this match has been one of the highlights!

The match takes place in what looks like a big stadium as the action starts outside the ring on a sports field! The two are hitting each other with hard strikes and immediately get a big wooden table involved. They use the table as a weapon and at one point Ayala is choking Colon with the edge of this table which looks extremely uncomfortable! 

They eventually get into the ring and the pace starts to slow. Both are bleeding and they actually start some technical wrestling with Ayala working over the legs and Colon doing a great sell job

There’s a few rest holds then Ayala ends up on the outside and is handed some brass knuckles by his mate at ringside. He hides them and when the opportunity appears he strikes - BAM! Colon is floored and the crowd are going insane

When we get a closer look at Colon we can see that he is gushing. This now becomes a bloodbath. Colon is selling like an absolute champ and blood is dripping all over the place. He manages to get some offence in but he’s fighting an uphill battle and Ayala just keeps getting him down. 

A doctor rushes to the ring and there is real concern for Colon. There’s not one person in the crowd sitting down. The punishment for Colon continues and he just cant fight anymore. He’s lying in a pool of his own blood and Ayala is just stomping him in the head. Colon’s body reacts initially but after a while Ayala is just stomping a lifeless body. 

The doctor has seen enough and calls it off. The ref, who himself is covered in Colon’s blood, has no choice but to follow the Doctors orders and ends the war. Colon is done, Ayala is the new champ. 

The match had English commentary - if anyone knows any more about how / where this aired, or any of the background, I’d love to hear it. I had a 60 disc set of WWC when I was trading and I threw it all away, what an idiot!
 

 

Edited October 26, 2025 by waters44

[Richie Freebird]

Warning: This review contains NSFW imagery. Please click away now, unless you are in  a comfortable and appropriate setting to proceed...

Ladies and gentlemen, its time once again to descend into the middle of nowhere, the sticks, the woods of the North American the Deep South. Its time to enter the dingy bowels of McKenzie Tennessee to join the infamous deathmatch dealers of IWA Deep South. Yes, its Carnage Cup 15. The 15th such dirty tournament over a 20 year period. It really looks like a bit more effort has been put into this show when compared to recent previous outings. We have a Jerry rigged (likely stolen) lamp post. This represents an improvement over previous years where car headlights have been used to light up the ring after darkness falls in the forest. The audio and video quality look to be improved, camera work feels (slightly) less amateur too...

Kris Kloss and Captain York Terry were on hand for commentary duties, and this also felt like a bit step up. As much as I love Larry Legend's energy as a ring announcer, having him and Terry on full commentary duties sometimes wore a bit thin with the constant attempts to out-vulgar each other, sometimes at the expense of telling the story of the matches . Kloss' style, whilst still acknowledging the grimy nature of the event, did bring a feel of improved professionalism. The two working together felt a little like the classic era of CZW when we had Eric Gargiulo and John House calling the action. But I digress.... the show opened (rather awesomely I might add) to Hendrix's guitar solo rendition of Star Spangled Banner, as the camera panned around the sparsely populated theatre of profanity. And with that, we were underway. 

Match One - billed as the "Land and Sea Deathmatch" (which actually amounted to very little, thematically). Last year's winner and my current favourite deathmatch wrestler Lil Sicko took on first timer Shaun Carpenter and Bobby V in a 3 way match. The rules in these first round 3 ways are that only the bloke that takes the pin is eliminated. Both of the others go through. The fight started with some beautiful early 2000s indy chain wrestling between Sicko and Carpenter. That's something which stands out with Sicko. He can mat wrestle more than competently, he can fly high, and he will sure as hell eat some nasty sharp shit in the name of entertaining the degenerates that attend these things. 

Bobby V (in a rather fetching red leather waist coat and sea captain style hat during his entrance routine) jumped in to spoil the party and get the weaponry flowing with some heelish antics. After beating up whipping boy Carpenter for a minute, Sicko planted V with a crisp as you like reverse-rana. The sick one followed up with a forehead bite, to which York Terry proclaimed "you don't want to get bit by a clown, that's the fastest way to catch Juggalitis". Well, I laughed anyway... 

Drawing pins came out and a few highlight-reel bumps ensued. Top rope (nobody home) back senton, pile driver (leaving V's head looking like a pin cushion on its period) and then, finally Shaun Carpenter got hoisted up for the electric chair drop driver, headfirst onto the pins. With a handful of tights, Bobby V got the win, sending himself and Sicko into the next round. Lovely opener here. Nice mixture of styles with sufficient story and emotion. Lil Sicko showed respect to Shaun after the bell, as we were treated to some nice double features. Production was way better on this show. I love how they style the graphic after the Faces of Death logos.  

You know IWA is going up in the world when you see the ring crew tidying up drawing pins with a leaf blower between matches. Some thought had gone into this lot, ha ha. 

Match Two. 4 Corners of Pain. Kenji Fukimoto vs Sid Fabulous vs Kato w/ his goth bird Naomi Nightmare. Fukimoto had just landed in Tennessee the previous night. Its crazy to imagine human beings travelling half way around the world for a mudshow like this, but here we are. The commentators rather proudly stated that there were folk from Canada, Mexico, Japan, Russia and Finland and elsewhere in attendance. The mind boggles. 

Anyway, the match. Oh this was a belter. Gusset plates and gusset plate bats were out early on, carving up anatomy left and right. Sid Fabulous (looking ever so early 2000s indy deathmatch CAW) took some gusset action to his pretty face in the early going. Fukimoto hadn't come to Fukabout and started wanging glass around and even voluntarily ate some light tubes for the fun of it. The commentary drifted uncomfortably close to the edge of causal racism when proclaiming that Fukimoto "thinks its a sushi roll" as he chomped on the poison mercury tainted shards. 

The madness spilled to the outside and a highlight occurred when Kato got powerbombed on a mousetrap board setup over chairs. Sid also took a corker through a carpet strip "shark cage" via double vertical suplex. He looked in genuine pain as the tiny nails slashed his back into next week. This was a cool visual but nothing compared to the brutality of what came next. A staple remover board. Read that again gentlemen. I've never seen that one before. You know the claw style staple removers with massive solid spikes that you'd see back at school for updating them green furry notice boards? Yeah, them. Strapped to a board. Poor old Fabulous took a Russian leg sweep onto the sinister spikes and man, it fucked him up. One stuck into him deep and the rest tore further chunks out of what was left of his back. Stupid bump for a throw away spot man. That should be a tournament finisher. 

A paddling pool of Christmas baubles was produced next, and we had the classic tower of doom / powerbomb and superplex combo spot from the top into the baubles with Sid-Fab at the hairy end. "Shades of Macaulay Culkin" is not a call I thought I'd be hearing tonight. The doom spot wasn't enough to close the show however, so madman Fukimoto re-filled the paddling pool with light tubes and sent Kato half way to hell with a piledriver into the fuckery. 1,2,3. Fabulous and Fukimoto advance. Excellent match. Mad fun from the off, and a definite escalation in insanity from the fist match. Very happy with this show so far. 

I forgot how long these things take me, so I probably wont cover all of the matches (the entire show over 2 days amounts to something like 7 hours). But I will likely chuck a couple more highlights in if real life permits. Many thanks for reading my friends. Have a great day. 

Edited November 13, 2025 by Richie Freebird

[Richie Freebird]

Match 3 and we're in for a wild one, fans. Its the "Home Run Derby" match. Those familiar with this stipulation will remember that it involves fork bats, drawing pin bats, light tube water jug on a stick bats, bottle cap bats, fruit bats, vampire bats, Michael Keaton's Batman, Everything Bat The Girl and everything else you can think of. The combatants here were Buddy Badock, the Deathmatch Genie Satu Jinn (who came out to System of a Down's 1998 nu-metal belter "Sugar") and the legendary Necro Butcher. 

Necro must be the only guy that is still turning up to these things from the very first IWA Deep South tournament back in 2005. Maybe Mickie Knuckles could lay a similar claim, and I believe Drake younger has made a comeback to the scene recently after some personal struggles, but Necro is an absolute miracle of human longevity. Who would have considered in 2005 that Necro would even be alive, 20 years into the future? Never mind still rolling out to give (and take) unhealthy beastings at filth shows such as this. The fans were in awe of the legend and a moment was shared with one particular faithful who'd brought a banner commemorating the godfather of this bizarre little niche. 

The first 5 minutes of the match were like a slow motion 80s territory brawl, with big men Necro and Badcock exchanging holds and strikes. This served as a nice little build to the profanity that was yet to come. Jinn was the first to dig out the plunder with a cassette tape bat. Lord knows what kind of redneck trash was on those tapes. Jinn then also produced this terrifyingly massive blade weapon with tonnes of small, very sharp, small teeth. All he had to do was lightly touch the serrated edge on Badcock's head and the blood was leaking instantly. Badcock then took the blade in the Chelsea smile position and thankfully escaped with his cheeks mostly in tact....

The wild brawl spilled around the clearing in the trees, with Necro deciding to hoist up a massive drink cooler which looked like it belonged to a merch vendor. The legend hoisted the whole thing up an launched it at Jinn, spilling cans, bottles and a polar continent's worth of ice all over the opposition and the grass. The guy whose merchandise this was looked quite dejected and saddened to see his weekend's takings pissed away into the mud. Necro then took a very large, heavy board square in the forehead, which had me wincing. You know that white flash of almost being knocked out when you get hit hard in the head? My mind gave me that impression, watching this spot. That shit looked like a concussion on its own, and that was just one whack, in a very whacky match. Necro seemed to be determined that nobody would drink cold beer this weekend as he unloaded a fan's cooler all over the floor and stole a couple of beers, which he charitably shared with Satu Jinn. 

Whilst all of this madness was unfolding, Badcock had acquired a syringe bat, and was busy "un-corking" the safety covers from the syringe needles. A few light tube shots were shared and by this point all 3 men were loosing claret at pace. Genie Jinn and big boy Badcock got back into the ring, but when Buddy attempted a top rope spot, Jinn got hold of the needle bat and crowned him with it as he sat dazed on the turnbuckle. Jinn then hoisted his man into a Samoan drop / DVD type move from the top, which was enough to score the win. Necro and Satu advance, thanks for coming Buddy Badcock. This one was absolutely brilliant. Brilliant I tell you. Sloppy at times, but creative and fun as hell. 

Match 4. Cabin in the Woods match. Those familiar with this stipulation will know, this match is all about the glass tube and carpet strip cabins. The wrestlers in this one were Tommy Trainwreck, the face painted dope smoker Tarzan Duran, and the IWA Deep South reigning heavyweight champion, the suicidal beast Bryant Woods. 

These lads wasted zero time as glass took flight in all kinds of directions. Duran took several big bumps in the early going including an overhead belly to belly whilst amazingly still keeping his blunt lit, smoking, and held in his mouth. I've seen Duran do this gimmick many times and I always find it impressive how he manages to maintain the position of his chonger whilst being tossed asunder. 

Chairs, light tubes, water jug bats and other violent crap were being used on the outside, and all 3 men took a trip through an impressively assembled log cabin of carpet strips and tubes when Bryant Woods came flying over the ropes. Woods then literally took a fan's prosthetic leg and used as a weapon against Duran. I'd spotted the fan sitting in the woods earlier and somehow knew that his leg would become involved in the action at some point. For one moment, Bryant became a 3 legged man in an arse kicking contest...

Necro had stayed out with the fans on the camping chairs for this one (still covered in dried blood and gore) and was casually drinking a massive litre bottle of Jack Daniels, which he shared with Tarzan as the brawling crawled around the woods. Again, I don't know how Necro does it. He's always drinking huge amounts when on tour, those who have him as a friend on soicals will attest to that. The guy seems indestructible, but then again, so did Lemmy Kilmister.

Back in the battered squared circle and Tarzan set fire to a tomahawk and brandished it towards Trainwreck. Thankfully the flames went out and I think Tommy avoided a painful slice / branding. The fire theatrics weren't over though and Duran blazed up another joint which he offered to Woods. Bryant accepted, but it was all a ruse. From the distraction, Tarzan lit up some massive bit of wood (looked like a giant bone but assume it was originally a tree branch) and spat a massive fireball at the champion. This looked totally mental. No cover attempted. Deathmatch logic baby.

After some twatting about on the outside with a masked clown goth (apparently Lil Sicko's manager) threatening to steal the title belt, the champ got hoisted up into a doomsday device, with Duran and Tommy working together to eliminate the champion and one of the favourites for the crown here. The commentators botched the finish by first calling a kick out, but later realising it was the 3. Some memorable and fun spots again in this one. Fire breathing and fake legs will live long in the memory of this goreghound junkie.  

Thanks for reading again, old friends. I'm having a great time watching this madness. Its already better than this year's CZW ToD. 

Edited November 14, 2025 by Richie Freebird

[CTXRussomark]

I love your reviews Richie but more than ever I'm left wondering who these shows are actually for anymore.  From the pictures there looks to be about 25 people in attendance and I can't imagine there's a massive market of people streaming it or buying the DVD.  Like what's the actual business model thesedays?  I remember the old CZW TOD's from the early 2000's being very well attended and being big on the tape trading scene, but now I struggle to understand how they're even covering the cost of the barbed wire and light tubes, let alone paying the talent or making a profit. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Necro Butcher looks like necrosis has set in, fittingly enough.

[Dai]

You can go back to Carnage Cups from the early days, when TOD was at its peak, and there would be no one at their shows, and theyd have a bulk of the same guys as CZW was using, only with about 50 people there. Plenty of class Carnage Cups near the beginning too. 

For Deep South in particular, they always had the one money mark who would bankroll the entire show. I haven't watched aa Carnage Cup for ages but I assume he's still there. 

On a broader point that you've made, about who it's for, these days more than ever I'd say the answer is it's for the people taking part. Most probably don't get paid, and more than likely get the weapons themselves, or rely on a handful of whales who pay the cash so that they can see them being used. Now more than ever it's easy to rinse fans for donations. 

Edited November 14, 2025 by Dai

[Richie Freebird]

I think Dai has the nail on the head here. The Carnage Cup seems to be a one man vanity project rather than any kind of attempt at a business model. Crowd wise, it has always been a very minimalist affair. You can't even really say that it has dwindled that much, as there have always been probably 150-200 (max) people turning up. With all of the travel, setup and gimmicks, the event is 100% a money pit. 

For one of the previous shows, there were no advertised ticket sales or links anywhere and the commentators kept joking about nobody knowing where they were. There was a show out in the woods somewhere last year where the police turned up and looked like they were asking for it to be shut down (though after a prolonged, confusing break in the action, the police disappeared and the trucks were re-unloaded for the show to continue). 

The ToD shows still pull a few hundred and get a bit of passing coverage on socials, though somehow I am more drawn to IWA than CZW these days. It just seems to be stuck in a time-warp. The dress codes, the music, the atmosphere, the vulgarity. It still seems to be playing to that nu-metal teen rebellion which has long since passed in the mainstream. It has become a tradition of morbid curiosity. It amazes me that it still happens at all, but I'm very glad that it does.

As for the review, my geriatric computer evidently can't cope with downloading a 3+ hour show, and has cut out after match 4. Therefore I've had to move to a poor quality Russian stream to complete day 1. So if I do get time to cover the rest of the first day with pictures, I ask that you please excuse the noticeably diminished quality.
 

[waters44]

I watched the show a few weeks ago and I’ve been waiting for your review Richie! Absolutely loving it so far, thank you

I won’t go into any details because you’re the Carnage Cup King, but I’m looking forward to your review of the main event of night 1. Considering it’s an extremely small, niche show in a wood somewhere what they managed to achieve looked great. Let’s just say an infamous AEW PPV main event should take some notes

[Wretch]

ToD is coming our way next year. I was super into deathmatches as a daft teen when CZW was the king of the indies, but I’ve not watched any for nigh on twenty years and know nothing about the current lads or groups. Is there a deathmatch scene over here?

I am tempted by this.
 

“TNT Extreme Wrestling and CZW are joining forces in 2026.

Combat Zone Wrestling’s huge annual deathmatch tournament is coming to the United Kingdom for Tournament Of Death UK. This is said to be “the most violent night in British wrestling history”. No date has been announced as of yet.

More information will be coming soon.”

[Merzbow]

6 hours ago, Wretch said:

Is there a deathmatch scene over here?

Yeah there's a couple of companies doing it here and few UK guys are used regularly in the US, Mickie Knuckles was just over wrestling in Derby for Kumite, too.

[waters44]

I’m well up for that UK ToD! I’ll be there. Only problem I’ve got is I’ll have to convince my wife I’m having an affair, that will go down better than telling here I’m going to a deathmatch tournament 

[NeverYield]

Fucking hell I'm up for that as well