ICW – No Hold Barred Pit Fighter 7 at Budz on Boardwalk, Showboat in Atlantic City, New Jersey
On a night where Smackdown! was happening and there were scattered
indy shows of varying import happening, ICW took center stage in the wrestling
world with the first of four matches happening on the Budz on Boardwalk
celebration happening this weekend.
Every seat looked full to me, with various hardcore fans
standing throughout the event. This was
a Pit Fighter show, meaning there would be an MMA style cage around. The floor is just that…a floor. Bumping isn’t advised. But done anyway, of course. Blood is the coin of the realm, and wrestlers
often end up with a wealth of riches.
Glass isn’t used in these Pit Fighter shows, neither the glass sheets or
the infamous light tubes. But other
things are in huge supply, included here with a description for the to now
uniformed:
Doors. Instead of tables,
doors abound. Often covered
with…something, perhaps barbed wire, cut cans, carpet strips or gusset plates.
What are gusset plates?
They are metal flat squares covered with small spikes. The design is to attach wood together. In the Deathmatch world gussets are there to
get blood in a quick and brutal fashion.
Deathmatch kings can be identified by gusset hole scars on their upper
arms like you can identify crimson mask pro wrestlers back in the day by their scarred
foreheads or grappling MMA fighters by their cauliflowered ears.
IWTV (Independent Wrestling Television) online covers the
events, and ICW are amongst the most popular things they air. ICW boasts one of the best commentary teams
anywhere, Ron Niemi and The Struggle. Ron
Niemi not there for commentary because he just closed on his house and was
moving. Revolving door of people
commentating with The Struggles, with Reverend Dan and SHLAK taking on duties
for a few matches each and Brandon Kirk for one.
ICW boasts the best ring announcer anywhere in Larry Legend. That isn’t hyperbole, that isn’t
overstating. He’s the best. And he was in a resplendent green suit. Danny Demato, the owner, growled his intro to
set things off, handed the mic to Larry Legend, and away we went!
SHLAK defeats Dan Maff by referee stoppage from
SHLAK smothering Maff with a plastic bag.
For the uniformed, starting the show with this match between the
two war machines Dan Maff and SHLAK was the Deathmatch equivalent of opening a
show with The Juggernaut and Doomsday. Except
with more blood.
They started off exchanging wicked chair shots. They let you know that the only feeling out
process with No Holds Barred, ICW and Pit Fighter was the feeling of raw,
exposed nerves being abused. A door was
quickly splintered with Dan Maff’s Ram Man-like body. Piece of the shattered door were used by
SHLAK to open up a cut on Maff’s head.
Both men were soon bleeding…and they took the fight out of the
Pit cage and into the crowd. COVID was
officially killed on this night as far as the once super-cautious state of
Jersey was concerned. The legendary
manager Jeff G. Bailey and his wife bailed out of their chairs as Dan Maff was
tossed into the crowd, knocking over chairs and giving the proper feeling of
mayhem from the first match.
Maff took control once they re-entered the pit, cannonballing
his huge frame into the cage door and crushing SHLAK between the door and the
cage frame. The Struggle and Reverend
Dan put over the prize fight aspect of the Pit Fights, and it was clear these
guys WERE fighting like men possessed.
SHLAK picked a strategy of a sort when he started working on Dan’s right
leg with a chair. Dan countered with a
testicular claw, and the groans from both SHLAK and the sympathetic crowd
reverberated.
SHLAK speared Maff through a door leaning against the chain
link. Dan managed to kick out. A pile of chairs and broken door became the
focus. SHLAK gripped Dan’s throat in
both hands, lifted him(!) and chokeslammed him onto the plunder pile. But Dan kicked out! But it was the last of his strength. SHLAK took a plastic bag and suffocated the
valiant Maff, and the referee wisely stopped the match and awarded it to
SHLAK. And in one match, Dan Maff and SHLAK
managed to have more brutality and urgency and spectacle than the entire Hell
in a Cell pay-per-view. Hell wasn’t in a
pretty red cage in the Thunderdome, it was in a gritty black chain-linked fence
bent to shape in a cell in New Jersey.
And ICW and IWTV were the boatmen on the River Styx.
Larry Legend attempted to interview SHLAK, “What will you do
now?” SHLAK, “Whatever the fuck I want.” Indeed.
Brandon Kirk joins commentary in
place of Reverend Dan for the second match, and declared his hatred for Alex
Ocean many times.
“No Flinch” Nolan Edward defeats Alex Ocean with a
double stomp from the top of the cage through a double door stack
Nolan Edward is one of the hottest
unsigned talents bar none anywhere. He
is beloved and the most modern of hybrids – possessing both legitimate
Deathmatch credibility and wrestling ability in many ways. It’s a compelling combination. Alex Ocean (conspicuous by the absence of the
succubus-like Riley Madison) is no slouch either, providing me my first modern
Deathmatch shock which helped get me into this stuff.
The match was notable for three
things – it had the cleanest execution of actual wrestling, it was cut short
due to a very deep and seriously looking cut to the hand and arm of Ocean, and
a brutal and glorious finish, Ocean laid out onto a two layer stack of doors
and chairs and being put through all of it from a perfectly executed double
stomp. Nolan wins, Ocean nurses the
bloody limb.
Highlights included an Alex Ocean
lowblow to Nolan with a chair, a Nolan surfboard then curbstomp to Ocean into a
chair, Ocean necktying a chair around Nolan then hitting that chair with
another.
After Nolan’s victory, Larry Legend
asks him what is next. Nolan, “I am the
kind of guy who tells you he’s going to slap you, then does it. Then I go slap your mom.” Indeed.
As they clean up the broken
everything, a very cool video package shows of Phil Baroni wrecking shop in
various MMA rings. They show some Justin
Kyle highlights as well. This promises
to be a very MMA-looking fight.
Justin Kyle defeated Phil Baroni
ref stoppage from strikes
The Struggles and Reverend Dan are your commentators for this
one. As we saw with Wardlow and Jake
Hager, a believable but entertaining Mixed Martial Arts style fight can be
difficult to pull off. Baroni is new at
this type of game, but Justin Kyle was a good ring general, getting Baroni to get
active when needed and leading to a really great looking finish.
Justin opens up with great looking dirty boxing techniques. Justin wears a protective facemask from
previous brutal fights. Phil may be new
to this style of pro wrestling, but he took to the taunting “New York Badass”
persona like a pair of broken in shoes, taunting the crowd with glee. He also looked great, his body screaming
“cage fighter”.
After an exchange of stretches of offense, it looked like it
might be stopped with Baroni being barraged by Kyle. But Kyle didn’t apparently wanting the win
like that. So he took of his facemask,
and Baroni took off his gloves. It was
the perfect thing the match needed to feel like a shifting of gears. They went bareknuckle, invoking the spirit of
Gentlemen Jim and the 50-round era. Baroni
has some glory by laying in with knees and strikes, but Justin Kyle lashed out
with a knockout roundhouse punch that got a gasp from the crowd. Kyle pounced, hammer-fisting until pulled off
by the ref. His unofficial world
champion brawler crown firmly affixed to his head, Justin celebrated.
Larry Legend declared him the Superfight Beast. I declare that if Justin Kyle wants that
name, he gets that name.
Justin Kyle exits the ring, and beats up two crew members that apparently,
he’ll be facing later this weekend? I
was confused. But that’s what happens
when a force of nature levels the area.
And Hurricane Kyle showed up, for sure.
What gets put into the Pit
cage? Plastic bats with cut cans
attatched, trash cans, kendo sticks and barbed wire covered doors. And those dreaded gusset plates.
Casanova Valentine beats Dale
Patricks by tapout via gusset plate to the bare foot
The Struggles and Reverend Dan on
commentary. Dan notes that Casanova
Valentine will be one of Tank’s opponents this weekend.
The match starts with a tack
covered plastic bat fight. Eventually
Valentine takes over with shots to the legs of Dale Patricks. Patricks manages to get a trash can over the
head and body of Valentine and wails away with kendo sticks and bats. Then he drubs Casanova with a water jug.
Casanova remains defiant, but Dale
beats him about his body and head with tack-covered bats. A chair is laid flat on top of an open chair,
and Casanova slams Dale on top of it and begins to clearly take over.
Casanova removes Patricks’ left
shoe and sock and…bites his foot. But
wait, there’s more. Casanova then takes
a cheese grater to the bottom of Dale’s foot in one of the most visceral, jaw
dropping stories told of the night. Dale
was already bleeding from the head, more than anyone up to that point and maybe
the most of the night. Casanova puts a
gusset plate on his own shoulder and hits a stunner on Dale.
To his credit, Dale manages to
avoid a clawslam and hits a reverse DDT on Valentine. How he is still in his match is beyond
me. Bloody footprints from his exposed
left foot are making their impressions on the canvas. Finally, Casanova hits his clawslam through a
barbed wire covered door and the end is near for Dale Patricks, and what an end
it is. He manages to kick out of the
pin, but a gusset plate hammered into his exposed and injured left foot finally
brings about a tapout. WOW.
Larry Legend has an exchange with
Casanova Valentine afterwards…but for the life of me I can’t remember what was
said. I was too busy looking at the
blood on the mat from Dale Patricks’ head and foot.
Larry Legend talks to Danny Demato briefly. Demato informs the crowd that the Rejects
(Reed Bentley, Akira and John Wayne Murdoch) were indeed involved in a car
accident, hitting a deer at 3 a.m.
But…they just pulled up to the show in a rental car.
Again, wow. This is where
pro wrestling is living, folks. You
won’t see a mystery hand moving broken table parts in place and sliding out a
crashpad. There are no make-up jobs to
depict injury. This is pro wrestling in
its raw form, even down to “making the show” regardless of circumstance.
Kimber Lee vs. “La Reyna Extrema” Sadika ended in a no
contest
These two were dressed for a fight. They delivered one. Sadika called for chops to happen right away,
and so they did. Sadika clearly got the
better of that exchange. Kimber looks
slightly out of her element early on. Kimber
Lee is sent into and through a door, and that seems to get her in the groove,
but not before Sadika hits her with a meteora with a chair assist.
Sadika is pressing the chair against the back of Kimber Lee’s
neck as she is face-down on the mat.
Finally Kimber Lee gets her first sustained offense as she
reverses Sadika into another door, cracking the door in twain. Kimber Lee goes wild with tack bat shots,
hitting Sadika all over. The crowd murmurs
with an air of acceptance.
Sadika takes over for a bit with highlights including a brutal
shotgun dropkick to the back of Kimber’s head and a chairshot. Sadika is biting at the head of Kimber’s head
as she screams.
Sadika inexplicably tosses a chair at the referee. The referee leaves the match. Sadika chases him out of the cage wielding
another chair.
Sadika starts directing her angry energy all over the place and
throughout the crowd. She disappears to
the back. Kimber Lee looks
flustered. The match officially ends
when Larry Legend comes to the ring to make the announcement of a
no-contest. The crowd is sufficiently
confused and vaguely unsatisfied, but it is quickly forgotten when the next
match starts in relatively short order.
Satu Jinn pins Jeff Cannonball after a uranage
through chairs and kenzans
Doors with cut cans imbedded in them abound for this match. Jeff Cannonball and Satu Jinn are two large
men, the kind of guys who would make an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant owner
consider retirement. They lean into who they are, and deliver on the blood
front in a big way.
The open by getting into sumo positions and clashing.
The Struggles by himself on commentary
Jeff Cannonball gets the better of the sumo exchange (cool that
they actually worked it into the story of the match instead of a one-off joke)
and leverages Jinn into one of the doors.
Satu Jinn has a huge blade and applies it to the head of
Cannonball. Cannonball is bleeding big
time, gets the blade and returns the favor.
Satu Jinn hammers in a gusset plate onto Jeff’s arm. Then Satu bites his nose.
Gusset plates are applied all around. Blood is freely flowing.
Kenzans (they are spiky bases to flower arrangements. Make no mistake, they are horrific devices. Look it up) are places onto chairs, Jeff puts
one in Satu’s head
Satu Jinn manages to uranage Jeff through chairs and kenzans and
gets the win.
Larry Legend with Jeff Cannonball,
who does soda pop reviews online.
Seriously. So Satu Jinn in his
post fight interview has an orange soda.
Satu drinks the soda, declares it “not half bad.” The crowd chants the same.
A video of last year’s match between Akira and Reed Bentley
plays. The Reject stable mates had a
match for the ages, and now they will have another.
Reed Bentley defeated “The Death Samurai” Arika
after a tiger driller and sliding forearm
There is a wide assortment of crazy and brutal items in the
ring.
SHLAK is on commentary with The Struggles and this will be the
commentary team the rest of the night.
Akira and Bentley grapple at first, attempting armbars off of
mounts, triangle chokes and just basic struggling and jockeying for position. It’s a good start.
Akira stomps to Bentley’s chest, and the match moves into a
different gear.
Reed beats a gusset plate into Akira’s arm and to this back all
over the place. The time of respect is
done, and it’s about bloodletting and finding the other’s breaking point.
In my favorite exchange of the match, Bentley counters an Akira
attempted headscissors with a tilt a whirl onto a carpet strip bludgeoning
device that looked like a small barrel stomach first. All those little spikes in the carpet strips
made their marks. The commentators,
especially SHLAK do a great job of explaining the damage and pain caused by
carpet strips.
Akira moves and Reed hits the gusset plate covered door. Akira has the momentum and immediately dumps
Bentley with a Death Valley Driver into the saw door.
Akira with a vicious cut can covered bat to Bentley’s head. Akira is feeling the match going his way, and
puts a gusset plate into his own head before headbutting Bentley. Both guys are bleeding now. Duh.
Reed Bentley applies a bunch of saw blade cuts to a prone and
screaming Akira.
A guardrail is placed on chairs. Both men stand on top of
it. Reed Bentley with a tiger driller,
you heard me, on the rail, crumpling both Akira and the pile of steel.
Akira kicks out, and the crowd goes to another gear.
Akira manages to hit a senton off the top of cage on Bentley. Bentley kicks out.
Reed Bentley finally hits another tiger driller and a running,
sliding forearm shot that looks great and scores this pin. Bentley has a few words to say briefly before
giving the stage to Akira.
Akira asks what he is doing wrong, and why can’t he win? He says the fans are what keeps him
going. He notes that he has challenged
Dan Maff, the Violent Mountain that Walks as a Man (I made that up. It fits.) and that everyone will soon know
why.
Finally, our main event.
A brilliant prom video by Reverend Dan and Tank plays.
John Wayne Murdoch defeated Tank with Reverend Dan
by referee stoppage from barbed wire in the mouth and repeated fork strikes
Every kind of door one can think of without glass are
present. Saws, barbed wire, gusset plates all adorn the
door around the Pit cage.
John Wayne Murdoch to the ring first then Tank with Reverend
Dan.
Dan introduces Tank and sets the stage right away. Murdoch is the best, but Tank is 50 years old
and is ready for the biggest fight of his life.
Tank attacks right away and heabutts a gusset plate in, takes
out a fork and perforates Murdoch’s head.
Blood abounds already.
They find themselves outside of the cage, and both guys sit in
chairs and punch away with mammoth shots.
John Wayne Murdoch manages to get a gusset into Tanks arm.
John is sent into the gusset board. He’s getting the worst of it, and it bleeding
a great deal.
Tank with a crossface while applying a gusset plate to Murdoch’s
forehead. Points for gory creativity.
Tank with a knife from one of the doors to Murdoch’s head.
Gusset plates to everybody’s arms. Tank careens into a barbed wire door and now
Murdoch has his first sustained offense of the match.
John takes a saw and goes at the back and head of Tank. Now he is bleeding like crazy.
They duel with saws, striking one another in the head. It is an insane as written.
A low blow saw strike by an increasingly desperate Murdoch. Tank is pressing him to his limits.
Out of cage again, and Murdoch is mixing in punches to Tank’s
face with chops of note. They are
sitting in chairs once again.
Tank with a series of bloody headbutts. Murdoch returns the favor.
Back in the cage. Tank
with barbed wire halo, and he attempts to apply it to Murdoch. This proves to be the fatal mistake. Murdoch
reverses their positions and gets the halo into Tank’s mouth and pulls back in
a horrific image nobody will soon forget. Murdoch simultaneously stabs Tank in
the head with the fork that Tank himself brought, and the referee stops the
match.
Tank says afterwards to Murdoch that “you’re the best deathmatch
wrestler on this planet.”
John Wayne Murdoch calls out the same Deathmatch wrestler from
Japan that he has repeatedly since I have watched ICW. I’ll allow you to look it up. This match must happen.
Danny Demato takes the microphone and simply declares – one show
down, three to go.
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