Magazine Archives: 2021: The Year of Deathmatch

By Tamaya Greenlee

Some of the earliest recorded uses of the term “death match,” in association with professional wrestling, emphasize the literal stakes at hand. In 1925, the term was used to describe a life-or-death scenario Stanislaus Zbyszkofound himself in almost ten years earlier, when he was captured by Russian soldiers and forced to prove he was a wrestler by throwing one of their own, a Russian heavyweight named Aberg. Failure to do so would only prove their accusation that Zbyszko was an enemy spy, a fatal accusation that would result in his execution. In 1936, one reporter applied the term more crudely, when he dubbed the fatal match betweenCowboy Russell and Dick Powell a “death match,” after 40-year-old Russell succumbed to a spinal injury during the match.

The term “death match” became a staple in the pro wrestling lexicon in the 1950s, when it was used to describe various iterations of matches fought outside of the sportsmanship of a traditional professional wrestling match. Whereas the objective of a traditional pro wrestling match was to prove who was the better competitor by pinfall or submission, a death match held more personal stakes. Wrestlers could not win a death match by pinfall. To win the match, one competitor had to quit or be deemed unable to continue. Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, American professional wrestling adapted to incorporate new styles that favored the realism of brawling, even drawing blood, an uncommon feature of wrestling matches at the time. Over the decades, American pro wrestling continued to embrace a more violent style, with matches taking place in steel cages and allowing the use of weapons.

While today’s American deathmatch wrestling’s lineage can be traced back to the brawlers of the 1950s, there is no denying the influence of Japanese deathmatch wrestling, most notably Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), a promotion founded by Atsushi Onita. Inspired by his experiences wrestling in the United States and Puerto Rico, Onita drew from the brawling style popular in the southern territories of the U.S. and stipulations he had witnessed in Puerto Rico, such as barbed wire surrounding the ring. The promotion developed its own hardcore style, pushing the boundaries of hardcore wrestling with its inclusion of fire and explosives. FMW led the way for the formation of more deathmatch promotions, including IWA Japan, where Mick Foley(wrestling as Cactus Jack) and Terry Funkfaced each other in the finals of the 1995 King of the Deathmatch tournament, a match many consider to be one of the greatest deathmatches of all time.

The road to today’s deathmatch wrestling would remain unpaved without the contributions of several wrestling promotions and the wrestlers whose influence can still be seen in wrestling rings throughout the world. One would certainly be remiss to ignore the monumental influence of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which introduced hardcore wrestling to mainstream audiences familiar with the television-friendly wrestling of World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling. From the late 20th century into the 21st, American deathmatch wrestling developed under what was often harsh scrutiny from detractors both within and outside of the professional wrestling community. Now, deathmatch wrestling has inarguably reached a new level of popularity, growing its niche fanbase of deathmatch loyalists and reaching previously untapped mainstream audiences.

Deathmatch wrestling’s rise in popularity coincided with an unprecedented time in the United States, when the country was one of many forced to adapt to life during a global pandemic. COVID-19 presented several challenges to wrestling promotions across the world, with health and safety protocols preventing many from operating under traditional expectations for live professional wrestling. Televised wrestling shows were able to continue without fans in attendance, a loud silence for a sport made complete with the audience’s jeers and cheers throughout each match. But for promotions such as ICW No Holds Barred (ICW NHB), the pandemic presented an opportunity for innovation. As small businesses throughout the country struggled to stay afloat, ICW NHB adapted with events such as Deathmatch Drive-In. Featured in The Washington Post’s photo blog, Insight, photographer Rich Wadedescribes his decision to photograph the event, stating, “This was one of the first companies I had seen restarting wrestling during the pandemic. I watched online to get a sense of the set up and when I saw that it was being done safely, I made the decision to travel down for the next show.”

Wrestler Alex Coloncites the pandemic as a key factor in deathmatch wrestling’s rise in popularity. “[Deathmatch wrestling has] increased in popularity, because it was put in the forefront during the pandemic, when all other styles were not ready to put on shows or matches,” he says. “Deathmatches became a release for fans stuck at home aching for a change. Deathmatches were that change.” For wrestling fans wanting to interact as members of a wrestling audience, deathmatch wrestling presented opportunities for fans to attend live shows. And for wrestling fans who were unable to attend live shows, the world of Internet streaming brought the change right into their homes. Through IWTV, fans were able to access a variety of promotions specializing in or featuring deathmatch wrestling, such as ICW NHB, IWA Mid-South, Hardcore Hustle Organization, and No Peace Underground, whose historic June 11, 2021 show, Fear the Gay Agenda, featured a deathmatch card of LGBTQ talent.

Arguably, the greatest contribution to deathmatch wrestling’s mid-pandemic boom came from Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), a promotion touted by many as the top independent wrestling promotion in the country, a claim supported by their record-breaking sellout of the Hammerstein Ballroom, a venue made famous by ECW. The event, The Wrld on GCW– as of this writing, scheduled for January 23, 2022 —will take place in front of the largest crowd in the venue’s history, its 2,025 tickets sold surpassing that of Ring of Honor. Along with touting top deathmatch wrestling talent such as Alex Colon and Nick Gage, GCW built a bridge to mainstream wrestling audiences by creating one king and welcoming another home to the deathmatch world.

“During the pandemic, deathmatch wrestling was definitely featured on a higher level than traditional wrestling. I also think appearances by guys like Jon Moxleyand Matt Cardonabrought light to it to the average wrestling fan,” says Danny Demanto, professional wrestling veteran and promoter of ICW NHB.

On July 24, 2021, Matt Cardona —formerly known to wrestling audiences as WWE superstar Zack Ryder —threw the wrestling community in a tailspin when he brought the mainstream wrestling audience crashing into the world of deathmatch. Bringing his Twitter-based feud with deathmatch wrestler Nick Gage into the ring, Cardona appeared at GCW’s Homecomingevent, where he captured the GCW World Title in an unprecedented upset. “There was some social media banter between myself and Nick Gage. The fans wanted to see the match,” Cardona said of the groundbreaking match. “Sometimes in wrestling, you actually have to give the people what they want. I knew it would shock people. I knew it would create buzz. I could never have imagined the amount of buzz it actually created.”

Cardona, a former ECW wrestler and unlikely deathmatch wrestler, was first introduced to the violent style of wrestling in the 1990s, when he discovered it through magazines and the Internet. His early memories of the genre were that it was “absolutely insane.” But despite being a wrestler few, if any, expected to compete in deathmatch wrestling, Cardona ushered in a new era, bringing first-time viewers alongside the deathmatch. “I have completely transformed the way fans perceive me,” Cardona says. “I can do it all. I beat the king. I am the Deathmatch King. Whether they cheer me or boo me, they all have to bow down to me.”

The match soared on Twitter’s trending topics, overtaking the UFC and the Olympics, both of which ran simultaneously. Amongst the shock expressed by wrestling fans across the genres, videos and photographs of the carnage following the match spread in a way befitting to the Internet Champion. The shocking imagery of a bloody Cardona hoisting the belt in victory as the crowd pelted the ring (and, if they were lucky, Cardona himself) with cans, bottles, and a pizza cutter — a weapon notably wielded by Gage is a moment seared into fans’ memories as one of the most memorable and viral wrestling moments from 2021.

Days later, both deathmatch wrestling and Nick Gage once again dominated social media, when deathmatch wrestling main evented the July 28 episode of All Elite Wrestling (AEW)’s Dynamite. Chris Jericho met Nick Gage in the latter’s specialty, a “No Rules Match” (a stipulation familiar to deathmatch fans with its inclusion of light tube bundles and Gage’s pizza cutter), one of the five labors put forth to Jericho by rival MJF. A once unfathomable feat, over a million viewers at home joined the thousands in attendance at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Bojangles Coliseum in cheering one of deathmatch wrestling’s most illustrious and beloved figures. Though Jericho was ultimately victorious in his second labor, the match marked a historic moment for the often-maligned wrestling genre.

Alex Colon, a 14-year veteran of the sport, entered the wrestling business through Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), a promotion once famed for specializing in an “ultraviolent” style of hardcore wrestling. A fan of the genre, when Colon entered wrestling school, he contemplated training as a deathmatch wrestler; however, “after long debate,” he opted to train for a traditional wrestling style. Now active as a deathmatch wrestler, Colon has observed the ways deathmatch wrestling evolved over time. “There were some hybrid-style deathmatch wrestlers when I broke in, but not as many as now. For the most part the style was very hack and slash or brawly,” Colon recalls. “Nowadays guys mix in the wrestling and psychology we would use in regular matches with twists in them.”

Contemporary deathmatch wrestlers’ attention to wrestling psychology is in stark contrast to the negative reputation deathmatch wrestlers received early in Colon’s career. Then, Colon notes, deathmatch wrestlers held the stigma of being unable to wrestle, earning the genre of “very little respect from the pure wrestling and television-style wrestling community.” Though the perception of deathmatch wrestling has evolved, Colon cites moments such as Cardona’s GCW World Title win as bringing positive attention to the genre. “It’s a big ‘eff you’ to people in and out of the business who say we don’t belong on television or the mainstream. It helped change the perception of what we do,” he says.

Since its introduction to television audiences in the 1950s, professional wrestling has battled its often-controversial image. At times lambasted as a sport promoting violence to children and at other times derided as lowbrow entertainment, in today’s climate, the argument for pro wrestling as a form of art in its own right is touted by fans, industry professionals, and academics. With deathmatch wrestling gaining a larger audience, the artistry of the genre is gaining a new appreciation. One search of “deathmatch is art” will show you users across social media expressing their admiration for the genre’s aesthetic and theatrical beauty, a sentiment performed tongue-in-cheek by deathmatch wrestler Ricky Noren, who paints canvases with blood, and poignantly by fellow deathmatch wrestler Casanova Valentine, whose performance art deathmatch shows introduced the genre in a previously unseen light as the subject of a 2018 Vice documentary.

Though he may be a controversial figure to longtime deathmatch fans, Cardona recognizes the art of deathmatch wrestling with respect to one of the hallmarks of professional wrestling: storytelling. “Deathmatch wrestling is violent, it’s unpredictable, it’s dangerous… but it’s also art. That’s what wrestling is all about —telling stories. There is no right or wrong way to tell a story. There is an audience for all types of stories,” Cardona says, a sentiment echoed by Colon as well as Danny Demanto.

“All genres of professional wrestling are an art form, deathmatch wrestling is simply a different genre of it,” Demanto says. Continuing, he confronts a common misconception of wrestling fans unfamiliar with the genre: “Safety comes to mind for most average wrestling fans when they see deathmatch. Understand that it is simply controlled chaos the people in the ring are aware of their surroundings and safety as much as the people behind the curtain.”

Similarly, Colon expresses a desire for non-deathmatch fans to respect the genre as a style of wrestling following the same lineage as the professional wrestling one might find on television. “I’d wish non-fans of the genres or even doubters would understand we had the same training as their favorite pure wrestler, only difference is the paths that were taken,” Colon says. “Doubters tend to forget we learned what everyone else had and just chose a different style to peg to. People tend to buck what’s not the norm, but I feel like during the pandemic, deathmatches have really opened up to a new and wider audience.”

After an unparalleled year in 2021, it’s difficult to imagine what the future holds for deathmatch wrestling, but as the year ends, fans and curious onlookers are left with a promising preview of what is to come. Danny Demanto promises the continued expansion of ICW NHB, with a goal of holding shows in every major U.S. territory before expanding internationally. Until then, their return to their home state, New Jersey, as of this writing scheduled for January 22, 2022, will include international talent from Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Only time will tell whether deathmatch wrestling will return to television in 2022, but for wrestling fans intrigued after a remarkable year, it’s difficult to argue against Demanto’s advice for anyone interested in learning more about deathmatch wrestling:

“I 1000% recommend a new fan sees a show live, nothing compares to the adrenaline and endorphins a new fan will feel seeing the excitement and feeling the energy in a room chanting at full force for people literally bleeding for our entertainment. To see a deathmatch live can truly be the start of a great appreciation for the talent showcasing their art form.”

Tamaya Greenleegraduated from Ball State University with an M.A. in literature, applying literary analysis and interdisciplinary lenses to pro wrestling. She shares her work on her blog, Scholar & Elbow.

Twitter:@scholarandelbow