If you didn’t catch episode one, welcome to 31 Days of Deathmatches. This is an advent calendar style countdown to Halloween offering you a door of deliciously gory wrestling per day. Our trip to the spookiest day of the year will take us around the world and through time. This will chronicle some of the most significant deathmatches throughout the years but will mostly consist of my absolute favourite barbed wire bouts and glass shattering matches. Without further ado, let’s open the next door.
Today we head to one of my favourite promotions in the US, Game Changer Wrestling (GCW). The self-proclaimed last of the outlaws are responsible for some of the best indie shows out there right now getting several stars in high places noticed. One such star, Joey Janela, was responsible for this match at his produced event, LA Confidential. David Arquette was announced as a last-minute replacement for Joey Ryan in this match against the King of GCW and MDK Gang Leader, Nick Gage. To his credit, Arquette came to have a deathmatch and committed fully, even posting promos with some of his own weapons. It truly was set to be a spectacle to behold.
David Arquette landing a cutter on Nick Gage through light tubes. After having already been smashed with tubes himself. #GCW #JJLAC pic.twitter.com/RYXtHFwMn5
— Daniel DeMarco (@DDeMarco_) November 17, 2018
The even better point though, the match was exceptional. It started with Arquette running away, then we got crowd brawling then we got the plunder match we never knew we wanted. There were light tubes, doors and other assorted nastiness. It even saw divine intervention as Joey Ryan appeared to save Arquette from Gage only for Messiah from XPW to save Gage from Ryan. It was a total clusterf*ck of fun. There was violence galore and Arquette taking the types of bumps you’d never expect. Hats off to the guy, seriously.
The only problem was, not everything went to plan. During a spot in the match be it the light tubes or the pizza cutter, Arquette got cut wrong and bled a lot more than planned. He freaked but continued on fighting like a champ then shot on the champ. Gage acted professionally, saw Arquette was bleeding badly and ended the match quickly. It was a blemish on the match but managed to rile up the anti-deathmatch groups again. That hurt the company’s reputation somewhat though Arquette did admit he had taken on a bit too much and retired from deathmatches.
That was a shame as he was definitely willing to take some cuts and bumps for the fun of wrestling. GCW was seen as taking advantage of Arquette and throwing him into a match he was not prepared for. This could definitely be seen near the end when he nearly walked out. It was a nasty situation that could have been avoided for sure. If nothing else, it definitely got people talking, even if it was for some unsavoury reasons.
This match does actually hold a special place in my heart as it sparked the urge to start writing about deathmatches. To go beyond the blood and gore and very rare accidents to spotlight the artistry behind them. Now I present it to you through my limited description. The event is still on Fite TV if you want to see it for yourself.
We went to Joey Janela’s LA confidential and it was A TIME. We watched David Arquette take bumps like damn son, doors, fluorescent light tubes, cut up with a pizza cutter. and I was literally sitting NEXT TO THE RING and I now have glass in my pockets. WRESTLING! pic.twitter.com/9VoHaIVJtk
— Rosemary Travale (@RosemaryTravale) November 17, 2018
Come back tomorrow for your next deathmatch treat!
Images courtesy of All Elbows (Via Cageside Seats), GCW, Prowrestling.com Twitter Videos courtesy of RosemaryTravale (Twitter) DDeMarco (Twitter)