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.
GCW invaded Japan this year for a two-show tour working with BJW and FREEDOMS. On said tour and in particular the second night, The New Face of War, were some of my favourite deathmatches for the year. This is the first one, featuring three of the best young talents in deathmatch wrestling. The even better thing is one is American, one British and one Japanese. I am of course talking about the Triple Threat clusterfuck between Toshiyuki Sakuda, Jimmy Lloyd and Drew Parker. Three of the absolute best in the prime of their lives, set to breakout.
This match wasn’t very long but it was packed with standout moments. From the very get-go the trio pulled out some tandem offence, forming fragile alliances to take the other out and we saw Parker and Lloyd in a Mexican Stand-Off with Skewers. We got light tubes, a Super Famicom, syringes and needles in a blitzkrieg of brutality. The three meshed incredibly well to put on double team moves, turning the other’s bodies into more weaponry or going for the shock factor as Sakuda got his own needle rammed through his cheeks, a spot I have taken to calling the Ichi the Killer, named after the Takashi Miike movie. It’s always a shock to the uninitiated.
They even got the reserved Japanese crowd chanting and screaming along. To some, it may have been a spot fest but to me, it was one of the best examples of giving three talents a short amount of time and them making the most of it. Lloyd got the win with a second rope Styles Clash, through Light tubes and Sakuda on Drew Parker. It was a mad spot and the best way to keep both men down for a three count. Considering the trio had turned light tubes on themselves, they’d need to take something extreme to end it. This is one of those matches I love to watch to make me feel good. It’s just fun. As a sign of I will include the infamous film clip I mentioned previously. Be warned, it’s not for the faint of heart.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmz9SVN5uFI]
Come back tomorrow for your next deathmatch treat!
Images courtesy of Sakuda (twitter), Alex Gimenez (twitter) Kevin Gill (twitter) Video courtesy of shainalang (YouTube)