In Part One of our interview with Dom Garrini, we spoke about everything MLW-related. His goals within the company, Violence is Forever and even people he’d bring into MLW. Now, we look at the other side of Dominic Garrini, the cage-fighting, blood spilling cage fighter, and occasional deathmatch star. Here we’ll speak about his work with ICW No Holds Barred and No Peace Underground as well as a potential dream match down the line. Enjoy.
Speaking of other shows, you’ve got to work on, I’ve had the pleasure of covering every ICW and No Peace show you’ve been on. We’ve seen the birth of Deathmatch Dom Garrini. How’s that been?
“So, I always explain to people about my time-stamp of when I liked wrestling and I was a massive massive massive deathmatch fan when I was younger. Like the first DVD I ever bought from Smart Mark was Tournament of Death 4 and I always joke with Mike Burns, the owner of Smart Mark, like this is your fault when I do deathmatches. The first big deathmatch I did, would be the Tom Lawlor dog collar match. I wore camo shorts to the ring and the joke started that when I wore camo shorts, Deathmatch Dom would come out. So, I did that match, I did the (Joshua) Bishop match at Mania weekend last year with camo shorts and then I did the camo shorts for me and Kevin (Ku) vs Cabana Man Dan and Marko Stunt at S.U.P. That was Deathmatch Dom, he was wearing the camo shorts. When I started working for ICW, the idea was for me not to be a deathmatch guy by any means. The idea for me was to be the palette cleanser on the card, that I was the stiff, strong match on the card. We got to the July 4 show and it was me vs Big Twan (Tucker) and I looked at the order of the card and saw that Eddie Kingston and Brett Ison were behind us. I knew that that was going to be their style of match. The ICW cards are always really well structured and Danny (Demanto) is always doing a good job but I don’t think it works to do two non-deathmatches on those kinds of cards. One works, but two is a tough bag so I gauged Twan with “what are you willing to do” and we went from there.
People were kind of shocked at my willingness to take those light-tubes and that kind of stuff. So, then the idea still was that Danny pulled me aside and said I don’t want you doing that too much and then pitched me the idea of the fight pit or Pitfighter X. I love the idea and originally it was not going to have deathmatch stuff in it. On the first one, I saw people do deathmatch stuff in it so in the pit my goal is not to do deathmatch stuff and not fight like a deathmatch fighter but in the chains, the goal is to fight like a deathmatch fighter. That was the idea when I did the (Brandon) Kirk match and that’s why Danny talked so highly of me at the end. I wasn’t meant to be on that card and they needed a replacement for (Alex) Ocean so I went wild in that match. I always explain Deathmatch Dom as the kid that went to college, I study a solid six to ten weeks for finals and focus on my good boy stuff for that six to ten weeks and at the end of those ten weeks, I’ve aced the finals and need to do something stupid. That to me is a deathmatch. For me, I don’t want to be a deathmatch guy exclusively. I had this conversation with Orin Veidt at the last deathmatch weekend in Florida. If I do deathmatches all the time, Deathmatch Dom doesn’t stay special. So, the idea is building to deathmatches for me. I love the art form, I think there’s such a story to tell in deathmatches and I think that deathmatch wrestling is vilified, it’s unfairly vilified because deathmatch wrestlers are some of the best storytellers in the world.”
I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to AKIRA, who is obsessed with all forms of catch as catch can and Japanese wrestling. I think you two have the capacity to put on the greatest hybrid deathmatch…
“AKIRA and I have had conversations about that. I know he’s done some training with (Katsuyori) Shibata so I think AKIRA looks at a guy like Masashi Takeda and sees the way he can do hybrid stuff in deathmatches and brings a lot into that. AKIRA and I are definitely hoping our paths cross in both a normal match and then a deathmatch to see what we can do.”
My other dream match for you comes from No Peace Underground. You battled Lindsay Snow in the Body Count Battle, could we ever see a singles match between you two?
“I’m hoping so. I talked with No Peace and I said when I come back, she was my preferred opponent. I’m hoping Lindsay and I get to mix it up. I think her MMA/jujitsu game mixed with mine could be something fun. Both in the No Peace, No ring setting and in a setting with a ring.”
What’s it been like doing the cage-fighting matches for Pitfighter X?
“Danny sent me a picture one day on Facebook and it was an MMA cage. I replied with a pondering emoji and he said hey this is what we’re going to do, it’s going to be like our version of Bloodsport and we’re going to try and do a little less deathmatch and a little more shoot-fight. I like the idea and I think the aesthetic of it is completely different and I think that’s what makes it so cool. In a world of pro-wrestling where a lot looks the same and a lot of the matches look the same, Pitfighter X, you know you’re going to get something different. I think that’s what’s made it so successful so far.”
To bring things full circle, would you ever love to bring Deathmatch Dom or the cage fighting/Pitfighter stipulation to MLW? If so, could you think of anyone it would work well against?
“With the Pitfighter X style, MLW did something kind of similar with Davey Boy and Gotch in terms of the No Holds Barred fight with no ropes. I think you can definitely do something like Pitfighter in some way, shape, or form. If I do something like Pitfighter then Gotch would be the perfect opponent for that. I think if you’re looking for that type of style it’s perfect. When it comes to deathmatch style, I’m probably going to vote three ways here. One would be LA Park as he has a familiarity with that type of wrestling, two would be Jacob Fatu as you saw at GCW he’s willing to get a little wild, and three would probably be someone with the AAA lexicons, maybe Pagano. I love to mix it up with someone like Pagano in a deathmatch.”
Any closing words? – repeated for both as it’s important
“Keep on supporting MLW. Wednesdays on YouTube, FUBO TV, Pluto Sports. Saturdays on BeInSports. Support all independent wrestlers during this time. I’m blessed enough to have a pretty solid day job to where the decreased wrestling income hasn’t murdered me, but a lot of wrestlers out there, this is their job. So, support them during this time, support all of us. Buy our merch, support these shows. Just be a good person right now, 2020 has been tough on everybody, so please go out there and be a good person. You don’t know what the person next to you is going through.”
Follow Dominic Garrini on Social media: Twitter, Instagram
Dominic Garrini on Pro Wrestling Tees: HERE
Dominic Garrini personal merch site: HERE
All images courtesy of Red Shoes Media, Earl Gardner Photography, No Peace Underground