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Kings of the Pit – ICW NHB “Pitfighter X: Battle of the Tough Guys” – Full Tournament Review

ByJohn Dinsdale

Apr 15, 2021 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

STRONG VIOLENCE AND LANGUAGE AHEAD

Welcome back to the ICW spree. We’ve done Volumes 11 and 12, now it’s time to see what else they got up to as we dig into The Battle of the Tough Guys. Sixteen fighters are about to duke it out in brutal pit fights across two shows to claim the title of ultimate tough guys. We would see faces new and old as ICW swept the net out wide to find their competitors. It was going to get nasty as there is no such thing as a gentle pit fight. Let’s get into the action.

Round 1: Dominic Garrini defeated Kevin Ku via Bully Choke

The first fight of the night would be between the two members of Violence is Forever. Best friends make even better enemies so we’d see if the debuting Kevin Ku could best one of the kings of the pit, Dominic Garrini. They opened with a fun trade of technical ability as Ku showed he could keep up with Garrini’s technical abilities and the pair battled over submissions until the strikes came out. Chops and forearms were thrown back and forth until Ku jumped into a Guillotine. Garrini floated over to his feet, tanked a kick, and delivered a sick knee to the temple. Ku fell and Garrini locked on a Bully Choke to end the fight. Ku had lived up to the hype of his debut by giving ICW a taster of what he could do and Garrini moves on to the next round relatively unscathed. He did get the shit beaten out of him though.

Round 1: Brett Ison defeated Daniel Garcia via Chair Brainbuster

Next was going to be something incredibly hard-hitting. Daniel Garcia is a technical genius and likes to lock his opponents up before caving their heads in. Ison prefers to just break you down like a Human Shotgun. Which style would win out as Red Death met KOBK? Garcia started out looking to grapple as Ison chased him around the cage and defended against the MMA techniques. Garcia would go for chokes, Ison small joint manipulation. Ison got into the head of Garcia and started trying to beat him at his own game. The strikes picked up as both Ison and Garcia upped the intensity and the violence. Plunder made its entrance as Garcia used a kendo stick to break free and added it to a crossface. Garcia continued to stretch out Ison and gave him a taste of small joint manipulation. Ison responded with knees to the head and the pair battled round a chair. Garcia avoided death and threw Ison through a door. He locked in another choke and kicked the life out of Ison. He jumped on Ison’s back again but Ison powered through and drove Garcia through the chair with a brainbuster for the win. Garcia had thrown everything at Ison and it just hadn’t been enough to stop the Human Shotgun. This match was just excellent. Brilliant story, brilliant action, and a clash of two strong personalities.

Round 1: Justin Kyle defeated Gary Jay via Door Wreckage Powerbomb

Time for a rematch. Kyle and Jay last met within the chains and nearly killed each other. Jay was one of the first people not called Santee to really stun Kyle, now they’d do it again in the pit. Could Jay reverse the decision and best this beast? This got ugly fast as it was a war of brutal strikes and cage-based shenanigans. Kyle got a smashed up in hand and Jay used it for a Satellite DDT. Doors were smashed and then used as weapons for more bludgeoning. Both guys took shots that would stun a grizzly bear and Kyle broke another door with a spinning powerbomb. He threw Jay like a ragdoll through another and tanked a rolling forearm to powerbomb him through a table. He powerbombed again onto the wreckage and looked to ground and pound but the ref stopped the match. Kyle had won again and he had taken every ounce of vengeance he could against Jay for their last encounter. This was a car wreck match of wince-inducing hits. So, excellent fun to watch then. Kyle definitely made a statement at Jay’s expense.

Round 1: Jon Davis defeated Calvin Tankman via Forearm KO

We’ve now seen what both of these guys are capable of in ICW. Both guys made the chains their home and whilst only one may have picked up the win, both beat their opponents half to death. Which of these heavy-hitters would be standing at the end? The two traded cagey strikes and lock-ups, then went to the mat to grapple. The two continued to battle on the mat, trading elbows and presses until Tankman was on Davis’ back raining down palm strikes. The two battled to the field and Tankman threw hard jabs at Davis but Davis wasn’t going down and launched a brutal forearm to the temple and won by flash KO. Tankman had definitely made a mark but Davis just shocked everyone with that strike. We have a new threat going into round two as those strikes could kill off anyone.

Round 1: Dan Maff defeated Bruce Santee via Elbow Barrage KO

It wouldn’t be a tough guy’s tournament without Dan Maff. The King of the North has carved a path of destruction through ICW, throwing people through windows, into walls, and breaking them. Now, he was dealing with the brawling badass Bruce Santee. Would he be able to overpower this juggernaut so easily? This was a very Santee type of match as he instantly went after Maff with fast punches. Maff gave back and Santee drove him out of the cage with more strikes. A chop fight broke out as these two brick walls continued to thud into each other. Maff started to stagger Santee and full-on pounced him into the cage. Maff elbowed Santee into submission and the ref called a knockout. This was the brick shithouse slugfest you wanted from the pair with both guys just hammering each other. The commentary was entertaining throughout as the fists flew at reckless abandon.

Round 1: Nolan Edward defeated JD Drake via Liability Headbutt

Time for something special. Edward and Drake have had wars in the past. Very violent wars. Now they were bringing their feud to the Pit as JD Drake made a much-awaited ICW debut. Edward is the king of taking punishment and Drake is a master of dishing it out. Who’d pick up the win and what’d be left of them? Drake started off trying to murder Edward and the pair quickly traded strikes. Drake went to the mat and went back to mauling him. Edward used the cage to escape and Drake hammered him in the arm with a chair. The chops rang out and Drake continued to work the arm, picking the weak spot apart, breaking it even further with a chair smash. Edward wouldn’t quit so Drake just kept pummelling him with his boots, plunder and even choked him out with the towel that held so much significance to him. Edward still wouldn’t quit so Drake powerbombed him through chairs and trash-talked him as he continued to chop. This flicked a switch in Edward and he started to fight back. He nailed a backdrop driver and pushed Drake headfirst into a corner mounted chair. The Liability Headbutt followed and Edward had bested Drake. He had taken everything Drake had thrown at him and survived. Drake couldn’t be the bigger man as the hate was too strong and downed Edward with a final head kick on the way out. He’d pulled through this mauling but he had Ison next. Brothers were going to fight.

Round 1: Ruben Steel defeated SHLAK via Barbed-Wire Door-DT

Our penultimate fight was going to get bloody. SHLAK and Steel are heavy-metal or deathcore powered bloodletters with a penchant for beating their opponents into submission with gratuitous amounts of plunder alongside their fists. How would their first encounter in the pit go? There was fuckery aplenty and two guys willing to use it, this was not going to be pretty. They opened with chair shots to the head and Steel quickly charged SHLAK into a barbed-wire door. He dragged the door in front of SHLAK and crushed him with a cannonball and more wire. SHLAK dragged that door stuck to his arm and Steel clinging to his back to dump Steel through another door. SHLAK mashed Steel in the arm with a gusset 2×4 and a chair but turned his back on him and Steel made him pay with a tack flip-flop to the temple. He hammered a gusset into SHLAK’s arm, pelted him with a chair, and smashed him off the cage. SHLAK reversed a Suplex and dumped Steel through some chairs. That got two so he hammered a gusset into Steel’s pec and crushed him with a chair-assisted elbow drop and even more chair shots. The gusset 2×4 met Steel’s head and SHLAK bit into the wound. He tried to rip Steel’s face apart but Steel powered through. The pair duelled water jugs and SHLAK powerbombed Steel through a fuckery door. He tried to suffocate Steel with a carrier bag but Steel wouldn’t quit. Steel smashed him with a strip bundle and won the match with a barbed-wire Door-DT. This was brutal and fit perfectly in the mould of the tournament. These two beat the fuck out of each other and Steel will have an uphill battle against his next opponent.

Round 1: Reed Bentley defeated John Wayne Murdoch via Glass Pane Elbow

Last but not least, the main event of show one. The Rejects, much like Violence is Forever, were about to prove that family fights the best. We knew they’d hold nothing back and by God, they didn’t. This was where we saw which Reject would represent the top faction in the tournament. Once again, there was fuckery aplenty and two more guys that are highly adept at using it. This started with fists and escalated quickly as Bentley ate a chair and Murdoch a Saito. Bentley dropped Murdoch back-first onto a glass pane and beat him down with a chair. Bentley got gusseted and Murdoch got knifed but he quickly grabbed a second knife and shanked Bentley before carving into his head. He elbowed free and broke a razor-board on Murdoch’s side. He dragged the razors over Murdoch and Murdoch knifed him in the head again. They brawled out of the cage as Murdoch broke a can-bat on Bentley and Bentley smashed Murdoch off the cage. They continued to kill each other around the venue and even took the fight to the parking lot. They two had a barfight on a bench and Bentley delivered a DDT onto it after Murdoch bit his ear. Murdoch hit low and made his way back to the cage. Bentley returned the low blow and smashed Murdoch in the arm with a gusset bat, then dragged it across the back of his knee. Murdoch tried to muster a comeback but Bentley smashed him in the head with a trashcan. They kicked it out and Bentley got the trashcan to the head. The pair fought up to a door on kegs and Murdoch drove Bentley through a table with the brainbuster for two. They both got on the door again and Bentley scored a near-fall with a piledriver. He put a glass pane in front of Murdoch and elbowed it into him for the win. it had been bloody and violent but Bentley had beaten Murdoch and booked his ticket into the second round. This was a worthy as hell main event to the first show and ended round one with an anything-is-possible vibe.

Round 2: Nolan Edward defeated Brett Ison via Liability Headbutt

Round two opened with another fight between two brothers. Brett Ison and Nolan Edward are KOBK and now they were going to have to kill each other. Both had had difficult first rounds and now they were about to have an even harder second. Who would win in the battle of KOBK? Ison knew what was on the line and instantly tried to use the broken arm of Nolan against him. He tanked Edward’s chops and quickly dragged him into an armbar. Edward wouldn’t quit so Ison stomped right into the damaged shoulder. Edward remained defiant so Ison slapped him down and took his jaw off with a knee strike. Edward still wouldn’t stay down so he went back to the arm and put him through a door with a backdrop driver. Ison bludgeoned him with the broken door and went for the kill shot with the back fist but Edward ducked and propelled himself off the cage with a headbutt. He delivered a second and KO’ed Ison. Edward had survived a second mauling and picked up his second tournament win but at what cost. His brother had at least tried to make it quick but instead had exacerbated the injury. Once again, Ison proves to be a master storyteller.

Round 2: Dominic Garrini defeated Jon Davis via Bully Choke

Next up was a Volume 11 rematch as Dominic Garrini got his second shot at Jon Davis. We’d seen what both guys could do against each other in the chains, let’s see who the cage benefitted from. These two started with a lock-up and quickly transitioned to mat work and submission battles. It was incredibly back-and-forth and Garrini used knee strikes to the ribs to create separation. Davis got a full mount and started striking at the injured ribs of Garrini. Davis hammered him with more elbows but Garrini got onto Davis’ back and we got a fight reset. Davis lit up Garrini with palm strikes and kneed him to the mat but Garrini kicked him in the head as he charged and locked on the Bully Choke for the win. Garrini had avenged his loss to Davis in rapid-fire fashion by proving he is the king when it comes to the cage. It had been a quick, heavy fight and Garrini was going through to the semis with a win over a legit tough guy.

Round 2: Dan Maff defeated Justin Kyle via Chair dropkick

Another all-swinging hoss fight was next as Dan Maff battled his second super-fight competitor that night. Justin Kyle decimated Jay in the first round, could we see a repeat performance in round 2 as he looked to make a statement out of Maff? Once again, Kyle had a cage full of doors and tables to smash. This started as a fast and furious fistfight and Kyle pissed off Maff, earning a beating against the cage. Maff speared him through a door and the pair traded more heavy hands until Kyle drove Maff through a door with a powerslam. Kyle got too cocky so Maff attacked from behind and shit tossed him through another door. More trading followed and Maff put Kyle through a table with the Burning Hammer. Kyle popped up in a rage so Maff dropkicked a chair into him for the win. Kyle had dominated round 1 but Maff had had an answer for his onslaught and broke him like any other opponent who gets in his way. Round 2 was proving to be the round of the fast but fucking hard fights.

Round 2: Reed Bentley defeated Ruben Steel via Barbed-Wire Tiger Driller

The final second-round fight was going to be a rough one. Steel and Bentley have both been through hardcore wars and now, they were going to do it again with a new dance partner. They had another cage of fuckery to play with and a point to prove. Let’s see who came out on top. These two were fighting before Bentley had even made the cage. These two rabidly brawled around the venue and Bentley crashed a chair into Steel’s throat. Both guys kept fighting dirty as they continued to battle around the outside. Steel bit into Bentley’s hand and smashed him with the cage door before the pair finally mixed it up inside. In the cage, Steel gave Bentley a thumbtack mohawk courtesy of a tack bat and spanked him in the ass with it too. Bentley took the same bat to Steel’s head and arms, then embedded the last of the tacks in his chest. Bentley complained Steel wasn’t hitting him hard enough so Steel kicked a strip bundle into his chest and sacrificed his own arm to break a cheese-grater board into him with a lariat. Steel continued to show a mean streak as he hammered a chair into Bentley’s balls and choked him out with his own shirt. They threw each other into the cage and Bentley gave Steel the chair cymbal clap after a lethal elbow. Steel answered back with a DDT and snapped him with a neckbreaker. He created a fuckery pile and Bentley dumped him through it with the Regal-Plex. That wasn’t enough so he forearmed a chair into Steel’s face. Steel punched the same chair back and the pair fought up to the keg platform. They duked it out and Bentley drove Steel through a barbed-wire door with the Tiger Driller for the win. Bentley had now fought through two tough opponents and come out on top. Steel had shown out but just come up short here. No one will ever deny his tough-guy status after this.

Semi-Final: Dan Maff defeated Dominic Garrini via Elbow Barrage KO

How’s this for a styles clash? Dominic Garrini had bested Davis and now, he would have to beat an absolute tank. Dan Maff is not someone you can easily submit but would he struggle to deal with the BJJ prowess of Garrini? Maff tried to show early on he could get technical but Garrini trapped him in a rear-naked choke. Maff popped up but Garrini stayed on the mat and tried to bait Maff into another hold. They locked up again and Garrini tried for a double wrist-lock. They chopped it out and Garrini used the cage to break Maff’s hand. Maff headbutted Garrini away and continued to play defence to Garrini’s technicality, struggling to escape a triangle no matter how hard he punched Garrini. Maff eventually went to the eyes and pounced Garrini into a door. Garrini kicked out so Maff pounced him through a second. Garrini still kicked out so Maff downed him with a ripcord forearm and elbowed him in the head until Ku threw in the towel. Garrini couldn’t defend himself and Ku still wanted a tag partner at the end of all this. Maff was our first finalist. He had managed to avoid being locked up by Garrini and pummelled him until he could go no more.

Semi-Final: Reed Bentley defeated Nolan Edward via Sliding Forearm

After two hardcore wars, Reed Bentley now had to deal with a beaten-up but still breathing Nolan Edward. That meant he would have to handle someone who doesn’t know how to give up. This would very much be a fight to the near-death and only one could walk away if either were left with the ability to walk when the smoke cleared. Both guys had a one-armed technical exchange and Edward kicked at Bentley’s good arm before snapping it off the cage. A slap fight broke out and Edward frantically unloaded on Bentley with chops and forearms. Bentley smashed Edward’s injured shoulder of the cage and Edward pelted Bentley with a chair. He wildly flung chairs but missed Bentley and got another chair thrown at his shoulder. Bentley continued to further break the arm with more chair shots and when Edward wouldn’t quit, the pair slugged it out. Edward took control and crunched Bentley’s head into the cage with a punt kick. He escaped a Tiger Driller and attempted the Liability but Bentley dodged and Edward headbutted the steel. Bentley nailed him with a pop-up forearm and Edward kicked out at one. Bentley smashed him with a second sliding forearm and scored the win. Edward had fought like a champ from the get-go and more than earned his tough-guy status but Bentley had been the end of the road. Bentley went on to the finals and Edward got the rest he so rightfully deserved after fighting two matches as a one-armed bandit.

Non-Tournament: John Wayne Murdoch defeated Brandon Kirk (w/Kasey Kirk) via Kasey Brainbuster through a Chair

Brandon Kirk wasn’t a part of this tournament. No one is too surprised. He has credentials sure but when people tend to hate you, you lose out on things. He’d tried to hold the tournament hostage so the Duke agreed to fight him and Danny Demanto made the match. Kirk tried to attack fast but Murdoch caught him and threw him through a door. He pelted Kirk with a chair and threw him out of the cage door to the outside. Murdoch bullied Kirk around the venue and smashed him with a replica title a fan gave him. He whipped Kirk with a second replica title and threw him through the fan seats. Kasey saved him from a Deep South Destroyer but this backfired as Murdoch bounced her of Kirk and drove her through him and a chair with a Brainbuster. Sorry, Kirk, this wasn’t a match, it was a murder. I’d say this is probably why you weren’t invited to the tournament…

Final: Dan Maff defeated Reed Bentley via Chair Pile Olympic Slam

Here we are, the grand finale. Dan Maff and Reed Bentley had fought through three opponents and now they had one last go before being declared the winner. Would it be the brick shithouse Dan Maff or By God Reed Bentley taking that big win? This would be the ultimate tournament test for both. This started stiff and Bentley once again begged to be hit harder. Maff downed him with a headbutt and moved the whole cage kneeing him in the face. He smashed Bentley in the face with the cage door and climbed up the cage to avoid a German. Maff kicked low and Bentley made him pay with another barrage of strikes. He ran a chair into Maff’s throat and tried to choke Maff out. They both bit each other and Bentley talked shit again, earning another headbutt and double chop. He hammered Bentley with a chair and Bentley struck back with more forearms. He dropped a door on Maff and crushed it onto him with a senton. He made a chair pile and Maff pounced him into the cage but Bentley tanked it and drove Maff onto the chair pile with a Piledriver. He hit a second piledriver onto the fuckery pile and beat him down with the broken door but Maff would not stay down. Maff angrily beat Bentley like a pinata and did it again with the other half of the broken door. He followed up with the Burning Hammer to the chair pile and thought that was it but Bentley kicked out at two and nailed him with a sliding forearm. That also only got two and Maff fought out of the Tiger Driller to deliver an Olympic Slam onto the chairs, ending Bentley for three. That ended that as Maff was declared the top tough guy after beating four opponents. It had been brutal, physical, and stiff but he’d made it. This match, alongside the whole tournament, kicked so much ass. So many little stories were told and every competitor shone. 16 matches were fought in the pit this night and all of them delivered something a little different. What an excellent effort all-round. Today, the hard way, the old-school took home the biggest of victories.

All images courtesy of ICW Twitter, FREEBIRDS Shop, Marth555 (Logan), PuttingUOver

By John Dinsdale

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