WARNING: STRONG VIOLENCE AND LANGUAGE AHEAD

Welcome to day 2 of Matt Tremont and H2O’s weekender of madness as we go into his own Deathmatch Tournament. I know we’ve done things a bit out of order but we’re going to dive into the blood, barbed-wire, and broken bodies that is this madcap tournament of deathmatch titans new and old. Alongside that we’d see Devon Moore take on Deklan Grant in a dog collar grudge match, Rickey Shane Page vs Ron Mathis in a Texas Bull-rope Match, Marcus Mathers vs Jimmy Lloyd, and more amongst the tournament chaos. Let’s get into the action.

Marcus Mathers defeated Jimmy Lloyd via Bozo Buster

There was one unhappy camper to kick off this show. Marcus Mathers had been left out of the tournament and he wasn’t happy about it. He complained during the opening ceremony and was greeted by a familiar theme, G-Raver’s. However, it was a robed figure that came out and revealed themselves to be Jimmy F’N Lloyd. Looks like Mathers had a match now. What followed was a sprint of a chairs-and-concrete massacre mixed with both wrestlers’ brands of innovative move-making. Both guys played like mirror images of each other, plucking the other up and driving them back down in new and unique ways. It was short, it was sweet and it was surprisingly blood as the two struck it out, hammered each other with chairs, and took nasty landings on concrete flooring. It was a fun opener and once again, showcased how rapidly Mathers is rising. Both shook hands as they have similar stories and similar skill sets. It would be fun to see them team up someday, I imagine they’d find some way to change the game again.

Round 1 Barbed-wire Madness: Brandon Kirk defeated Anthraxx, GG Everson & Jimmy Lyon via Marc Angel Betrayal

The tournament action opened with a good ol’ dose of barbed wire. We had boards, chairs, bats and pure tumbleweeds of razor wire adorning the ring as Brandon Kirk, GG Everson, Anthraxx, and Jimmy Lyon all prepared to tear each other apart for the first spot in the final. This was wild. All four fighters were wired to hell as bodies met barbed-wire boards and Lyon found himself completely wrapped in his own tumbleweed by the end. The rising stars stepped up to the plate well as Anthraxx and Everson were capable against the veterans with Everson eventually self-destructing with a sacrificial board contraption DVD on Anthraxx. Lyon and Kirk had a competitive bout of fuckery usage and Kirk had to be saved by his wife, Kasey. However, it seemed their numbers were going to be snuffed out when Marc Angel came to play. Instead, he laid out everyone, costing Lyon the tournament by braining him with a chair. It was definitely a strong and shocking opener with Kirk fighting smart to a lot of love and everyone else taking their moments to shine throughout.

Round 1 Home Improvement: Mitch Vallen defeated Mickie Knuckles, Bam Sullivan & Atticus Cogar via Payback’s a Mitch on Sullivan

Next up we had our next group in a Home Improvement deathmatch. It would be a trio of heavy hitters in Bam Sullivan, Mitch Vallen, and Mickie Knuckles, and the first 44OH! entrant of the night in the current Danny Havoc Hardcore Champion Atticus Cogar. The crowd had a hard time deciding if they hated Sullivan or Cogar more. I suppose it didn’t really matter; they were all about to wreck shop with the household implements of destruction at their fingertips. This was pure chaos. It went from the Mitch and Knuckles show to an all-out free-for-all where everyone was bloody and desperate for a pin. Cogar and Sullivan both tried to pick their moments wisely and ended up beating the hell out of each other the longer the match went on. Again, neither was particularly popular but both got cheers hurting the other. Knuckles’ battle axes got to tour more bodies and cut open almost everyone’s forehead and were used to give Cogar a rectal exam. It was a very heavy-hitting affair mixed with fuckery spots and nasty shopping cart bumps. Again, much like the first tournament match, everyone made full use of the stipulation and toys on show whilst also showing some excellent wrestling. In the end, the story leaked through and Mouse got some revenge on Sullivan by attacking him with a cheese grater and spearing him through a door. Mitch capitalised with a KO forearm and took a spot in the finals. He’d certainly gone through hell but now, he’d have to go through even more if he wanted the trophy. He’d been skewered, booted, and more but hey, life’s a Mitch then he kills you.

Round 1 Fork For Fuck Sake: Bobby Beverly defeated Eric Ryan, Dan O’Hare & Lucky 13 via Roll-up on Ryan

If there was ever a match type for the Undisputed King of the Deathmatch, it was this. Eric Ryan had his primary weapon and his teammate in this one as 44OH! continued to invade the tournament. it would be Ryan and fellow Young Stud Bobby Beverly against deathmatch veterans Lucky 13 and Dan O’Hare. It definitely felt like a tag match at times as 44OH! worked as a unit until the very end. Ryan and Beverly either beat the other two down together or had the shit kicked out of each other together. O’Hare and 13 had an alliance when they needed it and basically went after each other when the ring was purely theirs. This one felt like it could have been one of the tamer stipulations but that was far from true as everyone, especially Beverly was left cut up and bleeding. The real story here though was that Beverly scored the win by rolling up Ryan right as Ryan had O’Hare out with the Snuff Stomps. It’s rare to see 44OH! on 44OH! violence and here we found that brotherhood is stronger than victory as Ryan didn’t seem too phased by Beverly’s opportunism. It certainly left some interesting questions for the Young Stud’s future.

Round 1 Buckets and Bats: Kennedi Copeland defeated Chuck Payne, Austin Luke & Neil Diamond Cutter via Thumbtack Crossface on Cutter

Lastly, in round one we had buckets and bats. This was by far the hardest one to pick a winner from as we had Kennedi Copeland, the Hardcore Daughter and current Hybrid Champion, Austin Luke, the Anti-Hero, former Heavyweight Champion Chuck Payne, and the Honey Badger Neil Diamond Cutter. This was a stacked four-way with one hell of a nasty stipulation. The fighters were going to bleed in this one. This was a fun one. It started with everyone taking out Payne and Cutter trying to establish himself as the top dog or badger in the fight. From there we had tacks, blocks, bats, and buckets all used to stab, bludgeon and wrestle in. Once again, everyone took a lot of hard knocks and Cutter took a kicking as he managed to piss everyone off. Payne went on his dominant streaks and practically killed Luke with a slam onto a glassed-up guardrail. Everyone was bloody and punctured by the end of this with Copeland standing triumphant after a hellacious beating. She tapped out Cutter and earned his respect for it. We now had our finalists as Brandon Kirk, Mitch Vallen, and Bobby Beverly will be joining her in the bloodbath finale.

Greg Excellent & Jeff Cannonball defeated 44OH! (Eddy Only & Gregory Iron) via Dual Soda Camel Clutches

We took a break from the tournament to deliver some different strokes of violence. Coming up first, we had some 44OH! vs H2O warfare as Eddy Only and Gregory Iron took on Jeff Cannonball and surprise partner Greg Excellent. This was going to be an interesting one as it would be trickery taking on trickery. It certainly got out of hand. This is the type of match you’ll either love or hate. It’s pure comedic fodder and damn funny throughout. Excellent is as excellent as ever and was having a blast poking fun at the 44OH! team. Cannonball was a perfect second and the pair made countless jokes at 44OH!’s expense through failed body slams, failed dance-offs, jerk-offs, soda breaks, bribes and Atomic Drops. It was all rather silly but it worked nicely as a palate cleanser before returning to the violence. It’s another one of those cases where the comedy works better being seen than described.

Dog Collar: Deklan Grant (w/Jess Moss) vs Devon Moore ends in no contest

This next match couldn’t even be introduced as the pair shot out from the curtain already chained up and bloody from trying to kill each other. It was meant to be a dog collar match between Devon Moore and the man who betrayed him, Deklan Grant. The bell rang and the violence just continued on full steam ahead. It played out exactly as expected with the pair using the chain and their vicious scrappy style of fighting to pummel each other to death. This grudge demanded blood and the pair certainly gave it that. It took several minutes to even reach the ring as the pair just bludgeoned each other around the venue. It was very brawl-heavy but certainly built up well as the pair just kept trying to get the win by any means necessary. Jess jumped in to try and help her man but even that couldn’t stop Moore’s warpath. Neither man could find that killing blow so Grant just cut his losses and left. He wanted to live to fight another day and ran away with an emphatic “fuck this.” Moore gave chase and we can all assume they brawled into the night.

Texas Bull-rope: Rickey Shane Page (w/44OH!) defeated Ron Mathis via Buckle Touching

Our final stretch of non-tournament action gave us another slice of 44OH! vs H2O action. It would see the leader of 44OH!, Rickey Shane Page, take on the leader of White Trash Forever Ron Mathis. This time there’d be nowhere for Page to run to or stall as he was tethered to Mathis through the power of bull-rope. If either man wanted to win then they’d have to take a tour of the buckles without their opponent interrupting. Both sides had brought their boys and Mathis was ready to break down RSP ahead of the big Destiny tag match. Ronnie got his licks in at the start but RSP made him fall from the top and spent most of the time after mockingly beating him down, making sure to wind the fans up and touch buckles as he went. That couldn’t last forever and Mathis gave RSP a rope low blow to even things out. The pair kept trying to out-wrestle each other and we even saw Mathis trying to drag RSP around like a backpack as he desperately tried to touch the buckles. Even Ryan and Cogar got involved to take out WTF. The pair kept giving everyone false finishes and the sheer number of 44OH! eventually overwhelmed Mathis and gave RSP the victory. It may have gone a little long but these two managed to put on a compelling bull-rope match with a lot of wrestling mixed in around the stipulation. The faction-on-faction fighting was a welcome addition and gave RSP the momentum heading into Destiny.

Tournament Final Taipei Shattered Dreams Elimination: Kennedi Copeland defeated Bobby Beverly, Mitch Vallen & Brandon Kirk via Glass Pane Powerbomb on Kirk

Last but not least, the main event. It was time to end this madness with one last act of carnage. We had four finalists, a whole lot of tubes, and one trophy to take home with you. Kennedi Copeland, Mitch Vallen, Bobby Beverly, and Brandon Kirk had all been given the Taipei treatment and were now going to have to pick each other off until only one was left. That’s right we were going elimination rules again. It started out as Mitch tearing apart Bev and Copeland wrecking Kirk with glass and a barbed-wire bat. Kirk and Bev formed an alliance and started blitzing Mitch with tubes. Mitch tried to fire up through it but Beverly killed him off with a glass pane Saito. The Kirk and Bev alliance turned on Copeland, smashing tubes on her too and Beverly broke a chair with a Brainbuster and Copeland’s body. Copeland wouldn’t die and dodged both their corner attacks to land a diving crossbody. She went on the warpath against both foes and rocked Kirk with a running knee. Beverly tried to come to the rescue but Copeland fought off his Saito into a roll-up and eliminated him. That left Kirk and Copeland to finish things off.

They set about re-arranging the furniture and had a Taipei fistfight, trading punches into elbows into headbutts. Copeland stunned Kirk with a bundle and tried for a running Rana but Kirk caught her into a powerbomb against a glass pane. It didn’t break so Kirk set it on some chairs and tried again but it still didn’t break. He gave up on the glass and just drilled Copeland with a lariat instead. Kirk shot off the ropes for another but Copeland ducked and locked on a Guillotine. Kasey came to the rescue again and punched up Copeland then held her in place for Kirk. He retrieved a tube fan and left that in the corner, opting to strike Copeland with leftover tubes but Copeland moved and Kirk murdered Kasey with them. Copeland smashed the fan over Kirk and blasted him with every tube in sight, as well as a barrage of running knees but only got two. Both were frustrated now, unable to find that killing shot. They tubed each other again and Kirk set up the pane for a final attempt. He took Copeland to the top but she fought him off and ended things with a glass pane powerbomb. Kirk had given her hell, Beverly had given her hell but somehow, someway, Kennedi Copeland had found a way to fight through it. To overcome the numbers, the fuckery, and the bludgeoning to take home the first-ever TDMT trophy. This had been a war not only with each other but with the fuckery in use. It wasn’t the prettiest match but damn was it gritty with Copeland proving every bit of fighting spirit she had. She had earned the trophy, Brandon Kirk’s respect, and more adoration from Matt Tremont. Congratulations Kennedi Copeland, the first-ever Tremont Deathmatch Tournament winner!

All images courtesy of H2O, Earl Gardner Photography,