Welcome to the Death Panel, a monthly round-up of deathmatch stuff that looks interesting, either for good reasons or for bad ones. More panel members are always welcome; see the blurb at the bottom of the column for more info.

Emersyn Jayne & Drew Parker vs. Reed Bentley & John Wayne Murdoch (GCW Hit Em Up 2025, 8/1/25 — via TrillerTV+)

In a just world, the Rejects would always be near the start of any conversation about Tag Team of the Year. John Wayne Murdoch and Reed Bentley complement each other so well, and have just the right mix of psychopath hardcore violence, retro WWF overacting, and post-modern smark-bait comedy. When put against similarly insane people like Drew Parker and Emersyn Jayne (who at one point gets three steel-tipped darts all stuck through different parts of her mouth at once), they really shine. Unfortunately, John Wayne Murdoch would be burned to death at the JCW show later in the evening. RIP.

Bear Bronson & SLADE vs. Dr. Redacted & Mr. Danger (GCW Hit Em Up 2025, 8/1/25 — via TrillerTV+)

There are two categories of really entertaining death matches. In the first, you know exactly what’s going to happen (someone is going to fall off of that scaffold they have next to the ring!), and the wrestlers build your anticipation until it pays off. In the second, you have no idea what’s going to happen next from moment to moment. This match is of the second variety. Redacted, Bronson, Danger, and SLADE are all human beings whose brains lack necessary self-preservation instincts. A 450 splash onto a bundle of light tubes: who would do that, other than a genuine maniac?

1 Called Manders & Matt Tremont & John Wayne Murdoch vs. Madman Pondo & Mickie Knuckles & 2 Tuff Tony (JCW Powder Keg, 8/1/25 — via YouTube)

Chances are, if you’re reading this website, you’ve seen the last minute or so of this match. You know, the part where Mickie Knuckles pours liquor all over a board and lights in on fire, and then Madman Pondo gives John Wayne Murdoch a really ugly sunset flip powerbomb through the whole thing? And then John Wayne Murdoch catches fire and rolls around while everyone tries to put it out, as the ring is actively burning around them? I suppose what I’m saying is that the Spot of the Year contest has a front-runner, and it smells like burnt Duke.

Danny Demanto vs. Ludark Shaitan (ICW No Holds Barred Vol. 81, 8/2/25 — via IWTV)

So here’s what I don’t get. Ludark is the special fly-in guest on the show. She’s already going to be cheered over Danny Demanto, just for being the featured attraction. So why does Danny try and stack the deck even more, making Bobby Banks introduce him with a bunch of Yankees references, doing a bunch of he-man woman-hater stuff, calling Ludark “this Mexican fucking bitch”… Here’s the thing. The work in this match is good. The bloody brawling might have been even better if it had been allowed to stand on its own, without the boo-me schtick. Maybe next time.

Phil Insane vs. Bobby Beverly (SVN Here Today, Guano Tomorrow, 8/9/25 — via Sole Streaming)

Quoting a close personal friend of the Death Panel: “I’ve known Phil since he was training and he has given and received some of the most unsafe shit I’ve ever seen in my life.” No kidding. More on Phil Insane and the most unsafe shit ever seen next month, but for now, we’ll have to make do with him and Bobby Beverly busting tubes over one another and using household steel folding chairs to shave years off of one another’s lifespans. Phil Insane still takes every chair shot without putting a hand up. The last of a literally dying breed.

2 Tuff Tony vs. Matt Tremont (JCW/GCW The 2 Day War! Night Two, 8/15/25 — via YouTube)

The list of run-ins: Atticus Cogar; Otis Cogar; Christian Napier; Vampiro; Brett Lauderdale; Alec Price; Jordan Oliver; Violent J; Shaggy 2 Dope. That Bloodline Rules match where they “finished the story” at WrestleMania has birthed a new kind of blueprint for title matches, and I’m not that crazy about it. Tremont and Tony are doing eye-opening stuff like falling from a ladder onto barbed wire, armpits first, but the real “high spots” of the match are entrance music. I can forgive it since it gave Tony and Tremont’s bodies a bit of a break, but even so, it’s not ideal.

Saxon Huxley vs. Necro Butcher (CXW Xtreme IV, 8/16/25 — via IWTV)

I’m not going to jerk you around. This isn’t really a deathmatch. If anything, it’s a no-disqualification brawl. One of the guys in it is Saxon Huxley, for Christ’s sake. That all said, it’s still a Necro Butcher match, and he’s in fine form throughout, so I’m going to sneak it in here. I’d also like to shout out whoever worked the roving floor cam, because whatever set-up he had going, it made the match look fantastic.

Violento Jack & Aeroboy vs. Daisuke Masaoka & Jun Kasai (FREEDOMS Feast of the Free People 2025, 8/17/25 — via Samurai! TV)

I went for this because it’s stipulated as a “YOKOHAMA DEATH BRIDGE + α DEATH MATCH.” I had to know: what is a Yokohama Death Bridge? It’s got to be something really gnarly with these four guys, right? It turns out that the Yokohama Death Bridge is a section of metal grating draped across one of the corners, that they could use as a platform. Any time someone climbed onto it, the young boys had to rush over to hold the sides of it in place. I guess “Cut-Up Aluminum Cans Death Match,” while more accurate, wouldn’t move tickets. Disappointing.

Jack Harrop vs. Hoodfoot (RPW King of the Kill 3, 8/23/25 — via IWTV)

I’m still trying to process Jack Harrop. He’s a heavy-set lad from across the pond who comes out to “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant, and has precisely one dance move where he’s trying to make his titties shake. This entrance lasts about seven years, after which he gets into the ring and screws up most everything he tries. Promoters see this guy, who might be thirty or might be sixteen (it’s hard to tell), and say “Aha! I must put a title belt on him, because he reminds me of old meme videos like Star Wars Kid.” A total mystery.

Shotzi Blackheart vs. Matt Cardona (GCW Homecoming Weekend 2025 Night One, 8/23/25 — via TrillerTV+)

The run-ins during 2 Tuff Tony vs. Matt Tremont felt like pauses for the guys to catch their breath, letting the entrance ramp do the hard work of popping the fans. The run-ins for this one — Tommy Invincible; Karrion Kross; the Man, the King, the God of this shit — worked. The crowd wanted them to work, so they made them work. The frenzy for Gage walking through the curtain at the Showboat was like watching a riot. The match itself? If Cardona had wrestled in ECW in the 90s, he’d be a legend today. Make of that what you will.

SLADE vs. Masashi Takeda (GCW Homecoming Weekend 2025 Night One, 8/23/25 — via TrillerTV+)

The reason that death matches work is that you can’t fake them. I mean, sure, you could use a blood packet or something instead of blading, but people will notice. The crowd can tell when someone is selling. They can also tell when someone is hurting, and there’s no way to not be hurt by broken glass sticking out of your entire upper body. Fighting through that very real pain, getting up and pressing on, that’s what death match fans really want to see, even more than jumping off scissor-lifts. SLADE and Takeda deliver the best match of the month.

Mance Warner vs. Dr. Redacted (GCW Homecoming Weekend 2025 Night Two, 8/24/25 — via TrillerTV+)

What’s Mance Warner been doing lately? Working for TNA, I think. Whatever he’s been up to, he looks so happy to be back at the Showboat. It really shows through in his performance here, where he and Redacted spend the first five minutes outside of the ring, putting their hands on members of the audience and forcing crowd participation in chair spots. These two are soul mates in their recklessness — why control the swing of a weapon, when you could just throw it, full force? They should absolutely wrestle each other more, even though it might kill one of them.

Yusaku Ito vs. AKIRA (BJW Death Mania XIII ~ Back to Inazawa, 8/24/25 — via Samurai! TV)

Hey! Did you know that AKIRA is retiring from death matches? I’m sure he’ll give his reasoning in due time, but I’m going to be honest with you all. If I was AKIRA, doing a big passing of the torch thing where I drop the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship to Yusaku Ito, and it was in front of an ocean of silent fans and empty chairs — Big Japan claims an audience of 303 in a venue with 3,030 seats, and that “303” is definitely a juiced-up number — I’d probably want to call it a day on death match bullshit, too.

You — yes, YOU — can join the Death Panel. I’m looking for capsule match/show reviews (100 words minimum, 300 words maximum) of September 2025 deathmatches for the next edition of the column. Contact me on X at @ptotime, on Bluesky at ptotime.bluesky.social, or via the Violent People Discord at @pto if you want to add your voice to the mass of freaks baying for fresh blood.