Welcome to the Death Panel, a monthly round-up of deathmatch stuff that looks interesting, either for good reasons or for bad ones. This month, we have our first addition to the panel, Timothy Robert Buechner of Q&Tr and Heat Death of the Universe! More panel members are always welcome; see the blurb at the bottom of the column for more info.

The Dream Team (Danny King & KC Kr’eme) vs. BDSM (Brick Savage & Dimitri Alexandrov) (New Texas Pro Bat City, 6/1/25 — via IWTV)

This was a TLC match that pushed the boundary of a deathmatch. One legit deathmatch guy involved, plus double juice. I also think a lot of modern American deathmatch leans heavily on weapons and contraptions (table and otherwise) and forgets about the high-flying style of people in wrestling because they wanted to be like the Hardys, just more twisted.

Overall, this was solid: classic big guys vs. little guys story, where the little guys use speed (not the drug, this isn’t a real deathmatch promotion) to overcome. It features a few downright nutty bumps. I haven’t been following the storyline closely and had assumed BDSM was just a fun throw-together team, but I guess not, and it looks like a feud is kicking off. Should lead to some cool matches. [Timothy Robert Buechner]

Tournament of Survival X (GCW, 6/7/25 — via TrillerTV+)
Wicked 13 Tournament (XBW, 6/28/25 — via YouTube)

Behold: the duality of death match tournaments. In the one corner, we have Game Changer Wrestling’s tenth Tournament of Survival. TOS has taken over as the Big Name in death match tournament shows; CZW’s Tournament of Death has fallen victim to the general feebleness and decrepitude of 2025-era Deej-Ism, and the Carnage Cup has only ever been strictly for the sickos. In the other corner, we have the Wicked 13 tournament from X Brand Wrestling, which has become affectionately known as the “murder basement” promotion among my friends and associates, in large part because they frequently do invite-only, no-ring shows in what appears to be a murder basement.

The two tourneys share some participants (Bobby Beverly and Jimmy Lloyd), a storytelling premise (a veteran death match wrestler gets their overdue flowers), and an overall raison d’etre (break as many fluorescent light tubes as possible). So why did I have so much more fun watching XBW’s tournament via YouTube fan-cam than I did watching the full bells-and-whistles TrillerTV+ production put on by GCW?

Maybe it’s an issue of vibes. As I’ll discuss elsewhere in this month’s column, choice of venue is an important factor. GCW has their people rolling around in glass at the Showboat in Atlantic City. XBW is in someone’s backyard, with what appears to be a half-size ring. Considering that both tournaments boiled down to “breaking ten million tubes” in terms of content, maybe it’s less of a vibes thing and more that I expect more out of a bigger operation like GCW. Tournament of Survival X peaks early, with the John Wayne Murdoch vs. Mr. Danger House of Horrors match, and the maximalist “more is more is more is more” three-way between Beastman, Otis Cogar, and Dr. Redacted. XBW never quite rises to the level of those matches, even with Mickie Knuckles vs. the lich of Nick Gage, but the backyard setting and lack of a big-boy pro ring probably leads me toward judging it less harshly than I would otherwise.

I probably wouldn’t be second-guessing myself so much if either tournament felt more momentous. Matt Tremont gutted his way to a TOS victory, but the story leading up to it didn’t provide much in the way of stakes. At the end of a GCW show in May, Tremont sat down and did a promo about how he’s going to win the Tournament of Survival. And then he did, by defeating Otis Cogar in a concrete-block death match. Tremont himself called for the cinderblocks, by the way, which felt weird. Why make it harder for himself like that? Why not have Otis, currently the best dead-eyed shithead goon in wrestling, put Tremont up to it? That would have halfway resembled stakes being raised.

Either way, a lot of glass broke, a lot of people bled, a lot of spooky-dust got huffed. Tremont did that thing where he gets a gusset plate to his head and squirts blood like a fountain again. I worry about his blood pressure. [pto]

House of Horrors: John Wayne Murdoch vs. Mr. Danger (GCW Tournament of Survival X, 6/7/25 — via TrillerTV+)

Each first-round TOS match seemed to showcase a current archetype in US deathmatch wrestling, making this a great snapshot of the scene. This match had JWM as the older vet beating a younger, more athletic guy (Mr. Danger) who’s still trying to “do stuff” in deathmatches. Danger is solid; he grabs onto a scaffold during a missile dropkick, then hits a rana off it. There’s plenty of glass and blood. No complaints. [TRB]

Beastman vs. Dr. Redacted vs. Otis Cogar (GCW Tournament of Survival X, 6/7/25 — via TrillerTV+)

This match represents the “guy who sucks but is going to make it to the finals” archetype. Obviously, I’m not high on Otis here (or anywhere). [TRB]

The Bev vs. Daiju Wakamatsu (GCW Tournament of Survival X, 6/7/25 — via TrillerTV+)

Bev is the current GCW-style deathmatch workhorse: he’s over because he’s always around, not completely broken down, and still kicks some ass. This “guy” has existed forever in various feds. The match itself? Actually, just good, period. [TRB]

Matt Tremont vs. Shotzi Blackheart vs. Jimmy Lloyd (GCW Tournament of Survival X, 6/7/25 — via TrillerTV+)

This is the “old guy who rules” match. Everything Tremont does is cool, fun, or violent. Lloyd is here to bump and get pinned. Shotzi is here to blow off steam and do something reckless after being stuck in WWE for too long. This one works only because Tremont is so captivating, bleeding and rolling around.

The finish is fun, there’s a moment where Lloyd looks like he might sneak a crucifix win, but Tremont just grabs him and pins him. [TRB]

Mickie Knuckles vs. Anakin Murphy (WLW Northwoods Death Trip, 6/7/25 — via IWTV)

Mickie comes out, points at Anakin, and says, “Am I supposed to fight him or fuck him?” and even though she doesn’t say it explicitly, it feels like she means using him as a dildo to fuck herself, not just normal P-in-V intercourse.

Anyway, Mickie opts to fight him. There’s wild stuff like trying to hit Anakin with a car, locking him in a trunk, and even driving the car into a porta-potty Anakin had just escaped from. [TRB]

Fans Bring the Weapons: Tommy Trainwreck vs. Lil Sicko (WLW Northwoods Death Trip, 6/7/25 — via IWTV)

Lil Sicko is a special kind of freak who does some really dumb stuff, like trying a golden triangle moonsault, not clearing the ropes, and basically turning it into a basic Lionsault while Trainwreck stood outside the ring. A clip made the rounds of Sicko doing a dive off a building onto a trampoline of barbed wire. Sicko’s the kind of guy who reminds you why we watch this stuff. [TRB]

200 Light Tubes House of Horrors: Bobby V vs. Neil Diamond Cutter (WLW Northwoods Death Trip, 6/7/25 — via IWTV)

Neil is kind of a more trained and consistent version of Lil Sicko; he actually lands most of his stuff. This was the only match on this show I’d call “good” in the classical sense. They beat the hell out of each other, hit some creative spots, and used tons of glass in the dumbest ways. [TRB]

Dog Collar: Joey Janela vs. Atticus Cogar (GCW Cage of Survival 4, 6/8/25 — via TrillerTV+)

I hesitated on including this, because even in this, the Year of the Dog Collar Match, I’m not sure whether or not “dog collar” has a place under the “death match” umbrella. I just wanted to bring it up to point out one very death-match-brained bit. Joey Janela gets jumped by Atticus Cogar’s VNDL48 stablemates, Otis Cogar and Christian Napier. The two of them put on dog collars of their own, and link the chains to Janela’s collar. One guy chained to three opponents is a great visual, but where can you go from there? The eternal death match problem. [pto]

Randi West vs. The North Korean Assassin (Flophouse Brother Me Softly, 6/7/25 — via IWTV)
Mickie Knuckles vs. Anakin Murphy (WLW Northwoods Death Trip, 6/7/25 — via IWTV)
SLADE vs. Bear Bronson (GCW Cage of Survival 4, 6/8/25 — via TrillerTV+)
Nathan Mowery vs. Brad Cash vs. Raven Havok (SWS Torn 2 Pieces, 6/14/25 — via YouTube)

As part of the Way of the Blade podcast’s recent side quest wherein they struggle towards a Death Match Canon, Phil Schneider, JR Goldberg, and Bucky from Wrestling Is Gross have attempted to lay out the boundaries of what is or is not a death match. (This is a question with the potential to be just as annoying as ones like “is such-and-such movie a giallo?” and “were the Stooges a punk band?”) One theory advanced in their conversations is that one of the necessary conditions for a death match is the use of death-match-specific objects, e.g. bundles of light tubes and barbed wire boards. These objects require intentional preparation for use as weapons in a match, as opposed to plunder matches, where the wrestlers bop one another with whatever unmodified thing happens to be within reach (a chair, a cookie sheet, a kendo stick).

This is where I invite myself into their conversation and put forth my own consideration: that in addition to these intentionally (and with malice aforethought) prepared weapons, what is or is not a death match can be defined by the venue. Something like Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page in AEW — you know which one I’m talking about — has all of the trappings and violent moments of a death match, and yet feels separate from the likes of a Bam Sullivan match just for taking place in front of however many thousand people, in an actual arena, on a high-end pay-per-view. I’m not saying that the Toni Storm vs. Mariah May “Hollywood Ending” match isn’t totally gnarly and brutal. My line of thinking is that those matches derive part of their power from the sheer fact that they ARE anomalies within the context of an All Elite Wrestling show. They’re intrusions from another dimension, manifesting between matches with people like Mike Bailey or Kyle O’Reilly, and their transgressive power is derived from that discontinuity between match and venue.

Where, then, is a proper place to hold a death match? “Outdoors” is a good starting point. Even if it’s not a literal backyard, the outdoor setting confers an illusion of lawlessness, a feeling that whatever is happening isn’t bound by any particular rules (you know, like an outlaw mudshow of some sort). Randi West vs. North Korean Assassin, for Flophouse Wrestling, takes place in what looks like a park, or maybe a lot adjacent to a venue, and gains a little bump from that fact. It’s a by-the-numbers death match, but it feels more in line with its death match ancestors for taking place out in the sunshine, with green grass under the ring. Mickie Knuckles and Anakin Murphy actually make use of the outdoor space at WLW’s show (which the bright red exterior of a barn-looking bar as the background of most camera angles). They fight on and around a car, roaming freely, keeping up the artifice that their match is uncontrolled chaos, unable to be contained in a single squared circle.

So what about indoor venues? Maybe it’s like art, where you know it when you see it. Personally, I think there’s a size limit. There’s definitely a vibe issue that has to be considered. SWS’s show, filmed from a static angle with something blocking part of the frame, like it was a bathroom spy camera pointed in the wrong direction, shows us what seems like a dingy, hastily-converted indoor space. That feels right for death matches. Even if the space is purpose-built for breaking tubes, it shouldn’t FEEL like it. It should feel as thrown-together as a door bridge balanced on two half-collapsed chairs.

The upper limit of this is probably a space like Korakuen Hall. No one can deny that FREEDOMS or whoever are putting on actual death matches, and the venue is still small enough to make it seem like a halfway-underground event. The same is true of the Showboat, GCW’s Atlantic City homebase. When in doubt, just do like Bear Bronson and SLADE did, and MAKE the venue into a death match appropriate one, by covering it in 70% of your own blood. That’s what it really comes down to, in the end. Blood everywhere, and us freaks screaming for more. [pto]

You — yes, YOU — can join the Death Panel. I’m looking for capsule match/show reviews (100 words minimum, 300 words maximum) of June 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.