April 17th, 2024

Dylan Summers’ hip is shattered in four different places. He finds himself, strapped to a bed, immobilized, facing a murky future with an untold number of surgeries ahead. The dimly lit confines of a Japanese hospital room, the oppressive silence weighed heavily on the mind of the man known as Necro Butcher. The stark white walls seemed to close in, amplifying his loneliness. Not a single employee in the rural Hokkaido hospital speaks English. He is truly alone. He lays motionless in the bed, his powerful frame growing frail and weak, withering before his own eyes. The pain and agony from his injuries was debilitating—though far worse was the numb terror of the unknown.

Necro Butcher is a name spoken in reverence among death match enthusiasts and all true students of professional wrestling. His matches are notoriously brutal. His own flesh and blood are as much a part of his arsenal as barbed wire, light tubes, and steel chairs. He is one half of quite possibly the best match in the history of professional wrestling—versus Samoa Joe. A resume of top tier matches that legitimately stack up with any star in the business. A VIOLENT PEOPLE HALL OF FAMER. His legacy is one of fear and admiration, but now, it seems fate was going to finally “Choose Death,” for the fallen warrior. 

June 11th, 2016

The first time the wrestling world almost lost Necro forever was under much different circumstances. The death match legend had a retirement bout, tagging with Smokey C and Grim Reefer against Devon Moore, Rhino, and Sabu for PWS. This seemingly random matchup of marijuana aficionados taking on two ECW legends and PWS legend(?) Devon Moore was in some ways a fitting end to Necro’s career. He was always a different sort of man than most wrestlers. Marched to the beat of his own drum. Not one for big fanfare. Here was Necro taking supposedly a retirement fund made up of daily fantasy sports winning and riding off into the sunset. The sunset of course being the grounds crew of a minor league baseball team: The finish to his illustrious career is far from what fans envisioned, but a better end than many of his peers faced. 

December 2019 and January 2020

This is a dark turn in the tale of Necro. A tale that is already bereft of sunny chapters for the most part. Dylan Summer is in pain, constantly. This is in no way surprising, but it is increasing. He can’t move, can’t eat, and is not himself. He gets less and less responsibilities at his shoot job. In his final year of working for the minor league baseball team the only job he can manage is taking tickets at the door. 2020 rolls around and he’s unable to even do that menial task. 

During this time despite all odds the Necro Butcher reappears, but it seems to be with the sole purpose of saying one feeble final goodbye, to the fans and the sport he loves. A frail, skinny Necro emerges from retirement a shell of his former self. He wills himself to wrestled Shadow WX in Japan once last time. Mr. Pogo is not the only shadow in the match. Necro barely resembles the man he once was. 

He has a much discussed match against Shlak. This makes the first time many fans are seeing him in years. They are understandably shocked and concerned. Necro shuffles his way through a “match” with Shlak. At the end of the bout he passes the torch and his iconic “Choose Death” shirt to Shlak, ending the bleak short lived return to the spotlight of pro wrestling. 

All this was before the man would even have a formal diagnosis. He would eventually find out the reason for the pain and the shocking weight loss was Stage 3 Hodgkin Lymphoma. 

“I’ve got to keep breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring.”

Tom Hanks in Castaway a favorite quote of Necro Butcher’s

Necro shed the shirt and chose life. Somehow despite all the multiple biopsies, surgeries, and chemo treatments, and in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, he was in full remission. Within two years he was back in the world of wrestling. In the man’s own words he “beat cancer out of spite.”

This stage of his career, the legend became somehow more of a provocateur. Donning the nomme de guerre “MAGA Butcher.” The Butcher was reveling in hatred and turning away fans with every Facebook post and promo. It wasn’t so much polarizing as it was openly hostile. Despite this Necro Butcher was back. He may not have been reaching the high highs of earlier in his career, but he was still a dynamic presence inside the squared circle. 80% of Necro Butcher is far better than the vast majority of wrestlers in the history of the sport. 

April 17th, 2024

Teaming with longtime partner, rival, and friend Mad Man Pondo in the main event of BJPW Blow The Night 2024, Necro Butcher fractured his hip. Necro would be confined to Japanese hospitals for weeks and weeks—scared and alone. He would return to the states in a wheelchair. The deathmatch legend would take up residence in Texas and slowly work his way out of the wheelchair and into a walker, from walker to cane, and from cane to the ring. Along this journey to recovery he began to train students, rediscovering not only his passion for the business, but for life. The man whose career has ended multiple times wasn’t done yet. 

September 5th, 2024

The Return. Bomb City Bar Fights. Necro is no stranger to throwing bombs or bar fights, but the man himself admitted he was nervous. He owned up to his own self doubt. He had only been walking unassisted for a few weeks and here he was returning to the fire of a death match. For some wrestlers this open, honest self evaluation and shockingly accurate self image would be strange. Necro was like this throughout his career. He’s notoriously soft spoken and articulate. One might even say very demure, very mindful (I’m sorry.)

It wasn’t that he was a man with no fear. He was a man full of fear, full of doubt who could throw it all to the side and fight and claw like his life depended on it, because it did and he was back at it again. He fought Pierce Price inside a small bar and at least for one night The Necro Butcher was his old self. Picking up high top tables to attack his opponent, punches so hard fans can’t decide to stare or look away, and blood of course there was blood. Will this be a return to form or a one time miracle of circumstances? History says to never count out Necro. 

24 hours after his return and in the middle of me writing this, Necro Butcher made a surprise return to XPW. He defeated Bad Dude Tito and won the XPW West Coast Heavyweight Title. The Necro Butcher is raising titles and the dead .