It’s coming up to a month since I attended my first ever death match event. Diving right into the deep end with Bleeding Gums Wrestling’s second annual Lust For Death Tournament. Nine death matches, a whole lot of waiting, and a near three hour drive from Elgin to Dundee then Dundee to Elgin made for a long hazy marathon of an experience.

I recorded my post-show thoughts that are now available on our various media platforms so you can take in my immediate thoughts but for actually putting pen to paper I waited for the full show to be available on IWTV so that I could take it in as nature intended, with myself in my office and the show on a screen.

It was an early start to April 12th, at 10am I was on the road as those already in Dundee nursed their varying hangovers from the night before as Necro Butcher, Mickie Knuckles, and Jasmin St. Claire recounted stories, some of which were even suitable to be compiled into a streaming release with a less edited version also available via The Deathmatch Outlaws on DVD.

As I arrived at Church the ring was already built with weapons being carried around, wrestlers were making introductions, and a lot of busyness in a venue that was more compact than I anticipated. A very up close and personal venue in Church with those on the floor only having a tight turning circle if they wanted to avoid a glass shower.

So with that in mind as showtime drew near I went up to the balcony, it’s nice and safe up in the balcony right?

Everyone’s favourite deathmatch Uncle, Stevie Wizard, was on hosting duties for the night with Raffe and Andrew on commentary as the show opened with the ropes replaced by fishing wire and fish hooks. Totally safe.

Lust For Death Tournament – Round One – The Fish & Chips Deathmatch – Tim Strange defeated Franco Fate by pinfall to advance.

A red marigold adorned Archie Williams made his death match debut, and stood grimacing while Fate and Strange trading chops and forearms, slugging it out back and forth in the centre of the ring to avoid the outer terrain.

Franco brought in a fish hooked covered bat that caused the first blood of the evening in record time as Tim weathered the assault and having the cracks in the skin gouged at by his opponent. Archie could only stand in awe as his belt was removed, with Fate whipping the back of Strange.

Fate was ruthless, tying the belt around the neck of Tim Strange, rubbing literal salt into the wounds, and brought out the gusset plates. All that seemed to power up Tim who fired back and sent Franco through one of the fishing line sides, then through another side to get Fate all caught up and begging off the hoss who took control.

Strange returned the favour with the belt whipping, busting Fate open, which gave Tim time to construct a makeshift table consisting of a fish decal covered shower screen over two, non-fish covered, chairs.

In keeping with the theme, the salt and vinegar was brought in as Fate and Strange chopped each other with handfuls of salt and vinegar, Strange spat a mouth full into the bloody face of Franco Fate that filled the venue with the odor.

A low blow from Franco gave him the advantage as the screen of glass loomed large, Fate wrapped the fishing wire around the face of Tim Strange before jumping onto his back. Strange got inspired by Buckeroo and launched himself backwards to send Franco through the glass, dropping his full weight on top to get the pin.

A crazy opening match, the thought of the vinegar seeping into the cuts of both men made me wince. The explosive ending with the glass spraying was a great visual.

My only criticism was maybe a lack of anger from Tim Strange, this was built upon Franco Fate costing him the BGW UK Deathmatch Championship when Fate interrupted his attempt to take the title from Alton Thorne at ‘Liquid Filth’ at the end of 2024 so I might’ve expected a bit more ferocity but overall the action escalated with the big finish, madness.

Alton Thorne spoke to Kayleigh Watt backstage, confident that his opponent for the evening Jack Bennett wouldn’t get a needle near him during their match. Oh Alton…

Lust For Death Tournament – Round One – Stick It Rip It & Grip It Deathmatch – Danny Darko defeated Tommbie w/Veronica Sault by pinfall to advance.

Back to the action, and as if by magic the ropes were on the ring and it was filled with carpet gripper constructions. Danny Darko got the party going with the atmosphere immediately turning as the gruesome Tommbie made his way out with Veronica Sault in his company and wielding his weapons of choice, a box of tattoo needles and a thumbtack covered bat for funsies.

As far as striking looks go in professional wrestling, the Rob Zombie-esque horror garb that Tommbie exhibits is incredible, the black face paint around the eyes like there is a darkness seeping out, with the mask knee pads are the icing on the bloody cake. Veronica fits the hellscape aesthetic to tee.

Archie Williams found some gardening gloves but once again could only stand back and watch these two smashing the shit out of each other with carpet gripper strips. A feral Veronica exclaimed her support for Tommbie, even providing an assist with a massive mega gripper singapore cane concoction to leather across the bare back of Darko to put her charge back in charge.

Both men drew blood, with Tommbie trying to use a gusset plate modified Facehugger which Darko wanted no part of. The battle went up to the second rope with Danny Darko crashing Tommbie to the mat with a Michnoku Driver onto a pile of carpet strips to the shrieks of Veronica at ringside.

A double arm suplex sent Darko crashing into a carpet strip star, with a second suplex sending Danny Darko into another carpet strip covered corner. Tommbie brought out the tattoo needles for the first whoozy moment from myself, as I witnessed Tommbie stab the needles into the hand, the arm, and the thigh of Danny Darko while Veronica laughed maniacally.

In among all that craziness, Darko swung punches with tattoo needles still stuck in his body as the momentum went back and forth. Veronica directed Tommbie but Darko, now with tattoo needles hanging out of the top of his head, launched Tommbie off the top rope into a carpet strip barrel.

Darko finished the match with a spinning lariat to send both into the pile to keep Tommbie down for the three.

A hard hitting match, in among the barbaric lashings of carpet strips there was some actual wrestling. The light and dark parallels with Danny Darko entering all happy and with the white in his gear, looking like a professional wrestler would look like, to come against something that has spawned from the pits of hell and spends his holidays at the River Styx was fantastic.

Mickie Knuckles flirted with Kayleigh in an alley behind the venue. No more context will be provided. You will just have to watch it on IWTV or DVD.

Lust For Death Tournament – Round One – Barbed Wire Massacre Deathmatch – Mickie Knuckles defeated Michael Caden w/Veronica Sault by pinfall to advance.

The carpet strips had disappeared with some barbed wire boards propping the corners and barbed wire wrapped around two side of the ring along with some additions strewn around the canvas.

Mickie added Stevie Wizard and referee Steve Dean to the flirtathon, grinding on Dean with the sound of Daniel Bedingfield’s “Gotta Get Thru This” playing to usher Michael Caden, with Veronica returning, into the fray. That was quite something.

Knuckles got Veronica all flustered, and Veronica handled the situation with style, thrusting Mickie into her ample bosom for some motorboating in the city of discovery, before quickly giving into the lapdance request from Auntie Mickie.

But it was all a ruse! Mickie Knuckles put Veronica over her knee for a spanking before finishing up a wardrobe malfunctioning Veronica with a light tube across the arse. What wasn’t seen was the top half of the tube flying into the crowd, right past Kyle on photography and clipped a fan standing close to the ringside area.

The balcony was a safe place…

With Veronica neutralised, the barbed wire massacre began. Caden used the wire on the ropes and a barbed wire tennis racket to avenge his sare arsed valet. Which only annoyed Mickie Knuckles, who deadpanned looked into the camera before launching an all out assault on the lower half of Michael Caden via multiple headbutts to the groin then ramming an axe handle up his back passage to make ‘The Sad Boy’ even sadder.

Caden tried to get some traction going but found himself thrown into a barbed wire board then having his head opened up with an axe, with the favour returned get the blood flowing from the forehead of Knuckles. He then tried to insert the axe into the backside of Knuckles… which was met with a disturbing amount of comfort from Mickie who offered to provide a service in return.

It ended poorly. There was teeth involved. It was a whole thing.

Michael Caden continued to be overwhelmed by Mickie, who rolled out of a school boy pin to land a gnarly snap back suplex to wrap it up and move forward into the semi finals. A handshake was shared before Mickie gave a quick cock shot to certainly leave an everlasting mark on Michael Caden’s bruised twig and berries.

This was, certainly at this point in the evening, the best match of the night. It was heavy in the shenanigans, the levity that Mickie provided to proceedings made it stand out and it played heavily into the silliness of it all. Michael Caden was rattled from the get go with Knuckles taking more of a liking to Veronica at ringside and that played throughout the bout.

By the way, Veronica. Tits McGee. Sault. What a trooper. When I talked about those that were MVPs of the show on the podcasts about this event I constantly brought up Mickie Knuckles, Jack Harrop, and Alton Thorne, but Veronica Sault was outstanding. She is so expressive, more than game to be involved but has a great instinct for the when and where so not to overshadow the actual wrestling portion with a cameo at the start to knock Michael Caden out of his zone thanks to Mickie. The eventual turnabout from Knuckles to sucker Veronica in and leave her red faced and red arsed kept her from getting involved going forward, with her still getting all out of sorts when Mickie fluttered her eyelashes towards her after picking up the win. It was excellent.

This match was a great mix of fun and violence, it broke up the onslaught of gruesome content that went before and was to come later on.

Kayleigh caught up with Jack Bennett who made no bones about being smaller than Alton Thorne but had no issues about dropping the champion on his head later.

Lust For Death Tournament – Round One – Ladders, Lemons, and Light Tubes Match – Jack Harrop & Big F’N Joe defeated British Top Team (Brett Semtex & Lou Nixon) by pinfall to advance.

In the final first round match, one team would move onto face each other in the next round. Joe and Jack made their entrances separate, in stark contrast to Brett Semtex and Lou Nixon of British Top Team who made their way out as a unit.

Big F’N Joe showed off his skill with the lemons, popping them across the ring to hit British Top Team but conveniently stayed on the apron to leave Harrop to be bombarded by Semtex and Nixon as they took turns laying into Jack while Joe came in to break the falls when required.

Harrop managed to twist out of a Semtex ankle lock to send him into a light tube bop from Big F’N Joe, that cut Jack Harrop under the eye in the process. Joe began his Lust For Death campaign hot as the match quickly broke down from the tag team dynamics into a warzone in Church as the light tubes lit up the welts over the chest, backs, and faces of all four men.

The balcony stopped being a safe place.

Attempted murder was on the menu with even venue security trying to stop the chaos. What wasn’t seen was Brett Semtex sending Jack Harrop onto a table that buckled, and I don’t know about you but having a gladiator of a man like Brett Semtex with his face pissing blood do that to another man two steps away from you, it makes you recalibrate your life choices.

The match eventually went back down the spiral staircases and I could breathe a sigh of relief.

It was light tub lane with the big bombs flying, Brett Semtex hoisted and planted Jack Harrop with an F-5. Lou Nixon suffered a nasty cut that had blood covering his face quicker than he could wipe it away. Jack Harrop spun around with a ladder over his shoulders for a Funker tribute to take out just about everyone with Joe stopping the rotation just in time to avoid being a victim to the whirling force of Harrop.

All four wrestlers began to slow down, the loss of blood was clearly taking a toll along with the damage that was being caused. BTT looked to have it in the bag with a planned double chokeslam to Jack over a ladder but Veronica distracted Nixon, as Tommbie and Michael Caden arrived to smash a couple of light tubes off the head of Brett Semtex to leave him open to be rolled up by Big F’N Joe to get the win for his team.

We went from a fairly jovial match between Mickie Knuckles and Michael Caden to an all out bloodfest. It started tame enough, with tag rules even employed before Big F’N Joe got involved and tore up all plans with glass flying everywhere from the ground up. A twist in the tale set up something going forward for British Top Team against Tommbie and Michael Caden which I’m sure will be gory.

Four death matches in and I had already become desensitised in witnessing the brutality, this was the height of the severity right?

BGW UK Deathmatch Championship – Finding The Needle In The Nettle Sack Deathmatch – Alton Thorne defeated Jack Bennett by referee stoppage to retain the BGW UK Deathmatch Championship.

As I considered some options to maybe get a snack from the vendor on site, Stevie Wizard announced the first half main event and all thoughts of food left my mind because the stipulation for the bout was likely to leave me losing it a few minutes later.

Thorne came in with confrontation in mind, immediately marching into the crowd to rile them up and getting into the face of Jack Bennett. While others had causing bloodshed in mind, maybe creating a viral moment of the craziness, Alton Thorne was all about creating a natural emotional response, that of anger to see him succeed.

Jack brought the light tubes in to get cracking, smashing them off the back of Alton but his attempt to get the needles involved was halted by Thorne as promised. The sight of the needles had Alton almost rush to get back into control, cutting Bennett open with a shattered light tube, before smashing a pot onto the mat and slamming Jack back first into the broken pottery and glass on the canvas.

Alton stopped another needle introduction and stood on the hand of Bennett to give Thorne time to open up his black bag full of nettles to send a shiver down my spine before scratching them and dragging them over the open wound on Jack Bennett’s face.

The battle went to the second rope with Bennett managing to jam a weedwhacker into the crotch of Alton Thorne and sweeping him off the turnbuckle into the ever increasing pile of debris in the middle of the ring, glass, pots, and nettles, oh my.

Bennett finally had an opening, and took advantage by smashing plastic boxes over the head and shoulder of Thorne to shatter them, leaving some plastic stuck into the cuts, he retrieved a giant syringe sword made of light tubes to wake Alton up with a spray of water then sending him back to sleep with the construction being smashed over his skull as Alton stumbled into the ropes to get all tangled up.

The crowd response heightened because it was finally syringe time, as Jack Bennett stuck a needle in the flesh between the eyes on the bridge of the nose of his opponent. The fear in the eyes of Alton Thorne was very real as Bennett pushed the end of the syringe and sprayed liquid out to show that there was no trick, it was through the skin and right in Thorne’s eyeline. I may have sat down at this point in the match because if Tommbie stabbing tattoo needles made the legs go, this was next level.

Jack Bennett tried to take advantage of the shock but it seemed to just power Alton Thorne on as he rampaged full of adrenaline, stabbing needles into the back of Bennett before piledriving him onto an upturned plastic box with a box of needles on top because why not at this point.

Somehow Jack got a shoulder up so Thorne locked in a crossface but Bennett wouldn’t quit, it took Thorne stabbing needles through the web of Bennett’s right hand to the mat, before wrenching back with the arm trap crossface for the stoppage as Jack faded out.

A dramatic showing of brutality but every moment made sense for what was to come further into the match. Alton Thorne was determined the needles wouldn’t come into play but when they did he went into manic kill mode because if Jack managed to get him again there was a potential that his reign as the UK Deathmatch Champion was in danger. Bennett showed all the fight and guts to survive and didn’t give up which showed his fighting spirit which made the crowd fully back him against Alton.

What I’ve found so far in this journey of death match wrestling is that there is a lot of shades of grey, which allows the crowd to make up their mind who to support with no wrong answer. Alton Thorne goes out of his way to make sure that no one in the building wants him to win, so that it makes his opponent get that mega reaction when they knock him down, or kick out after something mad. I said it before, but Alton Thorne is just a straight up malicious bastard who wants to antagonise every single person in the venue into wanting his opponent to rip him apart, which makes him an outstanding villain in a world where there is no clear line in the sand.

After the match, with the blood dripping down his face, Thorne called out Danny Demanto for Bleeding Gums Wrestling’s joint event with ICW No Holds Barred in September. After having to talk over the crowd telling him to shut up. Alton absorbed all the emotion and venom being spewed from the audience along with all the bile from years of frustration from being “overlooked” in his own words. I don’t even know who Danny Demanto is but I could feel the disdain and hatred that Thorne felt, and the footage saw no lies being told in his eyes. The callout of Demanto not respecting the scene outside of one company almost had the crowd come round to Thorne’s way of thinking and that sound of cheers switched the gear as Alton declared that HE was BritDeath. It was an incredible promo and you could feel come from his very soul.

Jack Bennett, while he looks unassuming on the surface he willingly throws his body in harm’s way. Even he showed fear when the needles were in play, biting on his wrist tape to quell the screams when they were being punctured into his back, it made the needles become this game changer weapon where whomever has them holds all the cards. There was a great story told that you felt even if some of those feelings were lightheadedness on more than one occasion.

Lust For Death Tournament – Semi Final – Bodies Under The Boards Deathmatch – Triple Threat – Mickie Knuckles defeated Danny Darko, and Tim Strange by pinfall to advance.

After an interval and refuel, it was back to the Lust For Death Tournament. There were creative boards propping the corners as the charismatic trio of Tim Strange, Danny Darko, and Mickie Knuckles spent most of the opening exchanges messing with referee Steve Dean. A calm before the storm as the love story between Mickie and Steve carried on from her opening round bout but had developed into a ménage à quattro with Strange and Darko.

Eventually there was some wrestling with Knuckles and Darko having to deal with the big hoss Tim Strange. Strange almost humoured them, allowing the chops, forearms, and a bonus nipple twist in the corner while the team dynamic between Danny and Mickie disintegrated as they fought over who was going to punish Tim Strange.

The gusset plates were brought back as all three found themselves getting opened up, the blood was dripping from the head and chests as Darko and Knuckles received some RODEO TIME from Strange.

In amongst the shenanigans of dick biting, and general sadomastic behavior, Darko drilled Mickie Knuckles with a stump brainbuster that looked nasty, as all three tried to gain the upper hand to book their place in the Lust For Death Tournament final.

Stange slammed Darko into a light tube covered board but found himself getting tackled through a board covered in plastic toy soldiers. Knuckles put an end to the match with a pumphandle slam to Danny Darko whose head landed on a barbed wire board to keep him out for the count.

The stipulation didn’t really come into the equation until the closing moments with more time on the weird and wondrous nature of the three involved. It was good to have a match to ease back into the evening after Thorne-Bennett had me question my own sanity of both enjoyment and disgust.

It was certainly something different, no light tubes (bar the five or six taped to a board) and it provided a different flavour on the night. It’s almost like Mickie Knuckles hypnotises her opponents to join her brand of chaos to take them out of their comfort zone of malicious slaughter.

Kayleigh was joined by a very happy Alton Thorne, he gave props to Jack Bennett for putting up a fight while gloating that he did what he said he would in retaining the UK Deathmatch Championship, he aired his grievance about Demanto, before thanking Kayleigh for her time. It feeds into this complex personality that there is clear thought put into every action and word that is said. He could fly off the handle at Kayleigh about the disrespect he feels that Scottish fans and ICW NHB have showed him, but what would that achieve? Instead he pointed his eyes directly to the camera to give his message loud and clear. A thrilling character representation in less than 90 seconds.

Lust For Death Tournament – Semi Final – Pinned, Nailed, & Smashed Deathmatch – Jack Harrop defeated Big F’N Joe by pinfall to advance.

With Mickie Knuckles etching her place into the finals it was time to determine her opponent. Big F’N Joe arrived, without his usual white shirt and white trunks, it was CM Punk combat style shorts and a serious face. A clearly worse for wear Jack Harrop strutted out, bathing in the love from the Bleeding Gums gathering.

After a little bit of collar and elbow, Joe had enough and got a big bucket of 30,000 thumbtacks and dumped it on the mat, which also contained a rubber Donald Trump that was punted into the balcony and was never to be seen again. If only that worked for all problems.

It was Joe that felt the tacks first following an exchange, with Harrop slamming him to the sharp ground twice as Jack played Joe’s game with the light tubes across the head and back but a DDT onto the tacks put Big F’N Joe into the driving seat, with a coat hanger being used to pull at the mouth and nose of Harrop.

The battle wore on with both men bloody, covered in glass and tacks, smashing light tubes and landing hard onto the shattered remains. Joe brought a bed of nails out to smash into the back of Harrop with a chair before putting him into a massive plastic bag swinging the steel on any part that moved.

Harrop escaped and raised from the dead to give Joe a spinebuster in the centre of the ring to pick up the win and earn his place into the final.

This is where my light tube fatigue kicked in. There is only so many times I can watched a light tube pop over someone’s head and this was 80% of the match. It was a popular winner in house but it wasn’t a match I would quickly revisit personally.

Kayleigh tried to get a word from Veronica Sault, who was flanked by Michael Caden and Tommbie, Veronica marked British Top Team’s cards as she had a lust for blood and for the tag team titles they possess. Not only is Veronica a great addition at ringside, she can cut a hell of a promo.

Legend vs Legend Deathmatch – Iceman defeated Necro Butcher w/Jasmin St. Claire by pinfall.

In a weird turn of events, Hugo Harris appeared alongside Jasmin St. Claire and Necro Butcher to wave a flag emblazoned with Donald Trump raising his fist with a mixed reaction of Trump negativity and awe that Necro Butcher is in Church, in Dundee, in Scotland.

The crowd were 50/50 as Iceman and Necro tried to overpower the other in the opening tie up with neither finding the a way to break out. Butcher laid in a couple punches with Iceman responding with a big slam to reset back to zero.

It wasn’t long before the match spilled into a brawl at ringside, wading through the bodies with punches and chops. Jasmin St. Claire peppered Iceman with a singapore cane but it couldn’t stop Iceman smashing a steel chair over the head of Necro Butcher that Necro wore like a necklace as he stotted around ringside.

Somehow Necro was revived and ripped up cans to tear into the forehead of Iceman so that both were spilling crimson. The punches landed hard as you saw their heads ricochet around with every fist to the skull. The action left Church with a blood soaked Necro throwing a metal barrier at Iceman on the street.

The fight returned into the venue as the punches and cans swung all over the place. Iceman tried to make his way back to Butcher but was stopped by the madman hurling a water jug attached to a wooden bat, breaking it in the process. In a surprise turn of events Necro Butcher locked in a Figure Four Leglock onto Iceman on a tack and glass covered floor of a church. There’s a sentence for you.

It eventually made it’s way back to the ring with Butcher giving back the chair shot to head earlier with one of his own for a near fall. The slew of punches, lariats, and chops were traded with a third lariat finally keeping Necro Butcher down long enough for the three.

An absolute massacre. A spectacle. Carnage. Was it pretty? Not in the slightest. The two bludgeoned each other with minimal weapons involved for maximum insanity. The people got what they paid for, an up close and personal look and be within the orbit of a first time ever match between two men synonymous with this style of wrestling. Two old dogs scrapping with that grizzled energy.

Iceman thanked Necro for what he’s given to death match wrestling as the crowd bathed him with adulation.

Being live and in person for this admittedly it had been a long day of violence with not only the light tube fatigue kicking in but also just on deathmatches in general but watching it back while relatively awake, this felt like a big deal. Two larger than life individuals punching the life out of the other for about 25 minutes. I didn’t know much, if anything, about deathmatch wrestling prior to the podcast journey with promotion owner Andrew, but what I did know were the names Iceman and Necro Butcher.

Soul and Kayleigh caught up with Necro Butcher and Iceman respectively moments after the match for their immediate thoughts. Both showed appreciation for the other with Necro presenting Iceman with an American flag. Also if Tennants are looking to a new advertiser for their product, Necro Butcher is your man.

Lust For Death Tournament – Final – April Fucking Blood Showers Deathmatch – Jack Harrop defeated Mickie Knuckles by pinfall to win the Lust For Death Tournament.

Eight matches into the evening had passed with the ninth being the final of the 2025 Lust For Death Tournament. On one side was a man that was fighting for a shot to get what he held for only a brief time in the UK Deathmatch Championship against an international juggernaut who wasn’t even supposed to be part of the tournament, replacing Mad Man Pondo to enter the fracus.

Mickie had had her fun in the previous rounds, barring a little twinkle in her eye towards referee Steve Dean and host Stevie Wizard, there wasn’t the big sexual energy that she had graced the crowd with. Jack Harrop was the same, no Eddy Grant ‘Electric Avenue’, and he just took in the moment while limping to the ring.

A laser focused Knuckles called her shot, goading Harrop to hit her like a man or she will murder him. Once the introductions were complete it was forearms and headbutts on the agenda, both used light tubes to make the headbutts even more brutal causing them to stumble into each other, grab, and smash with little time to rest.

Harrop gave Mickie a DDT on the wooden floor on the outside, with hard headbutts traded with the sound of skull meeting skull echoing over the cheers for a crowd that was still red hot after over four hours of bloodshed. Both wrestlers looked to be running on adrenaline, rolling over the glass shards, and swinging wildly at the other.

Mickie ran at Harrop with her hatchet, but Jack dodged it which left the weapon stuck into the wooden board behind him. Harrop then gored Knuckles through the board before picking her up and slamming her spine first through a pane of glass for an explosive end to the night.

The light tube dust settled as Mickie Knuckles showed respect to Jack Harrop as the worthy winner.

Jack encouraged fans to get into the ring to close the show and share in his success. The people’s champion of Bleeding Gums Wrestling, joined by his father Iceman, raised the Lust For Death trophy to end a wild event.

Before the stream faded to black, Alton Thorne arrived for a stare down with his fierce rival.

On April 12th, 10pm when I headed back to my car at the NCP around the corner I was mentally spent. Hours later on the drive home I was still in shock at to what I had witnessed with my very eyes. A few weeks later, seeing the edited show to take out the downtime with Heel Films pairing it down to a sleek 3 hours and 16 minutes, it was easier to digest the event and take it in more.

Choosing a nine match wall to wall deathmatch event as my first deathmatch experience was certainly diving into the deep end, and my appreciation for those that travel the country to these shows, and more so for those that organise and wrestle on these shows, went up exponentially.

Watching an edited show is definitely more suited for myself for this kind of product and I found more enjoyment in the second half than I did on the night itself. What I wouldn’t rule out is attending a future “normal” Bleeding Gums Wrestling event that has the variety of regular relaxed rules matches along with the hardcore deathmatch content which is perhaps more my speed.

On the IWTV stream we also got post-match cut ins from British Top Team with Soul, Mickie Knuckles and Big F’N Joe respectively with Kayleigh to break up each match that enhanced the streaming experience. Seeing the crew run around and organising things like this along with Kyle on photography, and Johnny on roving cam, Andrew and Brian distributing weapons, and the clean up crew sweeping like mad on the day showed the all hands on deck approach that everyone has for Bleeding Gums Wrestling and that culture has shown in how quick Bleeding Gums Wrestling has become considered as one of the best deathmatch promotions in the world.

To think back in October 2023 my thoughts on deathmatch wrestling wasn’t particularly high, it was something I had only seen via viral clips which of course has stuff out of context and shows the grimmest of the grim but with every recording with Andrew, speaking to Alton Thorne, Mark Leslie, Tim Strange, Jasmin St. Claire, Franco Fate, all these people that have witnessed or lived deathmatch wrestling and put their heart and soul into all of it has opened my eyes to a side of wrestling I never thought I would.

On the day it was Alton Thorne and Mickie Knuckles that stole the show for me by delivering in every moment they had to be in front of a captive audience. Jack Harrop was the emotional favourite, those that are in tune with the deathmatch scene will have seen his Dad tear flesh from the bones in his long and blood soaked career so to see a legacy live up and fill those shoes will be incredible for those that have been there to see him evolve.

From watching the stream, my adoration for Veronica Sault has grown, she is more known as a backstage interviewer for Insane Championship Wrestling, and to see her break out as this vivacious vicious valet in VALOR and in Bleeding Gums Wrestling has shown what was just waiting on our own doorstep ready to grab an opportunity with both hands.

There were a lot of stand out moments that have since went viral on social media, but to pull off such a massive undertaking with very little issues, barring a little bit of travel trouble and a disabled access ramp not turning up, is a credit to the Bleeding Gums crew.

The full show is available on Independent Wrestling TV here.

Check out our SWN Podcast road trip episode:

We also had a chat with Andrew Crammond days after the event: