The Lariat's Memorial for Gimmick Matches: The Death Match

[It's...Baylariat!]

Hello, old school wrestling fans, Lariat here with another installment of The Lariat's Memorial for Gimmick Matches. This time, I will profile another personal favorite of mine. The 'Death Match'. There have been a few incarnations of the death match. The Singapore Death Match, Taipei Death Match, and the Texas Death Match. Basically, the match's concept was to beat the hell out of your opponent, and back in the glory days, it meant nearly killing your opponent... or at least making the crowd believe you were out to kill.

I'll profile a couple of death matches. The first one I'll show is the Taipei Death Match from ECW featuring the Rotten Brothers, Axl and Ian. Enjoy this one, folks.

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What a brutal match. Typical ECW match though. Matches like that were commonplace during the days of the ECW in the mid 90's. Next is the two guys who made the Death Match so damn awesome! Terry Funk and Cactus Jack. This is in Japan, and may be graphic. And yes, it's a death match. Enjoy watching Funk and Cactus nearly die in front of foreigners who are scared to death.

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That's just fucked up. I don't care who you are. The bottom line is this gimmick match is dangerous due to the numerous ways you can inflict pain on each other. And the state names are simply for effect. If Terry Funk's in the match, it's going to be called a Texas Death Match. If Jerry Lawler does it, it's a Tennessee Death Match. But the bottom line is this gimmick match ended a lot of feuds during the older days. Hope you enjoyed the profile. Thoughts and comments are welcome. And no spam.

 

[NeoSaiyan7]

Watching The Wrestler gave me some idea what indy wrestlers have to go through. The whole fact of the matter is why put yourself through the dangers of getting infections by bleeding and spreading your blood with your opponent's blood. Of course at the end of they day it's for the paycheck, but it's still dangerous in my opinion. Some might not like that the WWE cleans up right after someone gets cut, but the fact of the matter is that the WWE is right. They should clean up the blood right after the cut. Infections are less likely to spread and keeps the overall wellness of the wrestler safe.

 

[axl626]

I bought the ECW: Bloodiest Matches DVD and that Taipei death match is on it. That was the only one I couldn't get through. I was expecting just hardcore matches but good God, those were disturbing. The barbed wire match with Sabu and Terry Funk (I'm not sure if that's considered a Death Match) was just really messed up.

I actually think these could be great feud enders but it will likely never be seen in WWE or TNA.

 

[Vintage]

I'm all for it, as long as nobody gets hurt and it doesn't look fake. This kind of match would need to be rarely seen for it to have the same end all be all feeling it has today. This would have been a good end for Edge vs Cena because their feud seemed to go on forever and it was at the point where one of them had to go for the other to finally move on.

From a booking perspective, I have no idea what winning a match like this does for a face, but for a heel it would cement their legacy.

 

[Pathogen]

A well done barbed wire, or any gimmick match can be awesome, but they need to be well done IMO. I have absolutely no desire to see Cena or the Ortard in a barbed wire match, but Kane and HHH could be incredible.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

Uh Vintage? Mind explaining how a death match can "not look fake" without someone getting hurt? To me, the death match was the ultimate feud ender of choice, just as HIAC SHOULD be today.

 

[Agent_of_Anarchy]

With the right choice of wrestlers and that right build up, the Death Match can spectacular. Sure they are dangerous and yes people will be hurt, but as a fan, I love that shit! The more gruesome the better I say.

What better way than to show how badly two guys hate each other than to beat twelve shades of shit out of one another. Re-watching Cactus vs Funk at the top of the thread makes me want to see something that sick and depraved again done in current times, and not some shithouse indy match either, but in either TNA or WWE. The only current wrestler on the big scene that could pull of a Death Match would have to be Abyss. I'd love to see a Death Match between Abyss and Angle. We all know how good a wrestler Angle is, but lets see how sick he can get.

I agree with "King Blitzkonic" above me and think that the Death Match was the ultimate fued ender and that is something that in today's wrestling is missing. It used to be HIAC, but I'll leave that for another topic.....

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm all for it, as long as nobody gets hurt and it doesn't look fake.

That statement makes no sense whatsoever. You can't have a Death Match and not have someone get hurt. It would be like having a steel cage match without a cage set up around the ring.

Now, there are people that absolutely love these types of matches for the controversy surrounding them. For me, it's like watching a chicken fight with people instead of chickens and is just as tasteless. Death Matches are taking things too far because far too much is being expected of wrestlers. Wrestlers are human beings after all and in spite of what the mainstream media would have you believe, wrestling matches aren't exactly the cartoonish slapstick violence you'd see in a Three Stooges short. A Death Match can potentially result in permanent disfigurement, scarring and even actual death if you manage to get cut in just the right place. We all know that botches can happen in any wrestling match, but what happens if someone gets hit across the thigh with one of those big florescent light bulbs and the femoral artery gets slit wide open? What would happen is the audience would be treated to the sight of a man bleeding out like a stucked pig and dying in the center of the ring in about 20 seconds.

When I see a Death Match, I think of these fools that try to emulate such things in those backyard wrestling matches. Entertainment is one thing, but these matches are asking too much. If they're not done properly, then they'd just look like watered down shit. If they are done properly, the wrestlers risk life and limb. They're not needed.