John Wayne Murdoch vs. M*E*R*C - The Pit #6 (11/19/2021)
I wanna preface this by saying that ICW’s Pit/Pitfighter shows have got to be some of my favorite shows of the entire NHB catalogue. Spiritually it feels like these shows turn up the typically seedy & grimey aesthetic of ICW, especially helped with the venue choices. This TWE show exemplifies what i’m talking about here with “the pit” in this case just being a mat on the floor with a structure entirely made up of 2x4’s looking like ringposts surrounding it, with barbed wire ropes and literally whatever shit they can find thrown in. I mean like just look at this shit, man:
The match itself is fucking crazy. This might be one of my favorite NHB matches of all time. It’s about as violent as it possibly could be, with JWM and MERC using literally whatever they possibly could that wasn’t nailed down to kill each other. The crowd is not just entirely into it, but they are fully bloodthirsty the whole way through, it’s quite literally split down the middle between TWE/MERC fans and ICW:NHB/JWM fans which leads to awesome moments like the TWE fans flipping off Murdoch whenever he gets close to them. Not to mention the dueling “IC-Dub” “Sucks!” chants from both ends of the arena. Murdoch even gets into it a little with the TWE section of the arena, it’s awesome. JWM is definitely pulling his weight throughout, he actually pulls out a knife from a container and LITERALLY STABS MERC NUMEROUS TIMES. Holy shit, man. Merc gets stabbed in the face, chest, hell his back gets a little bit of action as well. His face is carved up and looks gnarly. There’s even a spot they do where JWM forces the knife into Merc’s mouth and delivers a chinbreaker soon thereafter. Merc, however, is not a pushover either. He takes control of the match midway through by escaping a brainbuster attempt, then just picking JWM up and dropping him right on his head through a chair!! (I believe Struggles calls the move a “Beach Break”, i’m not as familiar as i’d like to be with Merc so I will just trust in Struggles)
Merc grabs a trash can with a board stuck into it and looks to hit John over the head with it… but instead hands him the weapon to grab ANOTHER one of his own, with Merc giving the first shot and JWM attempting to hit back but the trash can spectacularly flies off the fucking stick and possibly either nearly hitting or just straight up hitting Struggles on commentary. Merc just batters Murdoch with the trash can a few more times before producing a chain to try and attack JWM with before Murdoch finally drops him with a brainbuster. As an aside though…. has any indy out there thought of booking Merc vs. Mad Dog Connelly in a Dog Collar match? Just a wild thought. Merc reverses a Destroyer into a pin attempt that only gets a two, then uses the chain to put Murdoch in a crossface but that’s also unsuccessful. The finish of the match is great, with both men managing to set up a wicked contraption of first four chairs with two doors stacked on top of them… then two chairs with a door that has a bundle of carpet strips taped to it. Should I also mention the ladder that’s right in front of the contraption, too? Merc tries to attempt a move with Murdoch off the top of it but Murdoch grabs him and gives a HUUUUUUUGE superplex off of it.
If you’re a big fan of plunder-heavy fights then this is a match for you. It’s nasty, it’s insane, it feels cramped with all the shit in the area and everybody in the TWE Arena just eats it up. So do I. If you’re looking for ICW:NHB matches to get a friend into, this is one I'd recommend in a heartbeat. I’m actually shocked Merc only got two bookings with NHB in general, because he does a fantastic job here.
John Wayne Murdoch vs. Justin Kyle - No Holds Barred: Volume 16 (7/10/2021)
What happens when you put a crazy person in the ring with a total freak of nature… who also happens to be really crazy in his own right? You get John Wayne Murdoch vs. Justin Kyle. Justin is an absolute beast here, to me he’s spiritually what would happen if you threw Bill Goldberg into a deathmatch environment. A big bald motherfucker who can throw guys around rather easily just because he can. Justin immediately starts throwing punches at Murdoch before picking him up with total ease and giving him a huge belly to belly suplex. He gets Murdoch with another suplex (which, might I add JWM’s face of horror before he takes it is beautiful) and TRIES to do a German Suplex but Murdoch smartly grabs some light tubes to huck right in JK’s face. Honestly, the amount of light tubes being used in this match by Murdoch alone is crazy, I dunno what the actual number is but it FELT like it had to be in the twenties or thirties. Murdoch even grabs a fucking saw to start carving up the top of Kyle’s head, the second moment tonight where i’ve actively had my hand over my mouth in shock because of how awesome something was. The visual of JWM using the saw looked insane, I can’t help it.
JWM tries to introduce a glass pane into the fray, but gets picked up rather easily again by Kyle so he can throw him through said glass. Both men spill into ringside with, like I mentioned, a lot of light tubes being used in the process. There is actually a smaller spot where Kyle punches a broken bit of tubes into the arm of Murdoch, which I thought looked cool. Kyle funnily enough at one point even grabs a broom to whack across JWM’s back! He’s so unbelievably busted up by now, just absolutely pouring blood. Murdoch drags Kyle over to the merch table for a moment to somehow magically procure a fucking knife! How did he do that? Even the commentators are confused. Murdoch not only stabs Kyle hard in the back, but in one of the funniest moments he even manages to literally stab Kyle in the asshole. No, I'm not joking. Justin Kyle gets stabbed in the butt. Kyle tries to take back over for a moment after slinging a chair into JWM’s head but gets absolutely demolished by an overkill of light tube shots by Murdoch… he does however manage a HUUUUGE dive onto the outside of the ring AND an equally big Jackhammer onto light tubes that just barely gets a 2.99. His further attempt at a Three Point Stance Spear into a door gets thwarted when Murdoch just barely moves out of the way for Kyle to almost comically run straight into that door. The finish comes with another door being introduced with Kyle looking to set it on fire this time, but Murdoch hits him with some tubes then sets it on fire and gives him a Brainbuster through the flaming door!!! Kyle looked like he landed very weirdly on the door but man it still looked awesome.
This is a fucking beaut. Centered around JWM trying to dismantle the big man as best as he possibly could, Kyle looks like a total freak even in defeat here. I was gonna talk about how he was a guy that weirdly disappeared until I found out he popped up for EMERGE Wrestling in Indiana back in April this year, which might be a match that I have to search for because I fuckin’ love this guy. God bless JWM and god bless ICW: NHB.
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