I was a lapsed fan going into this trip abroad. After much burnout around wrestling, my plan was to ride out the remaining show tickets I had and walk away. And while I had considered bailing on this trip the week before for various reasons, I still held on for the experience of visiting a new country. So I boarded my first of three flights and begun my journey to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. After roughly a full day of travel (and mishaps along the way) I finally made it over the ocean, through the border and into Melbourne. The purpose of this pilgrimage: to see the three day ICW No Holds Barred tour of Melbourne and to finally see a Deathmatch Downunder event live.
After sleeping for around twelve-hours and being a tourist for most of the day, the time came for the first show: Pit Fighter X 12. It took place at The Third Day: a rustic, upscaled warehouse-esque environment. This backdrop, coupled with The Pit set up in the center made the event feel like I had an invite to an underground fight club. After my first taste of Australian beer, the action got underway and it really did feel like a fight club. AKIRA and Callen Butcher would kick things off (with a bigity-bigity-bang) in a Strong-Zero Deathmatch that included much violence and drinking (including, to my recollection, the first Shoey in a Deathmatch). In a David vs Goliath-esque battle, Kid Valiant would come flying off the top of The Pit in victory over Xavier Black. And Australia would get their first taste of the monster that is Krule in a cage-shifting Hoss Fight with “The Weight of The World” York. After a violent Title Fight between Kasey Catal and Eric Ryan, the first show concluded. After just one day in Melbourne and show down, this trip already felt worth the hours of travel. Needless to say, I was already buzzing for the remaining shows to come.
After a brief excursion to the Melbourne Zoo (where there were sadly no kangaroos on display), the second day’s doubleheader had arrived. Soon enough, I was lined up outside of B.East for Deathmatch Downunder’s offerings of the tour: Rolling With The Punches. Again, I had to marvel at the venue holding the chaos. I love when an artsy looking venue plays host to Wrestling, and especially Deathmatches. This show was a fantastic mix of traditional Wrestling with the Deathmatch core of DMDU. Of the traditional stylings, the match between AKIRA and Edward Dusk match stood out most as a highly physical, down to the mat contest. On the Deathmatch end of the card, Callen Butcher bravely stood up to the challenge of Krule. “Australia’s Most Violent Man” Damian Rivers pulled off a major upset over the two-time King of the Deathmatches, Eric Ryan. And in the Main Event, Vixsin dethroned DMDU Australian Deathmatch Champion Joel Bateman in his first defense. This Main Event in particular felt especially great because not only was this match around one-year in the making in DMDU, but it felt like Vixsin got her much deserved flowers after a violent match featuring glass, cacti and fire.
Coming off of this show (and one of the best damn burgers I’ve ever had), it was time for The Chains to debut in Australia with NHB Downunder. The absolute standout match of the night in my opinion was Krule vs Gore. This was the first match where I felt convinced that someone could put Krule down for good. It was the equivalent of a Godzilla fight that sprawled across the whole of B.East. There was also the violent Main Event spectacle that was Kasey Catal vs Joel Bateman for the ICW American Deathmatch World Championship. A match that once again, saw the action spill outside the confines of The Chains and into the crowd. It also saw Joel introduce a whipper snipper (a weedwacker to us Americans) before it would be used by Kasey to shred Joel’s flesh. While two shows in a row does a number on one’s lumbar and legs, the excitement carried me through to the final bell as yet another day of wrestling was in the books.
Sadly, the finally day of the tour soon dawned with the final show: ICW vs DMDU. With so many fans bringing fuckery to aide in the violence across the tour, I too decided to contribute. So I stopped off at a hobby shop earlier in the day to introduce an American Deathmatch specialty: LEGOs. This last show took place at Space 338; another venue that had that underground feeling much like the aforementioned Third Day, though this space was snugger. The main theme of the show was “lets one up each other” as each match escalated the level of violence. Eric Ryan and Camby Crawford in particular pushed up the violence with glass panes, terracotta pots and much fuckery in one of the hardest hitting matches of the night and even the tour at large. BDE (Big Dave & Rickie Gilmore) showed that despite not being Deathmatch guys, they could still hang with the much more experienced and newly established Crimson Lovers (AKIRA & Callen Butcher); this match was in my Top 3 favorites of the whole tour. Things would drastically escalate as a Battle of The Bosses between Danny Demanto and Joel Bateman saw a Light Tube-laced shark cage enter the fray. An all-star Tag Team Deathmatch would close out the show as Kasey Catal & Krule faced off against Australian legends Vixsin & Mad Dog. With this, both the tour and my time in Melbourne came to an end.
With 20 hours of travel ahead of me, I had much time to think about this trip as I flew through the air back to the United States. Star-struck feelings aside, I thought of how incredible these Australian talents truly were. Despite not being previously acquainted to wrestling in ICW’s environment, they were able to hang with the veterans of The Pit and The Chains. And with the teasing of plans involving ICW, DMDU, and H2O, it seems like it may be time for the United States to play host to these talents next.
Above all, I thought about the incredible collective of Deathmatch fans DMDU has cultivated through elevating the genre in Australia. As an outsider from a different country, I felt right at home alongside the DMDU fateful and even felt like part of the family by time my trip concluded. This was a feeling much more beautiful than any piece I saw in the National Gallery of Victoria, any plant-life in the Royal Botanical Gardens, or any creature of the Melbourne Zoo. And this feeling is something I will hold deep down within me for the long haul.
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