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Break It Down: CZW Tournament Of Death 9

July 18, 2010 | Posted by Ryan Rozanski
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Break It Down: CZW Tournament Of Death 9  

Tournament Of Death 9 on June 26th, 2010

DJ Hyde comes out to start the show. He talks about some of the competitors in the tournament and calls attention to the recent passing of Trent Acid. Devon Moore interrupts and accepts Johnny Kashmere’s challenge for Acid Fest. Everyone stands up and pays respect to Trent Acid. They conduct a ten bell salute. Hyde tells Moore that he has a match in mind for him later.

Opening Match: Havoc’s Happyland Death Match: J.C. Bailey vs. Danny Havoc
They avoid lighttubes and trade strikes. Havoc hits a jawbreaker but Bailey responds with a back suplex. Havoc sends Bailey through some lighttubes in the corner. He breaks another lighttube over Bailey’s head, busting him open. Bailey falls victim to a nasty saito suplex. He slams Havoc over a lighttube and hits a lighttube-assisted senton in the corner. Bailey works in some sickening shots with lighttubes. Havoc connects with a diving knee drop. Bailey hits a tower of london onto a lighttube for a nearfall. Havoc fights back with a yakuza kick and a DDT. He hits a lighttube-assisted northern lights suplex. Bailey fails to break a lighttube with a splash from the top. He solves that problem with a flying double stomp. Havoc just drops him on his head. Bailey nails Havoc with a lighttube and drops him head-first onto a barbed wire lighttube for the win at 10:12. This was an effective opener in that it was a good introduction for anyone who wasn’t familiar with the Tournament Of Death concept. I appreciated the subtle hint of psychology with Bailey going after Havoc’s bad heel. They only had one problem with the lighttubes not breaking and were appropriately brutal with each other considering the feud that they are currently involved in. **½

Bailey attacks Havoc after the match and slams lighttubes across his back.

Match #2: Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Nick Gage vs. Abdullah Kobayashi
These two don’t waste any time throwing insults at each other. Kobayashi spits at Gage, so he responds with a snot rocket. Gage hits Kobayashi with a lighttube, which doesn’t phase him. Kobayashi starts chewing on a lighttube and spits glass at Gage. He drops some “spike dice” in the ring and side slams Gage onto them. Kobayashi drives the spikes into Gage’s forehead and chest. Gage settles for a low blow and hits Kobayashi with a barbed wire chair. He breaks a computer keyboard across Kobayashi’s head and follows with a water jug shot. Gage connects with a diving headbutt. Kobayashi responds with a shining wizard and hits a german suplex. Gage puts a spike on Kobayashi’s head and hammers it in with a chair shot. He does it one more time. Gage utilizes more lighttubes and a thumbtack bat. Kobayashi comes back with water jug shots and a DDT. Kobayashi breaks lighttubes over Gage’s chest with a flying elbow drop for the victory at 12:30. I liked this match about as much as the opener. What this match lacked in fluidity, it made up for in sheer brutality. Kobayashi won over the crowd immediately and no one seemed to mind that he knocked Gage out of the tournament. The spikes being hammered into Kobayashi’s head looked gruesome and bordered on possibly illegal. Call this an extremely successful debut for Kobayashi. **½

Match #3: Thumbtack Kickpads and Panes Of Glass: Scotty Vortekz vs. Dysfunction
Dysfunction attacks before the bell. Vortekz works in some kicks to the head. Dysfunction sends him into a pane of glass and it doesn’t break. He tries again and Vortekz goes through the glass. Vortekz answers with more kicks. Dysfunction returns the favor with a low blow. He slams Vortekz onto broken glass but gets thrown into a propped up chair. Vortekz puts a pane of glass over Dysfunction and connects with double knees from the top. Dysfunction fights back with a superkick and puts Vortekz through a pane of glass with an electric chair driver. Security has to come out and wrap Dysfunction’s hand in a towel. They battle up top and Vortekz hits the Blue Moon Dragon through a pane of glass for the win at 6:49. They were going along nicely and then Dysfunction injured his hand on a pane of glass. That kind of stuff is going to happen in a deathmatch tournament. Every spot involving a pane of glass was visually impressive and they still managed to pack a lot of action into seven minutes. **

Match #4: Fans Bring The Weapons: Devon Moore vs. MASADA
Moore is replacing John Zandig, who is out due to injury. They exchange strikes and Moore lands a dive to the outside. MASADA delivers a weak chair shot and the crowd gets on his case. He makes up for it with a trash can lid shot. They battle on the commentary station and Moore accidentally falls off. MASADA brainbusters him onto a piece of wood. Moore monkey flips MASADA through a windshield and onto a ladder. He lands a shooting star press off the commentary station. In the ring, Moore hits a bulldog onto the broken windshield. MASADA responds by driving wooden spikes into Moore’s head. Moore fights back with a yakuza kick and a swinging flatliner. MASADA hits a brainbuster onto the windshield for the victory at 11:34. The crowd desperately wanted to see Zandig and did not react positively towards his absence. That’s understandable, considering that Zandig was advertised and there was no announcement made stating that he wasn’t going to be at the event. This match had some spots go wrong and it turned an already restless crowd against the action. They didn’t suitably make up for those spots and this was generally an uninspired brawl. *½

Match #5: Fans Bring The Weapons: Sami Callihan and Joe Gacy vs. DJ Hyde and Greg Excellent
This is non-tournament action. The Switchblade Conspiracy waste no time going after their opponents. Excellent side slams Callihan onto a panel fan and hits him with a trash can lid. Callihan turns the tide by utilizing a stretcher. Gacy suplexes Excellent onto some branches. Callihan whips Hyde through a fence. Excellent uses tree branches to take down the Switchblade Conspiracy but they soon return the favor. Callihan hits Hyde in the head with a baseball bat. He climbs a tree and lands a dive onto Hyde. Back at ringside, the Switchblade Conspiracy trip up Excellent so that he lands on a piece of guardrail. Hyde hits Callihan with an umbrella. Callihan answers by hitting him with a caution sign. Hyde gets tied up in the ropes and Callihan throws a watermelon at him. Hyde answers by breaking the watermelon over Gacy’s head. Callihan hits Hyde with about six lighttubes. He spreads out fireworks in the ring but Excellent samoan drops him onto them. Callihan slams him onto some bottle caps. He pushes Hyde into a bed of barbed wire. Gacy powerbombs Excellent through a pane of glass for the win at 15:14. For a wacky hardcore brawl, this was a lot of fun. They were extremely inventive with their spots and managed to keep the action focused, which is key. The sheer ridiculousness of the weapons involved was entertaining and all of the big spots went according to plan. Not much more you can ask for here. ***

Match #6: 3 out of 5 Log Cabin Lighttubes: J.C. Bailey vs. Abdullah Kobayashi
The only way to win is to drive your opponent through three out of the five lighttube structures. Kobayashi’s head is heavily bandaged. Bailey immediately starts with headbutts and bites away at the bandages. Kobayashi responds with strikes and a vader bomb. Bailey works in a few chair shots and connects with a roaring elbow. He puts lighttubes on Kobayashi and double stomps them, giving him one point. Bailey uses a piece of lighttube to carve up Kobayashi’s left arm. Kobayashi throws a chair at his head and hits a samoan drop. He puts lighttubes on Bailey and connects with a top rope elbow drop, tying the score at 1-1. Kobayashi puts a lighttube cage over Bailey and kicks away at it, making the score 2-1. He follows with a shining wizard. Bailey crotches him on the top rope and suplexes him onto lighttubes, tying things up at 2-2. Next offensive move with lighttubes wins. Bailey wins a chair battle and connects with a chair shot to the head. Bailey puts lighttubes on Kobayashi and lands a top rope senton for the victory at 10:07. It’s amazing what both of these men put themselves through. Kobayashi is bordering on inhuman and definitely made his mark on CZW. Bailey has to incredibly take part in one more match and I don’t know how he’s going to do it. They worked in the usual lighttube spots, with the lighttube cage being very unique. Hopefully Kobayashi is brought back next year, as he’s extremely entertaining to watch. **½

Match #7: Boards Of Death: MASADA vs. Scotty Vortekz
Vortekz connects with a dropkick and snaps off a headscissors. They trade strikes and MASADA slams him through a barbed wire board. He then puts the board on top of Vortekz and stands on it. To add an exclamation point, MASADA throws a cinderblock onto the board as well. Vortekz is suplexed onto another board. He recovers by kicking MASADA in the face and connects with a spin kick. Billy Gram interferes by kicking Vortekz. MASADA powerbomb Vortekz onto a lighttube board. The referee finally has enough and shoves Gram into a barbed wire board. MASADA puts a board on top of Vortekz and hits it with a chair. He hits Vortekz with more lighttubes. In the ring, MASADA suplexes Vortekz onto cinderblocks three times. Vortekz tries to fight back but gets caught with a stiff kick to the back. He connects with double knees from the top, driving MASADA through a barbed wire board. Gram tries to interfere again but Vortekz hits him with a thumbtack bat and a lighttube. MASADA botches a powerbomb but is successful on the second attempt. Vortekz connects with an enzuigiri and hits a lightning spiral. Vortekz sneaks in a quick rollup for the win at 15:45. If the goal was to make Vortekz look resilient, they succeeded in spades. MASADA brutalized him for most of the match with some pretty gruesome spots. Vortekz finally getting revenge on Gram received a good response as well and added to the match. Honestly, I was going to go even higher on this match if not for the botched powerbomb and rollup finish. The sense of hatred between both men allowed the action to become much more engaging. ***

Match #8: Tai Pei Death Match: Brain Damage vs. Drake Younger
This is another non-tournament match. The catch here is that both competitors dip their fists into broken glass. Younger connects with the first punch and hits a back suplex. He adds more punches and Brain Damage is busted open. Younger hits repeated water jug shots and suplexes Brain Damage onto a propped up chair. Younger just dumps the whole bucket of broken glass onto Brain Damage. He puts glass into Brain Damage’s mouth and punches him. Younger utilizes lighttubes but jumps into a punch. Brain Damage knee drops Younger’s head into a chair. He follows with water jug shots and a stiff punch. Younger has trouble breaking a lighttube but finally does so with a splash. He hits a death valley driver onto a chair. Brain Damage suplexes him onto barbed wire lighttubes. Disgusting camera view as Brain Damage stomps on Younger and we can see the blood squirting from Younger’s forehead. Younger hits a superplex onto a chair. He connects with a backfist. Brain Damage hits a powerbomb onto a lighttube and follows with a package piledriver for the victory at 11:16. This match suffered from the participants simply not taking advantage of the stipulation. Very little of the contest was focused on punches or offense involving the taped fists. Instead, this match felt like numerous others that I’d seen on this show already. However, Brain Damage was surprisingly tolerable and this was fine for what it was. **¼

Match #9: Tables, Ladders, and Lighttubes: J.C. Bailey vs. Scotty Vortekz
Bailey attacks before the bell with a neckbreaker. He goes up top but Vortekz pushes him off and through a table with lighttubes on it. In the ring, Vortekz uses a ladder to break lighttubes on Bailey. They trade kicks and Bailey hits a fisherman buster onto a lighttube. Vortekz responds with a german suplex. A table and two ladders are setup. Bailey puts a log cabin lighttube on top of the table. They climb the ladders and Bailey hits a russian legsweep through the table. Both men barely beat the ten count. Vortekz hits Bailey with multiple lighttubes. Bailey breaks barbed wire lighttubes over Vortekz with a double stomp for a nearfall. They exchange strikes as the crowd starts dueling chants. Bailey connects with three lighttube-assisted low blows. Vortekz hits him with a bundle of lighttubes and then hits the Blue Moon Dragon onto more lighttubes to win Tournament Of Death 9 at 14:19. These two were understandably tired but still delivered a decent match to close the tournament. Some of the spots didn’t work the first time but they managed to make up for them. The finish was extremely definitive and Vortekz was really put over throughout the whole tournament. Hopefully his momentum carries over into shows that don’t revolve around deathmatches as well. **¼

Drake Younger and Danny Havoc come out to celebrate with Vortekz. DJ Hyde presents the trophy to Vortekz. He gives a little speech to end the show.

Billy Gram conducts a team meeting. MASADA and J.C. Bailey apologize to him for losing. Gram says that it’s his fault and declares that he’s leaving CZW.

The 411: If you are into this aspect of professional wrestling, you don’t need to read my review to purchase this show. You’re already going to be buying it. If you’re someone who wants to give deathmatch wrestling a shot, this is a fine introduction. It’s hard to rate these kind of contests. I gave two matches on this show three stars and that was honestly more than I was expecting. In this case, it’s not so much about the star ratings. It’s about whether or not you enjoy deathmatch wrestling. If you’re on the fence about it and want to see it done well, I would consider purchasing this show.
 
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]  legend

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Ryan Rozanski

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