411’s Dark Side of The Ring Report: Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe

–Dark Side of the Ring: “Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe”
-Written: 7.21.26
-Source: Vice
-Run Time: 1 Hour (w/ Commercials)

-Plugs: WWE dropped Season Three of Unreal today: Episodes One and Two.

-Chris Jericho is our narrator!

-This one will be new to me, as I know nothing of Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher. Obviously, I know Samoa Joe, but as for Necro, I only know the name and know of him appearing in The Wrestler.

-We get the viewer discretion is advised tag to start.

-We get the basics in the teaser as it’s a bloody war on the indie scene with wrestler Samoa Joe against death match battler, Necro Butcher. For Necro, it was a way to show the world what he could do against someone with a name like Samoa Joe. It seems they are going to let both guys and those in the building watch the match back as they discuss. Cool!

-Show opening!

-We start with Necro Butcher, who says he had horrible things happen to him when he was young. Pro wrestling was his escape and false reality. We see clips of Hogan winning the WWF Title. They love having Hogan on this show when they can. Necro wanted to make wrestling more believable, and we see highlights of the carnage he created. He is Dylan Summers, but we know him as Necro Butcher. He got into Death Match Wrestling because he wanted to test himself and saw the guys in the Main Event doing it.

-Dave Prazak, the announcer for the match, talks about Death Match Wrestling and the things Necro would do. He compares Necro to Bruiser Brody, and I can hear Jim Cornette cussing from Louisville.

-Mad Man Pondo is next and talks about all the crazy things Necro would do as well. Wire, staplers, light tubes. The basics Matsuda and Gagne would teach. He says they wrestled for years and always made a statement. Necro wanted people to believe they were watching a physical confrontation and that psychology comes from a real place.

-Dylan grew up in West Virginia and was teased for doing well in school. He notes WV isn’t known for academics. That’s right, WVU! Hail to Pitt! There was a fire in his home, and his father was burned so badly he had to have a closed casket. He dove into wrestling because that’s what he did with his father.

-He says bullying is not the word for what happened to him in school. He doesn’t know how many times his head was shoved in a toilet. He developed a switch that he used later in wrestling. People couldn’t hurt him when he turned that switch.

-Eddie Kingston was in the arena for the match and mentions in the early 2000s it was only the WWE on TV. They were not happy with what they were doing, so we get a bunch of outlaw mud shows with death match wrestling, as Cornette would later call it. They were trying to be the new ECW, but then Ring of Honor came out, and they gave actual wrestling. They had a hard-hitting style that set a standard. He mentions they had CM Punk, Brian Danielson, Christopher Daniels, and Homicide. They also had Samoa Joe! We get footage of Joe at an AEW show.

-Samoa Joe next and says he is one half of the war that was Necro vs. Joe. At his core, his style is walk you down and smash you in the face. He had a two-year run in ROH as the Heavyweight Champion.

-Back to Necro as he wanted to test himself against the best in the business. ROH wrestlers wanted no parts of lowering themselves to Death Matches. Joe says they had their own style in ROH and it was a very different world. Joe was down to wrestle whoever and says wrestling Necro was never brought up to him. He thinks the fans had more to do with the match happening.

-Message Boards were all the rage, and we meet Rob Naylor, who has worked for various companies. He was on the boards back then and posted he wanted to see Joe vs Necro, and he got flamed for it. ROH fans felt it was beneath Joe.

-We move to Chikara, where it was a small promotion that entertained kids and grandparents. Necro said it was weird, but he had to make money. He was teaming with Pondo, and they faced a pair of ROH students. Anthony Franco and Andrew Rugh are here and wrestled the match thinking they would just figure it out, and they were wrong. Necro says they didn’t know what they were doing and they were stinking the place up, so he started beating their ass. Sounds great. Kingston says some felt Necro and Pondo took advantage of the two students. Shocking! Stuff like that doesn’t usually happen in Chikara. Necro: “Who cares?” The two students say it was survival and admit they were each knocked out at various times.

-Necro says he got the last laugh as it got him a match with Samoa Joe. The fans bought into it and went crazy on the boards thinking Joe was going to kill Necro. Ian Rotten was the promoter and was gearing up for an event (IWA Mid-South) in the ECW Arena. He had no TV and needed a match to sell the building. He was able to get Joe and Necro to agree to a match. Necro wanted to show a Death Match wrestler could compete with a pure wrestler.

-Commercials!

-Joe goes after Butcher on the mic to set the match. He tells the crowd the ROH students were taken advantage of by a bully. Necro did not like being called a bully and would recite the promo every day because it bothered him so much. He took it personally, as it was Joe saying he wasn’t good enough to be in the ring with him.

-Joe admits he never trained a kid in his life in ROH and never even saw the match. He was just told the story was Necro roughed up a few kids and Joe was going to get revenge. Joe was cool with it and then thinks Ian was telling a different story. Joe took the booking because his then girlfriend (now wife) lived in Philly and he was trying to get some ass. That is awesome! Joe says they had different reasons for being there. Joe walked into the building, and everyone seemed so jacked, and he wasn’t sure what was happening. Butcher says he was on the way back from Japan and had been drinking.

-Bryce Remsburg was the ref and said he knew of no plan or finish for the match. Necro had his mind made up that no matter what Joe did, it wasn’t going to be enough. The fans all wanted to know if they really hated each other and if they were going to kill each other. Joe said the fans were so worked up they thought someone might die.

-Prazak was joined on commentary by Eddie Kingston and CM Punk. Obviously, they weren’t getting Punk for this show. The crowd was behind Joe and wanted him to kill Necro. Necro wears a “Choose Death” shirt to the ring. Joe says the fans didn’t want to see wrestling and wanted to see a fight. Joe throws the ref out of the ring before the match, and everyone knew it was on.

-Necro started throwing potato forearms, so Joe had to respond, and he laughs that Necro could have made it easier on himself. Joe hit Necro so hard one point, he couldn’t even bump over the railing. He had to take a seat to compose himself. Joe wanted to use his body as a weapon like a pro wrestler. Eddie laughs about how you should never headbutt a Samoan. That causes Necro to start bleeding. Joe: “We got that fucker open.” Butcher says he was having a grand old time, and Joe says it wasn’t the best feeling, but laughs. Necro runs for a powerslam spot, but they slipped on a wet spot, and Necro goes head first into the concrete. Joe says in today’s wrestling world, the match doesn’t continue. Back then, they were in the flow, and things just got more violent.

-Commercials!

-Eddie says they go until the wheels fall off. Joe wipes Necro’s blood off his head and onto his chest. The contrast was that anytime they were in the ring, it was Joe’s domain. He made sure it looked like he didn’t respect Necro, as he wouldn’t hook a leg to pin him and things like that. The crowd was for Joe, but they started to turn as Necro kept fighting back. Joe understood the role he played and how, for Necro, it was fighting for respect.

-The fight ends up back on the floor, and Necro hits Joe with a piece of railing. Necro laughs as it wasn’t talked about, but Joe was a good sport. Joe laughs as most don’t know that Necro is nearly blind. He just swings for the fuzzy mound in front of him and hopes it connects. We see him punch Joe flush in the face, and Joe says that is the worst and now he is coming to destroy worlds. HE DROPS NECRO RIGHT ON HIS FACE ON THE CONCRETE. Blood is just splattered on the concrete floor. Necro says he didn’t get a concussion and that won’t hurt him. Joe says people don’t notice that Necro’s shoulder drove into his nose and then the back of his head hit the concrete. Butcher says Johnny Valentine used to say he can’t make people believe in wrestling, but he can make them believe in Johnny Valentine.

-Commercials!

-Back with Necro splattering blood on the floor. He says this was long-term storytelling as he suplexed the ROH kid to the floor, and Joe does it here. Joe says it was a happy accident and wishes he could say he planned all this stuff. Joe will never dictate how far someone will go with their body. He says Necro had a primal vision, so he just went with it. Joe notes he will default to the masochist and let him paint his picture. We get a powerbomb onto a railing that was wedged on the ropes.

-Mondo brings up how they were in a light tube match, and it cut a chunk out of Necro’s arm. Yes, they have the footage, and it’s as raw and gruesome as you would expect. Mondo is screaming for an ambulance, and Necro tells him to chill, as he is fine.

-Back to Joe vs. Necro as they discuss the story they were trying to tell. Necro says the matches today are too much back and forth. You need one side to dominate and get the heat to make the comeback better. Necro chuckles, and he could have been paralyzed taking a German Suplex onto a seated chair. Joe sells the idea that he can’t believe this guy is still fighting.

-Necro fires up, and Joe says he is annoyed by that in the moment. He throws a series of open-hand palm strikes, and Butcher is just pouring blood with each slap. Joe admits his girlfriend left at that point. He says he was dog walking Butcher as he had enough and it was “time for you to die now.”

-Commercials!

-Back where Joe is slapping Necro saw hard that blood is flying all over the place. Prazak says the lasting image of the fight is Joe landing the last strike that knocked Necro out. Joe wins by KO as Necro can’t answer the ten count. Joe says all justice had been served. Necro sold so long that Joe gave him a kick in the head, and it starts another fight, but Joe decides to leave. Joe: “I didn’t want to leave him laying.” He wanted to leave with people thinking Necro was a tough bastard.

-The crowd starts a “Match of The Year” chant. The event was called Something to Prove, and Necro thinks he proved something that night. Well, the event was in 2005, so my vote for Match of the Year that year was Shawn vs. Angle at Mania 21. Yeah, I don’t think this match is beating that. Looking it up, this match actually took place the day before ECW One Night Stand. Interesting! Necro knew he would never make MSG, so that was his MSG. He was a made man in that building after that match.

-They shook hands and thanked each other after the match. Necro says he had great respect for Joe and credits Joe for trusting the vision he had. Necro says he had to put his skull together as he had another match to do that night in the same building. Sure, why not? We see highlights of that match, and it was another bloody war.

-Necro earned a regular spot in ROH for four years and ended up in The Wrestler. Necro says it may have been mainstream at the time, but he had more wrestling to do.

-Eddie says they saw Joe getting bigger over time. Joe went from ROH to TNA to WWE and now in AEW. Necro knew the trajectory that Joe was on, and that was a trajectory that was closed to him. His home with independent wrestling. Joe says it is hard to put someone like Necro on a cereal box.

-Necro loved wrestling and was doing shows in Japan, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. In 2020, he came back from Japan and knew he was sick. He had lost a lot of weight, and Pondo wasn’t sure what was happening. They went out to eat, and Necro told him, “I always appreciated everything you did for me.” That’s when he learned that Necro had cancer.

-Commercials!

-Next week: Big Boss Man!

-Necro was diagnosed with Stage III Cancer (Hodgkin’s Lymphoma). He was stuck lying in bed for nine months. He says he will always be remembered for the Samoa Joe match. He is baffled by it and flattered by it as people who weren’t alive when it happened talk about it.

-Eddie says it started a movement and calls Joe and Butcher the spark. Joe never imagined it would take on the life it had and calls it neat.

-Necro says he found himself while laying in that bed. He learned you are not in charge of where you start on the board. It is going to hurt, and you will suffer, but you will have to believe in yourself. He had three courses of treatment, and it didn’t help. They were doing one last one, and it saved him. He then went back to wrestling, and his hip exploded. He says he gets around okay for being 52 and had a match last week where he about died. Good gracious! He looks back and calls The Joe match the most important event in his life. He thanks Samoa Joe, and Joe thanks him back. Joe says it has become a touchstone for inspiration and that is when pro-wrestling can be at its best.

-Butcher just wanted to belong and connect with people who had the same passions as him. He can’t ask for anything more contributing to that art.

-I like episodes where I learn something new. I am sure Jim Cornette will have a field day with this one. Assuming he even watched, as I know he famously didn’t watch the Nick Gage episode because of his hatred for Death Matches. With that said, this Joe/Necro match wasn’t a Death Match. It was a contrast of styles, and each time I saw Necro land on his head, all I could think of was Shane/Angle at King of the Ring. Joe was great in this episode, and the cast of talking heads was kept small, but that worked as it only needed to be people that were in the building. I am happy Necro beat cancer, and I would never tell a man to stop doing what he loves, but it’s rough knowing he is still out there wrestling. There will be many who love this episode because this match means more to them than it does me, and I can appreciate that. For me, it was an entertaining watch where I learned something new. Thanks for reading.