The Furious Flashbacks – Necro Butcher: Choose Death

The Furious Flashbacks – Necro Butcher: Choose Death

Shoot interview with added hardcore madness

My first reaction to seeing a Necro Butcher DVD available for UK rental was “gimme, gimme, gimme!” When that sensation had passed I started to wonder how come Necro had his own DVD out. Well it seems Big Vision, always anxious to cash-in on anyone famous in wrestling, decided to do a shoot interview with him and release it with some matches attached. Seeing as the matches weren’t listed I stupidly thought…

Hey, that fucking awesome Low-Ki match might be on here. I’m all over that.

Well the match listing is as follows; Mitch Page, Ian Rotten, Mad Man Pondo, JC Bailey, Toby Klein, Corporal Robinson/Brandon Prophet and Tank.

BOOO! Who the hell came up with that listing? Couldn’t they afford any good matches? Where’s Ki? Where’s Joe? Where’s that match with Super Dragon? I love that match. When Necro works with good wrestlers, great things happen. Actually there’s footage from the Joe match on the introduction. Curses.

Seeing as there are highlights on YouTube here’s the Low-Ki match condensed to 3 minutes and 18 seconds of glorious, glorious violence. This is the stiffest match, ever.

And there’s the whole Joe match on there. This match IS AWESOME. Its not the cleanest of encounters. Joe doesn’t get full rotation on the snap powerslam, which amounts to smashing Necro’s face into the floor. It being Necro he just walked it off. Hell, he probably broke every bone in his face and just thought “fuck it, I’ll be fine”. And that’s NOT THE ONLY TIME IN THE MATCH HE DROPS HIM ON HIS FACE ON THE FLOOR!

We’re in Philadelphia. I speculated several times about who was the interviewer but I just don’t know. Its someone from CZW but I can’t place the voice.

THE SHOOT

The interview takes place in a ring, which is nice, compared to most shoots taking place in a bland room. Necro starts off talking about watching wrestling at the weekends with his Dad until he died. He enjoyed going to see wrestling live that much more and recounts his first live event, which was headlined by Terry Taylor and Black Bart. He says he was a Hulkamaniac. He talks about finding the internet while he was working in the army and he discovered the world of tape trading. He taped stuff off his satellite and traded for Japanese tapes. He tells a funny story about Black Bart calling him, IN CHARACTER, and telling him to come and try out for pro-wrestling. He fully expected it to be just one day and get his ass kicked and that’d be it. He says he was 7 hours late to the try-out (in Dallas). He was expecting nothing but Bart asked him to come back next week. Necro decided to keep going and keep smiling and kept getting beat up. He says Bart asked him to bring 24 beers every week and Bart drank them all. Necro says he trained for 2 years before debuting in January 1998 and didn’t get paid until October when he was a late replacement. He describes at early high spot as avoiding an elbow drop. He got that little offence in.

He says wrestling has changed and when he started he was given a gimmick as Private Dylan Summers. He wanted to do anything but his day job and Bart changed his name to Private Dylan Sanders. “I’m just gonna keep my fucking mouth shut”. He took a shot at working for a promotion filmed in someone’s back yard and created the Necro Butcher gimmick. He says it wasn’t a bad promotion and they had Rodney Mack, Jazz and Brian Kendrick working there. 20/20 took their cameras and it got him a bit of exposure and he suddenly started getting booked as Necro in all the local Indies. He says he worked all over Texas and saw his options lessen. He knew he couldn’t make it to WWE or WCW so he sent a tape to Ian Rotten in IWA-MS. Ian said he couldn’t afford to pay for him to travel but he’d hire him if he lived locally. Necro quit his job and moved to Kentucky to live on Ian’s couch and work for IWA in 2001.

He says IWA was dirty and hot and everyone pounded on each other. He started in the opening matches and didn’t do anything hardcore to start with. He says he got his first main event against Pondo as a replacement. He got hurt during the match but he expected it. He got 112 stitches in three wounds (this match is on the DVD – highlights follow this paragraph). The interview segues to CZW and Necro talks about the mean, bloodthirsty fans. He thinks the IWA fans wanted him fucked up but cared about him too. The Philly fans just want blood and carnage. Necro makes an excellent point about wrestling. He says that counters may look beautiful but not everyone understands it whereas if you punch someone in the mouth everyone understands it. He talks about CZW wanting to fly him in for a main event and Necro thought it was bullshit so he went to do laundry. Haha.

We move on to Big Japan. First time he went for 2 weeks but the second time they were short on people and he had to stay for 3 months. They treated everyone badly but the pay was ok. He went home for a month and then came back for another 3 months. He’s asked about Onita and Necro thinks Onita would just beat the shit out of him if they wrestled. He talks about Toby Klein and how they beat each other up so well they thought they’d be better off as a team and it worked for about 5 months. Necro talks about Samoa Joe and how the atmosphere was amazing and everyone wanted to see that match. He says he felt like he was representing all the deathmatch guys to show they were tough. Necro says he was trying to be Rocky. The second match didn’t have the same atmosphere. They move on to Cage of Death and Justice Pain (“fucking douchebag”). Necro’s team speech was “let’s get drunk and fuck ‘em up”. Necro says he was punch-drunk from catching a ladder in the head and Pain thought he sandbagged him (see video below). Pain threw him over the top rope without warning and Necro was pissed off with how reckless it was. So he just WAILED on Pain in the corner and we go to the clip and it’s AWESOME. He just hammers him with punches and kicks until Jake Roberts whips him round and DDT’s him. Necro was pissed off because he had to sell the finisher and couldn’t carry on beating Pain’s ass.

ROH is next. Necro talks about wrestling barefoot and he went in late and all he had was flip-flops. So he had to work barefoot. Necro talks about not getting changed, not washing the blood out of his hair and how he got a tonne of heat for going in barefoot. Just because it didn’t make sense to go and put some boots on. I love it. Necro talks about how ROH laid out the whole angle ahead of time. They’d planned everything for 4-5 months. CZW didn’t have a plan at all. We move on to Low-Ki (Goddamn, I love that match). Necro says he got knocked out cold for 20 seconds because he bent into a kick trying to pick up a table. Age of the Fall gets mentioned and Necro says it was the means to an end; getting main events and wrestling and getting paid. He would have done anything and enjoyed getting actual paychecks instead of money in an envelope.

They move onto Inoki Gnome and how everyone else were shootfighters and then there was him. He said they were dicks, mostly. He says if he just worked for Inoki he wouldn’t have to wrestle for anyone else all year long. He pays that well. He moves on to The Wrestler and says it happened by accident. Nic Cage was still involved at the time and came to see him. Darren Aronofsky liked him and wanted him to read for the movie. He figured some younger, better looking dude would get the gig but went to the reading anyway. He didn’t think it’d lead to anything and his wife and mother had to badger him into doing it. He turned it into a “cross-country weed adventure” with his brother. He said by the time he got to Brooklyn he didn’t care if he got the job. Everyone got really relaxed because they had to call his mom to find out where he was because he was so late. He found out later the role had been written for him. They dumped his movie gimmick after the first few readings (Hillbilly Cannibal) and changed it to Necro Butcher. Necro ended up getting the biggest role. He says he’d never jumped off a ladder before until filming The Wrestler. It was fun but hard work.

They try and do some name association but it just leads to Necro talking about how paranoid he gets. He figured Super Dragon was out to hurt him so he knocked him out two minutes into the match. Then he figured he was put in a match with Bryan Danielson as punishment and split his eye open after two minutes but everything worked out fine. He says he dislikes some people when he first meets them but generally gets on well with everyone now. He talks especially about being angry with Jimmy Jacobs for disrespecting the IWA belt but they’re good friends now. There’s a great story about how Gypsy Joe always has a hot girlfriend, good weed and still wrestles. He talks about wrestling a match where a bat came into play and he stayed choking Pondo while they both watched Joe beat up some kid with a bat. Then he got him a booking on Necro’s 30th birthday and Joe beat him up in the match. “Come on, man”.

The 411 – Necro comes off as respectful and funny. He’s an easy listen. He’s the kind of guy you’d want to hang out with listening to stories because he’s not trying to impress anyone but he’s a good storyteller. So many wrestling interviews are just full of bullshit. This doesn’t feel like one of those. I came away with it respecting Necro more than before.

THE MATCHES

Necro Butcher v Mitch Page

Where-ever they’re wrestling; it’s a total shithole. Necro looks suitably mental from the opening bell with a senton to the floor and a light-tube shot being his opening double salvo. The wrestling is pretty bad, which is due to them aiming for hardcore spots. Like Page giving Necro the Rocker Dropper on light tubes. A couple of bladejobs later and they’re brawling through the crowd. This feels a lot like a Big Japan match. Except its even cruder although Necro gets cute and piles chairs on Page. There are basically weapons all over the arena, which can’t be safe. My favourite spot in the whole match is when Page goes to hit Necro with a trashcan and Necro effectively headers it away. Like a big centre-back clearing a long ball over the top. He sure was enthusiastic about taking that plunder shot. Just to make this extra disgusting Necro gets his back cut open on light tubes. But Necro sure has a bright idea; SETTING FIRE TO HIS OWN LEG TO HIT A LEGJAM!! And that isn’t even the finish! Mainly because it takes them time to put the fire out. Mitch isn’t to be outdone though and in the most dangerous spot EVER sets fire to his own head to hit a diving headbutt for the win. *

Yes, THAT, actually happened.

Necro Butcher v Ian Rotten

Before we’re even underway Ian is busted open. We start with headbutts because Ian wants to bust himself open worse. Ian isn’t any kinder to Necro’s body and assaults him with a thumbtack encrusted bat. And those are not gentle shots. I think it should be abundantly clear by this point that matches were not selected because of how good they were but rather how fucking INSANE Necro Butcher looks during them. For example; he headbutts a light tube into Ian’s head, which hurts him just as much and makes no sense whatsoever. But it shows him to be completely insane. Ian kinda looks like a doughnut with jam leaking out of the middle. The weird thing is: this is a flaming tables match because its from King of the Deathmatches 2001. So the finish is miles off. The basic set up is both guys mash each other in the noggin with an assortment of plunder. Which stretches from WWE friendly garbage cans to Ian getting wrapped in barbwire. Did I mention this DVD was rated 18? It could be the most violent wrestling DVD available to the masses. Ian finally remembers he’s supposed to do something with a flaming table or something and hits the world’s sloppiest powerbomb through it. That looked like it sucked to take. His neck landed on the front edge of it and the fucking thing was on fire! ¼*

You’ll notice low ratings so far. Well, let’s face it, this isn’t the kind of wrestling that really reflects well on the snowflake scale. You’re only watching it for the violent high spots. Which makes it a bit like porn. You fast-forward the weak attempts at story and just fast-forward to the action.

Necro Butcher v 2 Tuff Tony

I really hate Tony. There are a group of hardcore guys that are hardcore guys because they can’t do anything else and Tony is one of them. To be fair, Ian Rotten is too. Why else would he book his company like this? Necro had a point when he came to IWA; he figured he could do this as well as any of these others guys, probably better. Naturally this match is mostly plunder shots and blood. There is a bit of wrestling and at one Tony hits an Axe Guillotine Driver on light tubes…for 2. Come on! That’s the point at which Tony must have been thinking; do I have to kill this guy to win? The ludicrous spots don’t end there. Necro also takes a powerslam on the ring steps. By the time the match is winding up there’s so much crap and broken glass in the ring that no one can take a bump, which I find is counterproductive to having a wrestling match. Necro breaks a tube in his mouth and Tony even backs off because that is sickening. Ok, so the finish features a table with barbwire and light tubes on it propped up on four chairs. Excessive? You be the judge. They actually miss it on the finish, which I find strangely disappointing. Not that I want to see it but they put so much effort into the concept. ¼*

Necro Butcher v Mad Man Pondo

I can guarantee blood in this one as the ropes have been replaced by light tubes. So naturally Pondo tries to open him up with an egg whisk. Hahaha, you fucking retard. The light tubes hanging around the ring make it extremely difficult for any spots to happen. You don’t realise how much the ropes are involved in modern wrestling matches until you take them away. It takes Pondo five minutes to figure this out and builds a little bridge between two chairs with tubes. Pondo then falls off the ropes and they manage the World’s Sloppiest DDT through light tubes. Necro is bleeding profusely from multiple wounds and I’m sure those light tubes can’t be good for the health. Pondo works a better light tube bridge where Necro is over the two chairs with tubes on top of him and Pondo sentons him. Necro is busted BAD here. Real bad. His arm, back and head are all gushers. He’s badly hurt. Pondo then gets thrown into a trashcan full of light tubes and now Pondo is covered in cuts. The ring is totally covered in crap with ladders, chairs, broken light tubes, trashcans and light tube log cabins. Its insane. Pondo basically takes all of it and constructs some crazy fucking light tube house. OH SHIT, a close up on Necro shows how badly fucked up he is. Both these guys must be legitimately insane. They both kinda fall through it off the top rope and Pondo gets a pin. OH FUCK, a close up on Necro’s arm shows his elbow pad holding the flesh on. There’s a hunk of flesh just hanging loose by a thread. This match isn’t for the weak of heart. *1/2

Necro Butcher v JC Bailey

This is just for the cameras because we’re in a warehouse full of crap. It’s a cage match but the cage is full of barbwire. I saw a 3PW show recently where the big finish was a legdrop through a table. In this match Necro takes a legdrop through a table after about 30 seconds. This match does have a better dynamic than the other deathmatches on this tape because Bailey brings something different. Pondo tried to bring something different but he’s sloppy as hell. This is almost like a movie as Bailey sets stuff up and then we see it in cinematic style. Like the camera knew where the next spot was. Which isn’t wrestling either but the way its been shot is terrific. Bailey’s shopping cart with light tubes on the front is marvellous. Necro is really generous in this match taking shot after shot after shot from Bailey. Bailey only ever gets hurt off his own offence. As I say that Necro powerbombs Bailey into light tubes and then sits out into another powerbomb on the mat. It would be over, after one Necro assault, but there’s a belt hanging over the ring. The plunder shots in this match are SICK. But then practically every Necro Butcher match has at least one shot in it that no one in any major company would take, ever. For example: Bailey gets bieled through a sheet of glass here. Bailey even works some psychology into this by working over Necro’s hand so he can’t punch him. However Bailey doesn’t always do sensible things and sentons Necro while he’s covered in light tubes. Ow! That surely hurt both guys. Seeing as you need to climb onto the cage to get the belt it seems Bailey, the much quicker dude, is destined for victory and he pulls the title down. **. That was the first match on the tape that had actual wrestling structure to it rather than just bashing each other over the head with shit and it benefitted from that. And from the excellent camerawork. True the majority of the match was still two guys just hitting each other over the head with stuff but at least they tried to do things around that.

Necro Butcher v Toby Klein

King of the Deathmatches 2004, opening round. Both of these guys are nuts so this should be fun. I honestly enjoy a good fistfight over a light tube spot any day of the week. Not that they stop at punches and the plunder isn’t far behind. In fact Necro’s opening spot was to throw a computer monitor at Klein. I love it when Necro goes completely nuts. He recycles his chair throwing bit here but the intensity is so superior to when he first came in. CM Punk is on commentary and you can hear him shout “hit him in the head” as they go past. Both guys are bleeding and we get another fistfight. They fight onto the bleachers and Klein POWERBOMBS HIM OFF ONTO THE FLOOR. Oh, FUUUUUUCCCCK. You’ve gotta give it to Necro. He’ll take the sickest of all bumps. One of the weapons in this match: a rolling pin with thumbtacks superglued to it. This is like the Good Housekeeping match (Jarrett v Chyna) only with 90% more violence. Necro tries to land on the apron but slips off because there’s blood and such all over it. That ends up being one of the harshest bumps in the match. And then Toby pours salt all over his back. I actually winced at that. But this isn’t all plunder. Toby tries for a sunset bomb to the floor but Necro counters into a rana and that gets the biggest reaction of the match. LUCHA-NECRO! And if that wasn’t enough: TWISTING PLANCHAAAAAA!!! Just put a mask on him, change his name to Super Butcher and send him to Mexico. Necro with the ASIATIC SPIKE and not even light tubes can knock him off. Klein taps but the ref had been backed into light tubes and wasn’t able to see it. And that was a genuine ref bump because Klein had been backing Necro into the corners to try and get him loose. Necro takes a DVD on a set up chair and Klein gets the pin. **3/4. That was actually quite a good match. If they’d have kept the crap outside the ring and done the wrestling inside it could have worked. This had intensity, blood, big spots and it made sense.

Necro Butcher v Corporal Robinson v Brandon Prophet

King of the Deathmatches 2005. Whoever takes the loss is eliminated from the tournament. Which would be Prophet. Robinson is the kind of guy who just hits people in the head with plunder. It’s a marked contrast to how much MORE Necro Butcher is as a wrestler and a performer. One of my favourite Necro spots is when he invites someone to sit down and have a fistfight with him. Here they do a 3-way PUNCH-OFF. Brandon Prophet is a punching bag for both guys and takes all manner of abuse including being dropped off the top rope through 6 chairs on the floor. This seems like a ‘right of passage’ match for him. Example: Necro spits lemon juice into his cuts. The more experienced duo take it in turns to brutalise Prophet. He’s a plucky guy and this match is all about him taking on two deathmatch guys. At one point getting a 2 count off a fisherman suplex into light tubes. The match gets real sloppy as each guy gets more and more hurt and the “hardcore box of death” comes into play. Which is a cardboard box with light tubes and barbwire taped to the top of it. Prophet is sent through it for the loss. *

Necro Butcher v Tank

Tank is a big, fat bald guy. He opts for stamping on the mat when he punches Necro. Necro opts for just punching him in the face, hard. Tank doesn’t have the mobility or flexibility to do the things he wants to do. Like kick a tube into Necro’s chest. Necro tries to keep it simple for him and they slug it out and use light tubes. It’s a crutch for Tank’s lack of ability. But then a lot of guys who can’t wrestle great tend to specialise in hardcore because it requires a tough mental attitude but not a lot of skill. And Tank is tough as shit but he’s not much as a wrestler. The match trundles along until Tank’s big finish: covering Necro in light tubes, mounting the buckles and double stomping him into defeat. ¼*

The 411: The interview is about an hour long. Then you’ve got about 90 minutes of hardcore matches. They give you a good solid look at what makes Necro a special performer. Unfortunately I found the match selection to be a bit one-dimensional and there are only flashes (Vs Toby Klein) of his whole game. I would have loved to have gotten Samoa Joe & Low Ki matches on here so you could see his advancement as a wrestler. But that’s not to be and this DVD doesn’t really give you the full story. But if you like hardcore then you’ll love this. Necro’s insane spots (like setting fire to himself) are like Cactus Jack turned up to 11. So this is recommended if you’re hardcore guy and you’ve not really ventured outside of ECW. Otherwise it would depend on how much you like Necro. I enjoyed most of it even if the wrestling wasn’t great. A minor thumbs up with a suggestion to track down different Necro matches to the ones on the disc.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]