ICW No Holds Barred (ICW NHB), formerly ICW New York, makes their long awaited return to live events with a very special “drive-in” event on Saturday, No Holds Barred Volume 2: Deathmatch Drive-In, which will air live on IndependentWrestling.tv (IWTV) at 8pm EST. Some intense match-ups as ICW NHB return for their first live event since No Holds Barred Volume 1 from this past January.
Reed Bentley vs. Akira
The Modern-Day Warrior, The Deathmatch Samurai, El Arma Exotica/The Exotic Weapon. Akira is a rising star from the exploding Indiana scene, debuting in 2018 and working multiple hardcore promotions. He makes his ICW NHB and IWTV debut on Saturday and he’s facing a veteran of such wars in Reed Bentley, one-half of The Rejects in 3x IWA Mid South Heavyweight Champion and 3x Tag Team Champion with The Rejects (IWA-MS, Paradigm Pro Wrestling, Game Changer Wrestling). Akira will be looking to make an impression, but Bentley will not go down quietly.
SHLAK vs. John Wayne Murdoch
Speaking of The Rejects, the other half, 5x IWA-MS Heavyweight Champion John Wayne Murdoch is heading into battle on Saturday and he’s facing one of the most vicious deathmatch competitors in the US in the monster known as SHLAK. Two veterans of the game will be looking to make a huge statement in the rebooted ICW.
Dominic Garrini vs. Tony Deppen
Amidst a sea of hardcore/deathmatches, this one has all the makings of a US indie technical clinic. Dominic Garrini has become a staple of the Midwest, as a regular with Ohio’s Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) and then joining EVOLVE for the last incarnation of Catch Point. Since then he’s become a force with the likes of Beyond Wrestling, Southern Underground Pro (SUP), and Major League Wrestling (MLW), as well as forming Violence is Forever (formerly Sadkampf) with Kevin Ku. He faces off in singles action against Tony Deppen, one of the most underrated wrestlers in the US indie scene. The gatekeeper in GCW as well as impressive stints with CHIKARA and Beyond Wrestling, has made Deppen a man who has yet to have a great match. He was rewarded for a breakout 2019 with inclusion in the 2019 Battle of Los Angeles with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Real potential here for the match of the night.
Alex Colon vs. Eric Ryan
Both these men are veterans of GCW and have proven to be able to elevate their game the higher the stakes get. Shockingly, while they’ve competed in multi-man matches in AIW, GCW, and Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), they’ve never faced off one on one before this Saturday. Eric Ryan is a former 2x AIW Absolute Champion, while Alex Colon is 2x Hardcore Hustle Organization (H2O) Heavyweight Champion and Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) Alto Impacto Champion in Mexico, who won last year’s GCW Tournament of Survival 4 Tournament. Two of the most underrated deathmatch wrestlers of the past few years, this one is going to be an “instant classic”.
Nick Gage vs. Casanova Valentine (w/ Riley Madison)
You can’t have a deathmatch card without adding the King of American Hardcore Nick Gage to the festivities and on Saturday he’s going one-on-one with one of the rising stars of the genre. Nick Gage has a resume that needs no real exposé – he’s a 4x CZW World Champion and held the GCW World title for 722-days, winning the 2004 CZW Tournament of Death, 2018 GCW Tournament of Survival, and 2018 IW-MS King of the Deathmatches. His opponent is Casanova Valentine, who has been terrorizing the New York City scene since 2014, primarily with New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) and Ohio’s Unsanctioned Pro, where he’s a 3x Unsanctioned Pro Hardcore Champion. Can Casanova knock off the King and usurp the throne? Only time will tell.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. ICW No Holds Barred, Vol. 2: Deathmatch Drive-In will be airing live on IndieWrestling.tv.
