CZW celebrated their 27th anniversary with two shows on February 28 and March 1st. The shows were very different, as the first show was a traditional show, while the second one was all deathmatches. They both aired live on IWTV and can be watched anytime On Demand.

The first show opened up with a 6 person tag match, where Brando Lee, Desean Pratt and Iciban defeated Chris White, Max Zero and Patrick Saint. This was followed by Samwell Thompson’s 10 Minutes of Fame Open Challenge, which was answered by The Handyman Jake Gray. Samwell was able to get the victory in this match by holding Jake’s tights on the pin.

In a very interesting match, that I would have loved to see go longer, Anthony Gangone defeated the debuting Felix Koz. Gangone is very serious and hard to read. He goes by Doctor Sleep as he looks to put his opponents to sleep. Felix on the other hand is very energetic. He loves polka music, he brings his accordion to the ring and will dance with anyone that he can find, from members of the crowd, to referees, and even his opponents. However, you should not take Felix lightly, as he is very tall and athletic. Felix is able to get some offense in and avoids Gangone’s mandible claw once, but Gangone puts on his mask and locks it in the second time to put Felix to sleep and pick up the win. Both wrestlers looked good in this match. I hope they bring back Felix, as he is someone that brings a type of chaotic energy that few do.

We have an unannounced 4 way match up next. Cosmic defeats Erik Chacha, Jermiane and Michael Solar. Cosmic was the only woman on this show and she took that opportunity to show out and shine. Her personality and skills were showcased in this match. I thought that Jermaine also looked really good and is someone that I would like to see more of.

The owner of the company, DJ Hyde, comes out to promote tomorrow’s show. The CZW World Heavyweight champion, Eran Ashe, comes out stating that no one wants to hear from DJ. I totally agree with this statement and think that DJ should stay as far away from a ring as he can. 

DJ brings out the former CZW champion, Jonathan Gresham, to face Eran Ashe for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship. This was a match that put the much larger and stronger wrestler against the smaller, technical expert. Ashe got the win with a pop up power bomb to retain his title.

In a match between two rising stars “Top Guy” Griffin McCoy faced Ryan Clancy. Griffin keeps staying on the verge of becoming the Top Guy in CZW, but can never seem to win the big matches. The match starts with technical holds, which favors Clancy, but Griffin hits a dive onto the outside. Griffin is someone that will take advantage of every little opportunity that he gets in a match. Clancy is working over Griffin’s knee through most of the match. They have a nice exchange on the outside, where Clancy hits a piledriver and Griffin answers with a tombstone. This was a very even match that Clancy was able to win with a beautiful dropkick. The crowd, who are typically not big fans of Griffin showed their appreciation for his great match, but he was not having it and was still frustrated with the loss. 

Troy Parker defeated Matt Quay in the next match. Parker used his power to dominate Quay, but Quay battled back with his quick, high flying offense. Troy picked up the win with the help from his Vendetta partner Nigel Carter.

The tag team titles are on the line as The Lost Boys, Athan Promise and Miles Penn defend the championships against Post Game, Mike Walker and Vinny Talotta. These are two very athletic teams. The Lost Boys show off with some double team moves early. Post Game then slows it down with some submission moves. The Lost Boys are able to avoid the pinfall after Post Game hits the Walk of Shame, and then they hit their own finisher Marshmallow Stomp. The Lost Boys think that they won the match, but it gets restarted because Vinny Talotta’s foot was on the rope. Post Game uses the title belts before the referee makes it back to the ring and hits the Walk of Shame for the win. This was a good match between two great young teams.

The main event was up next and I will admit that I questioned this match being the main event after matches like Griffin versus Clancy, Ashe versus Grasham and Post Game versus Lost Boys, but I will admit right now that I was wrong, as this was a fantastic match.

This was a deathmatch between Brew Vallon and Brandon Watts. They have been feuding for quite a long time and this is the perfect end to the feud. I heard someone say that your match should be able to entertain someone who is seeing you wrestle for the first time, while at the same time reward the people that have been at every show. This match had a lot of throw backs to earlier parts of the feud, but would never confuse the new fans, well except maybe the family of sharks, but who doesn’t love a family of sharks in a deathmatch.

Rex Lawless joins Brandon Watts at ringside and doesn’t even pretend like he is not going to get involved. The crowd is VERY behind Brew as he wraps his arm in barbed wire and hits Watts with it. Both wrestlers have blood flowing on their faces. Rex and Watts team up on Brew, but Brew keeps fighting back. Rex throws Brew off the top rope onto VHS tapes that are pointing up. This brings out a school of sharks with kendo sticks that attack Rex and drive him to the back. Brew now has Watts one-on-one and drives him through a flaming table for the win. The sharks come out to celebrate and the crowd goes crazy. Just a really fun match with the perfect amount of story telling and violence and a little bit of silliness.

This brings us to night 2, which is in Trenton, New Jersey and it’s all violence. We have Larry Legend on the mic and we open up with a Home Improvement Deathmatch between Nicco Grey and Jake Gray. There was a complete change in the Jake Gray that we saw in night 1 and the one in this match. Jake looked incredible in this match, and I would love to see him a lot more in deathmatches. They used a staplegun, saw, toolbox full of nails, a mop with nails on it, and sandpaper. Jake used the staple gun to staple Nicco to a door, then used an electric saw to make sparks and burn Nicco with the sparks. However, Nicco ends up getting the win after using a bundle of carpet strips.

The women are up next, as the deathmatch legend Mickie Knuckles takes on the new deathmatch queen, the great equalizer, Angel Metro. Mickie has the experience advantage, but Angel has recently gone up against two of the best in the game in John Wayne Murdoch and Danny Demato. This match was as violent as you would expect.  Mickie brought a barbed wire crown, but it was used against her by Angel. Mickie hits a senton onto Angel while she is laying on carpet strips, then piledrives Angel onto carpet strips, but Angel will not stay down. Mickie is finally able to put Angel away with a pump handle slam onto a door with light tubes on it. This was the exact match that you would expect from these two women. It was very violent and Angel came out looking like she was in a horror movie. Angel is going to keep on fighting the best that deathmatch has to offer and will eventually get that win, and the crowd will go wild. The CZW crowd started out heavily behind Mickie but became Angel Metro fans as the match went on.

DJ Hyde, Ricky Shane Page, Lucky 13 and Shlak come to the ring to induct Danny Havoc into the CZW Hall of Fame. They showed a video package and RSP told a heart felt story about how Danny Havok would constantly harass DJ about putting RSP on CZW shows. RSP then gave the plaque to Lucky 13, Danny’s good friend, to accept the honor on Danny’s behalf. Then inexplicably we go to a birthday celebration for DJ and RSP. The CZW World Champion Eran Ashe came out and the promoter of the company, DJ Hyde calls his champion fat. They got on to shove some cake in DJ’s face and end the segment. They had the opportunity to honor a legend and DJ had to make it all about him. They didn’t even give Lucky a chance to talk about his friend. At least Lucky put the plaque to good use in the main event when he hit someone over the head with it.

We now have what I considered the match of the night. This is between two of the best up in coming deathmatch wrestlers in the country in Eric Dillinger and Jamesen Shook. I don’t know what the CZW crowd made of Shook’s “Hot To Go” entrance, but once the match started I think they were all fans. We had some very creative use of weapons and ladders in the match. Shook hits a DVD off a ladder onto tubes. Eric then finds a rope and swings into Shook, smashing tubes on him. Eric gets the win with a leg drop in a really fast paced must see match. 

Larry Legend starts talking about Danny Havoc and is interrupted by Jimmy Controversy who says that Alex Colon is hurt and is out of the main event, so he is putting himself in it. All of the sudden we hear the familiar sound of bells and “The God of This Shit” Nick Gage, comes out. They have a match and Nick looks as good as ever. He has that extra hop in his step that he has not had in years. He hits a fall away slam from the middle rope and he looks like he is having so much fun. This is MDK’s home, in a deathmatch ring. He even takes a fans phone and records himself cutting Jimmy up with his pizza cutter. Gage sends Jimmy through a barbed wire door, then hits him with two piledrivers and a power bomb for the win. After the match, Gage says he is taking Colon’s place in the main event. 

Following that is a barbwire mountain deathmatch between Dred and Ricky Shane Page. You can win this match by pinfall, submission or throwing your opponent into the barbed wire mountain on the outside of the ring. This match started off very slow with chain wrestling. They eventually started taking balls of barbed wire off of the mountain and cutting each other with it. The story of this match was that Dred was trying to get out of the shadow of RSP. Dred did get the win by throwing RSP into the mountain of barbed wire. This match was fine, it just didn’t seem to hit like the other matches for me.

The main event was an elimination match for the vacant CZW Ultraviolent Championship between Lucky 13, Eric Ryan, Shlak, Jimmy Lloyd, Hoodfoot and Nick Gage. They start the match out quick with everyone smashing light tubes on each other and Eric Ryan getting sent through a door. Jimmy Loyd is the first person to get eliminated after he is hit by an exploding bat by Lucky 13. Chaos ensues as Angel Metro enters the ring, hits Gage in the crotch and Lucky pins him. Shlak takes out Angel, and then eliminates Lucky. It seems like Lucky 13 and Angel had some sort of plan, but it did not work out as good as they hoped. Hoodfoot eliminates Eric Ryan, after Eric and Shlak tried to team up on Hoodfoot and it backfired. This leaves Hoodfoot and Shlak as the final two, and Shlak eliminates Hoodfoot after putting him through a table with light tubes to win the vacant CZW Ultraviolent Championship.

Overall, I thought it was a good weekend of shows for CZW. On the first show, I thought there were a couple of matches that seemed like they were just there, but there were also some stand out matches. Griffin and Clancy was great and the main event was definitely a match worth checking out. I thought the second show was definitely better, but I am also a deathmatch fan. Shook and Dillinger had the best match of the show, but I think Nick Gage stole the weekend, coming out and looking incredible.