LIVONIA, Mich. — For the first time since this past Christmas, Brad McFarlin and I returned to the Livonia Elk’s Lodge on Friday, February 21, 2025, in the newly named Special Taste Hall, for We Love Wrestling & Horror Slam Present Motor City Massacre.
Being a crossover show between Michigan’s Horror Slam and the Wisconsin-based We Love Wrestling, the advertised match card was stacked with debut appearances and cross promotional title opportunities, and it looked to be the biggest and rowdiest Horror Slam crowd since I started going.
The night began with a WLW x Horror Slam Scramble Match, featuring Aaron Ashura, “The Solution” Brandon Chappell, and a debuting King Kong Husk. When the match began, Husk chased after the referee with a giant bone, while the rest of the competitors went after each other, but it wasn’t long before Husk returned to the ring, clearing out the other men, but after he squashed Ashura with an enormous bonsai drop (or whatever he might call it), Chappell stole the win. Even though Chappell is well-liked in Horror Slam, Husk was the real star of this match, and received a great reception afterward.
The second match on the card was a Dripping Gold Championship Three Way Tag, including Horror Slam Tag Champs The Den, WLW Champions Twist & Flip, and JCW Tag Champs The Backseat Boyz. It’s funny, the last time I saw the Backseat Boyz in a Horror Slam ring, they were the clear heels, but on this night, facing the heelish Den, the Backseat Boyz and Twist & Flip were both cheered. In this match, the Backseat Boyz and Twist & Flip demonstrated their fast-paced, high-flying style, while the Den overpowered the other teams with brute force, delivering a big splash on Twist & Flip, and retaining their Horror Slam tag team titles.
Next it was time for what ring announcer Steven Rivera called everybody’s favorite part of the night, Breyer Wellington’s Humble Yourself Rookie Challenge. Wellington never comes out alone, and this time, he came out to the ring with one giant S.O.B. who looked to be a shoot seven feet tall, but I’d be damned if I didn’t catch his name. And the rookie Wellington was going to humble wasn’t a rookie at all, it was Mickie “F’ing” Knuckles! Before the match got underway, there was a fair amount of talking, between Wellington and Knuckles combined, and then they began to fight outside of the ring. Thankfully they came back to the ring, where everyone could see, but it wasn’t long before Wellington’s nameless giant bastard interfered, chokeslamming Knuckles into Wellington’s knees, and Wellington pinned Knuckles for the win.
The last match before intermission was set to be a first time match between MM3 (Malcolm Monroe III) and a returning SHLAK, but when MM3 entered the ring he announced that SHLAK had canceled, and that’s when Tommy Trainwreck appeared. MM3 and Trainwreck had recently had two other matches, with each of them winning one apiece, so they agreed to a two falls out of three rubber match, and Trainwreck struck first, hitting MM3 with a light tube. The match was underway. The first fall came relatively quick, after MM3 delivered a top rope stomp to Trainwreck, then the second fall came even quicker, when MM3 went for a swanton but landed on a stack of light tubes, and then MM3 delivered one more top rope stomp onto Trainwreck, delivering him into several gusset plates, and MM3 scored the third, and victorious, pinfall.
During intermission, while everyone was directed to take a 15-minute smoke break in the tent outside the Elk’s Lodge, I checked out the merch table, and bought a set of We Love Wrestling trading cards, which I looked forward to opening back at home.
When the show resumed, it was time for what was likely the most anticipated match of the night for many in attendance, a Psycho Circus Death Match between Horror Slam Heavyweight Champion JJ Escobar and the debuting Lil Sicko, who’s already developing a cult following in his very young career. The pairing of the muscular Escobar in white ski mask and the lithe, clown painted Sicko was a great visual, but some feared the match wouldn’t last long after Escobar hurled Sicko out of the ring, into an exploding pile of light tubes. Sicko lay motionless, out of sight to many in attendance, and the referee and ring crew began to carry him away, as the room began to fall silent, then Escobar attacked, and we knew the match would continue. Escobar and Sicko each took some hellacious damage, but Sicko got the worst of it, when Escobar sent him crashing through a plate of glass covered in firecrackers. McFarlin, with his camera, was scarily close to this and is lucky he still has his eyebrows. Escobar pinned Lil Sicko, but Sicko left his mark.
After that, I found it hard to imagine that We Love Wrestling and Horror Slam could take it any further, and then we got a match for the WLW Pure Heart Championship, the champion “Indestructible” Bobby V versus the “Tarzanian Devil” Tarzan Duran. I’d seen Tarzan Duran wrestle for GCW, but this was his Horror Slam debut, so I knew a little of what to expect, but he really pulled out all the stops. Duran really had all of the momentum and offense during this match, including hitting Bobby V with a flaming fist, using a barb wire jump rope, blasting Bobby V with a giant fireball, and smashing Bobby V through a structure made of light tubes. Bobby V got absolutely destroyed in this match, but he won it after hitting a low blow to Duran and a quick roll up pin. The crowd booed Bobby V but Tarzan Duran won them over.
Chuck Stein and Eric Dillinger at WLW & Horror Slam, Livonia Elk’s Lodge, February 21, 2025. Photo by Brad McFarlin.
Next it was time for the co-main event of the evening, the debuting Eric Dillinger versus the Horror Slam Death Match Champion, the “Dirty White Boy” Chuck Stein. Dillinger and Stein recently returned from wrestling in Japan, so this was a bit of a homecoming match for both of them, even though this was Dillinger’s first time in a Horror Slam ring. The match quickly began with Stein trying and failing to stab Dillinger with a syringe. This happened a couple of times, like a battle for the syringe, but Stein would eventually get a syringe into, and through, Dillinger’s mouth. Still, the match was pretty evenly fought, until Tommy Trainwreck interfered. Trainwreck wasn’t exactly there to help anybody though, so much as he was there to make sure Stein lost and that he did, quite surprisingly. After Trainwreck superkicked both Dillinger and Stein, Dillinger pinned Stein, becoming the new Death Match Champion in his Horror Slam debut.
After this, there was another smoke break before the eighth and final match of the night, because the ring crew needed to wrap the ring and ropes in barbed wire. On the one hand, after a big, surprise change in title like had just happened, I didn’t understand why Dillinger versus Stein wasn’t the last match of the night, but on the other hand, I understand the Horror Slam crew probably didn’t want the crowd to have to wait for the barbwire to get unwrapped in between matches, so this barbwire match went last.
The main event was MASADA versus Tommy Vendetta. The Horror Slam crowd was genuinely excited to see deathmatch legend MASADA in Livonia, Michigan, and Vendetta is a hometown favorite. MASADA and Vendetta both got some good reactions from the crowd, especially when MASADA stuck several bundles of skewers into Vendetta’s head, but at this point of the night, after firecrackers and fireballs and syringes and light tubes and gallons of blood and gore, this match was tamer than I expected. MASADA pinned Vendetta, thus concluding We Love Wrestling & Horror Slam Present Motor City Massacre, and another big night of live deathmatch wrestling in Livonia, Michigan.
It was nearly midnight when McFarlin and I exited the Elk’s Lodge into the frigid February air, more bracing than a shot of chilled Rumple Minze. Outside, there were signs advertising a record show the next morning, starting at 10 a.m. I wondered if they could clean up all the spilled blood and broken glass before then.
