LIVONIA, Mich. — Spooky season is officially upon us, and what better way to celebrate than with a night of Horror Slam Pro Wrestling? On October 11, the Livonia Elk’s Lodge hosted Horror Slam’s seventh anniversary event, Underground Monsters, and Brad McFarlin and I were there to cover all that went “bump” in the night.
Before the first match of the night, I saw some familiar faces milling about the Elk’s Lodge. Darren McCarty, former Detroit Red Wing, was there, and over by the bar was Hoodfoot, in a cutoff t-shirt, proudly showing off his scarred arms and shoulders. I asked him if he had been added to the card, and he said he was just up in the area, checking out the scene, before he made his move in Detroit. Hoodfoot would be a great addition to the Horror Slam roster.
After a pre-show seven-person scramble match, won by Angel Metro, Horror Slam: Underground Monsters officially began with a one-on-one match between Jake Crist, representing JCW, and Rhino. JCW would have a large presence at this show, headlined by an appearance by Insane Clown Posse’s Violent J, and it seemed as though many people in attendance were fans of ICP, based upon the sheer amount of ICP and “Hatchet Man” merch in the crowd.
Rhino was obviously a local favorite this night, being hailed as from Detroit, while Crist proudly reps Ohio, so there were a fair amount of “F*ck Ohio” chants in the crowd, and after about five minutes of pre-match taunts, Crist and Rhino locked up. It was a fairly standard one-on-one wrestling match, which is rather uncommon for Horror Slam, where fans come for the blood, and still when Rhino hit Crist with a gore and pinned him for the win, he received a hometown pop.
The next match was Gregory Iron versus Josh Raymond. While I wasn’t familiar with Raymond, I’ve seen Iron wrestle live many times before, and I always appreciate how well he can fluctuate between heel and babyface, depending on the venue. Tonight, Iron was most definitely the heel, playing up his status as an Ohio native, and with the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians battling in the Major League Baseball postseason, by doubling-down on his love of Cleveland, the “F*ck Ohio” chants were rather resounding. The crowd truly savored watching Iron take shots from Raymond, but in the end, Iron was victorious, which earned one of the loudest and most genuine boos of the night.
The next match was a four-way bout for the Horror Slam tag team championship. The first team out was The Pillars, MM3 and Thomas Oliver Vendetta (Tommy Vendetta), accompanied by Darren McCarty. Regardless of the beat down Oliver put on Drake Younger last month, the Pillars were still cheered like hometown heroes. The next team was the visiting Neon Blondes, representing JCW, who definitely had the most polished look of the night. Third in were The Den, two large, ominous looking dudes in dark denim who much of the crowd were unfamiliar with, including myself. And finally, we saw the Horror Slam tag team champions, Mickie Knuckles and Randi West, Two Hookers and an Eightball, who came out to a pop punk cover of the Golden Girls theme song. Knuckles came out swigging a bottle of beer, her face painted in tribute to Bull Nakano, and West came out with some of her “toys” from the last Horror Slam event. A child sitting near me exclaimed with joy, “She’s got the dildo-chuks!” which really made my night.
You could just tell by the vibes of everyone in the ring that this was going to be one fun mess of a match, and that’s exactly what it was. It was lawless, hardcore even, but lacked blood, yet the typically bloodthirsty Horror Slam crowd couldn’t care less. The Pillars, Neon Blondes, and Knuckles and West were all cheered with every big move they delivered. The only team that felt like antagonists were the Den, so I think it was a genuine surprise to everyone in attendance when the Den won the match, becoming the new Horror Slam tag team champions. The message was clear, the Den were here to stay, like or not.
After the detritus was cleared from the ring, Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse came to the ring, where he cut an impassioned promo about Horror Slam and Juggalo Championship Wrestling, and then he introduced a three-way “monster” match. First to the ring was Kongo Kong, followed by Satu Jinn, and then it was time for the Detroit legend, the Soul Taker. This seemed like the exact type of match Violent J would book, but then out came the JCW tag team champions, the Backseat Boyz, who have an early-2000s boy band gimmick, and therefore obvious heels, and suddenly we had a six-man tag match.
The monsters had control of most of the match, until there was some miscommunication between them, Soul Taker choke slammed Jinn, and all three Backseat Boyz pinned Jinn. After the match, Soul Taker grabbed the mic, said, “The next time you see me, call me the N**** Taker,” and called it a night.
The next match was a continuation from the last Horror Slam event, “Richie Boy” Breyer Wellington versus Schwartzy, for the Horror Slam Horrorcore championship. Wellington began with his usual pre-match smack talk, eliciting boos from the crowd, and Schwartzy was enthusiastically cheered, as expected. This was a solid, hard hitting match, with slightly relaxed rules, one might say, but once again, there was no blood. Wellington and Schwartzy exchanged painful maneuvers, but Schwartzy eventually pinned Wellington, becoming the new Horrorcore champion Wellington had been the Horrorcore champion for as long as I have been following Horror Slam, and the crowd was thrilled to see his reign of terror come to an end.
Horror Slam still had three deathmatches on the card to close the night, but before that, it was time for an intermission, during which I caught up with the Soul Taker.
“I’m one of the original monsters here at Horror Slam, where I helped build the foundation of Horror Slam,” bragged Soul Taker. He continues to work a relentless schedule of shows, including matches coming up in Toledo, Ohio, his debut in North Carolina, and Denver, Colorado, where he says he’ll make an impact, no matter where he goes.
“You never know what to expect when you deal with the Soul Taker, or should I say the N**** Taker, because it doesn’t matter if it’s black lives matter, white lives matter, or blue lives matter, when you deal with the Soul Taker, no souls matter,” Soul Taker said.
When Horror Slam returned from intermission, it was time for the first of three scheduled deathmatches, Tommy Trainwreck versus “The Queerbilly” GG Jacobs. While I wasn’t familiar with Jacobs, he seemed to have many fans in attendance who were happy to see him, and I have to say I immediately liked his gimmick, which was like if EFFY met Freebirds-era Michael Hayes. Trainwreck was the winner of the Murder City Deathmatch Cup at the last Horror Slam, and he brought his trophy with him to the ring.
Being the first deathmatch in a long night of wrestling, the crowd was ready to see some blood, and Trainwreck and Jacobs delivered in spades, using light tubes, gusset plates, and barbed wire tables to shred each other’s bodies. Jacobs put in one hell of an effort, but Trainwreck came through with the win, retaining his Death Match Cup, although I’m not sure if it was up for grabs.
It took about ten minutes to clear the ring of broken glass, then the next match was Kamikaze versus JJ Escobar for the Horror Slam heavyweight championship. Kamikaze, a crowd favorite who scored an upset victory against Escobar at the last Horror Slam show, was introduced first, then out came Jeremiah Goldmain, who introduced JJ Escobar, ever present weed whacker in hand.
Escobar struck first, delivering a huge blow with a bundle of light tubes to the back of Kamikaze, who was facing the crowd, resulting in a huge spray of glass and spooky dust to shower the first row. While the match between Kamikaze and Escobar continued, it was hard not to notice that one of the men who caught some of the shrapnel now had multiple lacerations on his face and legs.
In the previous match, a girl in shorts sitting in front of me left the show after catching a piece of light tube in her leg, so there were now two people in the crowd that I saw, who were cut by stray pieces of glass.
Towards the end of the match, Goldmain stripped the referee of his uniform, and put it on himself, making himself referee, while Kamikaze and Escobar performed some insane spots on each other, including Kamikaze landing a Coast to Coast, through light tubes, onto Escobar, and Escobar hitting Kamikaze with the weed whacker three times, but just when the match reached its almost inevitable end, and Escobar had Kamikaze pinned, dead to rights, Goldmain stopped the count and turned on Escobar, which lead to Kamikaze pinning Escobar and winning the Horror Slam heavyweight championship.
It was a genuine feel good moment, but it didn’t last long, when Breyer Wellington’s music hit, and he came to the ring with adult film star, and occasional pro wrestling personality, Jasmin St. Claire. Being the promoter of Horror Slam, Wellington can apparently begin a match whenever he wants, and took advantage of Kamikaze’s weakened state, pinning the new champ, and becoming Horror Slam heavyweight champion. This was now the third belt that changed hands this night, so Horror Slam was definitely shaking things up on its anniversary show.
Finally, it was time for the main event. The show had been going on for about three and a half hours, and the crowd was clearly tired, but still, those in attendance were excited for the final match of the evening, “The Iron Demon” Shane Mercer versus the Horror Slam deathmatch champion Chuck Stein.
Mercer versus Stein was as hard hitting of a match as one could expect. Both men are of considerable size, and they aren’t afraid to get hurt, or hurt others, so they each took an unbelievable amount of damage, before Stein pinned Mercer, retaining his championship.
The night was over, or so we thought, when, like Chekhov’s deathmatch wrestler, Stein’s post-match celebration was cut short by a surprise attack by Hoodfoot. I guess he’d seen all he needed to see before making his move.
The next Horror Slam event will be a crossover supershow with ICW NHB (No Holds Barred) on Black Friday, November 29, 2024, at the Livonia Elk’s Lodge. Tickets are available now. For more information and tickets to future Horror Slam shows, follow them on Facebook.
