Mad Dog Connelly vs. Demus (4/4/2024)

 ugly.

intro:

the most beautiful things in life may also have an ugly version, a version that you may want to forget and have no memory of if you were a sane person, but also… some people may enjoy that ugly version, some people hate the memory of their 18th birthday because maybe they went too crazy and got arrested, and some of them like looking back on those memories, some people hate past relationships but others embrace the ephemeral feeling they get, well for most of you reading this review, you never forget where you were when you saw how such a beautiful art form like pro wrestling can look so ugly, you NEVER forget when you were when you first watched Mad Dog Connelly and Demus almost killing eachother in the H2O arena in 2024.

personally? I was in class scrolling twitter when i saw an @elliottswrstlin tweeting calling this match one of the greatest matches ever, and i was interested in that because i was a huge deathmatch guy at the time, but the impact this match left on me made me skip the rest of my classes that day and go home and think about what the fuck i just watched.

the effect this match leaves on anyone watching it are questions, who? how? And most importantly , WHY? and the thing is, how do you write about this? it’s been two years, 14 rewatches, and i still cannot gather my thoughts about how this match looked, but i think i got it figured out, enjoy:

Review

in an era where flips, cutters and cool looking spots are dominating the indies, it’s always a breath of fresh air to watch a good old brawl, but this doesn’t really apply to this match because this wasn’t a good old memphis brawl, it was more gruesome, more horrific, and definitely uglier, because for 10 minutes, two of the best brawlers in the world- actually? THE two best brawlers in the world, beat the fuck out of eachother, threw some ugly punches, threw eachother into everything in their environment, used the collar in so many wrong ways and somehow they made those ways right and oh- did i mention the horrific fucking punches?

in modern wrestling the ability to believe what you’re watching is almost nonexistent, you may have to turn a blind eye to some things to believe, but you didn’t have to do that in this match, you just had to turn it on, maybe for 14 different times and just use your eyes to believe what you’re watching, i always say in my mad dog reviews that there is a very fine line between randomness and chaos, and this one didn’t jump up and down that line, it was perfectly chaotic, disgustingly reckless in way that you question if you should be allowed to watch what you’re watching, but this is the beauty of it, watching it.

My words or anyones words really cannot do this FIGHT enough justice, you MUST watch it to feel it, you must experience the ugliness of Mad Dog Connelly vs. Demus atleast once in your lifetime, no matter if you think it’s one of the greatest matches ever or you think it’s “indie slop brawling” (fuck you if you think of it that way btw).

This isn’t a match you watch, it’s a match that you feel, an experience that you have to live, and like a wise man always says, for once in your life, give this one a watch, and live. your. truth.

5*