Tony Deppen vs. Dominic Garrini (ICW No Holds Barred Vol. 2: Deathmatch Drive-In 6/27/20)

Match Reviews

Featured photo by Chris Grasso

Two of my favorite guys on the American indies today get some time to have a strong one on one match. What’s not to love?

Much of the early goings focuses on Garrini’s martial arts background coming in to play as the more unorthodox Deppen tries to whether the storm. They have some fun exchanges on the mat where Deppen doesn’t exactly match Garrini’s grapple work but instead tries to fight his way out. It adds a scrappy vibe to the match. He uses his strikes and brawling to try to get the advantage back but Garrini can always somehow work his way back into the advantage.

Although this wasn’t wrestled as a deathmatch, I felt that these two guys made the most of their environment. No spot embodies this more than Deppen ramming Garrini into the chains that replace the ring ropes and Garrini selling it like absolute death and even getting a pop from the crowd that expects lighttubes and shattering vinyl.

One hardcore element does come into play with Deppen bringing in a door. They use it effectively enough with Garrini taking a bump through it and the two then trading shots with the door. It’s simple and to the point stuff even though structurally the match does start to fall apart a bit when the door gets introduced. That’s swiftly remedied by the finishing stretch however where Garrini just wipes out Deppen with a series of brutal head drop suplexes. Great stuff all around even barring a few instances of visible miscommunication or awkwardness. Nothing that can’t be written off as some mild ring rust. Otherwise, I feel these two worked really well together and continue to be highlights on the independent scene.

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