Featured image by FluffyInsomnia
There’s no Mad Dog without ZERO1 USA. Newer fans of Connelly might be unaware of this fact especially if he first caught your eye thanks to the explosive dog collar match against Demus last year. But long before the appearances on the DEAN~!!! tribute shows or the rivalry against 1 Called Manders, it was ZERO1 USA where the Mad Dog cut his teeth. After all it was in the Burgess-Osborne Auditorium that Mad Dog found himself in the wild brawl against Jake Lander that attained rapid cult classic status among those who favor meaty punches and blood pouring down so thick it coagulates in the hair. With a match like that, it’s no wonder that a certain subsection of the internet quickly fell in love with what Mad Dog Connelly had to offer. Here was a guy that delivered on the goods in the simplest ways possible: hard hits, gross bumps, and bucketfuls of blood.
As Mad Dog’s profile on the independents grew, ZERO1 USA rather smartly understood that they’d captured lightning in a bottle. For a company like ZERO1 USA, a smaller promotion based out of Illinois whose ties to Shinya Hashimoto’s original vision are tenuous at best, there’s a ticking clock on how much mileage they could get out of Mad Dog. Bigger opportunities would be inevitable for him, if not from any of the nationally televised promotions then certainly from independents with a larger following and a little more hype behind them. At a certain point, Mad Dog would become too big for ZERO1 USA, and they took advantage of that by crowning Mad Dog their Heavyweight Champion in December of 2023, a reign that would last well into the tail end of 2024.
Here’s the problem with Mad Dog’s ZERO1 USA Heavyweight Title run: we don’t have a lot of it.
It definitely exists, and technically you could access it. From what I understand, most if not all of it is available for those subscribed to ZERO1 USA’s Patreon. But at $35, the price stands well above the likes of a TrillerTV+, IWTV, or even DPW on Demand subscription (the latter of which already stands as a fairly premium priced product in the space). If there are some enterprising folk that put the money down to scavenge some of the footage for the high seas, I can’t say that I’ve run into that either. Instead, fans sated themselves on Mad Dog’s more accessible appearances outside of the promotion that helped make him. Of his title run, only two matches were officially released for free consumption, both May title defenses against Tanner Keeler and Jake Lander. More of it has since dropped on IWTV, which has a much cheaper subscription price than the ZERO1 USA Patreon, which made more of Connelly’s reign accessible to those already subscribed.
So whenever ZERO1 USA drops one of these Mad Dog matches for free, it’s typically because they have the confidence in the hype it can generate for their promotion. It’s a concession–see what we’ve got going on, then maybe you’ll find enough value in it to pay for the rest.
This steel cage match at the end of Mad Dog’s title reign deserves that kind of buzz.
Mad Dog’s opponent here is one Victor Analog, a scrawny kid with a scuzzy vibe and entrance headgear shaped like a shattered TV. Commentary’s helpful in filling in some of the blanks for us here. Analog and Connelly used to be allies until Analog turned on the champion earlier in the year. Victor would go on to align himself with Jake “Warhorse” Parnell’s Nihilation unit and has been on the battle path towards the Heavyweight Title since. Mad Dog and Analog wrestled one-on-one for the title in a very good little scrap that ended with Parnell interfering just as Mad Dog was about to lock in his hangman’s clutch submission. Thus, the cage. Pretty down to earth, simple pro wrestling booking.
The match itself is equally simple, and all the better for it. There’s a lovely lack of pretension and ambition here that I adore. Those might sound like backhanded compliments, but most everything about this match unfolds with the gritty humility of a fight. It’s nowhere near the raw nerve of something like Tully/Magnum’s I Quit match, but it’s a heck of a lot closer to that in spirit than it is to, say, The Lucha Bros vs. The Young Bucks. At just a little over 10 minutes, there’s no room for histrionics, moral dilemmas, or the sound of asterisks being typed into Dave Meltzer’s computer. In this cage, all there’s really space for is violence.
Few dish it out half as well as Mad Dog Connelly. Mad Dog’s touring schedule means that he often vacillates between babyface and heel, and here we get to see him apply himself to some real heroics. There’s such intensity from this wild hairy man from Springfield, one feels it in those purposeful steps right into the cage, not taking the time to circle the ring or engage with the crowd. He creates an immediate sense of danger by swinging that heavy dog collar chain at Analog before the bell even starts. There’s enough weight behind that thing that I never feel like Mad Dog’s trying to miss for the sake of a spot, and it’s such a thrill when his metal-wrapped hand blasts the steel chair out of Analog’s grip too. His initial babyface shine is an immediate thrill ride, using a Danielson-esque technique of incorporating signature spots from his babyface comebacks into his shine instead. In this case, it’s those consecutive gutwrench suplexes, here given a little more oomph with Mad Dog tossing Analog into the ropes and cage wall on each one. They are ugly, awkward bumps, and Analog fully eats shit on so many of them, before the segment being punctuated by a lawn dart straight into the cage to bust open the challenger.
Analog is key to this whole thing too, and his performance really does rely on the kind of humble simplicity that surrounds this whole affair. I can’t say I know much of Victor Analog’s work, he’s been all right in the few matches I’ve seen him in but I’ve never quite been blown away. Luckily for us, this match understands that so well. To his immense credit, Analog never does anything in this match that overtly demands our acclaim. One never gets the sense that he’s here to impress and his time in the ring is smartly spent taking underhanded shortcuts or outright dying at the hands of the champion. Notably, his first transition into control relies on pulling Mad Dog’s tights to send the champion into the cage wall–a sneaky but painfully effective way to seize control. Analog also notably relies on the cage itself to be an ally in his schemes, much of his control is spent just flinging Mad Dog into the steel, almost creating this implicit concession that Analog can’t do it with his bare hands. Even when Analog starts laying in some strikes of his own, commentary’s quick to point out that he’s not really beating Connelly at this game but rather is aided by a steel plate in his surgically repaired arm. Heel tactics via Lugerism, got to love it.
And man, Analog’s also smart enough that he never stands there to trade with Mad Dog Connelly. When Mad Dog throws a punch–and boy does he–the challenger takes it right on the chin. There’s a series of big chain-assisted punches in the back half of this that have me howling at the moon, you can hear that disgusting sound of metal clanging against flesh–squishy and solid all at once, Jesus Christ! Note how Analog sells and bumps for all those punches, just beautiful stooging at every turn.
As good as Analog is in this though, the fucking Mad Dog, man.
Connelly eats all of that big chair shot from Analog and he just roars in the challenger’s face. How is that not everything good and great and holy about pro wrestling? Nothing but sheer defiance in the face of ill-adviced violence. Steel meets skull and, in a rare instance outside of many Kazusada Higuchi matches, skull fucking wins. Doesn’t it make you want to beat your chest and scream like an animal? So much of pro wrestling boils down to empathy–an empathy for cause and for pain. If that’s the case, then empathy here allows us to share in glory. That chair hurt and it probably hurt bad, but we keep on fighting together. Am I alone in this almost savage exhilaration at such a blatant display of violence? I doubt it. Just look at Mad Dog, he’s right there along with me.
The finish has the bitter taste of those classic heel highway robberies. As Connelly sets up the hangman’s clutch, Analog hits a low blow, catching just enough of the chain into Mad Dog’s nuts as he does. He follows up with a continued attack with both the chain and a steel chair, leaving Connelly knocked out before Analog even wraps the chain around the champion’s neck for the TKO victory. It’s cheap and it stings to such an undignified end to Connelly’s reign, and it’s all the better for it. Analog steals it from us, and oh does it hurt so good.
This match rules. On top of being one of the best cage matches of the decade, really only competing with Dom/BK and VIF/Workhorsemen for a top spot, it’s also one of the best Mad Dog matches in a dynamic we don’t always see from him. It’s not the barbarism of the Demus dog collar match or even the even-handed hoss fights with Manders, but it’s Mad Dog Connelly in a far more traditional character dynamic. The vengeful and righteous champion against a little shit of a challenger. Perfectly constructed to allow us early catharsis when Analog eats shit in that lovely babyface shine only for him to persist like a cockroach and snatch the gold away with indignity and malice. Quite simply, it’s pro wrestling ass pro wrestling: bloody and awesome.
Rating: ****1/4
