Violence is Forever vs. The Workhorsemen: The Cage is Not the End
Violence is Forever vs. The Workhorsemen: The Cage is Not the End
All this match needed to do was whip ass.
As for as delivering on that front, there’s really no better combination of workers on the indies to achieve that than this. Over the last four years, Violence is Forever have solidified themselves as two of the best workers on the independent scene in both singles and tags. Bloody gimmick matches like this are not new to them. One of their first truly blowaway bouts was a no holds barred match against Cabana Man Dan & Marko Stunt in SUP, and just last year Dominic Garrini had another truly excellent cage match against fellow indie standout Bryan Keith.
The Workhorsemen are on that same tier of talent as well. The only thing really stopping them from sweeping up annual wrestler of the year or tag team of the year lists would be their contractual commitments to the Khan-verse of promotions. In AEW and ROH, they’re cast primarily as enhancement talent. They’re talented enough that they inevitably are given small chances to shine—a tag against Shibata & Coughlin on HonorClub, or both men doing singles matches against Eddie Kingston on Dark—but they’re definitely not the stars of the show. Still, when unleashed elsewhere, such as JD Drake’s run in Limitless Wrestling in 2021 or Anthony Henry’s run in the southeast last year, it’s hard to find anyone better.
So of course this match rocks.
It’s chock full of the kind of hard-hitting violence that’s expected of these four. There’s a real variety to it too. Some of it’s direct and to the point such as Garrini and Drake having one of the better chop exchanges of the year. They hit hard enough to earn that distinction on its own, but what really seals the deal is Drake hitting a chop straight to an already bleeding Garrini’s face. Just a disgusting thing to do to another human being, god bless professional wrestling.
But there’s also a cleverness to how this action comes together. One thing that stood out on a rewatch would be how the fight ended up spilling out of the cage. It would have been one thing to just fling the door open and head on out. It’s another thing entirely when The Workhorsemen lawn dart Garrini head first into the cage door to break it down. Fucking nasty.
I’m often not a fan of how Violence is Forever works floor segments in their traditional tag matches, but with The Workhorsemen here to buoy things it’s excellent. Henry and Drake quite literally throw themselves at the tag champs with wild abandon. Henry is especially nasty in this segment, catching an attempted dropkick from Ku through the door and turning it into a piledriver on the floor instead.
There’s a nice helping of double team combos and counters down the stretch that work way better in this kind of setting than in a traditional tag too. Without a cage, those moments might come off as contrived or excessive, but in this crazed setting it’s actually really impressive how thoughtful the placement of each man in the ring is and how well they feed into these sequences in an organic way.
All those mechanical aspects are great enough, but I think it’s the booking that helps elevate the affair as a whole. This could have been a straight slugfest filled with a lot of sick spots, but these teams are crafty enough to introduce elements of morality too. Much of the first half of the match is dominated by the challengers. They put a hellacious beating on VIF, punctuated by Drake hitting a black hole slam on Ku in the ring. Instead of taking a three count though, Drake lifts Ku’s shoulders of the mat to continue the beating. Of course the pay off is that by playing with their food, The Workhorsemen leave themselves open to attack. In fact, the real moral defeat here is that despite crushing the champions for so much of the match, The Workhorsemen are a defeated by a quick roll up from Kevin Ku in the end. They let Ku live, and the champion needed only three seconds to make them regret it.
It’s a neat bow to tie over the whole thing, that feeds so well into the post-match attack too. The Workhorsemen pay for their own hubris and take out their rage on the champions in a brutal post-match attack. It’s so much better than the respectful end they teased before that, if only because it promises more. The nerd in my brain too can’t help but love a small thing like Drake slamming the cage door into Dom’s head Terry Gordy-style to kick off the beatdown.
A cage match can so often be played off as the final chapter of a heated rivalry. DPW recognized money in this pairing though, and instead used the match to elevate the intensity of the rivalry. It’s enough to make one wish all middle chapters felt quite so good as this.
Rating: ****1/4