Brutal, hardcore and violent. Death-match wrestling leaves the opponents in a mess of beaten flesh and bruised bones and is renowned as the bloodiest sport in the world.
Shocking photos reveal the horrific gore each wrestler faces as men and women beat each other with glass tubes, barbed-wire bats and fan-made weapons.
These fighters travel across America taking part in the extremely violent wrestling events – such as hurling themselves off rooftops into pits of fire and glass – all to the amusement of their many loyal supporters.
Brutal, hardcore and violent. Death-match wrestling leaves the opponents in a mess of beaten flesh and bruised bones and is renowned as the bloodiest sport in the world. Here, fighter Matt Tremont scrapes the forehead of wrestler Masada with a weapon during a ‘Fans Bring the Weapons’ match during the 2015 IWA Mid-South Royal Weekend of Death
Shocking photos reveal the horrific gore each wrestler faces as men and women beat each other with glass tubes, barbed-wire bats and fan-made weapons. Pictured: Sage Sin Supreme working the crowd at the 2015 IWA Mid-South Royal Weekend of Death
These fighters travel across America taking part in the extremely violent wrestling events – such as hurling themselves off rooftops into pits of fire and glass – all to the amusement of their many loyal supporters. Pictured: A wrestler nicknamed, Aero Boy, is wrapped in barbed wire after being thrown through a wooden board
Audience members applaud Josh Crane as he crawls on his hands and knees during his match with Matt Tremont at the 2014 IWA Mid South King and Queen of the Death Match
Pictured: Detail of a broken light tube that was taken out of a wrestler’s side at the 2014 IWA Mid South King and Queen of the Death Match Tournament
Photographer Marc McAndrew took the graphic images after he spent two years documenting and following the fighters lives.
One of the sport’s biggest stars, ‘The Bulldozer’ Matt Tremont, 30, told Sun Online: ‘When we’re getting busted open, we’re getting busted open the hard way.
‘There’s no special preparation – as crazy as it sounds, it’s just another day at the office for me.’
Matt, who has wrestled in the UK and Asia during his 11 years in the business, says the most extreme trick he ever attempted was a move called the ‘Death Valley Driver’.
For this he jumped from a 20-foot-high steel cage and landed through three sheets of glass all while carrying another wrestler – who weighed at least 300-pounds – on his back.
Captured: Mean Mitch Page smiles at the audience during his match at the 2014 IWA Mid South King and Queen of the Death Match
Jun Kasia smashes light tubes on Masada’s head by kicking them at the 2014 CZW Tournament of Death. Photographer Marc McAndrew took the graphic images after he spent two years documenting and following the fighters lives
Injuries are of course common during the ultra-violent events, most hardcore wrestlers fix themselves with sutures or glue before getting ready to fight again. After his match Danny Havoc has glass and thumbtacks removed from his back by an off-duty nurse
Pictured: One of the sport’s biggest stars, ‘The Bulldozer’ Matt Tremont, 30, slams Josh Crane through flaming glass at the 2014 IWA Mid South King and Queen of the Death Match
Here Jesse F*cking Amato kneels and rests on a metal chair after being thrown out of the ring onto glass covered concrete. He had decided to fight in the match barefoot
While injuries are of course common during the ultra-violent events, most hardcore wrestlers fix themselves with sutures or glue before getting ready to fight again.
Matt wrestles between one and three times a week and he warns that a high pain threshold is a must for any hardcore wrestler.
‘Typically, I think a lot of people might say you have to have a screw or two loose to do what we do,’ Matt added.
But it is not only men that punch their way through barbed wire and glass to the sound of cheering fans – women also wrestle at the events, with some even taking on men in the ring.
Photographer Marc said fans are eager to see the bloodiest of fights.
After the final sheet of glass didn’t break Matt Tremont jumped out of the ring and onto Jesse F*cking Amato. While the attempt is to draw blood and appear painful the wrestlers don’t atually want to severely injure each other. You can see the way Matt lands flat on his forearms and knees in an attemot to lessen the force of the impact bourne by Jesse F*cking Amato
Pictured: The audience cheering at the 2015 IWA Mid-South Royal Weekend of Death. Photographer Marc said fans are eager to see the bloodiest of fights
Pictured: Christina Harvey, Jessica Wright and Stephanie Wright shout and applaud the wrestlers as they watch in the audience at the 2015 CCW Death Match Tournament
Kongo Kong (pictured left) stands backstage at the 2014 IWA Mid South King and Queen of the Death Match and Hudson Envy (pictured right) after her match at the 2014 IWA Mid South King and Queen of the Death Match tournament
Devon Moore and John Wayne Murdoch flip off of scaffolding onto a table in the ring at the 2015 IWA Mid-South Royal Weekend of Death
Witnessing a light-tube fight between Matt and fellow wrestler Nick Gage, the photographer said it was one of the most extreme fights he had seen – where both fighters were bloodied completely and fans went crazy with applause.
He added that he was astonished when he witnessed his first ultra-violent match, but soon came to admire the passion shown by opponents for the sport.
‘The first event I ever went to was called the Tournament of Death in Delaware,’ he said.
‘I was expecting that it may be a little more extreme than WWE wrestling, but all of a sudden, there was barbed wire, people bleeding all over the place, and I was like ‘what the f*** am I looking at?”
But he added that when viewing the wrestlers backstage talking about how to improve the experience for the audience he realised that there was a lot that went into each performance and the sport as a whole.
Audience member Jake Heaton (pictured) flexes holding a beer during the 2014 CZW Tournament of Death. Photographer Marc McAndrews added that when viewing the wrestlers backstage talking about how to improve the experience for the audience he realised that there was a lot that went into each performance and the sport as a whole
Here witness the scene backstage after Lucky Thirteen’s match at the 2014 CZW Tournament of Death as the wrestlers bandage themselves up after their bloody fights
Here Mean Mitch Page poses backstage at the 2014 IWA Mid South King and Queen of the Death Match after impressing audiences with his brute strength