Hi, I'm Chris Hansen, why don't we take a seat over here and review BCW Original Sin 2025?

I watched this so you don't have to

On May 31, 2025, Battleground Championship Wrestling held Original Sin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For the uninitiated, BCW is run by Timothy Embler and definitely NOT - I totes swear you guys - by ROH and RF Video founder Rob Feinstein, a man who is so obsessed with sting operations that he chatted up minors online until he finally got featured in one back in 2004. Feinstein was officially a co-owner of BCW until 2023, and still lurks in wrestling circles. In 2024, he was merrily taking photos with WWE talent which caused some outrage. Oopsie! All the more reason for Mr. Embler to post a statement on Cagematch to distance BCW from Feinstein, see below.

Math enthusiasts already noticed the curious timeline: Feinstein got caught trying to 'house party' with a minor in 2004 and Embler’s comment on Cagematch was written in 2024. Even if Feinstein is actually not involved with BCW anymore, the statement came about 20 years too late. Furthermore, it doesn’t explain why Mr. Embler founded BCW with Feinstein in the first place in 2017, 13 years after he was exposed as a creep.

Cagematch profile and comments

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Fittingly, the line-up that led me here also reads like a honey-trap: Matt Tremont, Masada, SHLAK, Shane Mercer, Nick Gage, and (possibly in an ill-advised attempt to please think of the children) Qanon zealot and meth aficionado Drake Younger. Yet except for the Philadelphia Street Fight between Younger and Colby Corino, their matches are merely labeled 'Singles Match'. On the other hand, Mercer vs. SHLAK usually spells ‘bloodbath’. Gage and Phil Insane, inexplicably the main event, also suggests that blood is on the menu, as does the fact that I struggle to recall when Matt Tremont last had a match without weapons. That's three likely death- or at least hardcore-adjacent matches, meaning I'm going to watch this, so you don't have to. Did I mention that this show is 4 hours long?

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Match 1 – KC Navarro vs. Samuray del Sol

Match 2 – Crowbar vs Matt Tremont

Match 3 – BCW Women's World Championship Match – Sammi Chaos vs Dani Mo

Match 4 – BCW World Championship Match – Ruckus vs. B-Boy

Intermission

Match 5 – Jinder Mahal vs. Masada

Match 6 – Philadelphia Street Fight Championship Match – Colby Corino vs. Bigot Boy

Match 7 – SHLAK vs. Shane Mercer

Match 8 – Phil Insane vs. Nick Gage

Final Thoughts

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Production is pristine. Great audio, great video. Definitely not amateurs if you catch my drift. Might the Cagematch comment above - that Feinstein-owned RF Video is still handling the production in 2024 - be onto something?

Within one minute, Glitter Jacket Guy name drops ECW and begins a 10 bell salute for Sabu. Otherwise, not much time is wasted.

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Match 1 – KC Navarro vs. Samuray del Sol

I'm pretty sure this is not a deathmatch, so I'm... I was about to say 'skimming', then Kevin Gill made its presence known on commentary, so I'll skip anything that doesn’t involve deathmatch names. Why wasn't I warned about this? Samuray del Sol won.

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Match 2 – Crowbar vs Matt Tremont

Crowbar wears a black singlet to dark-blue jeans, and he brought his metal pipe. While Gill blabbers away about irrelevant things, my hopes to see a hardcore-adjacent match slightly rise. Tremont wears a black shirt, tattered black pants, white bandana. The footwear situation is and remains unclear since Crowbar immediately attacks when Tremont enters the ring. I guess I'll give the victory to Crowbar for having a singlet, but overall, the fashion on display here is far from great.

Gill is still obsessed with Crowbar's wife and her whereabouts when the match kicks off. I still don't see any weapons and that's concerning. Gill now muses about his deep friendship with Tremont. Crowbar gets thrown out of the ring, but he returns seconds later. Yeah, this really appears to be a plain singles match. Tremont seems to be just as confused as I am. He keeps hanging in the ropes, waiting for a sharp object to touch his forehead, yet no such thing happens.

“Come on, find a light tube. There just has to be a light tube somewhere!”

The relative action – this is slow, and it's mainly Crowbar who dictates the pace – moves to the outside again. Now a table gets involved. There's a chairshot! Crowbar builds a contraption from a guardrail and a chair. The sight of a weapon wakes Tremont up, but he's the one who gets placed on the contraption. Then he just gets up and wanders away. Crowbar aborts the dive and leaves the ring, and now Tremont offers some offense. Not for long. Crowbar wanders away and it takes a while before they meet up near the guardrail contraption – which Crowbar unceremoniously takes apart.

According to the braindead menace on commentary, Crowbar RISKS HIS LIFE when he hits Tremont, seated on the chair, with an elbow drop. I clearly underestimated just how lethal the situation is. Back in the ring, Crowbar splashes Tremont, then gets a two count. Tremont catches Crowbar with a Samoan Drop and also gets a two count. Crowbar gets superplexed. The ref counts both on. They get back to their knees at four for an exchange of punches. Tremont ends it by catching Crowbar's fist, then sets up a chair and sits down. He asks for a microphone and receives. Ok then. A mid-match challenge to sit down for a slugfest. Crowbar replies that he is not a garbage wrestler and will therefore not sit on a chair. Is this a parody show? Tremont repeats his demand. Crowbar seems confused, then picks up a chair, hits Tremont with it, puts the chair on him, hits a leg drop, and Tremont kicks out.

Now Crowbar brings the guardrail to the ring, hits Tremont with a different chair, then uses it to rebuild his construction. This has to be a joke match. Crowbar is the one who introduced every single weapon, started the slugfest on knees, then made a big deal out of not wanting to do the same seated on chairs. There is no way this is meant to be a serious match or even feud. Anyway. Tremont DVDs Crowbar onto the guardrail, twice.

In Tremont’s mind, Crowbar holds a glass shard.

They leave the ring, shove each other around, Crowbar gets shoved against guardrails, the apron, a table. Tremont finally produces another chair from under the ring. I'm at 37 minutes. This is dragging. Tremont sets the table up in a corner and puts Crowbar onto it, then wanders away and plays to the crowd. By the time he turns his attention back to the table, Crowbar has slid off and needs to be repositioned. After doing so, Tremont misses a cannonball and goes through the table alone. Crowbar has his pipe now, attacks with it, Russian Leg Sweeps Tremont, gets a two count. Another table. Will this match ever end? Crowbar puts Tremont on a table. Well, he leans him over it, then leg drops him through it. And Tremont, a man without mercy, kicks out three times in a row.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have blood! Crowbar poked his pipe against Tremont's forehead. Now Tremont is alive, then he's not after a chairshot. Crowbar proceeds to choke him with the pipe until the ref stops the match and declares Crowbar the winner, much to the dismay of the crowd.

Well, that was dumb and way, way too long. It could have been dumb fun if it had been a third of the length (almost 19 minutes), but alas. Other observations: Crowbar is over 50 and looks like a spring chicken straight from a lucha dojo next to Tremont, his junior by almost 15 years.

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Glitter Jacket advertises VIP front row tickets and free YouTube content while a crew of three broom wielders cleans the ring. The next match will be for the BCW Women's World Championship. Pretty sure it's not going to be a deathmatch.

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Match 3 – BCW Women's World Championship Match – Sammi Chaos vs Dani Mo (c)

Yeah, this is definitely not a deathmatch, and since I need to reduce my Kevin Gill exposure, I'll skip again. Dani Mo retained.

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Match 4 – BCW World Championship Match – Ruckus vs. B-Boy (c)

Wow, someone really tries to bank in on the relentless nostalgia of old school CZW fans. Larry Legend in the tackiest suit of the century does the introductions, Ruckus smokes, the rest of BLKOUT and B-Boy stand around. Not a deathmatch, so I'll skip once again. B-Boy retained and beat up everyone else.

Crowbar shows up again while B-Boy celebrates and gestures a challenge which B-Boy accepts just as wordlessly. I wish Kevin Gill would adopt their communication style because he still sputters the most braindead drivel I've heard since ToD 18.

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Intermission

Timothy Embler, the man who knowingly started a business venture with a pedo, put Kevin Gill on commentary, and a Qanon conspiracy nutjob on the card, now enters the ring to advertise tickets and announce names for the next show. Moral bankruptcy at its finest. Skipping.

Timothy Embler, the man who knowingly started a business venture with a pedo

Glitter Jacket announces the XXX Sex with your next Ex Express? What? This is not listed on Cagematch. Apparently this has something to do with Joel Gertner and requires a gigolo with a pink lucha mask. Skip, skip, skip. This segment and the following intermission take up half an hour.

When the feed returns, Glitter Jacket is in the ring with Matt Tremont for a Hall of Fame induction. Tremont takes over for the speech, talks about a CZW staple gun match between Nick Gage and Justice Pain, then gets cut off by 'Nick F'N Gage' chants. Skipping ahead. There's Nick Gage, apparently getting inducted. Ok then. From what I can tell, Gage had a total of two matches in BCW, and that includes the one later on this show. Why is he getting inducted in the Hall of Fame of a promotion that was barely a footnote in his career? Oh well. I guess the answer to that is 'because BCW desperately wants to be ECW and CZW at once'. Gill calls it 'a legacy so recent that we'll see him in action later tonight', but omits the part about this being Gage's second BCW match ever.

“Umm, yes, I have many fond memories of my only BCW match to date. And I’m sure the second one will be just as memorable!” (Spoiler: It’s not.)

30 minutes later: Glitter Jacket points out that the previous inductee was Sabu in 2009 on a long line of ECW names because even after the ceremony, the name drop quota hadn't been met yet. Also, have you ever seen a guy in glitter jacket and glitter dress shoes pretend to be 'MDK all day'? If no: It's exactly as unconvincing as you imagine. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy had never heard of Gage before this show.

The next match is about to take place. Kevin Gill informs me that this is the match that 'cemented Tim Embler as a booking genius'.

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Match 5 – Jinder Mahal vs. Masada

Mahal, who is using his WWE name, wears burgundy trunks and matching proper footwear. If nothing else, he'll beat Masada's outfit. He gets a microphone and rambles and rants about how he is above all this trash wrestling; the usual 'I want everyone to remember I was in WWE' shtick. So after Tremont's drawn-out brawl with Crowbar, this will also be a 'hurr di durr I'm such a REAL wrestler' vs. a 'garbage wrestler' match. I can see the booking genius shining through.

Kevin Gill verbally masturbates to the sound of his voice and the presence of a former WWE wrestler who, by the way, is not a very engaging speaker, yet can't keep his hands off the mic.

Unsurprisingly (at this point), this is also not a deathmatch. The reason I'll keep watching it is: I'm curious if Masada can really make it through an entire match without using his skewers. So far, the match consists of lock-ups, Mahal sitting in corners, arm drags, and takedowns. Now some chops appear, and a knee strike.

Masada and Mahal weaponize boredom.

Aha. Masada throws chairs into the ring. Mahal pushes them back out. Masada goes to the top rope, Mahal uses the ref as a meat shield, then a suplex leads to a first two count over Masada. Kevin Gill has never seen anything like it. Outside brawl. Masada gets shoved against the guardrail, then uses up his annual selling allowance. Back in the ring, it gets as thrilling as a headlock.

Sometimes it's really interesting to put deathmatch guys in regular matches and let them show off their hybrid skills. This doesn't have to be boring, but it is. Mahal accidentally big boots a referee who is dramatically taken away by two of his clones. Masada and Mahal lie on the ground and – here we go, Masada has his skewers. Mahal leaves the ring, argues with referees, then with cemented genius booker Tim Embler.

Masada gets the mic and calls him back to the ring, but Mahal had enough and leaves the arena altogether. Two refs debate with Masada at ringside. The announcer declares him the winner by count out.

Can we look at the logic for a moment? Masada just won by count out. This match was 'set for one fall', no special rules. Why was Masada not disqualified for throwing chairs in full view of the ref earlier? Why not when he pulled out his trademark weapon? Why was Mahal not disqualified for kicking the ref, for that matter? True cement genius booking there, Mr. Embler.

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Match 6 – Philadelphia Street Fight Championship Match – Colby Corino vs. Bigot Boy

I don't watch Drake Younger matches because it's beneath me to give attention to people like him. Colby Corino is better dressed and, wild guess here, a better person, but does not win the match. Tragic, but not unexpected, considering this is booked by somebody who willingly put the title on Younger in the first place.

During my screenshot skim, I caught a frame of Jimmy Lloyd. Apparently he interfered in this match. Just in case anyone gives a shit.

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I'm at 3 hours 11 minutes. 43 minutes/two matches left to go. Under normal circumstances, I'd rest assured that at least SHLAK and Mercer will deliver, but seeing the show so far, maybe they too will argue about 'garbage wrestling' and then spend the next 15 minutes sleeperholding each other. Glitter Jacket really wants you to buy tickets for 10 bucks. The three broom wielders diligently sweep the ring which had no visible dirt or debris to begin with.

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Match 7 – SHLAK vs. Shane Mercer

SHLAK, wearing what SHLAK always wears, enters with two chairs because there are still no weapons in the ring. Shane Mercer doesn't wear his deathmatch gear and thereby wins the fashion duel with better exposure and higher amount of wrestling attire. However, he too brought a weapon in the form of a ladder. We might finally be onto something here.

The match opens with a takedown duel while Gill sputters nonsense and thereby diminishes my enjoyment of the first match that actually holds promise.

Problem solved. I muted Gill. Meanwhile, Mercer and SHLAK left the ring, and are now trading chair shots. SHLAK also has something small; a fork or a scalpel, and stabs Mercer's forehead. The two chairs are set up, then SHLAK – also bleeding – has to dig deep to find a door and finish his construction.

Back on the apron, SHLAK blocks a suplex, then gets superplexed back into the ring for a first two count. Mercer also checks under the ring now, but finds only another chair. But hey, these two are actually trying to have a deathmatch under very difficult, weapon-less conditions. It's the thought that counts! Mercer gets suplexed onto his newfound chair, then a running lariat in the corner. SHLAK arranges the chair on him, then uses the ladder as a javelin. The fight returns to the apron, then SHLAK goes down through his earlier door contraption.

Mercer finds another door, but it is already broken. SHLAK makes an effort to bleed onto the white door while Mercer still keeps finding broken pieces. At some point, they give up and just duel with whatever remains of doors are nearby.

The ‘doors’ did not break during the match. They were stored like this under the ring; already broken.

Back in the ring, Mercer sets up the ladder, then gets a chair shot and several axe handle blows from SHLAK. It ends with Mercer hanging over the chair, SHLAK hitting a leg drop from the ladder, and a two count.

SHLAK resorts to chairs – or what's left of them – by stacking them on Mercer, but gets hit with a chair throw before he reaches the top rope. Another chair shot, then Mercer succeeds with a Moonsault'n'Battery, but SHLAK hulks up.

Mercer slams him onto the sad chair remains, then the camera craps out for a moment, and all I see is Mercer getting a two count. He now sets up chairs and finds the most intact piece of door to cobble a pillow fort together. Determined to make it a bloodbath, he stabs SHLAK a bit with the scalpel or shiv, then climbs the ladder. The pillow fort collapses by itself when SHLAK gets up to suplex Mercer off the ladder, then he gets a three count. SHLAK is positively gushing thanks to the last minute stabbing effort.

The world’s saddest pillow fort, but at the same time the closest thing to a deathmatch structure this show had.

While this was certainly the most entertaining match on this card, I also can't help but liken it to a PvE match. It was less Mercer vs. SHLAK, and more a trio consisting of Mercer, SHLAK, and the sheer determination to make this a deathmatch vs. the dire reality of a weapon drought.

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Announcer Guy demands chants for the ring crew, then returns to shill tickets again. 24 minutes left to go. More Sabu name dropping. More chants for the ring crew.

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Match 8 – Phil Insane vs. Nick Gage

Phil Insane enters in a sudden onset of red light. Once I can see him, he wears some sort of pig-mask and a butcher apron with red handprints over a black shirt and long black pants. That's disappointing. I do give points for the accessories, but that's not the first time I wish someone would follow through with this slaughterhouse theme. I recall musing at length about Otis Cogar in this context, and how close he was to a fantastic Frontier(s)-inspired movie maniac gimmick.

Anyway, since I've already seen Gage earlier, I know to temper my fashion expectations. Yeah, here we go again, a veteran failing on the most basic 'proper footwear' requirement by wearing sneakers. Black t-shirt, black leggings, but desert camo shorts to at least introduce a color lighter than black. This is a fashion no contest. Gage has the color advantage, but fails on footwear. Insane has the accessories and proper boots, but is clad in all black streetwear.

Phil Insane is introduced from 'wherever he damn well pleases'. There goes my theory that he's in the main event because he's the hometown boy. He is also the 'Mad Butcher' and the 'Picasso of violence' at the same time. Thematically, that's just incoherent. Someone with the charisma and attention to detail of Drexl can be 'The Devil Himself' and the 'Homicidal Artist' at once, but here, an executive decision was in order.

Gage immediately rushes Insane and they go out of the ring to trade elbow strikes and chair shots. Gill is shilling all his 'close, personal friends he is associated with' again, but I'm so zoned out, I don't even know who he's talking about anymore.

This is what probably went on while I was pondering to mute Gill.

Fuck it. I'll mute him again. He's not going to tell me why this Phil Insane guy – who doesn't even have a Cagematch profile – is in the main event with Nick Gage on the night of his Hall of Fame induction, on a card with names like Masada and Tremont.

Back to the action. I almost made it through this show. Gage continues the running gag that started with SHLAK and Mercer: He searches for weapons under the ring and finds only half a door. He turns it into two quarter doors on Insane's head, then crawls back under the ring and WHOA! He found a whole door! Understandably excited by the discovery, he sets it up in a corner, only to get immediately speared through it by Insane. Has he learned nothing about the weapon situation from those who wrestled before him?

I watched this muted, but I’m relatively sure Gage and the audience verbally acknowledge the sadness of the weapon situation in this scene.

Gage gets a backbreaker from Insane who wanders around instead of attempting a cover. Predictably, Gage fights back, hits a DDT, and gets a two count. Then he can't resist the mysterious void under the ring again and gathers the broken remains from the previous match – and his tenacity pays off. He finds a Stop sign! It's not even dented yet! Gage starts a pillow fort with four chairs and, since he doesn't have a door piece anymore, the stop sign. He tries to suplex Insane through it, and after a counter duel, gets chokeslammed through the last available weapons in the building.

The sign is now dented. Gage hits Insane with a sort-of-running lariat in a corner, then a briskly-walking-Facewash, then an elbow drop and finally something he probably meant to be a piledriver. Insane didn't see it that way, but fell – quite literally – victim to it anyway, and Gage gets a three count. Then he gets a microphone and that fills the remaining 5 minutes of the run-time.

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Final Thoughts

What a bizarre show, even if I completely ignore Feinstein lurking in the shadows. BCW seems desperate to be seen as the successor of ECW and CZW (which is still around and finally getting back to form in regards to their deathmatch division) – while also being afraid to commit to hardcore. Most of the card feels like someone drew names from two hats, one labeled 'deathmatch big name', the other 'mainstream star power', and randomly put them together. We get the same tired 'I'm Mr. WWE/WCW/TNA and hate garbage wrestling' vs. 'garbage wrestler/deathmatch icon' twice, neither with a satisfying conclusion. Crowbar defeated Tremont with the power of hypocrisy, yet Tremont had apparently nothing to say about that. Jinder Mahal ran away from Masada in a match that apparently had count outs, but no DQ. On the plus side, Masada finally found his dream gig, deathmatch street cred without having to bleed.

The rest of the 'deathmatch big name' hat mostly didn't fare better: Younger had some blood after his streetfight against Colby Corino, a very droppable name in regards to ECW allusions, but since Younger's presence renders matches unwatchable by default, that's all I can say. Mercer and SHLAK delivered the closest thing to a bloodbath, but you can feel their frustration through the screen. Usually, forehead stabbing is akin to a rest hold. Here, it was an act of desperation. Then Nick Gage main evented also with clearly insufficient weapons and an opponent who really doesn't strike me as main event material in any context. Not a drop of blood in a match between a guy with the slogan 'MURDER DEATH KILL' and a 'Mad Butcher/Picasso of Violence'.

I suppose if you don't come looking for blood or run purely on ECW/CZW nostalgia, the opener and the world title matches were probably fine. To me, it was a parade of deathmatch-bait and switch.

Do I have rankings? Not really because only two people enter the bracket. MOTN: SHLAK vs. Shane Mercer on account of being the only deathmatch. Best Dressed and runner-up? Also these two, same reason. The MVP was the 2300 Arena for being the most genuine ECW connection this show had.

If you absolutely must see this bizarro world booking for yourself, please don't give in to the relentless shilling. Don't buy tickets. Don't give money to a promoter who knowingly and willingly went into business with a To Catch A Predator sleazebag, and continues to give figures like Younger a platform. If ECW nostalgia is such a tantalizing temptation that you can’t resist, at least have some dignity when you give in to it. We can whine all day about carnies ruining our precious wrestling, but if we don’t hold them accountable and instead keep throwing money at them, nothing will change.

So if you want to see the reality of this sad ECW nostalgia act for yourself, do what I did and watch BCW in the VKing bingo hall in downtown Portland. Knock twice, pause, knock again, then ask for Ivan. He'll hook you up with whatever the scumbags of the wrestling world put on, for the low price of two cigs and your sister's nudes.

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