From Deathmatch to Silver Screen: Kumite Combat Wrestling’s Fight of the Living Dead Comes to the Savoy

When TRENDИG attended Fight of the Living Dead last year, it immediately felt like one of those underground moments you instinctively know will live far beyond the night itself. It was loud, claustrophobic and unrelenting. Glass shattered, bodies hit unforgiving surfaces and the crowd stayed locked in from the opening bell to the final, blood-soaked seconds. This was not stylised spectacle or theatrical imitation. It was proper deathmatch wrestling at its absolute best.

What none of us expected was that this brutal Derby show would soon be reborn in a completely new setting, projected larger than life onto the silver screen at the iconic Savoy Cinema. The idea that such a visceral, chaotic live experience would be preserved and screened in a cinema felt both unexpected and completely on brand for Kumite Combat Wrestling.

Fight of the Living Dead is not just another wrestling event. It is a full-blooded collision of horror aesthetics, DIY punk ethics and genuinely extreme wrestling. The card features a stacked line-up of deathmatch and underground standouts including Antonio Gonzalez, Alton Thorne, Big FN Joe, Lou Nixon, Mickie Knuckles, Blue She, Tim Strange, Jason Joshua, DMS Tommbie and Jack Bennet.

This is wrestling where glass, chairs, razors and bloodshed are not props or gimmicks but central to the storytelling. There is no illusion here. No cinematic trickery. Just raw, physical violence delivered by performers who fully understand the risks and embrace the chaos.

To understand how a deathmatch show ends up in a cinema, you have to understand the mind behind Kumite. Speaking to TRENDИG, founder Malachi explained that the idea had been forming long before Fight of the Living Dead ever took place. “I’m a massive fan of independent horror and things like that. I was a regular at my local cinema when I was a kid,” he told us. That early love of cult cinema never faded, and the Savoy’s distinctive look struck a chord immediately. “I’d been passing the Savoy on a regular basis on the way to Nottingham, and I’d always loved the authentic aesthetic of the place. It reminds me of the old cinemas I would visit when I was a kid.”

The cinema concept was not a sudden pivot but part of a wider obsession with physical media and preservation. “The idea of putting a wrestling show on at a cinema had been on my mind for a while,” Malachi said. Kumite have long embraced formats that most promotions abandoned years ago. “All of our shows are available on DVD and VHS through our good friends at Deathmatch Outlaws. And we have also made our own limited edition DVDs and VHS tapes since we started. The physical media has done really well.”

That nostalgia is more than aesthetic. It is ideological. “People love nostalgia. Streaming services are great, but you can’t beat holding the ‘real thing’ on disc or tape,” he said. He even referenced Deathmatch Outlaws releasing a show on a Game Boy Advance cartridge as a perfect example of that mindset. “So the idea of ‘dead’ media is a big thing for me. It fits in with our whole DIY punk ethos.”

For a promotion already steeped in horror imagery, the leap to cinema felt inevitable. Deathmatch wrestling has long been compared to horror films, but Malachi is clear that this is something entirely different. “This is a chance to witness real life horror movie at ringside,” he explained. “And there is nothing fake about the blood on show at the Kumite.” A cinema screening allows fans to absorb every grimace, every impact and every crimson-stained moment in detail, while offering newcomers a controlled but still confrontational introduction to the genre.

Importantly, this is new territory. “As far as I’m aware nobody else has shown a full deathmatch wrestling event in a cinema before,” Malachi said. The Savoy’s status as an independent cinema made the collaboration possible. “They were very welcoming and liked the idea of trying something a bit different.” If the experiment lands, it could become a recurring part of Kumite’s future. “If the first event goes well then we will definitely do it again.”

Looking back, Fight of the Living Dead holds a special place in Kumite’s story. “Fight of the Living Dead is our favourite show that we have produced,” Malachi said. “I think the event has a bit of everything for wrestling fans.” Seeing it preserved, amplified and re-presented in such an unexpected space feels like a celebration of everything the promotion stands for.

The cinema screening is not the end of the road. Kumite Combat Wrestling return to The Hairy Dog for three shows starting in June, with tickets scheduled to go on sale in the spring. There is also clear interest in taking future events to the big screen, potentially making cinema screenings a permanent extension of the Kumite universe.

For TRENDИG, this moment perfectly captures the spirit of the UK underground. Wrestling colliding with horror. Punk ethics meeting independent cinema. Live violence being preserved rather than forgotten. Fight of the Living Dead at the Savoy is not just a screening. It is proof that the most extreme, uncompromising wrestling experiences deserve to live on, projected loud, bloody and unapologetic on the silver screen.

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