Most gruesome wrestling bout ever as fighter electrocuted by own son with car battery
Jack Harrop's brutal blood-soaked death match with his dad delighted paying fans at the show in Sheffield, but social media users were disgusted by the spot, which saw the Iceman electrocuted
A blood-soaked wrestler electrocuted his own dad with jump leads as part of a grisly "death match". Hardcore grappler Jack Harrop, 27, can be seen connecting the jump leads to a car battery in the middle of the ring before clipping them to metal chains that acted as ring ropes.
His opponent - his father 'Iceman' Isaac Harrop, considered by many as the founding father of "death matches" in the UK - is chained to the makeshift ring ropes.
In video footage shared online, sparks are seen flying from the chains before Iceman appears to suffer an electric shock in front of a raucous crowd in Sheffield, South Yorks.
After a few seconds, the referee declares Harrop jnr the winner and kicks the jump leads off the battery to disconnect them, sparing his dad further injury.
The violent encounter was part of a weekend-long event jointly hosted by the ICW No Holds Barred and Leeds-based Rise England promotions.
It promised to be the "most violent set of shows" they'd ever hosted in the UK and featured people being slammed through tables and beaten with barbed wire-coated sticks.
But while fans in the Peddler Events Warehouse in Sheffield over the weekend were enthralled by the action, wrestling enthusiasts on social media were quick to slam the violence.
After Jack Harrop shared a video of the electrocution spot online, social media media users said: "This isn't wrestling." One X user slammed it as the "dumbest s*** I've ever seen", while another bluntly replied: "F****** stupid."
A number of users joked "all that for a handshake and a hot dog", a disparaging joke about the pay of wrestlers on such shows.
One X user dubbed the stunt "typical mud show bulls***" to which Harrop replied referencing a WWE spot where former World Champion Kane electrocuted Shane McMahon, son of wrestling supremo Vince.
Another raged: "Congrats. You do pro wrestling for the gutter trash. I’m sure you don’t understand that because they are just like you. Deathmatch (not wrestlers or talent) people are the lowest for of entertainment that is pushed under the umbrella of pro wrestling."
But not everyone was disgusted. One user replied: "You guys always put on such bangers man, thank you. Rest up well, you got to do it all again soon you crazy mofo."
A "death match" is a style of hardcore wrestling in which participants use a wide range of objects and weapons.
The genre peaked in popularity in the 1990s, particularly in ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) in North America, which played up to its reputation of hardcore matches and blood-thirsty fanbase.
High profile stars such as Terry Funk and Mick Foley became renowned for their "death match" shows, particularly in Japan, where the ring was rigged with explosives and had its ropes replaced with barbed wire.
But while those types of matches feature much less on mainstream wrestling events these days, AEW (All Elite Wrestling) have hosted them on a semi-regular basis in recent years.
And Rise are one of a number of UK promoters who specialise in them.
In 2022, an unadvertised "death match" that took place during a show in a Conservative Club in Durham was probed by police after blood-soaked performers attacked each other with a garden strimmer and glass.
Rise and Jack Harrop have been contacted for comment.
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