La Zona Muerta

Why, friends, is HOMICIDE, one of the most important wrestlers of the early 2000s, retiring tonight on some tiny show no one has heard of?

If my addled brain isn’t playing tricks on me, I believe the first time I saw Homicide was delivering a VICIOUS lariat to his longtime rival, Samoa Joe, a man three times his size, but somehow this little dude was not only hanging in there with him… he was winning! Like Joe, Homicide was one of those names I would SEE a lot on your internet forums like 411 Mania circa 2003 or 4 but I had no idea who he was or what he was all about.

It didn’t take long for me to figure it out. A couple of ROH DVDs and suddenly I loved this man.

The image of him delivering the COP KILLA to Nate Webb in the ROH version of the Cage of Death is emblazoned upon my mind forever. I still have the OG photo from the ROH website of it:

(Sorry Nate Webb; I thought you were a total scrublord back then. I had no idea you were a nice guy with a penchant for cooking. In my defense, you looked like a total dirtbag, here)

I must have seen this match a hundred times; surely Homicide’s peak in ROH even though he would go on to win the heavyweight title that year at Final Battle. Who could forget him asking for “three wishes” from Jim Cornette, or (rightfully) taking offense at Colt Cabana calling him “Konnan’s bitch,” or rampaging into TNA and killing everyone as a part of the new and improved Latin American Exchange (to live and die in LAX)? Who could forget the terrifying version of the Cop Killa he would do with his long time partner Low Ki where Ki would add the Ghetto Stomp to the already risky move? How about his legendary promos in the late, lamented Urban Wrestling Federation where he constantly little brothered one Eddie Kingston? The wars with Steve Corino (a man he legitimately did not like but knew he could draw money with)? Anywhere that was worth being, Homicide was there. There was never a grind Homicide wouldn’t meet. He had to have been a promoter’s dream… such an unique, ubiquitous presence for so long, willing to go anywhere.

I think it’s a shame he’s going out with no fanfare, a bare whimper when the man deserves retrospectives, deep dives, celebrations. Health reasons have apparently forced him to end a near thirty year career… but if you were around in those heady days of the kind of second wave indies… the post 2000s shows that evolved from just endless dudes wearing Doinkoutfits and booking the Metal Maniac over and over… you’ll never forget the excitement when the Kill Bill suite would hit, leading into Bernie Segal’s song ‘The Truth,’ possibly the best, most amped up walk out music for any North American wrestler ever. If this is truly the end, Homicide will be missed.

In a world of carnies and fakes, Homicide was one of a kind.