My 15 year friendship w/ "Sick" Nick Mondo, now director and Steemit author @mtbmondo - Part 1
Shortly after joining Steemit, I promised to bring a selection of my most creative, prolific friends to the platform. In previous posts, I’ve introduced the community to @vintagevandalizm @vermillionfox @ghostfish @velveteendream @moony and @customnature. All interesting, talented powerhouses in their respective arts. This guy, though, I’ll have to dedicate an entire post to.
*Quick disclaimer, if you’re at all squeamish about blood or theatrical violence, you may want to skip this post. Also, some of the videos include offensive language.
My brother @customnature and I were in to a niche genre of professional wrestling that became popular in Japan. It’s known as “death match” wrestling. Everything about it is similar to what you see in WWE or TNA. It’s predetermined, choreographed, and entirely scripted. The distinguishing characteristic is, however, it's extremely violent, often involved painful props or “gimmicks” such as thumbtacks, barbed-wire, fire, glass, staple guns…for starters.
In the mid 90’s an independent wrestling promotion called ECW, out of South Philadelphia, began getting attention for their violent events. They were the anti-WWE, and proud of it. In April of 2001, ECW closed it’s doors as Paul Heyman did not have the financial means to go forward with their scheduled pay per view event, Living Dangerously. ECW gained a cult following as a result of it’s legendary hardcore style, which to this day, I’m still in disbelief, ended being bought by the WWE. In fact, ECW was directly responsible for the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, “Attitude” era of the WWE, which was really just an attempt to brand what ECW had created in a small bingo hall in South Philadelphia.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
ECW’s collapse left a vacuum and fans of the hardcore, violent wrestling didn’t have a home. That is, until a new promotion in New Jersey began, touting themselves as “ultraviolent”. I stumbled across photos from early events, and even as a battle hardened ECW mark […insider wrestling terminology for “fanboy”], I was shocked to see there was another level to what ECW had done! These guys were smashing florescent lightbulbs over one another! Dollar bills stapled to faces and tongues, and even a sadistic contraption called “Cage Of Death”. These events were being held in Sewell, NJ. 2 1/2 hours from where I lived in Pennsylvania. I had to go.
The opening match for my first CZW event was a “tables” contest. For those not familiar, you have to put your opponent through a buffet style foldable table. These are common in WWE, and even ECW. Always entertaining. Well, in the first ten minutes I witnessed Nick Gage powerbomb Nick Berk a legitimate 10 feet from atop a concession stand, barely catching the table on the way to the floor. Before my mind could process what I just saw, another wrestler, The Wifebeater came up behind Gage and lifted him high in the air by the throat, both falling through another table on the ground below. A thousand rabid fans chanted “CZ-DUB! CZ-DUB! CZ-DUB!”. And so began a long, obsessive loyalty to this insane phenomenon of pro wrestling.
The entire locker room was a spectacle of rare talents. There were some performers that were complete slobs, but had an inhuman ability to absorb punishment and pain. Others were skilled aerial wrestlers with incredible acrobatic prowess. One that seemed to possess both was “Slick” Nick Mondo. This wanna be Karate Kid looking guy, easy to make fun of until you saw what he could do in the ring.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
By the next CZW event I attended months later, “Slick” Nick Mondo had changed his persona to “Sick” Nick Mondo, with dark hallowed make-up around the eyes and “SICK” across his forehead. He wrestled a luchador named Super Crazy, one of my favorite ECW alumni, and CZW original, Ric Blade in a ladder match.
As is usually the case when I become consumed by something, my gears began turning with what contribution I could make with my newfound inspiration […you’ll note I’m doing the same with Steemit, now in my mid 30’s, i.e. the comic book in previous blog posts]. I wanted to do a DIY zine. Something I did in the late 90’s in the punk scene. I was reaching out to some of the CZW wrestlers and remember getting “Sick” Nick Mondo’s email from a mutual friend. I introduced myself as an artist and web designer, asking if he’d be willing to give me an interview for this zine project. In typical Matthew Burns fashion he gave me a weird repsonse of “Oh! That’s great. I’m actually looking to launch my new website. What are your rates?”. No acknowledgment of the interview at all, lol.
I did take over his website venturing in to an ambitious few years managing nickmondo.com. Throughout the years, “Sick” Nick Mondo became the most popular persona in CZW. With that popularity came opportunities for Matt and I to pursue merchandise projects to help offset the surprisingly low pay for heinous amount of injuries that come with being a death match wrestler. Matt asked me if I’d help him do a t-shirt, and with that came my first t-shirt design. Eventually, I was on the forefront of DVD authoring, and it wasn’t long before we were discussing “The Best of Nick Mondo Vol.1”.
Mondo stayed with me for a long weekend to work on that DVD, and this is where the friendship began. @customnature is my brother […like, sibling] and he and I used to have a martial arts instructor named Gary Barnes, that we called Bonnets. On the drive back from Jersey, one of us referred to him as that and Matt asked “Why do you call him Bonnets?” @customnature and I tried to explain that it was an evolution of “Gary Barnes, to Gurybens, to Gurbens to Bons, then finally Bonnets”. Sounds pretty juvenile if you weren’t there [it is], but relevant, because that’s when Matt decided he wanted to be friends with us. What was a work relationship found a bizarre, immature synergy of what the three of us found funny.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
I’d love to tell you that all of us, in our 30’s have grown up, but that’d be horrible, horrible lie. In part two of this lengthly blog, I’ll be sharing the food combination game, “make that face”, peeing off the Grand Canyon as well as the duration of “Sick” Nick Mondo’s death match wrestling career […nearly witnessing my friend dying just 10 feet in front of my face], how he was instrumental in my move to Minneapolis, his upcoming film release "The Trade" and how I bought him to Steemit.
Part two of this story is coming tomorrow, so follow and look for it. I do post here often […value of currency not withstanding]. Take a moment to follow Matthew Burns AKA "Sick" Nick Mondo here on Steemit, @mtbmondo. Add me to your feed as well! @kommienezuspadt!