There was a cringeworthy spot in a wrestling match in the Philippines earlier this week. A wrestler named James “Idol” Martinez decided to pour gasoline and then lit himself on fire before doing a dive off the top rope onto wrestlers at ringside. The wrestlers did not catch him because they were shocked at what they saw.

The story drew attention after Jim Cornette mentioned it on his podcast. From my understanding, there are a lot of wrestlers in that country trying to make a name for themselves because wrestling is not as big there like it is in other countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and Japan. Unfortunately, this leads to poorly trained wrestlers doing things like this.

Reddit user TranquiloBro says Martinez has caused problems for the promotion in the past and he got them banned from the same venue a couple of years ago because he jumped from the second floor. As you can see below, the referee was shocked at what he was seeing because the fire was not planned.

Here is the clip:

The wrestler that set himself on fire has been suspended. pic.twitter.com/PchVChdOBu — Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) May 26, 2018

In a statement on Facebook, the promotion announced that Martinez would be suspended.

Here is the statement from the Philippine Wrestling Revolution promotion:

“Philippine Wrestling Revolution (“PWR”) would like to officially announce the suspension of James “Idol” Martinez from active competition due to events that transpired during his match at Wrevolution X 2018 last 20 May 2018, which resulted in injuries to Mr. Martinez.

PWR is committed to providing the safest possible environment for its performers, personnel, and audience members. Any factor that could endanger them will be treated with the utmost seriousness and importance.

PWR wishes Mr. Martinez a speedy recovery.”











