Trent Acid

**Michael Louis Verdi** (November 12, 1980 – June 18, 2010) was an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring name **Trent Acid**. Verdi worked as a tag team wrestler for most of his career, primarily as part of The Backseat Boyz with Johnny Kashmere, in several independent promotions in America, including Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, and Combat Zone Wrestling, but also worked as a singles wrestler, most notably for Juggalo Championship Wrestling.

## Professional wrestling career

Verdi began wrestling at the age of 14, working his first match in Philadelphia’s Tri-County Wrestling on May 19, 1995.

Acid debuted in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) in 1999 and competed mostly in singles matches. At the first *Cage of Death*, he teamed with White Lotus to face the Kashmerinoes (Johnny Kashmere and Robbie Mireno). Acid wrestled many matches against Kashmere before teaming up with him to form The Backseat Boyz. The Backseat Boyz won the CZW Tag Team Championship.

While part of this team, Acid still wrestled in the singles division and won the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship three times, competing against the likes of Ruckus and Justice Pain for the title. He also became the second Best of the Best winner by defeating Jody Fleisch in the final match at *Best of the Best 2*. In September 2003, Acid won the vacant CZW Iron Man Championship by defeating Nick Gage and Jimmy Rave in a three way match.

Around this time, Acid along with Johnny Kashmere joined the Hi-V stable and feuded with Zandig and his ultraviolent team. This feud came to an end at *Cage of Death V* in the Cage of Death match. However, before competing in the Cage of Death match, Acid first had to defend his Iron Man Championship against Jimmy Rave.

The match went to a time limit draw with each man scoring one fall, but the match was ordered to restart and Rave won the title. Acid went on to the Cage of Death but was eliminated and his team eventually lost. The Hi-V broke up after this and The Backseat Boyz soon left CZW. Acid returned to CZW later in 2004 and feuded with Teddy Hart and Messiah. He left again shortly after.

On June 14, 2008, Acid made his return to CZW when he faced World Champion Nick Gage in a non-title match. At 'An Eye for an Eye' on April 11, 2009, Acid made his full time return to CZW. It was the main event of the evening as Sami Callihan and Jon Moxley took on Brain Damage and Drake Younger.

Acid joined Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2002, when he and Johnny Kashmere defeated Homicide and Steve Corino in an interpromotional match between ROH and CZW at the first *Glory By Honor*. The Backseat Boyz would go on to work for ROH permanently. They continued wrestling together and competed in many scramble matches against the likes of The SAT, The Carnage Crew and Special K.

However, Acid is perhaps best known from ROH for his feud with Homicide. After this feud, The Backseat Boyz won the ROH Tag Team Championship by defeating Special K in the final round of a gauntlet match for the vacant title. This made The Backseat Boyz the first team to win both the CZW and ROH Tag Team Championships. Acid and Kashmere lost the title to Special K at the next show. Later, Kashmere left ROH and Acid would continue as a singles wrestler.

Acid debuted in Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) in 2007 under the gimmick of an arrogant priest.

Acid, the self-proclaimed "Savior of JCW", cut a promo against the Juggalo fanbase, the company, and Insane Clown Posse (real-life owners of JCW) in the first episode of SlamTV!. He continued to badmouth the company in the following weeks while having confrontations with several heroes. On the fourth episode, Acid won a 10 Man Battle Royal to become the number one contender for Corporal Robinson's JCW Heavyweight Championship.

Acid returned to JCW at Bloodymania III, where he teamed with the Alter Boys (Tim, Tom, Terry, and Todd). The group lost to the Juggalo World Order (Corporal Robinson, Scott Hall, Shaggy 2 Dope, Violent J, and Sid Vicious) in the main event. Acid also worked for the new promotion Pro Wrestling Syndicate where he has had matches with Alex Shelley, Human Tornado, Danny Doring, Justin Credible and Sabu. In May 2009, Acid defeated Devon Moore for The PWS Heavyweight Championship.

## Death

On June 18, 2010 at approximately 9:00 AM, Verdi was found by his mother, dead at the age of 29 in his home of an apparent drug overdose. Verdi's long-time tag team partner Johnny Kashmere posted a tribute to Verdi on his Facebook account later that day. At a Ring Of Honor show in Buffalo, New York that night, ROH held a ten-bell salute to honor Verdi.

At CZW Tournament of Death show on June 26 in Townsend, Delaware, CZW honored him with a ten bell salute before the show. On June 28, it was announced that a tribute show, *Acid-Fest: A Tribute to Trent Acid,* would be taking place at The Arena in Philadelphia on July 10. The show featured several of Verdi's friends within professional wrestling along with some of his students from PWU, which raised over $7,000 for the Trent Acid Memorial Fund, helping his family with his funeral costs. During the event Verdi was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame.

Verdi was featured in the documentary *Card Subject to Change*, which documented the independent wrestling scene, primarily on the East Coast. Verdi talked candidly about his addiction and waking up three days after an overdose. He died before filming was completed, and the film was dedicated to his memory.