Mid 20th Century
99-571: Jason Spence (born April 13, 1977) is an American professional wrestler , better known by his ring name , Christian York . He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling , Extreme Championship Wrestling and Impact Wrestling . Championships held by York over the course of his career include the NWA World Tag Team Championship as one-half of The Bad Street Boys with Joey Matthews . Spence trained under Cueball Carmichael and Jimmy Cicero in
198-637: A TNA Gut Check match. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling , the Gut Check judges voted unanimously to sign York to a contract. York returned on the November 22 episode of Impact Wrestling , losing to TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy in a non-title match. After defeating Kid Kash and Kenny King in a tournament to determine the number one contender to the TNA X Division Championship , York unsuccessfully challenged champion Rob Van Dam in
297-804: A stable known as the "Badstreet Boys", with Joey Matthews, as well as Shannon Moore and Shane Helms . The group had a boy band gimmick to capitalize on the bubble gum boy bands of pop culture. Eventually, all four members of the group signed three-year contracts with Ted Turner 's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after try-outs on WCW Monday Nitro in the early summer of 1999. They stayed under contract until April 2000 when budget cuts were in order and management changed hands. York and Matthews went on to wrestle for numerous independent promotions , winning several tag team championships. In April, they went to Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF) for try-outs in Baltimore on Raw and Richmond
396-446: A " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of
495-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
594-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
693-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
792-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
891-598: A contract from former employer WCW, and were written into the shows for the whole month. They then signed a three-year deal with the WWF. Upon signing the deal, they had to report to Memphis, Tennessee to work for WWF's farm league, Memphis Championship Wrestling , until being called up to the main roster. During their stay, they feuded with Eddie Fatu , Matt Anoa'i , Joey Abs , Lance Cade , Spanky , Bryan Danielson , and The Haas Brothers ( Russ and Charlie ). During their stay, Vince McMahon purchased WCW, upon which York and
990-514: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Xtreme Pro Wrestling Xtreme Pro Wrestling ( XPW ) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion owned by Rob Zicari and operated by Extreme Gifts. The promotion
1089-505: A failure and contributing to the promotion's closure in 2003. After the promotion became defunct, Big Vision Entertainment held two XPW reunion shows, Cold Day In Hell in May 2008 and XPW X in August 2009. Perros del Mal Producciones held a third XPW reunion show, Perros del Mal vs. XPW: Xtremo y Sangriento , in August 2011. In 2021, after XPW was featured on Vice 's Dark Side of
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#17327943842411188-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
1287-513: A few events in early 2003. On March 8, 2003, the promotion held an event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , which had 1,500 people in attendance, mainly due to Pittsburgh being Shane Douglas's hometown. This would be XPW's very last event; there was event scheduled for April 2003 but it was cancelled. Tickets for the April 2003 event were reported to be selling very poorly prior to the event, leading to
1386-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for
1485-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
1584-569: A locally televised TV show, simply known as XPW TV . The show original aired on KDOC-TV in Los Angeles, California, but later switched to WBGN-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when the promotion relocated to that city. Following the relocation to Philadelphia, XPW TV would be referred to as XPW Monday Nightmare , with the television series airing on Mondays instead of its original Saturday night timeslot. In November 2002, Kris Kloss
1683-535: A losing effort against the AAW Tag Team Champions, The Motor City Machine Guns ( Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley ). On the December 26, 2007 edition of Maryland Championship Wrestling's Season's Beatings event, York won a number one contendership tag team match with his former tag team partner and then MCW Heavyweight Champion , Joey Matthews after they defeated Tom Brandi and Adam Flash of
1782-799: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
1881-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
1980-624: A number of development wrestlers were released. After only a few days being released, on July 20, York and Matthews returned to the independent circuit at International Wrestling Cartel losing to Evolution, the match also included the Backseat Boyz. On September 2, York and Matthews defeated the Holy Roller to become the Maryland Championship Wrestling's Tag Team Championship and would lose it in May 2002 to
2079-453: A promotion called MEXPW, which billed itself as a successor to XPW, was founded by Damián 666 and former XPW producer Mike Hartsfield. MEXPW later changed its name to MEXPRO Wrestling (MPW), this was a result of legal action from Big Vision Entertainment. During the summer of 2021, Zicari announced on Instagram and Twitter his plans to relaunch XPW. The first event of the revived XPW, Rebirth , streamed on FITE TV pay-per-view from
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#17327943842412178-661: A singles wrestler. Between the month August and September 2002, York took part in 3PW Heavyweight Title Tournament where he would make it to the final before losing to Gary Wolfe. In July 2003, York took part in the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup six man match which also had the MCW Cruiserweight Championship and the MEWF Cruiserweight Championship on the line. York would line the match and would also unify
2277-520: A title match at Genesis on January 13, 2013. The day before Genesis, York took part in X-Travaganza , where he won a seven-man Xscape match which aired on April 5, 2013. That same day, York also took part in Joker's Wild which aired on May 3, 2013, competing in a tournament for a $ 100,000 cash prize; he teamed up with James Storm to defeat Crimson and Gunner in a tag team match to advanced to
2376-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
2475-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
2574-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
2673-613: Is known for its deathmatch style . From 2000 to 2002, XPW held an annual death match tournament called Baptized in Blood, also known as the King of the Deathmatch Tournament. Zicari originally ran the promotion out of Los Angeles from 1999 to 2002. He appeared on shows as the on-camera owner under the ring name Rob Black alongside his then-wife Lizzy Borden . The promotion focused on hardcore wrestling and had connections to
2772-654: The Insane Clown Posse , and Psicosis . At XPW's third-anniversary event, Night of Champions in July 2002, Shane Douglas made his return to XPW as the mystery opponent of Johnny Webb, winning the XPW World title. The event also saw the XPW's third King of the Deathmatch Tournament, matches from which got released on home video as Baptized In Blood III . Douglas would work as both an in-ring performer and booker for
2871-750: The Main Street Armory in Rochester, New York on November 7, 2021. Eight wrestlers competed during the event in a traditional single-elimination tournament for the then-vacated XPW World Heavyweight Championship , which was won by Brian Cage . XPW's Killifornia event took place at the Derby Room in Pomona, California on April 9, 2022. During the event, sixteen wrestlers competed in Baptized in Blood, XPW's signature deathmatch tournament, for
2970-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
3069-776: The United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including a distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by
Christian York - Misplaced Pages Continue
3168-660: The XPW King of the Deathmatch Championship . The tournament was won by Shlak. Beautiful Disaster took place on June 25 and featured an eight-woman tournament to determine the first holder of the XPW Women's Championship. In the tournament final, Taya Valkyrie defeated Kamille Brickhouse , Ludark Shaitan, and Sage Sin Supreme in a ladder match to win the title. From April 2000 until March 2003, XPW ran
3267-677: The " Donald Trump of the pro wrestling business", and his trademark announcing consisted of referring to Kloss as "chico", using "chico" in nearly all of his sentences, and occasional wandering into Spanish announcing. In this period, the promotion's main stars were homegrown wrestlers, but many former stars of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) passed through XPW following the fall of that promotion. In July 2000, ECW made its West Coast debut, holding its annual summer pay-per-view Heat Wave in Los Angeles, California. Rob Black purchased six front row tickets and sent The Messiah , Kid Kaos, Supreme, Kristi Myst , Homeless Jimmy, and Kris Kloss to attend
3366-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
3465-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
3564-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
3663-411: The 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from
3762-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
3861-865: The Creative Control stable. York later defeated Matthews to win his first MCW Heavyweight Championship. On November 5, 2010, York defeated Robert Roma to become the new SCWA Mindshock Television champion. On February 22, 2013, York won the MCW Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He lost the title to Drolix on May 3, 2014. On January 4, 2015, York appeared on the premiere episode of First State Championship Wrestling. He faced fellow ECW alumnus Justin Credible in an Extreme Rules match, which he won. On November 1, 2012, York appeared on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 's (TNA) Impact Wrestling program, losing to Zema Ion in
3960-574: The DCW Tag-Team Championships. Delaware Championship Wrestling would change its name to Dynamite Championship Wrestling in 2004. The team would split up when Matthews went to WWE in 2005. On July 22, 2006, however, York returned to the business to wrestle for Maryland Championship Wrestling . On December 18, 2006, York faced "Bone Crusher" Fred Sampson in a tryout dark match for WWE . York also wrestled The Miz on SmackDown and Chuck Palumbo and Carlito on WWE Heat . He
4059-687: The ECW Arena, preventing other independent promotions from holding events at the venue. As XPW continued to run on the East Coast, the risqué storylines were quickly phased out, and a majority of XPW's West Coast employees were not a part of the East Coast-based "All-New XPW." The relocation to the East Coast also resulted in more former ECW stars passing through XPW, whether it be on a regular basis or one-night appearances. XPW would eventually return to their former home of Los Angeles for
Christian York - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-595: The Enterprise emerged and would eventually feud with the Black Army the following year. Originally consisting of former Black Army henchmen Steve Rizzono , motivational speaker TJ Rush, porn star Veronica Caine, and G. Q. Money , the stable became fully formed at the Damage Inc. event when Kid Kaos won the newly created XPW Television Championship and turned his back on his uncle Supreme, aligning himself with
4257-561: The Enterprise. After this surprise heel turn, Kid Kaos dropped the "Kid" from his name and nicknamed himself "The Rock Superstar" Kaos. For a year, from April 2001 to April 2002, XPW ran events at Los Angeles' Grand Olympic Auditorium . Notable events during this period, included Genocide , which featured a double-ringed WarGames-style cage match and Free Fall , which included the infamous 40-foot scaffold match between Vic Grimes and New Jack . Many marquee names debuted in XPW during these events, such as The Sandman , Vampiro , Konnan ,
4356-623: The IPWA Training School and had his in ring debut at the age of 19 on December 7, 1996, in Middleport, Ohio in a 30-minute Hardcore Ironman match against Joey Matthews . Adopting the name "Christian York", Spence wrestled for the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA), Southern Championship Wrestling , Steel City Wrestling , and numerous other independent promotions across the country. In OMEGA, York formed
4455-561: The Los Angeles porn industry, as Zicari was the real life owner of the Extreme Associates pornographic film production company. In 2002, Shane Douglas , who previously wrestled for the promotion, returned to XPW as its booker and moved the "All-New XPW" to his home state of Pennsylvania . Credited to the promotional efforts of Douglas and Cody Michaels , XPW's East Coast move was initially successful in cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh before, ultimately, being deemed
4554-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
4653-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
4752-667: The Ring series, Zicari relaunched the promotion, basing it out of Rochester, New York . Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) was founded in summer 1999 on the West Coast, based primarily in Los Angeles, California . The promotion based its style on hardcore wrestling , featuring many dangerous matches. In addition, XPW kept a major focus on the soap opera aspect of wrestling, as the storylines involved porn stars , alternative lifestyles, profanity, and sadistic violence. The first XPW event
4851-612: The Slackers. Throughout 2002 and 2003, York and Matthews appeared for Ring of Honor and Xtreme Pro Wrestling and even took on Youthanazia for the XPW World Tag Team Championship. In June 2002, they were signed to contracts by the newly formed Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion, after appearing on their inaugural pay-per-view against The Dupps . They were released later that year. Away from tag team wrestling, York also had some notable exposure as
4950-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
5049-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
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#17327943842415148-502: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
5247-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as
5346-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
5445-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
5544-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
5643-512: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
5742-468: The competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in
5841-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
5940-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
6039-535: The entire event and its 45-minute pre-show. A second reunion show, called Ten Year Anniversary Spectacular , was held on August 22, 2009. A third and final XPW reunion show, called Perros del Mal vs. XPW: Xtremo y Sangriento was held on August 20, 2011. The show was a co-promoted event with the Perros del Mal promotion in Tultitlan, Mexico . In the aftermath of Perros del Mal vs. XPW: Xtremo y Sangriento ,
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#17327943842416138-498: The event being cancelled, though XPW announced they were canceling the event due to a large storm. In April 2003, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden were indicted on obscenity charges due to pornographic material produced by XPW's parent company, Extreme Associates. Federal agents in Pittsburgh had purchased the offending material, which depicted scenes of rape, urination, and murder. The trial took a financial toll on Black and Borden, and
6237-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
6336-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
6435-501: The following night for SmackDown! . The office was impressed with their ability but asked if they could send them to Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for more seasoning. Following that date, they were signed to contracts by ECW and aligned themselves with Tommy Dreamer , Joey Styles , and Joel Gertner . York would wrestle on the last match on ECW Hardcore TV in a losing effort to Jerry Lynn. After ECW declared bankruptcy in April 2001, York and Matthews were offered
6534-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
6633-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
6732-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
6831-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in a professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
6930-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
7029-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
7128-489: The main event Gauntlet Battle Royal, but was eliminated by Rob Terry . York returned on March 10 at Lockdown , unsuccessfully challenging Kenny King for the X Division Championship in a three-way match, which also included Zema Ion. York's last appearance for the company was on the May 16 episode of Impact Wrestling , losing to Jay Bradley in the first qualifying round for the Bound for Glory Series Tournament. On July 3, York
7227-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
7326-512: The premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain
7425-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
7524-532: The promotion; under Douglas' influence, the promotion would move its operations from the West Coast to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , basing itself at the former ECW Arena . XPW debuted at the former ECW Arena on August 31, 2002, at the Hostile Takeover event, and Shane Douglas became the promotion's focal point for the rest of the year. Controversy arose when XPW signed an exclusive lease with
7623-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether
7722-615: The show. Prior to the main event, the XPW crew began disrupting the show, which led to a legitimate out-of-character brawl between the XPW contingent and members of the ECW roster, which spilt out into the parking lot of the venue. Shortly after the ECW incident, XPW had their first-anniversary event, Go Funk Yourself , at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on July 22, 2000. The main event saw XPW World Heavyweight Champion Sabu defeat Terry Funk . The event
7821-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
7920-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
8019-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
8118-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
8217-534: The two could no longer financially subsidize XPW, with the promotion going out of business. Xtreme Entertainment Group (which would later split into two companies, XEG and Big Vision Entertainment ), the company of which former XPW employee Kevin Kleinrock would later become Executive Vice President of, purchased the rights to use the XPW name under license in 2004, through bankruptcy proceedings. Black later stated "If I never got indicted I would have definitely kept
8316-746: The two titles to become the MEWF Maryland Unified Cruiserweight Championship. In November 2002, York tore ligaments in his left ankle that kept him on the sidelines for three months. He would also have to vacate the MEWF Maryland Unified Cruiserweight Championship. York decided to get out of the wrestling business for a while to take care of life outside of wrestling after marrying his high-school sweetheart. In February 2003, York made his debut in Delaware Championship Wrestling out of Delaware. York would team with Joey Matthews winning
8415-405: The venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in
8514-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
8613-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
8712-420: The wrestling thing going." In the summer of 2003, the only pay-per-view (PPV) of the original XPW, The Best of XPW , aired. The PPV featured a compilation of highlights from XPW's past events. In 2006, Big Vision Entertainment founded Wrestling Society X , the de facto successor to XPW. Between 2008 and 2011, three XPW reunion shows were held, two in Los Angeles and a third in Tultitlan, Mexico . The first
8811-503: Was Cold Day in Hell , held on May 24, 2008. The event came about when Big Vision Entertainment, the owners of XPW, worked on MTV 's Wrestling Society X which featured many XPW alumni. While working on the project, the company came up with the idea to hold an XPW reunion show. The event was produced by Kevin Kleinrock and Kris Kloss. Big Vision Entertainment released Cold Day in Hell on DVD and Blu-ray in January 2009, which included
8910-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
9009-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
9108-605: Was considered by many as a high point for XPW; though it was four more months until XPW put on another event. During the hiatus, an attempt to bring in Atsushi Onita , a pioneer of Japanese deathmatch wrestling, for an exploding ring match failed. One of the main storylines for most of 2001 concerned the heel stable known as the Black Army. The Black Army was headed by Rob Black, assisted by his wife Lizzy Borden and XPW's top star The Messiah , and feuded with Sabu . Also, throughout most of 2001, another heel stable called
9207-475: Was held on July 31, 1999 at the Reseda Country Club . The initial announce team for XPW consisted of Kris Kloss and Larry Rivera , with Kloss doing the play-by-play and Rivera taking on the role as a heel color commentator. Kloss's trademark was screaming expletives or shrieking a high pitched scream when something shocking occurred in a match. Rivera often sided with owner Rob Black, calling him
9306-650: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
9405-493: Was released from his TNA contract. York defended the championship with either Stevens, The Stro, Shields, or Samson under the Freebird Rule . Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with
9504-400: Was removed from XPW TV ' s announcing booth and replaced with former ECW commentator Joey Styles . Styles, however, left the company in December 2002, only spending about one month in the promotion. In 2009, the first three seasons of XPW TV were released on DVD by Big Vision Entertainment . XPW TV matches have also been extras on several other Big Vision wrestling DVDs, including
9603-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
9702-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
9801-493: Was then asked to report to Louisville, Kentucky 's Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), to form a team with Johnny Jeter . York reported to OVW in September 2007, although still not under contract with WWE. In May 2007, York made a televised appearance with World Wrestling Entertainment , losing to The Miz on the May 19, 2007 episode of SmackDown . On September 29, 2007, in Berwyn, Illinois , York reunited with Joey Mercury , in
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