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I really enjoyed the breakdown of the new schedule, the roster ins and outs and the booking philosophy you're carrying into the weekly era, and of course the beautiful @John Lions graphics. Echoing the three excellent comments above not to put any pressure on yourself and go at a pace that keeps things fun for you. I'm sure your audience will be here whether your next show is tomorrow, next month, next year or in a different dynasty altogether: wherever and whenever your creativity takes you. I sympathise with the situation of finding it hard to pick back up after a holiday as I struggle to recover momentum after time away from a save. On the positive side, my experience was that it's much easier to dip back into a save you've written a dynasty on than a standard save just as everything you've done is fully documented, so less ideas slip through the cracks. This was a pleasant surprise to me as I'd never been able to pick a save back up months later before.

Wow, unbelievable breaks at the start of the card with injuries in the first two matches and the opener scoring a 7: at least you know the only way is up from that. I loved the line about all the hardcore participants escaping unscathed. I know I've written it before but I enjoy your match write-ups so much and how without writing an essay, you're able to give each match a distinct flavour. I think teasing the commonplace strike exchange only for Ali to kick Knight in the dick might have been the highlight. Bradley Blaze is a smart pick-up and it felt like the perfect way to debut him halfway through the card to break up the action. Your East Side Assassin feels a lot more authentic than mine, and that was interesting background info about him refusing to put Aaron Knight over, and I guess adds to your challenge in building someone up to be worthy to dethrone him.

It's impressive how quickly you're bringing the Out With The Old card together. I enjoy the gradual dynamic shifts each episode with groups like Frisby's Foundation and the Heartbreaks, with the latter story really developing with the introduction of Holly Leves and Byron rejecting Bret. The Leo Price and Dangermouth interaction was interesting too.

Part 110: To The Extreme #39 (15-Year Anniversary Celebration) The episode opened with a short video montage of several key figures from DIW’s first 15 years: A home for hardcore legends (clips of The Comedian, Big Jim Teasdale, Mayhem Mulhoney and East Side Assassin) Where potential greats get given the ball (clips of Dumfrey Pinn, Tombstone, Scottie Hamstead, The Apocalypse and Blitz Simpson) But only a few are tough enough to keep it (clips of Milton Hittlespitz, Vaughan, Chopper Rourke, Death Ref and Lori) 15 years undefeated, but the best is yet to come (clips of The Wild Things, Rob Edwards, Bryant Hall, Wrecker and Two Badass MFers) That opening felt on brand for DIW, finding a way to acknowledge the impact of people who left on bad terms, but doing it backhandedly. Besides possibly The Bad Truckers and the Ares Death Cult originals, The Pros felt like the biggest omissions, though this was probably done for continuity reasons to reflect their status as a malignant force. The first shot after that package was a close-up of The Comedian on commentary, though before there was a chance to introduce the show, he found himself joined by Death Ref and Lori. They said Ares Death Cult had been humiliated last week in defeat to Pat Rigsby and there was only one way to proceed: husband and wife versus husband and wife at Damage Control, Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori. The Comedian wasn’t convinced it was a spectacle worthy of DIW’s first Sydney show, as appealing as not being harassed by Rigsby sounded. Death Ref reminded him that Ares Death Cult helped him out not so long ago, and this wasn’t much to ask for in return. The Comedian asked Lori about her legal protection from being hit by a man, to which she replied that surely Rigsby didn’t count. He accepted this was one point they agreed on, and decided to grant them their match. Beyond the story advancement, I didn’t need Lori to explain to me why this opened the show: The Comedian, Death Ref and her were DIW’s three lifers, so this was her way to get the trio who had been there since the start together at the start. Rob Edwards v Lorenzo Oliverio Much as it was symbolic to put The Comedian, Death Ref and Lori together, I suspected it was deliberate that the card began with Edwards, the man who had pulled DIW back from the brink since winning the vacant DIW Title on his first night in 2017. Likewise for one of the newest roster additions, Oliverio, to be put in this spot. They got the show off to a fast-paced and intense start, and it was of course Edwards who eventually won with a Roundhouse Kick in what was incredibly his first singles match in three months. Markus Rush was getting ready to interview Wrecker about his loss to Dexter Mattell when Hack The Hunter interrupted. He said he knew Wrecker was probably angry about last week and that was why his mate Hendrix Hughes had challenged him to a match tonight, but he wanted him to know he was only out there to even the numbers, he never meant to cost him the match. Wrecker went against all wrestling conventions by acknowledging that he knew Hack was there for the right reasons, he just got played by Mattell like so many before him, so not to beat himself up over it. However, it was undeniable that they kept getting drawn into one another’s paths, and neither of them had plans for Damage Control, so Wrecker v Hack The Hunter sounded pretty interesting. Hack agreed, and suggested if Wrecker wanted a warm-up match next week like he was having with his mate Hughes tonight, he had a former tag partner who used to wrestle for DIW who The Comedian might allow back as part of the anniversary celebrations. Wrecker never backed down from fights, so inevitably said that sounded good. Hack The Hunter v Hendrix Hughes I’d observed at the start of this diary that one of Lori’s limitations as a booker was her caution when deciding match winners, rarely having a less established wrestler go over someone more popular. This was a rare occasion of her going against her instincts as Hack The Hunter used his strength to force his way out of the Triple H and counter it into his Hack Attack (Epic Side Suplex). The decision to award Hack his biggest win to date played out fairly well, pushing him closer to that upper midcard territory ahead of his clash with Wrecker without majorly altering Hughes’ perception as a star, helped by it quickly becoming clear that this was part of an angle. As Hendrix Hughes recovered after his loss, he was joined in the ring by Lucky Lou Brookmyre. Despite spending the majority of his 14 years in DIW behind the scenes, he was recognised on his return by the Marv’s crowd having participated in a few angles, most recently one that helped elevate Seth Wish in 2022. He asked Hughes what was going on: when him and Seb Shaw first arrived in DIW, there was a real ruthless streak to go with their brash words. He said either Hughes lost that somewhere down the line, or it was all Shaw. He noted that Hughes could be Tag Team Champion right now, but he turned down two opportunities out of respect for Shaw. He could’ve been winning the Australian Title at Damage Control, but he just told the fans he wanted a shot instead of putting a beating on Kobra The Conqueror and making sure he got one. He wished he had Hughes’ mouth during his career as he would’ve made a lot more money, but it wasn’t enough on its own. If Hughes wanted to be a top star in DIW, with or without Shaw, he had to step up and take action, not just sit back and talk about what he planned to do. An unusually quiet Hughes left without responding to Brookmyre’s comments. The Comedian shook Lou Brookmyre’s hand as they passed on his way to the ring, making it clear his anniversary appearance had his blessing. The owner started talking about there not being many people who left DIW that he wanted to see again, but there were a few exceptions, when he was interrupted by The Benchmark. Rusty Mills got immediately and aggressively to the point, expressing his disgust that they were being bumped from the Damage Control card for Pat *expletive* Rigsby. The Comedian reminded them that he gave them a chance to earn a match with Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards at the show and they blew it. He said he’d give them another opportunity at a rematch and he meant it, but there wasn’t space for a contender match at Damage Control now. However, he warned them that if they interfered in Hittlespitz and Edwards’ match with The Barracudas in Sydney, they would never fight for the titles again. Mills said The Comedian needed to heal his head, or maybe they needed to do it for him, shoving the owner into the corner with his arms around his neck. Donovan Boon seemed more reluctant, trying to reason with his partner, but before things escalated they were interrupted by former DIW Champion Mayhem Mulhoney running to the ring, followed soon after by fellow DIW original Menace To Sobriety, throwing a few fists at Boon and Mills before they retreated. The Comedian recomposed himself to say that while The Benchmark didn’t have a match at Damage Control, they could main event the second anniversary episode against Mayhem and Menace. Australian Title: Bile v Kobra The Conqueror (c) We went from no DIW full-timer ever returning to having a fourth comeback within three segments as former Tag Team Champion Bile answered Kobra’s challenge to any former DIW wrestler. The Criminally Insane Kingpin spent five-and-a-half years with the company before leaving quite abruptly in 2022, and got to dominate the first minute with a few nostalgia spots. Whereas Kobra had shown his more calculating side since becoming a Pro, he was at his most violent here, introducing a chair, a baking tray and his snakeskin belt to wear out Bile before finishing the job with a Ripcord Knee, observed by his Damage Control opponent Rick Horn. Before the main event came a slightly unusual video interview setup between DIW Champion Seth Wish and Canada-based former two-time champion East Side Assassin (Sayeed Ali). Lori seemed keen to use their past working relationship (Assassin had used Wish in his Canadian Charisma Championship Combat promotion), to help legitimise Wish as a main eventer with the superstar endorsement. So we heard East Side Assassin congratulate Wish on winning the DIW Title like he told his boys he would and beating Milton Hittlespitz and Kobra The Conqueror since, before talking up the threat of Damage Control challenger Bryant Hall. It was quite funny that DIW couldn’t get the actual contender over from New Zealand to do it himself, so they had someone hyping him up from Canada instead. East Side Assassin closed by congratulating DIW on 15 years, showing love for what a great place Marv’s was and expressing disappointment that he may have missed his last chance to appear there. A strangely sentimental street thug. @AboardTheArk dynasty plug: See more of East Side Assassin's 4C here Milton Hittlespitz v Vaughan We highlighted the historical significance of this main event for the anniversary show on commentary: Vaughan arriving in 2010 and Hittlespitz a year later, both being multi-time DIW Champions who were fighting for the Tag Titles at Damage Control, but hadn’t met one-on-one for years. This was your classic David v Goliath booking, with the big heavyweight Vaughan in control for the majority but the smaller, faster, more aerial Hittlespitz using those weapons to stay in the fight throughout. The finish followed the same formula, with Vaughan trapping Hittlespitz in the Choke Sleeper and Crazy Blue desperately climbing the ropes to try to escape, using the momentum he sprang back with to land on top of the Barracuda and force his wriggling legs down for a three count. Vaughan didn’t let Milton Hittlespitz escape his grip after securing the pinfall, instead reapplying the Choke Sleeper and not letting go until Crazy Blue was unable to fight back. Chopper Rourke joined him in the ring as they hit a Barracuda Sting. Rob Edwards ran down to even the teams but was subdued on the ramp by Lorenzo Oliverio, who he’d beaten earlier in the night, and D.O.A. The Street Stallions had feuded with The Barracudas earlier in the year so it seemed unlikely they were working together, just working through their own anger at Edwards, who eventually got some support from Rick Horn. The Barracudas upped the intensity of their attack on Hittlespitz, tying him in the ropes and pounding away at him with their lead pipes, including Vaughan rubbing it in his face. They eventually released Crazy Blue from the ropes, only to launch him out of the ring with a Double Powerbomb, before warning the Tag Team Champions that they’d finish the job at Long Bay.

Part 109: Anniversary time The next two episodes of To The Extreme saw the company leaving their 1,000-seat DIW House to return to 300-seat original home Marv’s Sports Central for possibly the final time to celebrate their 15-year anniversary. I was intrigued by what a DIW anniversary celebration would look like. I’m fairly sure they hadn’t done anything for 10 years in 2019 and it was easy to understand why: it was difficult to deliver nostalgia when pretty much everyone who had ever left DIW had done so on bad terms. I believe I’m right in saying that, to this day, East Side Assassin was the only DIW wrestler to ever reappear after leaving and that didn’t really count as he’d only arrived for a guest stint and returned for an off-air cameo, and he’d never worked elsewhere in Australia to burn his bridges. It seemed that 15-year streak would end during the anniversary episodes because Kobra The Conqueror had accepted Dexter Mattell’s suggestion to defend the Australian Title against a DIW old-timer, and The Comedian had hinted at there being someone he hoped to see there. When I asked Lori about the anniversary plans, she didn’t give much away but advised modest expectations. They weren’t going to be able to use anyone working for a company they didn’t get on with and The Comedian was unlikely to forgive anyone he felt wronged by. This criteria ruled out most DIW alumni, especially those with more name value, so there was no chance for instance of a warm Dumfrey Pinn tribute or RAW handing Tombstone over for a night. Another challenge for Lori to navigate was that this anniversary overlapped with the final two hours of build for Damage Control 2024, a show that had to be promoted heavily to sell tickets for the company’s Sydney debut. So she needed to find a way to honour DIW’s past while generating as much anticipation as possible for the immediate future. In that sense, it did feel like To The Extreme episode 39 had the perfect main event at least. Milton Hittlespitz v Vaughan combined two of the most significant figures in DIW history and also two men who would be on opposite sides of the Dream Team v Barracudas Tag Title match at Damage Control. It was a surprisingly fresh combination too given the pair had a combined 27 years in DIW on the clock. I asked Lori if she knew when they’d last fought one-on-one, and all she knew for certain was that it hadn’t taken place before during her 34 months as booker.

Part 108: To The Extreme #38 I introduced the show by expressing enthusiasm for getting to see Dexter Mattell fight for the first time since Hardcore Hallelujah in the main event, but it was Hack The Hunter who made the first entrance of the episode. Hack The Hunter v The Kipper Hack was still trying to get back on track after his Hardcore Hallelujah defeat to Bryant Hall but had been beaten to the punch of challenging Dexter Mattell tonight by Wrecker, so took the opportunity to fight an outsider instead. I haven’t had enough time to check, but I imagine this may have been the first time The Comedian had ever allowed an ex-RAW wrestler within DIW’s walls. At 6ft 6in and with a muscular build, The Kipper looked a worthy adversary to Hack, but it quickly became apparent that the 45-year-old’s best days were behind him. Once Hack took charge after an open first few minutes, this became a showcase of his power moves which he completed with his patented Hack Attack for the three count. Markus Rush showed us footage he had captured while that match was in progress of Dexter Mattell in conversation with Kobra The Conqueror. He was warning Kobra that Pros got held to a higher standard. Him, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills had been pinned three times between them since The Pros were formed, whereas Kobra had lost that many times since joining. He assured him this wasn’t a Seth Wish situation. He wasn’t putting him on notice, but right now he was the Pros standard bearer as their only reigning champion, and he needed to live up to the opportunity they’d given him. Kobra expressed regret for his recent defeats to Wish and Rick Horn, but vowed to expose Horn for the amateur he was at Damage Control. Mattell approved but had a proposal for how he could put an amateur in his place before that. DIW’s 15-year anniversary celebration started next week, so why not issue an Australian Title open challenge to any former DIW wrestler to embarrass them on the big party night? Kobra liked the idea. It quickly became clear why The Benchmark weren’t with their fellow Pros, as they appeared in front of the commentary desk to confront The Comedian about not being given a rematch for the Tag Titles. He bluntly responded that he’d given them an opportunity to get one last week and they blew it. He indicated he’d probably add a match to determine the next challengers to the Damage Control card if there was room, so they’d get a chance to redeem themselves if they upped their game. This seemed to be enough to persuade them to back off for the time being. Pat Rigsby v Psych Ward There was no Lori or Death Ref at ringside, which I attributed to both preparing Bryant Hall for his upcoming DIW Title fight and confidence they wouldn’t be needed against Rigsby, who wasn’t trolling at the start of this match. He had his game face on and was instead taunted by Ward miming the Psycho Slam that he hit Bonnie Bogan with. Rigsby lashed out in retaliation but had his aggression turned against him as Ward dominated initially. The veteran later put together what looked suspiciously similar to a babyface comeback, only to have his ankle pulled by Lloyd Banks at ringside and get hit in the head by some wood wrapped in barbed wire Ward had outside the ring. To everyone’s astonishment, Rigsby kicked out at two and rallied again, building up to getting Ward in position for the Stuff Piledriver, only for Banks to jump on the apron. Rigsby not only knocked him off but uncharacteristically dived through the ropes onto the Barbed Wire Messiah. During this commotion, DIW Champion Seth Wish ran to the ring and whacked Ward with his cane, before taking shots at Banks outside. Rigsby rolled back in and hit Ward with his Stuff Piledriver, covering for the one, two and three. It turned out he could finish. Lori let me know it was the 25th match she’d booked Rigsby in, and the first not to end in defeat. Pat Rigsby looked shocked when Tatum Richards approached him to raise his arm, giving her an awkward hug and then taking a similarly unorthodox lap of the ring, before running down the ramp – still not slapping the handful of outstretched arms offering him congratulations – before shouting “Yo Bonnie, I did it” down a camera by the entrance. Seth Wish stepped in the ring and said The Barbarians had cleared off and he knew better than to expect Bryant Hall to show up, but he was spoiling for a fight. It was D.O.A. who stepped out to answer the invitation. Seth Wish v D.O.A. The moves were executed well and both men brought plenty of energy to the contest, but there was a noticeable lack of flow to this match, which shouldn’t be the case when you’ve got the DIW Champion facing someone who had been wrestling for almost 20 years. Given the psychological shortcomings, it was good the action was limited to under eight minutes, with Wish extending his post-Canberra winning streak to six bouts after flooring D.O.A. with Dust In The Wind. Markus Rush introduced a video he’d been sent by The Barracudas. Standing by the entrance of Long Bay Correctional Centre, Vaughan said that this area held no fear for them: it was where their brotherhood was formed, and where they suffered and inflicted beatings that would make DIW viewers blush. It was Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards who should be afraid as Long Bay was where they were at their most violent, their most ruthless and their most desperate. This Dream Team was build on a myth that they ended The Barracudas’ DIW domination when it was Blitz Simpson and Chopper Rourke they’d beaten. They’d never faced Rourke and Vaughan. Only one team in history had defeated the best Barracuda duo. Vaughan said Damage Control was about retribution more than the Tag Titles: it was time for the Dream Team to wake up, face their sentence and serve their time. Rourke added that what happened to Hittlespitz and Edwards in Sydney would be on The Comedian. The Comedian declined to comment on what The Barracudas had said when Markus Rush handed back over, so I teed him up to give us a preview of what to expect from DIW’s 15-year anniversary celebration over the next two weeks. He didn’t exactly give it a hard sell, saying he didn’t like to look back too much and was more invested in DIW’s future. However, Aussie wrestling had survived 15 years longer than it looked like doing thanks to DIW, so he’d been persuaded that was worth celebrating. DIW’s longest serving wrestlers were Milton Hittlespitz and The Barracudas, so next week’s main event would be Crazy Blue v Vaughan, a match we hadn’t seen for years but that both men were hungry for ahead of Damage Control. He responded abrasively when I asked if we might see any familiar faces, doubting any of “the traitors” would be brave enough to show their faces, before conceding there was one man he wouldn’t mind seeing again. Wrecker v Dexter Mattell I knew these two could be relied upon for a solid To The Extreme main event as they’d done it once before in March. Mattell thrived early on, frustrating and tying up Wrecker with a series of fan-angering stretches, but was struggling to find an answer once his opponent built some momentum. Well, that wasn’t strictly true as he always had one answer – his fellow pros – with Kobra The Conqueror dragging Wrecker out of the ring and hitting him with a Ripcord Knee. By the time he’d got him back in the ring, Mattell could only score a two count, and when Wrecker battled back again, Raw Sex again signalled for his partner to intervene. Kobra brought the Australian Title into the ring, only for it to be pulled out of his hands. Hack The Hunter was behind him and cleaned him out with a Big Boot. Mattell goaded Hack to hit him with the title and it quickly became clear why: when he eventually obliged, Raw Sex ducked and Wrecker took the full force of the blow. Kobra came back in with a chair and his series of shots was enough to send Hack through the ropes as Mattell covered Wrecker for a fortuitous victory. A recovering Hack The Hunter pursued Kobra The Conqueror down the entranceway, leaving Dexter Mattell all on his own in the ring as Con McReady came through the crowd with a cane and unloaded on his former stablemate. He got at least eight shots in before The Benchmark came running down and he slid out and made his exit. The Comedian commented that The Wild Things had returned tonight with cane shots for everyone, but I warned that they were playing with fire, and McReady had already found out once recently how that ended.

Part 107: A beatdown bonanza Summarising those angles setting up Damage Control matches in the last post, it stood out that there had been a lot of beatdowns lately, with Con McReady, Seth Wish, Bonnie Bogan, Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards all being heavily attacked outside of a match environment on the last two episodes alone. Yes, this was a hardcore promotion with a fanbase who had a greater appetite for such angles, and attempts were at least made to diversify them stylistically. However, I thought it was important to avoid it becoming too common, as this would both undermine the severity of the beatings wrestlers endured in actual matches, and also create an expectation of endless anarchy that would be difficult to maintain with over 50 shows a year. I’ve already seen To The Extreme episode 38, so can confirm it was slightly less chaotic, but I’ll break it down fully in the next part once I’ve watched the final version uploaded to DIWO. The main event was Dexter Mattell’s first match since losing the DIW Title at Hardcore Hallelujah. He was facing Wrecker, who often seemed to be positioned as the conscience of DIW, the bloke who stepped up if someone seemed outnumbered or went too far, as Mattell had with McReady. Hack The Hunter, who wanted the opportunity to fight Mattell himself, was instead going to take on the latest outsider to try to earn a spot on the DIW roster, while Pat Rigsby would challenge Psych Ward a week on from The Barbarians’ attack on his wife Bogan. This Bogan story created quite a strange dynamic in that, in terms of positioning, Rigsby v Ward was one of the least remarkable matches you could create from the DIW roster – both tended to be on the losing side of their singles matches – and yet it was being hyped almost as much as the main event by DIW on social media. Rigsby even posted a video on !!! (formerly X, even more formerly Twitter). It started with him angry at his wife as she should never be at DIW House, especially not when he’s not there to protect her. He eventually concluded that it was his moral duty to set an example to the lost souls in the DIW crowd and locker room by showing them what it means to be a husband and avenging the attack on his wife with victory.

Part 106: Sydney taking shape Three more matches for Damage Control in Sydney were confirmed after To The Extreme episode 37. The outcome of the main event between Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn and Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror was that Horn had won an Australian Title shot against Kobra. It would be his first ever match on a DIW major event. I’d assumed that six-man match was set up to line Boon and Mills up for a Tag Title rematch with Hittlespitz and Edwards but, not only had they failed to earn it, The Barracudas were named as the champions’ opponents instead after attacking them at the close of the episode. Perhaps there was still time to make it a triple threat, as it didn’t seem as though The Benchmark had anything else set up. However, if it was remaining as advertised, it was quite a good fit for the 15-year anniversary celebrations as the quartet had held the DIW Title 12 times between them, so it could probably be promoted as something like the most decorated match in company history. The least surprising of the three matches added to the Damage Control card was Con McReady v Dexter Mattell, with Mattell wanting to inflict further pain on his former Pro colleague while McReady sought revenge for being attacked by a flaming cane two episodes ago. That made it four Damage Control matches confirmed in total with three episodes to go, the other being Seth Wish v Bryant Hall for the DIW Title. That story wasn’t advanced on episode 37 besides a short Death Ref pre-tape as Wish sold his beating from The Final Boss.

Really nice transition into your next set of stories. I thought Landon Mallory might be next for Edison Silva so was intrigued when he intervened with the Heartbreaks instead, but of course it all made sense when Red Dragon emerged as the champion's next threat instead. I love the tension between Dwayne Dark and his stablemates, while Manchester v Beauchamp should be good too.

Lots of nice story development on that show with the interesting Jarrett-Hart twist, Austin's return, Undertaker playing with fire and Funk's inclusion in the Mankind-DX angle.

Haha, I meant more CJ's Canadian Charisma Championship Combat, but that works too.

@John Lions Very interesting, thanks for sharing. It looks like I missed a trick not having Momoe Hamuera and her on the roster at the same time (no chance of bringing her back any time soon unfortunately as she's still unhappy about her treatment last year). Part 105: To The Extreme #37 The show opened with a recap of DIW Champion Seth Wish retaining against Australian Champion Kobra The Conqueror in a ladder match after Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn counteracted Dexter Mattell, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mill’s interference. Greater emphasis was placed on what happened next: Bryant Hall throwing him off the ladder through a table and hitting S.T.O.s onto both the table debris and a ladder. This was followed by comments recorded by Death Ref warning Wish that whenever Ares Death Cult wanted the DIW Title, they took it. They’d held it throughout 2023 and now, after giving others a chance at enlightenment that they didn’t take, The Final Boss would bring it back under their control at Damage Control. Brains and Brawn (Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan) Lori should’ve realised by now that Paris and The Barracudas don’t mix. Paris had injured Blitz Simpson twice (the 20-year-old could still be heard complaining about being unfairly blamed for the second of those now, over a year later) and shown awful chemistry with Rourke since. But she hadn’t learnt and this time the result was a broken finger for Paris when he tried to block Rourke’s swing at him with a lead pipe. On the bright side, it did help illustrate that The Barracudas were acting more violently than ever after their threatening interview last week, as did Vaughan implementing his own lead pipe into a Choke Sleeper on Lee, wiping him out faster. Markus Rush had caught sight of Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards in conversation with Rick Horn ahead of their main event against The Benchmark and Kobra The Conqueror. Edwards was either motivating or pressurising Horn, depending on your outlook, by reminding him that he was defending him and Hittlespitz’s perfect record as a team. Crazy Blue tried easing the tension by noting that him and Horn had never won as a team before, so one streak was guaranteed to end tonight, but neither of his partners seemed to appreciate his intervention. Lori asked Bonnie Bogan to the ring so they could have a chat, woman to, well, whatever Bogan was. Bogan started by commenting that she was surprised to hear Miss Cooper talking about not taking her husband’s surname, too inside a comment to open a conversation with in my opinion. Her follow-up that maybe Lori was planning to take Hall as a surname got a louder reaction. Lori no-sold it, instead responding with faux concern, saying that whereas she was still standing after an unprovoked attack from a classless coward, she was so sorry Mr Bogan couldn’t join us tonight because his neck was too sore after taking two Piledrivers last week. Imagine being taken out by your own move, she continued, before apologising to the crowd: they probably didn’t know Rigsby’s finisher was a Piledriver because he’d never finished anyone with it. And yes, you can guess where this went next. Lori suggested finishing was a problem for him inside and outside the ring, that’s why his wife had started stinking up DIW instead of attending antenatal classes. That was a conversation stopper as Bogan took down Lori in defence of her husband. It seemed that was the reaction Lori wanted though, as The Barbarians were quick to get to the ring, with Ward pulling Bogan off of Lori. She retaliated with a slap and he showed no restraint, hitting her with a Psycho Slam. We didn’t get a chance to see if he showed any remorse because Lori demanded that he and Lloyd Banks finish the attack with a vicious Spike Piledriver. Cueball v Lloyd Banks A few of the undercard had run out at the end of The Barbarians’ attack on Bonnie Bogan. They were too late to prevent the Spike Piledriver, but were at least able to stop any further damage and get her stretchered out. Cueball was one of them, resulting in an impromptu match with Banks. He couldn’t capitalise on being put in a spot to get a bit more crowd support than usual, putting in a poor performance as Banks beat him in under six minutes with another Piledriver. Most DIW talking took place in the back, but someone must have told the roster it was open mic night because, after Lori earlier, Dexter Mattell was next in front of the live crowd. After sarcastically asking the fans if they’d missed him, he said he had a lot of time to think after Hardcore Hallelujah and it all led him to one conclusion: Con McReady had to pay for what he did. When Mattell decided to form The Pros, he could’ve left McReady in the midcard where he’d always been in APW and DIW, but he tried to give him an opportunity to get to his level. He even let him bring Seth Wish along for the ride. Raw Sex turned McReady into a star, and what did he do in return? He broke him. It was his distraction that cost Mattell the DIW Title but, more than all of that, it was his fault he was even fighting Wish in the first place. If he hadn’t mistaken an amateur for a Pro. If he hadn’t misjudged McReady’s victory over Kobra The Conqueror in an Australian Title contender tournament the month he was forming The Pros and picked the wrong bloke. If he hadn’t given McReady a chance he hadn’t earned. If it wasn’t for all of that, Mattell, The Benchmark and Kobra would still be holding all the gold and The Wild Things would be as inconsequential as they’d always been until he mistakenly elevated them. But the worst thing wasn’t him trying to lift McReady up to his level, it was McReady dragging him down to his. Using canes and fire was beneath him, but McReady brought that out of him. McReady gave him that urge to burn him the same way his betrayal burned Mattell. He’d keep being dragged down to that level until he put him definitively in his place at Damage Control. He was unexpectedly interrupted by Hack The Hunter, who wryly observed that telling someone it was their fault you’d set them on fire might be taking gaslighting too far. He was glad Mattell was back though, pyromania aside, and offered to fight him on his return to the ring next week. Mattell initially feigned not knowing who Hack The Hunter was, before recalling that he’d seen him flirting with Wrecker in the back recently. He told him bad news mate, your buddy got there first, revealing that his first bout since losing the DIW Title would be against Wrecker next week. Hendrix Hughes v Lorenzo Oliverio I’m guessing this match was booked as closure for the pair’s Hardcore Hallelujah angle, given that Oliverio started the rivalry by hitting Hughes with brass knuckles, only to miss the eventual tag match through injury. It was presented as a fairly even contest – I made the parallel that this was Oliverio’s first singles match in DIW, and his opponent found himself in a similar position earlier in the year – but Hughes got the victory. He threw Oliverio forward when he tried to grip onto him for a Back Stabber and then caught him with the Triple H. The theme of the night continued with Hendrix Hughes addressing the crowd briefly after the match. He said he’d lost focus a bit recently, but seeing Dexter Mattell pollute DIW House earlier with the toxic waste coming out of his mouth reminded him that he owed it to Seb Shaw to see The Pros title-less, inviting fans to put their ciggies in the air for the next Australian Champion. Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn v The Pros (Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror) There were a number of reasons why this couldn’t quite hit the heights of The Dream Team v The Benchmark at Hardcore Hallelujah. It wasn’t a major show or title match, it didn’t have that first-time factor and there were two extra elements to navigate in Horn’s inexperience and Kobra never quite thriving in the wild brawls that were Hittlespitz and Edwards’ speciality. Horn badly botched a Monkey Flip on Boon at one point too. However, it was a very entertaining To The Extreme main event notable for a Mills performance so good he actually outshone Edwards. It was the four-time DIW Champion who was decisive to the finish though. Horn and Kobra were legal but the match broke down with the recent Tag Title rivals brawling in and around the ring. Kobra went up top with a chair to land a Crossbody in which he also thrust the chair into his opponent’s face, but Edwards took the blow for Horn, who quickly capitalised with a John Deere Destroyer on Kobra to score the biggest pinfall of his career. Milton Hittlespitz congratulated Rick Horn on earning an Australian Title shot, encouraging him to celebrate through the crowd. As Crazy Blue checked on Edwards, he didn’t see two men enter the ring from the opposite side to the one Horn had departed from until it was too late and Chopper Rourke and Vaughan were clubbing both him and later The Human Weapon with lead pipes. Once both were unable to defend themselves, The Barracudas started punching them and got colour. They finally stopped and dropped their pipes as the crowd booed – the first time in ages they’d had the fans against them like that – but the assault wasn’t over as they picked first Hittlespitz and later Edwards up for the Barracuda Sting. As The Barracudas stood tall to close the show, I needled The Comedian about how they’d told him to be careful what he wished for.

Exciting development with the new weekly show, and a strong way to end the year by wrapping up a long-term feud with a cliffhanger ending to kick off a new story.

Thanks @HiPlus and @John Lions. I love the conflicting perspectives on which Damage Control DIW Title outcome might play out best, and both are strong cases. Thanks also for humouring the Bonnie Bogan angle. I don't think Pat Rigsby would ever have got his own storyline or even a single non-match segment without the comments in this thread, so adapting to his reception has added a fun extra element to the save for me. Part 104: Six-man main event At the start of October 2024 and halfway through the build for Damage Control, Seth Wish v Bryant Hall for the DIW Title was the only match confirmed for the company’s Sydney debut. That would change on To The Extreme episode 37 though as a main event had been announced with Damage Control implications. After they were all involved in the previous episode’s ladder match, Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn were facing The Pros’ Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror, with the winner of the fall challenging for the title held by the losing team at the end of the month. So if The Pros were beaten, whoever scored the fall would get an Australian Title match against Kobra. If the Horny Dream Team (admittedly that wasn’t a name listed on the promotional materials I’d seen) lost, The Benchmark would get a rematch if Boon or Mills delivered the win, with Kobra and Dexter Mattell perhaps challenging if the masked man made the cover. It was a little convoluted, but it created the attraction of presenting six stars in one main event. I was tempted to uncharitably correct that to five stars and Horn, though interestingly this would be his fifth To The Extreme main event since April. That was an average of almost one a month and probably a better appearance record than several more proven acts, so it felt like there was a concerted effort to establish him as one to watch. This looked like being an episode where all the star power was concentrated on one match, especially as the preview hinted that The Wild Things wouldn’t be appearing after Wish was taken out by Hall and Con McReady was burned by Mattell. It was indicated that we might hear from Ares Death Cult and The Pros about those respective attacks though.

I enjoyed Last Orders. As @John Lions mentioned previously, you kind of needed all three champions to survive their first big defences to establish the champions and the titles. This was done effectively and plenty of others got to shine on the card like Mallory, Frisby's Foundation and the Heartbreaks. And there's more to come with those angles too with the Dwayne Dark dissension teased and Dangermouth rallying after his biggest setback so far. I agree with @newbiezness not to worry about two of your best characters being managers. I think in a written dynasty, it might just be easier to establish characters quickly through promos than matches as it's easier to hear a promo in your head than visualise a match, for me at least, so people are always going to be drawn to the main talkers, especially when they have distinct personalties or characteristics.

Loving your choice of 2022 4C. It's a company I don't know well enough to have preconceptions, but the triple DIW crossover of East Side Assassin, Wish and Kobra gives me some familiarity, as does Intrepid Ian's latest identity being as your top champion. I like the CJ Weston backstory too: it's almost like he's the company's fifth C.

Yes! I 4C this being a great dynasty.

Part 103: The big question Lori’s attempts to reestablish Seth Wish as a sympathetic babyface had to be going reasonably well because, even with my heel colour commentator hat on, I felt kind of sorry for him. His reward for winning DIW Title matches against Dexter Mattell, Milton Hittlespitz and Kobra The Conqueror in the space of 27 days was a beating from Bryant Hall, with it since confirmed that he’d defend the title against Ares Death Cult’s Final Boss at Damage Control 2024 in Sydney. That left me with a question, perhaps not the one you’re expecting: what the hell was going on with all this Pat Rigsby crap? Introducing someone as his wife was a natural progression – once you talk about someone often enough, it becomes almost inevitable that you end up giving them an on-screen presence. And if you’ve already got an established husband and wife on your roster, as DIW did with Death Ref and Lori, why not have them interact? That last one doesn’t have to be a rhetorical question as I’m pretty sure of the answer. If you’ve decided a stable’s Final Boss is going to fight for your top title, it’s not an ideal time to have the rest of his group, most prominently the leaders, locked in a multi-month feud with a bloke who hadn’t even won a match in the year I’d been in the company, and his fairly unestablished wife. Besides Bonnie Bogan’s initial appearance at Hardcore Hallelujah, when there was intrigue over who this distinctive woman was and why she helped The Barracudas beat The Barbarians, the DIW House crowd didn’t seem that into anything her and her “husband” were doing. However, Lori appeared convinced there was an audience for Rigsby and his marriage. I was certain that the fanbase for Wish v Hall was far greater though, and so was concerned that linking the DIW Title to a group feuding with Rigsby might turn away fans interested in that.

Thanks as always @John Lions @Scottie @AboardTheArk. I probably should've thought to post a bit more of the background to the ladder match @John Lions. At the start of the save in 2022, the Australian Title scene was pretty much just Wish and Kobra: Kobra challenged Wish to a match between the two best ever Australian Champions and Wish said one match wasn't enough, let's do best-of-three with the winner getting a DIW Title shot, which backfired as he won the first match then lost the series to bargain himself out of the title and the DIW Title shot. That series decider was at Hardcore Hallelujah 2022, so the champion-v-champion match was at Extreme Life the next month and, as the poster had a ladder in it, Lori decided it should be a ladder match. And the booking hasn't got any more sophisticated than that in the two years since 😄 Part 102: To The Extreme #36 As with Seth Wish’s first title defence against Milton Hittlespitz, the episode started with a video recap of the DIW Champion’s history with Kobra The Conqueror. We saw Kobra ending Wish’s first Australian Title reign in 2020, Wish taking the title back from him in 2021 and his 2022 proposal of a best-of-three series to not only determine the ultimate Australian Champion but a DIW Title contender, starting a September champion-versus-champion ladder match tradition. We saw Wish winning the first match but losing the series and the long-term impact: Kobra losing his DIW Title match with Hittlespitz and further big-match struggles, Wish being warned by The Comedian to never give an inch to an opponent again and caning Lou Brookmyre. We fast-forwarded to Wish costing Kobra the Australian Title against Con McReady at Havoc and Kobra denying Wish the DIW Title against Dexter Mattell two months later at Massacre, before seeing their success since: Wish dethroning Mattell and beating Hittlespitz, Kobra conquering McReady and overcoming Chopper Rourke. The package ended with the words “Only one of them can win the match they created” and a graphic promoting their DIW Title ladder match. Con McReady v Head Goon Head Goon was someone who worked a tag bout alongside Pat Rigsby in February and Lori apparently wanted to assess him in a singles match, but they got their wires crossed somewhere along the way so it took a long time to reach an agreement. Was it worth the wait? Probably not, though it was a decent seven-minute showcase of McReady, who secured what the notes Lori gave us for the episode told us was his 13th win in 16 singles matches in 2024 with his Iron Fist. Con McReady felt the crack of a cane on his own back as his arm was being raised, with the uncharacteristically hooded attacker revealing themselves to be a returning Dexter Mattell. He continued to wail away on his grounded former Pros ally, then dropped it only to reveal a small flask of a liquid which he doused the bottom half of the cane with. This brought Seth Wish rushing out (since Massacre, they only tended to accompany one another for matches where their opponent had someone in their corner), but Kobra The Conqueror was poised to again blindside him with a ladder by the entrance. Mattell lit the cane and got a handful of shots in on McReady with the flaming weapon before Wish struggled to the ring to force him to back off. The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan) v Saracens (Cueball and Tank) Fittingly given Vaughan’s pitch to Rourke at the start of the year was “unite or die” following The Barracudas’ disunity in the second half of 2023, they had entered a stride of being far more effective as a unit than as individuals in 2024. Whereas they’d lost a handful of singles matches each, I think it was only The Benchmark who had defeated them as a tag team. Their successful partnership continued here without much trouble, with Rourke pinning Cueball after a Spinebuster to bounce back from his recent Australian Title loss to Kobra The Conqueror. Markus Rush had found a way to access a conversation between Dexter Mattell, Kobra The Conqueror, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills. Boon appeared to be planning to justify The Benchmark not being there when he lost the DIW Title at Hardcore Hallelujah, but Mattell shut him down. He said there was no need for excuses or explanations, he got it: they needed some time out after losing the Tag Titles just as he did after losing the DIW Title. None of that mattered now. What mattered was that they were all back and they all had clear objectives. The Benchmark needed to give The Dream Team a nightmare and take their gold back. He had to make sure Con McReady paid for the damage he’d done to them, and they had to make sure Kobra The Conqueror succeeded in bringing a second title back to The Pros tonight. Pat Rigsby v Lloyd Banks Being brutalised at the hands of Ares Death Cult recently wasn’t enough to fully endear Rigsby to the DIW House crowd after years of obnoxiousness, even with Lori taunting him at ringside that his wife would rather be known as a Bogan than a Rigsby. Bonnie Bogan had more goodwill though, so fans engagement increased when she arrived in his corner. He didn’t welcome the commotion, instead shouting for her to leave as she wasn’t safe. In losing focus on his own safety, Banks renewed his attack, taking him out with a Piledriver and then hitting a second before the cover as Psych Ward and Lori goadingly obstructed Bogan’s access to the ring. What was Lori’s biggest misjudgement: continuing to taunt Bonnie Bogan after her husband’s latest loss, or apparently not notifying The Barbarians of her plan? They’d already exited after their win. Lori went for a slap, but Bogan blocked it with her arm and instead connected with her Greetings From Hobart finisher, before checking on Pat Rigsby. Markus Rush was with The Barracudas. Chopper Rourke looked angry like always, but this time he was angry while holding up a Damage Control poster. Vaughan said the fans and the other blokes in the back might not be onto The Comedian but they are. DIW had only ran shows in three venues in their 15-year existence and suddenly when it was time for their Sydney debut, he picked a venue next door to Long Bay and had prison-themed posters designed. He didn’t know what the motivation was – if the old man was bored in retirement and wanted one last Barracuda beating, if he thought he was motivating them – but he should know better than anyone not to play games with The Barracudas. Rourke screwed up the poster, threw it at Rush and snarled “be careful what you wish for” and that was that. I probed The Comedian about it when we were back on screen and he was dismissive, asserting that DIW didn’t book venues based on nearby correctional facilities wrestlers may have once resided at and explaining the poster as something a designer would’ve come up with because they thought it looked hardcore. DIW Title Ladder Match: Seth Wish (c) v Kobra The Conqueror As well as all the history Wish and Kobra shared, they had something else in common: the fact that neither was really accomplished enough to lead a match against another non-technician. This main event was structured around those limitations, as well as playing up to their strengths, with a ladder match suiting their hardcore talents and willingness to take risks. The champion looked set to retain when he pushed Kobra off the ladder after a struggle at the top and immediately followed up with a Suicide Senton, but that was just the cue for chaos to ensue. The rest of The Pros ran down, with Dexter Mattell pulling Wish off the ladder and Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills hitting a Double Down into it. They then directed Kobra to set a table up outside, the plan seemingly being to put him through it to give him the maximum pain and distance to overcome to disrupt Kobra’s ascent. They hadn’t accounted for Rob Edwards and Milton Hittlespitz intervening though, taking the fight to The Benchmark. Mattell got stuck in again to reinforce his group’s numerical advantage, only for Rick Horn to make his return, picking up Hittlespitz’s chair on his way to the ring and hitting both Boon and Mills. The trio of Crazy Blue, Edwards and Horn then fought Mattell and The Benchmark down the ramp to leave the ring to Wish and Kobra once more. Kobra was closing in on the top of the ladder when Wish climbed the turnbuckle and leapt across to take the Australian Champion down off the ladder with a modified Dust In The Wind. He then went up the ladder to retain his DIW Title. Seth Wish stood atop the ladder holding the DIW Title over his head, with the celebration brought to a sudden stop when someone entered the ring and pushed him off the ladder and through the table still positioned at ringside. It was Bryant Hall, who made his way outside the ring remarkably quickly to plant the champion with an S.T.O. onto the table debris. He then picked him up again to hit the same move onto a nearby ladder, before throwing the one inside the ring that he’d chucked Wish off on top of the main event winner to complete his assault. I noted on commentary that the DIW Champion’s title reign certainly wasn’t a fairytale any more. ----- "This final segment got me hyped for the Ladder match, of course there will be shenanigans but hopefully not an insane amount" Alas @HiPlus I think six outsiders getting involved probably qualified as an insane amount 😅

This brought the Last Orders card together nicely: tying Dangermouth's out-of-wrestling fame into a heel-calling-out-a-babyface-he-knows-isn't-there angle worked really well, Landon Mallory survived to get his rematch with Joey Beauchamp and all the title matches got a strong spotlight.

Part 101: Playing both sides I had conflicting thoughts on the outcome of the upcoming annual DIW Title ladder match between the company’s two singles champions, which this year saw Seth Wish defending against long-time rival Kobra The Conqueror. This felt particularly fitting because they came up with the champion versus champion concept together in 2022 when contemplating how to reward the winner of their Australian Title best-of-three series. On the one hand, it would be very early to take the title from Wish given that he’d held it for less than a month. This was his opportunity to defeat two of his historic rivals in the first month of his DIW Title reign to show any doubters that he was a worthy champion, before perhaps setting someone different up to challenge him at Damage Control in Sydney next month. That being said, there was certainly a case for putting Kobra The Conqueror over too, starting with the fact the Australian Champion needed to win one of these ladder matches for it to be a sustainable concept, as the DIW Champion always winning dilutes the spectacle. From a Pros perspective, the late recruit who joined at a career low point becoming a double champion at a point when none of the original members held gold could really shake up the group’s dynamics. Wish’s recent win over Hittlespitz could be interpreted to suit either outcome. Those who thought Wish would retain again would see it as them frontloading his reign to make sure everyone was taking it seriously. Those who thought Kobra was being crowned might suggest that he’d been given that win as a consolation, so that he wasn’t dethroned in his first defence. I was there at the taping of course so I’m writing this already knowing which direction Lori went in, though I’ll be updating this diary the second I’ve watched it back on DIWO. We’d all been given free logins, not out of Comedian generosity, but in the hope we’d be motivated to promote it on our social pages, which meant Lori no longer had to fund a WrestleWorld Australia subscription for me for the benefit of this diary. I’d decided to keep hold of it for the time being at my own cost, just to keep an eye on APW’s encouraging progress. They’d just put on their best show of the Debonair David Petersen era, Coming Home 2024, headlined by George Wolfe successfully defending the Commonwealth Title against Fuyuhiko Wakabayashi. They also drew their biggest crowd since I’d left, increasing my suspicion that DIW were playing a dangerous game leaving them unopposed on the platform. Anyway, to finish previewing To The Extreme episode 36, a lukewarm undercard for Wish and Kobra’s ladder match saw Con McReady taking on Head Goon, The Barracudas fighting Saracens and Pat Rigsby challenging one of the men who brutally attacked him last month, Lloyd Banks.

Hell of a TV main event and semi-main that. Intrigued by the slow build with Austin, Shamrock and Kane's WrestleMania stories, and looking forward to what's to come.

@John Lions This is a very interesting question so I've written a part today fully covering this subject of The Barracudas' standing in late 2024. Apologies for not providing a fuller answer right now. It's because their trajectory changes quite a bit in the next few weeks, and I'm wary that by responding either too positively or too negatively now, it might be too revealing about their upcoming direction of travel. Part 100: To The Extreme #35 Brains and Brawn (Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee) v The Benchmark (Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills) The show opened with The Benchmark’s first match together since the end of their six-month Tag Title reign, against the team they made their first successful defence against back in March. There was no significant hangover to their Hardcore Hallelujah defeat: Paris had a few bright moments early on, but this only served to make Boon and Mills more aggressive. Lee was quickly overwhelmed once he was tagged in, and Boon scored the pin after a Double Down. New Tag Team Champions Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards entered after the match, looking to avenge The Benchmark’s brutal recent attack on Rick Horn, but the former champs decided against hanging around for the confrontation. Bonnie Bogan was almost as loud as everyone else in DIW combined, so it was no surprise Markus Rush was able to find her and Pat Rigsby in conversation down a corridor and listen in undetected. Rigsby was telling his wife that she needed to stop following him to work because it wasn’t safe for her, asking her to leave him alone and he would take care of Ares Death Cult. Wrecker v Underworld I was tempted to say that this match perhaps showed why Wrecker hadn’t quite made a main event breakthrough yet as, despite executing his moves with conviction and putting together a few impressive weapon spots, he wasn’t yet ring-smart enough to carry a fairly green opponent. Then again, the same critique could be given to Seth Wish and Kobra The Conqueror who’d had longer to master the art and they were fighting for the DIW Title on the next episode. The finish riffed off Wrecker’s previous match with Banky Bremner as he failed to hit his Mighty Bulldog, being launched into the ropes, but ducked a Big Boot and span Underworld into a Bulldozer Elbow. However, he picked up his heavyweight adversary to connect with the Mighty Bulldog, perhaps wanting to show that he could, to achieve a three count. I introduced my recent sit-down interview with Kobra The Conqueror, which the Australian Champion led with a fact: the two times Seth Wish had been a champion in DIW, he ended the reign. He didn’t just repeatedly beat Wish, he broke him. Wish told everyone recently that Milton Hittlespitz forced him to up his game, but the DIW Champion knew deep down the best-of-three series defeat to Kobra in 2022 was the worst moment of his career. People would say Wish was better in 2024 than he was then but, when they met earlier this year, the outcome was the same as in 2022. I asked Kobra how Dexter Mattell would feel about him possibly becoming DIW Champion and he said he had the former champion’s full backing. It should’ve been Raw Sex he was fighting next week, and that was an extra incentive to not only defeat but destroy Wish. He was proud to take on more of a leading role in The Pros in Mattell’s absence but, when he was ready to come back, he could have the first shot at the new DIW Champion. The Comedian said he had an update from Markus Rush, who had captured an interesting exchange while my Kobra The Conqueror interview was airing. We were shown Wrecker being greeted as he came through the curtain by Hack The Hunter, who remarked that it was impressive that he’d been able to take down a heavyweight like that. Hendrix Hughes v Psych Ward The story we were telling on commentary here was of Hendrix Hughes trying to reestablish himself as a singles threat after his recent return to the tag division, but that wasn’t the focus at the end of this six-minute match. Instead, it was about how Death Ref’s attempt to climb on the apron to assist Ward was disrupted by Bonnie Bogan striking him the back of the knee with a lead pipe. Ward lunged to go after her but was caught in the Triple H by Hughes and beaten. I started my sit-down interview with Seth Wish by repeating a few of Kobra The Conqueror’s earlier comments and he said Kobra was right: he had ended his two Australian Title reigns and defeat to him two years ago was what caused him to reevaluate everything. He wanted it to be him and Con McReady in this year’s ladder match, but Kobra was the next best thing. He wanted to prove himself against the best wrestlers in DIW: that’s why he took on Milton Hittlespitz last week. Once he’d beaten Dexter Mattell, Hittlespitz and Kobra in under a month, nobody would question whether he was a worthy DIW Champion any more. But he wanted Kobra to think about something. To think about how much he’d grown since their last Australian Title fight two years ago to emerge as DIW Champion. What about Kobra? He was still Australian Champion, an accolade for sure, but he wasn’t his own man any more. Instead, he was copying his mistakes and being ordered around by The Pros, no matter how much he denied it. Kobra wanted everyone to think he must be having so much fun and everything’s amazing, but he knew from experience that deep down he was so subservient he makes himself sick. Wish managed to break free from that trap, and he hoped defeat next week would motivate Kobra to do the same. Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Street Stallions (D.O.A. and Lorenzo Oliverio) The Street Stallions might not have necessarily earned this main event opportunity, as alluded to in my previous entry, but the in-ring results were encouraging. This was a noticeable upgrade on Hittlespitz and Edwards’ previous To The Extreme tag match against The Barbarians, and dare I say the best match yet on the weekly show. Perhaps that was partly because The Human Weapon was spotlighted more, having let Hittlespitz shine more in the previous matches as part of the story of trying to gain his trust. D.O.A. carried most of the in-ring load for the challengers with Oliverio finding his way back from injury, yet the newer roster member contributed some good character work. The ending saw Oliverio slip D.O.A. the brass knuckles with Edwards on top. D.O.A. wasn’t aware that The Human Weapon had noticed this until he caught him in the hand with a precision kick that cost him his grip on the weapon. He then used Hittlespitz as a, well, human weapon, having Crazy Blue run at him and then using that momentum to launch him into Oliverio on the apron, sending them both flying towards a ringside railing. D.O.A. scrambled to try to retrieve the brass knuckles but was brought to a stop by a Scissor Kick from Edwards, who followed up with a Roundhouse Kick to complete a first successful defence. Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards remained in a fighting stance after the bell with their eyes locked on the entrance, expecting to be interrupted by The Benchmark. However, there was no sign of anyone joining them so they eventually shrugged and raised their Tag Titles in the air.

Part 99: Wish granted So just over a year after first inserting himself in Milton Hittlespitz’s business, Seth Wish had the one-on-one victory over Crazy Blue that he felt he needed to escape the two-time DIW Champion’s shadow and prove that he belonged at the top of the card. One curious thing I noticed when reviewing previous diary entries before writing this one was that Lori had actually had Wish come out on top on six of the eight occasions they’d been in the ring together: a handicap match, a triple threat, two tag matches and a five-on-five before this. She’d probably be pretty pleased with how the story had played out, with Wish always established as a worthy adversary but made to wait until the crowd were with him for the one-on-one triumph which had been established as so important to him. It had also been a significant night for Kobra The Conqueror, who earlier in the hour achieved the biggest win of his DIW career in defending the Australian Title against Chopper Rourke, the first time he’d ever beaten a former DIW Champion. The result was that long-term rivals Wish and Kobra would be contesting the DIW Title ladder match on To The Extreme episode 36. I’ve got a few thoughts about that, but let’s wait until after episode 35 has aired to get into those. I was going to get even more airtime than usual there as I was conducting sit-down interviews with both Wish and Kobra before their collision. The main event was Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards’ first Tag Title defence against The Street Stallions. Whether they’d earned a main event title match was debatable, but I quite liked how it played out, exploiting Hendrix Hughes’ refusal to take the opportunity offered to him and Wrecker and blaming Dingo Devine for him and D.O.A.’s Hardcore Hallelujah loss in Lorenzo Oliverio’s absence. The injury that stopped him partnering D.O.A. that night was legitimate, but in not fighting then and returning soon after when a title match was on offer, he looked shady and opportunistic, so it had arguably worked out better for The Street Stallions than if he’d never hurt his shoulder. Also announced for episode 35 was The Benchmark’s first match since losing the Tag Titles against Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee, Hendrix Hughes taking on Psych Ward and former AE wrestler Underworld seeing if he can earn a spot on the DIW roster against Wrecker.

I really liked the payoff to the Price-Adebola angle: it went against my expectations that he'd cling onto the role due to being fairly new to it, and he got some payback in a more unexpected way that may set him up for a title shot post-suspension. I liked how the Dangermouth/Heartbreak and Mallory/Beauchamp stories overlapped. Last Orders seems to be coming together nicely.