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Part 74: The best and worst of Lori Unless it was an extraordinary coincidence, someone must’ve tipped Lori off about Rick Horn’s Dexter Mattell-provoked wariness of Rob Edwards. I happened to time my visit to the DIW House dining area perfectly to get a glimpse of how she dealt with such dilemmas. As mentioned previously, I preferred not to interfere with locker room disputes unless absolutely necessary in my booking days. Lori was seemingly a bit more hands-on, but there was a thoughtfulness and calculation to her approach that caught me off-guard. She wasn’t playing mum by lecturing Edwards and Horn or demanding a rundown of who had said what. Instead, the premise of the chat between the three of them wasn’t about the apparent tension, it was to talk them through her decision to put them in a match together and her confidence that they were about to bring the best out of one another. In what I thought at the time was some carny nonsense but, having since watched it back, now knew was genuine, she told them that she’d got permission from WrestleWorld Australia for To The Extreme episode 26 to run five minutes longer. She said she negotiated that extension specifically to give their match more time to breathe, certain that it would be huge for Horn’s development and that he’d make Edwards look great too. The two men went to the locker room to discuss their match with road agent Classy Paul Massey, so I never heard the conversation between them that followed, but I did see them embrace after the show, so Lori’s meddling appeared to have the intended effect. I commented before leaving that night that I’d seen how she got them both on the same page, and she joked that she’d have to get Bryant Hall and I in a room together next. At least I assumed it was a joke. But while this was a genuinely impressive intervention from Lori, I have to balance that praise with a little criticism, as she was also directly responsible for the worst match I’d seen since joining DIW between The Barbarians and Big Tex and Goon #2. From what I could gather, there were two other teams she was looking to try out across the two episodes of this taping, but one team didn’t get back to her in time for the show, and another member of The Goon Squad was asked too late to sort transport to DIW House. So the result was one Goon teaming up with the retirement-ready Big Tex, which was never going to be pretty as he’d shown a few weeks earlier on what was meant to be his only DIW appearance. Forever Evil had also been brought back to face The Barracudas on To The Extreme episode 26 at greater expense than the team she wanted to use in that spot. Seeing as I’ve ended up discussing it at such length, I might as well give you the full card for that episode, which I’ll recap in the next part: Seth Wish v Hendrix Hughes, Rob Edwards v Rick Horn, The Barracudas v Forever Evil and Demarcus Lee v D.O.A.

Part 73: Sink or swim It was over nine months since I’d debuted at the DIW commentary desk and I think the finish to the Con McReady v Kobra Khan main event of To The Extreme episode 25 was my favourite piece of booking in that time. Firstly, it established that titles could change hands on the weekly programme. I’m sure the majority of defences would continue to be formalities building the champions up for tougher challenges at the major events, but at least now there was a seed of doubt, a chance to say “remember that night when Kobra beat McReady for the Australian Title?” Secondly, it justified Kobra Khan’s decision to align with The Pros, and silenced the criticism of him never winning when it mattered. In five days, he’d gone from not being able to challenge for any title to being a four-time Australian Champion, showing it was a smart career move rather than an act of desperation. He was still the group’s fourth most esteemed member behind Dexter Mattell, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills but, as Lori generally booked champions fairly strongly, the danger of him becoming their lackey was reduced. But I was most intrigued by the possibilities this ending opened up for McReady. Kobra Khan had swiftly been rewarded for the decision he made at Massacre in aligning with The Pros, while The Wild One paid an immediate price for staying loyal to Seth Wish. Was it a continuation of a theme we’d seen Lori adopt with Rob Edwards and Wish: that McReady had to pay penance for his heel run on the road to becoming a firm fan favourite? Or was it setting him up to second guess his decision and go crawling back to The Pros? This post-Massacre taping was also a chance to sink or swim for the potential next set of DIW stars. At the start of 2024, I would’ve firmly categorised McReady, Kobra, Wish and Hendrix Hughes as midcarders – the latter boasted no singles experience at that time. However, they were now being trusted with the main events of successive episodes and the task of continuing the momentum the company had coming out of Massacre, with no Edwards, Milton Hittlespitz, Barracudas or Mattell to help them through it. It was open to interpretation whether McReady and Kobra had seized their main event spotlight. Their match wasn’t quite as good as what they’d done together at Havoc in April, even with the added spectacle of Wish, Mattell, Boon and Mills all being at ringside. Perhaps this was due to nerves and inexperience, or maybe it was because they were both adjusting to new roles given Kobra had always been a fan favourite previously in DIW and McReady a villain. Even if it wasn’t their absolute best work, it was an upgrade on what Wish and Chopper Rourke produced a week earlier, so they were worthy of their spot on the card by this metric at least. Additionally, the crowd ate up all the associated angles on this episode – Kobra’s explanation, Wish challenging Hughes, The Benchmark dismissing Edwards and The Pros posing with all the gold at the end – so I’d say the combination of that and the hot finish rendered it a success. It was trickier to predict whether Wish and Hughes would thrive in their main event because it was a first time match. Neither man was a ring general, though they were both very charismatic and capable with the right opponents. Could they bring the best out of one another?

I don't know anything about mod-making but it sounds like a lot of extra work for you on top of all the time put into building this amazing and enormous world if you then have to create 10 different databases to suit individual playing habits/computer speeds. If you wanted to accommodate people who only load one region without having to create lots of versions, maybe you could just provide lists "these are the people to remove from the database if starting an Oceania-only save", "these are the ones to remove if playing Japan-only", or would that be just as much work as creating the individual databases? 😅 Anyway, you clearly know best so I don't know why I'm pretending I know what I'm talking about, haha. Just don't want you losing too much sleep for our entertainment 😆

From Ashes was a great show for developing characters. Adgee Cross got to establish himself as the fans' champion, Lone Rider showed a more ruthless side, The Runway and Armando Guerrero have new skits to highlight their personalities more and your top two tag teams also advanced their stories. It's just a shame some of your veterans still won't cooperate like Saul Rubennick tanking his match, though it gives you an extra challenge to navigate.

@lavelleuk @kn777 I only loaded Oceania for my DIW save so tried some quick analysis in case it's helpful. I think there are 86 non-Australians/New Zealanders who start January 2022 outside of Oceania but available to work there. As of August 2024 (32 months in), only 3 of those 86 have joined an Oceania-based company: Garry The Entertainer, George Wolfe and Willow. And of the 14 Australians/New Zealanders who weren't in Oceania in January 2022, only 2 have returned: Kerry Wayne and Maurice Jackson. I suspect they'd be less likely to return if all countries were loaded, but it still feels like a plausible enough percentage. So from this experience, I'd say it hasn't in any way been a game-breaker. I'm not that experienced with the In-Game Editor but suspect there may also be some workarounds there for individual cases. If for instance you found it immersion-breaking to be able to hire Marc DuBois for a DIW show for $30, you can probably edit him as Left The Business and that way neither you or your competitiors should be able to exploit it. TL;DR: You can play a save with one region loaded without it overly affecting the experience. That said, I have loaded all regions for my subsequent dabbles with IWW and CGC just to enjoy the mod in all its immersive glory with all its depth and possibilities.

Part 72: To The Extreme #25 The Pros entered the ring at the beginning of the show, complete with their newest member. Kobra Khan started by addressing the crowd reaction, asking why they were booing a snake for being a snake? He’d had a lot of time for thinking recently and it became obvious Dexter Mattell was right: his old attitude and look saw him bypassed by people he was better than, and he needed a Pro makeover to fix that. But he wasn’t as naïve as the people who used to cheer him. He wasn’t linking up with The Pros to carry their bags like Seth Wish did. He’d made the best decision for his career: he was disqualified from challenging for any title held by a Pro, but now there was one not held by a Pro and he would take it from Con McReady tonight if he dared to show up. And just like McReady had brought what would happen tonight on himself, the same was true of Wish at Massacre. He could’ve helped Kobra win the title when he returned three weeks ago, but instead waited until after he’d been beaten by The Pros’ numbers to attack Mattell, when it was too late to benefit him. Now The Wild Things were finally finding out what it was like when the numbers were against you, and he was going to love every second of it. Hack The Hunter v Cueball DIW’s newest star kicked off the in-ring action, with The Comedian implying on commentary that Hack The Hunter had specifically requested another sizable opponent to test himself against. It was a test that never seemed to trouble him too greatly, and he continued his unbeaten start with another Epic Side Suplex, which I tried rebranding as the Hack Attack. We cut to a post-Massacre interview where Markus Rush spoke to a beaten-up Milton Hittlespitz, pointing out he’d come close to beating Bryant Hall. Crazy Blue said he’d received messages about what a great match it was, and what a fight he’d put up, but it wasn’t enough for him. Two years ago, he was the man in DIW. This year, he’d lost every big match he’d competed in. He knew he’d built up a lot of goodwill, and he appreciated that, but he was at the stage of his career where he didn’t want to just put on a good show. He needed to heal up and figure out how to get back on top…if he could get back on top…or if it was time to bow out. Big Tex and Goon #2 v The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward) The idea was clearly to build up The Barbarians following Death Ref’s hint at Massacre that they would be on the Hardcore Hallelujah card. However, the inexplicable pairing (indeed we had no explanation on commentary except the suggestion their desperation to win DIW roster spots had united them) of a 49-year-old fake American cowboy and an obese 22-year-old masked loser overshadowed that. Banks tried his best to salvage the match, as in fairness did Goon #2 in agreeing to be Piledriven off the top rope through a table for the finish, but it was hard to watch. Markus Rush was on hand as Seth Wish approached Hendrix Hughes in the back. Wish wanted to apologise: he didn’t feel good about getting in Hughes’ business at Massacre. He owed it to Con McReady to have his back, but Hughes was entitled to want to put a beating on him for it, so he was offering him that opportunity next week, promising it would be one-on-one with no McReady at ringside. Hughes said Wish was right that he owed him a beating, so he appreciated the opportunity, but he’d believe it was really one-on-one when he saw it. Wrecker v Carl Paris You probably don’t need me to tell you that this first-time match ended with Wrecker hitting a Bulldozer Elbow for the three count. They were given slightly longer than expected though in the hope that the well-trained Paris would teach Wrecker a few things about pacing and Wrecker could show Paris how to adapt his ring smarts to a more weapon-heavy contest. The results were reasonably encouraging. Markus Rush’s final appearance was with Tag Team Champions The Benchmark. Donovan Boon said that Rob Edwards tried his tag team wrestler cosplay at Massacre and gave it his best shot, but sadly he’d found out it wasn’t quite as easy as The Benchmark made it look. Rusty Mills told Edwards to go heal his head like that other idiot who thought he could hang with them, Seb Shaw, and leave them to keep setting a new standard for tag team wrestling. Despite this being your typical heel promo, “go heal your head” got a pop from the crowd and some social media buzz, so no doubt he’d find a way to force it into every promo he cut for the next few months. Australian Title: Con McReady (c) v Kobra Khan Unlike The Barbarians bout earlier, we were spoilt for storytelling opportunities commentating on this match. It was the first ever Australian Title main event. Seth Wish and Dexter Mattell were in the respective corners five days after their Massacre collision. McReady had won both previous meetings but Kobra was far fresher after sitting out Massacre, where The Wild One had been badly beaten. The story reflected the circumstances: Kobra had two-thirds of the offence, but McReady showed plenty of guts. Mattell’s attempt to strike the Australian Champion with the DIW Title was intercepted by Wish hitting his nemesis with Dust In The Wind. McReady caught Kobra with the Iron Fist only for Rusty Mills to disrupt Tatum Richards’ count while Donovan Boon hit Wish with a Tag Title outside. The Benchmark combined for a Double Down on McReady and Kobra followed up with both the Small Package Driver and a Ripcord Knee, taking nothing for granted and celebrating his biggest win of the WrestleWorld Australia era. The Pros got a few more shots in on The Wild Things after the match while I sold Kobra Khan’s victory as proving me wrong. He’d bounced back from a career low point unbelievably quickly and delivered with the whole locker room watching to become a four-time Australian Champion and show he was a Pro. The episode ended on a visual we’d seen many times, just with a green mask added to the aesthetic. The Pros raised all the DIW titles above their heads to signal their dominance while their enemies, now former Pros Seth Wish and Con McReady, were grounded.

The commentary was a delight again, and I love that you worked in the riff on PLEs. Disk of Death sounds like a great format for a hardcore battle royal, especially how you sold it as adding a strategic aspect to the spectacle of everyone hitting one another as hard as they can with weapons. The Deacon Darkhold hearse attack felt genuinely scary. I think the contrast to everything before it on the show and it coming straight after a lighthearted commentary exchange helped amplify it. It was also an effective way to take Texas Hangman out of the tournament, and give him a claim to face the eventual winner. The opening promos set the main event up perfectly again, and Animal Harker really does feel tailor-made for this product and audience so, like @DAVEFAN95, I was really shocked to see him lose. Then again, it makes sense to give the fan favourite plenty of adversity to overcome.

Thanks @AboardTheArk. You picking Kobra Khan to break out in 2024 at the end of 2023 inspired this development as it got me thinking of how to make him more relevant. You're definitely right that the lack of face-heel divide is helpful, both for opening more match possibilities with a small roster and being able to try things like Kobra Khan as a villain. Part 71: The revival DIW weren’t the only New South Wales-based promotion thriving at the halfway point of 2024. Given my near-14-year association with the company and the fact my protégé David Peterson now had the book, you won’t be surprised that I continued to keep a close eye on Australian Pro Wrestling. I was as supportive as possible during that transition in 2020 and continued to provide regular counsel in those first few years after he took over from me. Understandably, he was less eager to consult me on confidential matters now I worked for a competitor. However, there was no doubt that Peterson inherited a difficult situation with Athletic Empire and Cutting Edge Wrestling bypassing APW and James J McMinister responding by demanding a dramatic shift from the established sports entertainment presentation to a work-rate-based product. Falling behind DIW in the pecking order had to be the ultimate insult for my old boss. The Comedian taking Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills off him would once have been unthinkable. It looked like the tide was finally turning though. They’d put together three top-quality shows in a row – and by that I mean even better than DIW’s own formidable recent Hardcore Heatwave-Havoc-Massacre triple header. Part of that was developing a fanbase and roster in line with the new direction, part of it was Peterson getting more comfortable in the role but, more than anything, I’d attribute the improvement to getting the Commonwealth Title on George Wolfe. Along with CEW, APW capitalised on the Canadian’s surprise move to Australia last winter, and he’d delivered big time since being trusted with the top title in January. People on the inside whose opinions I trusted claimed his trilogy with Lothar Prellinger and other 2024 victories over The Fixer, Dizzy G and Eraser were the company’s best matches since my departure. I know what you’re thinking as it’s the same thing I thought at first: any upswing built around one bloke was fragile because, if you lose someone after putting them over your whole roster, you’re not left with much. Indeed, I suspect Lori agreed with me and this was the reason why Rob Edwards, while still presented as a big deal, wasn’t running through her entire roster as much in 2024 as he did in 2023. But two recent events had convinced me that this wasn’t a false start, and the APW revival was for real. Firstly, they picked up another potential headliner who was a perfect fit for their new style in Fuyuhiko Wakabayashi around the time of AE’s demise, someone who could be plugged in if Wolfe did leave or to excel alongside him. Then, two days after Massacre, they announced a deal to broadcast their monthly events on WrestleWorld Australia, which would assist their efforts to build more stars to Wolfe and Wakabayashi’s level. I wouldn’t say it to The Comedian, but I thought a resurgent APW could represent a significant threat to DIW, starting with The Benchmark. I knew from my contacts on both sides that APW had tried to bring them back on several occasions since they made the jump around 18 months ago. They hadn’t been interested previously, but that might change now that APW could match DIW’s WrestleWorld Australia exposure. Anyway, Lori might not welcome me dedicating hundreds of words to my former employers when she’s paying me to chronicle her booking of DIW, so I’ll end this part by previewing To The Extreme episode 25. While there were two matches announced – Wrecker v Carl Paris and Hack The Hunter v Cueball – it was the promise of Kobra Khan opening the show that generated the most intrigue.

A very enjoyable show as expected and I like that Cross got the win. Lone Rider was already established as your first two-time champion so it doesn't damage him too much to lose it straight away, and it makes sense to use your biggest show to create a new star. I'm intrigued by what's next for Lone Rider. I feel like the ingredients have always been in place for a heel run with a manager who works in that role and his dad being the boss, but I imagine it might be a tough sell with his creative control and his dad seeing him as a heroic figure. Nice insight into the roster's popularity. I love the fluidity of your top 8 or so wrestlers all being within a few points or one another as it means any of them can credibly get to the top of the card with a few wins as McGhee did this year. No wonder the title picture has felt so alive. I think you're hard on yourself in terms of the undercard. A monthly show model limits how much you can build every match on a single card, even the biggest one. Here you had three well built title contenders, Dizzy-Toasty with a strong backstory, a simple but effective Bush stipulation and then the APW showcase was another way to make an undercard match feel special, so I don't think you could've done more.

Thanks @HiPlus, @John Lions and @DinoKea. Hopefully Kobra Khan's actions will make sense in time, but it may be a tough sell to legitimise a career babyface as a villain. Regarding Rob Edwards and Wrecker, The Benchmark stipulated that if they let them cut the line for a Tag Title shot, they had to win or that was it for them as a team so, as it stands, their alliance won't continue (at least not as in-ring partners). Part 70: Full house I’d been critical of some of the build, and I stood by the belief that it was untidy and rushed in places, but there was no faulting the numbers Lori shared with me the day after Massacre. The headline news was that DIW had somehow sold out their new 1,000-seater DIW House for the show, something Lori and The Comedian certainly weren’t anticipating this soon, if at all. They’d gone bigger than they needed in the hope of growth, and seemed to have overestimated that potential when only 142 people turned up for the first To The Extreme taping. Before this year, the company’s record crowd had been 408, so this really was a rapid rise. A nice bit of symmetry* was that the first sellout DIW celebrated at the 300-seat Marv’s Sports Central was for Massacre 2022. That card was headlined by Chopper Rourke v Gyula Lakatos for the DIW Title, which felt like another sign of the progress made in the 24 months since. The company’s WrestleWorld Australia viewership hadn’t increased as dramatically but was trending in the right direction, with Massacre drawing a record 16,620 viewers, up from 15,838 for Havoc two months earlier. DIW’s first WrestleWorld Australia broadcast was Extreme Life in September 2023 (my first show), and 11,396 tuned in on that occasion. That was a 46% jump. I hadn’t seen the Massacre ending coming, with Kobra Khan aligning with The Pros to help Dexter Mattell retain the DIW Title, instead expecting Con McReady to double cross Seth Wish. However, it created intrigue for To The Extreme episode 25, as well as refreshing The Pros’ story. As expected, Rob Edwards and Wrecker v The Benchmark had been match of the night, though Wish v Mattell pushed it fairly close and the Milton Hittlespitz v Bryant Hall cage match had also been a highlight. There was probably more storyline development at Massacre than Havoc, but I’d struggle to separate the shows in terms of quality, with both probably DIW’s joint-best yet. Hardcore Hallelujah, often a highlight of the DIW calendar, was next up in August and it would be a tough challenge for the company to sustain that level across three successive major shows. *Speaking of symmetry, I now realised why Lori had been annoyed at The Comedian and I at Havoc for not following her direction in referencing on commentary that Seth Wish had got the better of Kobra Khan at Havoc 2022 only to end up losing the war. She was foreshadowing this Massacre finish. Still, even if we had forced that reference in, I doubted any of our fans would’ve recalled it two months later, so I remain unconvinced that we had done anything wrong there.

You always do a great job of making the Puerto Rican title scene so alive, and that was the case again on the latest show with Kip Keenan challenging and Mutant and Bradford Peverell queuing up behind. I don't think Harlem Haynes can have any complaints about losing his job, and what a replacement in Jamie Atherton, who has the look, attitude and mic skills to fit in perfectly in House Handsome.

Wow, thanks everyone for getting involved. I hope the show's half as good as your predictions and feedback: Part 69: Massacre 2024 Massacre started with Rob Edwards making his entrance and an immediate answer to the question of who would follow his and Wrecker’s match with The Benchmark: everyone. It was opening the show. Tag Titles: Rob Edwards and Wrecker v The Benchmark (Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills) (c) The challengers worked more as a team than in their two recent To The Extreme appearances on the same side, looking particularly more formidable in the first half of the contest. However, Edwards walked into a trap set by the champions. During a period of prolonged offence on Wrecker, the former Australian Champion finally worked an opening to tag out, only for The Human Weapon to be goaded off the apron by Rusty Mills, who was ready for Edwards and sent him into the steps outside. Mills then rolled inside to help Boon hit the Double Down on Wrecker who, having used his last burst of energy to try to tag out, was unable to get his shoulders off the mat. This match hit heights the rest of the card would struggle to reach, but it perhaps didn’t achieve its full potential as Edwards had the first off-day I’d ever witnessed, though this arguably suited the story in showing he was outside his comfort zone. Oh, and just to put an off-form Edwards into context, he still outperformed everyone on the roster except his opponents. Markus Rush and his cameraman caught Seth Wish arriving at DIW House and being greeted by Con McReady, who told him it was time to make sure they both went to Canberra next month as champions. The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan) v The Street Stallions (D.O.A. and Lorenzo Oliverio) D.O.A. had been in conflict with The Barracudas since the start of the year, though their feud had stopped hastily when Switchblade passed away to allow him a babyface cameo, a break to grieve his friend and a flirtation with a singles run before now partnering Oliverio. D.O.A. got the better of the initial rivalry and the renewal, choking out Vaughan in the five-on-five against The Pros then beating him one-on-one with Oliverio’s assistance, so this was payback time. Vaughan fulfilled his promise to choke out D.O.A., delivering victory with his Choke Sleeper. The booking felt a bit backwards: if I was in charge, I’d probably have chosen the five-time DIW Champion to win the one-on-one then lose the tag match to shenanigans to help establish the new team. It was time for another quick trip to the back before the next match. Markus Rush hoped to catch Milton Hittlespitz before he stepped inside the cage, but he was in conversation with Rick Horn. Crazy Blue had a basket of weapons he was bringing in with him and, in addition to wishing him good luck, Horn handed him a fork he apparently used on his farm to put in there. Cage Match: Milton Hittlespitz v Bryant Hall The most violent match of the night saw both men use their surroundings as a weapon in different ways. Hall saw it as a tool to punctuate the pain he was inflicting on Hittlespitz, throwing him into the cage and beating him against it, while Crazy Blue used it to evade The Final Boss and springboard back onto him at various points. Hittlespitz’s basket of weapons featured prominently, some in his favour like the fork he jabbed into Hall’s thigh to try to ground him and others against like the light tube that was cracked over his head. The finish saw Crazy Blue take his larger opponent off his feet with his trusty chair and then drape him across the table he had folded at the bottom of his basket. He climbed to the top of the cage and took off with a Flying Knee Drop, but Hall slid off just in time to avoid the contact, the energy taken to get Hall on the table and ascend the cage clearly costing him. The Final Boss dragged Hittlespitz off the broken table and hit an S.T.O. onto the basket of weapons, still strewn with debris, to put him down for the three count. At the halfway point in the show, we cut to some exclusive footage of two-time DIW Champion East Side Assassin (Sayeed Ali)’s unannounced appearance at the last To The Extreme taping. He raised Seth Wish’s forearm after his hard-fought victory over Chopper Rourke, telling him he knew he was destined for the top ever since watching him work on his first visit to DIW in 2020. That was why he’d brought him to Canadian Charisma Championship Combat in the past to give his hardcore division some Aussie attitude. When he heard Wish was receiving his first ever DIW Title match, he had to swing by and wish him good luck, demanding that he left it all in the ring like he always did. East Side Assassin was one gifted off-the-cuff speaker, but I maintain that none of this made much sense to me. Why do such a high-profile endorsement in such an unpublicised way, and get a great talker and character with DIW history in for an appearance without giving him something meatier and more exciting to do? Australian Title: Hendrix Hughes v Con McReady (c) No Hughes promo before the match felt like a missed opportunity, with the focus instead on the fact that Seth Wish, around half an hour before the biggest match of his career, was in McReady’s corner, with no sign of Dexter Mattell or The Benchmark, proof it seemed that the Australian Champion had picked his side. The action was solid but unspectacular. Wish’s presence and The Pros’ drama elevated it beyond what it likely would’ve been in isolation, with that inevitably feeding into the finish too. Hughes had McReady down and signalled for the Triple H (Hendrix Hughes Hotdog). Wish slid into the ring almost apologetically, not particularly keen to screw Hughes over but wanting to have his friend’s back, being hit with the Triple H for his troubles. It gave McReady the opening he needed to catch Hughes with his Iron Fist and retain. Death Ref had collared Markus Rush to witness Ares Death Cult congratulating Bryant Hall on his win. He looked every bit The Final Boss as he soaked in his stablemates’ acclaim. Death Ref also drew attention to there having been two tag matches earlier in the night and the need for The Barbarians to fight on DIW’s next major card. This felt a bit out of place, but Lloyd Banks had been very unfortunate not to feature on a big show yet this year given his contribution in 2023, so at least it looked like this was being addressed. Hack The Hunter v Pat Rigsby The big question after months out of action and promoting himself as such a well-adjusted member of society and example to others was whether Rigsby had outgrown the need to troll his opponents, and the answer was no. The second the bell rang, he asked Hack what the weather was like up there, calling him a big freak. When Hack feigned to punch him in response, Rigsby got such a fright that he ran out of the ring, disgusting The Comedian who said this bloke had begged him for a match for weeks and that was how he chose to start it. This set the tone for a short match in which Rigsby continued to try to evade the new arrival, with some success initially, before eventually getting caught and hit with a flurry of crowd-pleasing power moves, culminating in an Epic Side Suplex for the win. The crowd weren’t into Rigsby, who appeared to attract more of a following online than in DIW House, but they were buzzing come the finish. From the big heavyweight addition to the roster, it was time for a main event between DIW’s two smallest wrestlers. We called on Markus Rush for a glimpse of them preparing to enter and saw The Benchmark approach Dexter Mattell, signalling they would accompany him to ringside. Australian Champion Con McReady was with Seth Wish as his music hit, meaning every original member of The Pros would be involved. DIW Title: Seth Wish v Dexter Mattell (c) The Comedian combatted my dismissal of Wish’s chances of beating Mattell with broken fingers on each hand by referencing his recent victory over Chopper Rourke, so I revelled in pointing out that he wouldn’t enjoy the speed and stamina advantage he had over Rourke against Mattell. All he had was heart and that wouldn’t be enough to dethrone the DIW Champion. My prediction looked more like a spoiler for an opening five minutes that were more like a squash match, with the champion using his technical prowess to ground and wear down his challenger. However, Wish fought his way into the battle through a combination of gutsiness, disregard for his own body and resourcefulness, using his forearms, elbows, feet, knees and even his head a few times where his hands failed him. One particularly hot run ended in him hitting Dust In The Wind on Mattell, only for Rusty Mills to pull Tatum Richards out of the ring, with The Benchmark both heading in there to put boots into Wish. Con McReady appeared to hesitate before grabbing his cane and heading inside, swinging and taking down both Mills and Donovan Boon. With Mattell still recovering, The Wild Things and The Benchmark got into a mini-match of their own. As this was going on, Mattell crawled outside for his DIW Title. As he returned to the ring and geared up to use it, a masked man entered from the crowd. It was Kobra Khan, but wearing a different mask to the one Mattell ripped off him recently: less playful, adorned with small spikes and a fiercer shadow around the eyes and mouth. He ripped the DIW Title out of Mattell’s hands, only to charge at Wish and strike him between the eyes. Before McReady could react, he ate a Double Down from The Benchmark. Mattell didn’t skip a beat, hitting Wish with his own Dust In The Wind, dropping his face onto the DIW Title, and covering him for the three count. Con McReady recovered to see Kobra Khan celebrating with Dexter Mattell, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills, but they cut the festivities short to round on him. First, The Benchmark landed another Double Down, then Mattell locked in the STF. Seth Wish was back up and tried to save his partner, only to be caught by Kobra Khan’s Ripcord Knee and a Double Down. Mattell and The Benchmark then dragged McReady up to give Kobra Khan the glory of hitting a Ripcord Knee on the man he was seemingly replacing in The Pros. With the quartet standing tall and Wish and McReady thoroughly beaten, I declared that The Pros had cut the dead weight and unveiled their most dominant line-up yet. ---------- It seems it wasn't quite as predictable as Havoc at least, though I realise that can also be a sign of erratic booking 😅 I think @DinoKea and @Satyr24 scored 5, @John Lions and @Tiberious got 4, @HiPlus had 3 and @AboardTheArk and @KyTeran were on 2. Apologies again for the lack of prizes, but I promise I factor all comments and feedbacks into plans wherever possible. I liked how @Tiberious and @John Lions pieced together the main event finish between you, with @Tiberious correctly identifying that Con McReady's suspicious behaviour was intended as a ruse, and @John Lions suspecting that Kobra Khan might have a problem with Seth Wish becoming champion. Everyone's analysis of the booking was so on point though, from feeling like Bryant Hall needed another big win to establish himself to fearing Lorenzo Oliverio isn't popular enough yet to put over The Barracudas, so a huge thanks for everyone's input.

Thanks @HiPlus. This is the Massacre 2024 card, though I'm afraid I haven't really got any prizes or anything to offer as I'm a bit further down the road already, so totally understand if that puts people off sharing their thoughts: MASSACRE 2024 DIW Title: Seth Wish v Dexter Mattell (c) Tag Titles: Rob Edwards and Wrecker v The Benchmark (c) Australian Title: Hendrix Hughes v Con McReady (c) Cage Match: Milton Hittlespitz v Bryant Hall The Barracudas v The Street Stallions Hack The Hunter v Pat Rigsby Part 68: The morning of Massacre Unlike the early days when it was more of a necessity, I hadn’t noticed The Comedian do any media since I’d joined DIW. However, he had an interview in the Maitland Mercury on the morning of Massacre with the headline “We’ll keep running weekly shows until they take us off air”. That soundbite came from a question about DIW’s dealings with WrestleWorld Australia. He confirmed that he was still signing agreements for a few months at a time, but he didn’t like getting cheap pops by grabbing a microphone at every major show and announcing another eight episodes, so he wanted fans to know the plan was to keep running weekly shows until they got taken off air. I suspect the phrasing was deliberate, so that if the time came when DIW could no longer run weekly programming, they could brand it as being too extreme for the format, rather than it being a matter of show quality, production values or running out of money. He was telling his fans what they wanted to hear. In the interview, he attributed DIW’s recent growth, getting a streaming deal and seeing attendance and viewership steadily rise, to an increasing number of Aussie wrestling fans crying out for an alternative to the crap RAW served them up, and DIW being the only company they could trust to give it to them. He used the demise of Athletic Empire as proof that everyone had a price for selling out to RAW except him. He claimed CEW would do the same thing AE did, whereas people knew he’d rather burn his own company to the ground than allow it to prop that soap opera up. Turning to Massacre, he stuck to kayfabe in saying he wasn’t too fond of his company’s current champions, but proper homegrown stars were stepping up to challenge them. Seth Wish was receiving his first ever DIW Title shot after doing something all DIW fans related to in fighting back instead of being held back. The Comedian identified Tag Title contenders Rob Edwards and Wrecker and Australian Title challenger Hendrix Hughes as also possessing the attitude, fearlessness and quality typical of his company. He added that people tuned into DIW to see hungry young stars, not actors who failed their RAW auditions. A Massacre poster was to the left of this article, leading on Wish v Dexter Mattell for the DIW Title, followed by Edwards and Wrecker v The Benchmark for the Tag Titles, Hughes v Con McReady for the Australian Title, Milton Hittlespitz v Bryant Hall in a cage match, The Barracudas v The Street Stallions and newcomer Hack The Hunter v Pat Rigsby. I think it was a comparable card to Havoc in April: the Havoc build was probably a bit cleaner and more complete, whereas the Massacre results were perhaps a little more uncertain because of the dysfunction surrounding The Pros. Wish v Mattell appeared likely to main event as it had been billed as such on To The Extreme as well as on the poster, but I was most intrigued by where the Tag Title match would be placed. Any bout featuring Edwards, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills was likely to be match of the night, so it would be a tough task for whoever had to follow it.

Sydney's Finest I was surprised to see Peril is now the joint-most over wrestler in the company ahead of Lone Rider and the others in the Australian Title picture. It goes to show the fans are on board with the push you've given yourself, rather than the booker elevating himself higher than anyone wants to see him. You know things are going well when even the thrown together match scores a 48. I like that you're turning the tag match you forgot about into an angle rather than just disregarding it. And wow, Blackwell Bush taking the company to new heights two shows in a row. I've never had a chance to use him before, but I'm very much believing the hype at this stage. Fully Loaded I like that Bush has a chance to shine at Final Chapter after his recent great form, and a nice simple angle to add extra stakes to the match. Good stuff with Dizzy G: first in selling the impact of his downturn in fortune, and then Toasty Bonnar's return coming at the perfect time to give you another attractive Final Chapter undercard match. Peril v Vortex too: we're eating good that night. As you say, unfortunate for Kipper and Cross to not get to main event after such a long build, but ultimately a positive that you've got so much going on at the hottest part of the year that you didn't need them in that spot. It probably made sense for Cross to win as the one with more years ahead of him, and the post-match has me wondering if we could see them challenge the Devoted Souls in future. I love how unpredictable the main event felt. I initially thought McGhee was just a bump in the road for Lone Rider, but the unbeaten record, the Devoted Souls taking all the gold and finding out he was more over than Lone Rider all created the sense this could go either way. I'm just sorry for you that they both had an off-day to not get the rating the build deserved, but better that it happened on this show than at Final Chapter I guess. Final Chapter thoughts All three title matches carry an air of unpredictability to me. You wouldn't expect Lone Rider to lose the title immediately after regaining it, but Cross' rematch story has been around a year in the making, and he went through a long rivalry just to earn it, so I don't think he can be discounted. Likewise, I get Vortex being a popular pick for the Sydney Championship after the hype he's received (and Peril pulling double duty would protect him in defeat). however, I think there's enough mystique and story around Vortex to have losing his debut add to his aura where it could instantly undermine others so, with Peril unbeaten and so over, I think he could retain. Then with the Tag Titles, nobody has been on Devoted Souls' level yet, and there's that possibility of Kipper and Cross as future challengers, but this is the reign I think might be in most jeopardy. Peril has double duty, McGhee may be in a bad headspace after his first loss and they face an unbeaten team. As the Tag Titles have never changed hands, this is the perfect stage for history to be made on. I don't think you can go wrong either way though, as extending a record run and keeping the gold on your most popular act, with Wild Youth's story still to play out, is certainly an attractive option too. It should be a great show.

@John Lions Thanks as always. Hack's going to start out fairly laid back to play off his natural personality and strike a contrast with our other heavyweights, but you're right that he has the size and attributes for a vicious manhunter role if the right circumstances arise. @AboardTheArk That's really kind of you to say. SQ's about to channel my concerns with that episode, but I'm pleased if it still felt some coherent despite its shortcomings. Really grateful for your support since the very start. Part 67: Getting lost while going home Rewatching To The Extreme episode 24, which was apparently Lori’s 50th show as booker, on WrestleWorld Australia reinforced my belief it was the strangest go-home show I’d ever seen. The Australian Title holder and challenger weren’t there besides a Con McReady video call cameo at the start, and Tag Team Champions The Benchmark were also absent. Indeed, no Massacre opponents got into any physicality with one another during the episode and Seth Wish and Dexter Mattell were the only combination who were even both on the show. I got the key reason for the approach Lori had taken – that withholding McReady, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills in particular created as much ambiguity as possible about the state of The Pros heading into their title defences, but it was still a pretty out-there choice. The closing moments before Havoc 2024 were a five-on-five brawl between The Pros and their opponents, ten of DIW’s main men. Here, there was no big fight to end the show, and instead the rather random situation of Chopper Rourke’s presence putting Mattell off confronting Wish. You had the Tag Title challengers making their debut as a duo two days before taking on The Benchmark, Milton Hittlespitz being taken out by Lloyd Banks, who wasn’t even on the Massacre card, and then a second go-home main event flop of the year. At least Mattell and Seb Shaw had the excuse of a concussion when their Hardcore Heatwave 2024 lead-in bombed. Wish and Rourke were set up to fail really. They’d already shown last month that they lacked chemistry as opponents, and the match was far too long for Rourke’s current physical condition. But Lori had clearly decided that Wish needed to get that win back and be seen slaying a former DIW Champion before Massacre, so she pressed ahead despite the flaws. In her defence, the finishing sequence was effective in getting Wish over and the crowd reaction suggested she succeeded in her apparent mission to establish him as a major star before his DIW Title challenge. She may therefore feel that what came before was justified, if that was the main objective of the episode and the image she wanted everyone to see at its conclusion. Oh, I almost missed out the weirdest part, as it wasn’t on the WrestleWorld Australia broadcast. Former two-time DIW Champion and current Canadian Charisma Championship Combat owner East Side Assassin, also known as Sayeed Ali, made an unannounced live appearance after the main event, giving an endorsement to Wish, who he’d worked with in both companies. From what I pieced together talking to The Comedian and Lori, the boss arranged to meet Ali while he was visiting Sydney. Lori suggested sorting transport to bring him to a show, a luxury The Comedian rarely stretched to, and apparently she was even going to try talking him into putting Wish over at the taping if Rourke had resisted. It was lucky for her that he hadn’t, as I’m not sure Ali would’ve agreed to such a job with no build, however much he rated Wish. Anyway, in summary, if To The Extreme episode 24’s purpose was to provide a route home, DIW made it pretty easy to get lost on that journey. However, there was a decent card at the end of it all, which I’ll break down in a summary on the morning of the show, just in case anything was added at the last minute.

Thanks for replying @FellaLibby and @juan_historico. That's cool they've been able to keep Rob Edwards on top for so long in the first save, and interesting about the AE raid in the second. It was 2024 that AE died in my save too. @lavelleuk It's great that the game world unfolds so differently in every save. That can't have been easy to achieve with such a vast database, where each change you make must have a lot of side effects. Interesting about it being female graduate dependent too: I think that variance is probably a good thing on balance as it adds to the variety. Likewise, smaller companies bankrupting themselves through stupidity must be frustrating as a mod maker without the tools to stop it, but I guess it is something that happens a lot in the real world too.

Part 66: To The Extreme #24 The episode started with Markus Rush, who reported that DIW Champion Dexter Mattell was in DIW House but there was no sign of The Benchmark or Con McReady, with doubts as to where loyalties laid before Mattell faced ex-Pro Seth Wish at Massacre. Rush’s phone rang at this point and he was going to ignore it until noticing it was a video call from McReady. The Australian Champion said he was at a family function but there shouldn’t be any doubts over his loyalty. It was with Wish and in truth it always was, but any remaining doubts were answered last week when he was politicked into a stupid match and left alone by Mattell and The Benchmark. Wish wouldn’t have done that, and he’d be in his corner in two days when he became DIW Champion. Rob Edwards and Wrecker v Saracens (Cueball and Tank) The opener of the Havoc go-home show saw Saracens face Dexter Mattell and Seth Wish – look how that team are doing now – and here they were providing a test for another unproven duo. Edwards and Wrecker didn’t display much teamwork – no double-team moves, no obvious coordinated strategy – but there was no friction either as they took turns to showcase their solo offence, with Wrecker landing the decisive blow with a Bulldozer Elbow to Tank. Markus Rush was with The Barracudas and, though Chopper Rourke in theory was a more interesting subject ahead of his main event with Seth Wish, Rush knew from experience he’d get more out of Vaughan, so directed his questions at the biggest Barracuda. Vaughan said it was a bit of a taboo as everyone seemed to like Switchblade, but D.O.A. had always been a gronk who was well overdue a choking, and he would finally get it when The Barracudas took on The Street Stallions at Massacre. I guess this was just a way to confirm that match, nothing spectacular, which I was kind of relieved about as I wasn’t sure where the Switchblade mention was going. I introduced an interview I’d conducted earlier in the day with Pat Rigsby, ahead of his Massacre match with newcomer Hack The Hunter. Rigsby said when he first heard he’d be in the ring with a hack at Massacre, he figured it was a sit-down with Markus Rush, whereas he preferred talking to a man of distinction like Sean Quartermainne. Before I could thank him, he publicised that I was married, so I got where he was coming from. I asked about his ring rust after two months without a match, or preparing for a larger opponent, but he found a way to switch every subject back to his successful personal life. Did I know he was one of only three married DIW wrestlers? He wanted to be an inspiration to the incels in the crowd and the locker room, to show them it was possible to wrestle in a regressive place like DIW but still have fulfilling social and family lives. He pressed me on whether I found it crazy that The Comedian didn’t see value in someone like him as a role model to all the reprobates in DIW House, but by this point The Comedian said enough with this crap, cutting the footage on the basis that it was time for the next match. Falls Count Anywhere: Milton Hittlespitz v Psych Ward Technically, every DIW bout besides Hittlespitz’s cage match against Bryant Hall at Massacre was falls count anywhere. However, I guess the idea on putting emphasis on this being a fight around the building was to strike a contrast between the two environments, and perhaps also to test the performance of the inexpensive-looking screen above the entranceway in DIW House. The fans didn’t turn on the action, so I guess they had a decent enough view of a brawl that started in the entranceway, very briefly entered the crowd, but mostly took part in the corridors in the back. There was even a brief shot of Classy Paul Massey talking to fellow New Zealander John Temperance, who fought in the previous episode, in the background that probably wasn’t meant to make air, and marked the road agent’s first on-screen appearance. The finish saw them scale some lockers, with Hittlespitz managing to push his larger opponent off and through a nearby table, following up with a Flying Knee Drop off the lockers for the three count. Before Tatum Richards had a chance to raise Milton Hittlespitz’s hand, he was jumped by another member of Ares Death Cult, Lloyd Banks, who proceeded to piledrive Crazy Blue onto the hard floor of the corridor, before helping Psych Ward up and out of the building. Seemingly whenever Milton Hittlespitz was suffering, Dexter Mattell wasn’t far away, and sure enough he was also in the back for an interview with Markus Rush, who asked the DIW Champion for his thoughts on facing Seth Wish in two days at Massacre. He said his thoughts were that maybe he should apologise to The Comedian for giving him an impossible main event to promote. He made Wish relevant as a favour to Con McReady and he handed him this match that DIW would never have given Wish on merit to punish his disloyalty. At least amateurs like Rob Edwards and Hittlespitz were multi-time DIW Champions, so idiots would buy tickets thinking there was a chance they might beat Mattell. But just like Kobra Khan a few weeks ago, nobody gave Wish a hope at Massacre, so it was just going to be an embarrassing spectacle for DIW. Rush pointed out that Wish had managed to get the better of Mattell two weeks ago, a comment the champion didn’t appreciate, claiming even a blind man could take someone down if the other person didn’t know they were there. Rush asked if he would be watching Wish’s match with Chopper Rourke, to which Raw Sex responded that Wish’s matches were hard enough to watch when he was able to throw punches, so he dreaded to think how grotesque a spectacle seeing him fight with no hands would be. I’m not sure that closing line was the best way to sell a main event and major show: effectively saying come here and watch the freakshow. Seth Wish v Chopper Rourke Wish had three weapons to counteract Rourke’s size and health advantage: superior speed, stamina and a willingness to throw himself off the ropes and turnbuckle to get more momentum behind his attacks, effectively using his body as a weapon. Still, this match was much more about his heart than his moveset, with Rourke in control for two-thirds of the contest, but Wish continuing to get his shoulders off the mat. The ending saw Wish evade Rourke’s attempt to charge at him, sending him crashing into the turnbuckle. Rourke avoided the rough landing Seb Shaw suffered in that same corner at this exact moment four months ago, but he did walk straight into Dust In The Wind when he got himself off the mat. Wish sold that having to wrap his arms around Rourke’s large frame to execute the move had affected his damaged fingers, but fought through to hit another Dust In The Wind and score what would’ve been an upset pinfall, were it not so obvious that the point of the match was to put Wish over a former DIW Champion. Seth Wish was still on his knees recovering from the beating he’d taken in victory when Dexter Mattell appeared by the entrance. The DIW Champion started moving towards the ring but Chopper Rourke, making his exit, stood between Mattell and his Massacre challenger, causing Raw Sex to rethink his plans. The Comedian pointed out how timid the champ was without any Pros to back him up, while I excused his retreat by saying he had simply given Wish a chance of making it to Massacre, but he had no chance of pulling off two miracle wins in three days there.

SHA are still hanging in there in August 2024 of my save. Athletic Empire were the first Australian promotion to fall, with Luxe now in a bad way. I've only got Oceania loaded though, so I'm not sure if that affects the dynamics in any way. Nice work @FellaLibby and @juan_historico. Who are DIW's current title holders in those saves?

I love The Luck of the Draw Scramble. When I tried out 2022 CGC, I wasn't sure if there was any Luck of the Draw lore for what was meant to happen, so I went with a random-draw eight-man tournament to crown the WrestleFestival challenger. But this scramble fits the luck theme so much better: you just need one great performance to get the dream ticket. And I love the execution of having a different entrant drawn each week to build up maximum suspense for who might be going to WrestleFestival. Plenty of fun stuff on this show as always, but I think it was the Drake Young role and Canadian Chaos story that intrigued me most.

Like @HiPlus said, the richness and depth of the Muerte story is aspirational, both the backstory and how you then played it out. Just a shame those WCW fans were so unappreciative.

Part 65: Content cramming Firstly, a quick summary of To The Extreme episode 23. The most important parts hit: Seth Wish delivered the best promo I’d seen from him right when he needed to, the main event was a rare opportunity to put six of DIW’s brightest talents in the ring at the same time and they didn’t disappoint, and the fragility of various alliances was laid bare. However, it was very chaotic: lots of different interviews, videos and overheard conversations, a sense of Lori trying to cram as much story as possible into a limited space to get everything she needed in place for Massacre. Perhaps that frenetic energy suited DIW and their core fanbase and provided the tight hour of action that WrestleWorld Australia subscribers were looking for on a Wednesday night (14,971 made this the show’s highest viewership yet). It was an adjustment for me and I thought I’d seen pretty much everything in my 31+ years in the business. The go-home show was even stranger but, as always with the taped episodes, I’ll watch it back on WrestleWorld Australia before breaking it down. Maybe it will make more sense on playback. I can let you know the card though. As revealed on the previous episode, Seth Wish had asked for a rematch with Chopper Rourke and Milton Hittlespitz had challenged an Ares Death Cult member to fight around the building, with Psych Ward stepping up. Meanwhile, Rob Edwards and Wrecker were debuting as a team against Saracens two days before their all-or-nothing Tag Title match with The Benchmark, as you do. The Massacre line-up was pretty much set too: Seth Wish v Dexter Mattell for the DIW Title, Rob Edwards and Wrecker v The Benchmark for the Tag Titles, Hendrix Hughes v Con McReady for the Australian Title, Milton Hittlespitz v Bryant Hall in a cage and Hack The Hunter v Pat Rigsby. Expect a singles or tag match involving The Barracudas and The Street Stallions to be added too. Just to overload this update as much as Lori had congested that To The Extreme episode, I’ll end on some non-DIW news. My former two-time APW Commonwealth Champion Maurice Jackson had joined CEW following the fall of Athletic Empire, a deal which I believe made him only the third wrestler to work for each of what until recently was Aussie wrestling’s big three of RAW, AE and CEW. Turner Crash and Kerry Wayne had completed the same hat-trick in the last year. Well, perhaps it was DIW-related news if you regard it as vindication of my theory that AE’s demise enhancing the free agent pool would temporarily distract CEW from raiding The Comedian’s crew.

I love all the detail to the origin story: the Why We Fight documentary crew, starting with Lone Rider v Lone Rider and spinning it off into a dream tag match similar to what happened with the Rhodes in AEW, and using the finish of that show to debut a dominant new group, and it seems like the creativity and growth never let up from there. The World Cup concept and execution sounds great too.

Part 64: To The Extreme #23 Seth Wish started the show by saying it had been a crazy few weeks huh. He said last year was the first time in his life he’d felt fully in control. He realised he wanted more than just being seen as a lovable underdog, so he called up Con McReady, grabbed a cane, swung his way into a big match with Milton Hittlespitz and started being taken seriously. Dexter Mattell had taken that control from him. He started fighting Mattell’s battles without any thanks and losing everything that not just he but The Wild Things had built for themselves. So, just like last year, he swung his cane and regained control. Things hadn’t worked out as he expected: firstly, Mattell stopped him swinging that cane by breaking three of his fingers, but it wasn’t all bad. He had a DIW Title match that he hadn’t seen coming. And not just any DIW Title match. DIW headed to Canberra every July, so Massacre was his chance to return home as DIW Champion. He knew not everyone believed in him yet, and that was okay. His family and friends believed in him, especially McReady, but he hadn’t given everyone else enough reason to…yet. He was going to fix that next week though by challenging a former DIW Champion and beating them, hands or no hands. Wish said that losing to Chopper Rourke last month was the wake-up call he needed, but now he wanted to put that record straight, and prove that he belonged in the ring with DIW Champions. Brains and Brawn (Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee) v The Street Stallions (D.O.A. and Lorenzo Oliverio) I tried to put over The Street Stallions’ name on commentary, explaining that Oliverio is known as The Italian Stallion, while their street smarts were beyond the rest of the DIW locker room. I’d seen Oliverio once before in SHA, where he was playing a cowardly heel, but he was treated as a more serious threat here, admittedly against lower-card opponents, drawing heat with his hot-headedness instead, something I’d heard wasn’t exclusive to the ring. This was a showcase for the new team and they achieved victory when Oliverio hit Lee with a Back Stabber. A hype video was shown for Hack The Hunter, with camera angles and graphics emphasising his 6ft 7in, 360lb frame. He said he had been drawn to DIW by the fact it’s a place of opportunity: somewhere where even the two smallest blokes on the roster can main event a major show. But he knew DIW fans liked their big heavyweights too and he was ready to give them something meaty to feast on at Massacre. When the camera cut back to us on commentary, The Comedian said he hoped Pat Rigsby would be happy with the opponent he’d found for him. Markus Rush introduced footage he’d been sent by Ares Death Cult. Lori was hyping Bryant Hall up for his cage match with Milton Hittlespitz at Massacre. She spoke about how Ares Death Cult had never lost inside a cage. Her own experience of single-handedly beating a much larger opponent in one, Momoe Hamuera, gave her a unique insight into Hittlespitz’s strategy, so she would break down the tape to ensure no surprise loss for The Final Boss. Reminding everyone of Lori’s cage win was easy heat, but the tone felt too light-hearted for the brooding Ares Death Cult. Incidentally, I’m fairly sure this was the first reference to Lori beating Hamuera since the match last December, so I guess she was confident the disgust that result generated had passed. Markus Rush was pacing as the Ares Death Cult segment ended, alerting his cameraman of raised voices he could hear nearby. Con McReady was asking The Benchmark where the hell Dexter Mattell was and what the deal was with this six-man match tonight against Rob Edwards, Wrecker and Hendrix Hughes. Rusty Mills said Mattell was taking care of essential Pros business, but the match was the DIW Champion’s idea to remind anyone who dared to doubt them how dominant they were. McReady asked why they thought he wanted to team with them after what they did to Seth Wish, who would be in his corner tonight if he was teaming up with any other two blokes on the roster. Mills started to reason that surely he’d like to put Hughes in his place after giving him an Australian Title shot so easily. That seemed to antagonise McReady more, but Donovan Boon silenced his fellow Pros, having noticed the camera around the corner. Rick Horn v John Temperance We were finally back at ringside after the longest break from in-ring action I could remember since working for DIW. The Comedian filled in the gap that this match was happening because Horn took his opportunity as an outsider to earn his spot in DIW, and he wanted to extend that chance to someone else. I guess he either wasn’t trusted enough on the microphone yet or Lori didn’t think she could fit in another promo. Temperance was a young brawler who had been with Athletic Empire before their demise, albeit almost exclusively on the pre-show. He put on a decent performance and a crimson mask in this weapon-heavy match, but it was Horn celebrating his first win in a while with the John Deere Destroyer. Markus Rush had caught Hendrix Hughes and Wrecker in conversation. Hughes was saying he only liked teaming with Seb Shaw and Wrecker, the third Badass MFer, so he didn’t know how he kept winding up in these multi-man situations. At this point, he noticed the camera and Rush started to back off, but Hughes told him to come over as he never said anything to anyone that he wasn’t willing to say to the world. Hughes asked Wrecker if he really thought they could trust Rob Edwards. Wrecker said he wasn’t sure about trusting the man, but the one thing he did trust was that he wanted to punish The Pros as much as they did, and that was enough for him. The Pros made their way out for the main event, with Con McReady entering separately to The Benchmark. Before their opponents arrived, The Comedian received word that Markus Rush had found someone else to speak to. I quipped that he should be being paid more than the main eventers for the shift he was putting in on this show. It was Milton Hittlespitz, who said he’d heard what Ares Death Cult said earlier and he still wasn’t scared. The only truth Lori spoke was that he was going to be caged at Massacre, so for that reason he was going to make sure he was uncaged next week, challenging any member of Ares Death Cult to a fight all over DIW House. Hendrix Hughes, Rob Edwards and Wrecker v The Pros (Con McReady, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills) The pre-match hype was about whether either team could coexist, and the reality was that almost everyone fought for themselves, and at a pace and ferocity that not many others on the roster could match. The finish saw The Pros’ fractures seemingly take a physical form as Boon and Mills allowed themselves to be dragged into brawling up the entranceway and into the crowd respectively by Edwards and Wrecker, leaving a visibly frustrated McReady alone with Hughes. The Australian Champion brought his cane to the battle but got caught when he swung it and dropped by the Triple H (the Hendrix Hughes Hotdog). The show ended with a fairly clean pinfall for the challenger over the champion, which I noted in shock was the first time The Pros had ever lost a multi-man match. Unbiased announcer The Comedian impartially declared that with a bit of luck all of those clowns would be pinned for their titles at Massacre.

Delighted to see @HiPlus' SZW - Sydney Zone Wrestling and @Voeltzwagon's FCW: Freedom of Expansion already nominated: two very entertaining dynasties that have also served up so much new material throughout September 👏 Adding a few further nominations below from the dynasties I've followed closest this month. Apologies for those I've missed. There are many more dynasties that intrigue me that I hope to be able to properly check out in October, I've just had less free time recently. C-Verse/Fictional CGC: From The Ground by @AboardTheArk The Outlaw Mudshow Or Peter Valentine's Redemption... by @willr0ck Showcase Storyline: The Devoted Souls win all the gold in SZW - Sydney Zone Wrestling by @HiPlus Character: Peter Valentine in The Outlaw Mudshow Or Peter Valentine's Redemption... by @willr0ck Angle: Kane helps Undertaker fight off DX in WWF: The Monday Night Wars by @Bigelow Cartwheel Match: Xavi Ferrera v Rudy Velasquez @ The FREEDOM Movement in FCW: Freedom of Expansion by @Voeltzwagon Event: CGC Elimination XVII in CGC: From The Ground by @AboardTheArk Finally, there's probably not a nomination category for this, but a massive shoutout to the people who, without having active dynasties of their own to promote, regularly post analysis, feedback, ideas and predictions or like posts ( @Tiberious @John Lions @DinoKea and @KyTeran are a few that come to mind). I believe your contribution plays a huge part in encouraging dynasty writers to keep going, so just wanted to make sure you know you're appreciated. Likewise @Togg for managing all these threads.

@HiPlus My favourite thing about Dexter Mattell turning the undercard one-by-one against Rob Edwards is that the game is gaslighting Lori by still listing him as an "extremely positive influence", despite being pretty much the only person creating any trouble right now, and doing so at the expense of DIW's greatest asset. @AboardTheArk You were right to highlight Lorenzo Oliverio's charisma: he's 72 for that and 67 for microphone so, as he's our least known roster member in NSW, I'll probably need to tap into that to help establish him. He was a short-notice hire when Mr. Blitz left as I prioritised finding someone who might fit what I had planned for him, so this is an added bonus. In terms of what Oliverio's been up to in this mod and save compared to the default database @HiPlus, he was with Shocking Hardcore Action from late 2017 to late 2022, winning their midcard Hardcore Title twice, but has worked a pretty limited indy schedule since then. Part 63: Damaged digits Seth Wish’s return two weeks on from the vicious assault on his hands at the hands of Dexter Mattell, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills had been well executed. Finding a way to get the better of the DIW Champion despite his injuries made him look tough, and Rob Edwards and Wrecker negating The Benchmark sold the idea that The Pros’ numerical advantage was under threat with Wish out and Con McReady’s loyalties unclear. However, I wondered if Lori might live to regret the finger-breaking angle. It had been effective in showing a more violent edge to The Pros, clarifying that there was no going back for Wish and making him suffer to win back the crowd similar to Edwards at the start of the year. So what was the problem? Wish wasn’t fully established yet as DIW Title material so, if fans were already sceptical of his chances, what hope would they deem him to have without full use of his hands, assuming Lori stayed true to medical timelines and didn’t have his injuries heal before Massacre? Was the deck too stacked for him to be seen as standing a chance, and would this affect attendance and viewership given his status as an unproven main-event draw? Just as I was concerned that the Wish-Pros separation had been rushed, leaving weeks of tension-teasing television on the table, I had similar concerns about the Edwards and Wrecker pairing. They hadn’t even started as a team and they’d already agreed to a stipulation that if they didn’t dethrone The Benchmark at the first attempt, that was it for them as a duo. I saw the logic in the stipulation, given bringing down The Pros was their sole motivation for uniting. Still, it felt like there was a story to be told of them learning to trust each other and adjusting to one another in and out of the ring before the big blow-off match, rather than it all coming together in the final few hours before Massacre. There was going to be a chance to see them team up before the title match at least, because the main event announced for To The Extreme episode 23 saw Edwards, Wrecker and Hendrix Hughes facing Boon, Mills and McReady. The focus was likely to be on whether the Australian Champion coexisted with the Tag Team Champions after their brutality towards his best friend Wish. Another new team debut promised for the show was D.O.A. and Lorenzo Oliverio, apparently billed as The Street Stallions, taking on Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee, who I still disliked having to call Brains and Brawn. It was also revealed that The Comedian had granted Seth Wish talking time at the top of the hour to address the Massacre main event. This was a novelty as The Comedian rarely liked talk-heavy show openings and I’m not sure Wish had ever done a solo in-ring promo before.