HXRRXR Professional Wrestling | A Wrestling At War Diary

AURELIA · September 24, 2021

An Introduction | Doyle McCray

Yokusuka, Kanagawa, Japan | Thursday, Week 4. August 1995.

Who is Doyle McCray? That's a question that I'd be willing to bet at least... one hundred percent of wrestling fans would ask, if they ever heard his name in the first place. You might have seen him running around in the background during various shows in the Great Lakes area, working ring crew at Second City Wrestling and Hoosier Wrestling Association. He's even been as far out to the Mid Atlantic and Tri State areas, working merch at the United States Wrestling Association and doing a little bit of everything at New York Wrestling Federation.

Doyle's a guy who loves the business, dipping his toes in and trying to help out however he can over the years. Initially finding work by just showing up, then eventually word of mouth, and finally leading to him securing a few part time gigs. However, it wasn't until working a few shows with Wrestling Association Revolución in Puerto Rico that things started to really pick up for him.

Eventually much like most of his other jobs, he found himself being recommended to the team over at Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling who have a working relationship with Wrestling Association Revolución. He was lucky enough to end up working in Japan, working one of the FMW Tours.

Doyle McCray was just some dude living in a shitty apartment in Chicago, and not only has he gotten to travel to another country, he's seeing some of the best professional wrestling he's ever seen. And while he had been entertained and surprised by the kind of hardcore wrestling he's seen over at WAR, he was speechless after watching the action over at FMW.

On the last day of the tour, still in awe over the unique blend of professional wrestling styles. He took a moment to take it all in, as he thought to himself...

"Man, I'm gonna miss this. We don't have anything like this back home."

And in that moment, he got a totally ****ing crazy idea.

</div>

<div style="padding: 5px; border: 2px solid #242424; margin:10px;background: #c7c7c7; max-width:60%;box-shadow: 0 6px 12px ";">Author's Note: Just a note for those who may be confused, this story takes place in the fantastic alternate reality world mod built by OGpistolpete on the greydogsoftware forums entitled "Wrestling At War"

Below is a quick summary taken from the thread,

Wrestling At War is a TEW2020 mod that begins in January, 1996. The world of wrestling is very different from what it became. Hulk Hogan remained with the AWA through its formation of World Star Wrestling. Instead of “Hulkamania”, this world experienced “Macho Madness” that swept the nation. Vince McMahon built the WWF on the shoulders of his superstar, Randy Savage, while Jim Crockett and the rest of the southern NWA stronghold responded by centralizing earlier on in the 1980’s.To the north, Verne Gagne’s AWA and Stu Hart’s Calgary territory joined forces to plant their stamp in Chicago, IL and the surrounding Great Lakes region as the predominant wrestling promotion known as World Star Wrestling. And the remaining combatants of the old Memphis and Mid-South found refuge, and potential coup, with the United States Wrestling Association. The industry changed forever in 1993, when Vince McMahon was convicted in his steroid trail of 1993, and would face an objectively horrible sentence. To serve time for the next seven-years, the WWF would crumble in the wake of fallout. Not only that, but 23-year old Shane McMahon was now in charge, and soon found controversy when he screwed frontman Shawn Michaels out of the WWF Championship while Michaels was on his way out from the WWF to join the upstart HCW in what has become known as “The Baltimore Screwjob”. In 1994, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman formed the foundation of Hollywood Championship Wrestling, the new primetime promotion owned by FOX, live on FOX, every Monday Night. McMahon and the WWF have found shelter with MTV, and have perhaps found a savior in a man named Paul Heyman and his new “attitude era”.

I've taken this fascinating mod and went "man, what if I did an ECW style fed? maybe I'll give something like that a shot!" and here we are.</div>

AURELIA · September 24, 2021

"Hey man, I've got an idea." | Introducing... "Spider"

Chicago, IL | Saturday, Week 2. September 1995.

As soon as he returned home to Chicago, Doyle McCray got on the phone and called up his best friend, telling him to come over immediately. The two of them sat down with a case of beer and Doyle got right to the point.

"Hear me out, hear me out. I'm thinking about starting up a wrestling company." Said Doyle, somewhat nervous but with a smile on his face.

His friend looked at him for a moment, then put a hand up to his chin and thought about it. Doyle was on the edge of his seat, motioning for him to respond already. Then suddenly, he perked up.

"That's a ****ing dumb idea, Doyle." He said, laughing as he shook his head.

A small argument started, Doyle pointing out that the guy who prefers to be called Spider instead of his real name had no right to be calling any idea of his "dumb". Spider has been Doyle's friend since high school, somebody that has been with him through the best and the worst times of his life.

Spider is more of the class clown, a fun loving guy that loves to drink and party. Doyle likes to have his fun too, but he's the kind of guy who knows his limits and knows when to take things seriously. But together they work pretty well, they've got a fun dynamic.

They continued going back and fourth for awhile, Doyle telling him about what he saw in Japan and pitching his ideas for a new company, meanwhile Spider was just shaking his head and being a total negative nancy about the whole thing. Eventually, Doyle got real quiet and started pouting.

"Ah come on, man," said Spider, who was starting to feel bad. He shook his head and threw his hands up. "Alright! Okay! I can tell you really think this could work," he said. Doyle looked up at him, nodding.

"I support you, man. You're my friend and I can tell this is something you're passionate about," said Spider. Doyle's face lit up, a feeling of relief washed over him.

"But you're gonna let me help, bro!" said Spider, with a big ol' smile on his face. He's been trying to get Doyle to get him a wrestling gig for awhile now, and he's always sort of dodged it due to Spider's... rambunctious nature.

Doyle thought about it for a moment, he was honestly pretty worried about letting him in on the project, but he couldn't say no. He took a look at Spider, who was kind of motioning for an answer. Maybe this will bring out the best in his friend. At the very least, they'll probably have fun together. And as long as Doyle handles the business side of things, what could go wrong?

"Alright, yeah. You're in, buddy."

Spider yells out in excitement, and pulls in Doyle for a hug, who awkwardly returns the embrace.

</div>

AURELIA · September 24, 2021

Horror Lives | The Birth of HXRRXR

Chicago, IL | Tuesday, Week 1. October 1995.

Doyle McCray and Spider spent the next few weeks tossing ideas back and fourth. Everything was clicking. They both brought unique ideas to the table, and Doyle started to get the feeling that they might really have something here.

The more they talked about it, the more it felt like they could pull it off. Doyle's managed to pick up some connections, he knows some guys and he knows some guys who know some other guys. He's spoken on the phone with a few people who said they would be glad to help.

Plus, while money isn't exactly a non-issue, Doyle's always been pretty frugal. He's managed to save up a pretty decent amount of money over the years, and it doesn't hurt that his apartment is pretty much nothing. They don't exactly know how loans work, but they're willing to give it a shot.

"So what should we call this thing?" asked Spider.

"I dunno. I kinda want something unique, y'know? No championship wrestling bullshit. That's so generic. I want something... cool." said Doyle.

They discussed it for a bit, running through some of their ideas again. What do they want this company to represent? What's going to set them apart from the rest? And what sounds cool to a couple of dudes in their mid-twenties in 1995?

Spider has an idea, he erratically grabbed Doyle's notebook and asked where his pencil was, unaware that it was sitting in the metal binder of the notebook he was holding. He eventually figured it out.

He flips to a blank page and writes the word "HORROR" in all caps, and presents it to Doyle who kind of shrugs initially, but then Spider slams the notebook down and erases some letters. He presents the notebook to Doyle again, this time it simply says "HXRRXR".

"And we could totally call it something like Horror Pro Wrestling or whatever. But one day, man, they're gonna look at one of our shows and say..." he pauses for a moment. "That's ****ing HXRRXR, man."

Doyle laughed, which was not the reaction that Spider was anticipating. But honestly, he loved it. That's it, their new promotion is called HXRRXR.

"Alright, what should out first show be? What are we thinking here?" asked Spider.

"Hear me out, dude. I've got this idea for a tournament, right?" said Doyle.

"We stretch it out over like... two or three shows. We crown our first champion that way. First show gets the first round, second show gets the semi-finals, and our company really gets started with our third show where we crown our first champion," said Doyle, with a humorous amount of confidence. "Now, how does that sound?" he asked.

"I mean, it sounds pretty ambitious. You think we could really book three shows without really having our first one off the ground?" asked Spider. "I love the idea, man... but how are we gonna pull that one off? We gotta get a championship belt too? Do you even know any belt guys?"

After talking about it for awhile and Spider trying to bring the confidence of his friend back up again with a "maybe you know a guy who knows other guys who knows another guy".

They agreed to run with the tournament concept and try to figure out a venue that's hosted wrestling shows in the past, maybe there's one that would be willing to run with them on this. "**** it. Maybe we'll just take one of those replica belts and plaster our logo over it. That'd honestly be pretty funny," said Spider who chuckled to himself.

</div>

AURELIA · September 24, 2021

Booking The First Show | Building The HXRRXR Roster

Chicago, IL | Monday, Week 4. November 1995.

They were able to book a venue, one that's willing to have them back if the first show is a success. They know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy who knows a guy that can get them a ring. They've managed to scrape up the funds for this thing. And they've managed to build a surprisingly pretty good crew to help them for this. I guess it helps to be a nice dude in the wrestling industry, who would have thought?

As for the first show, they decided on a sixteen person tournament. They don't want to totally blow their load and overdo it when it comes to the hardcore wrestling, but they gotta at least get some barbwire in there, you know? And they're still figuring out that championship belt part, but they'll get to it.

"Let's start naming some names. I can call some of the promoters I've worked with. I could call John too... oh! Dave too. Dave knows some people," said Doyle. "I could give Ben a call too."

"Alright, I get it bro! You know people!" said Spider.

"... Who know other people, too!" said Doyle.

"How about Balls Mahoney? Dude has a gnarly chairshot and he's been gaining traction in Pennsylvania. There's this dude named Hack Myers who has a ton of potential. I'd love to have those guys." - Doyle

"Bro, what about 911? He's got a good schtick. I've seen some tapes of him." - Spider

"Oh dude, we've gotta get Bull Pain. One of the dudes at NYWF has got to have his phone number." - Doyle

"I saw these dudes in FMW, Super Leather and Jason The Terrible, they killed it. They both scare the shit out of the audience. It's awesome." - Doyle

"I was watching one of those FMW tapes, you think we could get The Headhunters?" - Spider

"What about that Chris Justice dude you were showing me a few months back? You think he does any hardcore shit?" - Spider

"Spider, you're not gonna believe this. There's a dude named Pogo The Clown and I mean, we are in Chicago. I saw him wrestle this dude named Dr. Luther and things got pretty gruesome." - Doyle

"Wait! Wait, is The Missing Link doing anything? Where's he been? I ****ing loved him. Maybe you know a guy? If there was ever a time to know a guy." - Spider

"I think we could probably get The Warlord, he hasn't been doing much since he left HCW. But I always popped for the guy." - Doyle

"Dude, what about Doink The Clown? Come on! Maybe he just needs to get loose. If I can pick one guy, let me pick Doink The Clown. I'll pay his booking myself." - Spider

"I mean, this one might be a long shot... but he did remember me. I don't know man, should I try to get Terry Funk?" - Doyle

"You know, there's another name that we could try. He's an FMW guy." - Doyle

"Who ya thinking?" - Spider

</div>

Author's Note: Alright! So, I wanted to provide some backstory for this company instead of just throwing it out there and being like "here's my weird little deathmatch fed, it popped up out of nowhere, deal with it."

I tried to write these two as what I would imagine fans of hardcore wrestling were like back in the day, with some influence from things like John Dies At The End with some stoner comedy vibes. Make them sound kind of lame but totally buy into their own ideas and aspirations. And if it's not totally accurate, I was born in '96! Cut me some slack haha.

Doyle and Spider will show up from time to time, maybe for little quips here and there or just some relevant behind the scenes stuff. Whenever I feel the need to explain certain things. But from here on out, it's going to be mostly shows and relevant headlines from within the game world.

I think I've got some fun ideas, so I hope you'll join along for the ride. Thanks for reading this far.

</div>

AURELIA · September 24, 2021

RESERVED

</div>

AURELIA · September 24, 2021

OGpistolpete · September 27, 2021

This is awesome, love the presentation and style so far, hope to see good stuff here!!

Dalton · September 27, 2021

This is sick! Best of luck!

AURELIA · October 2, 2021

This is awesome, love the presentation and style so far, hope to see good stuff here!!

This is sick! Best of luck!

Thanks for the kind words! Aiming to have this first show out within the next couple of days, so stay tuned! And shoutout to OGpistolpete for this super fun mod.

kanegan · October 2, 2021

This is great. So many of this guys i am using in my FMW. Your graphics are awesome. Best of luck with this project.

Sign In

HXRRXR Professional Wrestling | A Wrestling At War Diary

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation