DIW 2024: Waging War Weekly

[619]

The only other thing I thought might be vaguely interesting was a first-to-last show comparison, in terms of tracking roster changes etc. Apparently some things never change – Kobra Khan losing in the opener, Milton Hittlespitz being screwed out of the DIW Title in the main event – but the worst was having Wrecker and Lloyd Banks lose a throw-everyone-else-on-the-card match, ignorant to their future value. The Comedian segment double booking was because I somehow managed to exclude him from an angle specifically about him being beaten up initially, so had to re-book it with him in. Thankfully, I don't think I've done anything quite that stupid in the 41 shows since (underutilising Pat Rigsby aside).

Show #1

Show #42

Edited September 9, 2023 by 619

[HiPlus]

God Hughes and Shaw look like money. Also liking Seth Wish as well if he ends up being the one to turn he will pull the plucky underdog well. Edwards dominating the top of the charts. But Dexter and Milton pulling a top 5 is good for Dex. 

[619]

Part 49: Fall of an Empire

DIW was in a slightly strange position after Havoc. As mentioned, the show had been well received in terms of match quality, fan reaction, attendance and viewership but, unlike Hardcore Heatwave, there was no shock result or moment to act as a hook for the episode of To The Extreme five days later.

There was no big push online on the day of the show either. The website and social previews simply promised that DIW Champion Dexter Mattell and The Human Weapon Rob Edwards would be in action, without specifying their opponents. Questions were also posed over who would step up to The Pros next, whether Ares Death Cult were back after Bryant Hall’s debut win and what awaited Milton Hittlespitz after his failed attempt to regain the DIW Title.

Perhaps one reason for the understated build was that no Aussie wrestling fans were talking about DIW on the afternoon of Wednesday 8th May 2024. Instead, all the attention was on the fall of Athletic Empire, which had taken place in the most miserable way possible with the all-powerful RAW taking over the cash-strapped promotion merely to disband it, putting dozens of capable wrestlers out of work in one ugly deal.

I suspected this dramatic development was unlikely to have a direct impact on DIW. There were definitely blokes there who could improve the DIW roster, but AE were big payers, so it would be difficult to bring anyone in without paying them the kind of money that would upset existing stars. Indeed, I was surprised I hadn’t heard more complaints about Bryant Hall’s arrival on a slimmer schedule and fatter pay packet.

A potential indirect effect was that Cutting Edge Wrestling might be tempted to pick up some of the newly available talent, temporarily distracting them from raiding DIW. Owner Gerard Knights disliked AE and their boss Barry Fitzgerald almost as much as he hated The Comedian after the used car salesman stole the spot he had lined up on The Bloke Channel on launch.

The buzz around Kerry Wayne, Turner Crash, Rick Stantz, Maurice Jackson, Outback Jack and more all suddenly becoming free agents was a reminder that, for all the momentum DIW were generating in their own little pocket of New South Wales, the gap between them and the true big boys of Aussie wrestling was as wide as ever.

[619]

Part 50: To The Extreme #17

Rob Edwards v Demarcus Lee
Another day of Edwards getting a career-best match out of a very ordinary opponent, another day of wondering why CEW, or even RAW for that matter, hadn’t moved for The Human Weapon yet. This was a short but highly-energetic opener, the kind of wild brawl often saved for the main event. Edwards only needed one Roundhouse Kick to achieve his seventh win of the year.

Rob Edwards said after his match that he’d come to a realisation. It wasn’t Dexter Mattell who took the DIW Title off him, it was The Benchmark. It wasn’t Mattell who got the better of Milton Hittlespitz at Havoc, it was The Benchmark and The Wild Things. Little Napoleon might think he’s the emperor but, in reality, The Benchmark were the ones controlling the operation in the background. So while DIW Title reign number five was very much his end goal, the fastest way to achieve that was destroying The Pros, and the way to do that was to take out The Benchmark.

Outside the wrestler’s entrance to DIW House, Markus Rush had found Mr. Blitz, who was trying to convince a sceptical D.O.A. that he too had what it took to be a street fighter. He said together they could take down their shared enemies The Barracudas and, when he sensed that D.O.A. still wasn’t buying in, he said he’d show him what he was capable of by beating Vaughan again next week. In the background of this shot, Rob Edwards could be seen making his departure.

The Pros headed to the ring next, with The Comedian highlighting on commentary that they had clearly waited until Rob Edwards had left to show their faces. DIW Champion Dexter Mattell said how proud he was that on their first big night as a complete unit, almost all of them had got the job done, pointedly looking at Seth Wish, the exception to that pattern. He noted that they’d now held all the gold for over two months, and were feeling so confident that it was time to test one of the key theories they were founded on. He was certain that the DIW amateurs not only weren’t as good as his Pros, they were hot-headed egomaniacs who wouldn’t be able to unite. But if Milton Hittlespitz wanted to prove him wrong, he could assemble a team to face the five of them in two weeks’ time. He’d even take on Crazy Blue’s first recruit in tonight’s main event, assuming he could find anyone. Mattell closed by telling Wish this five-on-five fight was his chance to prove he belonged with the rest of them. The Comedian pointed out the harshness of this statement given Wish had twice recently been integral to Mattell winning tag matches. I countered that true Pros like myself know you’re only ever as good as your last match.

Wrecker v Reggie Hammer
The Comedian emphasised the gutsiness of Wrecker to be back between the ropes mere days after his war with Bryant Hall at Havoc. He did a Rob Edwards-lite job here of getting a passable match out of an unremarkable adversary (Reggie was so rusty that it felt like a rib that Rusty Mills was listed as the bout’s agent) and scored a fairly quick win with his new Bulldozer Elbow.

Markus Rush questioned Milton Hittlespitz about The Pros’ challenge. He accepted without hesitation, prompting Rush to ask about partners. Crazy Blue said he’d give Rush an exclusive as he was going to make his first invitation right now, leading him down a corridor to Rick Horn, who accepted both a place on the team and the opportunity to take on Dexter Mattell later in the night. Hittlespitz asked Rush to leave so he could give Farm Tough some pointers but, before he and his cameraman had cleared off, Hendrix Hughes approached Crazy Blue. The Badass MFer explained that he wasn’t really a 10-man tag kind of bloke, but he wasn’t missing the chance to get his hands on The Pros. Hittlespitz nodded, seemingly accepting Hughes as his third man.

Saracens (Cueball and Tank) v The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward)
The Ares Death Cult resurgence continued here as, days on from new recruit Bryant Hall’s debut victory over Wrecker at Havoc, Banks and Ward continued their unbeaten start as a team. The Barbed Wire Messiah was by far the best performer in the match, so it was no surprise that he scored the pin over Cueball after Ward assisted him in hitting a Spike Piledriver.

Death Ref took the microphone after the match and reinforced the points we’d been making on commentary. He noted how everyone had written Ares Death Cult off but, with Bryant Hall and Psych Ward initiated and Lori no longer in recruitment mode, they were stronger than ever.

Rick Horn v Dexter Mattell
It was noticeable that Lori tried to replicate the formula of the successful Havoc main event here by giving Mattell slightly longer than the average DIW main event to tell a story without the demand that it be a wild brawl. It seemed to work in getting the best out of the DIW Champion, but was asking a lot of Horn, who still wasn’t fully established. This was a simple story, with Mattell underestimating his less decorated opponent, being shown up on several occasions and reacting more viciously to wear Horn down. He eventually locked in the STF, with Farm Tough holding out for over a minute before being forced to admit defeat.

As Milton Hittlespitz checked on Rick Horn after the match, The Pros sensed their opportunity to pounce, launching a five-on-two attack. The appearance of a fired-up Hendrix Hughes briefly made a difference, but the numbers eventually overwhelmed him too, until The Barracudas music hit and they made their entrance through the crowd, evening the numbers and sending The Pros out of the ring. The Comedian said that not only did it look like Hittlespitz had his five, but his team outfought The Pros when it was five-on-five.

Edited September 17, 2023 by 619

[HiPlus]

Rick Horn getting that Main Event and going to be a part of the biggest storyline for DIW going around. Plug that into my veins legs go FARM TOUGH!! 

[AboardTheArk]

This episode is really a showcase in good booking. Everything is coming together despite the high turnover of the last couple months. Kudos.

[619]

@HiPlus Haha, the challenge now is to try to bring Pat Rigsby and Rick Horn's in-game popularity in line with their GDS forum overness 😅

@AboardTheArk Thanks so much. I worry there are too many predictable matches, but I'm really pleased if there's a sense of purpose to it.

Part 51: Healthy numbers

That post-Havoc sense of DIW business booming carried into To The Extreme. Episode 17 attracted by some distance the weekly show’s biggest WrestleWorld Australia viewership (14,801, over a thousand up on the previous high of 13,549) and a best live crowd yet of 323. That was particularly encouraging when you consider there wasn’t much advertised in advance and it wasn’t an especially exciting card, so it suggested engagement with the stories and stars.

My instinct was that the announcement of an upcoming 10-man main event between The Pros and an effective DIW dream team felt a bit rushed. However, I guess the counterargument was that this was a quickly assembled Milton Hittlespitz quintet rather than a definitive DIW five, so it didn’t have to be a final showdown. Crazy Blue’s recent enemies Rob Edwards and Kobra Khan were overlooked, as was Wrecker, whereas all three might get into an ultimate team.

Additionally, if your big events take place bimonthly, it makes sense to have a few major attractions spread out across the weekly shows in between to keep giving viewers an incentive to log in. So I’d give it the benefit of the doubt, but I still felt like The Pros’ first full outing as a team was something that deserved a longer build-up and grander stage.

There was one more hour of programming that could be used to set the scene though and the main event of the show before the big five-on-five would see another member of Milton Hittlespitz’s team (confirmed in advance to be Chopper Rourke) taking on one of The Pros.

Elsewhere on the card, Mr. Blitz had challenged Vaughan to try to impress potential tag partner D.O.A. and there would be an Australian Title defence, though not naming the opponent in the various online previews hinted that Con McReady wasn’t facing anyone too high-profile.

[HiPlus]

I firmly believe Rick Horn and Rigsby should get some edited pop bump due to their online groundswell of support. I also get the predictability of the weekly shows, which is something I will struggle with when I decide to transition my diary to a weekly show. As most of the big 50/50 matches should happen on those Events and the others should build things. Don't want to waste too many money matches on TV Shows.

[619]

@HiPlus Agreed, booking TV matches is definitely the thing I find toughest: trying to find something compelling enough but not so much so that it feels like it should be saved for a major event.

Part 52: To The Extreme #18

The show started with The Pros somewhere in the back of the building. Seth Wish opened by saying Markus Rush probably had some of his hidden cameras set up, but he didn’t care who heard this. He wanted to represent The Pros against Chopper Rourke tonight and make up for losing at Havoc. Rusty Mills started to express scepticism, but Dexter Mattell cut him off, saying it was good Wish had the courage to step up to a heavyweight and wasn’t afraid of getting his second strike so soon after the first. Wish questioned what was meant by this second strike reference and, after an uncomfortably long pause, Mattell claimed to just be messing with him.

Kobra Khan v Goon #2
Apparently Lori intended to hire Fiasco to try out in this match, only for the situation to become a fiasco as she meant to offer him a one-night deal, whereas he interpreted it as a more long-term arrangement. The outcome was an even younger, greener bloke getting the call, and Kobra Khan showing he didn’t have the Rob Edwards knack for hiding those shortcomings. Then again, Goon #2 bruising his kidney 90 seconds in didn’t help. Kobra scored his sixth win from seven singles matches on To The Extreme with his Ripcord Knee, though I undermined his success on commentary by reiterating his failure to regain the Australian Title at Havoc.

Markus Rush was about to speak to Milton Hittlespitz when Rob Edwards appeared. He wasn’t sure if Crazy Blue heard what he said last week, but The Benchmark needed to be stopped and he suspected they were the only two who could do it. He pointed to their unbeaten record and unique chemistry as a team. They defeated The Barracudas back when they ran DIW in 2021, and they never truly recovered. Then they ended The Wrecking Crew’s perfect record in 2022, and they weren’t around for much longer. Hittlespitz said he already had his five for next week, and reminded Edwards that he never broke their alliance up, The Human Weapon did. Edwards asked how Hittlespitz could move past his issues with The Barracudas and not him, to which he answered that he’d always known where he stood with them. Edwards didn’t persevere with the lost cause, saying he’d tried to make peace with Hittlespitz three times this year and wasn’t going to keep fighting a losing battle. Crazy Blue didn’t flinch, saying that was fine by him.

Australian Title: Carl Paris v Con McReady (c)
Paris might not have been the stiffest competition (though he was sometimes stiff), but it was still some feat that this was McReady’s fourth successful Australian Title defence and tenth win of the year in total. That was pretty great going for someone who almost exclusively competed in tag matches in his first year in DIW. Wish was at ringside but didn’t need to intervene as McReady triumphed with his Iron Fist. I observed that with The Pros this impressive in singles action, you could only imagine how dominant they were going to be as a unit in a week’s time.

One of the five men taking on The Pros next week, Hendrix Hughes, hit the stage after the Australian Title match. He told Con McReady he hadn’t lost since returning from the beating The Pros had put on him and everyone in DIW House was ready to put their ciggies in the air for the next Australian Champion. He invited McReady to name his terms and he’d take his title, though The Wild One didn’t respond to the provocation.

Vaughan v Mr. Blitz
I got to pursue two of my favourite commentary themes here: referencing Mr. Blitz’s forfeit win over Vaughan in January with far more legitimacy than it deserved, and using Chopper Rourke’s non-appearance at ringside (preparing for the main event, according to The Comedian) to claim all was not right with The Barracudas. It transpired that Vaughan didn’t need Rourke, and D.O.A. gave up watching at ringside once he locked Mr. Blitz in the Choke Sleeper for the win. I figured we were building to a Barracudas tag match with D.O.A. and Mr. Blitz, but perhaps not.

While The Comedian and I were giving some background on the main event, the DIW owner was approached by Pat Rigsby. He was unhappy with his lack of recent opportunities, pointing out that he and his wife were looking to start a family, and he needed to be taking more money home to her for that to become a reality. The Comedian wasn’t too sympathetic, instead saying this wasn’t a conversation to be having on air and to talk to him later. This slight character shift seemed to suit Rigsby, resulting in a stronger bit of mic work than I thought he was capable of.

Chopper Rourke v Seth Wish
This ended up being a significantly weaker main event than last week’s Rick Horn v Dexter Mattell showdown, despite Rourke and Wish both being established DIW stars, in part due to their lack of chemistry. It didn’t matter too much though as it was a short match with the main purpose of increasing interest in next week’s five-on-five. The finish saw Wish spend too much time firing up his teammates at ringside when measuring Rourke for Dust In The Wind and instead getting caught by a Spinebuster for a sudden three count.

The Pros were quick to enter the ring and put the boots to Chopper Rourke, with Vaughan’s intervention unable to turn the tide. Once Milton Hittlespitz, Hendrix Hughes and Rick Horn joined the battle, we had a much fairer and more even fight that we were able to promise on commentary would have a definitive outcome on next week’s episode of To The Extreme.

[HiPlus]

Really good show building up to next week's main event. 

 

I love the foil of Rob Edwards knowing there is a clear way for him to take on The Pros but Milton still refusing to do it. Seth and Chopper not delivering as much as Rick Horn and Mattell goes to show the Champion is the right choice, or the rookie Horn is money. 

 

Rigsby is getting a new storyline very similar to the "I have kids" storyline of Heath Slater. Curious where D.O.A goes from here seeing as he isn't going back to the tag-team scene quite yet. 

 

Is Goon #2 Fiasco or another guy from the mod.

[619]

@HiPlus Sorry for the poor explanation. The plan was to use Fiasco/Olly Graves in that spot but I'm still a local-worker-screen novice so somehow managed to offer him a full-time contract, which meant he wasn't available to hire that night and, because I then cancelled that offer, I can't use him on a future show either. The Goon Squad are a three-person group who start out in fellow NSW promotion Shocking Hardcore Action in this database, though two of the three have since walked out, so Goon #2 was the one who put Kobra Khan over. Pat Rigsby's angle should play out a bit differently from Heath Slater's, though not necessarily for the better.

Part 53: Locker room conflict

The DIW locker room in 2024 was a strange beast. A couple of the main men didn’t get on. Most notably, DIW Champion Dexter Mattell had problems with Donovan Boon, his fellow Pro, dating back to their time together in APW, finding Boon a little too familiar with his friend Stephanie Drucker.

Mattell also had similar long-standing issues with Rob Edwards after The Human Weapon took exception to some of Raw Sex’s criticisms of the DIW roster back when APW was on top. I bet he never guessed DIW would be paying him to make similarly scathing remarks on their own broadcasts a few years later, but such was the beauty of professional wrestling.

Anyway, all of this is to say that some of DIW’s most important players were hostile towards one another – blokes who main evented big events together, stablemates – but, until now, it hadn’t affected business. That’s because, on the whole, there weren’t many toxic personalities in the locker room, so people had their personal dislikes without letting it affect their work. Similarly, I had no time for Bryant Hall, but I like to think I never let this show in my commentary.

However, I overheard a conversation at the latest taping that I found concerning, as it was the first time I’d noticed one of these personal conflicts become a little less personal, by which I mean someone bad-mouthing their rival to a third party. Dexter Mattell was asking Pat Rigsby if it was nice having someone a bit more chilled out as DIW Champion, rather than the other bloke who never drank or socialised and lifted weights rather than spirits, referencing Edwards.

It was done in a light-hearted way but, from what I could tell, it had the desired effect in making Rigsby question someone who, as far as I’d seen, had never given him a reason to dislike him.

I’d never seen this side to Mattell in APW. Sure, he talked down a few DIW blokes in interviews back then, but it was to lift morale in his own locker room, whereas here he was actively sewing dissent against DIW’s biggest asset. Was it a jealousy issue? Was it about trying to establish himself as the headline attraction? Had he worked himself into a shoot as the manipulative leader of a malevolent group? Or was I just overreacting to a bit of locker room banter?

Possibly, but it felt unfortunate that as Mattell was getting closer to fulfilling his potential in DIW – getting louder crowd reactions, delivering on the microphone and putting in better main event performances – he was using his increased stature to discredit his predecessor as DIW Champion to more impressionable roster members.

[Tiberious]

• I've been enjoying the shows! I feel like the additions you've made have really helped solidify your roster and give your midcard a bit more meat so you can have a middle ground between giving away too many big matches and having cards full of squashes versus absolute jobbers.
• Mr. Blitz is in a weird position where he seems to be pretty good in the ring given he has a match in your top ten, but hasn't been given much credibility. I thought the whole rebranding form Mr. Pink would be the start of a renewed push, but he's been in pretty much the same spot as the jobber to the stars. He at least seems to have a story going on with him trying to convince DOA to team with him, so hopefully he can get something going for him since his main issue just seems to be that he hasn't really had much of a storyline aside from the rather one sided feud with Wrecker.
• I'm a big Pat Rigsby fan, but I think you might be in for a tough challenge to get crowds invested in a guy who's done nothing but lose for the last few years. I know from personal experience that bad momentom is a huge pain to fix. If Dexter manipulated him into beefing with Rob Edwards backstage that could also be a poor sign for his career since he's far less valuable than either Rob or Dex.
• I like Kobra Khan, but Sean Quartermainne's constant reminder of his failure to win when it matters seems kind of painfully accurate, which is rather unfortunate when it's a heel commentator talking about a fan favorite. 
• The Barbarians are a cool team, and I would love to see a feud between them and the Benchmark given how opposite their styles and personalities are; though I'm not sure how well it would play out in the ring for those same reasons.
• I wonder if Lori is starting to regret bringing Dexter in. Just as he's hit his stride and delivering in the ring like you'd want from a champion he starts causing issues behind the scenes. I'm not sure his spot is quite as secure as he seems to think it is given Athletic Empire's demise means there's suddenly a lot of big name talent on the market who could make an immediate impact with DIW. Would be some irony if the storyline with Dex threatening to kick Seth Wish out of the Pros ended with him being sent packing instead.

[619]

Thanks @Tiberious, I loved this feedback.

It's certainly true about Mr. Blitz: he's never been booked as well on his own as when him and Wrecker were the number two team in an admittedly weak 2022 tag division.

I fear Pat Rigsby is a lost cause in terms of crowd acceptance as, having been in ring with most of our best workers and aged 36, if his skills (I think brawling and hardcore may be the main determiners) haven't won them round yet, I'm not sure they ever will. I'll still try to give him a bit more to work with given his positive reception in this thread, but I think you're right that his ceiling is low after over two years of losing.

SQ's Kobra Khan-bashing is directed by Lori, but has probably been so overdone that any eventual perceived payoff will struggle to overshadow all the criticism.

That's encouraging about The Barbarians as Psych Ward was quite a short-notice hire to address Ares Death Cult's departures. They need to be booked as a reasonable threat so the Cult don't end up looking like Bryant Hall and friends, so hopefully they can emerge as contenders.

It's certainly been a ride with Dexter Mattell. Firstly, not delivering early on but still getting the title to execute the whole Pros story. Then he raised his performance to seemingly justify the push, only to use it unsettle a fairly stable locker room. He already arrived with a lot of baggage due to animosity towards Milton Hittlespitz (though thankfully that resolved itself), Rob Edwards and Donovan Boon, putting Lori in a difficult spot given he dates referee Tatum Richards, her best friend. So I like your theory that he might eventually scheme his way out of a job.

Apologies, I think this reply is longer than today's actual post😅 Tomorrow may feature the best booking of the entire dynasty: the fact that our first ever five-on-five by pure coincidence takes place in Part 55. Now I've just got to lobby Togg to add a "Most fitting post title" award category.

Part 54: Five-on-five

You probably don’t need me to remind you what main event was scheduled for episode 19 of To The Extreme, with The Pros participating in their first match as a full group against the team of Milton Hittlespitz, Chopper Rourke, Vaughan, Hendrix Hughes and Rick Horn.

I’d be surprised if Dexter Mattell, Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills, Con McReady and Seth Wish weren’t victorious given this was their first outing as a team against a group of individuals they had largely got the better of in singles and tag competition. However, the booking had perhaps created such an opening through Wish’s recent setbacks and the suggestion that he may be on his final strike after recent defeats to Rob Edwards and Rourke.

With such a high-profile main event that had been announced a fortnight in advance, the quality of the undercard wasn’t likely to be too integral to viewership, so I was surprised that the online preview announced matches for the top two fan favourites not involved in the five-on-five. Wrecker was taking on D.O.A. and Rob Edwards would face Cueball. Perhaps the logic was to stop fans from getting their hopes up for either to be drafted in by Hittlespitz on the day.

Away from DIW, the process of hoovering up the talent left out of work by Athletic Empire’s demise was underway. The biggest story so far was the return of Turner Crash to RAW a mere 10 months after they let him go. CEW had picked him up last September, only to be abandoned a month later for AE, who tempted Crash away with the offer to become their figurehead. That ended badly but, luckily for the 33-year-old, RAW were ready to give him a second chance.

[AboardTheArk]

Not too speculate too hard considering who's in the ring busting their ass is more important but I do think there's like 6-7 AE guys where you'd be lucky if three of those landed in DIW, really excited to see how this shakes out.

[619]

@AboardTheArk Just to manage expectations, while a few lower-card AE roster members may get tryouts, there are unlikely to be too many major signings in the short term I'm afraid as even their undercard have way higher pay expectations than our main eventers, so it would make the payroll quite unbalanced. I'd be interested to know who you were thinking of though for shortlisting purposes.

Part 55: To The Extreme #19

The Comedian and I had just got done introducing the show, speculating over the outcome of the night’s five-on-five main event, when The Comedian pitched to Markus Rush for an update. He’d just overheard a conversation that we cut to between Seth Wish and Con McReady. Wish was asking his partner if he thought Dexter Mattell was serious about him being kicked out of The Pros if they lost tonight. McReady told him not to worry about any of that as there was no chance of them losing anyway, but this didn’t seem to reassure Wish.

Rob Edwards v Cueball
Brian Rampage. Demarcus Lee. Now Cueball. At this point, Lori had to be challenging Edwards post-title-reign on if there was anyone he couldn’t drag a good match out of. Once again, he showed off his chicken salad recipe against an ice cold opponent, shining so brightly that nobody seemed to notice Cueball was, well, Cueball. The Roundhouse Kick got the win and The Comedian couldn’t help observing that the fans were fully behind Edwards nowadays.

Rob Edwards spoke briefly after his match, saying he really did wish Milton Hittlespitz’s team good luck later and hoped they would put The Pros in their place. If they didn’t, he was relishing his opportunity.

Next we went back to Markus Rush, who had been sent some comments from Death Ref about tonight’s main event. He said that while The Pros and Milton Hittlespitz’s moronic misfits were fighting to convince themselves that they were the most powerful group in DIW, Ares Death Cult would be back next week to remind everyone what true dominance looked like.

Wrecker v D.O.A.
With Wrecker on the cusp of the main event recently and D.O.A. proving a worthy midcard presence even without Switchblade, I was looking forward to this bout. However, the psychology was lacking, I guess due to Wrecker’s youth and D.O.A.’s inexperience as a solo act, despite having almost two decades of ring work behind him. The veteran was made to look a threat, but it was Wrecker who secured the victory with his Bulldozer Elbow.

Mr. Blitz entered after that match, in what I assumed was a continuation of his recent loose association with D.O.A., but he walked straight past the thug on his way to the ring. He didn’t usually get much mic time, so his delivery was nothing special, but the message was very clear. He had something to say and he wasn’t going to let The Comedian control the narrative like he had with others so DIW could say he’d been fired or have a group jump him. He’d had enough of DIW and was leaving for CEW. He was going to appear one more time on the next episode and then he was done, so he dared The Comedian to put him in the ring with one of DIW’s best blokes. Mr. Blitz said he was confident of beating anyone DIW could throw at him and that he’d head to CEW a hero when he did. With that, he said “see you later, losers” and exited through the crowd, seemingly not keen to cross The Comedian’s path on his way out, though the alternative route he chose wasn’t the wisest, with several fans shouting and prodding at him.

Milton Hittlespitz, Chopper Rourke, Vaughan, Hendrix Hughes and Rick Horn v The Pros (Milton Hittlespitz, Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills, Con McReady and Seth Wish)
The newly-assembled team made a hot start before The Pros’ superior teamwork led to an extended period of control. The Barracudas got their team back on top until D.O.A. reappeared to choke Vaughan out with electrical wires at ringside. Even a man down, it looked like the upset was on when Hughes floored McReady with the Fireman’s Carry Bulldog, only for Wish’s cane to make the save. Then a Hittlespitz Flying Knee Drop on Mattell was broken up by The Benchmark. Their Double Down on Crazy Blue forced him to tag Horn, while Wish forced his way in by tagging the winded DIW Champion. I claimed that Wish might’ve just scored his third strike, but his intervention couldn’t be faulted: a cane strike to the fallen Hittlespitz, a Dropkick off the apron to Rourke, Dust In The Wind to Hughes and then Horn, before a Suicide Senton on Horn to “single-handedly win it for his team” in the words of The Comedian.

Seth Wish rolled out of the ring and stared out at the crowd after earning his team the win, which I suggested on commentary was an emotional release. The other four Pros each collected their titles and took a turnbuckle each to celebrate, only for Mattell to be pulled down off of his and struck between the eyes with a cane. It was Wish, who furiously lashed his fellow Pro until the others clocked what was going on, sliding out of the ring and pacing up the ramp before anyone could get to him, and then raising his damaged cane above his head to the rare cheers of the crowd. I accused him of biting the hand that fed him and making the biggest mistake of his career, whereas The Comedian showed rare empathy, saying Wish kept picking up wins for The Pros and eating crap for it, and pushing him away might be their biggest mistake.

Edited September 22, 2023 by 619

[John Lions]

Good for Seth! I think you have a very interesting dynamic with your roster right now, where you have a dominant faction of bad guys, and your top "good guys" have more bad blood between each other than with he heels (especially adding Wish to that group).

 

Curious to see where Mr. Blitz and Pat Rigsby go, as two of your most talented jobbers seem to be calling out the boss directly.

 

Hopefully Bryant Hall and the Barbarians make an impact at the next TV taping, the Ares Death Cult have been quiet since your big show and that doesn't fit their MO.

[Tiberious]

I wasn't expecting Seth Wish to split so soon, but I like how you executed it with him not being an idiot and seeing Dex's betrayal coming from a mile away and beating him to the punch. I'll be interested in how this goes from here since in theory at least Con McReady should perhaps be a bit torn given he's been aligned with Seth Wish since his start in DIW; though he's certainly not had his back as of late.

If Mr. Blitz is actually leaving that's sort of a shame, but at least it's not a guy you've built much around. Though the way it was set up kind of makes me wonder if it's an angle and this is a new angle for him since it's one thing to advertise you're leaving, another to explicitely name your hated competition as the destination.

For Athletic Empire guys who might be worth checking out I'll throw in a few, though given you're a couple years into your game idk how well any of them might be doing in terms of development, decline, injuries, or pop change from the initial data.

• Outback Jack is basically tailor made for DIW. I think the crowd would eat up his gimmick and ultraviolent wrestling style.
• Scottie Hamstead is probably pricier than you'd want, but is a former DIW champion and is a great brawler.
• Hatemonger & Warmonger are probably too expensive to justify bringing in, but they're ex-DIW Tag Champs and would certainly be well received by the fans.
• The Bribane Devil is great and could do well either as a solo act or as a tag or trio act with King Malietola and Charger Siaki. As a trio they remind me a ton of the Barracudas as ultra tough hard hitters with no real weak link but one clear outstanding performer.
• Cactus Pete is Outback Jack's tag team partner and while he's not quite as good, he's still quite solid and more affordable with his starting popularity at least. Plus he carries a snake with him so there's gotta be something you can do with that.
• Hack The Hunter is one of the lower rung guys with a lot of potential. Good young brawler with a good look and charisma as well as an interesting gimmick.
• A few culty guys who could potentially fit in well with Ares Death Cult with Deciever, Creeper, Writhe, and Underworld. All of them are pretty young so results may vary depending how much they've developed.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Tiberious

[HiPlus]

I am wondering if the reason for the sudden fizzle in D.O.A and Mr. Blitz was because of the news that he was leaving for CEW, so a sudden change in planning. D.O.A a monster in his own right choking out Vaughan at the ringside during the main event. Such a power move from him. I like Tiberious comments about it may be a work that Mr. Blitz is leaving, but if anything a lower card guy who has been eating losses says he is moving to a competitor only to be ruined on the way out. Clear sign that DIW talent is above CEW. 

Seth Wish going huge in the Main Event is great and continues to add to his feud with Dexter Mattell. Obviously I find it hard that Seth eventually dethrones the champion he is building up to be such a great contender. I was writing this before the final segment and Seth Wish turning is surprising but could lead to cracks for the eventual stable of The Pros. In fact a hyped up Milton, Edwards, Wish and Wrecker taking on The Pros will be such a good match up I am all ready for. 

 

I don't know much about the AE or mod you are using, but to see guys potentially make it in like The Brisbane Devil, Scottie Hamstead,  Hack the Hunter or Underworld are really good options to see eventually on the roster. 

 

[AboardTheArk]

Mr. Blitz just shot a pipebomb brother

[619]

Thanks @John Lions @Tiberious @HiPlus @AboardTheArk for more great comments. Tomorrow's post should hopefully provide a bit more clarity on all things Mr. Blitz.

I appreciate the AE recommendations, including the thoughts on who might fit well in Ares Death Cult or serve as spiritual successors to The Barracudas. One act mentioned is showing up soon, having been cut by AE in 2023, while another is getting a tryout. I'll shortlist several of the other suggestions too for if the right opportunities arise.

In terms of Scottie Hamstead and The Apocalypse, someone who left DIW for a rival returning for the first time ever feels like a story that should be told at some point, and they're definitely worthy candidates, especially as The Comedian doesn't hate them unlike most of the others.

Part 56: Dissecting the big angle

I wasn’t too sure where to begin with reviewing the two big angles towards the end of episode 19 of To The Extreme, so let’s start at the finish. There was no doubt that this was a star-making night for Seth Wish, unleashing a flurry of offence to score the win in a match featuring all the current title holders and three former DIW Champions, and then laying out the reigning DIW Champion Dexter Mattell after the bell.

Still, I couldn’t help wondering if this was too much, too soon, with The Pros less than three months into their run and the dynamic with Wish the most compelling part of their story. From what I knew so far of Lori’s booking, I suspect this had always been the plan rather than being an abrupt change, but I think she missed a chance to slow things down and get more mileage out of the dissent, either by holding this five-on-five at Massacre, or having this finish without the post-match, to instead see how it affected the relationship between Wish and Mattell.

There remained an opportunity to stretch things out by having Wish and Mattell reach an awkward truce as they had when Mattell stole a victory from Wish last month, but my hunch was that we were instead heading for Wish v Mattell at Massacre. That would likely mean finding out between now and then who The Benchmark and Con McReady felt most loyalty to.

Would McReady stick with the man he’d partnered with since arriving in DIW or his old APW colleagues? The Wild One appeared likely to defend his Australian Title against Hendrix Hughes at Massacre – the Badass MFer got the better of him in the five-on-five having called him out a week earlier – so becoming a full fan favourite didn’t seem imminent for McReady, but with five hours of programming before the June show, there was plenty of time for things to change.

[619]

Part 57: Dissecting the other big angle

So how had Mr. Blitz gone from being D.O.A.’s prospective new tag team partner to calling out The Comedian to handpick an opponent to face him in his farewell match before joining CEW? To start with, I can confirm having spoken to Lori that this wasn’t a work: the masked man really was leaving for CEW and was in fact the first person to be allowed to leave unopposed.

Lori told me that she rated the 31-year-old highly, and was indeed initially planning to heat him up this month by having him score a legitimate win over Vaughan to convince D.O.A they would make a good team to face The Barracudas at Massacre. However, CEW’s offer meant having to paying him five times more to stand a chance of keeping him so, rather than getting dragged into upping everyone’s pay to keep CEW away, she thought standing aside was the right call.

Where things get shocking is what Lori and The Comedian originally had planned for this angle. They wanted it to set up Blitz Simpson to return, at least for a one off, with the idea that there wouldn’t be a better way to undermine CEW’s latest recruit than have him lose to someone who had renounced CEW in favour of DIW, paying off the Mr. Blitz rebrand in the process.

It all came about when The Comedian told Lori that he’d heard Simpson was being wasted in CEW and might be open to a return. He’d never let anyone back into DIW after leaving before, but apparently Lori pitched a direction around Mr. Blitz that he was on board with, only for it to transpire that Simpson wasn’t as receptive to exiting CEW as The Comedian thought. Maybe Athletic Empire disappearing and there being one less place to work made him more risk-averse.

The Fixer had just left CEW after falling out with booker Dumfrey Pinn, so I wondered if that might be an option achieving a similar outcome, but Lori indicated that Plan B would be less spectacular. With Simpson off the table, she said her focus had shifted to just putting on a good match with stakes that made it a worthy main event, rather than delivering a massive surprise.

Was it a good idea to give a main event spotlight to someone leaving you for a competitor and draw attention to the fact? Traditionally, the answer was no, yet I sensed there was some truth to the line used by Mr. Blitz in the previous episode about being honest with the crowd rather than feeding fans a false narrative.

So episode 20 of To The Extreme was being headlined by Mr. Blitz’s final DIW match, two former Athletic Empire wrestlers were fighting for a place in DIW against Ares Death Cult’s Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward) and Kobra Khan was taking on Demarcus Lee. The DIW social pages also teased the fallout of Seth Wish’s assault on DIW Champion Dexter Mattell and questioned what was next for Milton Hittlespitz following his team’s defeat to The Pros.

[619]

Part 58: To The Extreme #20

Before the show’s opening credits even hit, we heard from Markus Rush, who had Con McReady on the phone. The broadcast coordinator wanted to find out about the future of The Pros after Seth Wish caned DIW Champion Dexter Mattell, but the Australian Champion could be heard saying that he was confident of brokering peace between them once he arrived at DIW House.

The traffic outside Maitland threatened to thwart Con McReady’s peace-making plans, because Seth Wish headed straight to the ring as the show started. He said tonight didn’t have to be the end of The Pros: he showed in the five-on-five what an asset he was for them, but he had to be treated with respect. The Benchmark entered with microphones and insisted they respected Wish. That’s why they were giving him a warning to turn around. When he did, he walked into a DIW Title shot from Dexter Mattell. Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills joined him in the ring to put boots to their former teammate, next picking him up for a Double Down. Mattell introduced a steel chair, first positioning it to sit on and watch The Benchmark attack Wish, only to rise and direct them to hit another Double Down, sending Wish’s neck down on the top of it. With Wish violently coughing, still there was more as Mattell attempted to break fingers on both his hands, taunting that he wouldn’t be hitting him with a cane again any time soon. He said to consider this the massacre before Massacre, offering to finish the job there if Wish could make it.

Kobra Khan v Demarcus Lee
If you’d watched any episodes of To The Extreme over the last few months, you could guess what happened here. Kobra Khan outclassed his opponent in quick and impressive fashion, scoring the pinfall with his Ripcord Knee to a soundtrack of my scepticism that he could repeat that form when he next earned an opportunity at something bigger. Lori had assured me that this was leading somewhere and I wasn’t just burying the bloke. I hoped she’d told Kobra that and he didn’t think I was knocking him every week for my own amusement.

We handed over to Markus Rush, who was with Milton Hittlespitz. He asked Crazy Blue what was next, and Hittlespitz acknowledged that things hadn’t been going to plan for him after losing to Dexter Mattell at Havoc then falling short in last week’s five-in-five. He had two options: cry about it, or push himself even harder by picking the toughest fight he could find, and he preferred the sound of the second one.

Forever Evil (Creeper and Writhe) v The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward)
I was surprised this wasn’t promoted more in advance, even if it was just Death Ref saying last week that he’d found some former Athletic Empire blokes for Ares Death Cult to take on as a tease to tune in for, as I imagine Forever Evil were being paid quite a bit for this appearance. The salary expectations of any AE alumni meant it would likely take a very attention-grabbing performance to earn a permanent deal at that rate, and I’m not sure Creeper and Writhe showed enough here to force their way onto the roster. Still, their pedigree and long tenure as a team made the newer unit of The Barbarians beating them feel like a fairly big deal, and they collaborated on the trash can Spike Piledriver on Writhe that earned Banks a pinfall win.

Rob Edwards was interviewed by Markus Rush, referencing last week’s main event in saying that it looked like it had been left to him to take down The Benchmark, even if he had to do it on his own. He challenged Donovan Boon or Rusty Mills to get in the ring with him next week.

Mr. Blitz made his entrance with some security I suggested on commentary were supplied by CEW to protect him from degenerates in the DIW crowd. The Comedian said if they were anything like the CEW wrestlers, they wouldn’t be giving him much protection. As he stood up to reveal the opponent, he was interrupted by Pat Rigsby. The veteran reminded his boss that he wanted to prove that a DIW wrestler could be a member of civilised society by raising a family, and the company should support him in generating that good PR for them, instead of sidelining him. He pointed out the ridiculousness of giving some faceless idiot who was leaving a main event while he couldn’t even get a place on the card, before offering to step up and take out Mr. Blitz. The Comedian’s patience had worn off at this point, telling Rigsby to get out of his face before he hit him and he’d get his chance another night, with the married man reluctantly retreating. As for Mr. Blitz, The Comedian said that his final opponent would be The Final Boss.

Bryant Hall v Mr. Blitz
Hall wasn’t an obvious choice – a newcomer rather than a DIW figurehead, and certainly not a heroic figure. Still, it made sense that The Comedian picked one of the most menacing men at his disposal and, if it was going to be a current roster member, The Final Boss felt like the biggest deal as he’d never fought on To The Extreme before. Or, as The Comedian said on commentary, he picked the bloke he had most confidence in getting the job done. This wasn’t a squash though, it was competitive initially to build up a sense of jeopardy, fully showcase Hall’s repertoire and make Mr. Blitz work for his last payoff. The CEW-bound star didn’t perform to his full potential, the unusual occasion possibly getting to him, but this was still probably the best ever To The Extreme match not to feature Rob Edwards. The ending saw Mr. Blitz try to make an early escape, only for Hall to show an obscene burst of pace so late into the contest to catch him, hit his S.T.O. onto the steel steps and then drag him into the ring to land another and get the pinfall.

Bryant Hall didn’t get a chance to celebrate his win as he had a chair thrown at him after the bell, catching it only to have it launched into his face by a Flying Dropkick. It was Milton Hittlespitz, who followed up with his Flying Knee Drop. I recalled Crazy Blue’s earlier comments about picking the toughest fight he could find, remarking that he had to be stupid to pick a fight with The Final Boss.

Edited September 25, 2023 by 619

[Tiberious]

Shame re-signing Blitz Simpson didn't work out, but I'm glad Mr. Blitz got to go out on a high by getting a competitive main event against one of your biggest stars. Sure him leaving kind of sucks, but he's a guy who seemed to work hard and overperform relative to his spot on the card so you can't really blame him for taking the money.

With how much the ex-AE guys are going to demand I can see it being a tough sell to bring any of them on as regulars, but I could see some value in a short term or one off deal as a special attraction or to put over one of your (less expensive) homegrown stars.

Bryant Hall vs Milton Hittlespitz is a surprise, but it makes a lot of sense since both guys need a direction now that Seth Wish vs Dexter Mattell is the title feud. I was thinking that maybe Milton would switch to going after the tag team titles with Rick Horn, but I suppose their actual win-loss record teaming together isn't exactly stellar. Speaking of tag teams it was interesting to have Rob Edwards cutting a promo about taking out the Benchmark a couple shows ago. It'll be interesting to see if he can find a partner, or if he'll have to go it alone since he's kind of made a habit of stabbing his friends in the back during his time in DIW.

I also can't help but think Bryant Hall was pretty fortunate Lori didn't wait a few months to bring in a big new star for Ares Death Cult since between AE's collapse and a Fixer leaving CEW there's suddenly a lot more big name guys on the market. Not to say he hasn't put in the work to earn his spot, but I do think there's a part of Lori and The Comedian that would prefer their stars to be working solely for them.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Tiberious

[619]

Thanks @Tiberious, very incisive analysis as always. Yeah, while Wrecker and Con McReady were important enough to justify overpaying to keep, bumping the pay of everyone CEW looked at felt unsustainable. So even though Mr. Blitz was a good worker who deserved better booking, a 5x salary increase to rival CEW's offer felt like where The Comedian and Lori would draw the line. He was a negative influence too, not that he caused much trouble.

Your Bryant Hall comment is so interesting as The Fixer was actually first choice for that spot. However, because he hadn't fallen out with Dumfrey Pinn yet and The Comedian randomly banned striker hirings, it wasn't meant to be. It's worked out pretty well so far as Hall's slightly more over for the same pay demands and a more positive locker room presence (animosity with SQ aside). You're right though about Lori and The Comedian preferring an exclusive roster to maximise the us-against-the-world mentality, which makes the latest developments unfortunate...

Part 59: Trios

So that was it for Mr. Pink/Blitz in DIW, putting over Bryant Hall on the way out before immediately being established as a star by CEW. Oh no, that’s right, they debuted him in a six-man tag with two they’d stolen earlier, Cesar Sionis and Gyula Lakatos, and the trio lost to Adrian McGhee and The Battle Cats.

Talking of trios, a new promotion had opened following the demise of Athletic Empire, with Luxe announcer Craig Stuart bringing Desert Trios to Alice Springs. This apparent lucha product didn’t seem to overlap with DIW’s offering much and the initial schedule they announced saw shows scheduled for Sundays, so Lori was hopeful their interest in DIW trio Kobra Khan, Carl Paris and Classy Paul Massey wouldn’t affect her plans, even if they accepted the second jobs.

However, that depended on The Comedian not taking offence to the newbies’ interpretation of wrestling and declaring war, forcing workers to pick a side, which was an ever-present risk.

Back to DIW, there was an unusual disconnect between what had happened on the previous show and what was mentioned on the official site’s preview of To The Extreme episode 21.

Whereas Rob Edwards had challenged Donovan Boon or Rusty Mills to a match, The Benchmark were in fact listed as defending their Tag Titles against the unbeaten Ares Death Cult team The Barbarians. Edwards’ determination to get his hands on the champions was still referenced, so the angle didn’t appear to have been dropped entirely.

Another title match had been announced, with Rick Horn challenging Australian Champion Con McReady, while Milton Hittlespitz was preparing for a likely future showdown with Bryant Hall by taking on another hulking presence in Tank.

The only other thing hyped in advance was a response from Death Ref to last week’s events, presumably a reference to Bryant Hall being the one to banish Mr. Blitz from DIW and then being confronted by Hittlespitz after the bell.

[619]

Part 60: To The Extreme #21

Milton Hittlespitz v Tank
This opening contest gave us a chance to recap the end of the previous episode, when Hittlespitz picked a fight with Bryant Hall. The match was short with a simple story: Crazy Blue showing he had the speed and chair-handling skills to cut down a larger opponent, as viewers predating the WrestleWorld Australia partnership had seen many times before. A chair shot and Flying Knee Drop was the winning combination on this occasion.

Death Ref confronted Milton Hittlespitz from the entranceway, saying that provoking Bryant Hall was his biggest mistake of a career full of them. The Comedian owed Ares Death Cult a few favours for helping him out with a problem last week, and that was why Crazy Blue wasn’t just getting a match with The Final Boss at Massacre, he was getting a cage match. It was also the reason why Rob Edwards wasn’t getting his match with The Benchmark tonight, because it was The Barbarians’ turn. Perhaps Edwards might finally have an awakening that he shouldn’t have abandoned Ares Death Cult. But maybe it wasn’t too late for Edwards to be redeemed. Death Ref invited him to witness the Tag Title main event, claiming that if he showed enough contrition and gave his soul fully this time, it wasn’t too late to earn salvation.

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Con McReady (c)
Strip away a few multi-man main event losses and Horn’s singles record in DIW was 2-1. He got to show his resilience in his first title match, most notably getting his shoulder up after a combination of cane shots to the midsection and skull. There was even one moment when he set McReady up for his John Deere Destroyer, only to lose focus when DIW Champion Dexter Mattell walked down the ramp. The challenger was down for the count soon after having eaten an Iron Fist.

Dexter Mattell was nauseatingly overfamiliar in his embrace of Con McReady after the match, saying he just wanted to check in as he hadn’t seen much of the Australian Champion recently. Raw Sex said he’d heard people speculating that McReady’s loyalties laid with Seth Wish. Of course, he knew that was ridiculous: McReady wasn’t going to turn his back on their group of dominant champions for some amateur they’d offered the world to who was so ungrateful he’d thrown it back in their faces. Still, seeing as the idiots in DIW House struggled to see that, it might be good if McReady made it clear to everyone whose side he was on by Massacre. There was no “…or else” added on at the end, but the undertone of ultimatum was impossible to miss.

As Con McReady walked to the back, poker face intact, Kobra Khan’s music hit. He had a simple message for DIW Champion Dexter Mattell: if you’re giving Seth Wish a title shot, you should be giving me one too. Raw Sex was even more scathing than usual in response, which I suggested on commentary was him taking out all his recent frustrations on Kobra Khan. Mattell said that when The Pros talked about DIW being Amateur HQ, Kobra Khan was the poster child. He came out every week with his silly little snake mask, running rings around out-of-shape nobodies and then poking his tongue out like it was something to be proud of, only to be knocked on his tail any time he faced somebody half-decent. He said Kobra Khan, or Kobra Can’t as he should be called, wasn’t on his level, but he had one thing going for him: Raw Sex really would like to knock that tongue down his throat. So he could have his DIW Title shot next week on one condition: once he lost, he wouldn’t get another one against him or any of The Pros. Kobra Khan accepted and said that when he was standing tall over Mattell next week, DIW Title held above his head, he’d be sure to stick his tongue out for him.

The Comedian and I started hyping the Tag Title main event between The Barbarians and The Benchmark, only to be interrupted by Rob Edwards. He told The Comedian he’d promised the fans and himself a Rob Edwards match tonight, so he wanted to deliver on that promise if The Comedian had anyone to spare, promising he’d keep it quick as he was as interested as anyone in the main event. A small “Rigsby” chant broke out – surely a world first – but The Comedian instead had someone looking to earn a job in DIW, who he sceptically introduced as Big Tex.

Rob Edwards v Big Tex
James McEwan was a 32-year veteran formerly of Athletic Empire on the brink of retirement, getting a payday on his way out. He had solid fundamentals and charisma, but his fake American cowboy gimmick as Big Tex was the antithesis of DIW, so Lori was clearly looking to strike a contrast between this obnoxious phony and the entirely legitimate Edwards. The Human Weapon lived up to his promise to keep it short – he didn’t have any other choice against his 49-year-old opponent – ending a one-sided four-minute match with a Roundhouse Kick.

Rob Edwards was staying out for the main event, as invited by Death Ref, but we had time to check in with Markus Rush before it started. He was with The Barracudas, and Vaughan said he hadn’t forgotten D.O.A. choking him out two weeks ago, and he was ready to make him pay next week. Chopper Rourke presumably hadn’t forgotten either, but stood there snarling and let Vaughan do the talking, as was tradition.

Tag Titles: The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward) v The Benchmark (Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills) (c)
Whose side was Rob Edwards on? He didn’t interrupt this 10-minute match, so it looked like he was just happy to see a bunch of people he didn’t like beat the crap out of one another, and both teams obliged. This followed a main event formula that had become more common since Havoc: put the most hardcore bouts, the wildest brawls and the most chaotic action on the undercard and close on something more straightforward, trusting the star power and storyline to provide the hook. This approach arguably worked against the inexperienced Psych Ward, but The Benchmark don’t have bad matches. They don’t lose either, and this was their 12th victory in 13 DIW outings on the same side, secured when they managed to isolate Ward for a Double Down.

While Rusty Mills exited the ring to collect the Tag Titles, Rob Edwards entered to take Donovan Boon off his feet with a Roundhouse Kick. Death Ref raised an eyebrow, illogically wondering if Edwards was realigning, when he surely would’ve helped them in the match if that was the case. His hope was extinguished when Edwards followed up with a Roundhouse Kick to Psych Ward. Mills and Lloyd Banks worked together to take down their common enemy, with Death Ref directing Banks outside for a weapon. The Barbed Wire Messiah was met there by Wrecker, who had charged down the ramp and connected first time with a Bulldozer Elbow. He then entered the ring to step up to Mills, eating the first shot but ducking the second and landing another Bulldozer Elbow. Wrecker lifted Rob Edwards to his feet to a loud crowd response, with The Comedian suggesting that The Human Weapon had found someone ready to take down The Benchmark with him.