DIW 2024: Waging War Weekly

[619]

Part 101: Playing both sides

I had conflicting thoughts on the outcome of the upcoming annual DIW Title ladder match between the company’s two singles champions, which this year saw Seth Wish defending against long-time rival Kobra The Conqueror. This felt particularly fitting because they came up with the champion versus champion concept together in 2022 when contemplating how to reward the winner of their Australian Title best-of-three series.

On the one hand, it would be very early to take the title from Wish given that he’d held it for less than a month. This was his opportunity to defeat two of his historic rivals in the first month of his DIW Title reign to show any doubters that he was a worthy champion, before perhaps setting someone different up to challenge him at Damage Control in Sydney next month.

That being said, there was certainly a case for putting Kobra The Conqueror over too, starting with the fact the Australian Champion needed to win one of these ladder matches for it to be a sustainable concept, as the DIW Champion always winning dilutes the spectacle. From a Pros perspective, the late recruit who joined at a career low point becoming a double champion at a point when none of the original members held gold could really shake up the group’s dynamics.

Wish’s recent win over Hittlespitz could be interpreted to suit either outcome. Those who thought Wish would retain again would see it as them frontloading his reign to make sure everyone was taking it seriously. Those who thought Kobra was being crowned might suggest that he’d been given that win as a consolation, so that he wasn’t dethroned in his first defence.

I was there at the taping of course so I’m writing this already knowing which direction Lori went in, though I’ll be updating this diary the second I’ve watched it back on DIWO. We’d all been given free logins, not out of Comedian generosity, but in the hope we’d be motivated to promote it on our social pages, which meant Lori no longer had to fund a WrestleWorld Australia subscription for me for the benefit of this diary.

I’d decided to keep hold of it for the time being at my own cost, just to keep an eye on APW’s encouraging progress. They’d just put on their best show of the Debonair David Petersen era, Coming Home 2024, headlined by George Wolfe successfully defending the Commonwealth Title against Fuyuhiko Wakabayashi. They also drew their biggest crowd since I’d left, increasing my suspicion that DIW were playing a dangerous game leaving them unopposed on the platform.

Anyway, to finish previewing To The Extreme episode 36, a lukewarm undercard for Wish and Kobra’s ladder match saw Con McReady taking on Head Goon, The Barracudas fighting Saracens and Pat Rigsby challenging one of the men who brutally attacked him last month, Lloyd Banks.

[John Lions]

I didn't realize the ladder match was actually for the DIW title - I was under the impression it was an exhibition match like the WWE vs WHC matches at Night of Champions WWE used to do. I figured Kobra was a shoo-in to win to set up a title match down the road, but now I'm less sure.

[Scottie]

Definitely good reasons to go either way! It's a big clash - I think you go with the champion to retain, with another bout down the road.

[AboardTheArk]

There's a ton to consider. I think it'd be less "messy" if Wish retains considering the amount of heel dominance in 2022-24 DIW but that doesn't mean there isn't potential for a better story with the Kobra swerve

[619]

Thanks as always @John Lions @Scottie @AboardTheArk. I probably should've thought to post a bit more of the background to the ladder match @John Lions. At the start of the save in 2022, the Australian Title scene was pretty much just Wish and Kobra: Kobra challenged Wish to a match between the two best ever Australian Champions and Wish said one match wasn't enough, let's do best-of-three with the winner getting a DIW Title shot, which backfired as he won the first match then lost the series to bargain himself out of the title and the DIW Title shot. That series decider was at Hardcore Hallelujah 2022, so the champion-v-champion match was at Extreme Life the next month and, as the poster had a ladder in it, Lori decided it should be a ladder match. And the booking hasn't got any more sophisticated than that in the two years since 😄 

Part 102: To The Extreme #36

As with Seth Wish’s first title defence against Milton Hittlespitz, the episode started with a video recap of the DIW Champion’s history with Kobra The Conqueror. We saw Kobra ending Wish’s first Australian Title reign in 2020, Wish taking the title back from him in 2021 and his 2022 proposal of a best-of-three series to not only determine the ultimate Australian Champion but a DIW Title contender, starting a September champion-versus-champion ladder match tradition. We saw Wish winning the first match but losing the series and the long-term impact: Kobra losing his DIW Title match with Hittlespitz and further big-match struggles, Wish being warned by The Comedian to never give an inch to an opponent again and caning Lou Brookmyre. We fast-forwarded to Wish costing Kobra the Australian Title against Con McReady at Havoc and Kobra denying Wish the DIW Title against Dexter Mattell two months later at Massacre, before seeing their success since: Wish dethroning Mattell and beating Hittlespitz, Kobra conquering McReady and overcoming Chopper Rourke. The package ended with the words “Only one of them can win the match they created” and a graphic promoting their DIW Title ladder match.

Con McReady v Head Goon
Head Goon was someone who worked a tag bout alongside Pat Rigsby in February and Lori apparently wanted to assess him in a singles match, but they got their wires crossed somewhere along the way so it took a long time to reach an agreement. Was it worth the wait? Probably not, though it was a decent seven-minute showcase of McReady, who secured what the notes Lori gave us for the episode told us was his 13th win in 16 singles matches in 2024 with his Iron Fist.

Con McReady felt the crack of a cane on his own back as his arm was being raised, with the uncharacteristically hooded attacker revealing themselves to be a returning Dexter Mattell. He continued to wail away on his grounded former Pros ally, then dropped it only to reveal a small flask of a liquid which he doused the bottom half of the cane with. This brought Seth Wish rushing out (since Massacre, they only tended to accompany one another for matches where their opponent had someone in their corner), but Kobra The Conqueror was poised to again blindside him with a ladder by the entrance. Mattell lit the cane and got a handful of shots in on McReady with the flaming weapon before Wish struggled to the ring to force him to back off.

The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan) v Saracens (Cueball and Tank)
Fittingly given Vaughan’s pitch to Rourke at the start of the year was “unite or die” following The Barracudas’ disunity in the second half of 2023, they had entered a stride of being far more effective as a unit than as individuals in 2024. Whereas they’d lost a handful of singles matches each, I think it was only The Benchmark who had defeated them as a tag team. Their successful partnership continued here without much trouble, with Rourke pinning Cueball after a Spinebuster to bounce back from his recent Australian Title loss to Kobra The Conqueror.

Markus Rush had found a way to access a conversation between Dexter Mattell, Kobra The Conqueror, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills. Boon appeared to be planning to justify The Benchmark not being there when he lost the DIW Title at Hardcore Hallelujah, but Mattell shut him down. He said there was no need for excuses or explanations, he got it: they needed some time out after losing the Tag Titles just as he did after losing the DIW Title. None of that mattered now. What mattered was that they were all back and they all had clear objectives. The Benchmark needed to give The Dream Team a nightmare and take their gold back. He had to make sure Con McReady paid for the damage he’d done to them, and they had to make sure Kobra The Conqueror succeeded in bringing a second title back to The Pros tonight.

Pat Rigsby v Lloyd Banks
Being brutalised at the hands of Ares Death Cult recently wasn’t enough to fully endear Rigsby to the DIW House crowd after years of obnoxiousness, even with Lori taunting him at ringside that his wife would rather be known as a Bogan than a Rigsby. Bonnie Bogan had more goodwill though, so fans engagement increased when she arrived in his corner. He didn’t welcome the commotion, instead shouting for her to leave as she wasn’t safe. In losing focus on his own safety, Banks renewed his attack, taking him out with a Piledriver and then hitting a second before the cover as Psych Ward and Lori goadingly obstructed Bogan’s access to the ring.

What was Lori’s biggest misjudgement: continuing to taunt Bonnie Bogan after her husband’s latest loss, or apparently not notifying The Barbarians of her plan? They’d already exited after their win. Lori went for a slap, but Bogan blocked it with her arm and instead connected with her Greetings From Hobart finisher, before checking on Pat Rigsby.

Markus Rush was with The Barracudas. Chopper Rourke looked angry like always, but this time he was angry while holding up a Damage Control poster. Vaughan said the fans and the other blokes in the back might not be onto The Comedian but they are. DIW had only ran shows in three venues in their 15-year existence and suddenly when it was time for their Sydney debut, he picked a venue next door to Long Bay and had prison-themed posters designed. He didn’t know what the motivation was – if the old man was bored in retirement and wanted one last Barracuda beating, if he thought he was motivating them – but he should know better than anyone not to play games with The Barracudas. Rourke screwed up the poster, threw it at Rush and snarled “be careful what you wish for” and that was that. I probed The Comedian about it when we were back on screen and he was dismissive, asserting that DIW didn’t book venues based on nearby correctional facilities wrestlers may have once resided at and explaining the poster as something a designer would’ve come up with because they thought it looked hardcore.

DIW Title Ladder Match: Seth Wish (c) v Kobra The Conqueror
As well as all the history Wish and Kobra shared, they had something else in common: the fact that neither was really accomplished enough to lead a match against another non-technician. This main event was structured around those limitations, as well as playing up to their strengths, with a ladder match suiting their hardcore talents and willingness to take risks. The champion looked set to retain when he pushed Kobra off the ladder after a struggle at the top and immediately followed up with a Suicide Senton, but that was just the cue for chaos to ensue. The rest of The Pros ran down, with Dexter Mattell pulling Wish off the ladder and Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills hitting a Double Down into it. They then directed Kobra to set a table up outside, the plan seemingly being to put him through it to give him the maximum pain and distance to overcome to disrupt Kobra’s ascent. They hadn’t accounted for Rob Edwards and Milton Hittlespitz intervening though, taking the fight to The Benchmark. Mattell got stuck in again to reinforce his group’s numerical advantage, only for Rick Horn to make his return, picking up Hittlespitz’s chair on his way to the ring and hitting both Boon and Mills. The trio of Crazy Blue, Edwards and Horn then fought Mattell and The Benchmark down the ramp to leave the ring to Wish and Kobra once more. Kobra was closing in on the top of the ladder when Wish climbed the turnbuckle and leapt across to take the Australian Champion down off the ladder with a modified Dust In The Wind. He then went up the ladder to retain his DIW Title.

Seth Wish stood atop the ladder holding the DIW Title over his head, with the celebration brought to a sudden stop when someone entered the ring and pushed him off the ladder and through the table still positioned at ringside. It was Bryant Hall, who made his way outside the ring remarkably quickly to plant the champion with an S.T.O. onto the table debris. He then picked him up again to hit the same move onto a nearby ladder, before throwing the one inside the ring that he’d chucked Wish off on top of the main event winner to complete his assault. I noted on commentary that the DIW Champion’s title reign certainly wasn’t a fairytale any more.

-----

 

 

"This final segment got me hyped for the Ladder match, of course there will be shenanigans but hopefully not an insane amount" Alas @HiPlus I think six outsiders getting involved probably qualified as an insane amount 😅

Edited November 10, 2023 by 619

[HiPlus]

I want to see the locker room empty next time

Edited November 9, 2023 by HiPlus

[619]

Part 103: The big question

Lori’s attempts to reestablish Seth Wish as a sympathetic babyface had to be going reasonably well because, even with my heel colour commentator hat on, I felt kind of sorry for him.

His reward for winning DIW Title matches against Dexter Mattell, Milton Hittlespitz and Kobra The Conqueror in the space of 27 days was a beating from Bryant Hall, with it since confirmed that he’d defend the title against Ares Death Cult’s Final Boss at Damage Control 2024 in Sydney.

That left me with a question, perhaps not the one you’re expecting: what the hell was going on with all this Pat Rigsby crap?

Introducing someone as his wife was a natural progression – once you talk about someone often enough, it becomes almost inevitable that you end up giving them an on-screen presence. And if you’ve already got an established husband and wife on your roster, as DIW did with Death Ref and Lori, why not have them interact?

That last one doesn’t have to be a rhetorical question as I’m pretty sure of the answer. If you’ve decided a stable’s Final Boss is going to fight for your top title, it’s not an ideal time to have the rest of his group, most prominently the leaders, locked in a multi-month feud with a bloke who hadn’t even won a match in the year I’d been in the company, and his fairly unestablished wife.

Besides Bonnie Bogan’s initial appearance at Hardcore Hallelujah, when there was intrigue over who this distinctive woman was and why she helped The Barracudas beat The Barbarians, the DIW House crowd didn’t seem that into anything her and her “husband” were doing.

However, Lori appeared convinced there was an audience for Rigsby and his marriage. I was certain that the fanbase for Wish v Hall was far greater though, and so was concerned that linking the DIW Title to a group feuding with Rigsby might turn away fans interested in that.

[HiPlus]

Lori is right, how dare you besmirch her booking. If anything it's perfect timing. Wish doesn't look safe against Hall but is Wish just a transitional champion? If Wish wins, he needs some outside help and a surprise from Bonnie and Rigsby could be just the thing. 

 

This could be the feud that makes Wish as a guy. Sure Hittlespitz, Kobra, and Dexter are good to hang his rep on but he hasn't had "the" match. With Hittlespitz as Tag Champ, and Kobra as Australian Champ there needs to be a "real" threat, a "real" challenge someone you can see winning and Hall is that for Wish. 

[John Lions]

The DIW faithful will be into Bonnie Bogan when she starts plastering guys with chairs. Get her in the ring and she'll be over like rover.

 

Honestly, I'm kind of OK with the idea of Hall beating Wish? It transitions us from the Pro-centric storylines to the revival of the Ares Death Cult, and Wish can cement himself as a true babyface not by being the incumbent champion, but as the underdog who now feels like he has to win the belt AGAIN to prove he really deserves it. This would be his first big storyline as a "top" guy where he is a full-on babyface right from the beginning, and pitting him up against the newest unstoppable monster in DIW.

[619]

Thanks @HiPlus and @John Lions. I love the conflicting perspectives on which Damage Control DIW Title outcome might play out best, and both are strong cases. Thanks also for humouring the Bonnie Bogan angle. I don't think Pat Rigsby would ever have got his own storyline or even a single non-match segment without the comments in this thread, so adapting to his reception has added a fun extra element to the save for me.

Part 104: Six-man main event

At the start of October 2024 and halfway through the build for Damage Control, Seth Wish v Bryant Hall for the DIW Title was the only match confirmed for the company’s Sydney debut.

That would change on To The Extreme episode 37 though as a main event had been announced with Damage Control implications. After they were all involved in the previous episode’s ladder match, Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn were facing The Pros’ Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror, with the winner of the fall challenging for the title held by the losing team at the end of the month.

So if The Pros were beaten, whoever scored the fall would get an Australian Title match against Kobra. If the Horny Dream Team (admittedly that wasn’t a name listed on the promotional materials I’d seen) lost, The Benchmark would get a rematch if Boon or Mills delivered the win, with Kobra and Dexter Mattell perhaps challenging if the masked man made the cover.

It was a little convoluted, but it created the attraction of presenting six stars in one main event. I was tempted to uncharitably correct that to five stars and Horn, though interestingly this would be his fifth To The Extreme main event since April. That was an average of almost one a month and probably a better appearance record than several more proven acts, so it felt like there was a concerted effort to establish him as one to watch.

This looked like being an episode where all the star power was concentrated on one match, especially as the preview hinted that The Wild Things wouldn’t be appearing after Wish was taken out by Hall and Con McReady was burned by Mattell. It was indicated that we might hear from Ares Death Cult and The Pros about those respective attacks though.

 

[John Lions]

To be honest, I'm not even humoring you! I didn't suggest it, but I've always thought Bonnie Bogan could be a huge star in DIW. I think she's got the character, the size, and the skill set to be able to mix it up with the guys and have it not feel out of place (like Momoe could have, but not Lori). With pretty minimal development and pop, I'm running an AEW-style company and she's been a stand out:

That's right, that's a 70 rated match between Bonnie and Momoe - and that's with both of them punching weigh above their skill levels with it. The vast majority of those matches, she's the top performer too. Don't sleep on taking her seriously in DIW!

Edited November 13, 2023 by John Lions

[619]

@John Lions Very interesting, thanks for sharing. It looks like I missed a trick not having Momoe Hamuera and her on the roster at the same time (no chance of bringing her back any time soon unfortunately as she's still unhappy about her treatment last year).

Part 105: To The Extreme #37

The show opened with a recap of DIW Champion Seth Wish retaining against Australian Champion Kobra The Conqueror in a ladder match after Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn counteracted Dexter Mattell, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mill’s interference. Greater emphasis was placed on what happened next: Bryant Hall throwing him off the ladder through a table and hitting S.T.O.s onto both the table debris and a ladder. This was followed by comments recorded by Death Ref warning Wish that whenever Ares Death Cult wanted the DIW Title, they took it. They’d held it throughout 2023 and now, after giving others a chance at enlightenment that they didn’t take, The Final Boss would bring it back under their control at Damage Control.

Brains and Brawn (Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)
Lori should’ve realised by now that Paris and The Barracudas don’t mix. Paris had injured Blitz Simpson twice (the 20-year-old could still be heard complaining about being unfairly blamed for the second of those now, over a year later) and shown awful chemistry with Rourke since. But she hadn’t learnt and this time the result was a broken finger for Paris when he tried to block Rourke’s swing at him with a lead pipe. On the bright side, it did help illustrate that The Barracudas were acting more violently than ever after their threatening interview last week, as did Vaughan implementing his own lead pipe into a Choke Sleeper on Lee, wiping him out faster.

Markus Rush had caught sight of Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards in conversation with Rick Horn ahead of their main event against The Benchmark and Kobra The Conqueror. Edwards was either motivating or pressurising Horn, depending on your outlook, by reminding him that he was defending him and Hittlespitz’s perfect record as a team. Crazy Blue tried easing the tension by noting that him and Horn had never won as a team before, so one streak was guaranteed to end tonight, but neither of his partners seemed to appreciate his intervention.

Lori asked Bonnie Bogan to the ring so they could have a chat, woman to, well, whatever Bogan was. Bogan started by commenting that she was surprised to hear Miss Cooper talking about not taking her husband’s surname, too inside a comment to open a conversation with in my opinion. Her follow-up that maybe Lori was planning to take Hall as a surname got a louder reaction. Lori no-sold it, instead responding with faux concern, saying that whereas she was still standing after an unprovoked attack from a classless coward, she was so sorry Mr Bogan couldn’t join us tonight because his neck was too sore after taking two Piledrivers last week. Imagine being taken out by your own move, she continued, before apologising to the crowd: they probably didn’t know Rigsby’s finisher was a Piledriver because he’d never finished anyone with it. And yes, you can guess where this went next. Lori suggested finishing was a problem for him inside and outside the ring, that’s why his wife had started stinking up DIW instead of attending antenatal classes. That was a conversation stopper as Bogan took down Lori in defence of her husband. It seemed that was the reaction Lori wanted though, as The Barbarians were quick to get to the ring, with Ward pulling Bogan off of Lori. She retaliated with a slap and he showed no restraint, hitting her with a Psycho Slam. We didn’t get a chance to see if he showed any remorse because Lori demanded that he and Lloyd Banks finish the attack with a vicious Spike Piledriver.

Cueball v Lloyd Banks
A few of the undercard had run out at the end of The Barbarians’ attack on Bonnie Bogan. They were too late to prevent the Spike Piledriver, but were at least able to stop any further damage and get her stretchered out. Cueball was one of them, resulting in an impromptu match with Banks. He couldn’t capitalise on being put in a spot to get a bit more crowd support than usual, putting in a poor performance as Banks beat him in under six minutes with another Piledriver.

Most DIW talking took place in the back, but someone must have told the roster it was open mic night because, after Lori earlier, Dexter Mattell was next in front of the live crowd. After sarcastically asking the fans if they’d missed him, he said he had a lot of time to think after Hardcore Hallelujah and it all led him to one conclusion: Con McReady had to pay for what he did. When Mattell decided to form The Pros, he could’ve left McReady in the midcard where he’d always been in APW and DIW, but he tried to give him an opportunity to get to his level. He even let him bring Seth Wish along for the ride. Raw Sex turned McReady into a star, and what did he do in return? He broke him. It was his distraction that cost Mattell the DIW Title but, more than all of that, it was his fault he was even fighting Wish in the first place. If he hadn’t mistaken an amateur for a Pro. If he hadn’t misjudged McReady’s victory over Kobra The Conqueror in an Australian Title contender tournament the month he was forming The Pros and picked the wrong bloke. If he hadn’t given McReady a chance he hadn’t earned. If it wasn’t for all of that, Mattell, The Benchmark and Kobra would still be holding all the gold and The Wild Things would be as inconsequential as they’d always been until he mistakenly elevated them.

But the worst thing wasn’t him trying to lift McReady up to his level, it was McReady dragging him down to his. Using canes and fire was beneath him, but McReady brought that out of him. McReady gave him that urge to burn him the same way his betrayal burned Mattell. He’d keep being dragged down to that level until he put him definitively in his place at Damage Control. He was unexpectedly interrupted by Hack The Hunter, who wryly observed that telling someone it was their fault you’d set them on fire might be taking gaslighting too far. He was glad Mattell was back though, pyromania aside, and offered to fight him on his return to the ring next week. Mattell initially feigned not knowing who Hack The Hunter was, before recalling that he’d seen him flirting with Wrecker in the back recently. He told him bad news mate, your buddy got there first, revealing that his first bout since losing the DIW Title would be against Wrecker next week.

Hendrix Hughes v Lorenzo Oliverio
I’m guessing this match was booked as closure for the pair’s Hardcore Hallelujah angle, given that Oliverio started the rivalry by hitting Hughes with brass knuckles, only to miss the eventual tag match through injury. It was presented as a fairly even contest – I made the parallel that this was Oliverio’s first singles match in DIW, and his opponent found himself in a similar position earlier in the year – but Hughes got the victory. He threw Oliverio forward when he tried to grip onto him for a Back Stabber and then caught him with the Triple H.

The theme of the night continued with Hendrix Hughes addressing the crowd briefly after the match. He said he’d lost focus a bit recently, but seeing Dexter Mattell pollute DIW House earlier with the toxic waste coming out of his mouth reminded him that he owed it to Seb Shaw to see The Pros title-less, inviting fans to put their ciggies in the air for the next Australian Champion.

Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn v The Pros (Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror)
There were a number of reasons why this couldn’t quite hit the heights of The Dream Team v The Benchmark at Hardcore Hallelujah. It wasn’t a major show or title match, it didn’t have that first-time factor and there were two extra elements to navigate in Horn’s inexperience and Kobra never quite thriving in the wild brawls that were Hittlespitz and Edwards’ speciality. Horn badly botched a Monkey Flip on Boon at one point too. However, it was a very entertaining To The Extreme main event notable for a Mills performance so good he actually outshone Edwards. It was the four-time DIW Champion who was decisive to the finish though. Horn and Kobra were legal but the match broke down with the recent Tag Title rivals brawling in and around the ring. Kobra went up top with a chair to land a Crossbody in which he also thrust the chair into his opponent’s face, but Edwards took the blow for Horn, who quickly capitalised with a John Deere Destroyer on Kobra to score the biggest pinfall of his career.

Milton Hittlespitz congratulated Rick Horn on earning an Australian Title shot, encouraging him to celebrate through the crowd. As Crazy Blue checked on Edwards, he didn’t see two men enter the ring from the opposite side to the one Horn had departed from until it was too late and Chopper Rourke and Vaughan were clubbing both him and later The Human Weapon with lead pipes. Once both were unable to defend themselves, The Barracudas started punching them and got colour. They finally stopped and dropped their pipes as the crowd booed – the first time in ages they’d had the fans against them like that – but the assault wasn’t over as they picked first Hittlespitz and later Edwards up for the Barracuda Sting. As The Barracudas stood tall to close the show, I needled The Comedian about how they’d told him to be careful what he wished for.

Edited November 13, 2023 by 619

[619]

Part 106: Sydney taking shape

Three more matches for Damage Control in Sydney were confirmed after To The Extreme episode 37.

The outcome of the main event between Milton Hittlespitz, Rob Edwards and Rick Horn and Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror was that Horn had won an Australian Title shot against Kobra. It would be his first ever match on a DIW major event.

I’d assumed that six-man match was set up to line Boon and Mills up for a Tag Title rematch with Hittlespitz and Edwards but, not only had they failed to earn it, The Barracudas were named as the champions’ opponents instead after attacking them at the close of the episode.

Perhaps there was still time to make it a triple threat, as it didn’t seem as though The Benchmark had anything else set up. However, if it was remaining as advertised, it was quite a good fit for the 15-year anniversary celebrations as the quartet had held the DIW Title 12 times between them, so it could probably be promoted as something like the most decorated match in company history.

The least surprising of the three matches added to the Damage Control card was Con McReady v Dexter Mattell, with Mattell wanting to inflict further pain on his former Pro colleague while McReady sought revenge for being attacked by a flaming cane two episodes ago.

That made it four Damage Control matches confirmed in total with three episodes to go, the other being Seth Wish v Bryant Hall for the DIW Title. That story wasn’t advanced on episode 37 besides a short Death Ref pre-tape as Wish sold his beating from The Final Boss.

[619]

Part 107: A beatdown bonanza

Summarising those angles setting up Damage Control matches in the last post, it stood out that there had been a lot of beatdowns lately, with Con McReady, Seth Wish, Bonnie Bogan, Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards all being heavily attacked outside of a match environment on the last two episodes alone.

Yes, this was a hardcore promotion with a fanbase who had a greater appetite for such angles, and attempts were at least made to diversify them stylistically. However, I thought it was important to avoid it becoming too common, as this would both undermine the severity of the beatings wrestlers endured in actual matches, and also create an expectation of endless anarchy that would be difficult to maintain with over 50 shows a year.

I’ve already seen To The Extreme episode 38, so can confirm it was slightly less chaotic, but I’ll break it down fully in the next part once I’ve watched the final version uploaded to DIWO. The main event was Dexter Mattell’s first match since losing the DIW Title at Hardcore Hallelujah. He was facing Wrecker, who often seemed to be positioned as the conscience of DIW, the bloke who stepped up if someone seemed outnumbered or went too far, as Mattell had with McReady.

Hack The Hunter, who wanted the opportunity to fight Mattell himself, was instead going to take on the latest outsider to try to earn a spot on the DIW roster, while Pat Rigsby would challenge Psych Ward a week on from The Barbarians’ attack on his wife Bogan.

This Bogan story created quite a strange dynamic in that, in terms of positioning, Rigsby v Ward was one of the least remarkable matches you could create from the DIW roster – both tended to be on the losing side of their singles matches – and yet it was being hyped almost as much as the main event by DIW on social media.

Rigsby even posted a video on !!! (formerly X, even more formerly Twitter). It started with him angry at his wife as she should never be at DIW House, especially not when he’s not there to protect her. He eventually concluded that it was his moral duty to set an example to the lost souls in the DIW crowd and locker room by showing them what it means to be a husband and avenging the attack on his wife with victory.

[AboardTheArk]

Rigsby even posted a video on [newly introduced characters to symbolize the pained screams of the eternally damned] (formerly !!!, more formerly X, even more formerly Twitter) 

[619]

Part 108: To The Extreme #38

I introduced the show by expressing enthusiasm for getting to see Dexter Mattell fight for the first time since Hardcore Hallelujah in the main event, but it was Hack The Hunter who made the first entrance of the episode.

Hack The Hunter v The Kipper
Hack was still trying to get back on track after his Hardcore Hallelujah defeat to Bryant Hall but had been beaten to the punch of challenging Dexter Mattell tonight by Wrecker, so took the opportunity to fight an outsider instead. I haven’t had enough time to check, but I imagine this may have been the first time The Comedian had ever allowed an ex-RAW wrestler within DIW’s walls. At 6ft 6in and with a muscular build, The Kipper looked a worthy adversary to Hack, but it quickly became apparent that the 45-year-old’s best days were behind him. Once Hack took charge after an open first few minutes, this became a showcase of his power moves which he completed with his patented Hack Attack for the three count.

Markus Rush showed us footage he had captured while that match was in progress of Dexter Mattell in conversation with Kobra The Conqueror. He was warning Kobra that Pros got held to a higher standard. Him, Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills had been pinned three times between them since The Pros were formed, whereas Kobra had lost that many times since joining. He assured him this wasn’t a Seth Wish situation. He wasn’t putting him on notice, but right now he was the Pros standard bearer as their only reigning champion, and he needed to live up to the opportunity they’d given him. Kobra expressed regret for his recent defeats to Wish and Rick Horn, but vowed to expose Horn for the amateur he was at Damage Control. Mattell approved but had a proposal for how he could put an amateur in his place before that. DIW’s 15-year anniversary celebration started next week, so why not issue an Australian Title open challenge to any former DIW wrestler to embarrass them on the big party night? Kobra liked the idea.

It quickly became clear why The Benchmark weren’t with their fellow Pros, as they appeared in front of the commentary desk to confront The Comedian about not being given a rematch for the Tag Titles. He bluntly responded that he’d given them an opportunity to get one last week and they blew it. He indicated he’d probably add a match to determine the next challengers to the Damage Control card if there was room, so they’d get a chance to redeem themselves if they upped their game. This seemed to be enough to persuade them to back off for the time being.

Pat Rigsby v Psych Ward
There was no Lori or Death Ref at ringside, which I attributed to both preparing Bryant Hall for his upcoming DIW Title fight and confidence they wouldn’t be needed against Rigsby, who wasn’t trolling at the start of this match. He had his game face on and was instead taunted by Ward miming the Psycho Slam that he hit Bonnie Bogan with. Rigsby lashed out in retaliation but had his aggression turned against him as Ward dominated initially. The veteran later put together what looked suspiciously similar to a babyface comeback, only to have his ankle pulled by Lloyd Banks at ringside and get hit in the head by some wood wrapped in barbed wire Ward had outside the ring. To everyone’s astonishment, Rigsby kicked out at two and rallied again, building up to getting Ward in position for the Stuff Piledriver, only for Banks to jump on the apron. Rigsby not only knocked him off but uncharacteristically dived through the ropes onto the Barbed Wire Messiah. During this commotion, DIW Champion Seth Wish ran to the ring and whacked Ward with his cane, before taking shots at Banks outside. Rigsby rolled back in and hit Ward with his Stuff Piledriver, covering for the one, two and three. It turned out he could finish. Lori let me know it was the 25th match she’d booked Rigsby in, and the first not to end in defeat.

Pat Rigsby looked shocked when Tatum Richards approached him to raise his arm, giving her an awkward hug and then taking a similarly unorthodox lap of the ring, before running down the ramp – still not slapping the handful of outstretched arms offering him congratulations – before shouting “Yo Bonnie, I did it” down a camera by the entrance. Seth Wish stepped in the ring and said The Barbarians had cleared off and he knew better than to expect Bryant Hall to show up, but he was spoiling for a fight. It was D.O.A. who stepped out to answer the invitation.

Seth Wish v D.O.A.
The moves were executed well and both men brought plenty of energy to the contest, but there was a noticeable lack of flow to this match, which shouldn’t be the case when you’ve got the DIW Champion facing someone who had been wrestling for almost 20 years. Given the psychological shortcomings, it was good the action was limited to under eight minutes, with Wish extending his post-Canberra winning streak to six bouts after flooring D.O.A. with Dust In The Wind.

Markus Rush introduced a video he’d been sent by The Barracudas. Standing by the entrance of Long Bay Correctional Centre, Vaughan said that this area held no fear for them: it was where their brotherhood was formed, and where they suffered and inflicted beatings that would make DIW viewers blush. It was Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards who should be afraid as Long Bay was where they were at their most violent, their most ruthless and their most desperate. This Dream Team was build on a myth that they ended The Barracudas’ DIW domination when it was Blitz Simpson and Chopper Rourke they’d beaten. They’d never faced Rourke and Vaughan. Only one team in history had defeated the best Barracuda duo. Vaughan said Damage Control was about retribution more than the Tag Titles: it was time for the Dream Team to wake up, face their sentence and serve their time. Rourke added that what happened to Hittlespitz and Edwards in Sydney would be on The Comedian.

The Comedian declined to comment on what The Barracudas had said when Markus Rush handed back over, so I teed him up to give us a preview of what to expect from DIW’s 15-year anniversary celebration over the next two weeks. He didn’t exactly give it a hard sell, saying he didn’t like to look back too much and was more invested in DIW’s future. However, Aussie wrestling had survived 15 years longer than it looked like doing thanks to DIW, so he’d been persuaded that was worth celebrating. DIW’s longest serving wrestlers were Milton Hittlespitz and The Barracudas, so next week’s main event would be Crazy Blue v Vaughan, a match we hadn’t seen for years but that both men were hungry for ahead of Damage Control. He responded abrasively when I asked if we might see any familiar faces, doubting any of “the traitors” would be brave enough to show their faces, before conceding there was one man he wouldn’t mind seeing again.

Wrecker v Dexter Mattell
I knew these two could be relied upon for a solid To The Extreme main event as they’d done it once before in March. Mattell thrived early on, frustrating and tying up Wrecker with a series of fan-angering stretches, but was struggling to find an answer once his opponent built some momentum. Well, that wasn’t strictly true as he always had one answer – his fellow pros – with Kobra The Conqueror dragging Wrecker out of the ring and hitting him with a Ripcord Knee. By the time he’d got him back in the ring, Mattell could only score a two count, and when Wrecker battled back again, Raw Sex again signalled for his partner to intervene. Kobra brought the Australian Title into the ring, only for it to be pulled out of his hands. Hack The Hunter was behind him and cleaned him out with a Big Boot. Mattell goaded Hack to hit him with the title and it quickly became clear why: when he eventually obliged, Raw Sex ducked and Wrecker took the full force of the blow. Kobra came back in with a chair and his series of shots was enough to send Hack through the ropes as Mattell covered Wrecker for a fortuitous victory.

A recovering Hack The Hunter pursued Kobra The Conqueror down the entranceway, leaving Dexter Mattell all on his own in the ring as Con McReady came through the crowd with a cane and unloaded on his former stablemate. He got at least eight shots in before The Benchmark came running down and he slid out and made his exit. The Comedian commented that The Wild Things had returned tonight with cane shots for everyone, but I warned that they were playing with fire, and McReady had already found out once recently how that ended.

[619]

Part 109: Anniversary time

The next two episodes of To The Extreme saw the company leaving their 1,000-seat DIW House to return to 300-seat original home Marv’s Sports Central for possibly the final time to celebrate their 15-year anniversary.

I was intrigued by what a DIW anniversary celebration would look like. I’m fairly sure they hadn’t done anything for 10 years in 2019 and it was easy to understand why: it was difficult to deliver nostalgia when pretty much everyone who had ever left DIW had done so on bad terms.

I believe I’m right in saying that, to this day, East Side Assassin was the only DIW wrestler to ever reappear after leaving and that didn’t really count as he’d only arrived for a guest stint and returned for an off-air cameo, and he’d never worked elsewhere in Australia to burn his bridges.

It seemed that 15-year streak would end during the anniversary episodes because Kobra The Conqueror had accepted Dexter Mattell’s suggestion to defend the Australian Title against a DIW old-timer, and The Comedian had hinted at there being someone he hoped to see there.

When I asked Lori about the anniversary plans, she didn’t give much away but advised modest expectations. They weren’t going to be able to use anyone working for a company they didn’t get on with and The Comedian was unlikely to forgive anyone he felt wronged by. This criteria ruled out most DIW alumni, especially those with more name value, so there was no chance for instance of a warm Dumfrey Pinn tribute or RAW handing Tombstone over for a night.

Another challenge for Lori to navigate was that this anniversary overlapped with the final two hours of build for Damage Control 2024, a show that had to be promoted heavily to sell tickets for the company’s Sydney debut. So she needed to find a way to honour DIW’s past while generating as much anticipation as possible for the immediate future. In that sense, it did feel like To The Extreme episode 39 had the perfect main event at least.

Milton Hittlespitz v Vaughan combined two of the most significant figures in DIW history and also two men who would be on opposite sides of the Dream Team v Barracudas Tag Title match at Damage Control. It was a surprisingly fresh combination too given the pair had a combined 27 years in DIW on the clock. I asked Lori if she knew when they’d last fought one-on-one, and all she knew for certain was that it hadn’t taken place before during her 34 months as booker.

Edited November 17, 2023 by 619

[619]

Part 110: To The Extreme #39 (15-Year Anniversary Celebration)

The episode opened with a short video montage of several key figures from DIW’s first 15 years:

A home for hardcore legends
(clips of The Comedian, Big Jim Teasdale, Mayhem Mulhoney and East Side Assassin)

Where potential greats get given the ball
(clips of Dumfrey Pinn, Tombstone, Scottie Hamstead, The Apocalypse and Blitz Simpson)

But only a few are tough enough to keep it
(clips of Milton Hittlespitz, Vaughan, Chopper Rourke, Death Ref and Lori)

15 years undefeated, but the best is yet to come
(clips of The Wild Things, Rob Edwards, Bryant Hall, Wrecker and Two Badass MFers)

That opening felt on brand for DIW, finding a way to acknowledge the impact of people who left on bad terms, but doing it backhandedly. Besides possibly The Bad Truckers and the Ares Death Cult originals, The Pros felt like the biggest omissions, though this was probably done for continuity reasons to reflect their status as a malignant force.

The first shot after that package was a close-up of The Comedian on commentary, though before there was a chance to introduce the show, he found himself joined by Death Ref and Lori. They said Ares Death Cult had been humiliated last week in defeat to Pat Rigsby and there was only one way to proceed: husband and wife versus husband and wife at Damage Control, Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori. The Comedian wasn’t convinced it was a spectacle worthy of DIW’s first Sydney show, as appealing as not being harassed by Rigsby sounded. Death Ref reminded him that Ares Death Cult helped him out not so long ago, and this wasn’t much to ask for in return. The Comedian asked Lori about her legal protection from being hit by a man, to which she replied that surely Rigsby didn’t count. He accepted this was one point they agreed on, and decided to grant them their match. Beyond the story advancement, I didn’t need Lori to explain to me why this opened the show: The Comedian, Death Ref and her were DIW’s three lifers, so this was her way to get the trio who had been there since the start together at the start.

Rob Edwards v Lorenzo Oliverio
Much as it was symbolic to put The Comedian, Death Ref and Lori together, I suspected it was deliberate that the card began with Edwards, the man who had pulled DIW back from the brink since winning the vacant DIW Title on his first night in 2017. Likewise for one of the newest roster additions, Oliverio, to be put in this spot. They got the show off to a fast-paced and intense start, and it was of course Edwards who eventually won with a Roundhouse Kick in what was incredibly his first singles match in three months.

Markus Rush was getting ready to interview Wrecker about his loss to Dexter Mattell when Hack The Hunter interrupted. He said he knew Wrecker was probably angry about last week and that was why his mate Hendrix Hughes had challenged him to a match tonight, but he wanted him to know he was only out there to even the numbers, he never meant to cost him the match. Wrecker went against all wrestling conventions by acknowledging that he knew Hack was there for the right reasons, he just got played by Mattell like so many before him, so not to beat himself up over it. However, it was undeniable that they kept getting drawn into one another’s paths, and neither of them had plans for Damage Control, so Wrecker v Hack The Hunter sounded pretty interesting. Hack agreed, and suggested if Wrecker wanted a warm-up match next week like he was having with his mate Hughes tonight, he had a former tag partner who used to wrestle for DIW who The Comedian might allow back as part of the anniversary celebrations. Wrecker never backed down from fights, so inevitably said that sounded good.

Hack The Hunter v Hendrix Hughes
I’d observed at the start of this diary that one of Lori’s limitations as a booker was her caution when deciding match winners, rarely having a less established wrestler go over someone more popular. This was a rare occasion of her going against her instincts as Hack The Hunter used his strength to force his way out of the Triple H and counter it into his Hack Attack (Epic Side Suplex). The decision to award Hack his biggest win to date played out fairly well, pushing him closer to that upper midcard territory ahead of his clash with Wrecker without majorly altering Hughes’ perception as a star, helped by it quickly becoming clear that this was part of an angle.

As Hendrix Hughes recovered after his loss, he was joined in the ring by Lucky Lou Brookmyre. Despite spending the majority of his 14 years in DIW behind the scenes, he was recognised on his return by the Marv’s crowd having participated in a few angles, most recently one that helped elevate Seth Wish in 2022. He asked Hughes what was going on: when him and Seb Shaw first arrived in DIW, there was a real ruthless streak to go with their brash words. He said either Hughes lost that somewhere down the line, or it was all Shaw. He noted that Hughes could be Tag Team Champion right now, but he turned down two opportunities out of respect for Shaw. He could’ve been winning the Australian Title at Damage Control, but he just told the fans he wanted a shot instead of putting a beating on Kobra The Conqueror and making sure he got one. He wished he had Hughes’ mouth during his career as he would’ve made a lot more money, but it wasn’t enough on its own. If Hughes wanted to be a top star in DIW, with or without Shaw, he had to step up and take action, not just sit back and talk about what he planned to do. An unusually quiet Hughes left without responding to Brookmyre’s comments.

The Comedian shook Lou Brookmyre’s hand as they passed on his way to the ring, making it clear his anniversary appearance had his blessing. The owner started talking about there not being many people who left DIW that he wanted to see again, but there were a few exceptions, when he was interrupted by The Benchmark. Rusty Mills got immediately and aggressively to the point, expressing his disgust that they were being bumped from the Damage Control card for Pat *expletive* Rigsby. The Comedian reminded them that he gave them a chance to earn a match with Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards at the show and they blew it. He said he’d give them another opportunity at a rematch and he meant it, but there wasn’t space for a contender match at Damage Control now. However, he warned them that if they interfered in Hittlespitz and Edwards’ match with The Barracudas in Sydney, they would never fight for the titles again. Mills said The Comedian needed to heal his head, or maybe they needed to do it for him, shoving the owner into the corner with his arms around his neck. Donovan Boon seemed more reluctant, trying to reason with his partner, but before things escalated they were interrupted by former DIW Champion Mayhem Mulhoney running to the ring, followed soon after by fellow DIW original Menace To Sobriety, throwing a few fists at Boon and Mills before they retreated. The Comedian recomposed himself to say that while The Benchmark didn’t have a match at Damage Control, they could main event the second anniversary episode against Mayhem and Menace.

Australian Title: Bile v Kobra The Conqueror (c)
We went from no DIW full-timer ever returning to having a fourth comeback within three segments as former Tag Team Champion Bile answered Kobra’s challenge to any former DIW wrestler. The Criminally Insane Kingpin spent five-and-a-half years with the company before leaving quite abruptly in 2022, and got to dominate the first minute with a few nostalgia spots. Whereas Kobra had shown his more calculating side since becoming a Pro, he was at his most violent here, introducing a chair, a baking tray and his snakeskin belt to wear out Bile before finishing the job with a Ripcord Knee, observed by his Damage Control opponent Rick Horn.

Before the main event came a slightly unusual video interview setup between DIW Champion Seth Wish and Canada-based former two-time champion East Side Assassin (Sayeed Ali). Lori seemed keen to use their past working relationship (Assassin had used Wish in his Canadian Charisma Championship Combat promotion), to help legitimise Wish as a main eventer with the superstar endorsement. So we heard East Side Assassin congratulate Wish on winning the DIW Title like he told his boys he would and beating Milton Hittlespitz and Kobra The Conqueror since, before talking up the threat of Damage Control challenger Bryant Hall. It was quite funny that DIW couldn’t get the actual contender over from New Zealand to do it himself, so they had someone hyping him up from Canada instead. East Side Assassin closed by congratulating DIW on 15 years, showing love for what a great place Marv’s was and expressing disappointment that he may have missed his last chance to appear there. A strangely sentimental street thug.

@AboardTheArk dynasty plug: See more of East Side Assassin's 4C here

Milton Hittlespitz v Vaughan
We highlighted the historical significance of this main event for the anniversary show on commentary: Vaughan arriving in 2010 and Hittlespitz a year later, both being multi-time DIW Champions who were fighting for the Tag Titles at Damage Control, but hadn’t met one-on-one for years. This was your classic David v Goliath booking, with the big heavyweight Vaughan in control for the majority but the smaller, faster, more aerial Hittlespitz using those weapons to stay in the fight throughout. The finish followed the same formula, with Vaughan trapping Hittlespitz in the Choke Sleeper and Crazy Blue desperately climbing the ropes to try to escape, using the momentum he sprang back with to land on top of the Barracuda and force his wriggling legs down for a three count.

Vaughan didn’t let Milton Hittlespitz escape his grip after securing the pinfall, instead reapplying the Choke Sleeper and not letting go until Crazy Blue was unable to fight back. Chopper Rourke joined him in the ring as they hit a Barracuda Sting. Rob Edwards ran down to even the teams but was subdued on the ramp by Lorenzo Oliverio, who he’d beaten earlier in the night, and D.O.A. The Street Stallions had feuded with The Barracudas earlier in the year so it seemed unlikely they were working together, just working through their own anger at Edwards, who eventually got some support from Rick Horn. The Barracudas upped the intensity of their attack on Hittlespitz, tying him in the ropes and pounding away at him with their lead pipes, including Vaughan rubbing it in his face. They eventually released Crazy Blue from the ropes, only to launch him out of the ring with a Double Powerbomb, before warning the Tag Team Champions that they’d finish the job at Long Bay.

[AboardTheArk]

Bile's return is the biggest moment of the diary. The last person I would have named for real. Incredible scenes. Good episode overall. I wonder whether considering the extra weeks of build for the big shows you were tempted to make this an almost off-canon episode of nostalgia pops instead of building, but you balanced both regardless. 

 

The past few weeks of rebuilding the Barracudas have been particularly enjoyable. Pushing the new gen was the right call and an easy one to make since Blitz ditched you, so it didn't hamper anyone's enjoyment of the dynasty or anything, but realistically the Barracudas spent about as much on the sideline as they "would have" if DIW was real so I appreciate them getting this one last run at the top. Though I don't think they get the belts off of the Dream Team, I do think they're going to follow this up with another hot program.

[HiPlus]

Well I certainly loved the blast from a past episode. I really enjoyed the blend and mixture in that regard. I popped for the line from Lori a mentioning that Rigsby isn't really a man. Doing my man so dirty with that line. 

 

Lorenzo getting his shot with the best guy in the company is a big value for him personally. It is crazy to think both Wrecker and Hendrix seemed to be on the cusp of being the next guys up, and that gets pushed to the side by Con & Wish taking those top spots. I really thought one of those guys would have joined up with Rob Edwards and Milton to dethrone "The Pros" but it ended up being Rick Horn. WHICH I LOVE! He is the guy and has been mixing it up with the guys at the top so much I love it. Hack also getting rub but going his own and challenging them both. 

 

I am loving the resurgence of The Barracudas, and as Ark mentioned it may be unlikely they get another title run. They deserve it so much, and Vaughan deserves The Grand Slam. 

 

[John Lions]

Damage Control is the first chapter in a true love story - how Bonnie Bogan and Pat Rigsby became the most celebrated DIW Tag Team champions in history.

[619]

@AboardTheArk Haha, I love your justified incredulity about Bile. The initial format had him appearing earlier in the card, then I realised that would make him the payoff to nobody ever returning after leaving in 15 years, so I made sure we used Mayhem, Menace and Brookmyre first.

@HiPlus You definitely played a part in getting Rick Horn into this spot with mentioning that he'd been unlucky to be left off previous major shows. And with Pat Rigsby on the Damage Control card too, your lobbying has been really effective this month 😆

@John Lions Haha, Pat Rigsby has looked pretty unbeatable recently (well, in his last match), so anything's possible.

Part 111: Putting yourself over The Benchmark

Five former DIW stars had reappeared for the first To The Extreme anniversary episode: Lou Brookmyre, Mayhem Mulhoney, Menace To Sobriety, Bile and (via video) East Side Assassin.

Despite that, the biggest talking point to me was rooted very much in the present: the indication that The Benchmark, two of DIW’s most popular and dependable performers, were being left off the Damage Control card. More to the point, Lori – having been far more subdued so far in 2024 in terms of booking herself – had put herself on the card in their place in a gimmicky husband-and-wife tag match in which she was partnering Death Ref against Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan.

I got that this was mostly storyline: The Comedian sticking it to The Pros by demoting them at Rigsby’s extent, and that they were still being featured prominently in carrying the story that was crossing over both 15-year anniversary shows, main eventing the second episode.

Still, I found it self-defeating to exclude the team who delivered the best match in the company’s history at the previous major show, especially at the expense of a fairly nonsense intergender tag match that also arguably undermined Ares Death Cult on a night Bryant Hall challenged for the DIW Title. But bookers had a tendency to think things they were involved in were better or more meaningful than they were, so Lori certainly wasn’t alone in experiencing this blind spot.

I was more receptive to Wrecker v Hack The Hunter being added to the Damage Control card as both 26-year-olds showed plenty of upside and their interaction stood out from what most of the others on the roster were doing, so it felt like there were quite a lot of ways to take things.

Between the 15-year anniversary episodes, The Comedian invited Mayhem Mulhoney and Menace To Sobriety to the ring to pay tribute to their efforts in getting DIW off the ground. This worked in a few ways, giving context to why he’d been in the ring when confronted by The Benchmark on the last episode, and Mayhem and Menace were there ready to run in, and DIW not wanting to show The Comedian being too human and considerate to the wider audience.

He referenced that he’d taken Mulhoney out of DIW in 2020 for his own safety to let him enjoy his retirement but, if he was still going to fight everywhere anyway, he might as well have one last match on his home turf.

I had a brief chance to talk to Lori before the second episode started, primarily to find out if there was any more story behind The Benchmark being left off Damage Control. She mentioned initially having them down for a triple threat with The Dream Team and The Barracudas, before deciding once the Sydney venue was confirmed that what she had planned would work better as a two-on-two given those teams’ history and the anniversary tie-in.

She thought keeping The Benchmark off the card would create more intrigue than a short angle feeding someone to them, and meant being able to put together a separate attraction for the 15-year anniversary celebration so that both October spectacles felt special in their own right.

Her final revelation was that she initially intended for Roadhouse Radford to be the DIW original partnering Mayhem Mulhoney, believing he was in better condition than Menace To Sobriety in 2024 even if he’d made less of an initial impact in the company. However, upon learning that Rusty Mills didn’t get on with Radford, she switched plans, which I guess showed that she was mindful of keeping The Benchmark happy despite the Damage Control snub.

Edited November 20, 2023 by 619

[619]

Part 112: To The Extreme #40 (15-Year Anniversary Celebration)

The second anniversary episode started with a montage centred on crowds and locations, tracking the journey from the first show at Marv’s in 2009 in front of a few dozen fans, showing it get fuller and fuller leading up to the first sellout at Massacre 2022. A similar montage of DIW House opening with 142 fans and reaching 1,000 for Massacre and Hardcore Hallelujah 2024 showed, as did clips of Canberra crowds throughout the years, before ending with hype for DIW making their Sydney debut at Roundhouse in two days.

Wrecker v The Gladiator
The former DIW wrestler and Hack The Hunter tag partner who Hack suggested Wrecker could warm up for facing him against was revealed as The Gladiator, who was in DIW between May 2017 and January 2021 before moving to Athletic Empire, where he linked up with Hack. This match was played similarly to Bile’s match on the previous episode, only with more power moves, as The Gladiator got a lot of shine early on to show off some of the moves that used to pop the Marv’s crowd, before Wrecker took charge, securing victory with a Bulldozer Elbow.

Markus Rush found Menace To Sobriety bloodied and barely conscious, reportedly the victim of a Pros beatdown. My alternative explanation that he might just have had another heavy drinking session wasn’t received too well by The Comedian, who responded to the development by announcing that Mayhem Mulhoney would have to face Rusty Mills one-on-one instead.

The Wild Things were out to face The Barbarians, who wanted the match after Seth Wish caused Psych Ward to lose to Pat Rigsby a fortnight ago. Seth Wish told Bryant Hall that seeing as The Final Boss wasn’t ready to fight the DIW Champion face to face yet, he’d have to send a message through The Barbarians instead, before handing over to Con McReady. The Wild One said he’d heard everything Dexter Mattell had to say, too much in fact. Mattell took DIW fans for idiots, constantly talking about how irrelevant and unworthy The Wild Things were like The Pros carried them, as if people don’t notice that when The Wild Things were in The Pros, The Pros held all the gold. Since they left, The Pros travelled a lot lighter. He said Wish had told him how sweet a major show victory over Mattell tasted, and he was ready to get some of that for himself. He closed by referencing the former DIW Champion recently scolding him with a flaming cane, warning him that he needed to bring the fire to Damage Control to avoid getting burnt.

The Wild Things (Con McReady and Seth Wish) v The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward)
This was quite a fresh match-up: McReady had never been in a DIW ring with Banks or Ward and Wish last faced either in an Australian Title match with Banks in February 2022 when both were worlds away from what they’d since become. These hardcore specialists didn’t go easy on one another so close to a major show: we had canes, blocks of wood and barbed wire (okay, the latter was rationed to a single spot). Lori clearly felt The Wild Things needed the win more with both booked for Damage Control, and they achieved it by catching Ward in a cane sandwich.

Dexter Mattell attacked Con McReady after the match. Seth Wish stepped in to knock him down, but The Barbarians sensed the opportunity to avenge their defeat and inflict further pain on Wish ahead of facing Bryant Hall at Damage Control, so decided to work with Mattell. Things looked ominous for The Wild Things until two words echoed throughout the building… EAST SIDE. East Side Assassin’s video appearance had been a ruse: he was in Australia and heading to the ring, where he threw fists at Psych Ward and Lloyd Banks but couldn’t get to Mattell before he backed off. He dapped up McReady and Wish and took in the cheers of the crowd.

To strike a contrast between East Side Assassin travelling over from Canada for the anniversary and Bryant Hall not showing up, we aired a short video Ares Death Cult had sent over earlier in the day. The Final Boss had been invited to tonight’s show but had no interest in celebrating DIW’s past. The only thing that happened in the last 15 years that mattered to him was the foundation of Ares Death Cult. His sole focus was on DIW’s future after he took the DIW Title from around Seth Wish’s skinny waist on Friday and brought it back to the Cult.

Rick Horn v Chopper Rourke
Horn had two motivations for picking this fight: looking to avenge The Barracudas’ vicious attack on Milton Hittlespitz during the previous episode and trying to prove his Australian Title credentials against someone Kobra The Conqueror defended against last month. He looked on course for the upset as he positioned Rourke for the John Deere Destroyer, only for Vaughan to enter the ring behind him and lock him in the Choke Sleeper. This brought out Rob Edwards to fight Vaughan off, but the damage was done to Horn, with Rourke able to drag him off the mat and plant him back on it with the Spinebuster for a three count.

As Chopper Rourke made a hasty exit in pursuit of Rob Edwards and Vaughan, Australian Champion Kobra The Conqueror came to pick the bones of Rick Horn, brandishing his snakeskin belt. However, when he went to strike the grounded Horn, Farm Tough caught the belt in his hand and used Kobra’s momentum to flip him to the mat, before following up with a John Deere Destroyer. He picked up the Australian Title and teased posing with it, before instead putting it on top of Kobra and saying he could wait until Damage Control.

I’d been sent to interview Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan at their marital home, the set being the couch of a cluttered living room with empty tinnies littering the table and floor besides Bogan, a distasteful big portrait of the two of them above where they were sitting and a fertility self-help book to the side of Rigsby that he tried to obscure mid-interview*. Bogan didn’t even wait for a question to launch into a stream of excited words about getting her hands on that no-good Lori Cooper at Damage Control. I tried enquiring about her fight history and preparation and she said the only training she needed was imagining these tinnies were Cooper’s neck, before picking two up off the floor and crushing them in her hands. Rigsby didn’t share her enthusiasm, saying the DIW ring was no place for a woman; he even feared for Lori’s safety having to stand opposite him. He said he never commented on her and Death Ref’s marriage. He incredulously claimed that he didn’t like bringing his personal life to work. When I pushed back, he said maybe his marriage had come up in passing, but if it did it was only because he tried to inspire life’s losers. He again noted his fear for his wife’s wellbeing, even if they were getting in the ring with two idiots, as there was a very important job he wanted her to do for them both over the next year (this was when he was mindful to hide his book). But he was on a winning streak (I tried to interrupt to note that streak was one match, but he fought on) and he would strive to use that momentum to carry his team and his marriage to victory and get his wife back home safely. And that was that. Lori was trying to untangle a set of knots entirely of her own creation in searching for a way to stay consistent to Rigsby’s long-term presentation as a deluded misogynistic troll with few redeeming qualities but depict him as the lesser of two evils at Damage Control, or at the very least get people behind his seemingly unsuited, fearless, no-filter wife. You can decide if she succeeded. All I’ll say is I wasn’t thrilled to be given this assignment and saw no place for it on a 15th anniversary show, unless the goal was to ensure there was no 16th anniversary.

Mayhem Mulhoney v Rusty Mills
The show switched from two people who were inexplicably on the Damage Control card to two who inexplicably weren’t (counting Donovan Boon being at ringside). Mulhoney was definitely a fading force, but the nostalgia of seeing him throwing haymakers and swinging a cricket bat popped me almost as much as the Marv’s crowd, taking me back to Aussie Rules Wrestling and being in Debonair David Peterson’s corner as the two went at it. The onlooking Boon didn’t factor into a surprisingly simplistic finish, which saw Mills rake an eye while Mulhoney had him up for the Cradle Powerslam, capitalising on his opponent’s obscured vision to reverse it into a Cutter and quickly following up with his Northern Lights Suplex.

Inevitably, The Benchmark declined to leave it there, with Donovan Boon entering the ring to help Rusty Mills hit the Double Down on Mayhem Mulhoney. Mills gestured to Boon to retrieve a weapon from outside when the lights went out, with DIW House cloaked in darkness for at least 10 seconds, interrupted by the broken-up scream “THE END. IS. NIGH”. The crowd hadn’t heard that sound for a decade, but they immediately recognised it and went wild as the lights sprung back and The Apocalypse were on the entranceway. The Benchmark looked like they’d seen two ghosts as Hatemonger and Warmonger slowly approached the ring, conferring with one another before ultimately deciding to retreat into the baying crowd as the three-time DIW Tag Team Champions reached the ropes. The returning team didn’t seem too bothered, settling for performing their signature poses to fans who appeared to have forgiven their defection to APW.

The ending sent the crowd home happy, but it didn’t make for an easy commentary transition to promote Damage Control. I was pretty pleased with what I came up with, noting that both The Apocalypse and The Benchmark would surely be keeping a close eye on Friday’s Tag Title match at Damage Control in Sydney between The Dream Team and The Barracudas. I followed up by highlighting Seth Wish v Bryant Hall for the DIW Title and Con McReady v Dexter Mattell too.

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*Apologies for the crass depiction of a sensitive subject like infertility. I occasionally try to reflect my sense that promotions with this kind of product often handle complex issues in a puerile way, as well as looking to capture Pat Rigsby's projection in picking away at other's insecurities while masking his own, but will remove that extract if anyone feels it has crossed a line or is triggering.

[AboardTheArk]

THE APOCALYPSE! Best tag division in Australia forming?

[John Lions]

With how much you're paying him, I figure Bryant Hall can afford some entrance gear like that...