DIW 2024: Waging War Weekly

[knkmaster69]

I have finally managed to catch up on this diary, and I must say I love it so much! All the characters have so much personality and you've managed to make stars while still keeping the old ones shining and it's a masterclass. Thank you for the great work!

[619]

@AboardTheArk Thanks, though arguably the added depth makes having the Tag Titles on two singles wrestlers even more of a booking sin 😆

@John Lions Thanks for more incredible artwork. I love how it's even got the context of the Sydney debut. I'll post the card up with it tomorrow.

@knkmaster69 That's such a kind post, thanks. I'm grateful just to have a few returning readers, but I never thought there would be new ones this far in, so I really appreciate it.

Part 113: The end is nigh

The Apocalypse hadn’t been announced for Damage Control or as permanent additions to the DIW roster, but my instinct was that if it was a one-off return, they would’ve done more with it like hitting Apocalypse Nowish on someone, rather than being used as a cliffhanger.

The tease of a potential match with The Benchmark was a little uncomfortable for me as one of the top criticisms of me from APW’s smart fans was that I never properly executed that rivalry.

They’d only squared off twice in almost three years together in the company in throwaway non-title matches, which I realise now was an oversight given their combined 16 Tag Title reigns across various promotions (nine for The Apocalypse, seven for The Benchmark). Still, The Duo was a better name than The Benchmark so at least that’s one win for me.

I’d say the 15-year anniversary shows were broadly a success. There was no noticeable drop off in quality from regular To The Extreme episodes, though it probably had disrupted the Damage Control build slightly in distracting attention away and leaving less time for the regulars. Still, I think everyone on the existing roster except Carl Paris, Demarcus Lee and Saracens appeared.

Eight DIW alumni returned across the two hours – Lou Brookmyre, Mayhem Mulhoney, Menace To Sobriety, Bile, The Gladiator, East Side Assassin, Hatemonger and Warmonger – with Mulhoney, Bile and The Gladiator putting their boots on to put over the current stars.

I think the most notable names who might have been available but didn’t receive the call on this occasion were former booker Big Jim Teasdale and former DIW Champion Scottie Hamstead, but I hadn’t discussed their status with Lori or The Comedian to get a definitive read on that.

[619]

Part 114: Roundhouse rundown

I arrived in Sydney the day before Damage Control and I hadn’t heard anything from Lori or read anything online to suggest any late changes to the card for the Roundhouse show.

Based on past form, it appeared fairly certain the DIW Title match between Seth Wish and Bryant Hall would main event, despite the build perhaps being most affected by the timing of the reunion show, not to mention Hall’s limited availability. He’d put a heavy beating on the champion a month ago but hadn’t been seen since besides a short online promo, leaving Wish to work through his frustrations with the rest of Ares Death Cult, costing Psych Ward a match with Pat Rigsby and teaming with Con McReady to defeat The Barbarians.

The best-built bout was the Tag Title match between The Dream Team of Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards and The Barracudas. In addition to playing into the quartet’s rich history together, the build had also touched on Chopper Rourke and Vaughan’s legitimate spell in Long Bay Correctional Centre, very close to where Damage Control was being held.

The return to their roots, DIW’s anniversary and their resentment of The Dream Team had seen The Barracudas back to their most violent. Meanwhile, previous Tag Team Champions The Benchmark had been warned that if they interfered, they would never receive another shot at the titles: would they do what they were told or risk calling The Comedian’s bluff?

The show’s final title match saw Rick Horn challenge Australian Champion Kobra The Conqueror, earning his first ever opportunity on a major show by pinning Kobra in a six-man match in which he, Hittlespitz and Edwards beat Kobra and The Benchmark.

The most-hyped non-title fight on the card was Dexter Mattell’s first major show non-title match of 2024 against former ally Con McReady. Mattell blamed The Wild One for his DIW Title loss to Seth Wish and struck him with a flaming cane on his return just over a month ago.

I was probably most intrigued by Wrecker v Hack The Hunter. It had been a slightly unorthodox build with them interacting regularly over the previous six weeks without any real hostility, not even when Hack The Hunter inadvertently cost Wrecker his chance to finally beat Mattell. Both 26-year-olds felt like potential main eventers, and it was nice to see Wrecker in a singles match at a major event again after recent short-lived partnerships with Edwards and Hendrix Hughes.

That leaves us with the husband-and-wife tag match pitting Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan against Death Ref and Lori. You’ve probably sensed me getting more exasperated by this angle with each passing week, so I won’t go into too much detail. I get that you can be a bit more experimental with your undercard, and that cooldown matches can be convenient, but it didn’t sit right with me that these four were on the card when Rusty Mills, Donovan Boon, Hendrix Hughes and Lloyd Banks were not.

My overall instinct was that this card would struggle to hit the same heights as the hot recent Havoc-Massacre-Hardcore Hallelujah trilogy. However, the fresh location and quite open battle to deliver the match of the night were novelty factors that gave it a chance of overachieving.

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Thanks @John Lions for this brilliant Damage Control artwork:

DIW Title: Seth Wish (c) v Bryant Hall

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Kobra The Conqueror (c)

Con McReady v Dexter Mattell

Wrecker v Hack The Hunter

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori

[KyTeran]

DIW Title: Seth Wish (c) v Bryant Hall

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Kobra The Conqueror (c)

Con McReady v Dexter Mattell

Wrecker v Hack The Hunter

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori

[AboardTheArk]

DIW Title: Seth Wish (c) v Bryant Hall

Odd call considering how much you've invested in Wish and Hall's travel issues, but I think there's been some clear whispers about him not quite being The Guy level yet, Con McReady is getting lost in the shuffle while he's holding the belt, and it'd be refreshing to get a short run considering you're now booking a three year run so "booking patterns" emerge. For the record, I also think Hall would be having a short reign if he was to win this. And obviously, if Wish wins this he becomes the new top guy and therefore his reign is pretty much a success so, y'know. 

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)

Third straight big show I am going against The Barracudas and it surely won't backfire.

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Kobra The Conqueror (c)

Rick Horn has been built well but he just hasn't won enough for me to believe he's getting this. Kobra has been a big player for over 15 months. It's going to be a step in the right direction though.

Con McReady v Dexter Mattell

The Pros sweep unless Mattell has gotten quietly signed away, but you've usually teased that. 

Wrecker v Hack The Hunter

Wrecker is facing Bryant Hall at some point.

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori

I know Pat Rigsby is mostly technically one, but Death Ref isn't a wrestler. And surely both Bonnie Bogan and Lori aren't wrestlers! So one team has a tiny advantage.

[John Lions]

DIW Title: Seth Wish (c) vs Bryant Hall

Tough one here. I think there's more money in Wish chasing vs holding the title, and if he beats Hall it definitely shouldn't be a clean simple 1-2-3 in the ring. Wish has been solid but I don't know if he's skilled enough to be "the guy" yet.

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)

I am more intrigued with a Barracudas win (and given the proximity to their former penitentiary, maybe they do some recruiting?), and the Dream Team storyline doesn't need the titles

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Kobra The Conqueror (c)

Good for Horn earning this match, but he's not winning it

Con McReady v Dexter Mattell

Dex gets a bounce back win after his title loss

Wrecker v Hack The Hunter

Another match I can see going either way. It think Wrecker "turns" pretty soon, but whether it's to win the match or as a result of losing I can't be sure

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori

Lori takes the fall against a future DIW Champion in Bonnie, burying the lingering belief she brought Momoe to DIW to put herself over

[HiPlus]

DIW Title: Seth Wish (c) v Bryant Hall

I can see this going easily the other way. Seth Wish has really established himself at the top but Bryant Hall has been booked as an attraction, as a monster. If Seth Wish wins it helps solidify him, even if it is after some shenanigans most likely. Seth Wish would be seen as a more transitional champion. Yes he had some big wins, but as I mentioned Seth has always been the most logical guy to walk out with the title. This match is different. This is his oppurtunity. 

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)

 

I have loved seeing the rebuild of The Barracuda's and an upset here doesn't hurt The Dream Team. After all they are here for a good time, not a long time. So I could see this being a massive upset. One that leaves room for The Duo, The Apocalypse (If signed) and the rest of the tag division to get involved in before Milton and Edwards go their own way again. 

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Kobra The Conqueror (c)

 

GIVE ME WHAT I WANT! Rick Horn as Australian Champion further fractures The Pros and could be the final nail so to speak that forces the group to ultimately split up. I know this is wrong, but I still don't care. "FARM TOUGH!". Don't mind the text errors at the top. IT IS HIS TIME!

 

Con McReady v Dexter Mattell

Dexter needs a win and to look strong here. 

Wrecker v Hack The Hunter

This is one of the more interesting matches on the card, purely because it gives an idea of where you see Wrecker and Hack long term. Originally I would have said Wrecker, but he hasn't taken the opportunity to have that big break out solo run. Con and to a bigger degree Seth have both jumped over him. 

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori

If The Barbarians get involved this could become a mess, but Pat and Bonnie are in ring talent and should win. Still it doesn't make sense to have Death and Lori go over even against guys so low on the card. 

[Satyr24]

DIW Title: Seth Wish (c) v Bryant Hall

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Kobra The Conqueror (c)

Con McReady v Dexter Mattell

Wrecker v Hack The Hunter

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Death Ref and Lori

[619]

Credit: @John Lions

Part 115: Damage Control 2024

The show opened with footage of fans arriving at Roundhouse. An exact attendance wasn’t known yet, but it was definitely clear that DIW had attracted a record crowd for their Sydney debut. We saw a compilation of some interviews Markus Rush conducted as wrestlers arrived. Dexter Mattell said he didn’t feel like he needed anyone at ringside when he faced Con McReady tonight, but if The Wild Things needed to hold one another’s hands, that was up to them. Rush asked Hack The Hunter if it bothered him that Wrecker was included in the looking forward section of DIW’s 15-year anniversary montage and he wasn’t and he just laughed, saying that unless everyone who featured got paid a bonus, he couldn’t care less. The Wild Things responded to Rush relaying Mattell’s comments by confirming they were going it alone tonight, but the other would be on standby if anyone else got involved in either man’s match.

Credit: @HiPlus

Australian Title: Rick Horn v Kobra The Conqueror (c)
What a feeling for Horn as not only was he performing in front of by far the biggest crowd of his career, he was trusted to make the first Roundhouse entrance of the night. This match felt more choreographed than anything I’d seen before in DIW, as though neither man was trusted enough to lead the other, so their road agent had taken charge, but the result was a hot opener. The ending called back to two days ago as Kobra went for Horn with his snakeskin belt but ended up in the John Deere Destroyer position. He wasn’t getting caught twice though, biting Horn on the thigh – a venomous snake bite as I sold it on commentary – taking the challenger’s legs down as he tried to recover and then connecting with a Ripcord Knee for his fifth successful title defence.

Kobra The Conqueror declined to simply celebrate his victory, instead retrieving his snakeskin belt and proceeding to whip Rick Horn with it. This brought out Hendrix Hughes to a loud reaction. He deflected Kobra’s attempted belt shot back into the Australian Champion’s face and then dropped him with the Triple H. Hughes helped Horn to his feet before thinking better of it, Lou Brookmyre’s recent words perhaps ringing in his ears, and hitting him with a Triple H too, standing over both of our opening match competitors.

Wrecker v Hack The Hunter
The selling left a bit to be desired, but these rising stars were trusted to perform at the highest pace of the night and both grabbed their opportunity. It was building up to a really hot finish with Hack ducking a Bulldozer Elbow, catching Wrecker for the Hack Attack, having that turned into a Mighty Bulldog but powering out of that, with both men springing off the ropes with running attacks in mind and colliding in the middle of the ring. I predicted that whoever got to their feet first would go on to win, but the problem was that neither did. Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills ran to the ring and started putting boots to both men, before taking turns to lift Wrecker and then the larger Hack up for a Double Down, continuing the attack until neither man was responsive. I claimed it was genius on commentary: The Comedian had threatened them about interrupting the Tag Title match, but they’d found another way to leave their mark on the show. Less genius was positioning this finish – the first non-finish I can ever recalling Lori booking – to immediately follow Hendrix Hughes attacking both competitors from the prior match, taking away the novelty somewhat.

Markus Rush showed us some footage of Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards preparing to defend the Tag Titles against The Barracudas. Hittlespitz told his partner that he respected the whole Human Weapon mentality and working for a hardcore promotion without using weapons, but The Barracudas were going to fight dirtier than they ever had before tonight. And if the furniture started flying, his hands and feet alone might not be enough. Edwards told his partner that he wouldn’t initiate any tool-swinging but anything their opponents introduced was fair game.

Con McReady v Dexter Mattell
Mattell was in no way a hardcore wrestler, but his psychology was on such a level that he knew how to really build a story around his one element of weapon-based offence. Having grown frustrated by McReady’s refusal to submit to the STF or pass out to the pain, he retrieved some lighter fluid from under the ring and again set fight to his opponent’s cane. McReady was ready this time with a second cane that he struck Mattell with on multiple occasions until his grip on the flaming cane he held loosened enough for The Wild One to take possession. Raw Sex begged off into the corner and McReady milked the crowd reaction as he slowly lifted the weapon over his head to strike Mattell with. He didn’t account for Kobra The Conqueror to emerge from under the ring with a fire extinguisher that he sprayed in his face, suffocating the fire and blinding McReady. As promised earlier, Seth Wish raced to the ring upon someone interfering against his partner, following Kobra into the crowd, but Mattell recovered enough to pick up the fire extinguisher and charge it into McReady’s head as he struggled to find his bearings, knocking him out for a three count.

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan were out first for the husband-and-wife tag match, before Lori entered alone. She told them that Death Ref hadn’t made it to Sydney due to a family emergency. She knew they wouldn’t want to call off the match, so she’d found the best available option to replace him. With that The Barbarians entered, with Lloyd Banks stepping in for his leader.

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan v Lloyd Banks and Lori
There was a bit more support for Rigsby than usual as a lesser evil than Ares Death Cult, but Bogan was the match’s only true babyface, much as Banks was the only real worker, doing his best to keep this watchable. There were two short intergender sections. Bogan tagged herself in with Rigsby being outfought by Banks and lunged at The Barbed Wire Messiah, taking him down and raining down with fists. Rigsby quickly tagged back in when Banks overcame the initial shock to Clothesline her to the mat, and Lori persuaded Banks to tag her in. Rigsby declined to engage initially, feeling it beneath him, but she goaded him into a test of strength then kicked him between the legs as they started to grapple. That stirred Bogan to defend her husband and it stayed like-for-like from that point onwards. The ending saw Bogan get the better of Lori on the outside, sending her crashing to the hard floor with Greetings From Hobart. She couldn’t get back in the ring quickly enough to disrupt what went down there though, with Rigsby lining up Banks for a Stuff Piledriver onto the barbed wire board he introduced, only for Psych Ward to hit him in the back with a chair. One Spike Piledriver later, Banks had won it for his team.

We heard briefly from Markus Rush with The Street Stallions. Lorenzo Oliverio denied that they were working with The Barracudas when recently blocking Rob Edwards from stopping a two-on-one beatdown on Milton Hittlespitz, clarifying that they didn’t like either team and were protecting their own interests. When asked who they’d rather see win, he again refused to pick a side, saying The Street Stallions could beat either if given an opportunity. I don’t think there was much substance here. It seemed like just a way to get them both on the show and buy a bit of time for staff to populate the ringside area with weapons ahead of the next match.

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)
I got the impression this match was originally going to have a specific prison-themed gimmick given the background around The Barracudas returning to the area they were incarcerated. However, perhaps because they couldn’t afford a special set or weren’t sure of the logistics, it was instead a typical DIW hardcore match but with extra weapons scattered everywhere and tornado rules. The result was something short, as it had to be at this stage in The Barracudas’ career and with how hard everyone was hitting, but explosive. The Barracudas ruthlessly put all the weapons at their disposal to good use – lead pipes, chairs, bins, electrical cable – and looked to have it won when Vaughan covered Hittlespitz after the Barracuda Sting onto a bin, only for Edwards to make the save. Rourke and Vaughan tried using the cable to choke out Edwards and Hittlespitz inside and outside the ring respectively, but Edwards powered out and Hittlespitz found a nearby chair to swing back into Vaughan’s face. Crazy Blue used his cable to apply a choke to Vaughan, while Edwards tied Rourke to the ropes with the one used on him. Hittlespitz rested the groggy Vaughan on a table outside the ring and climbed the turnbuckle to send him crashing through it with the Flying Knee Drop while Edwards unloaded on the trapped Rourke with a series of strikes and kicks before finishing the assault with the Roundhouse Kick, releasing him from the ropes to cover for a three count and another successful title defence.

In the aftermath, The Comedian mentioned what good health the tag division was in. He’d hoped to include a contender match on this card but, as that wasn’t possible and there were so many potential challengers, there would be a tournament on To The Extreme over the coming weeks to decide which team would go on to face The Dream Team at War Machine, 2024’s final show.

DIW Title: Seth Wish (c) v Bryant Hall
Wish made a hot start to his third title defence, fired up by waiting over a month to avenge Hall’s post-ladder-match attack on him. However, operating at such a pace meant making mistakes, and The Final Boss had the speed and power to ruthlessly punish these and take control. The middle part of the match was all Hall, with it looking like a matter of time before the title changed hands, but Wish regained momentum by reversing a Powerbomb to Headscissor the challenger into the turnbuckle. He quickly capitalised with Dust In The Wind, but the cover was disrupted on two when Dexter Mattell, having retrieved the DIW Title from ringside, smashed him in the back of the head with it. Con McReady raced down with his cane to chase Mattell off, getting a few shots in to avenge his defeat earlier in the night, but the damage was done as Hall took Wish down with the S.T.O. – one, two, last second kick-out, barely lifting his shoulder off the canvas. The Comedian questioned if Hall would freeze like Hack The Hunter did against him at Hardcore Hallelujah when his best move wasn’t enough, but The Final Boss was unrattled, picking Hall up for another S.T.O., only for him to reverse it into Dust In The Wind at the last moment. Sensing that wouldn’t be enough, Wish went for the all-or-nothing risk of the Suicide Senton, but got blasted in the back of the head for the second time in a few minutes, this time by a chain swung by Death Ref, who wasn’t supposed to be in Sydney. As the Ares Death Cult leader barked on instructions, Hall took Wish down with a second S.T.O. and this time Wish couldn’t fight back. After a run where there were only two DIW Champions in 20 months, Damage Control ended with a second new DIW Champion in two months standing tall.

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Thanks all for the predictions. Apologies for the slightly misleading card with one match having a non-finish and the other a replacement partner. On account of that, I'll only score the four matches that went ahead as advertised, which I believe means 4/4 for @AboardTheArk, 3/4 for @KyTeran, @John Lions and @Satyr24 and 2/4 for @HiPlus because Farm Tough was robbed.

I can actually think of a "prize" if you want it @AboardTheArk in that Dexter Mattell has a hot new catchphrase, and I'm terrible at catchphrases as you may have noticed from Rusty Mills' "heal your head" nonsense so, if you want to put something forward, I'll run with it. I've already written into December, so it would be a unique challenge to try to retroactively fit in whatever you come up with. But this isn't much of a prize, and I haven't offered anything previously (apologies to the previous winners), so don't feel like you have to provide anything, only if you want to.

I think those who commented that not having Seth Wish win here passed up the opportunity to cement him as the main man are right. I tried to give him plenty with the two high-profile To The Extreme defences, the first ever S.T.O. kick out and two people interfering against him, but ultimately a two-month reign is a two-month reign. I was fairly oblivious until I think @AboardTheArk pointed it out recently just how much of a heel territory it's been with Gyula Lakatos stealing Milton Hittlespitz's thunder in 2022, Rob Edwards' 2023-long reign ending in early 2024 after the face turn and now Bryant Hall following on so soon after Dexter Mattell's six months on top.

I loved the idea of The Barracudas recruiting while in the area @John Lions, that was a missed opportunity for sure.

Edited November 24, 2023 by 619

[AboardTheArk]

What a show for the Sydney debut! Looks like the matches really delivered. It is funny how the heel dominance gets brought up and in this show all the heels win except the company legend hometown heroes. If I had to go dirtsheet/critic mode here I'd say that with Hall's dominance prior to this match it was a good chance to have a heel win cleanly to make his title win feel different. But the Death Ref swerve was really fun and I popped for it, plus it does protect Wish. 

 

There is some clear light at the end of the tunnel for the babyfaces with Hughes being positioned to get the Australian belt soon and the Pros probably not being primed to be a huge part of the show in 2025 considering ADC and The Barracudas are getting some reinvigoration. 

 

Excited for the tag team tournament, the timing of it is great with the division being in great shape. Wonder if we'll see some upsets!

 

As for the catchphrase... there's a reason all my diary promos are summaries but I might come up with something.

[619]

Thanks @AboardTheArk. It's true that Bryant Hall didn't have to work as hard to defeat other formidable opponents like Wrecker, Milton Hittlespitz and Hack The Hunter, and Seth Wish hadn't exactly been built as invincible prior to this, so I think you're right that there's a strong case that a near-squash would've been more impactful and really established him as The Final Boss.

Part 116: Filling seats in Sydney

Lori wasn’t exaggerating when she said after Hardcore Hallelujah that there was enough demand for tickets to exceed DIW House’s 1,000 capacity: DIW drew 1,491 fans for their Sydney debut to beat their previous best attendance by over 49%. It appeared as though any DIW House regulars who didn’t travel took out DIWO subscriptions instead as 20,572 viewers marked a 1,765 increase on the company’s previous record viewership.

DIW announced the next day that work was underway to expand DIW House to create space for 1,680 fans, though this wouldn’t be complete until the week of War Machine, the final show of the year. The upper tier would be inaccessible while that was being conducted, though this was unlikely to prove too problematic as To The Extreme’s attendance hadn’t yet exceeded 489 fans.

Back to Damage Control, my pre-show analysis had proven pretty accurate. This card didn’t quite hit the heights of Havoc, Massacre and Hardcore Hallelujah before it, the crowd size and sound in a new location helped DIW feel hotter than ever regardless and the battle to be match of the night had proven very open. So much so that I’d struggle to make a call between The Dream Team v The Barracudas and Con McReady v Dexter Mattell.

The only downside was that the Seth Wish v Bryant Hall main event didn’t really deliver. I’d even put Wrecker and Hack The Hunter’s non-finish ahead of it in third place, which isn’t what you want when you’re crowning a new first-time DIW Champion.

While acknowledging that my past issues with Hall may impact my analysis, I feel like he really needed to shine in that spot to justify being awarded the DIW Title while working limited dates. Lori’s hope will be that he grows into the role like Mattell did after feeling out of place at first. However, if he disappears with the title after a fairly lukewarm showing, other top performers who may already resent his low-work-high-pay setup are likely to become more frustrated.

Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan’s tag match was the sole one that felt like it didn’t belong on the card and dragged the standard down, but my hope was that Lori would’ve got her desire to tell that story out of her system now and it would soon be wrapped up. At the very least, I hoped I’d stop being dragged into it by being asked to host interview segments with the “couple”.

[619]

Part 117: What next for The Barracudas?

One of the things I was most intrigued by in the fallout of Damage Control was the fate of The Barracudas.

In Lori’s first two years with the book, they featured in major year-long storylines. In 2022, they went to war with Ares Death Cult, while 2023 saw their hunger for the DIW Title tear them apart, resulting in Chopper Rourke and Vaughan driving Blitz Simpson out of DIW and distrusting one another in the aftermath.

Since realigning as a tag team at the start of 2024, they hadn’t featured quite as prominently, being overtaken towards the top of the card by younger acts like Dexter Mattell, The Benchmark, Seth Wish and Bryant Hall. They won rivalries with The Street Stallions and The Barbarians, but they failed to take the Tag Titles off The Benchmark at Havoc and failed to stop the rise of The Pros, a future of midcard nostalgia pops appearing to await them.

That had all changed this spring with Lori using DIW’s 15-year anniversary and Sydney debut close to where they served time in Long Bay to reestablish them in the heel roles they thrived in during DIW’s first decade. They targeted Tag Team Champions Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards, enacting several violent beatings, before being presented as a serious threat in defeat at Damage Control.

Was it one last push to coincide with the anniversary and Sydney show and they’d go back to beating down acts the fans didn’t like lower down the card, or was there more mileage in this run as a more dangerous malevolent force?

It won’t have helped their cause that the initial response to them targeting the champions had been negative: the crowd didn’t seem receptive to them being used in a more prominent role. That damage had been controlled a little in the remaining build to Damage Control as Lori persevered with presenting them on that level, but I suspect from the posters and build that the Tag Title match was intended to headline in Sydney, only for the muted response to put Lori off.

However, perhaps it should’ve closed the show as Seth Wish v Bryant Hall underperformed. The success of the Tag Title match owed a lot to Hittlespitz and Edwards’ performance levels, but it showed The Barracudas could still be featured in such a spot with the right opponents.

The problem was there weren’t any better than the current champions and The Benchmark, who they’d already danced with this year, and it was noticeable how Lori no longer trusted them to go longer than six or seven minutes, which wasn’t sustainable for a main event act.

The first few November episodes would likely reveal a lot about The Barracudas’ future. Would they enter the contender tournament and earn a Tag Title rematch? Would they drop back to the midcard? Would they continue as villains or be paired with a more dislikable duo?

Would they even continue as a team or get more singles opportunities given that both had flirted with the Australian Title at different points this year? Rourke got the louder reactions in 2024, yet Vaughan was still the better wrestler and talker with all the singles accolades, which is why I think she preferred using them together to play to one another’s strengths.

Only the first half of the tag tournament had been announced so far, with two quarter-final matches confirmed for To The Extreme episode 41: Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee v The Barbarians and The Street Stallions v The Benchmark.

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@John Lions This was the part inspired by your question about The Barracudas' trajectories, but I thought I'd add a bit more mechanical information separate to that to answer as fully as possible. At the start of the save in January 2022, Vaughan was the most popular roster member in New South Wales on 32, with Chopper Rourke joint-second with Blitz Simpson on 30.

However, both hit time decline pretty much straight away. I've tried to continue presenting them as a big deal throughout (perhaps falling off a bit in 2024) as it feels like the right thing to do, and they're still assets in terms of size, menace, psychology and hardcore skill (moreso Vaughan than Chopper on the last two). However, presumably due to the time decline, neither really grow in popularity whereas people who started off beneath them like Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards, or signings like Dexter Mattell and The Benchmark, have made huge growth they can't get near to.

Perhaps it was deciding to do an anniversary celebration that reminded me that they deserve to be treated as a bigger deal than they perhaps were when fueding with D.O.A. and his various partners, so that was the thinking behind having them get more vicious and programming them with The Dream Team, which was well received in the comments, showing it was probably overdue.

Remarkably, both Vaughan and Chopper lost a handful of popularity points each in the immediate aftermath of their initial attack on The Dream Team. It was nothing to do with the angle flopping as it scored fine, so I figure just coincidental timing related to the time decline as I've never had anyone else take a similar hit in one go, but pretty astonishing in making the whole story feel cursed. I already had everything planned out and it felt like such a good fit for the anniversary and the Sydney show so I wasn't switching course, which worked out okay as most of the popularity damage was undone along the way with them featuring in good segments and the Tag Title match got a 63, making it the joint-best of the night.

[619]

Part 118: To The Extreme #41

The show opened with The Comedian in the ring. He said he wanted to keep this short as he felt like he’d spoken too much recently, and he’d much rather just let people fight. The Tag Title Contender Tournament he announced at Damage Control was starting tonight with Brains and Brawn v The Barbarians and The Street Stallions v The Benchmark. He intended to give The Benchmark a bye as previous champions, but an eighth team called Class of 98 asked to be entered over the weekend. They fight Saracens in the other half of the draw next week, with The Wild Things facing The Barracudas.

The Comedian wanted to congratulate Bryant Hall on becoming the 15th DIW Champion, but also to warn Ares Death Cult that they didn’t get to hide him away until War Machine. The DIW Title would be defended every month, so if he wasn’t here in three weeks to take on his first challenger, he’d be stripped of the title. This brought out Dexter Mattell to state his candidacy having been “robbed” of the title and denied an opportunity to reclaim it, and won every match since, beating some of DIW’s leading amateurs in Wrecker and Con McReady. He got that The Comedian didn’t like him but, as champion, he’d turned up every week and beaten every challenger, concluding that he may not be the champion The Comedian wanted, but he was the one he needed. The DIW owner said Mattell may think he’s a master manipulator, but he really didn’t need the sales pitch: he was happy to see Mattell and Hall kick the crap out of one another. He was on but, like The Benchmark, he’d better make his opportunity count.

Tag Title Contender Tournament Quarter-Final: Brains and Brawn (Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee) v The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward)
Though Banks scored the win at Damage Control, I felt like even being involved with the Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan stuff had diminished The Barbarians, especially Ward in breaking Rigsby’s losing streak. I was therefore pleased that one of the first things to happen back at DIW House was to put a bit of momentum back behind them by becoming the first team to advance to the semi-finals of this tournament. Ward scored the pinfall for a change too, following up with a Psycho Slam on Lee after he’d been downed by a Spike Piledriver.

Markus Rush introduced The Wild Things, echoing The Comedian’s announcement that they would face The Barracudas in the quarter-finals of the Tag Title Contender Tournament next week. Con McReady said that they both had a rough night in Sydney, so he was glad they had the opportunity to work through that frustration together. Rush suggested to Wish that McReady putting them forward for the tournament might have been what led The Comedian to pick Dexter Mattell instead of him as Bryant Hall’s first challenger, but Wish shut down that line of questioning. He said he hadn’t forgotten about The Final Boss who took the DIW Title from him last Friday, but that didn’t have to stop him and McReady from going cane-swinging together.

Rob Edwards noted that he was still hurting from the war with The Barracudas, and he liked the idea of him and Milton Hittlespitz’s War Machine opponents having to win a tournament to get that opportunity. However, he wasn’t someone like Bryant Hall who turned up when he felt like it – this got an ooh from the DIW House faithful, with it being the first time The Human Weapon had ever acknowledged the new DIW Champion – so, while he couldn’t speak for Hittlespitz, he wasn’t waiting that long for a fight. That was why he’d approached The Comedian with a suggestion: Menace To Sobriety was denied one last match in front of the DIW crowd at the anniversary show by The Benchmark, so he’d arranged that opportunity for him tonight.

Rob Edwards v Menace To Sobriety
Edwards sold the rib damage he suffered at the hands of The Barracudas at Damage Control, giving Menace an early opening to pop the fans with a few crowd-pleasing throwback spots. He tried for the Hangman’s Neckbreaker much too early though and that was his downfall. Edwards kicked his way out of it, overwhelmed Menace with a series of strikes and then, the second he got back to his feet, he cleaned him out for good with the Roundhouse Kick for the win.

Markus Rush was with an angrier-than-usual-looking Barracudas. Vaughan corrected the claim that Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards had beaten them, claiming that they didn’t defeat The Barracudas, they survived The Barracudas, but they won’t be so lucky next time. He followed up with a warning to The Wild Things that they are willing to do whatever it takes to advance.

After that interview, Markus Rush shared some footage that had been captured before the start of the show of Rick Horn and Bonnie Bogan waiting outside a room for a chance to talk to The Comedian. Horn congratulated Bogan on the fight she put up against Ares Death Cult at Damage Control and asked what she needed to talk to him about, the answer being that Pat Rigsby’s neck was in a bad way so he couldn’t make it to tonight’s show. Horn’s reason was to ask for a match against Hendrix Hughes next week after being hit with a Triple H after his Australian Title bout.

Tag Title Contender Tournament Quarter-Final: The Street Stallions (D.O.A. and Lorenzo Oliverio) v The Benchmark (Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills)
From a story perspective, this was arguably a weaker main event than Rick Horn v Rusty Mills coming out of Hardcore Hallelujah, with neither team fan favourites or having any overlapping history or rivalries. Still, if you put The Benchmark in the ring for 14 minutes with two capable workers, you’re guaranteed good results. Boon and Mills made The Street Stallions look like more of a threat than their booking post-Oliverio’s injury, but ultimately managed to out-heel them. Boon made Oliverio lose his temper, lured him into a premature Back Stabber attempt, moved before the contact and then caught him with a Donovan Driver to secure victory.

The Benchmark’s celebrations were disrupted by the two men they attacked unprovoked at Damage Control, Wrecker and Hack The Hunter, who were almost certainly tournament entrants Class of 98. They were putting a beating on Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills until Dexter Mattell and Kobra The Conqueror arrived to give The Pros their usual numbers advantage. The Wild Things were next out to close the show on some four-on-four brawling as I noted that we’d see if Class of 98 and The Wild Things could join The Benchmark in the semi-finals next week.

[619]

Part 119: Part-time champion

There was a reasonable amount happening on To The Extreme episode 41, with the Tag Title Contender Tournament kicking off, the next DIW Title challenger being named and The Wild Things and The Barracudas moving past their Damage Control defeats.

It also appeared as though new DIW Champion Bryant Hall would start appearing and wrestling at least a little more regularly than he had been to date, with The Comedian confirming that Dexter Mattell will face him on episode 44.

Still, it didn’t feel right to have no appearance from Hall on the first episode after he won the title, or at the very least to have a taped interview from the Sydney show or another Ares Death Cult representative comment on the victory on his behalf. I’ll give it time, but the early indications are that having a part-time champion is going to prove problematic.

While Hall wasn’t scheduled for To The Extreme episode 42, quite a lot had been announced. The final two Tag Title Contender Tournament quarter-finals would see Wrecker and Hack The Hunter’s debut as Class of 98 against Saracens, and The Wild Things fighting The Barracudas. Rick Horn had challenged Hendrix Hughes and Dexter Mattell would be in action a fortnight before his DIW Title match.

[619]

Part 120: To The Extreme #42

Hendrix Hughes made the first entrance of the episode for his match with Rick Horn, getting on the microphone to tell the fans that he didn’t have anything against Farm Tough, he just hit him because he was in his way. He was used to the tag team mentality but, to become a singles champion, he had to be more selfish and charge through anyone who stood between him and giving this crowd an opportunity to put their ciggies in the air for the next Australian Champion.

Hendrix Hughes v Rick Horn
This match saw shades of grey applied to two fan favourites, with Horn starting aggressively in his frustration at having been taken down unprovoked by Hughes at Damage Control, and the Badass MFer reacting viciously to turn the tide. With Horn on top of him in the corner, Hughes pulled him down into the turnbuckle and then proceeded to drive his head into it a further two times – I pointed out on commentary that he knew how dangerous that could be given the injury to his partner Seb Shaw – before following up with the Triple H for the win.

Rick Horn was walking up the ramp nursing a sore head when Pat Rigsby came from the other direction, picked up a microphone from the commentary desk and drove it into Farm Tough’s head. He continued to strike him in the face once he was grounded, screaming about what kind of man he was to hit on another man’s wife when that husband was absent due to injuries he’d suffered trying to keep her safe. There was me hoping this saga had ended at Damage Control. Still, at least the DIW Champion’s stable weren’t wrapped up in it for the moment at least.

Markus Rush was with Wrecker and Hack The Hunter, who were facing Saracens in the Tag Title Contender Tournament under the name Class of 98. Hack explained that they weren’t bitter enemies or best friends, they were just two blokes who owed The Benchmark a beating for what happened in Sydney, and this Tag Title Contender Tournament was the easiest way of doing it. Wrecker said Class of 98 was because they found out they were both born the same year. They didn’t put any more thought into it than that because all they were thinking about was getting their hands on The Benchmark. Simple stuff, if you ignore that they could’ve just kept jumping Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills like last week, without entering the tournament as a team.

Deceiver v Dexter Mattell
Mattell prepared for his DIW Title match with Bryant Hall in two weeks by facing the most Ares Death Cult-looking Australian not actually in Ares Death Cult. What was happening outside the ring came to take on almost as much significance as what was going on inside as Death Ref and The Barbarians arrived at ringside to watch Mattell, prompting Kobra The Conqueror and The Benchmark to emerge to neutralise their presence. It remained a Cold War for now though, with neither stable making a move on the other as Mattell forced Deceiver to submit to the STF.

It was Milton Hittlespitz’s turn to be interviewed by Markus Rush next, supporting what Rob Edwards said last week. He didn’t want to wait until War Machine for their next Tag Title defence so, if every team in DIW was going to be occupied until then with this tournament, perhaps there was a team outside the company who were brave enough to step up.

Tag Title Contender Tournament Quarter-Final: Class of 98 (Wrecker and Hack The Hunter) v Saracens (Cueball and Tank)
Cueball and Tank got a bit more offence than usual in this meat feast with a heavyweight and light heavyweight on each side to put over their advantage as the established team. However, it’s been almost three years since they last won a match, so it was no great shock that Wrecker and Hack quickly overcame their setbacks. They even introduced a collaborative finisher, with Wrecker hitting his Bulldozer Elbow on Cueball who fell back into the Hack Attack Side Suplex.

Markus Rush’s third and final interview of the episode was with Australian Champion Kobra The Conqueror, who was asked about Hendrix Hughes beating his most recent challenger Rick Horn earlier in the show. Kobra feigned not even being aware, asking if that was correct and emphasising that Hughes hadn’t done anything to grab his attention yet.

Tag Title Contender Tournament Quarter-Final: The Wild Things (Con McReady) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)
It turned out Markus Rush’s night wasn’t quite over as there was no sign of The Barracudas entering through the crowd when their music hit, so we had to go to the back where they had Seth Wish tied to some lockers and were both working him over with lead pipes until McReady arrived with a cane. They did then make their entrance while McReady tried to find help for his  partner. He insisted that he wasn’t forfeiting though and made his way to the ring to fight them two on one. McReady landed some early blows with his cane, but every time he threatened to make a breakthrough, the numbers overwhelmed him. His biggest hope spot was turning a Spinebuster attempt into a cover, but Rourke escaped at the last minute. Wish then appeared with his cane on the entranceway, bringing Vaughan into the ring in readiness, but he collapsed halfway down the ramp, and The Barracudas acted quickly to take McReady down with the Barracuda Sting for a three count.

I noted on commentary that every team left in the tournament would be dreading facing The Barracudas in this ruthless form, and that Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards might not be lucky enough to survive next time.

[619]

Part 121: In with the OLD

I thought it was a little naïve of Lori to tease Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards defending their Tag Titles against an outsider team before War Machine. Fans would jump to the conclusion it was The Apocalypse, whereas I was fairly confident that if they were returning full time after their recent anniversary cameo and that was to be their first match back, it wouldn’t occur on a random To The Extreme episode.

Perhaps that potential misunderstanding was why the angle was advanced as early as the next day. A video was posted on the Original Legends Deathmatches social pages in which their Tag Team Champions The Inmates, Bile and The Anarchist, who once held DIW’s gold, expressed interest in what their fellow champions had said. They offered to show their credentials against any current DIW duo on the next episode of To The Extreme.

It was unlike DIW to work with other promotions but, from what I could tell, this was a mutually beneficial short-term arrangement. DIW were thanking OLD for freeing up Mayhem Mulhoney for their two recent anniversary episodes by giving them and their titles some exposure. This was fairly low risk as OLD were a much smaller company based in Victoria, and gave Hittlespitz and Edwards something to do while their War Machine challengers were being crowned.

The Inmates’ challenge was likely to be answered by one of the less established teams as To The Extreme episode 43 already had the two Tag Title Contender Tournament semi-finals: Class of 98 v The Barracudas and The Barbarians v The Benchmark. I was also due to conduct pre-taped interviews with Dexter Mattell and Bryant Hall ahead of episode 44’s DIW Title match.

[619]

Part 122: To The Extreme #43

Tag Title Contender Tournament Semi-Final: Class of 98 (Wrecker and Hack The Hunter) v The Barracudas (Chopper Rourke and Vaughan)
The show got off to a hot start with the main event winners of the previous episode opening this one. With all four men riding a lot of momentum, it was no surprise to see offence split pretty evenly between each of them and an unclean finish. Vaughan was struggling to lock his Choke Sleeper on Hack The Hunter outside the ring when he felt the snap of a cane on his back from Con McReady, looking to avenge The Barracudas’ attack on Seth Wish last week that led to him fighting them alone and The Wild Things being eliminated. As McReady got a few more shots in on Vaughan, Rourke looked to intervene but was met on the apron by Hack. His punch stopped Rourke exiting the ring and instead knocked him into Wrecker’s Bulldozer Elbow, which was followed by a Hack Attack, the finisher combo proving enough for Wrecker to keep Rourke down for a three count.

I introduced my first pre-taped interview of the evening by explaining that I’d gone to the location I’d been directed to but was greeted by Death Ref, with no Bryant Hall in sight. Death Ref explained that I didn’t need to talk to Hall, and in fact he had much more relevant information than The Final Boss when it came to Dexter Mattell. He said that Mattell had been in DIW for nearly two years now and made enemies of almost everyone without fearing the consequences, except Ares Death Cult. Even when he had the DIW Title and his own army assembled, he was always too afraid to take on that battle. Now Mattell was desperate and had started playing with fire and picking fights he couldn’t win. However, Ares Death Cult could see he was still scared, and he was right to be scared as he’d never fought anyone like The Final Boss before, and it would be game over for him when he lost next week.

Markus Rush had caught Pat Rigsby in discussion with his wife Bonnie Bogan. He was furious that Rick Horn had dared to make a move on her while he was healing at home from injuries he suffered keeping her safe from another Spike Piledriver at Damage Control and couldn’t wait to get him in the ring next week. She tried to correct him that Horn wasn’t flirting but for once even her shrill voice couldn’t be heard as Rigsby powered on that she shouldn’t have even been there. DIW House was his workplace, not hers, and he only stomached it to take money home to her. She had no business there and was affecting his performance. When she stayed back home after being attacked by The Barbarians, he had a 100% winning record which had dropped to 0% since she returned (he neglected to mention that the sample size on both occasions was one match). He loved her, but he needed her to go back home and stay there so he could concentrate on making her money and she could prepare for motherhood.

Brains and Brawn (Carl Paris and Demarcus Lee) v The Inmates (Bile and The Anarchist)
I got what was going on here: The Inmates were getting a win over an existing DIW team firstly as a thank you to OLD for freeing Mayhem Mulhoney and others for the anniversary, and partly to imply they were worthy of a Tag Title shot. The problem was that Paris and Lee weren’t that established, so it just meant having four people in the ring the crowd weren’t that invested in. Bile scored a win for the outsiders with his Mind Trip, but I doubt it did much for their standing.

Rob Edwards applauded The Inmates’ victory and said he and Milton Hittlespitz were happy to make it official for two weeks’ time: DIW Tag Team Champions v OLD Tag Team Champions. He warned them that they’d already beaten the likes of The Benchmark and The Barracudas, so Bile and The Anarchist needed the performance of their careers to reclaim the titles they once held.

Rob Edwards v D.O.A.
The story we told on commentary was that this match was a response to the events at last month’s anniversary when Edwards beat Lorenzo Oliverio but later found himself frustrated by The Street Stallions when he tried to save Milton Hittlespitz from a Barracuda beating. I had my suspicions that the reality was that Lori realised she was in danger of running an all-tag-match card, knew that was another Australian company’s trademark and switched course accordingly. Whatever the reason, it was a shrewd addition in the sense that it was the match of the night, with Edwards allowing D.O.A. a few moments of strength over the course of nine minutes before inevitably putting him away with the Roundhouse Kick for his eighth straight victory since uniting with Crazy Blue in Canberra.

Dexter Mattell was dismissive when I told him Death Ref’s theory that he had always run scared of Ares Death Cult, saying that staying out of one another’s way had been a mutually beneficial arrangement, up until now. He noted that the non-aggression had worked out better for The Pros than them as they’d held titles for the entirety of their existence, whereas the Cult were becoming irrelevant until they capitalised on Seth Wish’s freakish cameo as DIW Champion. Mattell added that the one time they did both have the same goal at Hardcore Heatwave, it was him not them who ended the show as DIW Champion, and he’d do it again. I pointed out Bryant Hall’s unbeaten record, but Mattell had an answer as always. Not only had he beaten everyone he’d faced in DIW, but he’d never lost his first match against anyone. Hall was good, but Mattell was better, and he was going to make things final for this boss next week.

Markus Rush was interviewing Wrecker, asking how he was finding being in another new team. Wrecker knew what Rush was getting at. He’d been hearing this criticism recently that he was meant to be DIW’s odd man out but, in reality, he was the MVP. Nobody else in this locker room or this industry could team up with three completely different partners in the space of a few months and win with all of them, winning almost every singles match in that time too. Hack The Hunter and him had never teamed together until last week and they’d beaten two established duos already. Now they hoped for what they were looking for all along: a match with The Benchmark. Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills took away maybe the biggest match of his career in Sydney. Now, it was his turn to take from them.

Tag Title Contender Tournament Semi-Final: The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward) v The Benchmark (Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills)
For the second time in three weeks, The Benchmark were headlining against another villainous team, and a week before their fellow Pro Dexter Mattell challenged The Barbarians’ stablemate Bryant Hall for the DIW Title. November 2024 was clearly the month of the heel. This main event was better than the teams’ Tag Title clash back in June, I think because it was played more to The Barbarians’ strengths: more weapons and brawling, less technical moves. It also felt notable that Mattell and Kobra The Conqueror didn’t show up, whereas I thought they might screw over The Barbarians to get one over Ares Death Cult ahead of the upcoming DIW Title bout. Instead, with the contest fairly gridlocked at the eight-minute mark, the lights went out and those famous words were heard once again before they returned: THE END IS NIGH. Death Ref had made his way to the entranceway in the darkness to greet The Apocalypse and guide them to The Benchmark, who they’d interrupted on their return appearance last month. They appeared to follow his lead before stopping halfway down the ramp, with Warmonger grabbing Death Ref and the duo planting him on the ramp with Apocalypse Nowish. Ward jumped off the apron to confront them and Banks attempted to follow, only to be spun around by The Benchmark, who connected with the Double Down to advance to face Class of 98 in the final.

The Benchmark didn’t hang around, exiting through the crowd, leaving Psych Ward to try to take the fight to The Apocalypse. He got Hatemonger in position for the Psycho Slam, but Warmonger clubbed him in the back and, a few seconds later, it was Ward going for the ride instead as he suffered Apocalypse Nowish. The returning DIW legends posed for the crowd as they stood tall over The Barbarians and Death Ref as we tried to figure out on commentary why they’d decided to target Ares Death Cult.

[619]

Part 123: Two in, one out, one staying

So, as suspected, The Apocalypse’s appearance at DIW’s 15-year anniversary celebration wasn’t a one off. They followed their interruption of The Benchmark there by attacking Ares Death Cult on To The Extreme episode 43, laying the groundwork for another potential match. The rumour was that, a decade on from leaving DIW for APW, Hatemonger and Warmonger had agreed to an initial six-month part-time deal, which could be extended further if all parties are satisfied.

As for the latest chapter in my least favourite DIW story arc between Pat Rigsby and Bonnie Bogan, in which he ordered his “wife” to stay at home, it appeared that was in fact her last appearance for a while. She’d only been brought in for three months to set up that Damage Control mixed tag match and was still based in Tasmania, while her poor in-ring chemistry with Rigsby didn’t lend itself too easily to a follow up.

However, I got the impression that Lori enjoyed working with Bogan, and that whoever had her ear had told her good things about the 28-year-old’s potential, so I’d say there was a fair chance of her resurfacing in future.

The other gossip I heard at this particular To The Extreme taping, because the person telling their story wasn’t particularly discreet, was that Dexter Mattell had been approached about returning to APW. I knew Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills had knocked back similar offers in the past, though this was the first time APW had made a move that I was aware of since gaining the WrestleWorld Australia exposure, making them a more attractive proposition.

It hadn’t made much difference, if taking Mattell at face value, as he indicated that they weren’t willing to match what DIW paid him and that he wasn’t yet fully sold on the APW revival, suggesting he thought they’d be back in a hole as soon as George Wolfe returned to North America. They were getting the most of their investment in the 33-year-old until then, with him putting on another Commonwealth Title clinic with Fuyuhiko Wakabayashi at Longest Night.

Still, Mattell’s apparent refusal to entertain an immediate return to APW made life easier for Lori ahead of To The Extreme episode 44, in which he was getting his DIW Title rematch against new champion Bryant Hall.

DIW announced all four matches in advance, understandably as it was a fuller line-up than the average To The Extreme card. In a preview of the upcoming Tag Title Contender Tournament final, Wrecker and Hack The Hunter were partnering Hendrix Hughes against The Benchmark and Kobra The Conqueror. Elsewhere, Milton Hittlespitz was facing Lorenzo Oliverio in the reverse of last week’s Rob Edwards v D.O.A. match and Rigsby had challenged Rick Horn.

----------

Really sorry @John Lions. Bonnie Bogan was initially signed on a three-month deal specifically for the Damage Control story. When you made your post highlighting how she was a valuable long-term prospect, the window to re-sign had already passed, but I'll make sure this wasn't her last appearance.

[619]

Part 124: To The Extreme #44

The Comedian and I introduced what we suggested might be the most action-packed hour in DIW history, headlined by a first time ever match for the DIW Title between Bryant Hall and Dexter Mattell. To support our claims about the card, the show was starting with a six-man match that would probably main event most other weeks.

Wrecker, Hack The Hunter and Hendrix Hughes v The Pros (Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror)
It felt unnecessary to have such a star-heavy match on a card that already featured a first-time DIW Title bout. However, Lori clearly wanted to keep focus on next week’s Tag Title Contender Tournament final between the Class of 98 and The Benchmark. With these six given a licence to go all out, they put on the best opener in To The Extreme history. As Hughes and Kobra fought outside, the finish saw Boon try to lift Wrecker up for the Double Down, only to be caught from behind by Hack The Hunter’s Hack Attack. Wrecker reacted quickly to catch Mills with the Bulldozer Elbow, becoming the first person to pin or submit him across his 26 matches in DIW.

Markus Rush asked Lorenzo Oliverio about his upcoming match with Milton Hittlespitz. The hothead was angry about The Street Stallions being overlooked as Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards prepared to face The Inmates next week and the Tag Title Contender Tournament winners at War Machine, warning that he should never be treated as an afterthought.

We’d been sent a video from The Barracudas telling Con McReady he had to pay for screwing them out of their War Machine Tag Title rematch but, seeing as his mate Seth Wish hadn’t been seen since they got their hands on him, they’d let him decide his punishment. Singles match? Tag match? Handicap match? The choice was McReady’s, but the outcome would be the same.

Milton Hittlespitz v Lorenzo Oliverio
Oliverio’s hot-headedness caught Hittlespitz off guard early in this contest, with Crazy Blue initially unable to match his aggression. He was eventually able to use it to his advantage though, forcing The Italian Stallion into a few costly mistakes, most crucially ducking a chair that Oliverio swung so ferociously that it deflected off the top rope back into his face. A Flying Knee Drop later and Hittlespitz had the win in a little over eight minutes.

Markus Rush had caught sight of a discussion between The Pros while that match was in progress. Dexter Mattell fed into the foul mood that Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror were in after losing to Wrecker, Hack The Hunter and Hendrix Hughes by telling them that those three and the rest of the amateurs in this hellhole were laughing at them right now. The only way to put what happened earlier tonight right and stop the laughter was to make sure that he ended the show with the DIW Title back in his hands and, by extension, theirs. We didn’t get to see if the others were on board as Boon spotted the camera and cut it off.

We were next shown some pre-recorded comments from Death Ref. He noted that The Apocalypse were a relic of DIW’s past that had no place in its present. When he saw them last week, he was ready to offer them spots in Ares Death Cult and the chance to belong again. However, they threw that offer back in his face and in doing so sealed their fate. If they dared show up again at War Machine, The Barbarians would make them extinct.

Rick Horn v Pat Rigsby
I’d made no secret of the fact the recent Rigsby story arc wasn’t for me, but I couldn’t deny that both of these wrestlers had improved as performers and aroused more interest from the crowd since the previous time they met in March on Horn’s debut with the company. Any lingering sympathy for Rigsby after his recent wars with Ares Death Cult evaporated over these six minutes which he started by goading Horn “you want to kiss my wife? You can kiss my backside” and then using every cheap tactic in his repertoire to frustrate his opponent. He had no answer once Farm Tough fought back though, and his singles winning streak (even I’d caught myself misguidedly promoting it as that on commentary) was ended by a John Deere Destroyer.

Ahead of the main event, Markus Rush spoke to Milton Hittlespitz in an interview that came across fairly nakedly as a sales pitch for the next episode of To The Extreme rather than an insight into his motivations. Crazy Blue looked forward to taking on another pair of Tag Team Champions in The Inmates and continuing his and Rob Edwards’ perfect record, and finding out whether Class of 98 or The Benchmark would challenge them at War Machine, vowing to be ready for either challenge.

DIW Title: Bryant Hall (c) v Dexter Mattell
Despite both belonging to stables, this was allowed to be a one-on-one match for at least seven-and-a-half minutes, with Hall’s power and Mattell’s technical prowess earning both periods on top. However, when The Final Boss connected with the S.T.O., The Pros arrived to make a nuisance of themselves before he could go for the cover. Kobra hit him with his snakeskin belt and The Benchmark followed up with the Double Down. This brought out Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward who, alongside Death Ref, fought the other Pros off down the ramp, but the damage was done as Mattell locked in the STF and Hall couldn’t escape. It was coming up to a minute and his resistance appeared to be fading when someone else emerged through the crowd and repeatedly hit Mattell in the back with a cane, forcing him to break the hold. It was Seth Wish, who retreated back outside as Hall finished the job with his S.T.O. to complete his first defence.

Seth Wish quickly made it clear that he wasn’t there to help Bryant Hall after the bell, catching him with the cane as he celebrated and quickly following up with Dust In The Wind and the Suicide Senton. Briefly picking up the DIW Title while Hall and Dexter Mattell were grounded, Wish screamed that he hadn’t forgotten those two stole it from him and he’d keep getting in their way until he had his chance to take it back.

[HiPlus]

I finally got the chance to catch all the way up with this diary.

 

Going to start of with Rigsby to see whether he continues his 100% win rate without Bonnie around for the foreseeable future, and whether or not it changes the trajectory of him. 

 

The tag-team division is so damn amazing at this point. Early on it was definitely something you needed to build on with injuries and The Wild Things splitting up and having singles runs. Now it is looking stacked in the best way that you could lose The Benchmark or Dream Team and there would be enough talent around their to still keep the whole division interesting. I love that you have been able to build it up after a period of time it only being The Benchmark left with Barracuda's who at the time were uninspiring. 

 

One thing I was going to note is, Seth Wish had really fallen down the card. He was your last DIW Champion and then proceeded to end up being ruled out of tag-team matches after beat downs. That changed with the last main event as he took out Dexter. Again I almost was like it was strange he attacked Dexter, but I guess you needed a definitive win for Bryant Hall before he got attacked as well. As if Seth Wish just beat both men to end it in a no contest would just make Bryant Hall look to weak. Seth Wish being caught between two story lines is a much better use of the former DIW champion. He is primed for a tag-team match it does seem though for now. 

 

It does seem Kobra hasn't had much of a focus now with The Pros obviously overshadowing him and everyone else doing other things than getting super involved with the Australian Champion. He does seem on a path to face Hendrix Hughes which should be a god match. How long can the only Pro with a title not make himself the focus and stop playing the +1 to The Benchmark and the lackey to Dexter Mattell. 

 

I am a big fan of The Apocalypse as a tag-team and as individuals. Their addition to the tag ranks just adds such a strong level of legitimacy. They are very similar to The Barracudas in they will punch you in the face and beat you down, but different enough to not feel like the same team being booked. 

 

One thing I would like to see APW do if they are intent on poaching DIW talent, is go after your underutilized guys, or guys that seem to not be in that main picture and might want to become singles stars like Wrecker, Hendrix, or even Con. All have looked closed to being the hero of DIW only for Seth Wish to become the guy. Another nasty pick up would be Milton. He is a guy who has done everything in the company but certainly is being seen as that Gatekeeper role to the Main Event. There are a lot of names above him at this stage and his defection anywhere would be huge as he does seem like a guy like Vaughan, or Blitz who is a DIW lifer. 

I also love the DIW title needing to be defended at least once a month. It makes sense for small challenges on To The Extreme. It adds an extra defence for the champion. 

I popped for the all-tag show reference. 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by HiPlus

[619]

Thanks so much for catching up and sharing such insightful feedback @HiPlus . I think I'd still take the SZW tag division over ours for depth and variety of characters, but I agree we're in a much better position now than in February when Two Badass MFers and Crime Wave went down.

That's interesting what you wrote about Seth Wish as I was hoping that with the Barracuda beatdown and fortnight off, it would seem like he'd been sidelined, to make his involvement more unexpected. You're right that it was probably a bit too convenient to target Dexter Mattell first. The thinking was that Mattell interfered against him at Damage Control (though admittedly Death Ref landed the decisive blow), and that once Mattell had lost his rematch, it would clear the way for him, but perhaps laying everyone out at once would've been a more realistic reaction.

It's true that Kobra should really be asserting his status as The Pros' last champion standing more, and also that APW's hiring strategy needs some work. I agree Milton Hittlespitz to APW would be interesting. I've also been shocked at CEW leaving us alone after having us on the ropes. I figure the free agents thrown up by AE's collapse distracted them, but I can't rationalise them not moving for Rob Edwards.

Part 125: Streak wrecker

From a match quality perspective, To The Extreme episode 44 had been DIW’s best weekly effort so far. Bryant Hall v Dexter Mattell was arguably the strongest main event to date, Wrecker, Hack The Hunter and Hendrix Hughes v Donovan Boon, Rusty Mills and Kobra The Conqueror was certainly the best opener and Milton Hittlespitz v Lorenzo Oliverio and Rick Horn v Pat Rigsby both left a mark too.

I still questioned why the six-man match was added to a show that already had a lot going on, regardless of how entertaining it had been. I guess Lori thought it would be a good teaser for the upcoming Class of 98 v The Benchmark Tag Title Contender Tournament final.

Stranger than having that match as an underhyped opener was the finish: blowing off the near-two-year story of Mills never taking a pinfall or submission in such anticlimactic and inconsequential fashion.

Perhaps Lori decided that as she had Bryant Hall’s unbeaten start in DIW and Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards’ perfect record as a team, Mills’ statistic didn’t matter as much as he’d still lost matches, so it was something unexpected to throw early in an episode to show anything can happen.

It wasn’t what I would have done, but I was pleased at least that Wrecker was given the accolade. He was a popular and dependable roster member, but hadn’t held a title in over nine months, sometimes being perceived as an odd one out as he himself referenced in a recent promo. So it was good to encourage his fans that he could beat anyone, even someone that five-time DIW Champion Vaughan and four-time champ Edwards had taken losses to, on his day.

Would To The Extreme episode 45 be his day? Wrecker and Hack The Hunter were facing The Benchmark in the Tag Title Contender Tournament final, with the winners advancing to face Hittlespitz and Edwards at War Machine. That was provided The Dream Team overcame OLD Tag Team Champions The Inmates earlier in the same episode.

[619]

Part 126: To The Extreme #45

Credit: John Lions

The episode opened with highlights from last week’s main event as Seth Wish attacked first Dexter Mattell and later Bryant Hall. The camera cut to The Comedian at the commentary desk who said tonight was primarily about the Tag Titles, but he wanted to confirm the DIW Title match at War Machine. He didn’t consider Hall’s wins over Wish or Mattell to have been truly decisive, so therefore he was giving both former champions a final rematch in a triple threat, with the reward for Hall if he could overcome them both being that he wouldn’t have to defend against either again for as long as his reign lasted.

Demarcus Lee v Vaughan
Lee isn’t afraid of a hardcore war, but he was outmatched here, as was demonstrated from the very start when he swung for Vaughan with a snooker cue, only for the heavyweight to block the shot, snatch the cue, snap it in two on his thigh and then clobber him with both sides. Similar things happened when Lee tried introducing a chair and an ironing board, all leading up to Vaughan putting him to sleep with a Choke Sleeper. Chopper Rourke lifted his lifeless body up for a Spinebuster after the bell, I guess just to remind any fans who had been asleep for the last 15 years that The Barracudas weren’t very nice blokes.

In comments that Markus Rush informed us had been provided before The Comedian’s announcement that Bryant Hall would defend the DIW Title in a triple threat match at War Machine, Death Ref spoke of how The Apocalypse had settled and stagnated whereas Ares Death Cult were hungrier than ever. They clearly underestimated Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward when they picked this fight, but Death Ref was going to find a tag team who had beaten The Apocalypse during their wilderness years for The Barbarians to make an example of next week.

While this was shown, Markus Rush captured footage of a short conversation between Milton Hittlespitz and Rick Horn. Horn asked Crazy Blue if he had any preference over the Tag Title Contender Tournament winners, with the Tag Team Champion saying his and Rob Edwards’ immediate focus was making sure they went into War Machine as champions. Crazy Blue asked Horn what his next target was after his unsuccessful Australian Title challenge and Farm Tough said he wanted to do something he’d seen Hittlespitz do in the past: score his first victory over a heavyweight, having fallen short against Hack The Hunter and Chopper Rourke in the past.

Australian Title: Carl Paris v Kobra The Conqueror (c)
We spent most of this match arguing on commentary, with me trying to depict Kobra as a fearless champion unafraid to take on any challenger, The Comedian rightly pointing out that he’d picked an easier battle and me trying to legitimise Paris by recalling the two times he broke Blitz Simpson’s face. We both got a chance to claim vindication in the end because Paris hung in there for around eight minutes – arguably Kobra took longer than he needed to maintain the façade that this was a legitimate test – before a decisive defeat to the Ripcord Knee.

Hendrix Hughes confronted Kobra The Conqueror after the match and said, with all due respect to Carl Paris, it was time Kobra took on the biggest challenge of his Australian Title reign. Kobra channelled his inner Dexter Mattell in asking why Hughes deserved a shot. Because he’d beaten Rick Horn, who Kobra had already defeated? Because he was on the winning side of a six-man match against him last week without doing any of the work? Out of pity because he was a lost little loser without his tag partner carrying him anymore? He said if Hughes wanted a shot, he had to earn it. As the Badass MFer went to reply, Kobra aimed a cheap shot, only for Hughes to block it and take him down with the Triple H. He retrieved the Australian Champion’s snakeskin belt and proceeded to choke him with it, asking if he’d earned an Australian Title shot yet? Kobra resisted initially before finally conceding that he could have his match. The rest of The Pros ran down in pursuit of the apparent new number one contender, but he was able to retreat before they got to him.

Con McReady was seen congratulating Seth Wish on receiving his DIW Title rematch, telling him not to worry about The Barracudas as he’d take care of them. Wish said no, McReady had already had to face The Barracudas on his own last month when he got taken out and he wasn’t going to let it happen again. If that meant pulling double duty at War Machine then so be it.

Tag Titles: The Dream Team (Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards) (c) v The Inmates (Bile and The Anarchist)
Though this was built as a meeting between two promotions’ champions, it didn’t really play out as a battle of equals. The Inmates were given some early shine to try to create the pretence that they belonged in the ring with two multi-time DIW Champions, but they were sent back to OLD within five minutes. Hittlespitz hit The Anarchist with his Flying Knee Drop and Edwards took Bile off the apron with a Roundhouse Kick when he tried to climb in to break the cover.

Dexter Mattell started his interview with Markus Rush by saying he was going to make Hendrix Hughes pay next week for the stunt he pulled on Kobra The Conqueror, claiming DIW would be a better place if he was laid up at home like his tag partner. Rush asked for his thoughts on the War Machine DIW Title triple threat match announced earlier tonight. Mattell said he thought he was finally through with The Wild Things at Damage Control, beating Con McReady and making sure Seth Wish didn’t leave with the DIW Title, to repay him for Hardcore Hallelujah. But then Wish stole the DIW Title from his grasp again, and he wasn’t going to get away so lightly this time. He’d beaten Wish before and he had Bryant Hall beaten last week so, if it was a triple threat The Comedian wanted, he was game. But he warned The Comedian it would be the last time he could stack the deck against him in such a way, as 2024 was ending with The Pros holding all the DIW gold and power again.

Tag Title Contender Tournament Final: Class of 98 (Wrecker and Hack The Hunter) v The Benchmark (Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills)
It’s rare to get a first-time match with a 5-6 week build on a weekly show, and even rarer for it to deliver the way that these four did. This was by some distance the best ever match on To The Extreme, and I’d only put The Dream Team v The Benchmark above it in terms of everything I’d seen since joining DIW. Those two teams would get a chance to top their Hardcore Hallelujah efforts at War Machine because this wild brawl ended with Boon pushing Mills out of the way of Wrecker’s Bulldozer Elbow and launching Wrecker into Hack The Hunter in the corner. The heavyweight fell awkwardly into the ringside railings as Boon helped Mills plant Wrecker with the Double Down to win the tournament for his team.

On commentary, I claimed that The Benchmark had once again proven they were the best team in DIW, outlasting seven other top teams, and that The Dream Team had got lucky against them once, but there was no way history would be repeated at War Machine.

[619]

Part 127: Machine programmed

To The Extreme episode 45 saw four more matches confirmed for DIW’s final show of the year, War Machine, in addition to The Apocalypse v The Barbarians.

We now knew that Seth Wish and Dexter Mattell would both challenge Bryant Hall for the DIW Title in a triple threat match and that Hendrix Hughes was facing Kobra The Conqueror one-on-one for the first time ever for the Australian Title.

Wish had agreed to a second match on the show, partnering Con McReady in pursuit of revenge against The Barracudas, who violently eliminated them from the Tag Title Contender Tournament. Tournament winners The Benchmark had secured a chance to one-up DIW’s best ever match with a rematch against Tag Team Champions Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards.

Those DIW Title and Tag Title matches gave War Machine the opportunity to be DIW’s best show yet, especially with the novelty of The Apocalypse’s first DIW match in over a decade on the undercard. However, a lot was riding on whether Lori could keep the storytelling simple and compelling until then with so much overlap, not helped by having Wish work two matches.

To The Extreme episode 46 would offer an example of that crosspollination as the main event saw DIW Title contender Mattell take on Australian Title challenger Hughes in retaliation for his attack on Kobra. Their previous match in March in the immediate aftermath of Seb Shaw’s injury had been disappointing, so it would be a chance to see how much Mattell had grown as a main eventer in the nine months since and how well Hughes had settled into his singles role.

This episode would also see The Barbarians face two of The Apocalypse’s former Athletic Empire rivals, Rick Horn target his first victory over a DIW heavyweight against Tank and The Wild Things battle The Street Stallions.

Tag Team champions Hittlespitz and Edwards were also in attendance, but sadly their recent challenge to the OLD Tag Team Champions was unlikely to be extended to the new RAW Tag Team Champions, Nicky Gilbert and Swoop Dogg. It seemed Cyanide shared Lori’s enthusiasm for aligning two hugely popular former singles champions at the top of his tag division.

[619]

Part 128: To The Extreme #46

Credit: John Lions

The Comedian and I ran down the card as The Wild Things entered for the opener, flagging that later tonight we’d see Hendrix Hughes take on Dexter Mattell, The Barbarians challenge former rivals of The Apocalypse and Rick Horn look for his first heavyweight conquest against Tank.

The Wild Things (Con McReady and Seth Wish) v The Street Stallions (D.O.A. and Lorenzo Oliverio)
Every second in the ring between now and War Machine was a chance for Wish to show Lori that he should end the year as DIW Champion, not Bryant Hall or Dexter Mattell. However, he definitely didn’t take that opportunity here, putting in a pretty rotten performance in a match that was primarily a spotlight for him and McReady. At least he executed the finish smoothly enough, drilling Oliverio with Dust In The Wind and then connecting with the Suicide Senton as McReady thwarted D.O.A.’s attempt to knock him off the top rope with a cane-assisted Iron Fist.

The Wild Things came under immediate fire after the bell from The Barbarians, seemingly sent to do Bryant Hall’s bidding. Con McReady was in position for a Spike Piledriver until Seth Wish struck both Psych Ward and Lloyd Banks with his cane. Wish tried to help the more badly-beaten McReady up the entranceway, but got blindsided by Dexter Mattell, who locked Wish in an STF on the ramp. He had the hold in for over 20 seconds before McReady recovered enough to force Mattell to retreat with some cane shots. The Wild Things still weren’t out of danger though as The Barracudas jumped the railings. Vaughan caught McReady in the Choke Sleeper as Chopper Rourke dropped Wish onto the hard ramp with a Spinebuster. Vaughan released McReady from the chokehold, only for them to plant him with a Barracuda Sting on top of the grounded Wish, with The Barracudas standing tall over The Wild Things again.

We threw to Markus Rush in the back while trying to restore order at ringside. He was interviewing the Class of 98 following their impressive run to the Tag Title Contender Tournament Final, which ended in defeat to The Benchmark. Wrecker was disappointed not to get the shot at Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards at War Machine, but his main goal had been to take something from The Benchmark to repay what they took from him and Hack The Hunter in sabotaging their Sydney match, and he did that by becoming the first man to pin Rusty Mills. Hack predicted that The Benchmark would have learnt their lesson about interfering in their business so, with that in mind, why not get back to what they’d started: Hack The Hunter v Wrecker at War Machine. Wrecker agreed, and it looked like we had a complete card for the final show of the year with 2.75 episodes of To The Extreme to spare.

Rich and Wonderful (Dazzler and Mortimer Pyle) v The Barbarians (Lloyd Banks and Psych Ward)
The dynamics were a bit off here in that The Barbarians were established villains, but nobody was going to cheer for two pretty boy RAW rejects with a history of comedy wrestling. Still, this match established the two things I suspected Lori intended it to. Firstly, The Barbarians forced Rich and Wonderful to fight on their terms, warning The Apocalypse to expect a more violent fight at War Machine than they’d perhaps experienced in their years away. And secondly, to establish The Barbarians as a threat to Hatemonger and Warmonger by having them beat a team who had troubled the returning team in the recent past, with Ward pinning Pyle after a Psycho Slam through a table.

Markus Rush asked Hendrix Hughes about choking out Kobra The Conqueror with his own snakeskin belt last week until he agreed to give him an Australian Title shot. Hughes said it wasn’t how he planned for it to go down. He asked for a match, he beat the champion in a six-man tag and he took Kobra down with a wrestling move but he wasn’t getting through to him, so he left him with no other option. Dexter Mattell wanted to act the hero and challenge him to a match tonight like he’d crossed some kind of moral line, when the reality was that the sore neck Kobra was nursing was nothing compared to the near year Mattell had taken off Seb Shaw’s career already. Hughes wasn’t taking Kobra’s Australian Title at War Machine for personal glory. His focus was on stripping The Pros of their last shred of gold and power. So if Mattell wanted to get in his way, he was cool with that, but he wouldn’t be able to stop DIW House from putting their ciggies in the air for the next Australian Champion.

Tag Team Champions Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards hit the ring to congratulate contender tournament winners The Benchmark, hinting that this was their desired outcome. That brought Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills out, with Mills saying they needed to heal their heads if they thought this was a good outcome for them. Hardcore Hallelujah was a fluke and now they’d finally been given their chance to prove it, show who Aussie wrestling’s true dream team were and leave Hittlespitz and Edwards fighting among themselves again. Edwards said that seeing as Mills was in the mood to correct flukes, surely he wouldn’t mind giving The Human Weapon the one-on-one rematch he’d waited five months for since losing to him in Canberra. Mills again told him to heal his head, saying they were forced into an eight-man tournament to get their rematch so, unless Edwards planned on doing the same, he’d make him wait another five months. Before The Human Weapon could respond, Mills continued that he now held singles victories over three former DIW Champions: Edwards, Vaughan and Mayhem Mulhoney. So if the so-called Dream Team didn’t want to wait until War Machine, he’d gladly add Hittlespitz to his collection next week. Crazy Blue accepted, with Edwards looking frustrated at being bypassed, which I noted on commentary was The Benchmark chipping away at the champions’ fragile foundations.

Rick Horn v Tank
This short story gave Horn an accolade to keep spotlighting and building him after his recent defeats to Australian Champion Kobra The Conqueror and his next challenger Hendrix Hughes. He’d lost to Hack The Hunter and Chopper Rourke but beat a heavyweight at the third attempt. Horn stayed Farm Tough after being thrown around by Tank for the first few minutes and then showed  a fair amount of power to punctuate his comeback with the John Deere Destroyer, having initially appeared unable to elevate his opponent. The heavyweight angle was a decent attempt to make a win over Tank feel more meaningful but, with this being his 33rd straight loss, it probably won’t have fooled too many DIW Online viewers into thinking it was a very big deal.

Markus Rush shared a communication he’d received from Ares Death Cult. This time it was a short video from Lori, who called The Comedian’s decision to announce a triple threat at War Machine a transparent and desperate attempt to rob Bryant Hall of the DIW Title. He’d beaten both Seth Wish and Dexter Mattell one-on-one, so the only hope of dethroning him was to make him take them both on at once. However, The Comedian’s gamble was going to backfire and it would be even harder for him to prise the DIW Title out of Ares Death Cult’s grasp once two of his top contenders had squandered their final chance in the same night.

Hendrix Hughes v Dexter Mattell
I pitched this match as a chance to prove how far Hughes and Mattell had come since their lukewarm initial showdown in March. It was a test both passed, as well I guess as Lori in finding a way to book main event matches that played to their shared strengths, whereas she was still trying to force Mattell into wild brawls that didn’t really suit his style earlier in the year. Mattell put in almost twice as good a performance as he did then, but the finish stuck to the established formula of The Pros’ numbers overwhelming an isolated opponent. Hughes had Raw Sex up for the Triple H when Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills ran down. He used Mattell’s flailing legs to knock Mills off the apron then dropped him onto Boon but, before he could attempt a cover, he was thumped in the face by Kobra The Conqueror’s Australian Title. Kobra then handed Mattell his snakeskin belt to choke Hughes out with in the same way he’d been attacked last week, with referee Tatum Richards calling for the bell 30 seconds later with the Badass MFer unresponsive.

The Pros celebrated Dexter Mattell’s latest victory as I predicted they were on course to achieve their objective of leaving War Machine with all the gold. It looked like that was that but they spotted Hendrix Hughes lift himself up by the ropes, so returned to the ring to put boots to him. Wrecker was quickly down to support his long-time ally with some initial success, before also being overwhelmed by the numbers. Some crowd chants suggested fans were expecting Milton Hittlespitz and Rob Edwards to intervene, but I pointed out on commentary that they probably didn’t feel inclined to support Hughes after his unprovoked recent attack on Rick Horn. It was instead Hack The Hunter who emerged, still having Wrecker’s back even though they’d switched back from being teammates to opponents. After a pair of Big Boots to Donovan Boon and Rusty Mills, Mattell pulled Kobra The Conqueror out of the ring and advised The Benchmark to retreat too despite the slight numerical advantage, content their message had been sent.

Edited December 7, 2023 by 619

[willr0ck]

Just catching up here (sweet Jesus you post fast), and I'm enjoying everything so far. I know little to nothing about the CV Australia but DIW seems to have a roster of lovable psychopaths, and that is everything to me. Plus Bonnie Bogan made a few appearances and since she's from the Womens Rev mod she holds a special place in my heart. Though I believe you were using her in correctly, you should keep your match lengths to under 2 minutes and always put her in tag matches, and also make sure her partner never tags her into the match. That's how you get the full potential out of Bonnie Bogan.