Impact Players
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The Impact Players were a professional wrestling tag team in Extreme Championship Wrestling that was comprised of Lance Storm and Justin Credible.
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[edit] History
The Impact Players formed when Lance Storm and Justin Credible started teaming in ECW in the summer of 1999. Storm brought along his valet, Dawn Marie, and Credible brought along his manager, Jason. Together, they formed one of the most dominant units in ECW history.
They first feuded with Jerry Lynn and Sabu in singles matches and by late 1999, they had begun a violent feud with Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman.
They won the ECW Tag-Team Championship at Guilty As Charged when they defeated Dreamer and his unwilling partner, Raven. They dominated the tag team scene for the next four months before splitting when Storm left for WCW and Credible won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
They reunited at ECW One Night Stand 2005 on June 12, 2005, when Justin helped Storm defeat Chris Jericho at the PPV.
Storm and Justin were scheduled as part of British promotion 1PW's Tag Title Tournament, to re-form the Impact Players, but Justin missed his flight in order to be a part of WWE's ECW brand.
[edit] Justin Credible Period
In 1997, Peter Polaco left the World Wrestling Federation in favor of ECW, where Paul Heyman promised to make him a star. Polaco, who was previously performing under the names Aldo Montoya (The Portuguese Man O'War), shaved his head and switched to a grunge style of dress. The newly branded Justin Credible ("Now that's not just the coolest, that's not just the best, that's JUST INCREDIBLE!"), adopted a cocky, sneering, egomaniacal attitude. Jason Knight became his manager, along with Chastity and Nicole Bass. For his theme music, Polaco used the Prong song Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck, later covered by Grinspoon.
He quickly ascended the ranks, eventually forming a tag team, the Impact Players, with his trainer, Lance Storm. The teaming was successful, as the Players won the ECW Tag Team Championships on January 9, 2000 and March 12, 2000. The team split when Storm left ECW to go to WCW, at which point Polaco formed the New Impact Players with Steve Corino.
Polaco ascended to the main event in 2000, winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on April 22, 2000 at Cyberslam. Polaco managed to defeat Tommy Dreamer for the title just 18 minutes after Dreamer won it by defeating Taz (it was the first and only ECW World Heavyweight Championship in Dreamer's career). Polaco held the title for over five months, and defeated Tommy Dreamer once again in a "Stairway To Hell match" at Heatwave. He finally lost the title to Jerry Lynn on October 1, 2000.
In 2001, with ECW facing imminent bankruptcy and Paul Heyman becoming unable to pay the roster, Polaco returned to the WWF.
In the summer of 2006, after rarely being used Justin Credible was released from the WWE.
[edit] Members
[edit] Titles
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