| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Professional Wrestling Ultraviolent Wrestling |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Key people | John Zandig (1999-2009) DJ Hyde (2009 - Present) |
| Products | Official distributor Smart Mark Video |
| Website | CZWrestling.com |
Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is a independent wrestling promotion. In 1999, John Zandig and four of his students, Ric Blade, Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain began to run backyard wrestling shows in New Jersey and Delaware, showcasing a brand of hardcore wrestling dubbed as "ultraviolence". Ladders, tables, thumbtacks, barbed wire, light tubes and fire are common elements of "ultraviolent" wrestling matches in CZW. The company filled a niche for hardcore wrestling fans that had been left open by the folding of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). CZW found fame in the ECW Arena with their Cage of Death 3 show in 2001, the year ECW folded.
Their homegrown roster helped establish what became a top independent promotion in later years. Although they are most commonly known for their 'ultraviolent' style, rarely do their shows feature more than one or two ultraviolent matches. Their annual Tournament of Death show emphasizes the ultraviolent style of CZW and usually takes place in Delaware.
All of their shows are taped and distributed by Pancoast Productions, Inc., who releases the shows on DVD and Pay-Per-Stream via their website. CZW was broadcast on TWC Fight! to viewers in Great Britain and Ireland as part of the "Bloodbath" program until TWC Fight! closed in 2008. CZW continues to run on a monthly basis in The Arena. Aside from their monthly shows, they also run shows outside of Philadelphia, where the promotion is based.
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The Combat Zone Wrestling's Pro Wrestling Academy was founded in New Jersey by John Zandig in 1998. After training the classes alone, Zandig enlisted the help of Jon Dahmer, who helped train with Zandig for the next three classes. The first student trained was Lobo, who worked with Zandig before their wrestling careers. Nick Gage and Justice Pain were the next two students to be trained by Zandig, and it was only in the forthcoming years that they were unveiled as brothers, Justice Pain being the older of the two. The fourth student and fifth student trained was TCK and Ric Blade, who already had a background in martial arts. The academy then relocated to The Arena in Philadelphia, PA. and briefly merged with the Chikara Wrestle Factory. Shortly after the second class, the Academy separated from the Chikara Wrestle factory and moved it's operation back to New Jersey. Not long after moving back to Jersey, head trainers D.J. Hyde and Jon Dahmer moved the school back to Philadelphia. Currently, Sabian joins D.J. Hyde as head trainers of the academy, with members of the CZW locker room joining them every session. The school is still active as of today with free tryouts.
Early 2000 saw CZW establish a connection with the death match wrestling orientated company Big Japan Pro Wrestling, a successor to the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling organization, credited to have popularized the death match wrestling style that CZW continued to emphasize in the United States, though, dubbed as "Ultraviolence." Both promotions traded talent throughout 2000 and 2001, the company vs company feud was primarily based in Japan. The "CZW warriors" in BJW included Wifebeater, Nick Gage, Trent Acid, Justice Pain, Johnny Kashmere, Nate Hatred, Ruckus, Nick Berk, as well as John Zandig as the leader.[1]
Notable incidents included Zandig turning face in Japan and Jun Kasai joining Zandig as part of his Big Dealz stable in CZW. Kasai competed in a match which was later dubbed "Un F'N Believable," in reference to the shows name. During the match, Kasai was crucifix bombed over the top rope into lightubes, barbed wire and tables, causing Kasai's elbow bone to pop out of his skin, he continued the match after having his elbow taped up.[2]
During 2001 in Japan, the Wifebeater and Ryuji Yamakawa faced off in a match which ended Yamakawa's career after the Wifebeater chokensteined him off the ring apron through a table set up on the outside. In a 'shoot interview' Wifebeater stated communication difficulties between the two was a major factor which led to the incident. Wifebeater pleaded that they should not execute the maneuver, though the move went on and saw Yamakawa's head slam against the concrete. Both wrestlers have stated that it was half of each others fault when Yamakawa did not take the move as it should be performed; back first, though some even blame the Japanese tables, which are smaller, more sturdy and harder to break, the table in this incident did not break and simply slipped from underneath of Yamakawa thus only connecting with his legs, causing his head to take the impact on the concrete.[3]
The reason for the collapse of the inter-promotional deal is uncertain. After a controversial exploding panes of glass match, between Zandig and Mitsuhiro Matsunaga in Japan, 2001, Zandig left BJW with the BJW death match title belt. Many wrestlers of both promotions at the time were confused about the collapse between the two.[3]
Early 2000 saw the company branch out from New Jersey to Delaware, though mainly in the Champs Soccer Arena, in Sewell.
A Pay-Per-View taping for the June 25, 2000 show, was put in place. The event was scheduled to be main evented by Terry Funk and Atsushi Onita in an explosion match. The deal fell through when Onita canceled. Although the show took place and was main evented by Nick Gage and the Wifebeater in the first ever 200 lightubes match in the United States, the show was later called 'They Said it Couldn't be Done'.[4]
On June 8, 2001, the company secured a TV taping for the show 'Take 1.' During the main event as part of a dual 20 ft balcony dive, Ric Blade suffered a broken leg after landing on Justice Pain, who laid upon two stacked tables, Nick Gage was to attempt the second dive with Lobo a few meters away, unfortunately Nick Gage slipped and fell from atop the balcony to the ground; fortunately Gage was able to continue, unlike Blade who had to be stretchered out. The spot was cut from TV. The TV tapings aired on WGTW-48, as apart of CZW's very own show Fake You TV, which was available in many northeastern states in the US. After many business changes by the WGTW-48 production team over the years, including a time slot change from Saturdays at 9.00PM to a weeknight at midnight slot, to compete with other promotions, this idea was a failure and Fake You TV continued to strive. CZW continued to endure every business decision that WGTW-48 formulated and executed until the channel decided not to air the June 18, 2004 episode due to its content, through negative affects on the fans and after much consideration, CZW decided to withdraw the show indefinitely.[5]
Due to their upcoming annual Cage Of Death 3 (COD) show at the end of 2001, the company needed a bigger venue and made their debut in the ECW Arena, formerly Viking Hall and currently The Arena. The venue was the first sellout in the building since the era of ECW, and hundreds were turned away from the biggest show in the promotions history.[6]
Several promotions competed for the Northeast fan base that had been left behind by ECW in what became known as the 'Indy Wars." CZW, XPW, and 3PW were the key promotions which revolved around Viking Hall. XPW were given the lease to the arena in very late 2002 after Rob Black offered around $60,000. On December 12, 2002, as part of a triple header of wrestling in Philadelphia Ring of Honor ran shows in conjunction with CZW and 3PW in what was to be the latter two promotions last events in the arena. During CZW's event, Zandig publicly stated that they had offered $32,000 to stay in the arena, but also stating that with the $10,000 a month XPW would need to pay for the building, the lease would not last long.
Accompanied by incidents relating to Extreme Associates, XPW later folded in 2003. CZW made their return to the arena on March 8, 2003.
Shortly after their return to the arena, on May 10, 2003, the company promoted a show entitled "Then & Now: A Decade of Defiance." The event was a tribute to the last ten years of wrestling in the New Alhambra Arena, or at the time; Viking Hall.
On October 25, 2003, the promotion made their debut in Italy,[7] later on March 27, 2004, the company returned for another event which featured Sabu in a tables match.[8]
On June 14, 2003, mid-south based promotion Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA-MS) invaded CZW as part of a kayfabe angle which led to an inter-promotional feud throughout most of 2003. During the night of the initial invasion, the crowd was so riled up that they began hurling chairs into the ring at Ian Rotten, Corporal Robinson, and J.C. Bailey of IWA-MS. The Delaware wrestling commissioner, who was in the ring at the time, was struck in the side of the head. The feud was based in both promotions and a major part led into CZW's Tournament of Death 2, five IWA-MS wrestlers and three CZW wrestlers entered into the 8-man single elimination tournament. The semi-final saw two CZW wrestlers John Zandig and Nick Mondo compete in a 2 out of 3 lightube log cabin match, a match which is said to have ended Nick Mondo's career (However, In Mondo's shoot interview he stated that T.O.D 2 was going to be his last appearance anyways). Towards the end of the match Zandig Mother F'N Bombed Nick Mondo off a 40 ft rooftop as both Zandig and Mondo crashed into tables and a lightube log cabin contraption. He continued the Tournament with 3 broken bones in his wrist and won the tournament after defeating Ian Rotten in a 200 lightubes final.
During John Zandig's feud with heel stable the Hi-5, Zandig was suspended in the middle of the ring by meat hooks from the roof of the arena. The incident led into the setup of the main event at Cage of Death 2003, where a cage was suspended from the roof, the event was called 'Cage of Death 5: Suspended'. The company remained successful that year and had a sold out crowd for their annual Cage of Death show.
During 2005, CZW established a connection with local promotion Chikara, which established into a joint training school known as 'The Wrestle Factory' in the New Alhambra Arena, with head trainers Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush. During 2007, CZW departed from the training school to form their own, much like their older school.
The company remained strong in the forthcoming years with new booker, Mike Burns, who was responsible for one of the best runs in the promotion's history, especially in 2005. Pancoast Productions, a company which for many years was responsible for a lot of the company's media logo and Titan Tron work, among other things, briefly departed from the company in late 2005 after an altercation between Pancoast Productions owner Mike Pancoast and John Zandig.
At their Cage of Death 7 show at the end of 2005, former CZW Ironman Champion Chris Hero cut a promo challenging American Dragon Bryan Danielson to a match at the next show, backstage, Zandig was furious. Zandig did not know about the deal that CZW booker, Mike Burns arranged with Ring of Honor (ROH) Booker, Gabe Sapolsky. The news of CZW working with ROH made Zandig go into a frenzy. Zandig was approached backstage by Mike Pancoast, Zandig told him not to raise his voice at him, after a very vocal argument Zandig pushed him down a flight of stairs, one worker quoted Zandig saying, "Make sure to grab the rail on your way down."[9]
Zandig was mad at Mike Burns for setting up a deal with ROH, without telling him first, this led to the departure of Burns, it is not known if Burns quit CZW or was relieved of his duties by Zandig. Smart Mark Video still continues to tape their shows, along with Pancoast Productions who are all still actively working together.
Wrestler D.J. purchased CZW from Zandig in 2009,And The First Show Booked By DJ Hyde Was Tangled Web 2. Since then, CZW has held its first shows in Germany[10], Massachusetts [11], and Indiana[12], and has brought back previous stars like Homicide[13], The Briscoe Brothers[14], and BJ Whitmer[15].
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Professional Wrestling |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Key people | Maven Bentley (2009 - Present) |
| Products | Official distributor |
| Website | Maven Bentley Association, LCC. |
The Maven Bentley Association (MBA) is Combat Zone Wrestling's sister company run by Maven Bentley. The MBA LLC is the sole owner of the Maven Bentley character. It provides promoter services to independent wrestling companies as well as the character Maven Bentley for acting and other entertainment endeavors. As well half of the roster are mainly from CZW.[16] The MBA LLC has provided services for some of the top names in the wrestling business such as Ring of Honor (ROH), World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW), World Sumo League (WSL), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).[17]
In 2007 saw CZW had short lived feud with the MBA, who's been running amok in CZW for the past few months with the power mad Bentley abusing his authority. Maven Bentley "hired" a few of CZW's own wrestlers to help him take over the company. Those wrestlers included Diehard Dustin Lee, Scotty Vortekz, Brain Damage, & DJ Hyde. Bentley himself as he was scheduled to face Lobo in a lumberjack strap match, which he yet lost at Cage of Death 9. The MBA had returned to the CZW Arena for its "Economic Crisis" event on January 31, 2009.[18]
| Championship: | Champion(s): | Defeated: | Date Won: | Location: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MBA Heavyweight Championship | Andy Sumner | DJ Hyde | June 6, 2008 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| MBA Tag Team Championship | BLKOUT (Eddie Kingston & Sabian) | Cory Kastle and Jon Dahmer | June 21, 2006 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Championship: | Champion(s): | Defeated: | Date Won: | Location: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MBA A-Maven-Can Idol Heavyweight Championship | Daunte Sweet | Derek Frazier | April 16, 2005 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
The Wrestler is a 2008 movie based around a fictional, once-prominent pro-wrestler (played by Mickey Rourke) in the heights of the 1980s, now left to drive from town to town for cheap pickup bouts and the rigorous dangers of leagues like CZW.
On December 8, 2007, Scott Franklin, Darren Aronofsky and Mickey Rourke visited CZW's Cage of Death IX in December and committed to the venue. On February 9, 2008, as a part of CZW's regular February event, filming took place in the New Alhambra Arena for the upcoming movie which included many CZW alumni, along with the Necro Butcher, who wrestles Rourke's character "Randy 'The Ram' Robinson" in an ultraviolent hardcore match.
Zandig's hope was that The Wrestler, along with CZW's first worldwide distribution deal for its DVDs (through LocoMotion Films) will take the ultra-violent sport to the next level.[19]
CZW was featured on G4's TV Show G4 Underground . It shows Danny Havoc getting ready for his match at Total Havoc against Thumbtack Jack in which he did win.[20]
CZW's appearance on the Discovery Channel's Time Warp program debuted April 22, 2009 as part of a special 60-minute episode. The program included footage of Combat Zone's top stars Zandig, and Nick Gage at the Discovery Channel studios in Boston.[21]
| Event | Year (s) Active | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CZW Cage of Death | 1999 | Cage Match Gimmick |
| CZW Best of the Best | 2001 | Junior Heavyweight Tournament |
| CZW Tournament of Death | 2002 | Ultraviolent Tournament |
| Night of Infamy | 2002 | Event |
| Down With a Sickness | 2005 | Chri$ Ca$h Memorial Show |
| A Tangled Web | 2008 | Barbed wire "Spiderweb" deathmatch main event |
Combat Zone Wrestling's biggest show is the year-end Cage of Death. It always features the "Cage of Death" match, a steel cage with various weapons and objects. Electrified cage walls, cacti, tables, light tubes, glass, thumbtacks, baseball bats, and barbed-wire have been used in it. Matches always include high risk wrestling bumps. The Cage of Death also has different formats and stipulations: singles, tag team, or gauntlet.
Combat Zone Wrestling 's yearly death-match tournament features the use of fire, weed whackers, light tubes, and other weapons. Previous winners include Wifebeater (TOD 1 and 3), Nick Mondo (TOD 2), Necro Butcher (TOD 4), Nick Gage (TOD 5), Drake Younger (TOD 6), Danny Havoc (TOD 7), and John Zandig who gave the trophy over to Thumbtack Jack who lost the Tournament of Death trophy at Best of the Best to DJ Hyde (TOD 8). Due to the incidents at TOD 8 another Event named TOD 8.5 Rewind took place in the same year which was won by Thumbtack Jack. Scotty Vortekz won TOD 9. Masada won TOD X.
Combat Zone Wrestling's yearly tournament that differs from other CZW events in how it emphasizes athleticism more than the use of weapons. The Best of the Best tournament is, by design, a Junior Heavyweight Tournament. In 2005, however, the tournament was formatted as an open weight tournament. The next year, it returned to its original format. Previous winners include Winger, Trent Acid, B-Boy, Sonjay Dutt, Mike Quackenbush, Ruckus, Joker, Sabian, Egotistico Fantastico, and Adam Cole in that order.
As of 2005 Combat Zone Wrestling annually run a memorial tribute event to Christopher "Chri$ Ca$h" Bauman title "Down with a Sickness" after Chri$ Ca$h's theme song from the band Disturbed. The show originally started as a double header afternoon show, with another CZW event taking place later in the evening. Many former CZW trainees have made appearances on past events, including longtime friend GQ, who has wrestled on all of the events.
The most previous event was held on August 13, 2011. This year there were 2 rings, 1 ring which was covered in a barbed wire spider web needing to be seen to be believed. There was also a scaffold which was used numerous times. Drake Younger and Scotty Vortekz ended their year-long feud in what could easily be considered the most violent match in 2011. Every year since 2008, CZW has held this event in which a barbed-wire "spiderweb" is used.
Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Employees in CZW consist of professional wrestlers (the ring name of the employees are written to the left, while the employee's real name is written to the right; employees without an alias, will only have their real name appearing), managers, play-by-play and color commentators, announcers, interviewers, referees, trainers, script writers and various other positions. Executives and board of directors are also listed. This list is organized alphabetically by the wrestlers' real last names. This is a list of professional wrestlers who are Combat Zone Wrestling employees, and a list of former employees of the professional wrestling promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). In the early days of the company, talent often only appeared a couple of times before disappearing, or wrestlers accepted bookings with other companies, resulting in extended absences from CZW.
| Championship: | Champion(s): | Defeated: | Date Won: | Location: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CZW World Heavyweight Championship | Devon Moore | Robert Anthony | April 9, 2011 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship | Sami Callihan | Adam Cole | November 12, 2011 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| CZW World Tag Team Championship | Azrieal & Bandido Jr. | Philly's Most Wanted (Joker and Sabian) | November 12, 2011 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| CZW Wired TV Championship | Jake Crist | A.R. Fox | July 9, 2011 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| CZW Ultraviolent Underground Championship | Masada | Danny Havoc | July 9, 2011 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Championship: | Final Champion(s) | Date Won: | Location: |
|---|---|---|---|
| CZW Death Match Championship | Nick Gage | August 9, 2003 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| CZW Interpromotional Hardcore Championship | Lobo | June 5, 2000 | Sewell, New Jersey |
| CZW Iron Man Championship | Egotistico Fantastico | July 11, 2009 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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