| Acronym | MXW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Style | Multi-Faceted, Hybrid Wrestling |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
| Founder(s) | Joel Gertner |
| Website | MXWwrestling.net. |
MXW Pro Wrestling (MXW) is an independent professional wrestling promotion founded and operated by former ECW manager and color commentator Joel Gertner. The company is based in New York, New York, but has presented the majority of its live events in Connecticut.
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After the cancellation of ECW on TNN, a weekly prime-time cable TV program which ran from 1999 to 2000 on the network currently known as Spike, Joel Gertner became active on the independent circuit. After working with several promotions in the New York Tri-State and New England regions,[1] Gertner launched MXW Pro Wrestling in late 2004.[2] Their premiere event was held at Crystal's Night Club in Bristol, Connecticut on November 5, 2004 and featured an appearance by Matt Striker as Muscles Marinara and saw ECW Triple Crown winner Mikey Whipwreck defeat Maverick Wild and "Sudden Impact" Dylan Kage in the main event.[3]
They returned to the same venue for their second show on January 30, 2005, at which Boogalou defeated Jay Lethal in the main event.[4] Following this event, the company went on hiatus for approximately one year.
MXW returned in early 2006 and announced that their third show would be held on April 1, 2006 at Crystal's Night Club. This event included the first match between Jason Blade and Xavier and the MXW debuts of Plazma (Trent Barretta) and Josh Daniels.[5]
They returned to the same venue for their fourth event and presented "MXW MAYhem" on May 27, 2006. Featuring a quadruple main event, this event saw Mercedes Martinez pin Cindy Rogers in the first MXWomen's Match,[6] Xavier pin the debuting "Hurricane" John Walters, and the first MXW appearance of Antonio "The Promise" Thomas. The Gaijin Battle Series, an original MXW concept which spotlights American combatants who wrestle for different Japanese wrestling organizations in competition against one another, was launched at this show. In the final match of the evening, Josh Daniels, who represented Pro Wrestling Zero-One,[7] defeated "Die Hard" Eddie Edwards, who represented Pro Wrestling NOAH,[8] to earn one point for his Japanese home promotion.
On July 8, 2006, they presented their fifth event, titled "InterPromotional Incident", at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. The main event was the Gaijin Battle X match, in which Low Ki,[9] who represented Pro Wrestling NOAH,[10] defeated "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, who represented Pro Wrestling Zero-One,[11] which tied the Gaijin Battle Series at one point for each promotion. Prior to the start of the show, Daniels participated in the first "Heroes With Heroes" event where he had lunch with fans during an hour-long question and answer session.[12] Also featured on this show was the inception of the Lightning Match, a stipulation in which competitors must win within a ten minute time limit. In the first such contest, J.D. Michaels and Kristian Frost battled to a time limit draw when neither was able to achieve victory within the ten minute time frame.[13] This event also marked the beginning of working relationships with several other independent promotions, including Pro Wrestling WORLD-1 and CHIKARA.
Following this event, MXW began producing a weekly 30-minute TV program known as "MXW Momentum," which was cablecast in the Waterbury, Connecticut[14] and Wallingford, Connecticut areas.
In late July 2006, MXW announced a 32-athlete single elimination tournament, comprising the MXW top 20 and 12 at-large bids, to crown the first MXW Champion. The MXW top 20 was determined by win/loss records during the period from April 1, 2006 through July 8, 2006 and the results of fan voting (top 15 ballots) submitted to the company's website, known as the "MXW Fan 15". The at-large bids were the remaining candidates eligible for the top 20 that placed below the cutoff point, wrestlers that appeared prior to the April 1, 2006 event, and/or wrestlers that had not previously appeared in MXW.[15]
Their sixth live event, "Golden Quest", emanated once again from Wallingford's Knights of Columbus Hall on August 25, 2006 and focused on the primary stage (first round) of the tournament. Eight tournament matches were announced and Eddie Edwards, Archadia, Luis Ortiz, Bobby Fish, John Walters, Josh Daniels and Jason Blade (who defeated Billy Kidman) were victorious in their primary stage matches.[16] The eighth tournament match was to be Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal, however, as the curfew for the evening approached, the semi-main event was still ongoing between Frankie Kazarian, Sonjay Dutt and Azrieal. Lethal ran into the ring, followed soon after by Low Ki, turning the three-way match into an impromptu 5-way encounter. The match was stopped by MXW officials after approximately thirteen minutes and Low Ki and Dutt were declared co-winners by Gertner. Their position in the tournament was never resolved.
Prior to Golden Quest, MXW had announced the September Scramble Tour, which was to be a weekend of live events scheduled to take place in Springfield, Massachusetts and Albany, New York in late September.[17] However, due to Joel Gertner being hospitalized during this period, the shows were cancelled.
The company returned on November 10, 2006 when they presented "Capital Collision" in Albany, New York[18][19] at the historic Washington Avenue Armory.[20] This event was headlined by the debut of the Kings of Wrestling in two singles matches, collectively known as The Royal Relay, as well as the continuation of the MXW Championship Tournament. Claudio Castagnoli[21] wrestled Antonio Thomas in a first round tournament match and, in the main event, Chris Hero[22] wrestled Josh Daniels. Also debuting on this show were several stars from Montreal's International Wrestling Syndicate, namely Beef Wellington, Sexxxy Eddy, and Player Uno. Additional contests saw Bobby Fish[23] pin the debuting "Fabulous" John McChesney[24] and Romeo Roselli pin the debuting Slyk Wagner Brown.[25]
Two days later, on November 12, 2006, MXW presented "Brass City Battle", its first live event in Waterbury, Connecticut at the Albanian-American Cultural Center.[26] This event was headlined by a Gaijin Tag Battle, the continuation of the Gaijin Battle Series, in which the wrestler that scored the pinfall would earn two points for their Japanese home promotion. It was announced as Team Zero-One (Steve Corino[27] and Josh Daniels) vs. Team NOAH (Low Ki & Eddie Edwards), however, when Corino was unable to attend, the match was changed to Low Ki and Daniels vs. Team Sabotage (Eddie Edwards and D.C. Dillenger). Josh Daniels pinned Dillenger for the win, bringing the Gaijin Battle Series tally to Zero-One (3 points) and NOAH (1 point). Three first round tournament matches were held at this show. Ricky Landell, Mercedes Martinez (who defeated Nikki Roxx),[28] and Ron Zombie (who defeated Homicide[29] in an "all-out war" match) were victorious.[30]
In October 2006, MXW announced a show entitled "Level Next" would take place on November 18, 2006 in New Haven, Connecticut. The company would later cancel this event, citing non-committal status of the building.[31] After these events, the company went on hiatus until early 2010.
On February 22, 2010, MXW relaunched their website and announced their comeback event, entitled "Come What May". It will be headlined by a one night, sixteen man, random draw single-elimination tournament.[32] It is scheduled for May 16, 2010 at Toad's Place[33] in New Haven, Connecticut.