Extreme Rising

Extreme Rising
Private
Industry Professional Wrestling
Hardcore wrestling
Lucha Libre
Founded 2012
Defunct April 22, 2014
Headquarters Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Key people
 Shane Douglas
Steve O'Neill
Cody Michaels
Kevin Klienrock
Kevin R. Consolo
Products Tickets and DVDs
Parent 5 Guys Wrestling, Inc.
Website ExtremeRising.com
Twitter

Extreme Rising (formerly Extreme Reunion) was an American independent wrestling promotion founded in 2012 by wrestling personalities Shane Douglas & Cody Michael, brothers Steve & Mike O'Neill, & producer Kevin Kleinrock (the "5 guys" of 5 Guys Wrestling, Inc.).[1] The promotion closed on April 22, 2014, after O'Neil cancelled all the shows.

Meant to fill the void of hardcore wrestling left behind by the defunct-Extreme Championship Wrestling, Extreme Rising assembled a roster of ECW alumni, such as Raven, The Sandman, Stevie Richards, Jerry Lynn, The Mongolian Butcher among others. The first show was held on April 28, 2012, at the National Guard Armory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which served as a stand-in for the ECW Arena (which was undergoing renovations at the time).

History

On January 14, 2012, Douglas announced there would be an 'Extreme Reunion' at Philadelphia's National Guard Armory on April 28. In a video that aired during CZW's Excellent Adventure, held at the ECW Arena, Douglas addressed the fans and announced a "second revolution" was about to begin, to keep extreme wrestling alive in Philadelphia.[2] Douglas cited his dissatisfaction with the state of the Professional Wrestling industry as his inspiration to create the new organization.[3] To drum up interest for the inaugural show on April 28, Douglas undertook a guerrilla marketing campaign, which included attending the March 19, 2012 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw, with business Partner Steve O'Neill and Producer Kevin Consolo. Douglas bought a ticket and gained entry while concealed in a lucha libre mask. Douglas unmasked while in the audience and began an "ECW" chant, but was escorted out of the arena.[4][5] Producer Kevin Consolo Had Douglas cut a Promo Video To Hype the upcoming Show Extreme ReUnion on Saturday April 28, 2012. The Extreme Reunion event was panned by both fans and critics. The fans in attendance voiced their annoyance at the event by shouting negative chants at Shane Douglas who had booked himself in the main event. Former ECW Champions Sabu and Justin Credible were removed from the card on the night of Extreme Reunion for medical reasons.[6][7][8][9]

Douglas released a video days later, apologizing for the quality of the show, and promised changes going forward.[10] Among the changes were altering the company name from Extreme Reunion to Extreme Rising, and bringing in younger talents, such as Matt Hardy, Homicide, Jay Bradley and Luke Hawx, to bolster the roster.[11]

On December 29, 2012, at the "Card Subject to Change" iPPV, Stevie Richards become Extreme Rising's first World Champion by winning a tournament final over Rhino. Earlier in the evening, Richards defeated Luke Hawx, while Rhino defeated Devon Storm.[12] Richards would make his first title defense of the Extreme Rising Championship at DWA's "Wrestling Legends Tour 2013" in Germany, defeating DWA Cruiserweight Champion Tarkan Aslan to officially make it a World title.[13]

Extreme Rising had planned to offer three shows in the WrestleMania 29 weekend, but the shows were cancelled due to poor sales.[14]

After a hiatus, Extreme Rising reorganized and announced that they would resume running live shows on December 28, 2013. Steve O'Neill obtained the control of the promotion and secured a local TV series that was to air in Philadelphia and the surrounding markets. Also, Extreme Rising was the first promotion to run the former ECW Arena when the venue re-opened.[15][16] On April 22, 2014 Extreme Rising cancelled all upcoming events and closed all social media accounts used by the promotion, leaving the future of the promotion in question.[17] After making no statement publicly (with the exception of publicly recognizing Stevie Richards as their World Champion in July 2014), many of the former talents made it clear that they had not been reached for any bookings for the company, and Extreme Rising was assumed finished after cancelling the March and April 2014 shows.

Alumni

Television

In early 2013 Extreme Rising was in the process of raising funds to produce thirteen episodes of television for a local network in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware area.[18] On October 14, 2013 Extreme Rising announced that they had secured a television deal in local Philadelphia markets.[15] Extreme Rising cancelled all upcoming shows in April 2014, leaving the television deal and the entire company in question.

Championship

Extreme Rising World Championship

In 2012, the fledgling Extreme Rising promotion announced an 8-man tournament to crown their first world champion,[19][20] set to include former World Champions such as Sabu, Homicide and Rhino as well as other promotion mainstays like Stevie Richards, Luke Hawx, Devon Storm, Perry Saturn and 'The Greek God' Papadon. The two night tournament took place at the "Remember November" iPPV on November 17, 2012 and the "Card Subject To Change" iPPV on December 29, 2012 and concluded when Stevie Richards won the vacant title by defeating Rhino in the finals.

The tournament brackets were:[21]

Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
Stevie Richards Sub
Papadon
Stevie Richards Sub
Luke Hawx
Luke Hawx Sub
Perry Saturn
Stevie Richards Sub
Rhino
Sabu
Devon Storm Pin
Devon Storm
Rhino Pin
Rhino Pin
Homicide

In 2013, Stevie Richards announced via Twitter that he wanted to defend the title against Danny Doring in a videogame. Doring, who was one-half the last ECW World Tag Team Champions, and still possessed the physical belt, also put his title on the line in a "defunct promotion vs defunct promotion match". After his declarations, the promotion asked Richards to return the title, for referring to Extreme Rising as a "defunct promotion".[22] This issue was eventually dropped and Richards resumed defending the championship at indie shows and was booked by Extreme Rising for further title defenses.

In 2014, Richards was defeated by Luke Hawx at an ECWA show in Delaware following outside interference from Papadon, the match was announced on the night as being for the title.[23] However, Extreme Rising sent a communicate to inform the match wasn't for the title and Richards stills the champion. However, Hawx would continue to proclaim himself champion while 'defending' the belt. On July 20, 2014, despite already having "thrown down" the Extreme Rising championship belt on previous occasions,[24][25] Hawx defended the title against Matt Hardy at Maryland Championship Wrestling, while company owner Steve O'Neill issued a press release to say that it wasn't recognised as a title match.[26] According to MCW Dan McDevitt, the match would be for the MCW Heavyweight Championship, but if Hardy or Hawx will bring other titles, it is their own business.[27] Hardy successfully retained the MCW Championship and obtained the Extreme Rising championship belt - but is not officially recognised as champion.[28]

Title history

# Wrestlers Reigns Date Won Location Days Held Notes
1. Stevie Richards 1 December 29, 2012 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 427 Defeated Rhino in the tournament finale.[29] Richards has officially never lost the title, but after ER cancelled all the shows, he never defended it.[30]
2. Luke Hawx 1 March 1, 2014 Newark, Delaware 140 Defeated Richards at an ECWA event. Title change is not sanctioned by Extreme Rising and Stevie Richards defends the title numerous times following this (officially non-title) loss.[31][32]
3. Matt Hardy 1 July 19, 2014 Joppa, Maryland <1 Defeated Hawx in a TLC match at MCW Shane Shamrock Cup. Officially, neither Extreme Rising nor MCW recognized the match as a title match for the Extreme Rising title but Hardy and Hawx claimed it as a title change.[33] After the match, Hardy returned the title to Hawx and was retired.

References

  1. ↑ "Extreme Rising Pro Wrestling Weekly TV Show". Indiegogo. Indiegogo. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.pro-wrestling.com/displaynews.php?area=1&sid=27393
  3. ↑ Martin, Adam (2012-01-27). "Douglas on Extreme Reunion, Carter's TNA investment". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  4. ↑ http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/229958/[VIDEO]-Shane-Douglas-//Invades//-Tonight//s-RAW,-Gets-Kicked-Out.htm
  5. ↑ Tedesco, Mike (2012-03-20). "Video: Shane Douglas crashes Monday Night Raw". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  6. ↑ http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/miscliveevents/article10024865.shtml
  7. ↑ "4/28 Extreme Reunion report Philadelphia, Pa.: correspondent describes show as "trainwreck," organizers draw anger for handling of Sabu absence, Lynn stands out in-ring". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2012-04-29. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
  8. ↑ "Sabu Hospitalized, Extreme Reunion Notes". Figure Four Online. 2012-04-29. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
  9. ↑ http://www.twnpnews.com/2012/04/update-on-sabu-justin-credible-kicked-off-the-extreme-reunion-event-last-night/
  10. ↑ http://www.pwinsider.com/article/68101/video-shane-douglas-statement-of-this-past-weekends-extreme-reunion-event.html?p=1
  11. ↑ http://www.pwinsider.com/article/68699/matt-hardy-lucha-stars-ecw-alumni-announced-for-next-extreme-rising-events-in-nyc-and-philadelphia.html?p=1
  12. ↑ http://extremereunion.net/stevie-richards-video-released-extreme-rising-world-champion/
  13. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=3628&page=11
  14. ↑ Meltzer, Dave. "WED. UPDATE: Extreme Rising cancellation, New Mania match, MITB tickets on sale tomorow, Raw shows sold out, Rock media, Ryback media, How many buys will Mania do?, Dusty impersonator crank calls people named Ric Flair". Figure Four Online.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Extreme Rising Reorganizes, Will Return With First Show This December... At ECW Arena". PWInsider. 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  16. ↑ Rude, Thomas (2013-12-29). "Show results - 12/28 Extreme Rising at the ECW Arena: Hardy in cage main event, Richards defends title, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
  17. ↑ Johnson, Mike (2014-04-22). "Extreme Rising Cancels all Events". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  18. ↑ http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/308222
  19. ↑ "Extreme Rising To Crown First Champion, Steel Cage Match, Double Main Event | Wrestlezone". wrestlezone.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  20. ↑ "WORLD TITLE MATCH TO CROWN FIRST EVER CHAMPION | EXTREME RISING PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING". extremerising.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  21. ↑ "Extreme Rising World Title Tournament « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". cagematch.net. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  22. ↑ "Extreme Rising Demands Return of Title Belt from Stevie Richards Over Video Game". PWInsider. 2013-03-30. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  23. ↑ "EXTREME RISING WORLD TITLE TURMOIL". extremerising.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  24. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiHcE7rnTFI
  25. ↑ http://dailywrestlingnews.com/luke-hawx-throws-extreme-rising-belt-pro-wrestling-syndicate/
  26. ↑ http://www.pwinsider.com/article/87020/odd-situation-involving-extreme-rising-championship.html?p=1
  27. ↑ http://www.pwinsider.com/article/87022/dan-mcdevitt-statement-on-extreme-rising-title.html?p=1
  28. ↑ http://pwinsider.com/article/87020/odd-situation-involving-extreme-rising-championship.html?p=1
  29. ↑ "Title Reigns « Extreme Rising World Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". cagematch.net. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  30. ↑ http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/494091-extreme-rising-title-pulled-from-event
  31. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=1883&page=5&reign=1
  32. ↑ http://extremerising.com/extreme-rising-world-title-stevie-richards-champion
  33. ↑ http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=87029&p=3

External links