History Of KXW!

Introduction

KXW Wrestling was formed out of the ashes of another wrestling promotion called AWC. KXW was founded by what is described as "The KXW Originals" Christian Payne, Josh Snyper, Jordan Fox, Jordyn Scar, JJ Biggz, Ashton Rose and Tom Terror. They founded the company shortly after the closing of AWC which was ran by Eliminator current KXW wrestler and father of Christian Payne. They wanted an opportunity for  wrestlers most company's would push aside and wrestlers who were always told they were too small. KXW officially launched on September 1st 2017 and has been going ever since.

Chapter 1: AWC

AWC (All-Star Wrestling Coalition) was founded in 1995 by Robert Simpson known to KXW fans as Eliminator. Robert is a second generation wrestler. Son to Roy "The Nightmare" Simpson. Eliminator was a major player in the Canadian independent circuit but hadn't broke out officially in the united states. Roy had always had a working relationship with a plethora of major wrestling organizations being a journeyman wrestler. Eliminator asked his father what steps needed to be taken to open his own company. Roy informed that it would take money and talent. Eliminator had been working regularly in Harley Davison's OCW (Ontario Championship Wrestling) and as an extra for CPCW (Canadian Provincial Championship Wrestling) so with some talent from each company. Robert would go on to run his first show under the AWC banner. The first show would take place in 2000 entitled September Smackdown was a local success bringing in around 500 people. It was then when Eliminator would take work as an extra for Jeff Jarrett's Total Nonstop Action in  2003 where he would meet his future business partner. Stanley Moore (The Voodoo Man). Moore had also wanted to break out and do his own thing being a 10 year veteran and Eliminator a 15 year veteran it was fitting they work together on this new company. It started with bringing in some outside talent to draw money. In 2005 talents from TNA and WWE were brought in for AWC's second big show entitled The Meltdown. The card featured some top level names such as Chris Benoit, AJ Styles, Abyss and Mick Foley. This event would prove to be a bigger success than the first. AWC then went on tour The Cross-Canada Binge in 2006 starting in Kingston and ending in Halifax. AWC quickly gained the reputation of being the premier independent wrestling company in Canada. In 2007 AWC would gain notoriety for gaining a television deal this made AWC the third wrestling company to have a weekly syndicated show alongside WWE and TNA. The weekly show was called Ground Zero and aired on Thursday nights and it quickly saw the rise of such stars as The Voodoo Man, The Brooklyn Brawlers and Walid Kashrow. The show was such a success that when certain wrestlers would appear in dark matches on Raw or Smackdown they would get a sizeable reaction from fans. In 2008 AWC shifted to a more adult friendly show and would air on Adult Swim this era of AWC is highly regarded as the most competitive time in company history. Stars like The Dog Pound and Howard Griffin would make their company debuts and Eliminator and his father would open The AWC Academy Of Violence in September of 2008. In early December things changed up drastically when Roy Simpson would suffer a heart attack the unfortunate event would put his in ring career on hiatus for quite some time. Eliminator would focus less on the names that brought him to the dance and more on names that would eventually be graduating from the first class of The Academy Of Violence. The first class of the AWC Academy Of Violence graduated in January of 2009 and that class was Josh Snyder, Christian Payne, Jordan Fox, ZedZilla and Ashton Rose. At this time Eliminator started to appear less in the ring and focus more on the business side of things, Will Payne and Andrew Blower were already on the active roster and his nephew Cole Blower had just signed a deal. Eliminator was leaving a dynasty to follow in his footsteps. The graduating class of 2008 would make their in ring debuts on the January 16th episode of AWC Ground Zero, Christian Payne would take on Jordan Fox sparking a rivalry that still rears it's head to this day and Josh Snyder, Ashton Rose and ZedZilla would compete in a triple threat match for a number one contender's shot at Mad Dog's AWC Provincial Championship. In February of 2009 more future supstars would begin training at The Academy including Tom Terror, JJ Biggz, Jordyn Scar and Alex Snow. All of these men would become vital to the future of not only Canadian independent wrestling but they would usher in the future of what now is KXW.

Chapter 2: Before The Fall

It was April of 2009 and AWC Ground Zero was on fire. Mad Dog and Josh Snyder would trade the AWC Provincial Championship back and fourth for a few months before Snyder would become the number one contender for Voodoo Man and his AWC World Heavyweight Championship. Christian Payne would find himself in family turmoil in both the professional and personal world as in the ring he and his brother Will would begin feuding. Christian Payne was also distraught over his father becoming less active in their personal lives. Roy Simpson was on the rebound after his near fatal heart attack and was cleared for action. Things were really heating up. Ashton Rose and JJ Biggz would form a tag team and become the AWC Tag Team Champions defeating Halas Chosen. ZedZilla and Jordan Fox would battle over the AWC Cruiserweight Championship. In June Tom Terror would defeat Howard Griffin in his retirement match cementing himself as the future star of AWC. Christian Payne would be arrested for drug possession in late June of 2009 bringing a negative buzz on the AWC product as a whole. Eliminator was frustrated so Christian Payne was suspended. On July 10th 2009 Josh Snyper would defeat Voodoo Man becoming the AWC World Heavyweight Champion in a reign that would last for 550 days before he would lose the title to Olympian Doug Jones. In December of 2009 Eliminator would receive a phone call that would change the lives of the AWC roster and Staff. The Call came from Lester Goldman of Goldman Industries a man who had just started to dip his toes into the wrestling industry. It was Goldman that wanted to purchase AWC to directly compete with WWE. Eliminator found the idea popostrus as anyone who went to battle with Vince McMahon rarely came out the other side. The money was tough to refuse and AWC would end up selling for 169.M in February of 2010. With the purchase came several highly noteable firings including The Voodoo Man, The Brooklynn Brawlers, Walid Kashrow and most surprisingly Roy Simpson. In their places were younger and more athletic wrestlers. Stryker, The Springboard Supermen, Clinton Ignarski and TJ Killer. Perplexed by these massive changes Eliminator confronted Goldman only to be met with his own marching orders. AWC had lost it's two principal founders in late February and Ground Zero had been losing viewership since the removal of Voodoo Man. It was the feud between Stryker and Tom Terror that would give a glimmer of hope to the ailing viewership as the feud would be highly praised in CWI by a young writer named Mave Deltzer who was very vocal about his love for the promotion. Eliminator focused more on the Academy Of Violence at this time training the next crop of talent for what was his former promotion. Omega Harris, Isaac Anderson, and his own daughter Fang Payne would be among the newest class of talent going into the later years. AWC talents would be working more in dark matches for some of the bigger federations out there. Christian Payne would be given the opportunity to work on newly launched WWE program NXT. It was in it's infancy and it was more a game show than a wrestling show. Payne was becoming more of a victim of his demons being arrested once more this time for a DUI. Payne while not under official WWE contract, He was never seen on a WWE program again. Josh Snyder on the other hand decided to dip his feet into mixed martial arts training under the legendary Gracie Family at the Gracie Dojo. During his tenure in MMA Snyder would compete for the UFC Middleweight Championship in a fight against then champion Anderson Silva. He would lose the fight but  a passion for MMA blossomed and Snyder began to compete more infrequently in AWC. Ashton Rose and JJ Biggz would lose the AWC Tag Team Championships to Stryker and Chad Goldman the son of Lester Goldman who was competing in only his second match. This booking decision angered Rose who abruptly asked for his release. The tensions in the locker room and the negative press with Goldman Industries and the personal life of Christian Payne in the news it was clear that AWC was in trouble. AWC ran a PPV in July of 2010 that would prove to be disastrous as Christian Payne was booked to compete in a match against Walid Kashrow. The match was a ladder match for the KXW Cruiserweight Championship, Halfway through the match Kashrow took the protective padding off of one of the top turnbuckles. Later on Christian Payne was ascending the ladder trying to capture the title when Kashrow would tip the ladder over sending Payne neck first onto that turnbuckle in the corner of the ring. Payne laid almost lifeless in the ring, His neck was broken. In the aftermath of the accident it was questioned if AWC was a truly safe place to work or if Christian Payne should have even been in the match given his history of substance abuse. Lester Goldman held a press conference on September 26th2010 announcing that AWC would no longer be running a weekly television show and that all previous episodes of Ground Zero would be held in a vault for future possible DVD releases. It was the end of an era.

Chapter 3. Rise From The Ashes

Many lives of the current AWC roster were changed that night. People questioned if people like Stryker, Fang Payne, Clinton Ignarski or the mainstays like Tom Terror and Jordyn Scar would work again. AWC started as a local Canadian independent promotion and quickly grew into one of the most successful brands in all of Independent wrestling. With the news of the closure of AWC. Eliminator questioned if he should keep the Academy open seeing as there was no guarantee that a graduate of the school would receive work. Times were bleak for quite a few years. Josh Snyder would receive a contract with Bellator becoming a 2 time Bellator Welterweight Champion in the process. Ashton Rose would sign a contract with Ring Of Honor and would achieve some success as a singles wrestler. Roy Simpson would open a food truck called Simpson's Snacks. JJ Biggz would branch out into acting picking up roles on NCIS and Accused. Jordyn Scar would travel to Mexico under the ring name Jordyn Cholo. Jordan Fox would compete for New Japan Pro Wrestling in the best of the super juniors tournament. Christian Payne would spend most of 2011 and early 2012 still recovering from his neck injury and after that he would spend some time as a roadie for Stone Sour. It seemed that everyone had moved on from AWC. In December of 2016 Eliminator announced a AWC reunion show to take place inside The Academy Of Violence it was to be streamed on the WWE Network who had just purchased the rights to AWC Ground Zero. The show would draw in 1.2 Million online viewers and 785 people in attendance. Core AWC roster such as Voodoo Man, Doug Jones, The Brooklynn Brawlers and Walid Kashrow were there and the olive branch to all the most recent AWC Roster was sent out. The match card was a time capsule seeing men like Stryker take on Doug Jones and the Brooklynn Brawlers take on The Springboard Supermen. In the night's main event it was Eliminator and Christian Payne vs Jordan Fox and Walid Kashrow. It was the first time Payne and Kashrow would be across the ring from each other since the injury and Christian Payne's first match in 6 years. Eliminator and Christian Payne would pick up the victory but it was what happend after the match that was important. Eliminator rounded up that nights competitor's for a post show speech and thanked them for being a part of it. It had meant a lot as Eliminator was preparing to close down the school. Before anything else could be said Christian Payne, Josh Snyder and Jordan Fox all stopped Eliminator in his tracks and asked if there was anything they could do. The only way to prevent the school from closing was to keep a steady flow of income and The WWE Network helped but not enough to keep in running. Ashton Rose asked if there was a way to run shows but with Goldman Industries and WWE holding 50 percent each of the name they would have to run shows under a completely new name. Tom Terror spoke up and said KXW (Kingston X-Treme Wrestling). AWC had ran it's very first show in Kingston Ontario and that was the city in which The Academy Of Violence was located. It seemed like a natural fit but they were getting a little too ahead of themselves as they needed money and talent seeing as only a few of the AWC roster members from that night were still in real ring shape. One thing was clear though. This was only the beginning. 

Chapter 4. KXW 

In July of 2017 Ashton Rose, Tom Terror, Jordyn Scar, Jordan Fox, JJ Biggz, Josh Snyder, Alex Snow and Christian Payne would have a meeting. The meeting was to go over finances and make a LOT of phone calls. The first call was to see if any other company have used the name KXW thankfully none had. The many phone calls after that was strictly to recruit talent. The first major signing they had was The Springboard Supermen who were split up as a tag team at this point but were more than willing to reunite. Clinton Ignarski came next. They needed championships so Payne called up Royal Belts and got some championship titles commissioned. Josh Snyder was in charge of creating a tournament and getting a first show booked. This show would take place in Puerto Rico and would crown the first ever KXW World Heavyweight Champion. Snyder called WWE asking to borrow some talent for the tournament and they secured Alberto Del Rio, AJ Styles and Chris Jericho. Arn Anderson who was having a breif career resurgence after coming out of retirement would sign on as a member of the tournament. Kevin and Kerry Von Erich would sign on to face The Brooklynn Brawlers in a KXW promotional match at a show in Memphis where they would become the first ever KXW Tag Team Champions. Christian called up his sister Fang Payne who took on Ivory in a match for EAW and when that company closed down they signed a contract  with KXW allowing them to use the EAW Women's Championship until they had their own. Things were starting to pick up. YouTube was the best place for wrestling as shows like ESW, GTS and MLW were doing very well on the platform it was only fitting that KXW would launch on YouTube. So as a YouTube Original KXW ran it's first official show on September 1st 2017. And the rest my friends is history