WWF was on a roll, WCW struggled, and ECW continued to be more extreme than the big two. However, in 1999, the wrestling world saw the debut, of a brand new extreme promotion, Xtreme Pro Wrestling. Run and owned by Rob Black (owner of Extreme Associates, which is a porno movie company). Could this man, that had nothing to do with wrestling, really run a wrestling promotion" Probably not in many people's eyes, but XPW actually became pretty successful when compared to what people thought.

XPW was founded in the summer of 1999, but with WWF, WCW and ECW around, it was impossible to make their way into the mainstream. ECW dominated the east coast, so XPW decided to dominate the west coast, and in particular, Los Angeles, California. XPW ran monthly shows, with the likes of Go Funk Yourself, and their version of Starrcade and WrestleMania, Baptized in Blood. Baptized in Blood was their huge event. It was a one night tournament to declare the ultimate King of Deathmatches in XPW.

XPW build around a solid and small roster, of self-made wrestlers. Their biggest superstar was The Messiah, who was their version of Triple H. Other of the big wrestlers in XPW was guys like Johnny Webb, Kaos, Supreme and a solid midcard with wrestlers like Homeless Jimmy, Steve Rizzono and Dynamite D. They also had a commentary duo consisting of Kris Kloss (who most of all was a Joey Styles wannabe) and Larry Rivera. Larry Rivera was very funny as he had a horrible Mexican accent, and couldn't stand watching hardcore wrestling, which made him feel ill. But XPW was not only a garbage promotion, with lots of extreme style matches. It focused a lot on the soap opera of wrestling. So XPW had a lot of whacky characters like the Hardcore Homo Angel, Kraq, Tool, Pogo the Evil Clown and a few others. Some people found the XPW's storylines offensive, because the XPW didn't keep them at a family entertainment value. The "X" in XPW was "Xtreme" and therefore, there were no limits to what Rob Black and Co. would come up with.

Ever since XPW started up, it had a very deep hatred to the much more popular extreme promotion, ECW, on the east coast. Apparently, Rob Black and Paul Heyman had a hatred for each other that dated back to the early nineties; however, I don't know much about it. Rob Black decided to make a little mess with ECW. So when ECW opened their annual Heat Wave pay per view, in July 2000, XPW decided to mess with ECW. They did this by getting front row tickets for the show. The XPW wrestlers had T-shirts on that they had turned inside out, so nobody could see the XPW logo on it. However, when the main event between Tommy Dreamer and Justin Credible kicked off, the XPW wrestlers stood up from their seats and turned their T-shirts inside out to reveal XPW logos. This ticked off Tommy Dreamer, who addressed the XPW invaders. Security was brought to ringside and took care of XPW, who were starting to get violent and very provocative with the ECW wrestlers. The main event that night was Tommy Dreamer vs. Justin Credible. However the match that everybody wanted to see occurred on the outside when the ECW wrestlers gave the XPW wrestlers a lesson, and it evolved into a huge parking lot brawl, with ECW on the winning end, beating XPW's ass.

The XPW got a reputation of being controversial. When ECW died in early 2001, several of the ECW alumni jumped to the XPW, including New Jack, Sabu, The Sandman and others. The main storyline for most of 2001 was the story about the Black Army. The Black Army was run by Rob Black, and he was assisted by wrestlers like John Kronus, Vic Grimes, his wife, porn star Lizzy Borden, and the company's main eventer The Messiah. The Black Army was a heel faction making everybody's life hell. Especially Sabu, the XPW Heavyweight Champion. The Black Army, later the same year, defeated Sabu and his manager Josh Lazie in a "Loser Leaves XPW" match. XPW also became the home of former WCW wrestlers like Vampiro, Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera, and even the Insane Clown Posse made debut in XPW. XPW was also known for being out of control when New Jack tossed Vic Grimes off a 40 foot scaffold, almost killing the guy. Without ECW. XPW even moved to the east coast with some shows, which resulted in shows on both east and west coast. XPW was on a rise.

Then a scandal appeared for the XPW. Their biggest star, the Messiah, left the company for Combat Zone Wrestling. Apparently, Messiah had an affair with Rob Blacks wife, Lizzy Borden. Messiah jumped off the ship in a hurry before ticking off Rob Black, who became very furious about what Messiah did. One night, Messiah was attacked by two men in his own apartment. The two men cut off Messiah's thumb and kept it (probably as proof for the man who hired them). Messiah was left beaten and bloodied, and Rob Black was quickly the one suspected for the hit. The reason why Rob Black was suspected, was because Messiah a few days before reacted to CZW fans chants of "You F*cked Lizzy!", when he said "And she loved it!" This may have ticked off Rob Black, who paid two hitmen; however, the case was never really solved.

The XPW needed a new main eventer. At the third edition of Baptized in Blood, which was held at an outdoors arena this year, the "Franchise" Shane Douglas was brought in! The fans ate it up, and XPW had made a new main eventer, who took the XPW title right away from Johnny Webb. Later the same night, XPW fans saw another crazy dive as The Hardcore Home Angel was tossed off a very high scaffold to the ring, which exploded. Supreme had become King of Deathmatches once again. For the rest of 2002, Shane Douglas was their main character and feuded mostly with the likes of Terry Funk, Justin Credible and Chris Candido. The XPW finally seemed to be toning down its lame storylines and character, and began a product focused on wrestling. In late 2002, XPW made some really good shows which got good feedback from wrestling fans. However, just as XPW was on a roll, another scandal appeared.

Rob Black, as the scumbag he is, and Lizzy Borden were indicted. This happened because they had distributed illegal porn from their company Extreme Associates. With Extreme Associates out of business, the XPW was in deep trouble, because the XPW got a lot of money from Extreme Associates. What could've been a really good indy promotion, ended up dying, because of Rob Blacks decisions.

by A. Maniac ..