PRESS RELEASEThe Invitational is one of The Experts' traditional shows, where instead of signing up to compete, wrestlers are hand-picked to take part in 'dream' matches; and this year's installment, the fifth annual version of the event, was no different. With wrestlers from all nine of the Experts' affiliated companies, the show was three hours worth of excellent matches, as well as a few surprises. Below will be a report on the goings-on in Hayward, but to catch the show in its entirety, click
HEREThe show opened with a re-cap of what happened in November at the previous Experts event, Rival Factions. The video showed the scenes as Hannibal Cage defeated nineteen other wrestlers to take the #1 contendership to Georgie Nickles' coveted True Expert, as well as Cage the laying out both Nickles and her then-challenger, Level-One, to ensure his title shot would come against the woman he had sworn revenge on. It then closed on the shocking scenes as Experts legend and former three-time True Expert, Black Death, was run-down by CEO Draeden Darksky as a pre-meditated assault on the veteran, who was looking to score a measure of revenge on behalf of the company after Darksky stole its ownership and sought to destroy it and all associated with it.
The show then began with a run-down of the card by announcers Erika Vanarelli and Jim Rushfield, as well as the announcement that Black Death was alive and healing up his injuries following Rival Factions, however before they could finish they were cut off by "Astronomy" by Dragonland, signalling the arrival of the CEO. Darksky welcomed the fans, before speaking in depth about his personally-made match, The Corruption Challenge. A match billed as six wrestlers battling in Vatican City, Darksky showed the fans a video of the wrestlers on their plane ride to Rome - Ariana London, Jonny Cedrone, Agent Decipher Light, Exile, and Bridge Emmett. The wrestlers were greeted by their drunken Russian host, who said he was to be Darksky's eyes and ears for the trip. There was a clear air of unease among the five, who while wondering where their sixth was, were clearly confused as to how the match would be working. However, more talking points were created when the action returned to Darksky in the ring in Hayward - before the CEO could speak again, a graphic for 'CWC' was aired, confusing fans, commentary and staff alike. Understandably Darksky was angered by this interruption, and stormed out.
We then heard from Jason Blade, who was set to go up against VWF's resident puppet mistress, Dandelion, later in the evening. At Rival Factions Jason Blade had made a shocking return to wrestling, dumping Dandelion and himself out of the contendership battle royal (later won by Hannibal Cage). Blade told the fans and Dandelion that he planned on wrestling Dandelion in order to make a name for himself, and later challenge for the True Expert - playing on the fact Dandelion herself is a former True Expert.
Next up was the opening contest between the TFWF's Joel Bryant and SW's Ryan Ruckus, both of whom are widely tipped to be break-out stars in 2010. The pair wrestled a very physical match, with Bryant coming close to victory with a reversal of Ruckus' signature double-spun neckbreaker into a neckbreaker of his own, and Ruckus almost pulled off his first major win at the Experts when he used the steel stairs as an aid to his match plan. However, it was not to be Ruckus' night as he went for his Director's Cut finisher, a snapmare driver, Bryant managed to stay standing as 'R2' landed face-first on the floor, leaving him vulnerable to Bryant's inverted Texas cloverleaf - the Cuyahoga River Fire. With nowhere to go, Ruckus tapped out.
As Bryant celebrated his victory the cameras went backstage, where True Expert Georgie Nickles had gathered a large group of wrestlers into one of the communal locker rooms. She spoke emotionally to them about how Draeden Darksky was a tyrant that needed to be subdued (previously he had kidnapped the champion in order to threaten her to vacate her title to Level-One) and that she felt as the Rebel Child, she was the one to do it. Despite the obvious fear of going against Darksky and what he is capable of, many wrestlers agreed to be apart of the coup. Nickles then told them nothing would change immediately, but the time to overthrow Darksky was definitely coming. When the wrestlers left there was one hooded man left - a man who turned out to be exiled Experts owner and founder, Jesse Gunn. A dishevelled Jesse Gunn handed Georgie some paper, a note she had ignored as being the scrawls of a deranged Gunn, however Jesse remained adamant that the name on the paper - The Author - would be the key to down Darksky. Mysteriously as Georgie turned to sort through her bag, Gunn disappeared from the locker room after saying he could never return to the Experts.
The plasma screens in the arena then switched on, displaying a second instalment of the action surrounding the Corruption Challenge. This time the whereabouts of Darkseid was shown as the Behemoth of Baikal was shown being escorted from the Siberian Prison Compound to a waiting helicopter in order to take part in the Challenge. Despite an unprovoked attack on one of his guards, Darkseid was locked back up in the helicopter, which then set off for Rome.
As the action returned to Hayward it was clear that Draeden Darksky was livid regarding the commercial interruption of the show. With two production staff members playing the proverbial scapegoats to his rage, Darksky asked 'who are they?' in reference to the 'CWC' mentioned in the advert, which was for some sort of tournament on 5th February. Despite not knowing
exactly who CWC were, one staff member was able to reveal that two CWC officials were spotted on a recent Pay-per-view event presented by Viking Wrestling Federation (a company closely linked with the Experts). The staff member explained that the CWC officials had met with VWF's owner, the Viking King for some form of discussions, though it was unclear as to what those discussions entailed. Darksky demanded he was given a tape of the show, before placing a call through to an unknown person, telling them to be at the Hayward warehouse that evening.
Back in the Corruption Challenge, plasma screens showed the five wrestlers on board their flight to Rome. During the snippet of film the plane began to shake violently, and the captain explained via intercom that they were going through a rough patch of turbulence. From the back of the plane, the voice of mysterious conspiracy theorist Agent Decipher Light stated that he thought 'they're up to something', before explaining that they were being watched - a claim rubbished by Exile as he reminded ADL they were all wrestlers 'on TV'. The video ended with the group being asked to fasten their seat-belts as the rough patch of turbulence was continuing.
Next up was one of the more 'odd' matches of the night, as perpetually camp and self-obsessed TFWF wrestler Scorpio took on PWR's world champion, the 'Pretty Boy Assassin' William in a mud-pool match for the title of 'Prettiest Man In Wrestling'. In a match that saw a clump of Scorpio's perfectly-coiffed hair come out in William's hand, the S-Factor's signature hairdryer destroyed under the PWR wrestler's boots (resulting in Scorpio tapping out, to no effect) and a fair share of bitch slaps, Scorpio picked up the win when he managed to land a back body drop to William into the mud. However it wasn't over there, as the two continued their brawl and soon ended up both coated in mud, rolling around outside the ring. However #1 contender to the True Expert title Hannibal Cage soon made his way out with a steel chair in hand, smashing it over both Scorpio and William before telling the fans he would 'end Georgie Nickles' and become the True Expert, as well as soon going to take the Siberian Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.
Following was the fourth instalment of the Corruption Challenge as the cameras continued to show the occurrences in the plane. As we rejoined the five on board the turbulence was ceasing, however a distressing message from the captain informed the occupants (including the air hostess, Becky) that the engines were losing power after going through a storm, and they would have to make an emergency landing. As the plan careered to Earth the camera was dislodged, and the feed cut off, leaving those in the arena shocked and in silence. Backstage, Alexia from VWF gave an interview about how she would win the upcoming nine-man Experts battle - a ladder match for a briefcase, where a competitor must pin one other in order to become eligible to pull down the briefcase, and only one wrestler could be eligible at a time. Alexia promised the fans that VWF would take the briefcase, however SG Martins of G-2 Wrestling (and TFWF) interrupted, stating he would be taking the briefcase home to G-2 before walking off.
The cameras then caught a discussion between Georgie Nickles, Joel Bryant and a freshly showered William. Nickles expressed her continuing distrust of Jesse Gunn's suggestion of this 'Author', and Bryant reminded her of Gunn's status in the Eternal Circle - a mysterious sect thought to be closely linked to many aspects of society (possibly linked to the Masons). William then urged Nickles to continue with her rebellion, explaining that so far nothing was being done and somebody had to rise against Darksky. However they both agreed she should focus on winning the main event of the night before going after Darksky.
Finally the screens came back on with a feed from a camera in the Corruption Challenge as Dimitri Sergeyevich (the Darksky's representative on the trip) appeared to take a camera out. Saying 'enjoy the show' into the camera, it was unclear what Dimitri meant as he began to film the interior of the plane; still in one piece with oxygen masks hanging and lights flickering. Soon it was found that everyone had survived the emergency landing, Once all were safe, ADL set to using the cameras to get some form of GPS signal while others took cameras of their own to use as lights and make full use of the night vision - wherever they were, it was extremely dark; and without a captain, as he had gone in search of a radio signal.
In Hayward it was time for the Experts Battle as Alexia, Antonio Alves, Jose Ramon, David McCoy, Slade Craven, Abbey Spears, SG Martins, Stu Who?, and Sydney Laroux went at it in a thrilling ladder match. The opening action saw both Spears and McCoy forget the pinfall and submission element of the match and head up the ladder - soon both taking a tumble out of the ring, with McCoy plunging through the announce table and Spears landing in the crowd. The high-paced action continued as Sydney Laroux found herself powerbombed from the ladder by Stu Who and SG Martins was sent flying off a ladder with an enzuigiri by Alexia. Jose Ramon looked to have won it, however just as he unclasped the briefcase Alexia scored a pin, thus making him ineligible to take the win and the briefcase was re-hung. After a superkick from Ramon to Slade Craven both he and Alexia covered Craven, and both were declared eligible to win; and then as they struggled on top of the ladder they both managed to take down the briefcase and were named joint winners!
Alexia quickly unclasped the briefcase and pulled out its contents - two solid gold championship belts. Without a second thought she took both and celebrated with them as Jose Ramon read out a note from Draeden Darksky inside. Congratulating them on putting their bodies through a lot to win and making him a lot of money, Darksky informed them in his letter (which had two versions - one for a singles win, one for a draw) that the belts were new True Expert Tag Team Championships, and that the first winners were to be crowned in the first of two Extreme Tournaments in April. It also said that the joint winners (if they existed as joint winners - in this case they did as Alexia and Ramon) would be given a bye into the semi-finals of the tournament as a tag team. Ramon seemed to accept the offer, and took the titles from Alexia, putting them back in the briefcase. However their quest for tag gold may require some serious bonding sessions first, as Alexia laid Ramon out with a vicious shot from the metal briefcase.
As the crowd were shown an update from the seemingly ruined Corruption Challenge, the group's camera showed their surroundings - an abandoned city with no signs of life aside from the abundance of weeds. Exile then mentioned the co-pilot of the flight, and immediately the group believed there was a undertone of something malicious in the plane's emergency landing, event suggesting 'the Taliban have our radio'. The camera then caught former True Expert and challenger to Georgie Nickles at Rival Factions, Level-One, as he unexpectedly arrived at the arena. The crowd in the arena then booed loudly as One mouthed the word 'Revenge' into the camera, and the commentators speculated as to how this would affect the True Expert. The fans then heard from Dandelion - well, saw as the puppet mistress is famously mute. She showed a piece of card to the camera, warning Jason Blade to watch his back as the fans shouted abuse at her from the ringside area.
The fans then watched as the plasma screens showed a feed from Johnny Cedrone's camera after the group had split - Becky, ADL, Cedrone and Exile going one way while London and Emmett had gone the other. ADL appeared to sense danger as he urged his companions to get off of the road, before stating 'they're coming'. The feed then cut through to Exile's camera and his group; which showed the disturbing scene that the group had come across a strange hooded man. Exile attempted to walk past him, believing him to not have noticed the group - however panic soon spread as the figure burst into sprint after the group, however as they ran they came across several groups of the same type of figure. As the wrestlers attempted to escape Exile appeared to fall and his camera cut off, leaving those in the arena in suspense as to where he was.
Next up was an exhibition match between Katherine Stryfe, and another of SW's prisoners, Cecile Lecrux. As both women, who are widely tipped to be break-through stars in the ring, battle back and forth it became apparent that this was to be a highly close match. With Lecrux using a series of quick moves, including crucifix pins and monkey flips, to try and get the win it came down to Stryfe's knowledge of holds and mat wrestling to keep the SW Heavyweight Champion grounded. Stryfe almost appeared to have won the contest when she used a page out of Lecrux's book with a top rope hurricanrana, and then once more seemed to have cheated a win when she slyly hit Lecrux with a chair while Lecrux was trying to climb out of the ring - a shot the referee failed to spot. Lecrux was then able to kick out of not one, but two of Stryfe's signature spiked hurricanranas before driving a chair into Stryfe's face with a somersault kick before picking up the win with her finishing move, the corkscrew body press known as the Megalomaniac Killer.
After the match came the eighth instalment from the Corruption Challenge as Dimitri, Ariana London and Bridge Emmett's camera showed them in pursuit of the previous group - opening as Ariana found a piece of torn clothing. After finding a flare gun, Dimitri revealed his suspicions on the whereabouts of the wrestlers - a city called Pripyat, famous for being the epicentre of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which is now effectively a ghost town. The wrestlers then spotted a group of the same hooded figures from the previous feed and when one broke off Dimitri was able to subdue the man before finding a grim discovery - he was coated in blood. The tensions rose again as another figure attempted to attack them, and Bridge Emmett accidentally let off the flare gun, alerting all around to their presence. The feed then switched to the helicopter housing Darkseid as the pilot spotted the flare exploding, and in recognising the area as the Chernobyl Control Zone decided to check it out. Elsewhere in an abandoned house, ADL and Cedrone had stopped as ADL checked his equipment. After tensions boiled over into a fight between ADL and Cedrone, the group were interrupted my more of the apparent natives, and they ran, barricading themselves into an apartment - however in the panic they had lost ADL's metal case and all his equipment.
The following match was the much-anticipated contest between Jason Blade and Dandelion - however it wasn't to be as Dandelion ambushed Blade from behind, smashing a cylinder of light-tubes over his head before laying into him with shots and the rest of the glass. Dandelion then pulled a knife from her belt, scratching a message into the metal on the ramp - “Extreme Tournament MMX.I - Blade vs. Dandelion.”
The cameras then went backstage, focussing on the image of CWC's officials - Prime and T-Bone - meeting with the Viking King on VWF's PPV show. Darksky commented to an unknown companion that he felt something was amiss with the meeting, however his own dealings with Georgie Nickles and her attempted coup were too much for him to focus on anything else. The camera then showed the man he was with - wrestling legend and pioneer, Michael Thunder! The arena was shocked to see the pair shake hands, before Darksky named Thunder the new General Manager for the Experts and put him in charge of finding out what was going on with CWC! Their meeting ended chillingly as Thunder declared he would make someone on the VWF roster 'squeal'.
With the plasma screens on, fans were the treated to the dramatic conclusion of the Corruption Challenge. First the feed picked up again at ADL and Cedrone in the apartment, and as one of the hooded men broken in ADL subdued them with a spray from a canister in his belt, and Cedrone rooted through the kitchen for a knife. The feed then switched to a camera mounted on the SW helicopter as it showed Darkseid having laid out his guards and stolen their armour, with the helicopter evacuating; stranding the Behemoth in Pripyat. Returning to the apartment, ADL and Cedrone attempted to escape onto the roof, however were confronted by one of the neighbours wielding a baton. ADL managed to knock out the stranger, however he had been injured and was bleeding, and he and Cedrone had to escape quickly. As the camera within the London/Dmitri/Emmett group came into play it was shown that they narrowly missed being seen by Darkseid's helicopter, however Darkseid himself found them and began to lay waste to Emmett. Darkseid's assault was ill-judged as London and Dimitri fought him off, and left him as fodder for the natives as a group of them rounded the corner - however unfortunately Dmitri, who was holding Darkseid back, too became engulfed by the mad men of Pripyat. Back with Cedrone and ADL, they had managed to make it up to the roof of their building and took out two horrors. ADL then revealed he had a small GPS system - something he refused to show before due to distrust of his peers - and he set about finding satellite pictures of the city.
The four remaining wrestlers then spotted the helicopter, and decided to set off to try and use it. ADL and Emmett managed to find one another, and fought side by side against a group of the horrors of Pripyat, before escaping into an apartment - however as Emmett spotted some of the hooded men behind ADL he slammed the door on the Agent's face, leaving him to be set upon by the natives! A reunited Cedrone and Ariana then headed for the fairground where they believed the helicopter to be, and Ariana managed to piece together who the hooded men may be - natives of Pripyat sent insane and mutated by the radiation from Chernobyl. As Bridge Emmett found the group some of the attackers grasped Cedrone and London - London was able to escape, however Cedrone was not as lucky and was left to be swarmed. Emmett and London continued ahead to the helicopter, however a figure stood in their way - Agent Decipher Light. ADL confronted Emmett's betrayal, saying he knew the Truth, and a fight ensued. ADL then said something strange, that 'the prize' was not worth it; but his words had no effect as the fight continued. London decided to leave them, heading for the helicopter as a wave of Ukrainians washed over the pair.
However, it was only to get weirder. As London made it to the helicopter she was greeted by none other than Dimitri Sergeyevich. Saying he didn't expect her to survive and make it, Dimitri handed Ariana a briefcase, telling her the code to the locks. Ariana opened it, finding rows upon rows of dollar bills - before learning the terrible truth. She had just won the Corruption Challenge - there never was a fight in Vatican City. The plane was brought down deliberately, the Ukrainians were known about... the entire thing was a set-up to see who could survive Pripyat. Back in Hayward, Ariana's theme was played and her win announce as the disgusted fans bayed for Draeden Darksky's blood.
Backstage the cameras showed Darksky watching the Challenge, before he was interrupted by a furious Georgie Nickles. The Rebel Child screamed at him for risking the wrestler's lives in Pripyat, and for everything he's doing to bring the Experts down. Nickles then told Draeden that it would have been better if he
had died and never returned, sparking a punch from Darksky before security took a hold of Nickles. As Georgie was lead out she screamed a name at Darksky - The Author - and the CEO fell ashen, mouthing the name over to himself.
In the main event of the evening Nickles stepped inside of the steel cage with her contender Hannibal Cage to settle their vicious feud for the True Expert Championship. In a brutal match both competitors went flying into the steel, and fought back and forth with strikes. The fans exploded with cheers at one point as Nickles innovatively used the steel wall as a springboard for a crossbody to Cage for two, and Cage brought Nickles down massively with his Headtrip, a 360 spinning DDT. Cage then seemed to have the match won as he reached the top of the cage, however Nickles was able to make it to the top and the pair struggled. The fans were then in shock as Nickles was able to leap from the top, landing a variant of her 720 DDT, the Angelic Anarchy, bringing both herself and Cage down to the mat. Nickles then began to scale the cage wall, however was cut off as Draeden Darksky came out with a pair of brass knuckles in his hand, continuously muttering 'the Author'.
Nickles was clearly overcome by fear at seeing the tyrannical CEO in her way, and her fear increased as Level-One - who previously stated he was there for revenge - appeared too. Darksky spoke to him, pointing at Nickles before handing him the knuckles; however Level-One, instead of going after Nickles as all expected, laid out the CEO with the knuckles! Level-One then went mad with the brass knuckles all over Darksky! However, as Nickles watched on Hannibal Cage recovered, pulling her down and landing his finisher, a diving cutter called the LKG to and he caught her for three, taking the True Expert Championship. As Level-One finally parted himself from laying brass-aided punches into the CEO, he and Cage stared down as Nickles laid back, distraught at losing the title.
It was certainly one hell of a show, and the aftermath of it will be felt for months to come. Join the Experts in April for the first Extreme Tournament to crown the first tag team champions!
