Acronym IWW Headquarters Ireland | Founded 2002 | |
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Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) is an Irish owned independent professional wrestling promotion established in 2002. The company was named in tribute to Irish professional wrestler Danno O'Mahony, who is credited as the inventor of the "Irish Whip" wrestling maneuver. IWW runs shows throughout the whole of Ireland. The company has appeared on Sky One, RTÉ, TV3, The Wrestling Channel, and recently had a weekly show on Buzz TV.
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Early years (2002–2004)
Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) ran its first two shows in June 2002 in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, which featured wrestler Tatanka, "Middleman" Lee Butler. After these two shows, IWW returned to the ESB National Basketball Arena on October 9 for a show that was headlined by Jake "The Snake" Roberts. During one match at the show, Roberts defeated Flatliner.
IWW continued to promote shows around Ireland through 2003 and 2004, which featured the debuts of several wrestlers including Mad Man Manson, Red Vinny, Vic Viper, "The Friday Night Kid" Brian Roche, Sheamus O'Shaunessy, Dave Zero and Joey Cabray. On December 2, 2004 IWW held a show in Lucan, Dublin, and the main event featured an FWA British Heavyweight Championship match in which Alex Shane pinned O'Shaunessy with the help of Vinny.
Also in 2004, IWW opened up their 'Lock-up' training school in Dublin. Trainers at this school have included Blake Norton, "Middleman" Lee Butler and "The Pukka One" Darren Burridge. Several graduates of the school also went on to become trainers there, such as Bam Katraz, The Ballymun Bruiser, and Bingo Ballance. On occasion guest trainers have made appearances at the school, including D'Lo Brown, A.J. Styles, Kid Kash, Doug Basham, and Tracy Smothers. The training school has also been host to the company's Gym Wars shows which trainees a chance to show their skills to IWW management and to a crowd.
Growth (2005–2007)
In 2005, IWW ran over 30 shows. On March 20, it presented its first ever supershow, held in the SFX City Theatre in Dublin before 500 fans. This show featured wrestlers A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Chris Sabin, Red Vinny, Mad Man Manson, Johnny Storm and Jody Fleisch. Four days later, IWW held a show in The Forum in Waterford which was headlined by Raven, who teamed with Sheamus O'Shaunessy to defeat Red Vinny and Vid Vain in the main event. On March 28, O'Shaunessy was crowned the first ever IWW International Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Darren Burridge in the tournament final. It ran its last show of the year in SFX City Theatre on November 14.
Also in 2005, IWW got its own TV show called Whiplash TV, which was broadcast on The Wrestling Channel on Sky Digital. The show ran for two seasons. Throughout May and June 2006, IWW taped several episodes of its Whiplash TV show in the Laughter Lounge in Dublin City. From August to October 2006, the first ever King of the Gym tournament was held over the course of four Gym Wars events.
At the beginning of 2007, the IWW Zero Gravity Championship was created, and a tournament was held to crown the first champion.
In March IWW held its second supershow, and in the main event, Vic Viper defeated Christopher Daniels to retain the IWW International Heavyweight Championship. In May, IWW ran shows featuring independent women wrestlers like Lexie Fyfe and Portia Perez. On July 6, IWW returned to the Forum in Waterford for its Global Impact show, which was taped for DVD sales. The match between the Ballymun Bruiser and Doug Williams was featured on TV3's Diary of a Sportstar program.
IWW ran its largest tour in late October 2007. It ran 12 shows between the October 19 and 28, which featured Kid Kash, Tracy Smothers, El Generico, Mad Man Manson, Vic Viper, Bingo Ballance, Red Vinny, Lupin Matsutani, and Kenichiro Arai. Several matches on the tour were taped for the International Hits, Vol. 1 DVD.
Return of Gym Wars; Memorial tournament (2008)
IWW ran a five-day tour in March 2008, which attracted Eugene, René Duprée and Pierre Carl Oulette to Ireland for the first time. On June 1, Gym Wars returned after a 10-month absence, and trainees Big Top Mongo and Working Class John made their debuts. Later that month, IWW returned to the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, Dublin for the first time in six years. The show involved international wrestlers such as Raven, Daivari, Nigel McGuinness, Chad Collyer, Balls Mahoney, Dave Moralez, and Andy Boy Simmonz. All the matches were taped for IWW's television show on Buzz TV. In July, IWW ran an eight show tour around Ireland.
IWW hosted a tournament in honour of Danno O'Mahony in August in O'Mahony's hometown of Ballydehob. On September 18, IWW tag team The Hurling Heroes (Captain Rooney and Conor Hurley) won the Celtic Wrestling Tag Team Championship by defeating Celtic Wrestling's Method and Madness tag team in Aberfan, Wales.
IWW ended 2008 with shows in Enniscorthy, Wexford on December 6 and Balbriggan on December 7. On December 6, Mark Haskins defeated The Ballymun Bruiser, Vic Viper and Red Vinny (the reigning RQW Cruiserweight Champion) in a four-way match to become the new champion.
Festivals and tours (2009–2012)
IWW started 2009 with shows in Rathcoole, Dungarvan, Waterford and Cashel, Tipperary from January 30-February 1. In February, IWW held a multi-date tour around Ireland featuring Doug Basham and Big Vito and also the UK's T-Bone and Joel Redman in addition to the usual IWW roster.
From March 12–17, 2009 IWW held a six-day tour. In late May/early June IWW ran a multi-date tour featuring Kevin Thorn. Throughout the tour, several dates were cancelled due to very weak ticket sales. On 1 and 2 August, IWW ran two shows as part of the Daingean Festival in Daingean, Co. Offaly. The next day it ran a show as part of the Tinahely festival. After performing at a festival in County Cavan in September and following a successful debut in Wales the following month. IWW ran a 4-day tour in Dublin.
IWW began the year in Enniscorthy, Wexford and Dungarvan, Waterford on January 29 and 30. The following weekend a five-day tour took place. In March IWW ran a week long tour starting on March 6 in Dublin and wrapping up in Tipperary on March 14. It returned to Tipperary on April 9 and the following night ran a show in Cork.
IWW continued running shows in 2011. IWW completed 40 shows between July 2011 - Aug 2011. The first weekend began with shows in Kerry and Waterford and took IWW all around Ireland and Northern Ireland.
IWW International Heavyweight Championship
The IWW International Heavyweight Championship is the primary title for IWW. The championship was created in 2005. A tournament was held in Naas, Co. Kildare in March 2005 to crown the first ever champion. The former champion Mandrake was the longest reigning champion in history of the company. On February 5, 2010, the Zero Gravity Title was unified with it and it became known as the Irish Whip Wrestling Unified Heavyweight Championship. On April 30, 2011, The Supermodel defeated Mandrake for the IWW International Heavyweight championship. The Zero Gravity championship was un-unified with the International Heavyweight Championship after this match.
IWW Zero Gravity Championship
The IWW Zero Gravity Championship is professional wrestling championship in IWW. The Championship was created in 2007. The first champion was decided via a tournament held in Balbiggan Combined Community Centre in January 2007. On February 5, 2010 It was unified with the IWW International Heavyweight Championship and retired. It was later reactivated, after Mandrake lost the IWW International Heavyweight Championship.