The Night XPW Invaded ECW At Heat Wave 2000

ECW didn't invent extreme wrestling, but they became the biggest promotion in North America presenting such a product, and they proved to be highly influential on pro wrestling, particularly when it came to pushing the envelope and upping the ante of violence. 

ECW didn’t hold a monopoly on extreme wrestling, however, and a new promotion with similar ideas was launched in California in the summer of 1999, and hostilities quickly grew between XPW and their East Coast counterpart which led to a confrontation when ECW headed to the West Coast. 

Rob Black Founds XPW

In the summer of 1999, adult film producer Robert Zicari (better known by stage name Rob Black) formed the Los Angeles-based XPW, AKA Xtreme Pro Wrestling.

On July 31 of that year, one month before ECW’s national TV deal with TNN began, XPW ran their first event in Reseda, California. Very quickly, XPW established their identity, relying heavily on disturbing brutality, as well as what can only be described as "extreme adult themes", which the company founder was well-versed in from his other career.

That first card was basically what fans would come to expect from XPW, as local mainstays like Supreme, Homeless Jimmy, and "White Trash" Johnny Webb occupied the same space as one-time ECW performers such as Big Dick Dudley and Nicole Bass. Over time, more ECW alumni headed to the West Coast, including The Pitbulls, John Kronus, and The Public Enemy. 

The roster was even more impressive by the spring of 2000 as the likes of Axl Rotten, Chris Candido, and Shane Douglas had also joined XPW, and the promotion were looking to hold shows at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, the home of WrestleMania II and VII. Complimenting those recognisable veterans were younger wrestlers with varying degrees of potential like The Messiah, Dynamite D, and Kid Kaos.

It wasn't ECW, but to some fans, it might have reminded them enough of ECW to give it a chance. If sex, violence, and a brazen glut of decadence were what you wanted, XPW could at least sate your appetite on those fronts.

Issues Between ECW & XPW Quickly Emerge

The similarities between XPW and Extreme Championship Wrestling quickly led to issues, particularly the closeness of XPW’s name to ECW which resulted in XPW receiving a cease-and-desist from Paul Heyman’s promotion over the use of ‘Xtreme’ in their name.

In a statement given at the time, Rob Black laughed off ECW's threats of further recourse by saying, "...there's other federations that have extreme in their name, but why isn't Paul E. going after them? It's more of a personal thing, he's offended."

This wasn't Black's first run-in of any sort with Heyman. Prior to XPW's formation, Black had attended a number of ECW cards in the late 1990s and had become well acquainted with some of the higher-ups in Philadelphia. References to Black's production company Extreme Associates even made it onto ECW events as wrestler Danny Doring wore a shirt depicting its logo at the 1999 Guilty as Charged pay-per-view, which he said he was simply asked to wear and wasn't even his.

According to XPW Vice President Kevin Kleinrock, Black was apparently looking to get involved in the wrestling industry, and had reportedly talked with Heyman about working together, likely to bring an expansion-minded ECW to the West Coast. Kleinrock noted, though, that things ultimately fell through in the spring of 1999 amid ECW's negotiations with TNN, during which Heyman allegedly disassociated himself from Black due to Black's connections to the adult film industry. This led to Black working with Kleinrock to put together XPW.

Aside from issues over the name, more legal issues between the sides began to brew over the contractual status of one of ECW's most recognised names - Sabu. The death-defying veteran left ECW that March, reportedly after refusing to put over Super Crazy in the quarter-finals of the tournament to crown a new ECW World Television Champion. Sabu tried to work elsewhere, but found resistance from Heyman, who tried holding him to the terms of the contract he walked out on. In one instance, Heyman reportedly prevented him from headlining one of Insane Clown Posse's wrestling tours.

Sabu did manage to wrestle at XPW's first event at the LA Sports Arena on April 16, taking the fall in a three-way involving fellow ECW peers Chris Candido and Shane Douglas. The Wrestling Observer noted that XPW found a creative way around Sabu's apparent non-compete by saying Sabu worked the match for free, meaning he wasn't technically in breach of contract. 

It was around this time that the short-lived WOW Magazine posted an antagonistic letter from Black to Heyman, which XPW sent to the publication. Further issues then ensued when both promotions were set to be involved in an FMW show the following month. Sabu (who was by this time XPW's champion) wrestled Mr. Gannosuke, while Heyman refused to send wrestlers New Jack and Balls Mahoney as originally intended. While Heyman did give the blessing for FMW to use Sabu - as Heyman was still brandishing Sabu's apparently-valid ECW contract, he reportedly told FMW that he wouldn't be party to any event in which XPW was also involved.

ECW was struggling in 2000 too. The promotion was already dealing with the fiasco around ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome jumping to WCW. Others were also leaving the promotion, like Lance Storm, while others were considering their futures too as bounced or withheld cheques continued to be the ECW norm. The promotion were also just months away from losing their national TV outlet on TNN to the WWF, and the writing looked to be on the wall.

ECW Books Heat Wave In Los Angeles, XPW Buys Tickets

That didn't stop the attempts at deeper national expansion for ECW, however. Once confined mostly to the northeastern United States, ECW had thrust its touring loop further outward, holding pay-per-views in places like Birmingham, Alabama and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while venturing to very new places such as Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota for TV tapings.

ECW's westward expansion only looked to continue as the summer approached, and in June, ECW formally announced that Heat Wave would take place in Los Angeles' Grand Olympic Auditorium. 

While it could be argued that an ECW bent on total national presence needed to run a show in California sooner or later, the timing was definitely curious. Only two months had passed since the ill feelings between ECW and XPW spilled over into a legal setting, and now the East Coast trendsetter was, theoretically, treading on the turf of a hated rival.

In the eyes of Kleinrock, this was the perfect opportunity to score a bit of publicity at ECW's expense , even if it meant paying for the price of admission. Kleinrock has claimed he was the one who stood in line bright and early to purchase six front row tickets (on Black's dime), as well as a row of balcony tickets, for XPW wrestlers and other personnel to attend Heat Wave.

He has claimed there was nothing malicious about XPW's intended presence, as the company attendees would simply be wearing XPW t-shirts, and that some of the street crew members would be handing out flyers outside the venue. XPW had a major event scheduled for six nights later at the LA Sports Arena entitled "Go Funk Yourself”, headlined by Sabu defending the championship against Terry Funk, so a little subversive advertising from the local promotion made sense.

Things, of course, didn’t end up being that simple. With word getting out that XPW personnel would be attending the event, Black apparently assured an acquaintance of his who worked for ECW that there would be no problems caused by the XPW contingent. Given the level of heat between the promotions, ECW understandably had little inclination to believe him.

The XPW horde that was to sit ringside consisted of Messiah, Supreme, Homeless Jimmy, Kid Kaos, valet Kristi Myst, and announcer Kris Kloss. If the plan was to be noticed on camera, they kind of failed because the six were situated on the side with the hard camera. A standard shot of the ring put the XPW talents just out of camera range. Others, including Dynamite D, Kleinrock, and various crew members, were scattered in various places throughout the building. Black was not in attendance.

ECW Heat Wave 2000

On the day of the event, security was on the lookout for all things XPW-related. ECW valet Jasmin St. Claire, as well as a local musician named Doc Marlee (both of whom worked for XPW previously), pointed out XPW's wrestlers and staffers as they entered the Grand Olympic Auditorium. Those wearing XPW t-shirts were forced to turn them inside-out before they were permitted into the arena. Signs promoting XPW were also banned, though a few did make it through the attempted filtering.

At worst, smatterings of "XPW" chants could be heard at points during Heat Wave, particularly due to the recognition of Supreme in the front row by local fans. The only real notable incident prior to the main event occurred when Rhino - after retaining his ECW World Television Title against The Sandman - mockingly drank one of his opponent's beers, before flinging the can in the hard camera's direction. Some of the drink spritzed toward the XPW attendees, prompting Supreme to yell at Rhino, which "The Man Beast" seemed to ignore.

For most of the night, outside of some light XPW acknowledgments and Rhino inadvertently causing a small stir among the "guests", nothing of note really happened. Then the main event took place.

ECW World Heavyweight Champion Justin Credible, seconded by Francine, was going to defend his title against Tommy Dreamer in a Stairway to Hell match in the final bout of the night, where a coiled-up strand of barbed wire hung from the ceiling. Both combatants made their entrances, and the bell sounded to begin the match. 

The camera was trained on the two combatants in the midst of a staredown when crowd noise began picking up, and referee Jim Molineaux noticed something happening away from the focal point. Seeing what Molineaux was seeing, Dreamer moved past Credible to where a disturbance was taking place at ringside, near the XPW patrons.

XPW wrestler Messiah later stated: "We were all looking at each other like 'Rob is gonna be f*ckin' pissed off,' because he spent all this money on front row seats, and the shirts didn’t get on....The main event came, and we said, ‘If we're gonna do it, lets do it now,’ so we did. We showed our shirts."

Off-camera, Francine had confronted Myst, who had just removed her own shirt to reveal a bikini top underneath, earning the expected attention. Francine was reportedly upset as there was a planned spot in the main event where she would end up losing her top, so Myst's actions may have stolen some  of her heat.

The incident became especially serious just moments later, though. The root of the initial altercation wasn't clear to those at a distance, with some believing Myst had somehow grabbed or shoved Francine, leading to Francine shoving back and knocking her down. A different version of events claimed that when security initially went to intervene on the ringside situation, a security guard had knocked Supreme into Myst, causing her to fall. Francine has since gone on record claiming that nobody from XPW laid a hand on her.

Security and Dreamer intervened in the apparent skirmish, leading to the ECW locker room emptying out, as scores of wrestlers and crew members headed to the ringside area. Though nobody in the group knew exactly what had happened, it was standard procedure for wrestlers to quickly step in during chaotic situations involving their peers. Without asking questions, the horde came charging through the curtain, no questions asked.

All the cameras really show from the confrontation was Ronnie Lang of Atlas Security pulling Kid Kaos away from ringside, while other XPW wrestlers stand off with the ECW crew. Some of the visible wrestlers were bare-chested or in undershirts, as they were either in the midst of reversing their XPW shirts before putting them back on, or, as Messiah claimed in a 2001 interview, they were physically torn off of them.

For ECW's part, announcer Joey Styles didn't even acknowledge XPW, or even a "local wrestling outfit". Instead he chalked the altercation to some drunken knucklehead likely grabbing Francine, while completely no-selling the presence of the opposition.

The incident didn’t end there, however. Messiah claimed that while he and his XPW cohorts were being escorted out of the arena, he was struck on the head by an irate Heyman. Messiah claimed Heyman spit on both he and Kaos, and tried to goad them into taking a swing at him. Messiah also claimed that several members of the LAPD were present when Heyman supposedly issued that dare, so the XPW wrestlers balked at fighting back. In fact, most reports indicated that the XPW talents, after the initial skirmish, didn't really resist being taken out of the Auditorium.

Things Get Worse Outside Of The Venue

Kevin Kleinrock noted he went outside before the main event with the crew members, taking their places to hand out the flyers for XPW's big event in six nights. At this point, he was surprised when the doors flew open, and out came Heyman, the security team, and the ejected XPW crew.

Accounts vary as to what exactly happened outside the Auditorium, particularly when it comes to numbers and specific actions. Some sources have claimed an estimated 20 ECW representatives began beating down some of the XPW crew members in what was apparently a one-sided battle. Those throwing punches from the ECW side reportedly included Mikey Whipwreck, New Jack, Roadkill, Heyman himself, and the superheavyweight Sal E. Graziano, bodyguard of the Full Blooded Italians, among others.

No arrests were made, despite officers from the LAPD watching the whole incident take place. No additional officers were called in to deal with the brawl, and it came to an end when the XPW contingent retreated in a limousine. Meanwhile, back inside the building, Credible defeated Dreamer to retain his championship.

Hours after Heat Wave ended, XPW posted a press release to their website, professing innocence in the whole matter, even writing at one point that the staffers who were seated in the balcony section, "...could have easily bombarded entering wrestlers with drinks, food, signs, etc, or even cut the ECW banner, but did not."

XPW ended the press release by writing: "It is well known that ECW and XPW are currently in a legal battle over both the XPW name and XPW's use of Sabu as the result of a lawsuit served on XPW by ECW. XPW regrets having to pursue legal action of our own...this situation certainly warrants both legal action and the filing of criminal charges. The attacks both inside and out of the arena were physically unprovoked and excessive."

Black further addressed the situation on an ensuing episode of XPW television, reiterating much of the press release. He ranted at Heyman over both the Heat Wave incident and the previous legal action, while also taking shots at ECW's deteriorating financial situation, and promised that a lawsuit was coming.

Nothing official was ever filed regarding the Heat Wave incident, according to a note in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Additionally, Heyman's prior legal manoeuvrings never came to a resolution. At the end of Black's rant, he vowed that XPW would be around a lot longer than ECW, and in one sense, he was right.

In April of 2001, ECW's parent company, the HHG Corporation, filed for bankruptcy, nearly seven and a half million dollars in debt. By the time of the filing, Heyman and a few ECW notables had already found refuge in the WWF.

XPW lasted for two years beyond ECW's original lifetime. In 2002, they went so far as to bring their operations to Philadelphia and the ECW Arena. Shane Douglas was instituted as face of the "East Coast invasion", and a host of ECW alums joined the roster, many of which were in the ECW locker room the night of that fateful Heat Wave.

Heat Wave 2000’s Legacy

After months of tension, hostility, and choice words, all we really have to show for the squabble between the two "extreme" promotions is an ugly altercation only slightly picked up by TV cameras, as well as the spread of subjective lore concerning what happened off-camera. 

The ECW-XPW incident felt in many ways like the beginning of something bigger, whether it was retaliation at future events from either side, or more courtroom drama, or otherwise. Instead of being a harbinger, the moment marked the peak of the animosity, with no grander fireworks to follow.

In a sense, that's kind of how extreme wrestling sometimes works - something insane happens, and you wonder how they're going to top that. And then, they don't.