IPWX Entertainment, LLC., doing business as Intense Pro Wrestling X-Perience (also known by the acronym IPWX), was a defunct American professional wrestling promotion based in St. Paul, Minnesota. The company was originally founded in October, 2001 by wrestling promoter and former professional wrestler Robert Richard "Bob" O'Reilly, Sr., alongside longtime wrestling promoter William Lauderdale, as International Pro Wrestling, before changing into its current name in 2003.
During most of its existence, IPWX acted as a subsidiary of Big-Time Sports & Entertainment, LLC., who also owned various minor league American football, ice hockey, baseball, basketball and soccer team franchises around the Minnesota area, as well as the short-lived mixed martial arts promotion, Aggressor Combat Championship.
IPWX held live events, television tapings, and pay-per-views primarily in the United States. Initially broadcasting content on syndicated television, IPWX later introduced its flagship television show, Danger Zone, in July 5, 2003, airing weekly on Saturday nights, and eventually on Wednesday nights, where it has remained until the company's closure in 2020.
IPWX has been considered one of the major wrestling promotion in the United States (alongside the WWE, Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and later, All Elite Wrestling). However, due to WWE and AEW's large financial backing and US television deals, IPWX was typically seen as a smaller promotion by comparison.
Due to financial woes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and dwindling viewership because of fresh competition, IPWX has announced that the promotion is closing its doors on August 17, 2020, with the final episode of Danger Zone airing five days before in August 12, 2020.
History[]
Before the inception of what would become IPWX, the last major wrestling federation based in the state of Minnesota was the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association (AWA). Founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo during the territorial days of professional wrestling, the promotion was originally part of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), before becoming an independent promotion in 1960. Following financial troubles as a result of losing most of its main drawing talent to the then-burgeoning World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the AWA would end up folding in 1991.
For most of his career, Robert Richard "Bob" O'Rielly Sr. worked as a wrestler and spent an illustrious career working for various territories and promotions all over the country, and even a stint in All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), from 1968 until his retirement in 1997 due to injuries. During this time, O'Reilly began transitioning into a booker role, working for the creative team of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), until the company's eventual demise in March, 2001, after its assets were sold to the WWF.
O'Reilly had been toying with the idea of starting his own wrestling promotion ever since around 2000, several months before WCW's closure. As soon as WCW closed its doors, O'Reilly realized the gap that had been left for competition against the WWF. And so, with the help of wrestling promoter and longtime friend, William Leander, International Pro Wrestling (IPW) was formed in October, 2001. The next year, on January, 2002, the promotion held its first show at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, which would serve as the promotion's home throughout its early existence.
For most of IPW's early shows, the promotion's shows were mostly held at the Gangelhoff Center. During this time, the promotion ran a weekly syndicated television show on the America One Network, titled Intense TV, beginning in 2002, showcasing various highlight matches from IPW's events. At that point, IPW's roster consisted mostly of established names who had previously worked for other promotions like WCW, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and the WWF (later WWE), as well as some focus on newer talent. IPW kept airing Intense TV on syndicated television up until 2005.
In February 15, 2003, Big-Time Sports & Entertainment, LLC., then known as the owner of various minor league sports teams based on the Minnesota area, purchased a controlling interest (56%) of IPW. With newfound financial backing from a major investor, IPW began to rebrand itself as Intense Pro Wrestling X-Perience (IPWX), and would eventually sign their first cable television deal with Comcast SportsNet, granting them a much larger nationwide exposure in the process.
Logo for the IPWX Danger Zone television show.
On June 29 of that year, IPWX held its very first pay-per-view, Rise Above, at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota. "The Roy", as it is colloquially known, would eventually serve as IPWX's new and permanent home from that point on. The success of the PPV was followed merely days after by the launch of their new flagship cable TV program, Danger Zone, in July 5, 2003.
Danger Zone initially aired on late night Saturdays, before eventually moving to its signature Wednesday night timeslot beginning in December 3 of that same year. With the switch to cable television, IPWX adopted a monthly 3-hour pay-per-view format as previously used by WCW and ECW and as currently used by WWE. In July 27, IPWX aired their second pay-per-view, SummerHeat.
In 2004, IPWX held their first event outside the Minnesota area, with their pay-per-view event, Rise Above, taking place in June 27, at the at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California. With the promotion's newfound popularity, IPWX took on merchandising deals. In September, 2004, Mezco Toyz launched the first line of IPWX action figures, featuring a selection of IPWX's top stars at the time.
The promotion's television contract with Comcast SportsNet would end up expiring in June, 2005 and was not renegotiated, leaving IPWX without major television exposure for several months. During this time, IPWX kept airing the remaining Danger Zone tapings they had via their syndicated program Intense TV, while continuing to pursue a profitable television deal for regular broadcasting.
The company would later end up securing a television deal with FX and would air its first Danger Zone episode on the channel in August 3 of that year. With FX's much wider coverage garnering them even more exposure than ever before, IPWX's popularity rose to greater heights. That same month, IPWX would air its last episode of Intense TV on syndicated television, in preparation of their incoming move to national cable television.
In 2006, IPWX held its first event outside of the United States, with that year's Rise Above pay-per-view taking place at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in June 18 of that year. That same year, IPWX would premiere their secondary weekly TV program Intensity, named in tribute to their original syndicated show. Intensity aired on Sunday nights on FX and served as a B-show to Danger Zone, often ashowcasing matches from the lower-to-upper midcard. On pay-per-view days, Intensity would also air several dark matches that took place during the PPV's pre-show.
During this time, IPWX was riding high off of the successes of several of their homegrown talent, while also signing in name talent that had previously made their name in other promotions like WWE and newly-established competitor Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), as well as burgeoning indie wrestling promotions such as Ring of Honor (ROH), Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) and Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), among many others.
On January, 2007, IPWX announced that they would begin their brand-new touring schedule, taping their weekly shows in different venues all over the United States. The first Danger Zone episode to be held outside of Minnesota aired on March 21 of that year, emanating from the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. That same year, IPWX began a partnership with YouTube, under which IPWX supplied YouTube with exclusive video content in exchange for hosting, leading to the production of internet shows. In May 2, 2007, Danger Zone would also be extended to two hours.
In 2008, the company held its first tour in the United Kingdom, starting with that year's No Limit pay-per-view event taking place at the Wembley Arena in London, England, in April 20, 2008. Also that year, IPWX eschewed pre-taping their shows in favor of airing live episodes of Danger Zone, starting in September 17. Later that year, IPWX conducted a working relationship with Heartland Wrestling Association, serving as the de-facto developmental territory for IPWX up until 2013.
In 2009, IPWX made the transition to 720p High-Definition for the January 14 broadcast of Danger Zone and announced that all future episodes would be broadcast in HD. That year, IPWX held its first event in Japan, with the one-time pay-per-view event, Tokyo Stampede, being held in the legendary Korakuen Hall in Bunkyo, Tokyo, in March 8 of that year. It was a collaboration with Mitsuharu Misawa's Pro Wrestling NOAH wrestling promotion, featuring various talent from both IPWX and NOAH.
2010 and 2011 proved to be some of IPWX's most successful years yet, with the company putting out back to back high profile pay-per-views. In 2010, IPWX introduced their subscription-based video on demand television service, IPWX Wrestling On-Demand, which offered several hours of rotating programming consisting of previous IPWX shows and events, among others. The service lasted until 2014.
In 2011, IPWX signed a licensing deal with the Japanese game publisher ACS to develop a video game based on the promotion, eventually leading to the release of the first IPWX-based video game, IPWX Danger Zone in April 9, 2011 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, with ports for the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS released later that year. The game was developed by Pipeworks Studios, previously known for their various licensed fighting games based on the Godzilla and Deadliest Warrior franchises.
In April 16, 2012, despite various renegotations, the broadcast deal with FX would come to an end, prompting IPWX to start looking for another television deal. Eventually, in May, the company was able to secure a broadcasting deal with AXS TV, with Danger Zone premiering for the channel in May 30 that year.
Despite the multiple setbacks, IPWX continued to put on stellar shows from 2013 to 2014. In 2013, IPWX's parent company, Big Time Sports & Entertainment, LLC., founded a mixed martial arts promotion, Aggressor Combat Championship. ACC ran for only 4 shows before eventually closing down its doors in 2016. This failed venture is seen by many as the start of IPWX's many financial woes to come.
On 2014, following the end of their working relationship with Heartland Wrestling Association, IPWX signed a deal with Ohio Valley Wrestling, fresh off from their stint as a developmenal territory for TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling, to serve as IPWX's new de facto developmental territory. This relationship ended in 2018, due to a pay dispute.
November 20, 2015 saw the company's TV deal with AXS TV expire yet again, prompting the to look for another channel to air Danger Zone on. As they continuously searched for a new TV deal, IPWX temporarily went back to pre-taping shows, streaming the remaining Danger Zone episodes of that year on YouTube. Eventually, they were able to secure a distribution deal with Ion Television, with Danger Zone premiering on the channel in January 13, 2016.
In 2016, cashing in on Japanese puroresu's rise to popularity in North America, IPWX opted to renegotiate a new working deal with Pro Wrestling NOAH, now under the leadership of Akira Taue, having previously worked with the promotion in 2009. In February 7 of that year, the second and last Tokyo Stampede event took place in the Tokyo Dome City Hall, in Bunkyo, Tokyo. As with the previous Tokyo Stampede event, the card features various talent from both IPWX and NOAH.
In 2017, IPWX introducted the Wrestling X-Perience Network, a subscription-based digital streaming service and mobile app which primarily featured content from the IPWX video library, as well as several other affiliated indie promotions. In a similar vein to the WWE Network and Anthem/Impact Wrestling's Global Wrestling Network, the service features several hours of on-demand content at the price of a subscription fee of $7.99 a month. The Wrestling X-Perience Network would end up ceasing operations in early 2020 due to the company's piling financial issues.
The next few years proved to be tough times for IPWX. The promotion slowly lost some of their biggest talent to other promotions and retirement, forcing them to rely on newer, greener talent. In 2017, IPWX had to cease touring and live TV telecasts due to growing costs, prompting a full-time return to the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. In 2018, IPWX ceased distribution of pay-per-views, instead opting to air their supercard events as TV specials.
By 2019, most of their biggest name talent have gone to greater pastures. The introduction of brand new competitor All Elite Wrestling, and its weekly show AEW Dynamite occupying a similar timeslot with Danger Zone only served to cement the company's decline. This all came to a head when the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic began in 2020. With all live events cancelled, IPWX taped episodes of Danger Zone at the Roy, behind closed doors, resulting in a significantly lessened audience.
In July 18, 2020, IPWX cancelled its SummerHeat TV special, originally slated for the 29th, due to dwindling viewership. The next month, in August 12, 2020, IPWX aired the final episode of Danger Zone. Days later, on August 17, 2020, it was announced on IPWX.com that the promotion was closing its doors. Its YouTube channel remains to this day, but has not been updated since its closure. Parent company Big-Time Sports & Entertainment, LLC. would later end up declaring its own bankruptcy as well on October 2, 2020.
Style[]
IPWX's wrestling style encompassed several styles of pro wrestling from all over the world, such as sports entertainment, Southern-style rasslin', puroresu, lucha libre and hardcore wrestling. Many of the talent signed to the promotion are trained primarily in each or all of these styles of wrestling. IPWX featured four separate divisions: the heavyweight division, the cruiserweight division, the tag team division and the Belles (women's) division.
Staple Matches[]
- Last Laugh Match = This match is usually contested within a 60-minute time limit between four or more wrestlers. When a wrestler scores a pinfall or submission, he/she is considered "Safe" and is then confined to the "Safe Zone", a plexiglass booth situated outside the ring, where they are kept from competing up until another wrestler scores a pinfall or submission, after which the other wrestler replaces the previous one in the Safe Zone, and the previous wrestler has to compete with the rest once again to get a pin or submission and be Safe once again. Trying to escape the Safe Zone at any point grants a DQ and their Safe status is rendered void. Whoever scores the last pinfall or submission before the time runs out wins the match. DQ and countout rules apply, unless stated otherwise.
- Quarantine Cage Match = This match is usually contested between two or more wrestlers. The ring is surrounded by a regular-sized, open-roof steel cage, within a larger cage that covers most of the ringside area. To make things much more fair for the losing wrestler, the door in the smaller cage would automatically be opened upon the first successful escape, giving the losing wrester an opportunity to thwart his/her opponent's escape. Whoever escapes the two cages wins the match. DQ rules do not apply.
- Quarantine Chamber of Pain Match = A slight variation of the Quarantine Cage, combined with elements from the the Chamber of Pain match (below), where the second cage is surrounded by various weapons hanging from the cage walls, which the wrestlers are able to use at their disposal. All other rules are the same as with the regular Quarantine Cage match.
- Chamber of Pain Match = This match is usually contested between two or more wrestlers. The ring is surrounded by a regular-sized, open-roof steel cage, with the cage being surrounded by various weapons hanging from the walls, which the wrestlers are able to use at their disposal. Whoever escapes the cage first wins the match, though the Ultimate Chamber of Pain variation disregards escape rules altogether and only allows for victory via pinfall or submission. DQ rules do not apply.
- Faction War = This match is usually contested between four teams of three or more wrestlers. Each faction consists of one captain and two or more lackeys. The match operates in elimination tag rules, where losing by pinfall or submission would lead to the opponent being eliminated from the match. Eliminating a captain would cause the entire team to be eliminated, regardless of how many team lackeys are left. Whoever is the last team standing wins the match. DQ rules apply, unless stated otherwise.
- Gauntlet for Glory = This match is usually contested between 25 wrestlers. The match starts with two wrestlers in the ring, and a new wrestler enters every 90 seconds, a process that repeats on and on until all 25 wrestlers have entered the ring. Wrestlers are eliminated via pinfall or submission. Whoever is the last man standing wins the match. DQ and countout rules do not apply, but eliminations have to be done inside the ring.
Roster and Alumni[]
Main article: List of former Intense Pro Wrestling X-Perience alumni
Championships[]
In its inception, IPWX held four respective titles for each of their divisions: The IPWX World Heavyweight Championship, the IPWX Tag Team Championship, the IPWX Cruiserweight Championship' and the IPWX Belles' Championship. In 2006, the IPWX North American Championship was introduced as a secondary title to the World Championship. Soon after, in 2011, the IPWX World Television Championship was introduced, which has to be defended every week. In 2017, the IPWX Belles' Tag Team Championship was introduced, as part of IPWX's expansion of their Belles roster.
Final Champions[]
| Championship | Final Champion(s) | Previous | Date Won | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPWX World Heavyweight Championship | Jeff Cobb | Eli Drake | June 10th, 2020 | St. Paul, Minnesota |
| IPWX North American Championship | Elijah Burke | Jonathan Gresham | June 10th, 2020 | St. Paul, Minnesota |
| IPWX World Television Championship | Matt Taven | Matt Sydal | June 10th,
2020 |
St. Paul, Minnesota |
| IPWX Cruiserweight Championship | Lio Rush | Alex Shelley | June 10th, 2020 | St. Paul, Minnesota |
| IPWX Tag Team Championship | The Rascalz | The Briscoe Brothers | February 26th, 2020 | St. Paul, Minnesota |
| IPWX Belles' Championship | Thunder Rosa | Ivelisse | March 4th, 2020 | St. Paul, Minnesota |
| IPWX Belles' Tag Team Championship | Team Sea Stars | Las Sicarias | February 26th, 2020 | St. Paul, Minnesota |
Programming[]
Television[]
- IPW Intense TV / IPWX Intense TV (2002-2005)
- America One Network (2002-2005)
- IPWX Danger Zone (2003-2020)
- Comcast SportsNet (2003-2005)
- FX (2005-2012)
- AXS TV (2012-2015)
- Ion Television (2016-2020)
- IPWX Intensity (2006-2020)
Pay-Per-View Schedule[]
- January: Awakening
- February: Critical Point
- March: Inescapable
- April: No Limit
- May: Path to Glory
- June: Rise Above
- July: SummerHeat
- August: Riot!
- September: Full Force
- October: Vendetta
- November: Brawl of Champions
- December: Red Alert
Former Pay-Per-View Events[]
- Relentless (2003-2004)
- CyberChaos (2005-2007)
- Tokyo Stampede (2009, 2016)