When you think of the best moments in sport you instantly think of the athletes who accomplished incredible feats or the plays that have been etched in your memory. Weather was Babe Ruth’s home run record, Michael Jordan’s championship clinching with a last second jump shot against the Utah Jazz, the 1972 Dolphins going undefeated in the NFL, Sunny/Ali this and many other moments live forever in the annals of sports history. However it’s not always just about the players or the plays that live on, rarely and I do mean extremely rarely sometimes it’s the place where these moments and these players played that is more famous than they are. There was one arena in particular, the world’s most famous arena……….Madison Square Garden.
Just uttering those words conjures up some of the best memories in all of sports, for any athletes, in any sport that is capable of being housed inside those hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden that is the dream. Once again the WGWF is proud to share in that dream, the leader in the world of Pro-Wrestling for the fourth consecutive year will once again be hosting its “BIGGEST EVENT” of the summer in NYC and more so for the second time “Summer Madness” will be held within those hallowed halls, in front of some of the BEST wrestling fans the world over inside Madison Square Garden.
In fact this year 2014 actually marks the seven year anniversary when the WGWF & NYC began a relationship that has provided the backdrop of some of the greatest moments in Federation history. At one point in time the WGWF was reduced to a regional organization, based out of Los Angeles California the WGWF hardly ventured away from the West Coast. After a successful 2007 “Spring Slugfest” from Toronto Canada. Then owner Adam Barker along with his co-owner Matt Hopkins decided it was time to take things to the next level, to take the WGWF to a city in which if it could make it there, then they could make it anywhere.
So it was announced that on September 24, 2007 that the next PPV extravaganza “Caged In” would indeed take place inside the famed Madison Square Garden. It was a risk but on this night the reward far outweighed any risk ever thought possible, because on this night the main event would capture the hearts and minds of not only New York wrestling fans, not only American wrestling fans, not only North American wrestling fans but the entire globe. MDK and Chris Page would headline the event as they engaged in a 60 min war for the richest prize in the game today. It was then after the match had ended despite being a draw both of these men received a standing ovation from a sold out MSG and for Adman Barker in the company as a whole it was a standing ovation that yes the WGWF has made it. In fact “Summer Madness” isn’t the only PPV to have ever taken place inside the garden, two others including 07 “Caged In” & “ 2010 “Autumn Apocalypse” also took place within the garden which featured the highly anticipated rematch two years in the making as Adman Barker battled Chris Page to even the score, as well as some monumental Monday night Brawl’s. Perhaps the most significant in history was the brawl before the biggest night in WGWF history, “WrestleWars VI” arguably the greatest “WrestleWars” of all time featuring six main event caliber matches.
"MDK vs CCP" rivialry began @ the Garden
Monday February 21st 2011 might have been one of the coldest days on record but inside that sold-out Madison Square Garden it was on Inferno of absolute excitement as WGWF stars prepared for the big show. Including Chris page who was on his then” retirement tour” face some of the best in ring talent ahead of his main event match, as well as the highly anticipated meeting of the three main avengers including Camden, T-Money and Vega$ would face off before competing in the main event for the worlds title but perhaps the most significant events of the evening revolved around in the ever better personal rivalry between the “Child Killer” Paul Frost and at that point Hunter Ryan. After months of verbal, psychological and physical warfare the stage was set for these two to end it all at the grandest stage. The week before Hunter’s real life wife fell victim to an unforeseen accidental death which happen to take place as she was participating in the storyline. Not only did Paul Frost use that death to generate him some of the worst real life “heat” ever experienced but it would be of that moment inside the garden when Hunter’s music hit & the two stood nose to nose as the announcement their match for the first time in “WrestleWars” history would take place inside the Hell in the Cell READ
HIAC between Frost/Hunter annouced @ the Garden on Brawl
Arguably though it’s been WGWF’s “Summer Madness” a PPV that has become the staple of the relationship between New York & the WGWF. For some members of the WGWF universe “Summer Madness” is actually the PPV they enjoy MORE than “WrestleWars” since 2011 the summer time extravaganza has been based out of the New York area, from both Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. Both backdrops have offered the springboard for some of the greatest matches, moments and rivalries within sports entertainment. The twin towers are certainly represented in spirit when it comes to “Summer Madness” which has feature some of the very best tag team matches in recent memory, from the Ryan’s (Nick & Hunter) defending their gold against Raven & Gambino in a must see match READ , all the way to the invention of the first ever tag team turmoil contest which saw nine teams including the legendary team of “Rizzoko” (Rizza & Tomoko) battle one another for the chance to walk away champion.
NYC seems to be a breeding ground of for extreme and hard-core matches, in the history of “Summer Madness” there have been OVER ten different matches that have featured some sort of the stipulation which favors the use of anything that’s not nailed down. A great example of this was from 2011 when Kenny radical and Alyssa Ferro engaged in a New York City ballpark Street fight within the Yankees Stadium, alongside that last years of Jonathan cable versus Tristan Slater New York City Street fight. And this year for the first time ever a New York City parking lot brawl between lunacy and Tristan Slater promises to up the violence and blood levels to the absolute extreme.
Speaking about extreme or in this case extreme is spelt “XWF”, the infamous war between it to federations actually began at the 2012 edition of ‘Summer Madness” in two key match up’s spurned on by two men in particular. The first was the call main events of that evening which saw the ‘Child Killer” Paul Frost who after weeks of verbally bashing former XWF stars who had come to the WGWF in the form of his now infamous “Frost in Concert” series, Mr. Frost fought one of the Xdub and the WGWF’s BEST stars of all time the “King of Hate” T-Money in an absolutely classic clash of icons in this industry READ
Then of course you have the first ever team war between the federations as Tristan Slater led his team of XWF invaders consisting of the Joseph Page and Tax who would be relentless against the WGWF front line which featured Chris Page, John Gambino and Tomoko Hanahara. The six would bring of the ballpark to its knees in a fantastic tag team event which was only the beginning of the war which was finally to settle the score only a few months later. Settling scores seems to be the premise of “Summer Madness” back in 2012 of the lengthy, lethal and a legendary war between the “Nature Boy” Ric Fleihr and Terry Borden finally came to a head with appearances by some of this industry is best stars of yesterday.
Perhaps the best and most enduring legacy of the “BIGGEST EVENT” of the summer is that “Summer Madness” is the stage to make history. Back in 2011 the year of a certain female superstar, a trailblazer, unasked kicker and most of all a Hall of Famer Jocelyn Camden was indeed riding high away the popularity and historical significance never before seen in the WGWF. Becoming the first woman ever to win not only the Intercontinental title, not only winning an elimination chamber match most importantly the world’s heavyweight championship. That year she would be slated to face Chris Page in the main event which featured for only the second time in Federation history the return of a 60 minutes iron man match up to take place within the hell in the cell. Thus making history once again becoming the first woman ever to compete in the hellish structure READ
Another first and perhaps an overlooked event given the card of 2012 was the long-awaited and highly anticipated match between James Raven and Star who continue to follow in Camden’s footsteps making it the consecutive year a woman found herself in the main event and defending the worlds title but that night was all about James Raven and his desire to once again become the best this business has to offer.
Although for all its spectacular and successful moments “Summer Madness” has a somber side to it as it has been the final resting place for the once active and prestigious WGWF Intercontinental championship which met its end back at the 2013 edition of the event. In the main event which saw Zach Rizza the last ever Intercontinental champion challenge the world heavyweight champion Kyle Shane in a title for title unification match. Yes the WGWF was about to have its first ever undisputed champion. With inside the walls of the hell in the cell of these two men went toe for toll and blow for blow in a match that needs to be seen to be believed as the Intercontinental title went down in an absolute blaze of glory READ
So was so much history behind the name it’s no wonder why “Summer Madness” is heralded as one of thee if not the must-see Pay Per View of the year. The 2014 edition continues to follow in the legacy paid by the other “Madness” events, with the first encounter between “Nick Ryan/Paul Frost, a parking lot brawl, a TLC Tag Team Title match, the return of Jocelyn Camden, Connolly/Felix, battle of the Ex’s and the ongoing rivalry of Tax/Shane.
All eyes though will be on the double main event, what has been billed as “THREE MEN”, “TWO MATCHES”, “ONE CHAMPION”. For the first time in Federation history the worlds title will be on the line it twice in one night with back-to-back main events, Chris Page will open the night inside a steel cage defending his title against Hunter in a match that MUST have a winner, the winner will then defendant that title in the main event against arguably the hottest superstar in recent memory Mic Ferrari.
Although it may seem like the odds are stacked against the champion it should be noted that in WGWF’s relationship with Madison Square Garden that never has the world’s title ever changed hands from champion to challenger. In 2007 it was a 60 minute draw the us the champion retained his title, 2010 saw a disqualification caused by the champion thus the challenger won the match the title never changed hands and in 2013 the champion successfully defended his title and unified the Intercontinental title with it.
NYC "Street Fight" @ SM 11
Summer Madness 2011
Tag Team Turmoil 2012
The WAR between XWF/WGWF began @ Summer Madness'12
History made @ Madness '11 with Camden in the main event
In fact for the champion at least in the first match, Chris Page could be argued as Mr. “Summer Madness” for the simple fact he is undefeated (07,11,12) in fact his only two blemishes came at the 2010 addition in which he once again found himself WGWF Champion defending his title in a fatal four way which saw Paul Frost pinned John Stone to take the title away from Page, CCP was NEVER involved in the decision and in 2013 with some help Christian Connolly was able to defeat CCP despite that, I would say he’s the odds on favorite. Especially when you factor in that of this year’s edition of “Summer Madness” see Hunter’s SECOND appearance ever, that being said he is undefeated successfully defending his tag team title back in 2011 but he is unproven in singles competition that doesn’t mean you can’t win it just means we haven’t seen it yet and the last piece of information is Mic Ferrari ONLY has one victory back in 2011, will he sizzle out or will Mic leave with the BIGGEST win of his career the WGWF Championship?
Or perhaps a certain “Masters of the Mat” may really make history at the end of the night, after all Felix does have the contract after all. So will history repeat itself and the World Title NOT change hands within the garden or will it change hands once, twice or even three times? You CAN’T miss out on WGWF’s “Summer Madness” 2014 coming your way Aug 25th from a sold out Madison Square Garden, order the PPV RIGHT NOW!!!
-Derrick Diamond