{"id":114241,"date":"2022-06-28T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=114241"},"modified":"2022-06-27T21:14:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T01:14:00","slug":"combat-zone-wrestling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/06\/28\/combat-zone-wrestling\/","title":{"rendered":"CZW: The Renaissance of Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">To any outsider, independent wrestling is just developmental for <strong>WWE<\/strong> or <strong>AEW<\/strong>. A real fan will tell you that independent wrestling is an art form that many try to perfect, but few do it right. It is unlike anything you will see on television and that is what makes it special. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">In today\u2019s industry, you can\u2019t throw a stone without hitting<\/span> <span style=\"font-size: medium;\">an <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">independent wrestling compan<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">y. T<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">here <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">are<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> however certain names that <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">have <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">stood above the rest <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">over the years<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. One such name is <strong>Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"21st anniversary trailer\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sEF18Z9lRbg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>A Brief History of Combat Zone Wrestling<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">CZW was born in a simpler time, way back in 1998, by <strong>John<\/strong> <strong>Zandig<\/strong> <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">in Philadelphia<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. Its goal was to create a company that filled a specific need. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">While <strong>ECW<\/strong> was still running a<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">t the time, the writing was on the wall, the end of ECW was right around the corner and Zandig wanted to keep hardcore wrestling alive with CZW being dubbed \u201cUltraviolent\u201d. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Essentially, he did not want the end of ECW to spell the end of deathmatches, and boy did he ever achieve that. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">However, what needs to be remembered here is that CZW was never strictly deathmatches. It may be what most people think of when they hear those letters, but they have always been much more than that. They have always featured high flying, strong style, technical and comedy wrestling. If there is a form of wrestling out there, CZW did it and they did it with style.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">This company that started with Zandig, five students, and a trainer grew to massive heights over the years and has forged many of the careers you see now. Names like <strong>Mia<\/strong> <strong>Yim<\/strong>, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Swerve Strickland<\/strong>, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Drew<\/strong> <strong>Gulak<\/strong>, <strong>Sami Callihan,<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Eddie Kingston<\/strong>, <strong>Mercedes Martinez,<\/strong> <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Nick Gage, The Briscoes, Jon Moxley, Adam<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Cole<\/strong> (<strong>Bay<\/strong> <strong>Bay<\/strong>) and so many others have come through the Combat Zone and gone on to have <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">outstanding<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> careers after their time in Combat Zone Wrestling.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"#CZW FREE MATCH: Griffin McCoy vs Fred Yehi - CZW Renaissance of Tradition\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rX37E0382F8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>The <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;\">Renaissance<\/span> of Tradition<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">CZW may not have been on your mind since before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">You may think that their last show was in March of 2020, headlined by <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">current <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">NXT star <strong>Joe<\/strong> <strong>Gacy<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Fast forward to October of 2021. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">It was time for a triumphant return to the squared circle and to the world of independent wrestling<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">It was time for <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">the Renaissance of Tradition.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The show\u2019s main event was <strong>Griffin<\/strong> <strong>McCoy<\/strong>, who fans will remember from <strong>Young Dumb and Broke<\/strong>, vs. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">one of the best wrestlers on the independent scene, <strong>Fred<\/strong> <strong>Yehi<\/strong>. It was a great way to get eyes on the product and remind fans who CZW was, but really, the card was stacked top to bottom. There were guys from CZW\u2019s past as well as people who had been growing their name on the independent scene for a while. This was truly a kickoff to the new vision of the Combat Zone and it would only get better as the months moved on.<br \/>\nThey finished out 2021 with a couple more shows coming out of their studio in Blackwood, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">New Jersey<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. These shows <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">did a great job introducing new characters, reintroducing returning wrestlers, and building up storylines<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. To them, wrestling is as much about the feuds and the stories as it is the matches themselves and the first few shows did a <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">phenomenal<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> job <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">reminding fans<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">what wrestling should be and what the new vision of CZW is going to be.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Starting in January <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">of 2022<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, they added a second monthly show to their schedule. The first weekend of every month, the roster heads down to Havre de Grace, Maryland and presents CZW Limelight. Maryland is uncharted territory for the company, but unlike New Jersey <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">which is littered with independent promotions<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, there are only a few other wrestling options in the state which brings a huge opportunity to their doorstep. Not only d<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">o<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">two<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> shows per month give more opportunity to everyone on the roster, but it gives more time to build and develop stories and characters. Not to mention the fact that the company is now being exposed to a brand new audience.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"#CZW FREE MATCH : Mariah May vs Zoey Skye - CZW All Night Long 3\/27\/22\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hzr5gkRv6PQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>What&#8217;s Next for CZW?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">One thing that long-time fans will notice is that CZW has not brought back the deathmatch style that so many associate with the company. Have no fear you deathmatch fans, Ultraviolent Underground (UVU) will be returning in the near future. The main difference is that UVU will now be a separate brand of the company. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">A<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">ttending some of the shows since the return of CZW, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">it is great to see <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">fans <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">that<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> include families with <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">their <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">children. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">This<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> shows <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">that<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> the company has plans to make an effort to reach new and old fans alike.<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Having the brands broken up makes the question of \u201ccan I bring my kids to this\u201d a little less difficult to answer. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">There is even a four-year-old girl who can be heard cheering and booing louder than anyone and can always be seen hanging out with the wrestlers during intermission and after the shows. She is clearly a huge fan and the locker room has taken her in as one of their own.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">So there you have it, folks, the Combat Zone is not dead. Not by a long shot actually. They have returned in a strong way adding notable names such as <strong>Rich<\/strong> <strong>Swann<\/strong> and <strong>Lince<\/strong> <strong>Dorado<\/strong> to their roster of newer an<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">d<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> returning <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">wrestlers<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> such as <strong>The Rep <\/strong><\/span><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">(Nate Wallace and Dave McCall)<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Rayo, CMD (Desean Pratt and Boom Harden), Action Andretti, Miami Mike Walker, Prolific (Tyree Taylor, Marcus Marquee and Is<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">a<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">iah Wolf) Griffin McCoy, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Eran Ashe,<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Vinny Talotta, <\/span><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Fred Yehi and many more. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">They have also begun rebuilding the women\u2019s division with names like <strong>Ruthless Lala, Zoey Skye, and Trish Adora.<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">I highly recommend making the trip to Blackwood and\/or Havre de Grace so you can experience the Renaissance of Tradition first hand why Combat Zone Wrestling is like nothing else!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Keep up with all things Combat Zone Wrestling on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.czwrestling.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a> and social media.\u00a0 Stay tuned to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To any outsider, independent wrestling is just developmental for WWE or AEW. A real fan will tell you that independent wrestling is an art form that many try to perfect, but few do it right. It is unlike anything you will see on television and that is what makes it special. In today\u2019s industry, you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4224,"featured_media":114307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[294],"class_list":["post-114241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-america","tag-czw"],"modified_by":"Dominic Padula","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}