History of ICW

History

A long time ago in a dorm room far away...

The story of ICW is long and confusing. There are plot-holes the size of Asia. Some of the characters don't even really exist. In fact, the whole thing started out as a game...literally.

Tony Sadowski and Ed Moorhouse (Icons 02 and 01, respectively) created video game likenesses of themselves using the character editor in "WWF Smackdown: Just Bring It" for PS2. In college, they'd play constantly, and using this tag team, they had a bit more fun making up matches and fake rivalries with both real wrestlers, and created monsters such as Lucifer and Daymian Payne. In fact the legend of ICW starts back in the WWF...

Tony and Ed were jobbers on Heat, until they were paired together in a tag team with the "Icons" gimmick (cocky faces who the fans grew to like) and started a series of wins good enough for a promotion to Monday Night Raw. Feuding with the Paynes on Raw for a good while, the Icons proved themselves to be the most popular Superstars to come out of Vince's promotion since the Rock or even Steve Austin.

But over time, the Icons got too big for themselves. With the coming of "WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth" for PS2 and the promise of brand divisions possible, Icon 02 hatched a diabolical scheme to conquer the wrestling world.

Winning the WWE Heavyweight Championship and becoming a total power-hungry monster, he fooled Vince McMahon into a battle for total control of the WWE. Tony won, and Ed was falling further and further down the card, losing constantly to worse and worse wrestlers. Tony decided to give Ed one last chance to win back his reputation and keep his job, and the two Icons put on a great match, which Tony ultimately won. He was so impressed with the heart his old friend showed, he let him stay in the federation and offered Ed (and Adam) a chance to join him in ruling the wrestling world.

Ed and Adam agreed, much to the displeasure of the fans, and with a color change (from the old black and blue to a red and yellow) and the addition of Icon 04, a hulking, silent, masked high-flier named "Nightmare," the Icons were bigger and badder than ever. But Tony had one final scheme he hadn't told anyone about that would revolutionize the wrestling world and put McMahon out of business once and for all...and with the Icons all in on it, it was inevitable.

In exchange for control of the WWE, Vince was forced to sign over ownership of WCW to his son, Shane McMahon, who was a great ally of the Icons, wanting to see wrestling flourish again instead of languishing under his father's decreasing vision.

Shane and the Icons re-tooled the federation, creating ICW, or Icon Championship Wrestling. Debuting the plan for ICW at Wrestlemania, a clause allowed the Icons to hire Vince's Superstars right out from under him, and ICW Monday Night Revolution and Thursday Night Vengeance were born the next night, where Raw and Smackdown would usually have aired. A draft decided who would appear on which brand of ICW, and many surprises took place at this event.

Tony/02 controlled Revolution, while Ed/01 took care of Vengeance. All 4 Icons could appear on both shows, but their wrestlers were TOTALLY brand-specific, and could only be traded at the end of the business year (in a Year-End Exchange).

Revolution ruled the ratings, whomping the shakey Vengeance for many months, but Vengeance picked up and started to make a comeback following a great showing on the highest-rated wrestling PPV of all-time, ICW: Total Warfare, a type of ICW Wrestlemania, in which all of the champions from both shows compete for, basically, bragging rights for their brands.

Revolution won more matches at TW, but Ed won a special Icon Challenge, in which all 3 Icons and the recently-turned heel "Nightmare/04" fought to end an amazing night.

The first year of ICW was a tremendous success, and wrestling had once again picked up momentum lost under Vince's rule. Vince even returned and ousted Tony as Chairman of Revolution at one point, naming HHH champ and beating-down 02 until he could find a way to win his title back. Foreshadowing, anyone?

After the Year-End Exchange, the Four Horsemen appeared on Revolution, Vengeance took many of Revolution's top wrestlers, and Tony found himself out of a job again.

This time, Adam/03 had teamed up with new Icon 04, Erica, to take over ICW-R and re-energize the federation that was now, finally, on equal ground with Vengeance.

03 and 04 reinvented Revolution, debuting it as ICW: Explosion, with a new set, theme...everything. Explosion was bigger, louder, better than anything before, and 02 retired in shame...much to the dismay of the fans, who were still largely supportive of the "Big Shot."

However, Explosion took wrestling to new heights, and continues to do so every edition! Erica's incredible work with the Angels Division strengthened the show, and put women's wrestling on the map again.

Vengeance, under the rule of the now-heel Ed/01 and his face co-Chairwoman, Stephanie McMahon, was hot on its heels, after a new coat of paint and a re-launch as ICW: Aggression.

The brands had become completely separate financially, so ratings and money do matter, it's not all under one roof anymore, fiscally.

And there's a lot of money to be had. Tony re-emerged, teaming with former rival Vince McMahon to launch a competing brand...ICW Chaos. The show featured unused and underappreciated talent taken from Explosion, Aggression and beyond. Its extreme style, combined with hungry talent that now had a chance to shine, made Chaos a threat to Explosion and Aggression in a few short weeks.

But 02 and Vinnie Mac had bigger ideas. Though Chaos bears the "ICW" name, it was really an independent venture funded by Vince. Tony convinced ICW CEO Melissa Johnson to license the ICW name in exchange for a promise that Tony and Vince would not expand their federation in a way that would damage ICW.

The thing about 02 and Vince is...they lie. With help from an elite foursome known as the Enforcers (Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, Tajiri and Infinity), the two had Adam savagely beaten and forceably took control of Explosion!

With help from Erica Kowal, Shane McMahon, and even Stephanie and Triple H on Aggression, the new regime has infected ICW with the goal of spreading "chaos" and reinventing wrestling once again, according to their vision.

Ed Moorhouse returned to Explosion, only to find that Tony and Vince had no place for him in the "new ICW," and he disappeared into the shadows again. Meanwhile, Melissa secretly met with a new management team, meant to foil the work of those who have risen to power.

Adam Laskowski was revealed as the new Chief of Operations, second-in-command to Ms. Johnson, replacing the fired Shane McMahon. Reporting directly to him are the Vice Presidents of Wrestling Operations: Ric Flair on Explosion and Stacy Keibler on Aggression (joined by Special Enforcer Mick Foley).

Now, the battle for the future of ICW is underway. The Sadowski-McMahon Regime is a ruthless gang that will stop at nothing to bring about their Master Plan for ICW, while Melissa, Adam and resistant groups like the Dark Icons (formed by former Icon 04 Nightmare and the Paynes) chip away at this seemingly unbeatable force.

It's truly the next Wrestling War, and millions of fans tune in each month to the regular episodes and PPV specials that keep them guessing constantly and never seem to disappoint. ICW Chaos, instead of PPV's, offers Free-Per-Views every fourth episode on regular cable, with PPV-caliber matches and huge surprises.

And that's the ABRIDGED story of ICW.

ICW is the property of Tony Sadowski and Ed Moorhouse.