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The History of the International Wrestling Syndicate... Continued...

Sexxxy Eddy's notoriety led to increased opportunities for IWS wrestlers to perform in the United States as Eddy offered to fill his car with IWS wrestlers for bookings with American promotions like JAPW and CZW. At a JAPW show, El Generico and Kevin Steen met and befriended California wrestler Super Dragon. This resulted in an invitation to become part of California's top promotion, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

The IWS held its Fifth Anniversary show called V on June 15th, 2004 at le SPAG a former swimming pool. The wrestling ring on the bottom of the empty swimming pool and the fans surrounding the ring both inside and outside the empty swimming pool gave the event a dramatic feel. Many IWS fans consider this venue the best that the IWS has ever had. V featured the surprise dramatic return to wrestling of Sid Eudy aka Sid Vicious who had been sidelined since breaking his leg in a gruesome injury during the 2001 WCW pay-per-view Sin. El Generico won the IWS title, beating PCO, but immediately lost it to Kevin Steen. Earlier in the show, Kevin had beaten his long-time rival EXesS earning the right to challenge for the title any time he wanted. The show was filmed for broadcast for pay-per-view in Canada, airing as the fifth episode of Pro Wrestling Superstars. The IWS became the first Canadian wrestling promotion to have its own pay-per-view. Not shown on the pay per view was Beef Wellington's historic match against a bear.

At a spot show called Mid-Summer Madness, July 2nd, 2004, put on by Marc le Grizzly, Kevin Steen defended his IWS title in a twenty minute draw against the ROH champion Samoa Joe.

Smart Mark Video began filming IWS events with Freedom to Fight 2004 on September 25th, 2004 with the IWS' return to Unison. This led to a rupture between Aaron Weiss and the IWS. Weiss demanded exclusivity for the IWS footage to show on PPV. Smart Mark Video did not ask for exclusivity. Since sales of IWS DVDs with Smart Marks Video were so brisk that the IWS made more money in one month with Smart Mark Video than they had in six months on pay-per-view, it was an easy choice to make.

The arrival of Mike Burns and Smart Mark Video also inadvertently got the IWS dragged into the middle of a promotional war between John Zandig’s CZW and Johnny Cashmere and Trent Acid’s Pro Wrestling Unplugged, both based in Philadelphia. When Sexxxy Eddy had been injured during CZW’s Tournament of Death, it was Trent Acid who found Eddy and the other IWS stars traveling with him a place to stay for an extra night. In gratitude, Manny invited Trent Acid to come to Montreal for Body Count 2004, August 21, 2004. Manny planned to make Trent Acid a regular part of the IWS shows. When the promotional war between CZW and PWU erupted, Manny tried to keep the IWS neutral, but when Johnny Kashmere was attacked outside his home, Trent Acid vowed on his hotline to attack Mike Burns in Montreal in retaliation. Manny had no choice but to inform Trent Acid that his Montreal privileges had been revoked.

Another relationship that fell casualty to the new relationship between the IWS and Smart Mark Video was the one between the Arsenal and PCP Crazy F'N Manny. Derek Arsenault aka the Arsenal had been the IWS video editor and objected to the presence of Smart Mark Video, saying that he had never been given the proper support to edit the IWS DVDs in a timely manner. Manny was irritated by these complaints, but outraged that the Arsenal would break kayfabe by making the complaints in public on message boards like CZWfans. Manny fired the Arsenal backstage during Freedom to Fight 2004, but not before collecting the highlight reel that the Arsenal had prepared to play before the show. Word of the Arsenal’s firing soon spread among IWS fans. Manny decided to announce it publicly at Seasons Beatings 2004, December 18th, 2004, turning heel in the process. By the time that Manny admitted that he had fired The Arsenal in public, he had already decided to allow the Arsenal to return to the IWS roster although the Arsenal was described as fired for storyline purposes for some time to come.

In a follow-up show to Mid-Summer Madness called New Year's Madness, Kevin Steen, no longer the IWS champion fought and lost to ROH champion Austin Aries. Kevin Steen became the first wrestler to fight for the ROH title twice before ever wrestling in an ROH show.

International Wrestling Syndicate

As 2005 began, the IWS found itself looking for a new home, forced to cancel its January show at Unison when the new owners of the bar made outrageous last minute monetary demands of the promotion. The IWS tried to move the event to the downtown bar "Le Dome", but concerns of the structural integrity of the floor of the second storey bar made that impossible. The IWS found a new home at Bar le Break with Breakout 2005, March 5th, 2005. IWS champion Franky the Mobster defended his IWS title against CZW champion Ruckus in a rare inter-promotional title fight. During Breakout 2005 the IWS announced that it was changing its name from the Internet Wrestling Syndicate to the International Wrestling Syndicate to better reflect its new international presence with IWS DVDs being sold around the world, IWS stars touring all over the world and the IWS being invited to put on a show in Philadelphia as part of a CZW/IWS doubleheader.

The IWS returned to the Medley for Un F'N Sanctioned 2005, March 26th, 2005. Super Dragon and Chris Hero were featured as guest stars. This became to this point, the IWS best drawing show and fans immediately began arguing whether this show or Un F'N Sanctioned 2003 was the best IWS show ever. The balcony dive tradition continued as both the Arsenal and the Evil Ninja leapt off the balcony during the Fans Bring the Weapons Match. Manny started a tradition that will probably never be repeated when a TV was dropped on his head during the match. Kevin Steen tried to regain his IWS title against his former bodyguard, Franky the Mobster, but failed when Damian dramatically interfered late in the match. The ensuing feud between Kevin Steen and Damian, sparked by Damian’s jealousy over Kevin Steen’s Japanese tour was voted the 2005 Quebec feud of the year and their two matches were voted as the two best Quebec matches of 2005.

The IWS became the first Canadian promotion invited to perform at the historic ECW Arena, Viking Hall, in Philadelphia putting on Freedom to Fight 2005, July 9th, 2005, an experience that Manny compared to "being like a musician being invited to perform at Carnegie Hall." The IWS took advantage of the facility to put on the very first IWS cage match which saw Sexxxy Eddy beat Franky the Mobster, the Arsenal and the Evil Ninja to become the IWS champion for the fourth time.

Upon returning to Montreal, the IWS launched a new Extreme Dream tournament to crown an IWS Canadian champion. Despite only making his IWS debut in May, Ontario high-flyer Chris Bishop, the Aerial Assassin, impressed both IWS fans and management on his way to becoming the first IWS Canadian champion.

On September 3rd, 2005, the IWS travelled to Gatineau, Quebec just across the river from Ottawa, Ontario, the capital of Canada to present a double-header, the Syndicate Invitational which featured the best non-IWS wrestlers from Quebec, Ontario and Philadelphia and Hardcore Heat 2005 which featured IWS stars. CZW star Sabian stole the show in both.

As 2005 progressed, it became apparent that one of the promotions new difficulties was the popularity of its stars. El Generico and Kevin Steen were (and are) both in such high demand that it became difficult to coordinate their schedule with that of the IWS. Their absence did allow other IWS wrestlers to grab the spotlight, dramatically so in the case of Viking and Max Boyer who tore the house down during a match against each other at Season’s Beatings 2005, December 3rd, 2005. During the same show, the team of Damian and Beef Wellington were scheduled to face the fan favourite jobber team of the Rock N’ Cock Express, Twiggy and Pornstar Juan. In storyline terms, it was explained that El Generico and Kevin Steen had accepted a booking in California to avoid the harsh Quebec winter and to avoid the harsh team of Damian and Beef. The two frustrated stars began the match by inviting Juan and Twiggy to hit them as hard as they could. In the ensuing stiff-fest Juan had his jaw broken in two places.

Blaming Manny for the injury to Juan, Twiggy and Beef began a feud against Manny that brought Manny temporarily out of retirement for a match against Twiggy at Know Your Enemies 2006, March 11th, 2006. When Beef and a returning Juan helped Twiggy win, an outraged Manny challenged Beef to the annual Fans Bring the Weapons match at the Medley for Un F’N Sanctioned 2006, June 3rd, 2006. Manny chose the IWS champion EXesS as his partner; Beef, after a long and funny selection process on Bloodstream, eventually recruited EXesS’ chief challenger for his title, Viking. The feus between EXesS and Viking was voted Quebec feud of the year for 2005.

During the build toUn F’N Sanctioned 2006, the IWS changed venues again, moving to Bogey’s World with Praise the Violence 2006, January 28th, 2006. The split with Le Break was amicable however and the IWS returned to do Breakout 2006 there, July 8th, 2006. At first, the IWS was sharing the venue with the CWA promotion, but when CWA owner Andy Rosetti folded the promotion in the fall of 2006, the IWS became the only promotion to put on shows there.

PCO and the Green Phantom’s feud, which had seen the two men butting heads off and on since Season’s Beatings 2004, December 18th, 2004, came to a boiling point during Know Your Enemies 2006, March 11th, 2006, in a match where the Green Phantom and PCO were partners against “Paranoid” Jake Matthews and Tomassino. The Green Phantom and special guest referee Dru Onyx, making his first appearance in the IWS in more than two years, both attacked PCO. He challenged the two heavyweights tio a match at Un F’N Sanctioned 2006, June 3rd, 2006, and recruited as his partner hardcore wrestling legend Sabu. This appearance by Sabu was one of his last appearances on the independent wrestling circuit, happening just two days before his re-debut on Raw for the WWE. During the match at the Medley, PCO continued the Medley balcony dive tradition by throwing the Green Phantom off the balcony.

Freedom to Fight 2006, June 17th, 2006 saw the IWS return to Gatineau. Once again presented as part of a double-header, the afternoon show was put on by the IWS’ retarded step-brother Inter-Species Wrestling, a fed that draws its inspiration from promotions like Japan’s DDT, and US promotions like Chikara, and Kaiju Big Battle, not to mention the career of the IWS’ most colourful performer, Beef Wellington. For Ottawa fans, the highlight of the day was home-town wrestler Player Uno winning the IWS Canadian title.

The Summer of 2006 saw the IWS and ISW combine forces again as the two promotions combined to present an outdoor show on Montreal’s Ile Ste-Helene as part of the Vans Warped Tour, August 13th, 2006 which they called Warped Summer Vacation. More than 1600 rock and wrestling fans attended the event. The Summer ended with Hardcore Heat 2006, August 26th, 2006, which saw a rare appearance of Kevin Steen. He fought the IWS champion, Viking, in a match that was voted Quebec match of the year for 2006.

The fall of 2006 saw the retirement of long-time IWS ring announcer and play-by-play man, Brian the Guppie. He was replaced as ring announcer by Joey Soprano and on play-by-play by the owner of the ISW, Michael Rotch.

2007 began with the IWS building towards its annual Medley show, Un F’N Sanctioned 2007, March 24th, 2007. Manny hired NWA World Heavyweight champion Christian Cage to appear, much to the fans excitement. To Manny’s disgust however, Christian Cage chose to ignore Manny’s wishes and offer his help to “Canadian Dynamite” Maxime Boyer against Manny’s team of hired thugs, PCO and “Paranoid” Jake Matthews. Also scheduled is IWS champion Viking defending his belt against hardcore wrestling legend Necro Butcher, in what many Quebec wrestling fans are already calling the Quebec show of the year.