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46-484: William Matthew Sierra (born August 11, 1957), better known by his ring name Bill Alfonso , is an American former professional wrestling referee and manager , currently performing for Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he serves as the manager of Matthew Justice . He achieved his greatest success in Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-to-late 1990s. He is well known for the whistle that

92-538: A case televised on Judge Mathis . She accused Alfonso of damaging her Porsche and was awarded $ 500. Alfonso also had other run ins with the law, being arrested for a stolen rental vehicle in Georgia, DUI and possession of cocaine in Tampa, violation of probation and testing positive for heroin. Alfonso served jail time in Tampa for the vop charges. He also found himself in trouble with the Tampa police for other charges throughout

138-503: A few events in early 2003. On March 8, 2003, the promotion held an event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , which had 1,500 people in attendance, mainly due to Pittsburgh being Shane Douglas's hometown. This would be XPW's very last event; there was event scheduled for April 2003 but it was cancelled. Tickets for the April 2003 event were reported to be selling very poorly prior to the event, leading to

184-462: A few others, their real name. One notable exception was made for David Otunga because of his real marriage to singer Jennifer Hudson at the time, which gave WWE some mainstream exposure. Low Ki used the alias "Senshi" during his second TNA stint to reserve his primary ring name for other use. A similar example is the team known as The Dudley Boyz in ECW and WWE and Team 3D elsewhere. WWE trademarked

230-557: A locally televised TV show, simply known as XPW TV . The show original aired on KDOC-TV in Los Angeles, California, but later switched to WBGN-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when the promotion relocated to that city. Following the relocation to Philadelphia, XPW TV would be referred to as XPW Monday Nightmare , with the television series airing on Mondays instead of its original Saturday night timeslot. In November 2002, Kris Kloss

276-483: A major focus on the soap opera aspect of wrestling, as the storylines involved porn stars , alternative lifestyles, profanity, and sadistic violence. The first XPW event was held on July 31, 1999 at the Reseda Country Club . The initial announce team for XPW consisted of Kris Kloss and Larry Rivera , with Kloss doing the play-by-play and Rivera taking on the role as a heel color commentator. Kloss's trademark

322-453: A promotion called MEXPW, which billed itself as a successor to XPW, was founded by Damián 666 and former XPW producer Mike Hartsfield. MEXPW later changed its name to MEXPRO Wrestling (MPW), this was a result of legal action from Big Vision Entertainment. During the summer of 2021, Zicari announced on Instagram and Twitter his plans to relaunch XPW. The first event of the revived XPW, Rebirth , streamed on FITE TV pay-per-view from

368-677: A third XPW reunion show, Perros del Mal vs. XPW: Xtremo y Sangriento , in August 2011. In 2021, after XPW was featured on Vice 's Dark Side of the Ring series, Zicari relaunched the promotion, basing it out of Rochester, New York . Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) was founded in summer 1999 on the West Coast, based primarily in Los Angeles, California . The promotion based its style on hardcore wrestling , featuring many dangerous matches. In addition, XPW kept

414-751: A variation of it, sometimes modifying the spelling to better fit their gimmick , such as Dave Bautista becoming Batista (later reverting to his real name for his Hollywood acting career), Patricia Stratigeas becoming Trish Stratus , Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley , Bryan Danielson becoming Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled in WWE), Richard Fliehr becoming Ric Flair and Randall Poffo becoming Randy Savage . Others simply use part of their name, such as Bill Goldberg using Goldberg , Nicole Garcia-Colace using Nikki Bella , Mike Mizanin using The Miz , Cody Runnels using Cody Rhodes , and Michael Wardlow using Wardlow . Many female wrestlers go solely by their first name such as. It

460-637: Is a highly respected tradition in Mexican lucha libre for performers to hide their true identities, usually wrestling under masks, and revealing a luchador's identity without their permission is considered a serious offence with real-life consequences. Professional wrestlers are often referred to by their contemporaries by their ring name. In interviews, Bret Hart regularly referred to Mark Calaway, Curt Hennig, and Kevin Nash by their ring names ( The Undertaker , Mr. Perfect , and Diesel ). Ring names are often trademarked by

506-448: Is also common for wrestlers of all genders to use a nickname in addition to their real name for marketability and other reasons. Ricky Steamboat is an atypical instance of a wrestler adopting a ring name to sound less intimidating, as his legal name of Richard Blood was considered unfitting for his babyface persona. Some (mostly independent ) wrestlers still go to great lengths to ensure that their real names are not publicly known. It

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552-566: Is an American independent professional wrestling promotion owned by Rob Zicari and operated by Extreme Gifts. The promotion is known for its deathmatch style . From 2000 to 2002, XPW held an annual death match tournament called Baptized in Blood, also known as the King of the Deathmatch Tournament. Zicari originally ran the promotion out of Los Angeles from 1999 to 2002. He appeared on shows as

598-634: The Insane Clown Posse , and Psicosis . At XPW's third-anniversary event, Night of Champions in July 2002, Shane Douglas made his return to XPW as the mystery opponent of Johnny Webb, winning the XPW World title. The event also saw the XPW's third King of the Deathmatch Tournament, matches from which got released on home video as Baptized In Blood III . Douglas would work as both an in-ring performer and booker for

644-722: The Main Street Armory in Rochester, New York on November 7, 2021. Eight wrestlers competed during the event in a traditional single-elimination tournament for the then-vacated XPW World Heavyweight Championship , which was won by Brian Cage . XPW's Killifornia event took place at the Derby Room in Pomona, California on April 9, 2022. During the event, sixteen wrestlers competed in Baptized in Blood, XPW's signature deathmatch tournament, for

690-635: The XPW King of the Deathmatch Championship . The tournament was won by Shlak. Beautiful Disaster took place on June 25 and featured an eight-woman tournament to determine the first holder of the XPW Women's Championship. In the tournament final, Taya Valkyrie defeated Kamille Brickhouse , Ludark Shaitan, and Sage Sin Supreme in a ladder match to win the title. From April 2000 until March 2003, XPW ran

736-621: The conference room as the main event of the first Starrcade between Harley Race and Ric Flair is being announced by Bob Geigel . He then worked in every major American promotion, including World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation , where he was a referee for The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez (who Alfonso was an agent for) match at WrestleMania IX . Alfonso made his debut in Extreme Championship Wrestling In May 1995 at Enter

782-482: The promotion that creates a character or gimmick for a performer. It is common to see one performer use a variety of ring names throughout their career, even if their overall persona remains similar. This is especially true in WWE , which has largely forced most wrestlers that have debuted since 2006 to use a WWE-owned ring name instead of a ring name that they used on the independent circuit or, such as with Daniel Bryan and

828-547: The "All-New XPW" to his home state of Pennsylvania . Credited to the promotional efforts of Douglas and Cody Michaels , XPW's East Coast move was initially successful in cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh before, ultimately, being deemed a failure and contributing to the promotion's closure in 2003. After the promotion became defunct, Big Vision Entertainment held two XPW reunion shows, Cold Day In Hell in May 2008 and XPW X in August 2009. Perros del Mal Producciones held

874-728: The "Dudley Boyz" name, leading them to have to change their name when they went to TNA. The members' individual names were also trademarked by WWE, forcing them to have to change their names. WWE partially repealed the policy in 2015, allowing wrestlers who were well known in other promotions such as Samoa Joe , A.J. Styles , Shinsuke Nakamura , Austin Aries , Bobby Roode , and Eric Young to use their long-standing ring names (or, in Nakamura's and Roode's cases, their real names) as well as wrestlers who sign "Tier 2" NXT brand contracts such as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa , who wrestle both on NXT and

920-668: The ECW Arena, preventing other independent promotions from holding events at the venue. As XPW continued to run on the East Coast, the risqué storylines were quickly phased out, and a majority of XPW's West Coast employees were not a part of the East Coast-based "All-New XPW." The relocation to the East Coast also resulted in more former ECW stars passing through XPW, whether it be on a regular basis or one-night appearances. XPW would eventually return to their former home of Los Angeles for

966-577: The Enterprise emerged and would eventually feud with the Black Army the following year. Originally consisting of former Black Army henchmen Steve Rizzono , motivational speaker TJ Rush, porn star Veronica Caine, and G. Q. Money , the stable became fully formed at the Damage Inc. event when Kid Kaos won the newly created XPW Television Championship and turned his back on his uncle Supreme, aligning himself with

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1012-561: The Enterprise. After this surprise heel turn, Kid Kaos dropped the "Kid" from his name and nicknamed himself "The Rock Superstar" Kaos. For a year, from April 2001 to April 2002, XPW ran events at Los Angeles' Grand Olympic Auditorium . Notable events during this period, included Genocide , which featured a double-ringed WarGames-style cage match and Free Fall , which included the infamous 40-foot scaffold match between Vic Grimes and New Jack . Many marquee names debuted in XPW during these events, such as The Sandman , Vampiro , Konnan ,

1058-457: The Sandman as a "trouble-shooting referee". Introduced by Shane Douglas , he angered many ECW fans with strict enforcement of the rules and disqualifications of wrestlers for such ECW traditions as using steel chairs as weapons. In this role, he engaged in a feud with ECW founder Tod Gordon that resulted in several wrestling matches. Alfonso was then stripped of his refereeing duties and took on

1104-815: The WWE Championship, as he celebrated with him and the rest of the then-ECW Roster. On August 8, 2010, Alfonso took part in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 's ECW reunion show, Hardcore Justice , managing both Rob Van Dam and Sabu during their match against each other. On the following edition of TNA Impact! , the ECW alumni, known collectively as Extreme, Version 2.0 (EV 2.0) , were assaulted by A.J. Styles , Kazarian , Robert Roode , James Storm , Douglas Williams and Matt Morgan of Ric Flair 's Fourtune stable, who thought they didn't deserve to be in TNA. Since

1150-480: The XPW contingent and members of the ECW roster, which spilt out into the parking lot of the venue. Shortly after the ECW incident, XPW had their first-anniversary event, Go Funk Yourself , at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on July 22, 2000. The main event saw XPW World Heavyweight Champion Sabu defeat Terry Funk . The event was considered by many as a high point for XPW; though it

1196-898: The closing of ECW, Alfonso has appeared in several independent promotions. He worked one match in Xtreme Pro Wrestling as a referee. He has also worked in Elite Wrestling Entertainment as a referee and a manager, as well as managing wrestlers in Squared Circle Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Unplugged. In May 2007, he made his first appearance with Women's Extreme Wrestling, where he serves as a manager and as commissioner . On December 18, 2021, Alfonso wrestled against Ziggy Haim in an intergender match for Absolute Intense Wrestling in Cleveland, Ohio in which Haim won. In October 2002, fellow manager Missy Hyatt sued Alfonso in

1242-483: The early 2000's contributed from a heroin addiction. Ring name Ring names are much more common in professional wrestling than any other sport; famous examples include Terry Bollea becoming Hulk Hogan , Michael Shawn Hickenbottom becoming Shawn Michaels , Roderick Toombs becoming Roddy Piper , Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock , Christopher Irvine becoming Chris Jericho , and Phillip Jack Brooks becoming CM Punk . A number of wrestlers adopted their real name or

1288-526: The entire event and its 45-minute pre-show. A second reunion show, called Ten Year Anniversary Spectacular , was held on August 22, 2009. A third and final XPW reunion show, called Perros del Mal vs. XPW: Xtremo y Sangriento was held on August 20, 2011. The show was a co-promoted event with the Perros del Mal promotion in Tultitlan, Mexico . In the aftermath of Perros del Mal vs. XPW: Xtremo y Sangriento ,

1334-492: The event being cancelled, though XPW announced they were canceling the event due to a large storm. In April 2003, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden were indicted on obscenity charges due to pornographic material produced by XPW's parent company, Extreme Associates. Federal agents in Pittsburgh had purchased the offending material, which depicted scenes of rape, urination, and murder. The trial took a financial toll on Black and Borden, and

1380-426: The fall of that promotion. In July 2000, ECW made its West Coast debut, holding its annual summer pay-per-view Heat Wave in Los Angeles, California. Rob Black purchased six front row tickets and sent The Messiah , Kid Kaos, Supreme, Kristi Myst , Homeless Jimmy, and Kris Kloss to attend the show. Prior to the main event, the XPW crew began disrupting the show, which led to a legitimate out-of-character brawl between

1426-498: The history of ECW. In September 1997 at As Good as It Gets , Alfonso fought Beulah McGillicutty with this match becoming infamous because Alfonso lost 1/3 of the blood in his body according to Paul Heyman. Alfonso returned to the WWE (the former WWF) and was at the 2005 ECW One Night Stand managing Sabu and standing in the ring with RVD while RVD delivered a shoot style promo. Alfonso returned at ECW One Night Stand 2006 after Rob Van Dam won

Bill Alfonso - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-477: The independent circuit to keep their ring names (or, in Gargano's case, his real name). Gargano and Ciampa have since signed exclusive WWE contracts. "In-house" WWE wrestlers still use WWE-owned ring names. In rare cases, the rights to a wrestler's ring name may be owned by a company with little or no connection to professional wrestling, such as Marvel Comics ' ownership of the name Hulk Hogan until early 2003, which

1518-464: The on-camera owner under the ring name Rob Black alongside his then-wife Lizzy Borden . The promotion focused on hardcore wrestling and had connections to the Los Angeles porn industry, as Zicari was the real life owner of the Extreme Associates pornographic film production company. In 2002, Shane Douglas , who previously wrestled for the promotion, returned to XPW as its booker and moved

1564-587: The prefix "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Numerous boxers have used ring names or nicknames as their mode of identification during their professional boxing careers, particularly during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The ring name "Kid" was particularly popular, indicating the boxer's comparative youth. Since the mid 20th century, ring names for boxers have typically been less common, although nicknames have become more popular in recent years. Famous examples of boxers who used ring names include: Xtreme Pro Wrestling Xtreme Pro Wrestling ( XPW )

1610-518: The promotion; under Douglas' influence, the promotion would move its operations from the West Coast to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , basing itself at the former ECW Arena . XPW debuted at the former ECW Arena on August 31, 2002, at the Hostile Takeover event, and Shane Douglas became the promotion's focal point for the rest of the year. Controversy arose when XPW signed an exclusive lease with

1656-452: The role of Taz 's manager and helped him on a winning streak that lasted over a year. In the midst of Taz's feud with Sabu , however, Alfonso turned on his charge and aligned with Sabu. In this role, he performed more than the usual duties, as he actually managed Sabu's finances. Rob Van Dam later took on Alfonso as a manager and formed a tag team with Sabu. Alfonso also led Van Dam to the longest ECW World Television Championship reign in

1702-529: The two could no longer financially subsidize XPW, with the promotion going out of business. Xtreme Entertainment Group (which would later split into two companies, XEG and Big Vision Entertainment ), the company of which former XPW employee Kevin Kleinrock would later become Executive Vice President of, purchased the rights to use the XPW name under license in 2004, through bankruptcy proceedings. Black later stated "If I never got indicted I would have definitely kept

1748-409: The wrestler's gimmick changes, either subtly or dramatically. After debuting in WWE as the " Connecticut Blueblood " Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Paul Levesque's character later morphed into Triple H . A more drastic change sometimes occurs when a wrestler turns heroic or villainous , such as when Hulk Hogan joined the villainous nWo (New World Order) and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. His new attitude

1794-420: The wrestling thing going." In the summer of 2003, the only pay-per-view (PPV) of the original XPW, The Best of XPW , aired. The PPV featured a compilation of highlights from XPW's past events. In 2006, Big Vision Entertainment founded Wrestling Society X , the de facto successor to XPW. Between 2008 and 2011, three XPW reunion shows were held, two in Los Angeles and a third in Tultitlan, Mexico . The first

1840-549: Was Cold Day in Hell , held on May 24, 2008. The event came about when Big Vision Entertainment, the owners of XPW, worked on MTV 's Wrestling Society X which featured many XPW alumni. While working on the project, the company came up with the idea to hold an XPW reunion show. The event was produced by Kevin Kleinrock and Kris Kloss. Big Vision Entertainment released Cold Day in Hell on DVD and Blu-ray in January 2009, which included

1886-518: Was almost always hanging around his neck, which he blew constantly during his wrestlers' matches. Alfonso refereed his first match in Texas at the age of 21. He was the official in a chain match between The Sheik and Terry Funk . Shortly thereafter, he took on a regular role as a referee in Championship Wrestling from Florida . He is seen on footage from 1983 as an " NWA official" sitting in

Bill Alfonso - Misplaced Pages Continue

1932-596: Was due to Hogan being advertised as " The Incredible Hulk Hogan" early in his career, while Marvel owned the trademark for their comic book character. Sometimes, a wrestler will buy the rights to their own ring name; for example, Steve Borden owns the rights to the name Sting and licenses it to the musician of the same name . The wrestler formerly known as Test took this one step further and legally changed his name to "Andrew Test Martin". Jim Hellwig, known as The Ultimate Warrior , had his name legally changed to simply "Warrior". In many cases, ring names evolve over time as

1978-595: Was enhanced by changing his costume color scheme from his famous red and yellow to nWo's black and white. Steve Williams adopted the ring name Steve Austin to avoid confusion with the then-more established performer "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Austin would wrestle under that name for several years before signing with the WWF and being given the name "the Ringmaster". This gimmick failed to catch on, and Austin reverted to his established name, reaching his greatest level of success with

2024-539: Was four more months until XPW put on another event. During the hiatus, an attempt to bring in Atsushi Onita , a pioneer of Japanese deathmatch wrestling, for an exploding ring match failed. One of the main storylines for most of 2001 concerned the heel stable known as the Black Army. The Black Army was headed by Rob Black, assisted by his wife Lizzy Borden and XPW's top star The Messiah , and feuded with Sabu . Also, throughout most of 2001, another heel stable called

2070-451: Was removed from XPW TV ' s announcing booth and replaced with former ECW commentator Joey Styles . Styles, however, left the company in December 2002, only spending about one month in the promotion. In 2009, the first three seasons of XPW TV were released on DVD by Big Vision Entertainment . XPW TV matches have also been extras on several other Big Vision wrestling DVDs, including

2116-540: Was screaming expletives or shrieking a high pitched scream when something shocking occurred in a match. Rivera often sided with owner Rob Black, calling him the " Donald Trump of the pro wrestling business", and his trademark announcing consisted of referring to Kloss as "chico", using "chico" in nearly all of his sentences, and occasional wandering into Spanish announcing. In this period, the promotion's main stars were homegrown wrestlers, but many former stars of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) passed through XPW following

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