Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion founded in 1999 by John Zandig. Commonly associated with the 2000s hardcore wrestling genre, early CZW shows showcased a brand of wrestling dubbed by the promotion as "ultraviolence". Early CZW matches featured items such as ladders, tables, steel folding chairs, thumbtacks, barbed wire-covered baseball bats, weed whackers, light tubes, and panes of glass. The promotion filled a niche for hardcore wrestling fans that had been left open by the folding of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2001.
The Backseat Boyz were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere who competed in Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, Combat Zone Wrestling, Assault Championship Wrestling, the Premier Wrestling Federation, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and Japan together. They were the first team in history to hold both the ROH Tag Team Championship and the CZW Tag Team Championship.
John Corson, better known by the ring name John Zandig, is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is the founder and former owner of the promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).
Brigham Paul Doane, better known by his ring name Masada, is an American professional wrestler currently competing in Xtreme Pro Wrestling, where he is a former XPW World Heavyweight Champion.
The CZW Iron Man Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) promotion. The championship was created and debuted on February 13, 1999, at CZW's Opening Night event. The title is currently inactive, having been deactivated on July 11, 2009. Prior to its retirement, Sami Callihan renamed the title the CZW New Horror Championship, which CZW recognized. Being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline.
Claude Marrow Jr. is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Ruckus. He performs in Combat Zone Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Maryland Championship Wrestling, Chikara and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. While often appearing at a number of other independent promotions, Ruckus is a member of the Blackout/BLKOUT stable with Eddie Kingston, Sabian, Joker, James Ellsworth, and Robbie Mireno.
Matthew Timothy Burns, better known by his ring name "Sick" Nick Mondo, is an American retired professional wrestler. Since his in-ring retirement in 2003, he has become a filmmaker, actor and stuntman and, at one point, worked with All Elite Wrestling as director.
Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests.
Michael Verdi, best known by his ring name Trent Acid, was an American professional wrestler.
Blackout is a professional wrestling stable appearing in Combat Zone Wrestling, Adrenaline Championship Wrestling, and other independent companies. Though the current members are Ruckus, James Ellsworth, BLK Jeez, Robby Mireno, the team also competes in companies with other members, such as Joker and Eddie Kingston.
Nicholas William Wilson, better known by his ring name Nick Gage, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), where he is a former 3-time GCW World Champion. He also wrestles for various other promotions on the independent circuit. He is the only man to win the "big three" of American deathmatch tournaments: the CZW Tournament of Death, the IWA Mid-South King of the Deathmatch, and the GCW Tournament of Survival.
Joseph Eubanks is an American retired professional wrestler best known by the ring name Lobo. He wrestled primarily in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), where he won every major championship and was the first inductee into the CZW Hall of Fame in 2004.
Christopher Wilson was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Justice Pain. Pain was best known for his time in Combat Zone Wrestling, as well as Xtreme Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Unplugged. He held numerous titles in his CZW stint and was the real life brother of CZW wrestler and one-time tag team partner Nick Gage.
Jun Kasai is a Japanese professional wrestler, primarily competing for Pro Wrestling Freedoms. Dubbed the Crazy Monkey for his violent and often self-harmful style of hardcore wrestling, Kasai is considered a breakthrough talent in Japanese wrestling, able to work both hardcore and technical styles. Outside Freedoms, Kasai has worked for the original Pro Wrestling Zero-One, Hustle, Ice Ribbon, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW).
Grant Amos Berkland, better known by his ring name Danny Havoc, was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his work in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), and was noted for mixing his technical style with hardcore wrestling.
The Tournament of Death is an annual professional wrestling tournament organized by Combat Zone Wrestling since 2002, during which a number of wrestlers compete in various deathmatches in what are mostly single-elimination tournaments similar to World Wrestling Entertainment's King of the Ring tournament. These tournaments include the typical hardcore weapons used in deathmatch wrestling such as barbed wire, nails, thumbtacks, fire, tables, ladders, and light tubes, and are known for all their large amounts of blood loss.
Joseph Carl Bailey Jr. was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name J. C. Bailey. He wrestled for numerous American-based professional wrestling promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling, IWA Mid-South, and IWA East Coast.
The Cage of Death is Combat Zone Wrestling's biggest show since 1999. It always features the Cage of Death match, a steel cage with various weapons littered in the cage. Electrified cage walls, cacti, tables, light tubes, glass, thumbtacks, baseball bats, barbed wire, fire and numerous other weapons and objects have been used in it. The first two were simple either pin and/or submit to win cage matches with weapons littered in and around the cage. The Cage of Death also has different formats and stipulations: singles, tag team, or gauntlet. Each Cage of Death features two or more wrestlers in the cage. For Cage of Death 5, 6, and 7, WarGames stipulations were used.
Seiji Yamakawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ryuji Yamakawa. He is best known for his time with Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), where he spent the majority of his career between 1995 and 2012 as a deathmatch wrestler. He was one of the top wrestlers and an over main eventer of the company, winning the Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship two times and the Tag Team Championship seven times.
Ante Up was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). The event took place on December 2, 2001, at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The event was themed around BJW's interpromotional rivalry with American promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).
