Northern Carnage Wrestling, otherwise known as NCW, is a fiction wrestling promotion. Born in the early 2010s, it was established as a territory of the NWA to rekindle interest in wrestling in Central Pennsylvania. In early 2013, the company declared itself independent and established headquarters in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It soon became renowned for its style of hardcore wrestling and often credited for launching the careers of several of the FWMs biggest names. Changing its' name and identity multiple times in an effort to maintain momentum in spite of unsustainable costs, NCW ended up shuttering in 2017. A part of loyal NCW employees reunited in the following weeks and created NCW's spiritual successor, Heart and Soul Wrestling. In April of 2024, rumors began circulating on a NCW revival.
History[]
Birth, NWA-NCW (2005 - 2012)[]
NCW was originally created in 2005 under the name of Northern Cartoon Wrestling and as a branch of the National Wrestling Alliance as it attempted to re-establish itself on the back of the great growth of fiction wrestling, fueled by Fiction Wrestling Entertainment, the Universal Character Association, and Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment. Based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, NCW was assigned the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York as its' territory. Due to its' proximity to the extinct Extreme Championship Wrestling's home territory, as well as the renovated interest in the promotion brought on by the One Night Stand special and UWE's own growth, NWA-NCW adapted a style similar to ECW's in an attempt to gain a local foothold.
The project struggled for almost a decade, and was ultimately ruled a failure by the National Wrestling Alliance in 2012. With growing debts, NWA-NCW was put on sale towards the end of the year. The promotion was acquired by DXP, former owner of Eastern Pro Wrestling, for a reported price of roughly $3,000. Upon finalization of the sale, DXP announced that NCW would've remained a member of the NWA for the foreseeable future, whilst demanding more autonomy. Using his connections and goodwill, the new owner brought in big profile wrestlers such as Ash Ketchum, Ben Tennyson, Crash Bandicoot, Korra and Sokka, as well as veterans whose career was on cooldown, such as Danny Phantom, and obscure independent wrestlers, such as Bolin, Mako and Chris House.
Breakaway from the NWA, independent promotion (2012 - 2013)[]
With some debts shortly settled, the new signings bringing in more attention to it, and DXP successfully maneuvering around the saturated territory assigned to them, NCW grew at a rapid pace over few months. National Cartoon Wrestling quickly outgrew the once-again decaying NWA, to the point that later shows were labeled as NCW-NWA, putting more emphasis on the territory. Using disagreements with the central NWA commitee as an excuse, DXP announced to his roster that by the end of the year, they would abandon NWA to become an independent promotion. On December 29th, 2012, NCW's final show as an NWA affiliate happened, with Ben Tennyson becoming the NWA-NCW Heavyweight Champion. The championship was rechristened the NCW Heavyweight Championship on January 1, 2013.
Following a short break, NCW finalized its' name change into National Championship Wrestling and made its' debut as a full-fledged independent promotion on January 12th, 2013. In spite of its' growth and newfound confidence that lead DXP to break away from the NWA, NCW was still indebted, with talents being forced to accept pay-per-appearance contracts or to wrestle without contracts under the promise of an hefty paycheck in the future. Under these conditions, NCW held its' first pay-per-view, No Way Out, later that year, reaching an agreement with World Wrestling Entertainment and paying an hefty royalty check to them over the rights to the name. No Way Out was enough of a success to turn a profit and gain the attention of international audiences.
In spite of that, backstage tensions reached their breaking point as Gwen Tennyson, then-NCW Women's Champion without a written contract, went against the program during an untelevised event and called out DXP, before walking out that very same night with the belt. Alongside her, all members of the women's division but Korra, Katniss Everdeen and Jazz Fenton would walk out hours later, not bound by any contractual obligations. Fenton would join them once she had come to an agreement with NCW, as she one of the few women with a written contract, upon which she was paid her remaining paychecks and was released.
DXP, in reaction to the walk-outs, would refuse any responsability and deactivate the NCW Women's Division. Korra and Katniss Everdeen were put in intergender matches in the following months, a rare formula that only FWE had been capable of successfully bringing to the mainstream.
Expansion, rebirth of the Women's Division and expansion (2013 - 2015)[]
The summer of 2013 saw NCW's growth resume steadily, as more talents made their debut. DXP, in a scathing promo, called out other promotions for using the "superstar" nomenclature, and proudly declared that NCW hired "wrestlers". Their fame rising, NCW took a further step forwards and begun booking larger venues, in an attempt to sell more tickets and widen their profits. The operation proved to be successful, and as talents re-negotiated their deals, written contracts and larger paychecks became the norm.
Behind the scenes, at the same time, DXP reached out to Gwen Tennyson in an attempt to undo the damage done the previous year and recover the NCW Women's Championship, creating continuity within a reborn Women's division. Her return, alongside the rise of the House family and the Rookie Revolution branch of NCW, would see NCW finally crack the roof of the millions tuned in to their television programs, culminating in what would go on to become their marquee event, WrestleWars. However, Tennyson's return turned into a double-edged sword, as her behaviour backstage was deemed unacceptable, and her match against Ellen Ripley was critically panned. Years later, NCW staff members would reveal that DXP pressured Tennyson and Ripley individually to attempt to "cripple" their opponent during the match in an attempt to outdo Character Championship Wrestling and tap into their core audience. This resulted in Tennyson breaking one of the key rules of fiction wrestling during the match, and used her powers to protect herself.
The fallout from the controversy was massive, with Tennyson suing NCW, DXP and Ellen Ripley for gross negligence, attempted murder, fraud, contract violation and harassment. She would depart NCW for the second and final time immediately after WrestleWars, although it is unknown if she was released by DXP as punishment for the lawsuit, or the lawsuit itself allowed her to breach her contract and abandon the promotion. NCW's buzz reached an all-time high as a result, but pay-per-view carriers repeatedly turned down offers to carry their events, whilst several talents demanded and obtained to be released from their contracts.
The change to a new schedule that was exclusively composed of live, weekly events was briefly considered in the following weeks, only for new pay-per-view carriers to step forward and propose to NCW to carry their events instead once the negativity had died down. DXP scrapped the plans and resumed the normal schedule, apologizing to the locker room in the process and asking them to lower the ultra-violent content of their matches, wanting to promote technical, mat-based wrestling and lucha libre instead to bounce back from WrestleWars. As another consequence of the lawsuit, NCW included health insurance in its' contracts.
January of 2014 saw NCW celebrate the one-year anniversary of its' independence, whilst one month later, DXP announced the creation of a developmental system, tentatively called Xtreme Wrestling, with the aim of it coming into activity in March of 2014. However, a truck accident in May of 2014 would deal a major blow to NCW's production, as the lightning rigs ended up destroyed. Uninsured, DXP was forced to reschedule their programming, announcing that NCW would've gone on hiatus for the remainder of 2014 before producing one last episode of Prime using left-over and pre-taped material.
Internal problems, leadership overhaul, and downfall (2015 - 2017)[]
NCW returned to full activity in January of 2015, right on time to celebrate its' second anniversary with At The Corner of Napoleon and Market, a supercard show named after the location of NCW's taping grounds in Johnstown. Following it, NCW would announce a new schedule, whose objective was to make up for the lost year, featuring a second pay-per-view every month. With it, NCW also begun touring outside Pennsylvania and through-out the Atlantic northeast, with their November pay-per-view, Aftermath, held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. Further strides were made towards women's wrestling, with an all-female pay-per-view, Barbed Wire Beauty taking place. NCW, wanting to tie itself to the territory they toured regularly, renamed itself Northern Championship Wrestling.
NCW, however, continued to face the same issues that had plagued it since 2012. Several wrestlers successfully obtained their release through-out the year, citing bounced paychecks, lack of satisfaction over opportunities presented to them, and other issues. Towards the end of the year, DXP conceded the points raised by the departed talents, and announced that he would've stepped down from his role as president of NCW, with his replacement due to being announced at the beginning of the following year.
NCW Logo (2014-2017)
The replacement was revealed during NCW's third anniversary show as Steve "Streak" Chamberlin, who proceeded to announce an overhaul to NCW's in-house rules and announced a final rebrand to Northern Carnage Wrestling. In spite of this, unspecified production issues struck once again, and NCW only managed to produce four shows, as a new hiatus was announced to overhaul its' internal operations. Over the year, the Three Rivers Syndicate made its' debut, a stable composed of wrestlers who considered themselves NCW "originals" and who watched as the promotion edged towards bankruptcy. Chamberlin would admit to having close ties with the group, who lobbied for him to take over DXP's post, only to be unmasked as the Syndicate's leader. This lead to DXP returning, and a compromise to be made. Streak would become the General Manager of Prime, NCW's long-time show, whilst DXP would become the General Manager of the new show, NCW Electric, which was dedicated to women's wrestling, leading to a split in the rosters.
To further highlight the separation and differences, the two shows showcased separate touring schedules, and had separate production teams in a move that was highly criticized for putting further strain on an already understaffed production team. To celebrate its' fourth anniversary, NCW would hold its' first (and only) international pay-per-view, International Insanity, in Glasgow, Scotland, home territory of UWE.
Shutdown, birth of Heart and Soul Wrestling (2017-2018)[]
In spite of this, the debts from the last two years proved to be unsustainable for NCW, especially as its' management still strived for further expansion and expenses in spite of the frequent losses. 2017 would be the final year NCW held shows close to its' planned schedule. Attempts were made to cut back on expenses by releasing the more expensive talent that had been brought in back in 2012 and were responsible for the attention NCW had received then in favour of small-time wrestlers and independent veterans, but those largely fell through. The fifth anniversary show was ultimately called off, as DXP announced to the roster they were free to break contract and leave NCW.
On May of 2018, DXP announced to the press that Northern Carnage Wrestling would've shut down by year's end, following which he would've retired from the fiction wrestling world for the foreseeable future. Following the announcement, a group of wrestlers, staff members and investors gathered, and bought out the intellectual properties and belongings of NCW. Shortly following the shutdown, rumors abounded that this group, spearheaded by the likes of Doug Walker, Joey Styles and Iknik Varrick, was planning to revive NCW.
On the date of NCW's sixth year anniversary, the plans for a new promotion based out of Pennsylvania, a spiritual successor to NCW called Heart and Soul Wrestling, were revealed.
Revival (2024)[]
Following the Fourth Annual Pro-Bending Arena Show, Heart & Soul was put up for sale. Several bids were made to acquire the rights of Heart & Soul by other fictional wrestling companies on account of owning the Northern Carnage Wrestling video library. It was not until April of 2024 that any announcement was made of a successful purchase, but by a party not affiliate with other elements of the FWM. Rumors soon abounded of a Northern Carnage Wrestling return.
Contracts[]
Match Rules[]
NCW, the final territory in professional wrestling.
Northern Carnage Wrestling often tried to separate itself from other fiction wrestling promotions by using their own in-house rules. More recently, the rulebook was updated following the split between Prime and Electric, with Chamberlin announcing the following for shows under his brand.
- Wrestlers could only spend twenty seconds outside the ring before being counted out.
- Wrestlers had five seconds to release an hold following a successful rope break.
- Matches could only be won by pinfall or submission.
- Interference from a third party, use of a foreign object, or any violation of the rules would lead to the guilty party being disqualified.
- Matches aired on Prime had a time limit of fifteen minutes for regular bouts, thirty minutes for titled bouts. Matches aired on pay-per-view had a time limit of one hour.
Matches held under the Electric brand, instead, had more relaxed rules, similar to the ones NCW had through-out most of its' history as laid out by DXP.
- Wrestlers had five seconds to release an hold following a successful rope break.
- Matches could only be won by pinfall or submission.
- Referees, however, had the right to stop a match and award the win to one side or call off the match and declare a No Contest.
- guilty party being disqualified.
- Matches aired on Electric had a time limit of fifteen minutes for regular bouts, thirty minutes for titled bouts. Matches aired on pay-per-view had a time limit of one hour.
Championships and accomplishments[]
Final champions[]
| Championship | Last champion/s | Previous champion/s |
|---|---|---|
| NCW Heavyweight Championship | Sokka | Crash Bandicoot |
| NCW Television Championship | Renton Thurston | |
| NCW Hypersonic Championship | Drew Cage | |
| NCW World Tag Team Championship | Frozen Asylum | |
| NCW Women's Championship | Tsubaki Nakatsukasa | |
| NCW Spirit Championship | Lucia Sycroin | |
| NCW Women's Tag Team Championship | Sweet Diva (Sakura Hagiwara and Elena Miyazawa) |
The Miyazaki Maidens |
Other accomplishments[]
| Accomplishment | Last winner |
|---|---|
| Road to Glory Series | Jesse Alvarez (2015) |
Allegheny Mountain Wrestling[]
| Championship | Last champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held |
Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMW Championship | Johnny Alvarez | 1 | April 1, 2016 | 84 | Connellsville, Pennsylvania | Defeated The Big Time at AMW: A Golden Night to become the inaugural champion. |
| AMW Mountaineer Championship | Adam Price | 1 | April 1, 2016 | 84 | Connellsville, Pennsylvania | Defeated Hernan Ortiz and Titan Blake in a Triple Threat Elimination match at AMW: A Golden Night to become the inaugural champion. |
| AMW Tag Team Championship | NexGen (Yaseen Khan and Ismail Khan) |
1 | April 1, 2016 | 84 | Connellsville, Pennsylvania | Defeated Team D.E.A.D., Armed Vanguards and The Outlast in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team match at AMW: A Golden Night to become the inaugural champions. |
| AMW Females Championship | Holly Storm | 1 | April 1, 2016 | 84 | Connellsville, Pennsylvania | Defeated Evelyn Cano at AMW: A Golden Night to become the inaugural champion. |
Pay-Per-View Agenda[]
| Month | Name |
|---|---|
| January | NCW's Anniversary Show |
| February | No Way Out |
| April | Rejuvenation |
| June | International Insanity |
| July | High Voltage |
| August | Destined Glory |
| October | WrestleWars |
Supercard Events[]
| Month | Name |
|---|---|
| February | At The Corner of Napoleon and Market |
| March | Living Dangerously |
| May | Barbed Wire Beauty |
| September | Ultra Clash |
| November | Aftermath |
| December | Massacre on The 34th Street |
| October | WrestleWars IV |
Main Roster[]
Male Wrestlers[]
- Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
- Ash Ketchum (Pokémon)
- Atticus Brown (OC)
- Ben Tennyson (Ben 10 series)
- Bolin (The Legend of Korra)
- Brad Carbunkle (My Life as a Teenage Robot)
- Christopher House (OC)
- Chris L. Walker (Outlast)
- Cody Hida (Digimon)
- Danny Phantom (Danny Phantom)
- David Williams (OC)
- Eddie Gluskin (Outlast)
- Evan Din (OC)
- Frank West (Dead Rising)
- Garry Newman (Garry's Mod)
- Garth Algar (Wayne's World)
- Henry Wong (Digimon Tamers)
- Hiccup Haddock (How to Train Your Dragon)
- Hirokazu Shiota (Digimon Tamers)
- Jack House (OC)
- Jason Krueger (OC)
- Jesse Alvarez (OC)
- Kenta Kitagawa (Digimon Tamers)
- Kevin Kenneth (OC)
- Lance Ofioa (OC)
- Mako (The Legend of Korra)
- Nathan Stone (OC)
- Richard Trager (Outlast)
- Roadkill (OC)
- Samuel Kenneth (OC)
- Sokka (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
- Takato Matsuki (Digimon Tamers)
- Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3)
- Wayne Campbell (Wayne's World)
- X-Virus (OC)
Female Wrestlers[]
- Allison Wilson (OC)
- Asui Hikaru (OC)
- Bonita Benjamin (All Points Bulletin: Reloaded)
- Chell (Portal)
- Ellen Ripley (Alien)
- Elena Miyazawa (Wanna be the Strongest in the World)
- Flannery (Pokémon)
- Jessica Wilson (OC)
- Joan Rivera (OC)
- Julia Snow (OC)
- Holly Storm (OC)
- Holo (Spice & Wolf)
- Isla Woods (OC)
- Korra (The Legend of Korra)
- Knives Chu (OC)
- Lucia Sycrion (OC)
- Lillian House (OC)
- Maxine Boredeaux (OC)
- Remi Boredeaux (OC)
- Rena Williams (OC)
- Rika Nonaka (Digimon Tamers)
- Rose Luna (OC)
- Sarah Ortiz (OC)
- Sakura Hagiwara (Wanna be the Strongest in the World)
- Tammy Blake (OC)
- Tsubaki Nakatsukasa (Soul Eater)
- Velvet House (OC)
Tag Team / Stables Division[]
Tag Teams[]
- Acid Rain — Allison Wilson and Knives Chu
- Frozen Asylum — Jason Krueger and David Williams
- Frozen Rush — Asui Hikaru and Tammy Blake
- Montreal's Finest — Maxine and Remi Boredeaux
- Rika Nonaka & Ellen Ripley
- Samoan Stone — Lance Ofioa and Nathan Stone
- Sweet Diva — Sakura Hagiwara and Elena Miyazawa
- Team D.E.A.D. — Kevin and Samuel Kenneth
- Team HeroKazu — Hirokazu Shiota and Kenta Kitagawa
- Wayne's World — Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar
- Whiteout — Velvet and Lillian House
Stables[]
- The Outlast — Richard Trager, Chris Walker, and Eddie Gluskin
Other Personal[]
| Name | Tenure | Brand | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asui Hikaru | April 2, 2016 – present | AMW | Trainer |
| DXP | January 12, 2013 – present | Prime / Electric | Majority owner |
| Jesse Alvarez | February 27, 2016 – present | AMW | Head of AMW |
| Jim Molineaux | January 12, 2013 – present | Prime / Electric | Senior referee |
| Joel Gertner | January 12, 2013 – present | Prime / Electric | Backstage interviewer |
| Joey Styles | January 12, 2013 – present | Prime / Electric | Lead commentator for Prime, Electric and pay-per-views Backstage interviewer |
| John Finnegan | January 12, 2013 – present | Prime / Electric | Referee |
| Mike Kenneth | May 19, 2014 – present | Prime / Electric | Referee |
| Noah "Spoony" Antwiler | October 4, 2014 – present | Electric | Color commentator for Electric and pay-per-views Backstage interviewer |
| Nostalgia Critic | September 30, 2013 – present | Prime | Color commentator for Prime and pay-per-views Backstage interviewer |
| Pee Wee Moore | January 12, 2013 – present | Electric | Referee |
| Sinister Minister | TBD | TBD | Manager |
| Steve "Streak" Chamberlin | January 14, 2016 – present | Prime / Electric | Minority owner General Manager |
| Steven Prazack | January 12, 2013 – present | Prime / Electric | Backstage interviewer |
| Tenth Doctor | January 12, 2014 – present | Prime | Color commentator for Prime and pay-per-views Backstage interviewer |
| Troy Davis | January 10, 2016 – present | Prime | Referee |
| Varrick | January 12, 2014 – present | Prime | Manager of Aang |