Danger And Violence Extreme

Danger And Violence Extreme (DAVE) was a Magisterian professional wrestling promotion that was based in Calisota, Philadelphia. The promotion was founded on 27 September 1992 by veteran wrestler Duncan Kendall but it wasn't until 1997 when Phil Vibert, who started working as the head booker for the company in 1994, bought the company. Heidi Hyde, who was employed by PWWA at the time, joined the company in mid-1997 and was appointed head booker. Vibert's creative direction launched the careers of several superstars, most notably Bryan Holmes, Chris Morissette, Sammy Bach, and David Stone.

For much of its existence, DAVE was regarded as the third-largest professional wrestling promotion in Magisteria in terms of popularity. The company's unique approach to the sport fostered a cult-like following, and they later managed to secure a pay-per-view deal in 1999, and began broadcasting pay-per-views in January 2000. However, it was the promotion's starring role in the 2002 big budget documentary film "Grappling with Success" that saw DAVE beginning to shine across the rest of Magisteria.

Following the demise of its American counterpart in 2001, DAVE also fostered a cult-like following in the United States thanks to its immense popularity to tape traders. In 2004, DAVE made their first ever shows in the United States as part of their week-long tour, taking place in ECW's hometown, at the  - formerly known as the  - with every show in the tour selling out.

Beginning in 2003, DAVE continued its national expansion by landing a national television deal with Extreme to show its weekly program Danger Zone TV, which aired in syndication prior to the signing of the deal. From 2005 onward, the company was virtually under siege from talent raids from bigger groups, which combined with an injury crisis and mounting financial problems led to DAVE closing down in May of 2007.

Formation and early years (1992-1994)
At the time of DAVE's creation, wrestling in the Philadelphia province was dominated by two regional promotions; Premier Wrestling Federation (PWF) and Awesome Max Wrestling (AMW), both were smart enough not to challenge the larger two promotions (NWF and GCG) at that time. Piledriver Wrestling (PDW) was originally intended as a wrestling school before Duncan Kendall bought the school and made it run small shows to show off the trainees, turning into a full-time promotion in September 1992.

In 1993, the company crowned Jerry Marone as its first world champion after beating 14 other men in a 15-man battle royal at the 'Reach For The Sky' live event. In 1994, manager Phil Vibert joined the company and was appointed the head booker a few months after joining.

Prelude (1994-1995)
After Vibert was appointed the new head booker, the company saw bring in more edgy material, sex appeal and modern influences from around the world. This would let Piledriver Wrestling go over Premier Wrestling Federation (PWF) and Awesome Max Wrestling (AMW) as the largest promotion in the Philadelphia province. In 1995, the company was renamed to 'Danger And Violence Extreme'.

DAVE under Phil Vibert and Heidi Hyde (1995-2007)
Between 1995 and 1996, DAVE went from strength to strength as Philadelphia's most well-known promotion at the time. During at that time, the fans also saw the emergence of new stars, notably Henry Lee, Johnny Martin, JD Morgan, Vengeance, Vin Tanner, and The Wolverine.

In January 1997, Phil Vibert announced his full takeover of Danger And Violence Extreme. In a press release issued, Vibert promised to "shake things up" and "make a real impact on professional wrestling". In mid-1997, Heidi Hyde joined DAVE and was appointed head booker. DAVE was equipped with arguably the greatest creative minds in Magisterian professional wrestling, and it meant that easily making new, profitable stars were their main advantage.

In 1998, both the Premier Wrestling Federation and Awesome Max Wrestling were acquired, effectively ending the Philadelphia wrestling war. At the same time, the PWF World Championship and the AMW Universal Championship were unified with the DAVE Extreme Championship to create the 'DAVE Unified Championship'.

In 1999, DAVE landed a pay-per-view deal with the 2000 Blood and Thunder being the first to be broadcast on pay-per-view. DAVE was featured in the 2002 big budget documentary film Grappling with Success, and DAVE began its national expansion thanks to the critical and commercial success of the documentary film, leading them into a TV deal with Extreme.

With record profits at around M$95,000-250,000 per month from the television and pay-per-view deals combined, DAVE was undisputably the dark horse and the third competitor in the hot Magisterian wrestling war between the goliath National Wrestling Federation and the critical darling Golden Canvas Grappling.

In 2004, Kurt Laramee, who had close relationships with fellow wrestlers like Hardcore Killah, Stevie Vortex, and Killa Wattz, left the company in a stormy exit after the infamous match between him and William Fletcher where he won, but Fletcher's lack of selling led to Laramee legitimately hurting Fletcher, which led him to excessively bleed and had to be sent to the hospital after the show where the match took place. It was revealed that Vibert wanted to put over Fletcher but Laramee selfishly denied, and as act of revenge, he told Fletcher to not sell every move Laramee does. The quartet moved to the then-fledging hardcore promotion and the bitter rival-turned-spiritual successor Violent Extreme Wrestling (VEW), and Laramee became their inaugural champion meanwhile Killah became the person with the most reigns with their World title, a record-setting seven reigns. William Fletcher would stay with DAVE up until the company's closure where he was a three-time Brass Knuckles champion.

Injury crisis and decline (2005-2007)
The high-impact, physically demanding style that DAVE uses was notorious for shortening careers. From late-2005 to mid-2006, DAVE suffered from an injury crisis where most of the company's main event scene was injured, including DAVE's figurehead Bryan Holmes. DAVE's financial power was nowhere near as equal as its bigger three opponents to go out and bring in much new talent, and their future had to depend on a lot on the youngsters who they had on the roster.

During the final years of the promotion, DAVE was clearly a promotion in transition as their vast majority of the main event scene that have carried the company for so long (Bryan Holmes, Elton Rando, Chris Caulfield, Shawn Gonzalez, The Insane Heat, Genghis Rahn, Chris Morissette, Sammy Bach, David Stone, etc.).

By late-2006, financial problems began rocking the company. DAVE remained Extreme's most rated sports-related show up until its cancellation in 2007. Vibert and Hyde could not get out of financial trouble which led them on closing DAVE on 13 May 2007.

After closure (2007)
After the closure of DAVE, Vibert disappeared from the public eye for approx. two years before re-emerging and rejuvenating his career as a socialist republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of Magisteria from 2014 to 2019.

Heidi Hyde would continue her work as a professional wrestling creative writer. Outside of wrestling, Hyde has appeared in various leftist political podcasts including Vibert's Voice.

Shortly after retiring in the Rock And Roll Over event, Chris Caulfield would take over DAVE's other rival Violent Extreme Wrestling in October 2007, rebuilding the company with a more modern product that appeals to modern wrestling fans. The rebuild proved to be an absolute success, with Caulfield's creative genius and a major television and pay-per-view deal added to the mix, VEW rapidly rose to the ranks as the undisputed third-largest promotion in Magisteria.

Bryan Holmes retired from in-ring competition in 2017 and now spends his time quietly going about his business on his farm in his homeland of Canada. Chris Morissette, Sammy Bach, and David Stone would would continue their in-ring careers. Morissette currently works for the NWF, where he is the current NWF North American champion. Bach currently wrestles in Japan as a freelancer. notably working for (AJPW). Stone currently works for GCG, often wrestling for tag team matches to help young stars.

2000

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 16, 2000)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 13, 2000)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 5, 2000)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 9, 2000)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 7, 2000)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 10, 2000)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 11, 2000)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 2, 2000)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 6, 2000)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 3, 2000)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 1, 2000)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 5, 2000)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 3, 2000)

2001

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 14, 2001)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 11, 2001)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 11, 2001)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 8, 2001)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 13, 2001)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 9, 2001)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 10, 2001)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 8, 2001)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 5, 2001)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 9, 2001)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 7, 2001)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 11, 2001)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 9, 2001)

2002

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 6, 2002)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 3, 2002)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 3, 2002)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 7, 2002)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 5, 2002)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 8, 2002)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 9, 2002)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 7, 2002)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 4, 2002)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 8, 2002)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 6, 2002)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 3, 2002)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 1, 2002)

2003

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 5, 2003)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 2, 2003)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 2, 2003)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 13, 2003)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 11, 2003)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 7, 2003)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 8, 2003)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 6, 2003)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 3, 2003)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 7, 2003)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 5, 2003)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 2, 2003)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 7, 2003)

2004

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 4, 2004)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 29, 2004)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 28, 2004)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 18, 2004)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 16, 2004)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 12, 2004)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 13, 2004)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 11, 2004)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 8, 2004)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 5, 2004)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 10, 2004)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 7, 2004)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 5, 2004)

2005

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 2, 2005)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 6, 2005)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 6, 2005)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 3, 2005)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 1, 2005)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 4, 2005)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 5, 2005)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 10, 2005)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 7, 2005)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 4, 2005)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 2, 2005)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 6, 2005)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 4, 2005)

2006

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 8, 2006)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 5, 2006)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 5, 2006)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 9, 2006)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 7, 2006)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 10, 2006)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 11, 2006)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 9, 2006)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 6, 2006)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 3, 2006)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 8, 2006)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 5, 2006)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 3, 2006)

2007

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 14, 2007)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 11, 2007)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 11, 2007)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 8, 2007)

Legacy
During its ten-year history, DAVE offered a hardcore style with a mix of realism and highspot daredevil wrestling that was rarely, or even not, featured on NWF and GCG matches. In DAVE, there were virtually no rules, and they were pushing boundaries and pushing buttons, mixing sex appeal, violence, swearing and more violence to make their own niche. The role of referees only included counting pinfalls, acknowledging submissions, and upholding rope breaks. The fanbase were and still is extremely loyal after the closure in 2007, and with the power of their fanbase, they turned previously unknown performers into cult figures.

Extreme Eliminator match
The Extreme Eliminator match is a specialty of Danger And Violence Extreme, and arguably the most popular stipulation in the company's history. The match involves larger number of competitors with the most common number being three competitors. The match is technically an iron man match where a time limit is set at either 20, 30, 45, or 60, and the first fall does not eliminate the competitor that was pinned/submitted first. When a time limit happens with two competitors tied in the points and if the third competitor stayed with zero or lower than the other competitor's points, the third competitor will be eliminated and a sudden death will be held with 5 minutes on the clock added.

In a four-man match, a tag format is used instead of having all the wrestlers in the ring at the same time although the rules from the three-man match remain.

The Hateful Eight match
The Hateful Eight match (not to be confused with the 2015 Quentin Tarantino-directed film The Hateful Eight) is another specialty of Danger And Violence Extreme. Usually held for DAVE stables/four-man groups fight each other, it is an elimination steel cage match. There are four ways to eliminate a competitor in the match; the two most common ways being pinning or submitting your opponent.

Satan's Triangle match
The Satan's Triangle match is an off-shoot version of the three-man Extreme Eliminator, with the exception of the iron man match rules from the Extreme Eliminator are not present in the match instead it is replaced by basic elimination, and hardcore wrestling weapons are present inside or outside the ring.

Chained Fury match
The Chained Fury match is a match stipulation where all of the ring ropes are replaced by steel chains, and all of the turnbackle pads are removed, exposing the steel bolts holding the ropes together.

In other media
In 2004, DAVE was featured in the late-night sketch variety show The House Party Crew, where wrestlers Bryan Holmes, Chris Caulfield, and Sammy Bach made their special appearances in different sketches.