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 25 November 1996 by veteran wrestler Buddy Gaines but it wasn't until former MWF colour commentator Phil Vibert bought the company in 1997, and later signed prominent MWF wrestler and close friend Heidi Hyde, who was arguably MWF's most famous female wrestler and later DAVE's head booker. Vibert's creative direction launched the careers of several superstars, most notably Chris Morissette, Frankie Future, and David Stone.

For much of its existence, DAVE was considered as the fourth-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 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.

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 the regional television station National Pride TV prior to the signing of the deal. From 2004 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 months (1996-1997)
DAVE began promoting shows four days after its official opening, with the first event titled 'Highway to the Danger Zone'. The show was highly successful, with the show drawing approximately 1,000 fans in attendance at the Vipers Club Hall in Calisota, Philadelphia. A month later, DAVE crowned Johnny Martin as their first ever Extreme champion at the Cold Day in Hell event before Martin lost it to Kurt Laramee at the 1997 Blood and Thunder event.

DAVE under Phil Vibert and Heidi Hyde (1997-2007)
In April 1997, Phil Vibert and Heidi Hyde sent shockwaves to wrestling when both announced their 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" and then after, he hyped that DAVE's next show will have the shock debut of an un-named "Huge Star" which ended up being former MWF World Heavyweight champion Eric Tyler. DAVE was equipped with arguably the greatest creative minds in Magisterian professional wrestling, and it meant that easily making new stars were their main advantage. 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$65,000-100,000 per month from the TV deal and pay-per-view deals combined, DAVE was undisputably the fourth competitor in the hot Magisterian wrestling war between the overall goliath Golden Canvas Traditional Grappling, the sports entertainment giant Magisterian Wrestling Federation, and the dark horse critical darling Universal Championship Wrestling.

In 2004, Kurt Laramee, who had close relationships with fellow wrestlers like Hardcore Killah, Stevie Vortex, and Killa Watts, 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 bleed a large amount of blood. 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 multiple-time Television 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 Eric Tyler. It meant that Vibert and Hyde had to make up a long term plan by pushing rookie star Tom Gilmore - who was arguably DAVE's closest equivalent to the now-established three major stars Chris Morissette, Frankie Future, and David Stone - to the moon. At the time, DAVE's financial power is 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 (Eric Tyler, Chris Caulfield, Elton Rando, Genghis Rahn, Chris Morissette, Frankie Future, David Stone, etc.) was in their forties or late thirties and their physical healths have deteriorated.

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.

1996

 * DAVE Highway to the Danger Zone (November 30, 1996)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 21, 1996)

1997

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 25, 1997)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 15, 1997)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 22, 1997)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 19, 1997)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 24, 1997)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 20, 1997)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 21, 1997)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 26, 1997)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 30, 1997)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 27, 1997)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 25, 1997)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 29, 1997)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 20, 1997)

1998

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 24, 1998)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 28, 1998)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 28, 1998)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 18, 1998)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 23, 1998)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 26, 1998)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 27, 1998)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 25, 1998)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 22, 1998)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 26, 1998)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 24, 1998)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 21, 1998)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 26, 1998)

1999

 * DAVE Blood and Thunder (January 23, 1999)
 * DAVE Back In Black (February 20, 1999)
 * DAVE ThunderStruck (March 20, 1999)
 * DAVE Rock And Roll Over (April 17, 1999)
 * DAVE Total Disruption (May 22, 1999)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 1 (June 25, 1999)
 * DAVE The Extreme Double Header, Day 2 (June 26, 1999)
 * DAVE Attitude Adjustment (July 24, 1999)
 * DAVE Extreme Warfare (August 21, 1999)
 * DAVE Zero Hour (September 18, 1999)
 * DAVE Counter Culture (October 23, 1999)
 * DAVE The Alternate Showcase (November 20, 1999)
 * DAVE Cold Day in Hell (December 18, 1999)

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 eleven-year history, DAVE offered a hardcore style with a mix of realism and highspot daredevil wrestling that was rarely, or even not, featured on GCTG, MWF, and UCW 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. The company also had a fierce rivalry with the Magisterian Wrestling Federation, which was fueled by Vibert's personal conflict with MWF's owner Allen Packer.

In other media
In 2004, DAVE was featured in the late-night sketch variety show The House Party Crew, where wrestlers Chris Caulfield, Chris Morissette, Frankie Future, and Eric Tyler made their special appearances in different sketches. DAVE wrestlers Eric Tyler and David Stone also made their one time appearance in the MBC romantic sitcom 'You & Me'