American Wrestling Federation

The **American Wrestling Federation** (**AWF**)is a fictional American professional wrestling promotion based in Washington, D.C., privately owned by Benjamin McPatz with smaller shares owned by Al Mirzman and Booker D.

The AWF holds live events, television tapings and internet PPVs primarily in the United States and occasionally internationally. Annual PPV events include *Grim Resolution*, *Capitol Hill*, *Summer Breakdown*, *School of Pain*, *Midterm Mania* and, its biggest event, *Graduation.* All AWF shows are sold on-demand via its online store.

In 2017, the promotion signed a deal with FITE, which exclusively aired its shows weekly.

## History

### **McPatz Wrestling Management (2014**–**2015)**

In early 2014, Benjamin McPatz formed a ten-person freelance group of wrestlers that would try to make a name for themselves on the independant circuit in Central Florida. The group rented out an office building in Orlando with McPatz's financial support and set up their wrestling ring in the basement of the building, where they would train while McPatz arranged their bookings upstairs. The group, under the McPatz Wrestling Management, would rent themselves out to independant promotions or any other entertainment venues who would hire them. By promoting themselves on social media and public forums, the group soon began receiving bookings from indie promotions who needed additional talent for shows.

By late 2014, the group was working all throughout the state of Florida. They became recognizable to local wrestling fans and soon were able to be put on the marquee of an outlaw show to help sell tickets. However, with the group's gap year coming to an end, they wrestled their last show at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center on Florida State University campus in Tallahassee. After the show, the group delivered a Curtain Call-like farewell to the Florida crowd before going back to Washington, D.C. to continue college.

However, the group's wrestling endeavors continued, wrestling independant shows throughout the DMV as well as for NOVA Pro Wrestling. Through continuous self-promotion, they were able to retain their following and keep their popularity alive.

### **Formation & rise to prominence (2015–2016)**

The continued success of the AWF Originals on the local independant circuit prompted McPatz to pursue running a self-promoted and funded event in Washington, D.C., featuring the AWF Originals. McPatz commissioned two championship belts to be professionally made and he made an arrangement with the president of American University, Neil Kerwin, to put on professional wrestling shows in Bender Arena. The group branded themselves the American Wrestling Federation, as not to conflict with American University's amateur wrestling team.

The first AWF show aired on August 30, 2015 and was called *School of Pain,* where the AWF World Heavyweight Championship and the AWF Women's Championship were first introduced. The success of the show would lead to Kerwin approving monthly AWF shows to be run in Bender Arena. Most of these shows would be pre-taped under the name *AWF Main Event.* Every three months, they would put on a livestream pay-per-view where storylines would reach their climax. The AWF also began running fundraising house shows each year on September 11th and July 4th respectively.

On February 21, 2016 it was officially revealed that the AWF had signed twenty-year indie wrestling veteran Mohawk Morgan, making him the first big name to be signed to the company. At *Capitol Hill* on February 28, the AWF introduced a speciality match called the Capitol Hill match. New York indie wrestler Brian Halligan debuted as part of the match. The AWF's popularity and viewership increased greatly when they began promoting their biggest ever show in their first non-university campus venue, *Graduation*. The viewership & ticket sales for the show exceeded expectations greatly, serving as the launching pad for the AWF's rise to prominence in the independant wrestling world. The show also marked the AWF debut of "Queen" Miranda Shay, making her the first major female talent from the independant circuit to be signed.

On June 12, 2016, the AWF commissioned the AWF Tag Team Championship, to be decided in an eight-team tournament that went from June 12 to August 28.

On December 2, 2016, the AWF TV tapings were officially branded as *AWF Friday Night Clash.*

### **2017–2018**

On February 26, 2017, Combat Zone Wrestling alumni Dr. Disaster made his AWF debut as part of the Capitol Hill match. On March 31, the AWF introduced a new title, the AWF Pan-American Championship. The first champion was crowned at *Graduation III* on May 28 in a six-man ladder match. This was also the first AWF show to take place outside of the DMV and Florida areas, airing from Los Angeles, California. In addition, the main event of the show would be the first AWF match to receive a five-star rating in the *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*.

On June 3rd, AWF mainstays The Lexbot, Brian Halligan, Chris Pyle, El Flying Diablo & James Duffy Esquire made a surprise appearance at a Ring of Honor TV taping and took on Bullet Club in a ten-man tag team match. This would be the first real exposure of AWF-developed talent on a national stage.

Starting with *Summer Breakdown* in July, the AWF expanded their annual live streamed pay-per-views from four to five per year. On September 12th, the promotion put on a fundraiser house show to benefit the victims of Hurricane Irma. That same month, they began running biweekly house shows throughout the DMV area on Tuesdays. Ohio Valley Wrestling standouts Cal & Chad Lewellyn signed with the AWF later that year, soon followed by their older brother Craig Lewellyn, who made sporadic appearances for the company after his debut at *School of Pain*.

The AWF closed a deal with FITE in late 2017, airing their first Internet pay-per-view (iPPV) on November 26 with *Midterm Mania*. As part of this new deal, they then expanded to six iPPVs per month in 2018 with *Grim Resolution*. In the summer of 2018, the AWF made their first overseas tour to the United Kingdom, beginning with *Summer Breakdown* on July 29. It also marked the first time an unsigned talent would be featured on an AWF iPPV, when Jimmy Havoc took on El Flying Diablo. In addition, Shine Wrestling's Syn, Lilith and Seraphine (formerly the AWF's Sara Marie) debuted at *Summer Breakdown.*

## Touring and TV tapings

In the beginning, the American Wrestling Federation would hold one show a month, originally from Bender Arena in Washington, D.C., to this day the home of the AWF. The first AWF TV taping took place outside of the DMV area on October 9, 2016 with a *Main Event*taping in Charlotte, North Carolina as part of the AWF Home School Tour. In November of 2016, these shows were extended to incapsulate three to four weeks worth of TV tapings rather than just one per month. On December 2, 2016, the AWF TV tapings were officially branded as *AWF Friday Night Clash* (a play on the phrase "night class"). The first AWF house shows began taking place weekly in late 2017 in various small arenas in the DMV area. However, by October of 2019, the AWF began running two TV tapings per month, and in that same month, untelevised pay-per-view quality shows at the ends of every other month, referred to as "supershows".

The first time the AWF left Washington, D.C. for an iPPV event was November 29, 2015 for *Midterm Mania* from the Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee, Florida. Although primarily focusing on the DMV area and occasionally making tours of Florida, the AWF began expanding both domestically and internationally. 2017 saw the first AWF show from Los Angeles, California with *Graduation III*, and the first overseas tour of the United Kingdom took place in the summer of 2018. At this point, they were running on average five to six shows a month.

The first AWF show, *School of Pain*, was streamed live through Twitch tv, Ustream and on local closed circuit television. Using these outlets, the AWF produced and streamed a live show once every three months in the style of a wrestling pay-per-view. These shows were branded under the names *School of Pain* in August, *Midterm Mania* in November, *Capitol Hill* in February and *Graduation* in May. In 2017, they expanded to five live streamed shows with *Summer Breakdown* in July. As part of their deal with FITE later that year, they then expanded to six iPPVs per month in 2018 with *Grim Resolution* in January and moving *Capitol Hill* to March & *School of Pain* to September.

## Speciality matches

* **Capitol Hill match**
* **Steel Cage Trash match**
	+ Innovated by The Trash Man, this match consists of a steel cage surrounding the ring with a multitude of weapons and foreign objects littering the floor of the ring. These objects may be used in any way throughout the match, which may be won by pinfall or submission. The door of the cage remains locked at all times, and the only way to win the match by escaping the cage is to climb over the top of it with both feet landing on the floor.
* **AWF Tag Team Tournament**
* **Sleep Paralysis Cell match**
	+ This match was made as a recreation of WWE's Hell in a Cell match. The match features a 15 foot tall "cell" structure, a 5-sided cuboid made from open-weave steel mesh Chain-link fencing which encloses the ring and ringside area. Unlike the steel cage match, only an in-ring pinfall or submission will ordinarily result in a win, and there are no disqualifications. The match was introduced by The Nightmare.

## Marquee events

* *Grim Resolution* (January)
* *Capitol Hill* (March)
* *Graduation* (May)
* *Summer Breakdown* (July)
* *School of Pain* (September)
* *Midterm Mania* (November)

## Authority figures

### AWF Commissioner

* Neil Kerwin (2015 - May, 2017)
* Booker D (October 7, 2017 - May 27, 2018)
* **Mr. McPatz** (June 8, 2018 - present)

### AWF General Manager

* Mr. McPatz (September 2015 - October 1, 2017)
* J.T. Masters (October 7, 2017 - May 27, 2018)
* **James Duffy Esquire** (June 8, 2018 - present)
* **Lee** "Women's General Manager"  (May 18, 2018 - present)

## See also

* List of AWF pay-per-view events
* List of AWF personnel

Midterm Mania (2015) •
Capitol Hill (2016) •
Graduation I •
School of Pain (2016) •
Midterm Mania (2016) •
Capitol Hill (2017) •
Graduation II •
Summer Breakdown (2017) •
School of Pain (2017) •
Midterm Mania (2017) •
Grim Resolution (2018) •
Capitol Hill (2018) •
Graduation III •
Summer Breakdown (2018) •
School of Pain (2018)