School of Pain (2015)

**School of Pain (2015)** was a fictional professional wrestling Internet pay-per-view (iPPV) event produced by the American Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 30, 2015, at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C. The event aired live on Twitch and YouTube . It was the first event in the *School of Pain* chronology and the first ever AWF-branded event.

The event had four matches and ran for about one hour. The main event saw James Duffy Esquire defeat The Lexbot to become the inaugural AWF World Heavyweight Champion after hitting him with a sledgehammer behind the referee's back. In the show's penultimate match, Ellie Anne defeated Dashing Daniela to become the inaugural AWF Women's Champion. On the undercard, Chris Pyle defeated Ben the Unhinged and Sean Maximus defeated Trevor Gruen.

## Production

### **Background**

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. 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.

### **Storylines**

The card consisted of professional wrestling matches which resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by the AWF. Wrestlers portray heroes or villains as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Prior to the event at a series of independent shows, the AWF's male wrestlers took part in an eight-man tournament to decide the inaugural AWF Heavyweight Champion. In the first round, The Lexbot defeated M.C. Jeff Patz, Ben the Unhinged defeated El Flying Diablo, Chris Pyle defeated Trevor Gruen and James Duffy Esquire defeated Sean Maximus. In the semifinal, Lexbot defeated Ben and Duffy defeated Pyle to advance to the finals, which would take place at *School of Pain*.

Being the only two women in the AWF, Ellie Anne and Dashing Daniela would engage in a best of seven series at the same independent shows to determine who would become the inaugural AWF Women's Champion. Both women won three out of six matches, penciling in the seventh and final match for *School of Pain*.

## Event

### **Preliminary matches**

The first match of the night was Sean Maximus versus Trevor Gruen. Gruen made enemies with the crowd very quickly, and the stoic Maximus used his aerial arsenal to overpower the drunken bruiser. Sean reversed a *Hangover* from Trevor, then sent him between the ropes with a hurricanrana and delivered a *Swinging Collision* tiger feint kick and a diving splash to finish Trevor off.

Next match was Chris Pyle versus Ben the Unhinged. The psychotic Ben used his brutal signature style to take the momentum from Pyle, but was caught off guard by Pyle's innovative offense. Using Japanese-style moves, Pyle managed to stay in the match. Ben hit two *Praise Him*s on Pyle, but the Straight Shooter kicked out of both. When he went for a third, Pyle reversed it and lifted him up into the electric chair to deliver the *Pyle Driver* for the win.

Next came the match to determine the inaugural AWF Women's Champion. Fan-favorite Ellie Anne took on the enigmatic and violent Dashing Daniela. Daniela unleashed a flurry of stiff kicks and grapples to try and break Ellie, but the Princess kept on fighting. She hit a *Side Effect* on Daniela for a nearfall, but Daniela grabbed the bottom rope before the three-count. Daniela managed to hit the *Dashing Drop* on Ellie but the Princess kicked out, forcing Daniela to climb the top rope for a Super *Dashing Drop*. But Ellie evaded the move and countered with a *Kiss My Foot* off the turnbuckle, putting Daniela away for the three-count and becoming the first ever AWF Women's Champion in the process.

### **Main event**

In the main event of this historic show, The Lexbot and James Duffy Esquire faced off for the AWF World Heavyweight Championship. Only one man could become the inaugural champion. Both of these two powerhouses delivered repeated power moves to each other, but neither one of them would stay down. Lex delivered his patented *Lexbreaker* move, but Duffy's foot on the rope prevented the three-count. After a very stiff right hand from Duffy, Lex had to be checked on by the referee. But a clothesline attempt by Duffy caused the referee to be knocked out of the ring. With the official down, Duffy took to the outside of the ring and returned with a sledgehammer. He struck The Lexbot in the head with it before delivering *Infernal Judgment* for a three-count, making history despite the underhanded methods and becoming the first ever AWF World Heavyweight Champion.

## Results

 3
* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

## See also

* List of AWF pay-per-view events

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)