PRIZE Wrestling League (RLS Promotion)

## PRIZE Wrestling League

PRIZE logo 2018-2021

**PRIZE Wrestling League** was a European professional wrestling promotion, founded by Mikey Ace following the mutual termination of his UNION Wrestling contract. They were under the executive leadership of the Wrestling Council of Europe from 2019 until their eventual demise in 2021 due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and disputes with other promotions**7**.

Founded by Ace due to his frustration with the way UNION Wrestling had become "the same as the rest", the idea behind PRIZE was that it would, through several "specials" taking place in the run up to an expected October 2018 launch, attempt to cultivate and establish a set of "ground rules" and unique innovations to help separate it from the standard.

From 2019 until it's demise, the promotion had talent-share agreements in place with other WCE promotions AXL and Wrestling upLOUD!, WCE partner promotions Fife Wrestling Kingdom, Pro Wrestling Atom and Japan MIGHTY! Wrestling, and conditionally with Exhibition Wrestling.

## History

### **Founding/Early Intent (2018)**

After leaving his position as a wrestler and booker at UNION Wrestling, Mikey Ace (known simply in UW as Ace) began working small shows at Exhibition Wrestling: Canada while trying to gain support for a new, small promotion in his hometown of Sheffield.

After securing funding for one show, in Birmingham in the Midlands, Ace began scouring what he called the "wrestling scrap heap"2 for wrestlers to participate. His enduring friendship with Mexican luchador Piranha allowed him to negotiate with EW:C for the use of Piranha and Chris Wayland in the show. This was seen as a big snub to UNION Wrestling, who had previously tried to poach both men.

Knowing he would need a big coup to draw people in, he also used his earlier appearance in JMW's Fight for MIGHT! tournament to persuade the Japanese promotion to release star performer Hubris to them. UNION Wrestling then suffered somewhat of an exodus of talent, those unhappy with their positions within the company, leading to Grayson Gage and Rafe Daniels joining the show, with Gage convincingly setting up a Grudge Match with Piranha on social media in the run-up.

With Tag Team Championships created, the budding promotion tried and failed to coax several easier targets into performing and instead called in a favour with new Wrestling upLOUD!1 skipper Bob Wigley to borrow their current champions, the Kings of Wrestling. Shockingly, their upLOUD! rivals CrossBones soon announced they would be challenging them, as they didn't believe it fair that the duo should lose their titles and not have the chance to earn some new ones.

The biggest shock was the announcement that the Grand Championship (a female-only belt) would be contested between PRIZE's only contracted female performer and massive UW and Ace-detractor Rebecca "Angel" Marin. In the build up, at several press conferences, Ace and Marin played on this dislike heavily to a positive reaction.

The PRIZE June Special 2018 took place in Birmingham on the 26th June 2018, and saw local talent Pete Hook crowned Elite Champion in Six Man Ladder Match that also featured the shock debuts of former UW talent British Samurai and Matsuda, Angel crowned Grand Champion, Welsh former weightlifter Dempsey crowned Nova Champion, the Kings of Wrestling crowned Tag Team Champions and saw Grayson Gage defeat Piranha in the Grudge Match. The Nova and Elite Championship matches, a Six Man Ladder and Four For War3 Match respectively, drew the most praise, both netting 5\* reviews from Squared Circle Insider.

A second special, this time from Hamburg in Germany, is planned for early July, with a Tag Team Championship Rematch, guest appearances from Freddie Ross and Miss Dash (best known as Darren Young and Emma in WWE) and Grudge Matches stemming from the first special all planned.

On the 2nd July, Mikey Ace confirmed that contracts had been offered to over twenty superstars from across the world, and that several signings would be announced at the second special in Germany.

On the 3rd July 2018, PRIZE confirmed via a statement that UNION Wrestling had issues them with a cease and desist notice on the Grayson Gage gimmick, with a cover that they could not simply just change his name now and continue on from the first special. Kenneth Jones, who portrayed the Gage gimmick, called the situation "understandable" and expressed regret at not simply reverting to his birth name.6

The second special took place on the 7th July 2018, and was well received. A third special was planned for August 2018, which was cancelled due to administrative issues. On the 27th July 2018 PRIZE updated their official roster, adding several of the former freelancers as full-time performers as well as fleshing out the roster will several new names.

In October 2018, they held the Bring Down The House Show in London, which drew more than 4,000 fans and was largely well received by critics. They confirmed later that an announcement was coming imminently on a new weekly show.

The PRIZE weekly shows, PRIZE FIGHTS and PRIZE LIVE, started on the 22nd October 2018, with the former taking place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool every week and the latter touring the UK and Europe.

### WCE Takeover (2019)

Due to several financial and administrative reasons, including not finding the managerial candidates he needed to replace him so he could focus on competing, Ace announced in early 2019 that WCE and PRIZE had come to terms on an agreement, making WCE the full governing body and administrator for the promotion.

They had their first show in the rebooted promotion, Rise for the PRIZE 2019, on April 21st 2019 at the Leipzig Arena in Germany. Early indications showed that the new direction, production style and branding had gone down positively with the majority of the fanbase.

### Pandemic Decline and Liquidation (2020-2021)

PRIZE struggled during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, with swathes of the roster having to self-isolate, lockdowns greatly reducing income and partnerships with promotions overseas put on hold due to travel restrictions. In November 2020 the promotion confirmed it had ceased all production on shows, and by March 2021 looked certain to have to close it's doors.

In late May 2021, PRIZE confirmed that they were being liquidated to settled outstanding debts to other promotions, the WCE, and several roster members. UNION Wrestling caused a small controversy in the aftermath of this, by offering to "take over" the contracts (a symbolic gesture, as there were no longer actual contracts to pick up) of any PRIZE roster members who were interested. Exhibition Wrestling were particularly stung by this gesture, as they were hoping to fill the gap in the UK wrestling scene with an EW: United Kingdom brand.

## Promotion Alumni

*(list of former PRIZE full contracted superstars)*

*\*"Contracted through championship" denotes performers who's contract is determined by their title run, meaning the contract begins to be enforced when they win said title, and ends upon them losing said title.*

*\*\*Mikey Ace keeps his real name separate to distance his wrestling persona fully from his real-life4. Unknown names for luchadores are in keeping with the culture and traditions of lucha wrestling.*

*\*\*\*Several men have donned the Wraith costume due to him only appearing at live shows.*

*\*\*\*\*Pronounced An-HEL.*

*NOTE: "Unassigned" superstar gimmicks to be revealed on debut.*

### Freelance:

The promotion also enlisted the services of Frank Veen from Wrestling upLOUD!, JMW's Oguchi Gekko (for a dark match)**,** and unattached performers Robert Kuipers and Cid Destini, who are as such considered alum of the company.

## Championships & Honours

### Former::

WCE Heavyweight Championship (*last held by Rafe Daniels)*

WCE Openweight Championship *(last held by Jackie Compton)*

WCE Junior Heavyweight Championship *(last held by Mikey Ace)*

WCE International Championship *(last held by Gaia Cassidy)*

WCE Welterweight Championship *(last held by British Samurai)*

WCE Tag Team Championships *(last held by CrossBones)*

PRIZE Elite Championship (l*ast held by Chris Wayland)*

**PRIZE Grand Championship** *(last held by Tova Viklund\_*

**PRIZE Nova Championship** *(last held by Mikey Ace)*

**PRIZE Tag Team Championships** *(last held by the Kings of Wrestling)*

## Trivia

* Mikey Ace originally was initially considered for, and apparently was mulling over, the position of spearheading the Exhibition Wrestling brand into the UK. EWUK, as a concept, was suspended indefinitely upon the announcement of the working understanding between EW and PRIZE. WCE ended up agreeing to host the promotion in much the way EW were originally considered.
* Early potential names for the promotion included FITE Wrestling, Supernova Wrestling League and Ace Wrestling Foundation.

## Behind-the-Scenes/Notes

1. Japan MIGHTY! Wrestling, Exhibition Wrestling: Canada and Wrestling upLOUD! are the promotions I run on Fire Pro Wrestling World (JMW) and Wrestling Revolution 3D (EW:C and WuL), respectively.
2. By "wrestling scrap heap", here, what I actually mean is "CAWs I stopped using years ago/abandoned in the past", so I had a fresh start and wasn't just copying all my CAWs from UNION Wrestling.
3. "Four For War" is just a cheesy, gimmicky name for a Fatal-4-Way.
4. In truth, the real reason I don't want to advertise my real name should be obvious to anyone who's ever received abuse for being a wresting fan, let alone someone who dials that up to about six thousand.
5. Freddie Ross is Frederick Rossiter, better known as Darren Young in WWE. Miss Dash is Tenille Dashwood... better known as Emma in WWE. They will, almost certainly having been removed in 2K19, only be with the promotion a very short time.
6. In truth, I simply couldn't decide whether to keep him as Gage or have him as "The Engaging" Kenny Jones, as he has always been on Fire Pro... in the end I decided I liked the Gage name and gimmick too much.
7. The pandemic serves merely as an in-universe reason to do a little reboot of my promotions ahead of the release of WWE 2K22.