The International Wrestling League - Roster, Updates & PPV Card

Great Roster! I am looking forward to what dream matches IWL has to offer!

I'm interesting in seeing how you're going to use
Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret "the Hitman" Hart, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Owen Hart, Booker T, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Scott Hall and that era of wrestling compared to the rest of your roster.

Man, I miss Chris Candido !

Thanks guys!  It has been so much fun putting this roster together and coming up with the matches.

The IWL is coming to Chicago!

Following the conclusion of the official 30 round draft, the International Wrestling League’s owner, Mr. Compy Raptor, announced that the Hell’s Gate event, held annually every autumn/fall, will this year be held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, home of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls.

“We are excited to bring Hell’s Gate to Chicago, one of the great cities in North America for pro-wrestling” said Mr. Raptor.  “Chicago has some of the most passionate and vocal wrestling fans in the world and the entire IWL roster are thrilled to once again be able to perform in front of them”.

Whilst no line-ups have been announced, Mr. Raptor did reveal that an Immunity Battle Royal will be held at Hell’s Gate.  “The winner of the Immunity Battle Royal will be free to do as he pleases for the next 12 months, free from any repercussions from IWL authority” he explained.  Any wrestler on the IWL roster will be allowed to enter themselves into the battle royal.

Hell’s Gate will be available to watch and to stream live via pay-per-view.

PPV Theme: “Sick Bubblegum” by Rob Zombie

Live on pay-per-view from the sold-out United Center in Chicago, Illinois, the International Wrestling League presents Hell’s Gate!  Some of the biggest and greatest names in professional wrestling will be knock knock knocking on Satan’s door as they descend into the deepest and darkest depths of the Devil’s domains to do battle and cement their legacies.

IWL Presents: Hell's Gate

Kicking off the show is the first of three exhibition matches which sees the fast paced and exciting Rey Mysterio and Johnny Gargano in a bout that will no doubt get the fans on their feet and set the pace for the rest of the evening. 

Booker T and “Hangman” Adam Page go at it in the second exhibition match.  Both men have set their sights on the IWL North American Championship in recent weeks, and a victory tonight will help the winner move that one step closer to gold.

In our final exhibition match, two submission specialists will show the rest of the roster how it’s done.  And like Booker T and the Hangman, victory here will lead to championship gold in the future.

Announced by Mr. Raptor at the PPV press conference, the winner of the Immunity Battle Royal will be able to do as he pleases for the next 12 months, free from any repercussions from IWL authority.  Free from count outs, free from disqualifications, able to insert themselves into championship matches of their choosing.  These are just some of the diabolical schemes these wrestlers might use to their advantage should they manage to outlast and survive the others.  Any roster member on the IWL was free to enter themselves into the battle royal, and what a prize to fight for!

In the first championship match of the evening, Owen Hart’s European Championship will be on the line against the UK’s own Zack Sabre Jr in a match that will no doubt feature some very innovative submissions and mat-based wrestling.

Fresh from their recent victory in gaining the Tag Team Championships, Moustache Mountain will now face a roadblock which could cause their celebrations to come to a grinding halt in the form of Penta and Rey Fenix.  The Lucha Bros returned from a small hiatus to heal some nagging injuries, and now they want their championships back. 

In recent weeks Chris Jericho has been compiling his List of Jericho, a sacred document detailing all the wrestlers that have wronged, irked, annoyed, disrespected and upset him over the years.  The intention is to ultimately work his way through the list, righting the wrongs and settling some long standing feuds.  But this Book of Grudges has been causing a lot of bad blood in the locker room, especially with examples such as “Rob Van Dam: wore a pretty lame t-shirt”.  Jericho’s antics have inadvertently put a target on his back, and many in the locker room are after him and his IWL North American Championship.  Matters came to a head in a mass brawl over the right to face Jericho for the Championship at Hell’s Gate.  Unable to choose who should face him for revenge and the belt, Mr. Raptor decided Jericho will have to face all of them, with his championship belt hanging high over the ring, and a ladder as the only means to retrieve it.

The self-proclaimed boss of the IWL, Sasha Banks has smashed the record for the longest-reigning IWL Women’s Champion.  This reign and her victories have been getting to her head in recent months, and she now believes that she has the divine right to be champion, that the belt is her private property gifted to her by the Almighty.  Taking offense at her arrogance and ego, Thunder Rosa has taken it upon herself to show that new blood is needed at the top, and Banks’ claims are nothing more than rambling delusions.

The “Macho Man” Randy Savage, with his colourful outfits and larger than life character, has lived in the limelight at the IWL since the start.  But the arrival of the Freddie Mercury-like superstar Shinsuke Nakamura has shifted the limelight somewhat.  Irked by the upstart’s “show-boating and hot dogging”, Savage pounced and challenged Nakamura.  Will the reign of the Macho King continue, or will the King of Strong Style usher in the dawn of a new era?

Two of the greatest wrestlers to have ever laced up a pair of wrestling boots go head-to-head to find out who is the better wrestler.  In recent weeks both the Hitman and Tanahashi have explained that they have nothing but respect and admiration for the other.  But ego started to rear its ugly head in recent weeks, and the desire to be the best in the ring has led to tensions beginning to thicken between the two.  So far Hart and Tanahashi have remained somewhat civil and respectful, but could pride lead to a fall and some dirty tactics to ensure victory? 

And in the main event, Stone Cold Steve Austin faces his toughest challenge yet in the form of Kevin Owens.  Many have staked their claim to Austin’s World Championship, but the Texas Rattlesnake has defeated them all.  Enter Kevin Owens.  As Austin destroyed his enemies, Owens has risen through the ranks at the IWL, and the chants of “Kill Owens Kill” have struck fear in all of his opponents.  Owens, ever the master of the mind games, has been toying with Austin in an attempt to throw him off his game.  He’s been attacking people in a manner similar to Austin, showing that he too is ruthless and cold-blooded.  He has even started to use Austin’s own finisher, the Stone Cold Stunner, in his matches.  Has Owen’s psychological warfare messed with Austin, or will the Champ manage to keep his nerve and retain?

Full PPV Card:

IWL World Heavyweight Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens

Bret Hart vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Randy Savage vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

IWL Women’s Championship
Sasha Banks vs. Thunder Rosa

Ladder Match
IWL North American Championship
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe vs. Shingo Takagi

IWL Tag Team Championship
Moustache Mountain vs. The Lucha Bros

IWL European Championship
Owen Hart vs. Zack Sabre Jr

Immunity Battle Royal
Cody Rhodes vs. Batista vs. Raven vs. Sabu vs. Finn Balor vs. Scott Hall vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Drew McIntyre

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Candido

Booker T vs. Adam Page

Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Gargano

Full PPV Card:

IWL World Heavyweight Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens

Hell to the yes. What a dream matchup.  This would be a hard hitting brawl with tons of entertainment.

Bret Hart vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Very nice matchup that would no doubt be a technical masterclass.

Randy Savage vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

And the hits keep on coming. Both guys are super charismatic and both like to personify themselves as royalty. This would be memorable.

IWL Women’s Championship
Sasha Banks vs. Thunder Rosa

Two of the best women ever to get into the ring clash in an awesome dream match.

Ladder Match
IWL North American Championship
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe vs. Shingo Takagi

That is a hell of a group of guys for a multi-man ladder match. Coffin Drop off the top of the ladder plz.

IWL Tag Team Championship
Moustache Mountain vs. The Lucha Bros

Fantastic tag match with a wild variety of beautiful technical ability and lucha flair. Would be awesome to see.

IWL European Championship
Owen Hart vs. Zack Sabre Jr

Another technical masterclass. This would be the workhorse match and I have no doubt it would deliver in spades.

Immunity Battle Royal
Cody Rhodes vs. Batista vs. Raven vs. Sabu vs. Finn Balor vs. Scott Hall vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Drew McIntyre

Fun gimmick and a decent selection of competitors here.

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Candido

An underrated match, I think - but one that has the potential to steal the show.

Booker T vs. Adam Page

A good match up that would be a fun early-card match.

Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Gargano

A great mix of high flying and technical styles and a perfect PPV opener.

Truly, your card is really damn good and really damn consistently good. Great job.

Now that the draft's over, I thought it would be fun to do a "behind the scenes" kinda post, talking about the ideas and thought processes behind each match.  We've kinda touched on some matches in the Facebook group chat, but I wanted to do something a bit more in-depth.

So first of all, the Hell's Gate name!  This was the name I used for my first PPV when we started the GM Game: Generations back on the old boards over 10 years ago (that long ago?  Sigh 🙁 ), and I basically nicked the name from Taker's gogoplata.  Thought it was a cool name for a PPV, and I thought I'd re-use it!

Using Rob Zombie's Sick Bubblegum as a theme is another "rule of cool" thing.  Cool song and thinking in-character it'd be awesome as a theme for a PPV opening video, like My Way for Mania 17.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens
I've thought about the Draft a few times, and funnily enough Rhys made his post about it roughly when I was thinking about asking if anyone was interested.  And right from the start, when I was having those initial thoughts about drumming up support for the Draft, I knew this was the main event I wanted.  Two of my all-time favourites going at it.  I think their styles, their characters and personalities would go so well against each other, and I hope it gives off a "big match" feel.  In my head I imagined it being '98-'99 face Austin and '15 NXT-heel Owens.

Bret Hart vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Now this match was accidental.  Tanahashi was one of the first names on my rough "to draft" list, and I had him against another opponent (won't reveal in case I want to do that match in the future 😉 ), but unfortunately he got drafted.  Then I realised the Hitman was still available!  In the old drafts Bret would normally be one of the first three taken, and I planned with that in mind so I didn't plan for Bret at all.  Then seeing he was still available, and Tanahashi's original opponent got drafted, seemed like a no-brainer really!

Randy Savage vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
One of my prouder ideas, but I'll be honest, I've got no idea where this came from!  I've been watching 1996 WCW to see how the nWo all started and watching it play out.  Savage was on Nitro pretty much every week, and reminded me of how great he was.  So I really wanted Savage on my roster, but no idea who to go against.  I decided to break down who Savage is: he's flamboyant with his gear, a larger than life character and really leaves an impression.  And as I was thinking that, I immediately thought of Austin's description of Nakamura on his podcast a few years ago, where he called him the Michael Jackson or the Freddie Mercury of wrestling.  Then I knew right away who Savage's opponent was going to be.

Sasha Banks vs. Thunder Rosa
I'm a Sasha mark, she's my girl, and one of the best female wrestlers WWE have.  Originally her opponent was going to be AJ Lee in a "generations" match, but she got drafted.  So I decided to put her up against one of the best current non-WWE female wrestlers instead! 

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe vs. Shingo Takagi
This show is dominated by one-on-one matches, so I knew I needed a spectacle match to "pop the crowd" so to speak if it was in-character.  And a big multi-man ladder match would be ideal.  Six is my preferred number of competitors for a ladder match as it's not too many but just enough to allow some cool spots and hopefully give each wrestler enough time to be involved in the story rather than just a spot here and there, and spend 10-15 mins on the floor.

There wasn't really an original line-up for this one, I made a list of about 20 guys who would be awesome in a ladder match, then just draft who's available!  Initially Jericho wasn't on the list as I thought someone else would pick him, but like Bret I realised he was still available after I secured by big 3 matches, so I was having him!  Once the draft was over Candido was in the match instead of HBK.  But when we drafted Taker's roster I knew I wanted HBK in the ladder match, so Candido needed a new match ...

Moustache Mountain vs. The Lucha Bros
This is another one that changed from the original plan.  I had pencilled in Harlem Heat vs. the Lucha Bros in a generations kinda deal, but something didn't quite click with that idea in my mind.  I wasn't 100% happy with it, so I needed new opponents for the Lucha Bros.  I wanted a team that I felt would gel with them and put on a spectacle.  I had three teams in mind, but decided to go with Moustache Mountain to add some diversity (British wrestlers in an industry dominated by the US).

Owen Hart vs. Zack Sabre Jr
I'm a big Owen Hart fan, and I've always drafted him when I've done these draft games.  I wasn't intending to break tradition so I knew Owen had to be on there.  There are so many great opponents for an Owen Hart dream match, but I really wanted ZSJ.  Reamer geeked out at the idea when I posted my card, and to be honest, I geeked out when I thought of it!

Immunity Battle Royal
Now this isa very late addition to the show.  The original idea was a hardcore match championship scramble, a sort of tribute to ECW with lots of hardcore-style wrestlers like Sandman, Sabu etc.  The story I had in mind for the match had Batista as this absolute monster tearing his way through everyone.  Then like in the Royal Rumble, the others start putting their differences aside to take him out, in a divided we fall united we stand kinda-deal.  Then with Batista out of the way they would carry out.  Then slowly but surely Batista would regain his strength and return like the Terminator, taking out everyone one-by-one, and pin the champ right in the nick of time before the buzzer goes off to become the new IWL Hardcore Champion.

As we were drafting I realised there were still some big names available, then I started to think would having guys like Sandman, Rhyno etc. harm my chances at the Snake Cup.  So I changed course and went for the bigger names rather than the hardcore names.  Then instead of putting then in a hardcore match, I figured something like a battle royal would be fun.  Did some brainstorming to think of a good prize, and the immunity battle royal came into being.  I could imagine a lot of heels trying to win this to take advantage of the prize, then seeing their diabolical schemes play out over the next 12 months.

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Candido
As mentioned above, with HBK replacing Candido in the ladder match, he needed a new opponent.  And with HBK joining my roster from Taker's, why not add Angle for Candido to wrestle?  I don't think they've wrestled each other, so felt a perfect mid-card dream match.

Booker T vs. Adam Page
When I drafted Booker I still had Harlem Heat vs. Lucha Bros pencilled in, then when I changed that match it left Booker without anything to do.  Booker's too good to be put into the (as it was then) hardcore match, I wanted a proper singles match for him.  Booker's been around for a while in some different promotions so it was hard trying to think of a good opponent for him.  I was watching some random AEW and Hangman was wrestling, then I thought great!  I felt these two have similar styles and would put on a good match against each other.  No storylines needed, just a one-on-one exhibition for pride and bragging rights.

Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Gargano
One of my rules for PPVs is that the opener has to be exciting.  It's the start of the show, so you need something fast and exciting to pop the crowd and get them pumped up for the show.  It's one of the most important matches on the card, as it sets the scene and the crowd are buzzing and ready to go.  I couldn't think of anything worse than a slow and boring plodding match to start the evening.  Rey's one of my guys and is perfect for what I had in mind, in fact he was another one amongst the first names I pencilled in.  And I thought Gargano's perfect for this sort of match too.  I did a quick Google search and couldn't find a previous match between them, so there we go!