Wrestling Society X

Wrestling Society X (WSX) is a short-lived American professional wrestling promotion and professional wrestling-based television series created in 2006 by Big Vision Entertainment. The weekly television series formerly aired on MTV, MTV2, MTV Tr3s, and over a dozen other MTV outlets throughout the world. WSXtra, an extra program featuring WSX matches and interviews not broadcast on television, was available on the promotion's MTV website and Video on Demand.

Wrestling Society X
Created byKevin Kleinrock
Houston Curtis
Developed byBig Vision Entertainment
Presented byKris Kloss
Bret Ernst
StarringWSX roster
Opening theme"Goin Postal" by Will Hummel (from Extreme Music)
Ending theme"Dickin' Around" by Nicholas Joseph Nolan (from Extreme Music)
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes9 (1 unaired)
Production
Executive producersHouston Curtis
Sam Korkis
Production locationsWSX Bunker, Los Angeles, California
Camera setupMulticamera setup
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesBig Vision Entertainment
MTV Series Entertainment
Release
Original networkMTV
Original releaseJanuary 30 (2007-01-30) –
March 14, 2007 (2007-03-14)

WSX was presented as a secret society of wrestling that used a venue referred to as the WSX Bunker, complete with an artificially worn-out looking ring for its matchups. In matches held within this venue, falls count anywhere was the stipulation. The program also stood out due to its unorthodox approach to pro wrestling; this included frequent use of highly expressive plants, crowd sound effects, electrical sound effects, visual effects, and camera shaking when a wrestler would fall prey to electrical weapons. Along with wrestling, WSX featured musical guests playing at the start of each television broadcast, with some band members joining the broadcast team (consisting of Kris Kloss and Bret Ernst) after the performance.

History

The WSX pilot was taped on February 10, 2006, in Los Angeles, California, and all wrestlers present were forced to sign an agreement stating that they would take part in a full season if the show was picked up by MTV. Delirious was not used at the taping due to his refusal to sign the agreement, as it would have prevented him from working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. On July 8, 2006, MTV commissioned the promotion to produce a full season of episodes for their network, and WSX taped its first season of shows between November 11 and November 16, 2006, in Los Angeles, California. The tapings were booked by head writer Kevin Kleinrock, Cody Michaels and Vampiro.

The series premiered January 30, 2007, on MTV. It originally aired Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. ET, to compete with the second half of ECW on Sci Fi. The WSX Championship was the only title featured and defended on the program, but announcer Kris Kloss hinted (towards the end of the series) at the arrival of WSX Tag Team Championships in the future during tag team matches and on the unaired season finale it was announced the creation of an X Division-style title for the second season. The fourth episode of the series was pulled by MTV after a spot featuring Ricky Banderas throwing a fireball at Vampiro was deemed unairable by the network, but would air in edited form on February 27, 2007. On February 28, 2007, it was announced that Wrestling Society X had been canceled by MTV.[1]

A marathon of new episodes 5–9 aired on March 13, 2007, as MTV later announced that the marathon served as the season finale of WSX and was quietly removed from its scheduled slot on March 20 on MTV.[2] A 10th episode which was set to be the original season finale never aired on television but was later released on the Wrestling Society X: The Complete First (and Last) Season DVD.[3]

Episodes
# Air Date Network Timeslot (ET) Rating Main Event Musical Guest
01January 30, 2007MTV10:30 pm1.0WSX RumbleBlack Label Society
02February 6, 2007MTV10:30 pm0.7WSX Championship: 6-Pac vs. VampiroThree 6 Mafia
03February 13, 2007MTV10:30 pm0.5Tables, Ladders and CervezasSparta
04February 27, 2007MTV10:30 pm0.6El Hombre Blanco Enmascarado vs. Human TornadoClipse
05March 13, 2007MTV11:00 pm0.6Arik Cannon vs. DelikadoJibbs
06March 13, 2007MTV11:30 pm0.4D.I.F.H. vs. That 70's TeamGood Charlotte
07March 14, 2007MTV12:00 am0.4Los Pochos Guapos vs. The Filth and The FuryQuietdrive
08March 14, 2007MTV12:30 am0.4WSX Championship: Ricky Banderas vs. VampiroPitbull
09March 14, 2007MTV01:00 am0.3Human Tornado vs. Jack EvansStyles P
10UnairedMTVUnairedNoneExploding Cage MatchNew Found Glory

MTV aired unadvertised previews of the first two episodes the Friday before they premiered at 11:00 pm ET. Prior to WSX debuting, this timeslot normally averaged a 0.10 rating. The first preview episode on January 26 drew a 0.43 rating, while the second preview episode on February 2 drew 0.50. MTV discontinued preview airings beginning with the third episode in hopes of maximizing ratings for the Tuesday broadcasts.

Home video

Wrestling Society X: The Complete First (and Last) Season DVD was released on November 13, 2007. The set features all 10 episodes, all 10 WSXtra episodes, deleted scenes and special features. All of the musical performances were edited out of the DVD set. Also on the DVD were scenes already recorded for the second season, including a season opener WSX Title Match between Ricky Banderas and Youth Suicide in a scaffold match and a feud between Nic Grimes and Mickie Knuckles.

WSX Championship
WSX Championship
Details
PromotionWrestling Society X
Date establishedNovember 11, 2006 (aired February 6, 2007)
Date retiredJuly 17, 2007
Statistics
First champion(s)Vampiro
Final champion(s)Ricky Banderas
Most reignsVampiro and Ricky Banderas
Longest reignRicky Banderas
Shortest reignVampiro
Oldest championVampiro
Youngest championRicky Banderas

The WSX Championship was the only professional wrestling title in the short-lived promotion. A ten-man WSX Rumble, which aired on January 30, 2007, was held to decide the participants in the first WSX Championship match, with 6-Pac and Vampiro winning. On November 11, 2006 (aired February 6, 2007), Vampiro defeated 6-Pac with a Tombstone Piledriver inside an exploding coffin to become the first WSX Champion.[4] Rick Banderas defeated Vampiro on November 15, 2006 (aired March 14, 2007) with a Chokeslam into an exploding coffin wrapped in barbed-wire to win the WSX Championship. The promotion closed in March 2007, and Banderas was stripped of the championship on June 17, 2007. Statistically, Banderas held the title the longest.

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Vampiro November 11, 2006 Wrestling Society X #2 Los Angeles, California 1 4 Defeated 6-Pac.

Both Vampiro and 6-Pac earned their spot in the match when competing in a ten-man WSX Rumble match, that took place on February 9th, 2006 at Wrestling Society X #1.

Aired on February 6, 2007.

 [5]
2 Ricky Banderas November 15, 2006 Wrestling Society X #8 Los Angeles, California 1 244 Aired on March 14, 2007. [6]
— Deactivated June 17, 2007 — — — — Due to the closure of the promotion.
  • A WSX Rumble match starts out as a Royal Rumble match and when all the participants have arrived, the match then becomes a Ladder match.

Roster
Main article: List of former Wrestling Society X personnel

See also

References
  1. "Breaking News: MTV's Wrestling Society X Cancelled". 28 February 2007.
  2. "'Wrestling Society X': Real Story Behind MTV's Failed Attempt at Professional Wrestling". Rolling Stone.
  3. "Online World of Wrestling: Wrestling Society X".
  4. 411's WSXtra Report: Season 1, Episode 2
  5. "Wrestling Society X #2 – Results – Cagematch.net".
  6. "Wrestling Society X #8 – Results – Cagematch.net".
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