DEFY Wrestling
 | |
| Acronym | DEFY |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, United States |
| Founder(s) |
|
| Merged with | Progress Wrestling |
| Website | |
DEFY Wrestling is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based out of Seattle, Washington. DEFY was created in 2017 after founders Jim Perry and Matt Farmer successfully petitioned the Washington state government (specifically the Washington State Department of Licensing) to alter laws around professional wrestling, which they had argued had severely impacted the ability of promoters to run small professional wrestling events in the state since the early 1990s. Since its launch in 2017, DEFY has risen to a high level of prominence on the American Independent circuit, in part because of its association as the "home" of emerging national wrestling stars Swerve Strickland, Darby Allin and Nick Wayne.[1][2][3]
As DEFY has grown, it has begun to hold events outside of Seattle, including locations such as Tacoma, Yakima, Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles and London, England.[4] Stylistically, promoter Matt Farmer has compared the difference between DEFY and WWE as being like that of Alternative Rock and Pop Music.[5]
History[edit]
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There is a significant history of professional wrestling in the Pacific Northwest; Between 1925 and 1992 the region was primarily serviced by the well-regarded Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) (also known as Portland Wrestling). However, following the death of the wrestling territory system and the rise of the World Wrestling Federation, PNW fell too by the wayside.[6] Further reinforcing this withering of regional professional wrestling were several regulations introduced to Washington by the Washington State Department of Licensing, which made the cost of producing a professional wrestling event highly prohibitive for smaller organizations. For example, until 2017 the Department of Licensing required all professional wrestling promoters to pay them 6% of the gross income made from any event as well as $1 for every ticket sold at the show.[7][8] Promoters were also required to obtain a license for every performer featured on the show.[8]
In 2017, following many years of lobbying by Farmer and Perry as well as other members of the professional wrestling community, these requirements were scrapped and Farmer and Perry launched DEFY Wrestling to take advantage of the new era. DEFY would make use of Perry's professional background in marketing and Farmer's background as a professional wrestling historian.[3] The very first DEFY show was headlined by Swerve Strickland challenging Cody Rhodes for the then-active GFW NEX*GEN Championship.[2] Subsequent shows would feature Strickland, Darby Allin and Nick Wayne prominently, as well as female talent such as Vert Vixen and British Columbia's Nicole Matthews.
As of 2024[update], almost all of DEFY's events in Seattle have taken place in the historic Washington Hall,[4][3] which has a capacity of 500 to 800 people depending on the setup.[2]
On 9 February 2024, it was announced that DEFY Wrestling would "merge" with Progress Wrestling, an independent promotion based in London, England. It was created to bring a "global presence" to both brands and aid further expansion plans.[9]
Championships[edit]
As of May 12, 2024
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held |
Location | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEFY World Championship | .jpg)
|
Kenta | 1 | June 3, 2023 | 344 | Seattle, Washington | ||
| DEFY PrimoLucha Championship | 
|
Cody Chhun | 1 | November 18, 2023 | 176 | Seattle, Washington | ||
| DEFY Tag Team Championship |
|
The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra) |
2 (2, 2) |
June 24, 2023 | 323 | Portland, Oregon | ||
| DEFY Women's Championship | 
|
Vert Vixen | 1 | October 29, 2022 | 561 | Seattle, Washington | Inaugural champion | |
DEFY World Championship[edit]
| DEFY World Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | DEFY Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | June 30, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Kenta | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | June 3, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
The DEFY World Championship is a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion DEFY Wrestling, being sanctioned as the promotion's top championship. There have been a total of ten reigns shared between eight different champions. The current champion is Kenta who is in his first reign.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| <1 | Reign lasted less than a day |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | ||||
| 1 | Davey Richards | June 30, 2017 | DEFY5 Gigantic | Seattle, WA | 1 | 8 | 0 | Defeated Shane Strickland in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion. | [10] |
| 2 | Shane Strickland | July 8, 2017 | CZW Evilution | Voorhees, NJ | 1 | 279 | 5 | This was a four-way winner takes all match also disputed for Strickland's CZW World Heavyweight Championship which also involved Joe Gacy and Lio Rush. | [11] |
| 3 | Austin Aries | April 13, 2018 | DEFY Vibes | Seattle, WA | 1 | 98 | 1 | This was a winner takes all match also disputed for Aries' Impact World Championship. | [12] |
| 4 | Shane Strickland | July 20, 2018 | DEFY Swerve Vs. Aries | Portland, OR | 2 | 147 | 3 | [13] | |
| 5 | Artemis Spencer | December 14, 2018 | DEFY On Edge | Seattle, WA | 1 | 252 | 8 | [14] | |
| 6 | Schaff | August 23, 2019 | DEFY Defyance Forever | Tacoma, WA | 1 | 182 | 4 | [15] | |
| 7 | Randy Myers | February 21, 2020 | DEFY Kings Of Crash | Seattle, WA | 1 | 1,009 | 0 | [16] | |
| 8 | Swerve Strickland | November 26, 2022 | DEFY Fightwave | Seattle, WA | 3 | 133 | 1 | This was a title unification match in which Strickland wrestled as the interim champion. The bout was a six-way ladder match which also involved Artemis Spencer, Christopher Daniels, Cody Chhun and Schaff. Strickland was previously known as Shane Stricklad. | [17] |
| 9 | Nick Wayne | April 8, 2023 | DEFY The Realest | Seattle, WA | 1 | 56 | 2 | [18] | |
| 9 | Kenta | June 3, 2023 | DEFY Your Nightmare | Seattle, WA | 1 | 344+ | 5 | [19] | |
Combined reigns[edit]
As of May 12, 2024.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Randy Myers | 1 | 0 | 1,009 |
| 2 | Swerve Strickland[a] | 3 | 9 | 559 |
| 3 | Kenta † | 1 | 5 | 344+ |
| 4 | Artemis Spencer | 1 | 8 | 252 |
| 5 | Schaff | 1 | 4 | 182 |
| 6 | Austin Aries | 1 | 1 | 98 |
| 7 | Nick Wayne | 1 | 2 | 56 |
| 8 | Davey Richards | 1 | 0 | 8 |
DEFY Tag Team Championship[edit]
| DEFY Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||||
| Promotion | DEFY Wrestling | ||||||||||||||
| Date established | September 8, 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra) | ||||||||||||||
| Date won | June 24, 2023 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
The 2AW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion DEFY Wrestling. There have been a total of ten reigns shared between eight teams consisting of sixteen different wrestlers. The current champions are The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra) who are in their second reign as a team as well as individually.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| <1 | Reign lasted less than a day |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | ||||
| 1 | The American Guns (Ethan HD and Mike Santiago) |
September 8, 2018 | DEFY Club | Seattle, WA | 1 | 133 | 3 | Defeated Violence Unlimited (Brody King and Tyler Bateman) in a tournament final to become the inaugural champions. | [20] |
| 2 | One Percent (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) |
January 19, 2019 | DEFY 2nd Anniversary Show | Seattle, WA | 1 | 69 | 1 | [21] | |
| 3 | Warbeast (Jacob Fatu and Josef Samael) |
March 29, 2019 | PCW ULTRA Wrestle Summit 2019 | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 308 | 8 | [22] | |
| 4 | Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson) |
January 31, 2020 | DEFY Year 3 | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 743 | 10 | [23] | |
| 5 | The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra) |
February 12, 2022 | DEFY 5th Anniversary Show | Seattle, WA | 1 | 155 | 5 | This was a ladder match. | [24] |
| 6 | Christopher Daniels and Swerve Strickland | July 17, 2022 | DEFY The World Is Yours | Seattle, WA | 1 | 34 | 0 | [25] | |
| 7 | Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson) |
August 20, 2022 | DEFY Doomsayers | Seattle, WA | 2 | 37 | 0 | This was a three-way tag team match also involving The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra). | [26] |
| — | Vacated | September 26, 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 8 | State Of Emergency (Miles Deville and Sebastian Wolfe) |
October 8, 2022 | DEFY City Of Thorns | Portland, OR | 1 | 21 | 0 | Defeated The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra) three-way tag team match also involving C4 (Cody Chhun and Guillermo Rosas) to win the vacant titles. | [27] |
| 9 | The Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner and Matthew Justice) |
October 29, 2022 | DEFY Kingdom Come | Seattle, WA | 1 | 238 | 3 | [28] | |
| 10 | The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra) |
June 24, 2023 | DEFY Heathens | Portland, OR | 2 | 323+ | 8 | [29] | |
Combined reigns[edit]
As of May 12, 2024.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
| Rank | Team | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson) |
2 | 10 | 780 |
| 2 | The Bollywood Boyz (Gurv Sihra and Harv Sihra) † |
2 | 13 | 478+ |
| 3 | Warbeast (Jacob Fatu and Josef Samael) |
1 | 8 | 308 |
| 4 | The Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner and Matthew Justice) |
1 | 3 | 238 |
| 5 | The American Guns (Ethan HD and Mike Santiago) |
1 | 3 | 133 |
| 6 | One Percent (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) |
1 | 1 | 69 |
| 7 | Christopher Daniels and Swerve Strickland | 1 | 0 | 34 |
| 8 | State Of Emergency (Miles Deville and Sebastian Wolfe) |
1 | 0 | 21 |
By wrestler[edit]
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eddie Pearl | 2 | 10 | 780 |
| Ricky Gibson | 2 | 10 | 780 | |
| 3 | Gurv Sihra † | 2 | 13 | 478+ |
| Harv Sihra † | 2 | 13 | 478+ | |
| 5 | Jacob Fatu | 1 | 8 | 308 |
| Josef Samael | 1 | 8 | 308 | |
| 7 | Mance Warner | 1 | 3 | 238 |
| Matthew Justice | 1 | 3 | 238 | |
| 9 | Ethan HD | 1 | 3 | 133 |
| Mike Santiago | 1 | 3 | 133 | |
| 11 | Jorel Nelson | 1 | 1 | 69 |
| Royce Isaacs | 1 | 1 | 69 | |
| 13 | Christopher Daniels | 1 | 0 | 34 |
| Swerve Strickland | 1 | 0 | 34 | |
| 15 | Miles Deville | 1 | 0 | 21 |
| Sebastian Wolfe | 1 | 0 | 21 |
Notes[edit]
- ^ Strickland was known as "Shane Strickland" during his first two title reigns.
References[edit]
- ^ Nason, Josh (25 March 2022). "Inside the rise of Seattle's DEFY Wrestling". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b c Josh Nason (25 March 2022). "Matt Farmer discusses DEFY Wrestling". Josh Nason's Punch-out (Podcast). Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b c Douglas, Martin (28 June 2017). "A Newcomer Threatens to Legitimize Seattle's Independent Wrestling Scene". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b "DEFY Wrestling event history". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Vent, Terry (4 May 2018). "Defy Wrestling brings its performance art to Liberty Lake on Saturday". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Saez, Rosin (23 July 2019). "Defy Is Changing Everything About Wrestling in Seattle". Seattle Met. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ Kramer, Grace (2 March 2017). "Lawmakers ready to rumble over pro wrestling regulations". Seattle Globalist. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b Myers, Alexis (17 April 2023). "Washington governor signs theatrical-wrestling bill". Seattle Times. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (9 February 2024). "PROGRESS & Defy Wrestling announce merger". Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- ^ "Defy 06/30/17 Defy 5: Gigantic Night 2 Results". pwponderings.com. PW Ponderings. July 1, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Perez, Luis (August 4, 2017). "ZW 07/08/17 EVILution iPPV Review". pwponderings.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Rosado, Emmanuel (April 14, 2018). "#AndNEW: Austin Aries Wins Defy Wrestling Championship". lastwordonsports.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ DEFY Wrestling (July 18, 2018). "VIDEO: SHANE STRICKLAND BEGINS SECOND REIGN AS DEFY CHAMPION". defywrestling.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ DEFY Wrestling (December 15, 2018). "RESULTS: DEFY ON EDGE 12/14/18 …AND NEW, DEFY WORLD CHAMPION - ARTEMIS SPENCER". defywrestling.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ "Defy Wrestling 08/23/19 Defyance Forever Results". pwponderings.com. PW Ponderings. August 25, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Toro, Carlos (February 24, 2020). "DEFY Wrestling Kings Of Crash Results (2/21): New Champion Crowned, Jeff Cobb, Anthony Bowens, More". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Chicasaca, Renato (November 26, 2022). "Cartelera DEFY Fightwave: Swerve Strickland, Christopher Daniels, Wheeler Yuta y más". turnheelwrestling.com (in Spanish). Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 9, 2023). "DEFY The Realest Results (4/8): Nick Wayne Faces Swerve Strickland". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Guzzo, Gisberto (June 4, 2023). "DEFY Your Nightmare Results (6/3): KENTA, Christopher Daniels, And More In Action". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Madison, Marc (September 4, 2018). "Preview: DEFY Seattle Wrestling DEFY Club (9/8/18)". lastwordonsports.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Internet Wrestling Database (IWD) (January 19, 2019). "DEFY Never Dies - 2nd Anniversary". profightdb.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Thompson, Andrew (March 30, 2019). "PCW ULTRA 'Wrestle Summit' Results (3/29/19): Shane Strickland Loses PCW ULTRA Heavyweight Title". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ "DEFY 01/31/2020 DEFY Year 3 Results". pwponderings.com. PW Ponderings. February 1, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (February 14, 2022). "DEFY Wrestling 5th Anniversary Results (2/12): Christopher Daniels, Jonathan Gresham, More In Action". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (July 19, 2022). "DEFY The World Is Yours Results (7/16 - 7/17): Swerve Strickland, Konosuke Takeshita, More In Action". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (August 20, 2022). "DEFY Doomsayers Results (8/20): Alex Shelley, Swerve Strickland, Bobby Fish In Action". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (October 9, 2022). "DEFY City Of Thorns Results (10/8): Swerve Strickland Faces Christopher Daniels, Two Titles Changes". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (October 30, 2022). "DEFY Wrestling Kingdom Come Results (10/29): New DEFY Tag Team And Women's Champs Crowned". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (June 29, 2023). "DEFY Heathens Results (6/24): Two New Champions Crowned; Vikingo Faces Komander". fightful.com. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
