Rawskillz Defeated "Showtime" Robby Royce & "King of Old School" Steve Corino
Won: December 1st, 2005 - PCW's Revolution! - The LID Nightclub - Winnipeg, Mb
Lost: May 25th, 2006
How: Lost to Mentallo
Length: 175 days (11th longest)
Though many questioned his tactics, few could argue with the success of "Showtime" Robby Royce. Throughout his career, he had been a perennial top tier champion in every promotion he worked, and PCW was no different. In fact ,his debut match in PCW on May 1st 2003 had been against Chi Chi Cruz for the PCW Heavyweight Championship and from that moment, Royce never stopped his relentless pursuit of the title.
He finally achieved his goal on February 3rd 2005, when he surprised "Outlaw" Adam Knight with an impromptu challenge and won the PCW Championship. But that reign lasted only 28 days as Royce ran head-first into Mentallo, who's ascension to the title seemed so inevitable as to be destined.
That initial championship reign did not sour Royce, it simply emboldened him and when he regained the title on July 28th 2005, he had orchestrated circumstances to ensure his position was not only protected, but served to further cement his legacy. During his previous reigns atop promotions Top Rope Championship Wrestling (TRCW), Impact Championship Wrestling (ICW) & The Canadian Wrestling Federation (CWF), Royce had been the leader of the super clique known as Team Impact.
In PCW, he took that concept even further, assembling an astonishing collection of talent as "The Elite Squad". Antonio Scorpio, Donny Dicaprio & Rawskillz united with Royce with the common goal of championship domination. As leader, Royce used his position as number one contender to deliver opportunities to his allies and soon The Elite controlled the PCW Tag Team Championship & PCW Canadian Championship.
But having lost the top prize, PCW's Heavyweight Championship, Royce's grip on the Elite became tenuous. By summer of 2005, however, he orchestrated an insurgent war against Premier Championship Wrestling. He marred the special "Tribute to TRCW", the event to mark TRCW's 4th Anniversary of their debut at the LID Nightclub, by challenging and defeating retired TRCW Champion "Beautiful" Bobby Jay and reviving his own ICW Heavyweight Championship. By night's end, the Elite was no more, but in their place was an expanded Team Impact that left much of the PCW roster barely conscious.
On July 28th, Royce finally defeated Mentallo to regain the PCW Heavyweight Championship and declared himself the Unified Champion, next challenging AWA World's Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino!
Seemingly on top of the wrestling world, Royce's attitude even drove away his closest friends including "Enforcer" JP Kaos who finally decided he no longer wanted to play second-fiddle to his former best friend. They engaged in an incredibly heated feud that finally culminated in a Ladder Match at the Back to School Bash in September. With PCW Director Shallcross as special guest ref, it seemed like a golden opportunity for Kaos.
But Royce always had an ace up his sleeve.
Veteran "Bad Boy" Brian Jewel shocked the audience when he interjected in the match to attack Shallcross and power-bomb him through a table, allowing Royce to win.
Though hated by fans, Royce's title reign was one to respect as he defended his PCW/TRCW/ICW title - the "Unified Heavyweight Championship" - against a variety of opponents. He defeated Johnny Haze for All Canadian Wrestling and ended that evening by brawling with WWE Legend Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
He appeared for Independent Wrestling Manitoba in a unique triple threat match, successfully defending his title against Rawskillz and Action Wrestling Entertainment's (AWE's) "Red Hot" Ryan Wood. That match caused PCW management much consternation as they feared the potential of Woody winning and Mike Davidson finally succeeding in his years-long quest to gain control of the PCW Championship. Royce was victorious, fortunately, but Davidson was not done trying to destroy PCW.
As 2005 neared its end, PCW announced the return of AWA World's Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino! It was welcome news to Royce who was determined to break his 1-1 career series tie with Corino and add another belt to his collection. The match would happen on December 1st 2005 but would be a Triple Threat Match involving a man who had quickly established himself as undisputed number one contender and undoubtedly the most popular wrestler in the country - Rawskillz!
Long known for his tag team expertise as one half of Assisted Suicide with partner Chad Tatum, Skillz had moved on to singles competition in PCW, capturing the Junior Heavyweight Championship on three occasions and a 56 day reign as PCW Heavyweight Champion! By mid-2004, he returned to his roots and in the span of twelve months captured three PCW Tag Team Championships, remarkably, with three different partners.
The second-reign, with partner Donny Dicaprio, occurred as members of Royce's Elite Squad. The super clique had a short, but dominant run through PCW during the first half of 2005. But they began to unravel as Royce insisted the other members of the group focus on his success rather then their own.
Skillz first came to blows with Royce on May 26th as they were the final two participants in the WildCard Rumble to determine the final entrant into the inaugural Premier Cup Tournament. Royce had already qualified by defeating fellow Elite Squad member - and Skillz' PCW Tag Tam Championship partner - Dicapio when he was conspicuously unable to appear. But Skillz had lost two previous opportunities to qualify, losing to young Cisco Satanico and, later, Kenny Omega.
The WildCard Rumble was his last chance to enter the esteemed Premier Cup Tournament and he was not going to let it pass by out of deference to Royce. The two men brawled with Skillz eliminating him to win the Rumble.
At the Premier Cup, Rawskillz drew the most difficult first-round assignment, against The Amazing Red! He put forth an exceptional effort in a losing cause. When an angry Royce, also a first round loser - to Chris Sabin - refused to leave the ring before the main event, Skillz confronted and forcibly removed him.
One week later, they faced each other in a Fans Bring the Weapons match, a Royce specialty which he won.
On June 16th, Dicaprio was once again conspicuously absent for a mandatory tag team title defense against the young duo of Barely Legal (Darien Karisma & Chris Klassic) and Tag Sciences Faculty (Mike Angels & Chad Tatum). Skillz put on a valient performance by himself but could not retain the gold as Angels & Tatum captured their first PCW Tag Team Championship. In a development that would have implictions later, Karisma suffered a serious shoulder injury during the match.
On August 4th, as Royce challenged Corino for the AWA World's Heavyweight Championship in the main event, Rawskillz won his third Tag Team Champion as the surprise partner for Chris Klassic. For Klassic, it was the culmination of a long road to glory. He and Karisma, Barely Legal, had been highly disliked when they debuted but as under-sized wrestlers, their desire and effort won over the hearts of the fans.
But on the night Angels & Tatum won the gold, Karisma had suffered a serious shoulder injury. The two men had worked so hard to become top contenders and, with Karisma's encouragement, Klassic chose a new partner for their championship opportunity - Rawskillz. Klassic & Skilz defeated Angels & Tatum to win the PCW Tag Team Championship.
Even though he had found success with Klassic, Skillz had not given up on his singles career. On August 18th, he offered to step in to team with Mentallo with his scheduled partner, Dicaprio, failed to show up. It had become a pattern and Skillz complained that he had become used to working alone when he and Dicaprio were tag champions.
That criticism, apparently, was all it took to get Dicaprio to show up as the following week he confronted Skillz claiming the reason he was not available previously was because he was hurt. He said it happens because of how hard he works and that "not everyone wrestles at half speed" like Rawskillz. Skillz responded that being hurt was no excuse since he had never missed a match even though he had a serious back injury from carrying Dicaprio for months.
When the two men finally faced each other in singles action, Dicaprio was victorious. But on September 15th, their wrestling lives intersected in a surprising way:
Kenny Omega announced he was leaving PCW to join Davidson's AWE.
The revelation shocked the audience but Omega explained he had been made an offer he could not refuse. He admitted he never thought he'd leave PCW, calling it "the best promotion in Canada". When PCW's Director Shallcross angrily confronted him and said he owed an apology to all the boys in the back he was letting down, Kenny replied that he would not apologize for being better than everyone else and earning more opportunities.
It was truly a shocking development as Davidson had long had an acrimonious relationship with Omega. Earlir in 2005, Davidson even let it be known he's sign any wrestler from PCW except Omega, telling people Kenny was "blackballed". Shallcross reminded Omega of this, but Kenny simply reiterated that it was an offer he could not refuse and he intended to work out his PCW commitments through the Back to School Bash.
He was confronted next by Rawskillz who expressed his opinion that Kenny was "making the biggest mistake of your life" and if he thought he was better than everyone, he could prove it by putting his NWA Canadian X Division Championship on the line that very night! Omega readily agreed.
It was sweet redemption for Skillz for finally had a big match singles victory, his first in several months, as he won the title. But as he celebrated, Skillz was attacked by his former partner Dicaprio who embraced Omega and announced he had agreed to leave PCW for AWE as well. Fortunately for Rawskillz, Mentallo interjected to prevent any serious injury from occurring. They then challenged Omega &n Dicapro to a tag team match at the Back to School Bash two weeks later.
AWE's Creative Director Mike Davidson was furious that Omega & Dicaprio had publicly announced their signing with the company and ws irate that their final two weeks with PCW could be seen as a benefit to that company as their long time fans would turn out to say goodbye. Davidson had wanted their "jumping" to AWE to be a surprise that would hurt PCW.
On September 22nd at the LID Nightclub, Shallcross revealed that Omega & Dicaprio had not shown up for the night's live event under threat from Davidson that he'd pull their AWE contract offers. So upset was Shallcross that he assembled the entire PCW roster in the ring and demanded to know if anyone else was planning to leave the company.
Surprisngly, Mike Angels sheepishly admitted he was leaving for AWE as well. He also told Shallcross that the reason Mentallo had not arrived was because he was at the AWE corporate head office negotiation his own contract. Angels said he was leaving because he was angry that PCW forced him into a stipulation whereby his long-time partner Chad Tatum had to retire. So, Angels said, he was going to "follow Kenny, Dicaprio & Mentallo to Fantasy Land and be a big TV star!"
At PCW's Back to School Bash on September 29th, Shallcross and Deputy Commissioner Vinko discussed the situation. Vinko was certain Omega & Dicaprio would show up to face Rawskillz & Mentallo as they had promised but Shallcross was doubtful, pointing out that Davidson had threatened to fire them from AWE if they did.
When Angels arrived, they demanded to know if Omega & Dicaprio were going to show up but Angels claimed that as a new AWE roster member, he did not have to answer to them. Shallcross pointed out that Davidson had publicly disclosed on AWE's website that they had made no contractual offer to Angels at all. Angels said of course he denied it, because it was meant to be a big surprise and that he was definitely leaving PCW for AWE and so was Mentallo.
Later that night, Shallcross informed the fans that Omega & Dicaprio had not shown up for their match but Mentallo was there and announced he was staying with PCW. In return, he would challenge Rawskillz for the NWA Canadian X Division Championship. They had a tremendous match but Angels attacked both men, rendering it a No Contest.
Angels challenged Mentallo to a "Should I Stay or Should I Go" match whereby, should Angels win, Mentallo would leave PCW and go to AWE with him, but should Angels lose, he's sign a one year exclusive contract with PCW.
It became clear that Angels' motivation was to convince Mentallo to go to AWE with him as a package deal. His promise to Davidson was to deliver Mentallo to AWE, driving another stake through the heart of PCW and if he could not convince him to do so on his own, to force him to by any means necessary.
However, one week later, Mentallo defeated Angels. Deputy Commissioner Vinko called Mentallo "the best wrestler on the planet" and secured Angels with an exclusive one year contract to PCW.
On October 20th, Vinko announced he was bringing back the Lethal Lottery where the fans would draw to determine partners in several tag team matches and the winners would then engage in a Rumble where the order of entry was also drawn by fans. The winner would earn a spot in the Royce vs Corino match, scheduled for December.
On the same night, as part of Angels' one year contract, Vinko informed him he'd be working as an indentured servant to the Deputy Commissioner. As a result, Vinko made himself Angels' partner in a PCW Tag Team Championship triple threat match challenging champions Rawskillz & Chris Klassic and Pete Chee & Moses Luke.
Vinko's intent was clear - to place Angels in an impossible situation where he'd suffer copious amounts of physical punishment. Vinko even openly cheered for Skillz & Klassic. But as Skillz suffered a minor injury during the match, Angels managed to over come Klassic and pin him, making him and Vinko new PCW Tag Team Champions!
Vinko was apologetic to Rawskillz while Angels was elated! One week later, at PCW's Halloween Special, Vinko ordered Angels and himself to defend the tag title against Mentallo and a partner of his choosing, in this case Antonio Scorpio. With Vinko deliberately being of no help to his partner, they lost the gold.
That all turned out to be a ruse as Vinko helped Angels defeat Scorpio in a singles match, reinstated Chad Tatum and cheered them on in defeating Scorpio & Mentallo to capture the PCW Tag Team Championship on December 1st, when Mentallo turned on his partner. Mentallo, Angels, Tatum & Vinko called themselves "M-Assignment" and a new super clique had been born.
For Rawskillz, losing the tag team title only caused him to focus even more on singles glory. At the Lethal Lottery, the luck of the draw saw him team with "Diehard" Greg Romijn to defeated Bubbles McFly and Andrew Shallcross. Skillz would go on to win the Rumble and officially join the main event of "Revolution", challenging Royce & Corino.
PCW announced the biggest event in its history as PCW/ICW/TRCW Champion Robby Royce vs AWA World's Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino vs NWA Canadian X Division Champion Rawskillz, with all championships on the line. But political controversy would intervene as the AWA threatened to pull Corino from the match and an old nemesis, Ernie Todd, tried to screw PCW once again!
After Corino's PCW debut in August of that year, they were approached by AWA owner Dale Gagner about becoming an affiliate promotion. Gagner had revived the AWA brand, claiming to be related to Verne Gagne, and set up an NWA-style affiliate system. On Corino's recommendation, Gagner had reached out to PCW who expressed interest in joining.
However, as PCW conducted it's due diligence, they became suspicious of Gagner and his urgency in demanding PCW immediately transfer their affiliate membership fees. As it turns out, their suspicions were well founded as it turned out Gagner had already made a deal with Canadian Wrestling Federation owner Ernie Todd to make the CWF the only affiliate in Canada.
Gagner had been insistent that PCW pay affiliate fees all the while intending to immediately revoke their affiliation and keep the money. Todd had joined Gagner because of his falling out with the NWA and because Gagner granted him exclusive promotional rights to all of Canada. Todd's issues with the NWA, where had been a long-time member and even President, were due, at least in part, to PCW.
When Todd and PCW jointly announced that the inaugural Premier Cup would crown the first ever NWA Canadian X Division Champion, the NWA Board of Directors was angry that they had not been informed. But Todd maintained that he, as President, had the right to authorize the creation of the championship and since Canada only had three NWA affiliates, and two of them endorsed the move, that the NWA BOD could not intervene.
The Premier Cup Tournament went ahead as planned with Kenny Omega defeating The Amazing Red in the finals and becoming the first ever NWA Canadian X Division Champion. Todd eventually left the NWA, either due to his resignation or firing, and joined the AWA but purposely kept that fact hidden as Gagner attempted to trick PCW into sending him affiliate dues.
But Todd began representing himself to people as owning the AWA affiliation for Canada and, when confronted by Shallcross, admitted it was true. He even admitted he kept that fact a secret at the behest of Gagner. When Shallcross revealed his awareness, Gagner tried to maintain the ruse, expressing anger at Todd and insinuating he would sue him.
Eventually they both went public and Todd announced that Corino, as AWA World's Heavyweight Champion, could not appear for a non-affiliate, PCW. Corino publicly recounted his negative experience working with Todd previously and vowed that he would never work for him again. In return, Todd announced that Corino would work for him "or suffer the consequences".
Corino refused to back out of his scheduled match at PCW's Revolution so Gagner insisted that PCW not advertise it as an AWA World's Heavyweight Championship title match. He and Todd continued to harass PCW with minor issues, insisting Corino not be pictured with the AWA Championship belt or even be referenced as the current champion on PCW's website.
The political attacks were nothing new for PCW who had been under threat of litigation from the NWA for months. Once Todd had left, the NWA BOD demanded that PCW immediately cease & desist promoting the NWA Canadian X Division Champion. PCW refused saying their agreement with Todd when he was NWA President was open-ended with no contractual obligations whatsoever.
PCW responded to the AWA in much the same way, the proverbial middle finger.
While the triple threat match at Revolution would not be for the AWA World's Heavyweight Championship, it would be a unification match for the PCW/ICW/TRCW and NWa X Division Championships, winner takes all.
One week prior to Revolution, Rawskillz and Royce took part in PIck Your Poison, with both men choosing opponents for each other. Skillz chose Mentallo for Royce and Royce chose a team - Moses Luke & Dark Chee - to face Skillz.
Both men were victorious in the matches but Royce attacked Rawskillz at the conclusion of the event and repeatedly smashed his right arm with a steel chair.
One week later at Revolution, Royce announced Rawskillz was out of the match due to injury, making it just Royce vs Corino! As the match began, the two veterans beat the hell out of each other....until suddenly the music of Rawskillz hit and the man entered the ring to a huge ovation.
It was a bloody, high impact, exhilarating contest between three of the greatest. Rawskillz executed the Brainbuster on Corino and pinned him in the middle of the ring! The "King of Old School" recovered to help drape Skillz in all his belts to end the event.
This match had an shocking post-script. As Rawskillz celebrated, he was confronted by Kenny Omega who announced he had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) but before he reported, he wanted one last match with Rawskillz!
Omega had been with AWE since September, having left PCW under less than ideal terms. But he had contacted Shallcross to tell him the news of his WWE contract offer and said there was only one place he wanted to make the announcement - in PCW. AWE was not happy, having learned of Omega's WWE departure when PCW made the announcement online.
Rawskillz would go on to have a fantastic reign as PCW Champion where he feuded primarily with the newly formed M-Assignment, a faction he would eventually join.
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"Showtime" Robby Royce's means towas also his eventual undoing. As a member of the "Elite Squad", Rawskillz established himself as the most technically proficient PCW Superstar and quickly won the Tag Team Championship with "Vicious" Donny Dicaprio. But Skillz grew tired of Royce's power-mad and domineering ways and violently exited the "Elite Squad" in June.
Skillz had narrolow lost in the Premier Cup tournament to the Amazing Red while Red went on to lose to Kenny Omega in the finals. With the victory Omega had become the first ever NWA Canadian X Division Champion. And when a disgruntled Royce attempted to hijack the show prior to the main event by refusing to leave the ring, it was Skillz who physically ejected him from the venue, to the roar of approval from the fans.
The ascension of Rawskillz from that point was meteoric as he quickly became the most popular PCW Superstar of all time and added many accolades to his trophy case. In September, he defeated Omega to capture the NWA Canadian X Division Championship.
Meanwhile, Royce continued his quest to accumlate all the gold when he faced AWA World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino in a horrifically bloody Extreme Rules match at PCW's Beat The Summer Heat in August. The controversial outcome demanded a re-match and that set the table for an historic unifcation bout between three decorated champions.
At PCW's Revolution, PCW/ICW/TRCW Heavyweight Champion Robby Royce put his championships on the line against Rawskillz and his NWA Canadian X Division Championship and AWA World Champion Steve Corino. Clearly sensing the engorged stakes, AWA Promoter Dale Gagner refused to sanction the match and Corino appeared against his orders...but without the AWA title at stake.
No matter, Rawskillz won the match when he delivered a devastating Brainbuster to Corino and, draped in more championship belts then he could hold, Skillz soaked in the wild adoration of the fans!