The Fifth Era

2011-2014 (The Fifth Era):

 The World of Wrestling only spent a year being dormant before the Mouse Brothers again started negotiating through WOW to host what they wanted to be the “Third and Final” installment of “From Dusk Til Dawn”. However, the predictable taunting between Mickey and Benny broke down the negotiations and instead fueled a new draft. Mickey soon announced his retirement from running MMouse Enterprises and revealed that he was handing the reins over to his daughter, Catherine; who announced that the new wrestling promotion would be called “Premier Wrestling Incorporated” to take on Benny’s “New Era Wrestling”.

 Initially, John Brown was interested in participating again, but he backed out after the initial draft. This forced MMouse Enterprises and BWM Inc. to host a secondary draft to divide the talent acquired by HCW. Out of the two drafts, Catherine launched a surprise attack on NEW’s most vulnerable big stars, including Sean Olson, Metalhead, and Teo!

 Following the draft, Mickey and Benny’s trash talking led to the WOW temporarily shutting down. Mickey had stunned Benny by drafting the Undisputed Champion of the World (Metalhead), Benny refused to recognize Metalhead as the champion, asserting that Metalhead’s reign meant nothing to his company. This dispute created a rift in the industry and damaged the Undisputed Title.

 Benny pulled out of negotiations for the Third “From Dusk Til Dawn” and Catherine issued a retaliatory announcement about the opening day card for PWI: it would feature a series of matches originally on tap for the now-abandoned super show! This included a long-awaited rematch between Dragonfly and Metalhead, and that match would be for the Undisputed Championship!

 In response, Benny announced his own super card to debut NEW. Both Benny and Catherine appointed game-changing presidents: Splinter would lead the NEW and Slammu would lead the PWI! This was set to be an incredible, high stakes era.

 Then…nothing. PWI debuted in early 2012, as scheduled (well, after a handful of slight delays), but the NEW was absent. PWI presented a small number of events until unforeseen problems created some scheduling issues and temporarily halted anything from happening. Catherine brought the PWI back about a year later, calling that first few group of events the “Preseason”. She unveiled that PWI would now undertake a new approach to the industry: a season that wasn’t year-round! This announcement earned a great deal of praise at the time, and PWI hosted a series of events for the First Season of PWI, which unintentionally culminated with a pay per view called “Blind Ambition”.

 During this brief period of time, the NEW only hosted a handful of shows, called “Innovation”, debuting when PWI was absent. The NEW Championship was left in the air after AJ Styles and Christian double-eliminated each other in the Massacre Ten Match during the debut, but the crisis was never officially resolved. Cody Rhodes became NEW’s NXT Champion, Athena became the Knockout’s Champion, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston became the Tag Team Champions, and Splinter shockingly lost to Krusader before Krusader’s young cousin Mystico came down and attacked them both. This was tragically the last major event of the NEW and left a lot of stories untold.

 In the PWI, however, the company returned for a Second Season. This season was split up a bit by a number of false starts, but it culminated when Catherine announced a massive intergender tournament which would crown the final PWI champion (of the era). That tournament was unique in its presentation (featured six battle royals which involved each of the three Tiers of PWI, and then the rest of the bracket until a singles match was decided for the world title), and the finals was featured at Motivation 6: Legacy in December 2014, 12 years after the original Motivation.

 This era came to a sloppy close, but the PWI management felt that they held up their end of the “deal” by at least finishing what they started. The greatest tragedy is the fact that the NEW never finished telling their stories, which served as a disappointment for all.

Notable Stories and Characters of the Era:

Teo/Terry Austin: At the outset of the Era, PWI did a series of pre-launch interviews helping to increase anticipation for the events to come. One such interview involved the retired-Chairman Mickey Mouse commenting on what he thought of the upcoming Era. Among his thoughts was a remark that he believed Teo was the “future” and that he had “it”. Mickey’s endorsement of Teo’s it-factor went straight to Teo’s head and absolutely fueled speculation about him becoming the first major champion of the era. However, things didn’t quite go as planned. In the beginning, Teo lost to Stan “STD” Hart in the crowning of the first PWI Champion. Then, the scheduling issues happened. Teo wound up taking the gold and reigning for quite some time. The reign undoubtedly has an asterisk because of the numerous breaks in the schedule, but Teo absolutely earned the top spot. In the closing months of the PWI, Catherine announced that PWI was closing shop and that Teo would have to defend his championship (which was ultimately unified with the Undisputed Championship) in the grand tournament. Teo made it to the finals in defiance, but his final challenger was the perpetual underdog, Terry Austin. Teo spent the final weeks leading to Motivation 6 taunting Terry about his probability of losing, but Terry gained the last laugh, toppling Teo and becoming the final champion of the era.

Dragonfly/Metalhead/Robby Storm: In the lead up to PWI’s debut, there was great anticipation for the Undisputed Championship match between Dragonfly and Metalhead. However, when the match happened, it ended suddenly when Dragonfly collapsed, permitting Metalhead to pick up the win. Dragonfly was in a brief coma and a mystery cast a shadow over the PWI: who did it? Many naturally pointed the finger at Metalhead, who categorically denied the cowardly attack. After many months, Dragonfly soon returned, wound up capturing the Undisputed Title, and was faced with the truth: he was attacked by a rookie named Robby Storm. In the months leading to the premiere, Robby had made it known that he was a fan of Dragonfly. With Robby’s father Lance being drafted to the NEW, Robby was left alone. He promised to be different and more serious than his father, and he reportedly approached Dragonfly on the night of the PWI premiere. He was offended by the encounter and attacked Dragonfly from behind. Robby revealed this to Dragonfly and the two had an encounter at Motivation 6, which Dragonfly rightfully won.

Sean Olson/Brandon Lee: Olson and Lee started out the era as singles competitors. Lee had long been jealous of Olson’s favoritism by management, and he always had a chip on his shoulder about proving that he was an equal. However, despite their best efforts to remain separated, the two of them wound up reuniting in the end for one last time becoming tag champions 12 years after becoming the first UWA Tag Champions.

D&UT/”Tar”: For some odd reason, Stevie R and Booker D were separated. Booker D had been a world champion in USWA, but he always preferred being tagged with Stevie over being alone. So, he proceeded to look for a new partner until he landed a new one in an unsuspecting place: Undertaker. Booker D was overjoyed and dubbed the new team “D&UT”. Creating what he called the “T Court” (Short for “Turtle Court”) wherein he was the “Judge” and Undertaker his “Bailiff” and “Executioner”, Booker D discovered a newfound love. He tried the likes of Mr. Perfect and Gangrel and continued these shenanigans until his brother returned late in the Era. Stevie R, though, was changed and serious, calling himself “TAR” or “Totally Awesome R”. Booker didn’t know what to think of it. Stevie stood by his side, though, watching on as Booker and Undertaker continued until ultimately falling apart.

The Rise of Angelina Love: Angelina Love was a new rising talent from the independent circuit. She demonstrated incredible skill and quickly rose to the top with her amazing skill set. She soon became the PWI Women’s Champion and dominated the division through to the end of the era despite feuding with greats like Victoria (who jumped ship from NEW towards the end of the Era) and Living Dead Girl.