Insane Insights From Dark Side Of The Ring - XPW

Some moments can be extreme and obscene in the professional wrestling business. One promotion that is defined as being extreme and obscene is Rob Black's promotion called XPW (Xtreme Pro Wrestling). There is a ton of weird and crazy stuff that occurred in XPW, and Vice's Dark Side of the Ring did an episode on that company. A lot was learned watching it and it was pretty insane.

10. What Was Rob Black's Goal With XPW

Rob Black in the late 90's was one of the top adult film directors in the industry. Not even 1 minute into the documentary this guy comes off as crooked. Almost everyone involved in that industry is either a trainwreck or shady. Rob Black has a love for pro wrestling including death matches. Black decided to start a promotion called XPW.

Black's goal was to combine his adult film company Extreme Associates with professional wrestling. That sounds like a bad idea and Rob Black made so many questionable decisions. The first idea was to use his "actresses" in pro wrestling. One of those notable names is Jessica Darlin who was interviewed in this documentary. She comes across as an absolute trainwreck in this documentary.

David Marquez was also interviewed as he was the XPW Producer and director. He admitted that to get paid in wrestling, he had to edit these adult film movies. This is from a guy who once won an Emmy Award and then worked to edit adult film content.

9. XPW Tried Invading ECW

David Marquez would explain that XPW and ECW had an arrangement to help bring ECW to the West Coast. ECW then got a Network TV Deal and didn’t need Rob or XPW. That angered Rob Black and he has held a grudge ever since.

One idea Rob Black had was to invade an ECW PPV. In 2000, ECW held their first PPV on the West Coast called Heat Wave and Rob Black decided to get his employees to start a turf war.

Black decided to get XPW wrestler's front-row tickets and tried to invade the show. It did not go to plan as Tommy Dreamer immediately saw them and security was alerted. Then the state-off hits and XPW guys attack the ECW roster. It was such a dumb idea and Black probably realized it last minute as he bailed out of being there in person. What a leader.

8. Why New Jack Went to XPW

ECW folded in 2001 and XPW was the next big company in America with the Hardcore style. New Jack signed there since WWF wanted no part of him.

When asked about why he went there, he didn't care what others thought. He needed to eat, make money, and get some adult films. New Jack tells the story that he drove a forklift all over the warehouse to pick up his "videos". New Jack admitted that he had over a thousand DVDs in this "adult filmography".

That's so creepy that he was that open to having that many DVDs of that type of filmography. Then again it's New Jack and this is the least of his sins.

7. Rob Black Hated When Wrestlers Put Their Hands Up When Blocking Chair Shot

When it comes to any professional wrestling promotion the key goal is to ensure the safety of the wrestler. Not to Rob Black and there was a heinous moment when that happened.

Luke Hawx was interviewed and he wrestled for XPW as Alter Boy Luke. During a match, he was wrestling Jerry Lynn and had to take a chair shot, which he did by safely putting his hands up. Rob Black was not happy about that and heavily cussed him out as it looked unrealistic. Jerry Lynn told him to ignore what Rob said as he did it right.

Rob Black felt that Luke needed to be punished for this heinous action. Rob Black decided to book an angle where Luke is handcuffed like he's being crucified. Black went to pro wrestler Supreme and told him to hit Luke Hawx with multiple unprotective chair shots. Supreme did it and it's one of the nastiest chair shots ever given.

Luke Hawx suffered severe injuries as a result of this. He got an indention in his skull and a severe concussion. The concussion was so bad that the doctors told him not to sleep as they considered it could kill him. All just because Ron Black thought he needed to be punished for putting his hands up in a chair shot to protect himself. What a great person to work for.

6. Supreme's Insane Fire Spot Went Wrong

There was a bunch of dangerous stuff that Rob Black allowed to go on in his promotion. Joey Munoz wrestled as Kaps in XPW and told a situation that happened with his uncle and fellow pro wrestler Supreme.

Supreme wanted to do a lighter spot in the match. In preparation for the event, a ring crew guy to get some lighter fluid. The Ring crew guy mistakenly bought charcoal fluid, which is oil-based. Lighter fluid, it is alcohol-based and safer to use. It still creates a fire and does damage, but the charcoal fluid burns much faster and deeper in the skin.

What was also a problem and this was not mentioned in the documentary, Charcoal Fluid is super sticky. Once it's on something, it sticks, and when it's on fire it's a lot harder to extinguish. XPW is lucky that it didn't get stuck on the ring as the whole ring would have been burnt.

These guys decided to put charcoal fluid on the table to light a fire and they were having a rough time lighting it. They got a flame, but because so much fluid was used it got all over Supreme's shirt. When Supreme got put through the table, he was on fire and it was a scary scene. Once the fire was out, there was footage of them treating Supreme ringside and his skin is in rough shape.

Supreme was rushed to the hospital and his nephew Joey would visit him. Supreme was all wrapped up like a mummy thanks to the burns. His response to what happened was “Damn, that was a good match. That spot f***ed it up.”. This guy is insanely lucky as he easily would have been killed if this fire lasted longer. XPW was also lucky they never got sued for this because Supreme would have easily won in a court case if he did with how they messed this up.

5. The Messiah Had An Affair With Lizzy Borden

One of the more notable scandals with XPW involved pro wrestler The Messiah aka William Welch. There is so much to unpackaged with him, but a big moment was when he had an affair with Lizzy Borden

Lizzy Borden was the wife of Rob Black and their relationship was strange from the beginning. Both met in the adult entertainment industry as Rob produced and Lizzy was an adult film star. When both were married Lizzy mainly retired as an "actress" and transitioned, as a producer.

While married, Rob allowed Lizzy to flirt with other people in front of him. It was a power move as he liked it when she did that. She likes you, but you can't have her as she's mine.

Rob Black was constantly sleeping around with other people. That shouldn't be a surprise knowing the industry that they work in. Lizzy then got jealous of him doing this and went to a hotel room where The Messiah was. She needed a shoulder to cry on and of course, Lizzy decided to have an affair.

It got worse as Messiah did not show an event and rumors were floating about the affair. Messiah said that Rob found out and the boys wondered why he would do something to mess with things. This wasn't the only time Messiah messed around with people. Jessica Darlin even revealed that she slept with him too and got around all of them "adult actresses".

Lizzy and Black’s relationship survived this, but The Messiah left the company. A big reason why is that Rib didn't care if it happened on film, as long as it wasn't behind his back. Rob was not happy and told Messiah he had 3 days to get out of the state or he was dead. Messiah told him off and that he wasn't hiding.

Nobody comes off well in this situation at all. Lizzy is a complete cheater and Rob Black is a complete piece of work. Messiah isn't an innocent party either for sleeping with the boss's wife. That's just asking for trouble.

4. XPW Had No Insurance For The Scaffold Match

The most notable event to have occurred in XPW was the scaffolding match that New Jack had with Vic Grimes. The details of that incident were covered in New Jack's Dark Side of the Ring episode.

In this episode, the Blueprints and Drawings of the Scaffolding were revealed and they looked cool. That was until it was revealed that the guy who designed it had to bypass insurance and had to make up the waivers on his computer. XPW broke the law by doing that match as there was no insurance whatsoever for the event as a whole. That's a lawsuit just ready to happen and it doesn't help that the Scaffold was poorly built. Throughout the match, it just kept swaying back and forth.

It got worse when New Jack was getting revenge by throwing Vic Grimes off the scaff. It was one of the scariest bumps ever and it's a miracle he only suffered a broken ankle

In the aftermath, New Jack said that Rob Black loved it and gave him a very hefty bonus. Going off the script and physically harming your coworker constitutes an economic reward. New Jack then stated, “Once I got Vic Grimes, I felt mission accomplished. So I left!". That is a complete lie as In New Jack's Dark Side of the Ring episode, he said his goal was to kill Vic Grimes. He wants us to believe that his actions were "mission accomplished".

3. How The Messiah Lost His Thumb

Messiah is wrestling in the Independent Circuit and the rumors of the affair kept following him around. In one of his bookings, Messiah wanted to shove what he had done down Rob's throat publicly. He got chants from the crowd saying you screwed Rob Black's wife and he responded by saying "And she loved it". That was the first time he admitted to it publicly and almost everyone was shaking their heads.

Then Messiah makes the bright decision to be in attendance at an XPW show. An XPW that banned him from ever being associated and he thought he could get away with being in the last row of the arena. He just could not let it go and Rob Black realizing he was there was furious. He gets a call from a friend of his who still worked there and he told him, "Dude get out because Black is angry". Messiah then left the arena after that call ended.

Messiah then got into the incident that he is most known for. It was one day after he came home from work, he was playing on his Nintendo Gamecube. Two guys came into the apartment he had. He thought it was his roommate, but then the two guys who walked in started arguing about who was going to attack first. Messiah turned and the two guys just jumped him. They had him in a choke hold and one of the guys cut off Messiah's Thumbs. They tried knocking him out by hitting him with a fishbowl, but it did not work. Messiah puts one guy in an armbar and then opens the door. These two guys then escaped, and they took his detached thumb, which was never recovered.

The details given by Messiah were insane enough, but there is one big detail that was not mentioned. In previous interviews with the police and other videos Messiah was in, he stated that the attackers were taking his pants off as well and were trying to cut off his "Manhood". Luckily that did not happen, but it's a big detail that should have been mentioned in the documentary.

2. The Story Of The Attack Was On America's Most Wanted

The next morning, this spread like wildfire all over the news. It even got on America's Most Wanted which was a big show at that time. Jessica Darlin saw this for the first time and was in shock. According to her, she knew who was behind it, but she couldn't prove it and nothing could be done about it.

New Jack called Black about it and he said that he had nothing to do with it. The Vice crew did try to get a comment from him, but they got no response or any proof that Black did it, but what immediately comes across is that almost everyone interviewed believed Rob Black had something to do with it. After All, he was the same guy who said to Messiah that he had "3 days to get out of the state or he was dead". It's Kind of suspicious that not long after he said that Messiah was attacked.

1. Rob Black Challenged the US Government

Rob Black was dealing with a whole new load of problems legally. He and his wife were being investigated for some of the disgusting adult film movies that he made. These videos are too graphic to explain, but they violated multiple laws. Ron Black decided to go on a Night Line show to point out that his movies were under Freedom of Speech and challenge the government to get him on network TV. Poking the bear of the US government is just asking for trouble.

It doesn't help that he pulled every employee and gave them training on what to do when the Feds raided their office. Especially by giving a keyword as Black knew the raid was coming. It didn't help that Black bragged about the 5 movies he called "The Federal Five", while on camera. This dude has no brain cells at all.

The Government got them, and Black and Borden faced up to 50 years in prison and millions in fines. Both had to get top lawyers and that cut off cash flow to his businesses. XPW was pretty much done after this whole fiasco as wrestlers walked out with the checks bouncing. As for Rob Black and Lizzy Borden, they both pled guilty and were charged with conspiracy to distribute obscene materials. They were sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in prison.

My Thoughts On The Documentary

Coming into this episode, the only part of XPW I knew about was the Vic Grimes and New Jack match. This documentary was enlightening on the entire company and the downfall of the company.

Rob Black comes across the worst in this documentary and it's for the best that he wasn't involved in this. Like they said in the documentary, it was a no-win situation for him. The same could be said for Lizzy Borden who doesn't come across as great in this documentary either. Not a ton of speaking heads in this documentary don't come across well at all, excluding Joey Munoz and his Wife Sylvia.

Out of the bunch interviewed, the MVP goes to The Messiah. Now he doesn't come across well in this entire situation either. However, he was a solid talking head giving firm details of what happened with his what happened to his thumb and fall out with XPW. Overall this was a well-made documentary by Vice.