LPW Homecoming (2008)

Homecoming (2008) was an e-wrestling supershow that was produced by Lords of Pain Wrestling (LPW). It took place on October 15, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois at the United Center. The event showcased the 2008 LPW Draft, the third bi-annual draft in which every e-wrestler in the promotion was re-drafted by the e-federation’s two brands, Insanity and Inferno.

The Draft saw 2008 Martinez Cup winner and LPW International Heavyweight Champion, Drew Michaels, being drafted with the first overall pick to Insanity by new general manager Little Red. cYnical, the LPW World Heavyweight Champion, was drafted with the second pick by LPW's phantom Chief Executive Officer and Inferno general manager, known only as The Boss. At the conclusion of the telecast, Little Red and The Boss announced an agreement to trade Michaels and cYnical to the opposite brands.

Background
In the main event at Altered Reality IV, Drew Michaels squared off against cYnical in a Champion versus Champion match for the third annual Martinez Cup. cYnical, who represented the Insanity brand as its LPW World Heavyweight Champion, looked like he had won the match by pinning Michaels after successfully utilizing broken glass taped-fists that was gifted to him by his conflicted love interest, Little Red. Unknown to cYnical, Michaels had draped his foot on the bottom rope before the administered three-count. Inferno General Manager and cYnical's arch-enemy, Spectre, overruled the decision, citing the instant replay. Outraged, cYnical bloodied Spectre while Michaels recovered. Michaels, who reigned as Inferno's LPW International Heavyweight Champion, resurrected from his predicament and rallied back to defeat cYnical, bringing the Martinez Cup to Inferno for the very first time.

Because of the controversial decisions administered during Altered Reality IV, Spectre stepped down as LPW President and Inferno General Manager. Soon afterwards, LPW began to bleed money due to the global economic crisis of 2008. Forced to take immediate action to find a suitable replacement, the Board of Directors quickly hired a shadowed and mysterious businessman as its Chief Executive Officer to shore up company profits. Wishing to remain anonymous, The Boss as he called himself, assumed the responsibilities of General Manager of the Inferno brand, while controversially appointing the inexperienced Little Red to be Insanity's new general manager. With a new regime in place, LPW prepared to re-draft its entire roster between the promotion's two brands.

Pre-show
During the Homecoming pre-show, The Boss debuted behind a shadowed desk and announced he had been hired by the Board of Directors to fill the position of Chief Executive Officer, with the specific job of correcting the chaos left in the wake of Altered Reality IV, and to shore up profits. The Boss went on to say the purpose of his role was to create a true brand identity for both brands and to reinvigorate a flagging product. Furthermore, The Boss assumed the primary duty of General Manager of the Inferno brand, while appointing Little Red Riding Hood as the General Manager of Insanity.

As her first action as Insanity's General Manager, Little Red drafted 2008 Martinez Cup winner and reigning LPW International Heavyweight Champion, Drew Michaels, with the first overall draft pick. As Michaels stormed the ring to argue, The Boss announced that Inferno's first overall pick would be Little Red's conflicted love interest and reigning LPW World Heavyweight Champion, cYnical. Thus, both World champions were forced to swap brands.

Draft coverage was provided by Jonathan Crotchman, Sara St. James, and former Martinez Cup winner Pen, who analyzed the snake-rule selections from LPW Draft Central. The Boss announced his selections into Crotchman's earpiece, where a graphic of his picks would air on the HD-Tron. With the third pick, Inferno selected Sheepster, who would face Michaels for the LPW International Heavyweight Championship later in the night. Little Red announced her selections by coming out stage. With the fourth overall pick, she selected her sworn lifetime protector, Krimson Mask, then drafted X with the fifth pick. The Boss countered with picking Styxx and Ken Ryans with the sixth and seventh overall picks. At the conclusion of the pre-show, Little Red drafted LPW Tag Team Champions and Inferno mainstays, Tromboner Man and RaTo of the MWA. With the tenth pick, Insanity veteran and LPW Cleansed Champion, White Falcon was selected to Inferno.

Also during the pre-show, five matches were contested. Bobino and Chris K. defeated Super Houdini and Pig-E in a tag team match. After winning a Tag Team Scramble match at Altered Reality IV to gain a LPW Tag Team Championship title shot, Daniel Oakley and Killswitch continued their winning ways by defeating Sean Jensen and Glenn Masters. Kafudamaha gained his first win by defeating Auron Belmont. In a triple threat match featuring LPW's top rookies, Son of Shockey defeated Cash Flo and Big B. Brown. The final pre-show match saw Blackwell defeat Trey Spruance after hitting the Black Diamond.

Preliminary matches
In the show's opening contest, a six-man tag team match was contested between fan favorites The Rabbi, Mass Chaos, and T.J. Rage against the villainous Eddie B, Jeff Watson, and Al. Despite the lack of solidarity between the three heels, they were able to control Rage in their corner. After Eddie looked to finish Rage off, Al blind-tagged himself in and hit the Anger Management. Rather than make the pinfall, Al slapped Watson across the face. While the three partners argued, Rage reversed Watson's Cyclone Drop, then hot-tagged Rabbi into the match. After clearing house, Rabbi tagged in reigning LPW Television Champion, Mass Chaos. As the fight was breaking out, Chaos hit Watson with the Final Disarray while Al watched from his corner. Rather than break-up the pinfall, Al choosed to walk away, allowing Chaos, Rage, and Rabbi to gain the victory. After the match, The Boss announced he had taken Mass Chaos with the 11th overall pick for Inferno.

Soon after, Little Red announced she had selected reigning LPW Hardcore Champion, Hatchet Ryda, and The Rabbi with the 12th and 13th picks for Insanity. The Boss announced Inferno's selections of Eddie B and NPD with the 14th and 15th picks.

The second match of the evening was a tag team match pitting Citizen Caim (Krimson Mask and N'itomniskittel) with Little Red against LPW veterans Wevv Mang and Villiano 187. Before the match, Wevv and Villiano demanded the LPW Board of Directors to remove The Boss as Chief Executive Officer, while also dismissing Little Red as Insanity's GM. The request was denied when Citizen Caim attacked their opponents to start the match. Despite being in Mang's hometown, Krimson Mask got the better of Mang after locking in the BloodKlot, setting up N'itomniskittel to land the Firebird Special. Despite the double-team, Villiano was able to break-up the pin attempt. Later, the height-challenged Lou interfered, prompting Little Red to chase after him. As Lou tried to escape through the ring, Krimson Mask booted Lou out of the ring, clearing the way to hit Villiano with the Bloodrush DDT to gain a pinfall victory. After the match, Little Red drafted Mang and Villiano to Insanity with the 16th and 17th picks.

The third match was a grudge match stemming from from the Inferno Seven match held at the Redemption pay-per-view, in which Ken Ryans defeated X and five other superstars to become the number one contender to the LPW International Heavyweight Championship. After an early stalemate of wrestling action, X took advantage after a referee bump, slamming his "CYW" black chair into the spine of Ryans. But Ryans found an opening, quickly going to his finisher, the Pacific Ordeal. The finisher came too early however, as X was able to escape to the ring floor. At the conclusion of the match, X knocked out Ryans with a full nelson slam on the concrete floor. Back in the ring, X followed with two Michinoku Drivers and an X-Bomb, only to see Ryans kick-out. Clearly frustrated, X applied the X-ecution. In an uncharacteristic move, the soldier tapped out to the submission resulting in an X victory. After the match, Ryans was heard saying “This company...can go to hell", resulting in his last LPW appearance.

Back at LPW Draft Central, Inferno announced its 18th and 19th picks, selecting Eric Scorpio and Al, respectively. Little Red drafted Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man with the 20th and 21st picks, but was soon informed that wooden dolls and cookies were not under LPW contract. Instead, she selected Ash Strife, thus splitting the Dark Brotherhood, and LPW Transatlantic Champion, The Rik.

The fourth match of the night was a tag team match pitting Heroic Future (Jaetyn Knightwash and Ultramarcus) against the Wild Card Warriors (Hatchet Ryda and Magic). After making their entrance, Heroic Future were drafted to Inferno with the 22nd and 23rd picks. In Magic's final match, WCW made a dramatic entrance by ripping through the HD-Tron, only for Magic to magically make it reappear as new. In a back-and-forth match between the crowd favorites, Hatchet hit the Diamond Rain on both Heroic Future partners. In firm control, Magic levitated the announce table that Hatchet was standing on, allowing the Wicked Clown to land an elevated moonsault on Knightwash. After rolling him in the ring, the Warriors hit Knightwash with the Shock Hour to gain the pinfall victory in Magic's finale.

In the first round of bulk picks, Insanity's Little Red picked Andy Savana, Blackwell, T.J. Rage, and Son of Shockey with the 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th picks, respectively. Inferno's The Boss drafted Super Stallion, Big B. Brown, Random, and Jeff Watson with the 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st picks, respectively.

Championship matches
The night's first championship match was for the LPW Cleansed Championship, where White Falcon defended his title against the schizophrenic NPD. Employing a psycho strategy, NPD knocked out any referee with a royal sceptor that he used during his previous King NPD gimmick. Without a referee to enforce the match, NPD got the better of Falcon after an inverted Clapgo D 29. After NPD tried to befriend color commentator The D, Falcon leaped from the top rope into NPD and crashed the announce table. Suddenly, former LPW Diva and NPD foe, Jade, made a cameo appearance as the guest referee. Falcon took advantage, nailing NPD for the Celtic Cross through a table with Jade administering the three count.

In the second round of bulk picks, Little Red selected a number of international superstars for the 32nd through 35th picks, drafting Ireland's Daniel Oakley, Canada's Killswitch and Bryan Risk, and England's Cactus Sam. With the 36th through 39th picks, Inferno took Cash Flo, Bobino, Trey Spruance, and Jude Maxwell.

The next match was an Escape From Hell match for the LPW Unified Tag Team Championship, in a rematch from Altered Reality IV when the Madcore Wrestling Alliance (Tromboner Man and RaTo) defeated the Dark Brotherhood (Eric Scorpio and Ash Strife) in a unification ladder match. Covered by a Hell in a Cell structure, the first ring was surrounded by a 15-foot-high steel cage with the ropes wrapped in barbed wire. In the second ring was a second steel cage, but with an inferno match set-up instead of barbed wire. On top of the cell were provided ladders, where the winning team would grab the titles from above. With the Dark Brotherhood already at odds before the match, both teams massacred each other by throwing each other in ladders, shards of glass, and even fire. After the 7'4" Ash double-chokeslammed both members of the MWA, the Dark Brotherhood argued if the much larger Ash could climb the ladder and grab the dangling tag belts. During the argument, the MWA sneaked a ladder into position and tried to grab the belts. The belts became unfastened, resulting in a tug-of-war between Ash and the MWA. With a massive pull, the MWA dropped to the cage mesh with the belts in hand to retain the championship. After the match, Scorpio attacked Ash.

In the final round of bulk picks, Little Red drafted Black Ada, Super Houdini, Kafudamaha, and Savage with the 40th through 43rd picks for Insanity. For Inferno, The Boss picked Sean Jensen, Glenn Masters, Chris K., and Pig-E with the 44th through 47th picks.

In the first of two main event matches, Inferno's newest acquistion cYnical defended the LPW World Heavyweight Championship against former Bad Mamma Jamma ally, Styxx. The two exchanged handshakes to start the match, but Styxx used that gesture to his advantage, grabbing the smaller cYnical for several high-powered offensive moves, including a Ganzo Bomb and top rope clothesline that nearly won him the championship. cYnical was able to turn the tide however, hitting a Negative Outlook out of nowhere, then using his quick reflexes to dodge several Styxx attacks. Towards the end, cYnical went for a Shining Wizard in which Styxx ducked and set-up for a Terror Cutter, only for cYnical to reverse into a second Negative Outlook to successfully pin and retain the championship.

At LPW Draft Central with only three draft picks remaining, Little Red drafted the returning "Mexican Murder Machine", Zuma, with the 48th pick, much to the delight of Insanity's hardcore fans. With the 49th pick, The Boss drafted the returning vampire, Bloodrose. While Pen gave his analysis of the picks, the lights turned off and several chair shots were heard. When the lights came back on, Pen was down and out, but with evidence from his camera phone showing "CYW", leading to X as the culprit. Meanwhile, Little Red went to search for The Boss in hopes of striking a deal to reacquiring a "certain friend", but only if she could keep a secret as to what his true identity was.

In the final match of the night, Insanity's newest LPW International Heavyweight Champion, Drew Michaels, defended his title against the recently turned heel Welsh Wondersheep, Sheepster. Michaels started the match in complete control, some saying the best form he had been in his career. But waiting four years for his one-one shot for the International Championship got the better of Sheepster, as he began employing typical heel moves in the ring, such as poking Drew's eye and using the ropes for leverage. After Michaels got the better of Sheepster, the challenger rolled out of the ring to regain his composure, only for Michaels to suicide dive outside the ring to hit Sheepster. At this point, cYnical fresh off his victory over Styxx, came out to support his friend Sheepster. Sheepster was able to lock on a figure-four leglock on Michaels, forcing the champion to nearly tap. But Michaels managed to break-out of the hold, much to the chagrin of Sheepster and cYnical. Sheepster went to finish him off with Under the Fleece, but Michaels reversed into a Wicked DDT. After a second Wicked DDT, Michaels pinned Sheepster to successfully retain the International Heavyweight Championship.

Immediately after the match, Little Red came out with Krimson Mask by her side. The Insanity General Manager expressed her damaged feelings as a result of cYnical using her, and that "Hell hath no fury like a woman scored". Little Red announced that she and The Boss had made a deal to trade both World Champions, with Drew Michaels coming back to Inferno and cYnical forced back to Insanity.

Results

 * Jade made a guest referee appearance to count the pinfall.

Draft results

 * Main article: 2008 LPW Draft