Combat Zone Wrestling

Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion founded in 1999 by John Zandig and headquartered in Newark, Delaware. Commonly associated with the hardcore wrestling genre of the 2000s, CZW built its identity around a style the promotion termed "ultraviolence," featuring matches incorporating ladders, tables, steel folding chairs, thumbtacks, barbed wire-covered baseball bats, weed whackers, light tubes, and panes of glass. The promotion filled a niche for hardcore wrestling fans following the closure of Extreme Championship Wrestling in 2001. In 2009, Zandig sold CZW to wrestler D.J. Hyde.

Under Hyde's ownership, CZW gradually diversified its image, blending homegrown talent with international wrestlers and showcasing technical and high-flying styles alongside its hardcore roots. Two annual tournaments defined this era: Tournament of Death, highlighting ultraviolent wrestling, and Best of the Best, featuring technical and aerial competitors. CZW also maintained an international alliance known as the Triangle of Unity with Japan's Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Germany's Westside Xtreme Wrestling. After a COVID-19 pandemic hiatus, CZW resumed events in 2021, and by 2024 had renewed its emphasis on hardcore wrestling, reviving its Cage of Death event.