The Independent Wrestling Coalition (IWC) was a short-lived company, run by Steve Jackson, which featured high-profile wrestlers from the peak of the indy scene, without being a high-profile or particularly memorable indy company itself.
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In June 2006, IWC hosted its first show "Collision", which was supposed to be the weekly event. There were only two matches scheduled to take place: the first, a 20-minute no-falls judged match for the Innovative Championship; the second, a 7-man gauntlet match for the IWC Championship. As the company had only just been conceived, its roster was limited - though there were many more expected to join in the near future - because there was ironically a lot of short-term hype surrounding the company. However, for the moment, the company had to construct a makeshift show with a barebones roster.
7 of the 8 members signed up for the gauntlet match, with Terry Stevenson the only one to sign up for the Innovative title match. A temporary contract deal allowed Tornado to fill the gap. Stevenson won the match to become the first Innovative Champion. The gauntlet match consisted of (in order of entry) Blade, Nick Wright, Andrew McGuckin, Mac Anderson, Oblivion, The Machine and Marcus Fyre. Despite the small roster size: Blade and Andrew McGuckin were respected wrestlers in the indy circuit; The Machine was a familiar face and Marcus Fyre was also known for being the brother of Inferno. Blade got under the skin of owner Steve Jackson on numerous occasions during both of the company's phases, and funnily enough their rivalry was the most significant one in the company's entire lifetime. With his undefeated streak still intact at this point, Blade was reluctant to compromise it by entering the gauntlet first, but he had no choice. Blade lasted until the very end which saw him face both The Machine and Marcus Fyre in a no-DQ triple threat match - set up as a solution for the Blade and Machine match ending in a double count-out. The conclusion of the show saw a controversial finish, which resulted in the company's main prize remaining vacant.
Although the second card was already being set up, and the roster size increasing; Steve Jackson unexpectedly had to shut down the company due to circumstances beyond his control.
Jackson had not given up on the company completely, knowing that he would re-open it without hesitation if he was given the chance. This chance did indeed arise a couple of months later, and he immediately began to recruit a brand-new roster and assemble a card. Terry Stevenson was previously granted possession of the Innovative Championship, but was forced to hand it back for the re-boot as he did not wish to join the company again. The Innovative Championship would again be awarded at the first Collision, but to shake things up the IWC Champion would not be decided until the supercard planned at the end of the month.
The comeback show had two qualifying matches for the IWC Title, in which The Machine defeated Rob Hero and Matt Mathews defeated Kurt Noble. The main event was a Phenomenal Death Trap match contested between The Phenomenal Blu, Blade and Crow - won by Blade to earn the vacant Innovative Title and become the second champion.
The next weekly Collision had a tag team match in which Christian Kane and Bonesnap defeated KD and GD; and Blade successfully defended the Innovative Title in a Barbed Wire Ropes match against Josh Viper. In addition, there were two more qualifying matches for the IWC Title. Rey Foxx defeated Dwain James and, in the hugely-anticipated main event, Pat Doyle defeated Chris Cage.
Although the attendance for these events were relatively high, the expensive contracts made it nearly impossible to make ends meet. IWC was shut down, and this time Jackson severed all ties with the company.
This belt has never been won. There has only been one match to have the title on the line, the gauntlet match during IWC's first run.
Although this wasn't intended to be the company's most prestigious championship, it definitely turned out that way. This is in fact, one of the features that most people remember IWC by. Borrowing a little from Chris Norwitski's SWC Technical Championship, this belt rewarded wrestlers' creativity. The defending champion was compelled to choose the match type of each title defense, although this could only be put into practice on IWC's third and final show. Despite this, the first two matches which crowned new champions were designed to put the competitors' flexibility and resourcefulness to the test (The Phenomenal Blu actually persuaded Steve Jackson to make the stipulation that of his signature match type). The title holder genuinely had to choose the match type, which meant that outside of kayfabe, the belt would always be handed to the worker who was naturally creative and would display innovation.
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