Deadlock Pro-Wrestling

{{Short description|American independent professional wrestling promotion}}

{{Infobox company

|name = Deadlock Pro-Wrestling

|logo = Deadlock Pro Wrestling Logo.svg

|logo_size =

|foundation = {{Start date and age|2021|11|01}}

|trade_name = Deadlock Pro-Wrestling

|type = Private

|industry = Professional wrestling

|location = North Carolina, U.S.

|founders = Anthony Douglas
James Darnell
John Blud

|owners = Anthony Douglas
James Darnell
John Blud

|parent =

|formerly =

|merged =

|website = {{URL|deadlockpro.com/}}

}}

Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (stylized as DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling), often referred to simply as DPW, is an American independent professional wrestling promotion, founded on November 1, 2021, by Anthony Douglas, James Darnell, and John Blud.{{cite web|first=Connel|last=Rumsey|title=DEADLOCK Pro-Wrestling Officially Announced|url=https://wrestletalk.com/news/deadlock-pro-wrestling-officially-announced/|work=WrestleTalk|date=November 1, 2021|access-date=December 13, 2022}} On December 11, DPW taped the first episode of their broadcast show, Fire, which aired five days later on YouTube.{{cite web|title=DPW Fire Episode 1 Review|url=https://www.partsunknownpress.com/2021/12/17/dpw-fire-episode-1-review/|work=Parts Unknown Press|date=December 17, 2021|access-date=December 13, 2022}} Since then, new episodes of DPW's Fire and Spark programs have aired on YouTube and the promotion's streaming platform, DPW On Demand.{{cite web|url=https://www.dpwondemand.com/|title=DPW On Demand|website=dpwondemand.com/|access-date=June 19, 2023}} The name of the promotion is derived from the Deadlock Podcast, which is hosted by the promotion's founders.{{Cite web |title=DEADLOCK - Pro Wrestling Lifestyle & Culture |url=https://deadlockpw.com/ |access-date=2023-10-24 |website=DEADLOCK |language=en}}

Notable mainstays for the promotion include Andrew Everett, Chris Danger, Calvin Tankman, Kevin Ku, Colby Corino, Jay Malachi, Anthony Henry, Emi Sakura, Miyuki Takase, Nicole Matthews, Mike Bailey, Bryan Keith, Tom Lawlor, and Jake Something. Other prominent wrestlers who have also been featured include Rosemary, Luther, JTG, Konosuke Takeshita, the Grizzled Young Veterans, Motor City Machine Guns, MxM, the Super Smash Brothers, Mustafa Ali, Masato Tanaka, and Roderick Strong.

Championships from other companies have been defended on DPW programming, such as Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling's Super Asia Championship and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling's Princess Tag Team Championship.

History

On November 1, 2021, the formation of Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW) was announced by Anthony Douglas (TonyPizzaGuy), James Darnell (Pulse), and John Blud (Johnny from NewLegacyInc), the hosts of the Deadlock Podcast. On December 11, DPW taped their first show, Fire, which aired on YouTube on December 16. The first episode of Fire introduced a tournament to crown the first DPW Worlds Champion. Fire would conclude on June 3, 2022, due to the series not being considered financially successful enough to continue doing. Thus, the company would stick to its monthly event format.

On January 8, 2022, DPW produced their first internet pay-per-view (PPV) event named You Already Know, which aired on January 15. At the event, Bojack defeated Andrew Everett in the DPW Worlds Championship tournament finals to become the inaugural champion.{{cite web|first=Jeremy|last=Lambert|title=DPW You Already Know Results (1/15): First-Ever DPW Worlds Champion Crowned|url=https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/results/dpw-you-already-know-results-115-first-ever-dpw-worlds-champion-crowned|work=Fightful|date=January 16, 2022|access-date=December 13, 2022}} On April 16, at Forever, The Reality (Chance Rizer and Patrick Scott) defeated The Workhorsemen (Anthony Henry and JD Drake) to became the first Worlds Tag Team Champions.{{cite web|first=Robert|last=DeFelice|title=DPW Forever 2022 (4/23) Results: First DPW Tag Champions Crowned|url=https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/results/dpw-forever-2022-424-results-first-dpw-tag-champions-crowned|work=Fightful|date=April 24, 2022|access-date=December 13, 2022}} On June 10, at Showdown In The Carolinas, Calvin Tankman defeated Kevin Ku in a tournament final to became the inaugural National Champion,{{cite web|first=Brady|last=Alexander|title=DPW: Showdown In The Carolina's Results – 7/16/22|url=https://www.bodyslam.net/2022/07/17/dpw-showdown-in-the-carolinas-results-7-16-22/|work=BodySlam.net|date=July 17, 2022|access-date=December 13, 2022}} and on August 6, at Believe The Hype, Raychell Rose defeated Rosemary in a tournament final to became the inaugural Women's Worlds Champion.{{cite web|first=Jeremy|last=Lambert|title=DPW Believe The Hype Results (8/13): Konosuke Takeshita, Dante Martin, Rosemary In Action|url=https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/results/dpw-believe-hype-results-813-konosuke-takeshita-dante-martin-rosemary-action|work=Fightful|date=August 15, 2022|access-date=December 13, 2022}}

On January 14, 2023, DPW held their first live PPV event named Live 1: Ali vs KENTo.{{cite tweet |author=DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling |user=deadlockpro |number=1605644743995666432 |date=December 21, 2022 |title=🗣 NEW DPW SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT... |language=en |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117034504/https://twitter.com/deadlockpro/status/1605644743995666432 |archive-date=January 17, 2023 |url-status=live}} On April 16, 2023, the promotion held Live 2 in New Jersey – marking their first event outside of North Carolina. On April 25 and 27, 2023, DPW held a two-night collaboration event with Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling in Japan, which marked their first event outside of the United States.{{Cite tweet|number=1639842061393473536|user=OBEYBrookes|title=‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ @deadlockpw x @gatohmove_jp 4.25 Shin Kiba 1st Ring 4.27 Shinjuku FACE LFG! 🔥#ChocoPro|author=|first=Chris|last=Brookes|date=2023-03-26|access-date=2023-04-22}} On December 2, 2023, DPW announced it would be touring outside of North Carolina for the year of 2024. Such locations included Texas and Illinois.

On March 29, 2024, DPW announced that they had entered into a strategic partnership with fellow independent wrestling promotions West Coast Pro Wrestling and Prestige Wrestling.{{cite tweet|user=deadlockpro |number=1773761370439184457 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240820124904/https://x.com/deadlockpro/status/1773761370439184457 |archive-date=August 20, 2024 |title=As of today, DPW has entered into a strategic partnership with West Coast Pro Wrestling & Prestige Wrestling! The very best independent professional wrestling coast-to-coast. |date=March 29, 2024 |access-date=August 20, 2024}} It was announced on June 7, 2024, all future DPW events, starting from Limit Break, would be made available on Wrestle Universe.{{cite tweet|user=W_UNIVERSE_eng |number=1799004903110828337 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240820125249/https://x.com/w_universe_eng/status/1799004903110828337 |archive-date=August 20, 2024 |title=DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling (DPW) @deadlockpro now on #wrestleUNIVERSE VOD!! |date=June 7, 2024 |access-date=August 20, 2024}}

Reception

DPW has been received very positively, gaining praise for their in-ring work, production, and fanbase. Wrestlers such as Kenny Omega and Andre Chase have publicly spoken positively of the promotion.{{Undue weight inline|date=March 2025}}{{POV statement|date=March 2025}}{{cn|date=March 2025}} DPW was also nominated for "Promotion of the Year" for the 2023 Fightful Awards.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Programming and events

=Current=

==''DPW Spark''==

Spark is a web television program that airs on DPW's YouTube and the company's streaming service DPW On Demand.{{cite web|url=https://www.dpwondemand.com/dpw-spark-1|title=Spark|website=dpwondemand.com/|access-date=June 19, 2023}} The series debuted on December 30, 2021. The series acts as a pre-show to major events.

=Former=

==''DPW Fire''==

Fire was the flagship program of DPW that aired DPW's YouTube channel and DPW On Demand.{{cite web|url=https://www.dpwondemand.com/dpw-fire-1|title=Fire|website=dpwondemand.com/|access-date=June 19, 2023}} The series debuted on December 16, 2021, originally airing on the DPW's YouTube channel, and concluded on June 3, 2022.

=Major events=

Deadlock Pro-Wrestling has produced 47 chronological events. The first event took place on January 8, 2022, in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the Raleigh Convention Center. The Durham Armory in Durham, North Carolina, has held the most events with nine.

Championships and accomplishments

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center; font-size:85%;"

!Championship

!colspan=2 |Current champion(s)

!Reign

!Date won

!Days
held

!Successful
defenses

!Location

!Notes

! class="unsortable" | {{Refh}}

align="center" | DPW Worlds Championship

|align="center" | 100px

|align="center" | Adam Priest

|align="center" | 1

|align="center" | {{dts|April 18, 2025}}

|align="center" | {{age in days|April 18, 2025}}+

|align="center" | 2

|align="center" | Las Vegas, NV

|align="left" | Won an Ultimate Conflict match by last eliminating Calvin Tankman for the vacant championship at Title Fight in Vegas.

|align="center" | {{cite web|url=https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=417713|title=DPW Title Fight In Vegas|work=Cagematch.net|date=April 18, 2025|access-date=April 18, 2025|first=Philip|last=Kreikenbohm}}

align="center" | DPW National Championship

|align="center" | 100px

|align="center" | LaBron Kozone

|align="center" | 1

|align="center" | December 8, 2024

|align="center" | {{age in days|December 8, 2024}}+

|align="center" | 5

|align="center" | Durham, NC

|align="left" | Defeated Adam Priest at 3rd Anniversary.

|align="center" | {{cite web|url=https://prowrestling.net/site/2024/12/17/deadlock-pro-wrestling-third-anniversary-results-vetters-review-of-adam-priest-vs-labron-kozone-for-the-dpw-national-title-jake-something-and-mike-bailey-vs-violence-is-forever-for-the-dpw-t/|title=Deadlock Pro Wrestling "Third Anniversary" results: Vetter's review of Adam Priest vs. LaBron Kozone for the DPW National Title, Jake Something and Mike Bailey vs. Violence is Forever for the DPW Tag Titles|first=Chris|last=Vetter|work=Pro Wrestling Dot Net|date=December 15, 2024|access-date=December 15, 2024}}

align="center" | DPW Worlds Tag Team Championship

|align="center" | 100px
100px

|align="center" | Grizzled Young Veterans
(James Drake and Zack Gibson)

|align="center" | 1

|align="center" | February 16, 2025

|align="center" | {{age in days|February 16, 2025}}+

|align="center" | 2

|align="center" | Chicago, IL

|align="left" | Defeated Violence Is Forever (Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku) at No Pressure.

|align="center" | {{cite web|url=https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=420019|title=No Pressure 2025 « Events Database « Cagematch – The Internet Wrestling Database|first=Philip|last=Kreikenbohm|website=Cagematch.net|accessdate=February 23, 2025}}

align="center" | DPW Women's Worlds Championship

|align="center" | 100px

|align="center" | Dani Luna

|align="center" | 1

|align="center" | January 26, 2025

|align="center" | {{age in days|January 26, 2025}}+

|align="center" | 4

|align="center" | Pasadena, TX

|align="left" | Defeated Miyuki Takase at Title Fight in Texas.

|align="center" | {{cite web|url=https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=418555|title=DPW Title Fight In Texas|work=Cagematch.net|date=January 26, 2025|access-date=January 26, 2025|first=Philip|last=Kreikenbohm}}