LIFE AFTER MELTDOWN: How One Match Could Have Changed HIW Forever
In many ways, Spring Meltdown 2016 was the perfect punctuation mark on a year full of some of the most heated rivalries ever to take place in an HIW ring. But for as much closure as it delivered, it raised some extremely large questions marks, and one of the biggest question marks is what will High Impact Wrestling look like post-King Kash era?
The former HIW CEO had spent over 16 years with the company, most of them inside of an HIW ring, going to war with the biggest stars the country had ever produced. One of only nine Triple Crown winners in HIW (having held all three major titles at some point in his career) and the record holder for longest Central Canadian heavyweight title reign of all time, King Kash can easily be considered on of HIW's all time greats, but the King made even bigger waves when it was revealed that he had taken over the company as CEO, and subsequently founded the powerful Crown Corporation faction, which would be used to shape High Impact Wrestling into his vision and would forcefully remove any resistance that may pop up along the way.
Through two full years, and two different Crown Corporation lineups, King Kash and his crew dominated the HIW roster, using his power to shape history in whatever direction they felt like. Few were courageous enough to stand up to the King and the Crown Corporation, and those that did generally ended up regretting their decision. Cannonball Kelly would be one of those few, and although successful in many aspects of that particular war, he was unable to fully eradicate the Crown Corporation from existence, and it would once again grow into a dominating super power, taking even more ground than it had during its previous campaign.
Thryllin' Dylan would be another of the few with enough courage to get into the Crown Corporation's business, and it quickly became apparent that if Dylan were unable to put a stop to things, there wouldn't be anyone or anything left to stand in the way of the Crown Corporation's complete takeover. The war was long and nasty, and full of twists and turns. As luck would have it, the growing concern of HIW's Board of Directors over the way King Kash was running the company prompted the board to hire a representative to directly monitor the King's actions as it pertains to the company, and right any wrongs that could be foreseen in those actions. This threw a huge wrench into Kash's game plan and the Crown Corporation were forced to pull back, allowing Dylan a little relief from the power in numbers.
The short relief would be all that Dylan would need as he began taking down Crown Corporation members one by one, and forcing the faction back onto its heels, a position not often felt by the powerful group. On April 1st, Dylan would defeat Mike McSugar in the middle of the ring and an irate and frustrated King Kash would lay down a challenge that would inevitably be the catalyst for a change that would rock High Impact Wrestling to its core. King Kash would come out of retirement at Spring Meltdown 2016 to wrestle Tryllin' Dylan. If Dylan lost, he would be forced to retire as per stipulation. And the opposing stipulation? In the event of a loss for King Kash, power of High Impact Wrestling would be reverted to HIW's Board of Directors until a new CEO was selected, and the King would be terminated from his position.
Now two days removed from Spring Meltdown 2016, we now know that Thryllin' Dylan was victorious in what would prove to be an extremely violent encounter between he and the HIW head honcho. We also now know that the HIW Board of Directors had secured a replacement CEO for King Kash should he lose his bout, and more importantly, we now know that the replacement CEO, would be none other than HIW legend, "Tailormade" Todd Myers.
The loss by King Kash and subsequent change in rule over HIW was greeted with much fan fare from the HIW faithful, which wasn’t surprising, the King hadn't exactly endeared himself to the masses. But it's undeniable, the growth that HIW saw under the rule of King Kash. New would begin running new and larger venues, attendance would take a sharp turn upwards, HIW would return to television ever week, plus numerous other areas of business within HIW in which exponential growth took place and continues to take place. King Kash brought the long running company to the forefront of the Canadian wrestling scene where it has enjoyed the most successful run it's ever had in its near two decade long history.
So what does it mean for the future of High Impact Wrestling? Only time will tell. For as hated as King Kash was, his business acumen was crucial during HIW's major growth over the past four years. There are positives to having Todd Myers at the helm of HIW. The "Tailormade" one was around at the birth of High Impact Wrestling and spent over a decade and a half within HIW rings, so there is certainly a vested interest in the company, even if just emotionally. Myers has also proven to be a crafty business man over the years as he was heavily involved with matters backstage as it pertains to match making and other aspects of business. But the single biggest positive is that Todd Myers is not King Kash, and thus far, doesn't appear to have any interest in taking High Impact Wrestling anywhere but to a higher and more visible spot on the international wrestling scene.
It will take time before any major decisions by Myers will begin to shape HIW in any direction, but we all hope that he'll be able to build on the successes previously enjoyed and that he'll be able to take High Impact Wrestling to even greater heights.
Barry Langely
