High Impact Wrestling Canada (HIW) was a professional wrestling promotion, based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Known for its hard hitting "Saskatchewan Style", the HIW roster consisted of nearly 40 regular performers. On January 1, 2019, the company celebrated its 21-year anniversary. This anniversary made High Impact Wrestling one of the oldest continuously active pro-wrestling companies to run in Canada. HIW partnered with Access 7, a TV station in Regina, SK, in January 2014 to begin producing a weekly TV show which aired every Tuesday at 8 pm. The Access television program aired for five consecutive seasons. HIW closed on October 25, 2019, after 21 years of operation. It was announced on September 20, 2019, that the company would be absorbed by Winnipeg based Canadian Wrestling's Elite.
History
Early history In 1998, following the demise of the Hardcore Wrestling circuit that ran from 1996 – 1998, wrestler Charley Pichette, opted to open up a pro-wrestling training school which would also run periodic live events. Pichette named the company "World High Impact Pro-Wrestling" or "WHIP Wrestling" for short. Training would take place in an old, rundown building on Quebec Street in Regina, Sk. Original members of the promotion included Pichette (who was then known as Charley Hayes), Todd Myers, Scotty Simms, Crusher Carlson, and Rex Roberts, with all members taking part in the training of young hopefuls. The training school began to pick up steam and added a number of new trainees. After enough local performers had joined and been trained, Pichette rounded out the roster with out of Province talent and ran some of the first WHIP Wrestling events. The first handful of events turned out decent crowds and Pichette continued to expand the roster with new trainees and ran a few live events a year.
At the end of 2003, Pichette decided that the company had grown enough in terms of roster size and fan base that the time had come to begin running regular monthly events in Regina. Monthly events took place at the Saskatchewan Veterans Hall on 12th Avenue in Regina. Pichette would run a matinee afternoon card that was geared towards family and a younger audience, and an evening card which was intended to cater to an older and livelier audience. The low ceiling in the building often hindered performers from being able to utilize top rope maneuvers as part of their arsenal, but the shows were still high energy and the company began to fill the building to capacity during its evening events. Two championship belts were wrestled for during this period, the Central Canadian Heavyweight Championship (which serves as the promotion's top title), and the Great Plains Provincial Title.
High Impact Wrestling In 2004, after several months at the Vets Hall, Pichette moved his monthly events to the Saskatchewan Cultural Exchange on 8th Avenue. The new venue was smaller in capacity but a higher ceiling allowed for higher risk moves by the performers. It was at this time that Pichette decided to give the product a fresh look, and began running the company under the name "High Impact Wrestling Regina" or "HIW Regina". Pichette continued to run matinee and evening cards, although the matinee cards often drew few spectators and eventually Pichette decided to do away with the matinee. The "up close and personal" atmosphere at the Exchange became synonymous with the live HIW Regina events, and gave fans a very interactive experience. The Canadian Tag Team titles were added to the list of championships and were originally won by Thryllin’ Dylan and Screaming Eagle in a tag team tournament. Soon, the company was filling the building on a regular basis and the time was coming to find a larger home for the monthly shows.
Pichette settled on a new venue and in 2005 HIW Regina began running monthly events from the Regina German Society Harmonie Club on St. John Street. The new venue was much larger than the previous and looked empty for many events even though the crowd numbers were very similar to those when the company ran at the Exchange. By 2006, the shows were drawing more and more spectators. In March of that year, an event featuring the Honky Tonk Man drew nearly 400 fans, an indoor record for the company at the time. A short lived decision to expand into Saskatoon, Saskatchewan prompted Pichette to briefly run the company as both "HIW Regina" and "HIW Saskatoon" dependent on which city the events were held, but after a disappointing audience in Saskatoon, the idea was put on the shelf. The decision was made to rename the company "High Impact Wrestling Canada" or "HIW Canada" to give the promotion a more "National" feel. Merchandise was produced including T-shirts, tank tops, toques, and even select women's underwear which featured the HIW Canada logo.
The company continued to draw large crowds to the German Club through 2007 and 2008, but the relationship between the club and HIW Canada began to sour. In 2009, despite the fact that the company had sold out 9 straight events at the venue, club management decided to end its business relationship with Pichette and his promotion. During the final event at the German Club in June 2009, veteran performer Big Daddy Kash grabbed the microphone before his match and delivered an infamously scathing rant directed towards the club president who was standing at ringside. Following the end of the relationship with the German Club, Pichette took two months off from running shows to find the company a new venue.
In September 2009, High Impact Wrestling Canada made its debut at the Victoria Club on Victoria Avenue. The Victoria Club was a much smaller venue, and in order to house the larger audiences that filled the German Club, Pichette decided to run a Friday evening card as well as a Saturday evening card in succession. The two cards would feature different matches but would still allow fans who weren't able to see the first show an opportunity to catch an HIW card the same weekend. Fans filled the building for both cards in the first series of weekend events but in the following months this would change. The Friday night events continued to draw good size audiences but smaller crowds would come out for the Saturday night card. Eventually, the Saturday events were scrapped, and HIW Canada would run Friday nights exclusively.
Television Program 2010
In 2010, High Impact Wrestling and Access Communications began producing a weekly television program that would air weekly on the Access 7 channel. Live events were split into two halves and two episodes were taped at each monthly event at the Victoria Club in Regina, SK. The episodes would only be available to Regina Access 7 cable subscribers. The program was short lived and was removed from regular scheduling on Access 7 by 2011.
Sale of HIW Canada Following the end of the television program, Pichette continued to run moderately successful shows from the Victoria Club through 2011, also touring the northern part of the Province a handful of times throughout the year. In 2012, Pichette expanded the company to tour to the cities of Saskatoon, and Yorkton once a month. He also began touring northern centers more extensively and ran in excess of 35 live events during the course of the year. In December 2012, after nearly 20 years of involvement in professional wrestling, Pichette decided to sell High Impact Wrestling Canada and take a leave from the sport. The company was sold to Mike Roberts, who performs under the name "King Kash". Since taking over the company, Roberts has continued the company's expansion to include several new Saskatchewan centers. HIW Canada continued to run regular live events from the Victoria Club until June 2013, when the company moved to its current home venue in Regina, SK, the Hungarian Club.
High Impact Wrestling Wildside Brand / Wildside Division / HIW Wildside Wrestling On June 14, 2013, HIW management announced that a second brand under the "High Impact Wrestling" banner called "HIW Wildside" was to be launched and would begin running live events in the fall of that year. The two brands would run their own event calendar but would co-host the "Big Three" events (Spring MELTDOWN, Pile O' Bones Rumble, and King's Challenge). The Wildside roster would employ a separate roster from the HIW Canada roster and feature a younger mix of up and comers with a handful of veteran performers.
Wildside's first involvement in an HIW event was Pile O' Bones Rumble XVIII in which the new brand co-hosted the annual Rumble event with the HIW Canada brand. The event took place On July 19, 2013, at the Hungarian Club in Regina, SK.
In August 2013, HIW Wildside hosted a portion of the "Blood Wars" Tour, a four-day tour that featured Wildside performers, HIW Canada performers, and Gangrel. The Wildside brand hosted their lone date on the tour on August 24, 2013, at the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw, SK.
The first HIW Wildside brand event was held at the Victoria Club in Regina, SK on Friday, September 27 and was entitled "The Future Begins". The event was well received and plans to continue hosting regular events were given the go-ahead.
The "Road To Gold" event on November 22, 2013, featured a 4-way match to crown the first ever Wildside Provincial Champion. Performers in the 4-way championship match included Ethan Hawks, Ace Riviera, Rockstar, and then Great Plains Provincial Champion Michael Allen Richard Clark. Ethan Hawks was eliminated first, then the Rockstar, leaving Ace Riviera and Michael Allen Richard Clark. Clark eventually defeated Riviera to become the first champion in Wildside history. The Great Plains Provincial title and the Wildside Provincial title were subsequently unified the following day on November 23, 2013.
The Wildside brand currently runs monthly events at the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw, SK and periodically in Regina, SK. The Cultural Exchange became the new home venue for Wildside in the Queen City and regular events will be hosted there.
On Saturday, September 20, 2014, HIW Wildside celebrated its one-year anniversary at the "NIGHT OF THE WILD" event at the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw, SK. The show featured the brand's first ever Ladder Match which pitted Wildside's originals Ethan Hawks and Ace Riviera against one another.
On Thursday, January 21, 2015, the High Impact Wrestling parent office announced that the HIW Canada brand had absorbed the HIW Wildside brand in a move intended to further strengthen the all around product. Coming off the heels of the most successful year in company history, the absorption concept was on the table as a method to add more strength to the legs of High Impact Wrestling's continued expansion throughout Central Canada. It was also announced that despite the fact that Wildside would no longer run as a separate brand, it would now operate as a division within High Impact Wrestling with the Wildside Provincial Championship and its lineage continuing to represent the division.