EAW Empire

EAW Empire
Information
Federation	Elite Answers Wrestling
Starring	Empire roster
Theme music	"Play Destroy" by Poppy ft. Grimes
General manager	Kendra Shamez
Production
Established	September 23, 2016
Episodes	~100
Booker	Amber Keys & Cameron Ella Ava
External links
Website	http://new.eawrestling.com/empire/

EAW Empire was a professional wrestling television program for Elite Answers Wrestling that aired live on Thursday nights on Fox in the United States. The show exclusively featured matches between the company's female Elitists. During its tenure, the show served as a companion to EAW's three other brands, Voltage, Showdown,and Dynasty. At the start, the women were technically inter-branded competitors who could appear across all forms of EAW programming, however, the brand was created with the intention of giving them their own niche to shine. As the brand continued to grow, the majority of the women in EAW became Empire exclusive elitists.

History

EAW's Women's division entered a period of never before seen prosperity beginning in 2015 and extending into 2016, with the creations of the Empress of Elite and Empire Cup accolades, the introduction of the Specialists Championship, and the premiere True Vixens. As such, they continued to be provided with more platforms to elevate their public profile. Introduced in 2016, Empire was created. During an in-ring segment at Territorial Invasion 2016 prior to the second Empress of Elite finals, Hall of Famer Cleopatra returned to announce the conception of Empire.

EAW Empire Logo 2017-2018

During its tenure, Empire played host to many new concepts introduced to EAW for the purpose of elevating the women's division and putting them on an even playing field as the men. Empire played host to Empress of Elite tournament, The Vixen's Cup, which was later renamed to the Empire Cup, and once again renamed to the Iconic Cup to honor late member Brody Sparks, the Women's Grand Rampage, and the Specialists Chamber. The brand served as the introduction to female-exclusive titles such as the Specialists Championship as well as the now-defunct Empire Tag Team Championships and Unified Women's World Championship.

Closing

During a social media rant by EAW's chairman Mr. DEDEDE about women's wrestling, he began to air out his grievances with Fox's chairman and CEO, Lachlan Murdoch due to their promotion of the show as well as money issues. DEDEDE would cancel the conference calls he had scheduled with the network. Negotiations between the two turned soured and he began leaking texts conversations between the two showing that the relationship had began to become irreparable. Murdoch went to the media calling DEDEDE a "miserable insufferable c*nt" in a scathing rant. After several back and forth in various forms of media, DEDEDE gave the network 15 minutes to comply before he decided to "do something really irrational". After 15 minutes passed with no word from Murdoch or the network, it was announced on EAW's official twitter that effective Season 13, immediately following Pain for Pride, EAW was opting out of it's contract with Fox and ending the Empire brand. Later that night during the airing of Empire, Empire's General Manager, Kendra Shamez received a phone call where she was given the news for the first time. This news sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling world as people speculated and buzzed for weeks wondering if this was real or a hoax. The following week, DEDEDE's niece, Veena Adams came out and cut a promo doubling down on the announcement.

Production

The Empire set that has been used since the program's inception is the same HD set that is utilized by the other EAW weekly shows. For the opening of the show, purple and pink pyrotechnics are used.

Theme music

Song title	Written/performed by	Dates used
"Something to Believe In"	Young the Giant	September 23, 2016–June 9, 2017
"Power"	Little Mix	July 6, 2017–December 21, 2017
"Salute"	Little Mix	January 11, 2018–June 14, 2018
"Girl Gang"	Leikeli47	July 5, 2018–May 9, 2019
"Play Destroy"	Poppy ft. Grimes	May 9, 2019-June 13, 2019

On-air personalities

Authority figures

Authority Figure	Dates	Position
Cleopatra	September 23, 2016–June 24, 2017	General Manager
Tarah Nova	June 24, 2017–December 1, 2017	General Manager
Flannery McCoy	December 21, 2017–January 2019	General Manager
Kendra Shamez	January 2019-June 13, 2019	General Manager

Commentators

Commentary Team	Dates
Starr Stan and SG1	September 23, 2016–June 9, 2017
SG1 and Gia Cervantes	July 6, 2017–June 14, 2018
SG1 and Alicia Amby	June 14, 2018-December 1, 2018
SG1 and Gavin Kirkland	December 1, 2018-January 2019
Gavin Kirkland and CJ Hana	January 2019-June 13, 2019

Ring announcers

Ring Announcer	Dates
Jasmine Peyton	July 6, 2017–June 14, 2018
Cori Simmons	July 5, 2018–January 2019
Maria Del Rey	January 2019-June 13, 2019

Backstage correspondents

Correspondent	Dates
Monica Vaughan	August 31, 2017–December 14, 2017
Cori Simmons	December 21, 2017–December 2018
Kathy Kush	December 2018-June 13, 2019

Referees

Referee	Dates
Jesse Carlton	December 10, 2017–December 2018
Marti Soto	December 2018-June 13, 2019

Championships and accomplishments

Being that Empire is a Women's-centric program, it is considered the "home" show for both Women's exclusive belts contested in EAW: the Women's World Championship and Specialists Championship. In addition, the show features the winners of Empress of Elite and the Iconic Cup (formerly the Empire Cup and the Vixens Cup). The show was previously the home brand of the Vixens Championship, prior to it being retired in December 2016.

Championship	Current champion	Date won
EAW Unified Women's Championship	Sienna Jade	February 2, 2019
EAW Specialists Championship	Andrea Valentine	May 16, 2019
EAW Empire Tag Team Championship	Heavenly Hell (Constance Blevins & Minerva)	May 16, 2019

Other accomplishments

Accomplishment	Current holder	Date won
Empress of Elite	Astraea Jordan	August 18, 2018
Iconic Cup	Kassidy Heart	March 16, 2019
Women's Grand Rampage Winner	Serena Bennett	April 20, 2019

Broadcast

In addition to broadcasts on Fox in the United States, like the rest of EAW programming, Empire also airs internationally.

Canada

Empire airs at the same time in Canada that it does in the United States, and is on Sportsnet 360.

Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East

The series airs in Australia on Fox8. It also airs in Fiji on Sky Pacific and Sky Fiji. Empire airs in India, Pakistan, and Nepal on TEN Sports, and in Kenya on the Kenya Broadcast Corporation. In Malaysia, it is shown on TV3, in Malta on Melita Sports 1, in the Philippines on Fox, in Singapore on SuperSports, South Africa on e.tv, and Samoa on SBC. It airs across the Middle East and North Africa on OSN, and in Israel on Sport 5.

Europe

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Empire airs on Sky Sports 3. In France, the series airs on AB1 and in Italy on Sky Sports 2. It is also shown in Germany on ProSieben MAXX.

Latin America

Empire airs live on Fox Sports Latinoamerica in Mexico and the rest of Central and South America.

Online streaming

As is the case with other EAW weekly shows, supershows and free-per-views, all episodes of Empire are available on the EAW Network paid streaming service.