EAW Pain for Pride XII

Pain For Pride XII (2019)
The official promotional poster featuring the world championship matches Tagline(s) "The Mecca of the Culture" Theme song(s) "Postion to Win" by Migos "APESHIT" by The Carters "REDLIGHT" by NGHTMARE & A$AP Ferg "What's Up Danger" by Blackway & Black Caviar "Power is Power" by SZA, The Weeknd & Travis Scott "Every Step That I Take" by Tom Morello "Stigmata" by grandson "Scared of the Dark" by Lil Wayne, Ty Dolla $ign & XXXTentacion Details Promotion Elite Answers Wrestling Brand(s) Empire Dynasty Showdown Voltage Date June 21-23, 2019 Venue Mercedes Benz Stadium City Atlanta, Georgia
Pay-per-view chronology
Fighting Spirit: Seoul	Pain For Pride XII (2019)	Midsummer Massacre (2019)
EAW Pain for Pride XII chronology
EAW Pain for Pride Festival (2018)	Pain For Pride XII (2019)	EAW Pain for Pride XIII

Pain for Pride XII (also billed in print ads as Pain for Pride 12) was the twelfth annual Pain for Pride professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and EAW Network event produced by EAW for their Empire, Dynasty, Showdown, and Voltage brands. The event took place on June 21 through 23, 2019 at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the respective main event matches, Theron Nikolas defended the EAW Answers World Championship against the 2019 Grand Rampage winner Jamie O'Hara as well as Mr. DEDEDE & Darkane, Malcolm Jones put his EAW Championship on the line against Chris Elite in a rematch from last years Pain for Pride Festival, Sienna Jade defended the EAW Unified Women's Championship against the 2019 Grand Rampage winner Serena Bennett, and Noah Reigner defended the EAW World Heavyweight Championship against Impact.

Production

Storylines

Theron Nikolas vs Jamie O'Hara vs Mr. DEDEDE vs Darkane

Following Pain for Pride Festival and the unexpected interferences during matches such as Ronn Banks vs Theron Nikolas as well as the Tag Team Championship three way, a new faction known as The 1% took shape and put themselves in the position to have a dominant Season 12. The superteam consisted of Mr. DEDEDE, Jack Ripley, and Theron Nikolas. Cameron Ella Ava’s objection to Jack Ripley’s interference in her match did not sit well with her partner at the time, Mr. DEDEDE, nor the rest of the group as tensions blew over at the EAW Draft show. Cameron confronted the group which led to a brawl between her and The 1% until her husband, Jamie O’Hara, came out for the save until they couldn’t overcome being outnumbered and The 1% took control. Eventually in the midst of being jumped Jamie was obliterated with an equalizer and put on the shelf for several months as it was perceived as the end of his career. With Jamie out of the picture and most of Dynasty at their control, Theron then set his sights on the Answers World Championship and invoked his King of Elite crown for a title shot against the champion at the time, Darkane.

At Operation: Doomsday, The 1% once again used their strength in numbers to get what they wanted. Theron was able to defeat Darkane to capture the Answers World Championship with the assistance from Mr. DEDEDE, Jack Ripley, and a new but short-lived addition to the group, Impact. This would also put Darkane on the shelf for some time. As Theron continued to rule over Dynasty as Answers World Champion and Mr. DEDEDE inherited a feud with Cameron Ella Ava, Jamie’s return loomed over EAW with the teasing of his return via SYNCON. The video packages and teasing of SYNCON came full circle at Road to Redemption when Jamie returned to EAW for the first time since the draft, directly confronting Theron and attacking him following his successful defense of the Answers World Championship in the elimination chamber. This set up Jamie O’Hara vs Theron Nikolas for the Answers World Championship at King of Elite. Theron would then successfully defeat Jamie to retain the championship.

Shortly after King of Elite, Darkane made his return, setting up a match between himself and Mr. DEDEDE at Ides of March in a match that would eventually get canceled. Mr. DEDEDE instead would assist Theron to the ring alongside two of the newest 1% members, Amber Keys and Cleopatra in another successful title defense. Following the match, Theron, Amber, and Cleopatra ambushed Mr. DEDEDE, turning on him and kicking him out of the group as Theron finally took full control of the group. Mr. DEDEDE would become the latest victim of The 1% who would disappear for months following an attack. At the Grand Rampage, Jamie outlasted 29 other men to become the 2019 Grand Rampage winner thus giving him a shot at any championship of his choosing, naturally he decided to take another shot at dethroning Theron Nikolas for the championship. Darkane had other plans however as he wanted to become the person to take down Theron and avenge his loss. The rematch between Darkane and Theron took place at Gateway to Glory and abruptly came to a halt as Mr. DEDEDE made his return with assistance from former 1% member Amber Keys who had previously helped Theron take out DEDEDE, using her to help even the odds. Not before spearing Darkane and throwing Theron on top of him. After handing Theron the win as an act of control and dominance, him and Amber attacked Theron as the show ended with DEDEDE standing triumphant. Shortly after Gateway to Glory, it was announced that the Pain for Pride main event would not just be Theron Nikolas vs Jamie O’Hara anymore, but rather Theron Nikolas vs Jamie O’Hara vs Mr. DEDEDE vs Darkane in a fatal four way to determine the Answers World Champion.

Malcolm Jones vs Chris Elite

After their epic encounter at Pain for Pride Festival, Malcolm Jones and then-World Heavyweight Champion Chris Elite went their separate ways. Elite remained on Voltage where he would eventually drop the title to Rex McAllister at Voltage: Crossfire. Meanwhile, Jones’ loss at Pain for Pride only seemed like a thing in the past when he managed to defeat the Heart Break Boy at No Regards for the Interwire Championship. This raised the stock for the rising star. Meanwhile, it seemed like Elite’s loss was the beginning of the end on his journey on Voltage. The last confrontation for a while for the two men happened at Territorial Invasion when Jones and Astraea Jordan got a victory over Elite and Stephanie Matsuda. After that same show, Elite announced that by the power of his Gawd Contract, he accomplished what he needed to accomplish on Voltage and he would be taking his talents somewhere else, which turned out to be on Showdown — the same brand as Jones.

As it seemed like Elite’s career seemed to have slowed down for the time being, Jones’ was about to pick up as he earned an automatic ride to the King of Elite finals in a match against Dynasty’s Jack Ripley, Empire’s Astraea Jordan and Voltage’s Noah Reigner. In the process, this would exempt the Showdown brand from having a tournament to determine a representative at King of Elite. At King of Elite, Jones defeated Dynasty’s Jason McKormick, and Voltage’s two representatives, Jack Ripley and Prince of Phenomenal. At that same event, Elite fell short of capturing the EAW Championship against then-champion, Ahren Fournier in a Steel Cage match. Even with Jones’ Interwire Championship loss at Under Siege, it did not stop his star from rising as he announced that he would be cashing in his King of Elite crown at the Grand Rampage. At Grand Rampage, Jones managed to capture the EAW Championship. 

At Wrath of the Dragon, Jones retained the EAW Championship against Fournier in a Hell in a Cell match. At that same event, Elite managed to defeat Cage in to attain a championship match at Pain for Pride 12. On the June 1 episode of Showdown, Elite decided to raise the stakes by making their Pain for Pride match a Three Stages of Hell match. The first stage was a Single's match. The second stage was a Chain Four Corners match. The third stage was a Street Fight.

Noah Reigner vs Impact vs Rex McAllister

At the Pain for Pride Festival, Noah Reigner managed to outlast seven other competitors from Empire, Dynasty, Showdown and Voltage to become Mr. Cash in the Vault. At that same event, Rex McAllister lost the EAW Championship to Diamond Cage and Impact defeated Jamie O’Hara. Thanks to the Draft, Reigner and McAllister found themselves in the same brand — Voltage. As Reigner hid in the backgrounds, providing the question of when he was going to cash in his briefcase, McAllister was setting his sights on becoming World Heavyweight Champion. At Voltage: Crossfire, McAllister captured the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Elite. At that same event, Reigner defeated Lars Grier in an Extreme Rules Match with the Cash in the Vault briefcase on the line. Throughout the rest of 2018, McAllister proved to be a fighting champion. He managed to overcome challengers such as:  Reigner, the Heart Break Boy and surviving the grueling nature of the Extreme Elimination Chamber at Road to Redemption. After McAllister’s title retention, Reigner’s music blasted through the speakers with the clear intentions that Reigner was cash in right now. But, he was unable to cash in the briefcase as it was shown that he was brutally attacked backstage. His briefcase was gone.

As Noah had his intentions to get his “fucking briefcase back”, McAllister challenged Reigner to a make for the World Heavyweight Championship on the Voltage the week after. On the January 13 episode of Voltage, Impact interfered in the title match between Reigner and McAllister before Reigner could pin McAllister for the three count. With that, Impact set his intentions clear that he was next in line for McAllister’s title. At King of Elite, Reigner defeated the man, who had stolen his briefcase, Showdown’s SOSA Henderson in a Street Fight. Reigner managed to retrieve his briefcase. At King of Elite, Impact defeated McAllister in a Barbed Wire Massacre Match for the World Heavyweight Championship. The celebration was short lived as Reigner cashed in his Cash in the Vault briefcase on Impact. In result, Reigner became World Heavyweight Champion.

On the February 24 episode of Voltage, Assistant General Manager, Veena Adams made Reigner and McAllister’s title match into a tag team match. Reigner would be teaming with his girlfriend, Tyler Wolfe as they took on McAllister and Daryl Kinkade. McAllister’s title was on the line. Wolfe would get the pin on Kinkade in order to retain Reigner’s title for him. This would be the last confrontation between the two men in a while. Reigner would move forward to Tempest, where he retained his title against Xander Payne. Fast forward to Grand Rampage, McAllister was one of the participants in the Men’s Grand Rampage. He managed to make it to the final two, but was eliminated by Jamie O’Hara. At the same event, Reigner retained his title against Lethal Consequences thanks by an interference by Impact. Reminding everyone of his intentions of challenging Reigner for the title. Thanks by the power of the Gawd Contract, him versus Reigner is happening at Pain for Pride. At Fighting Spirit: Seoul, Reigner retained the title against nemesis Jackson Blayde. Impact would attack House Reigner with a steel chair, but was stopped by McAllister, who had suffered a crushing defeat by the hands of The Visual Prophet. But before McAllister could hit Impact with the steel chair, Impact exited the ring before getting in the mic and getting McAllister in their match via the power of the Gawd Contract at Pain for Pride. Thus, making the match a triple threat. 

On the June 2 episode of Voltage, Impact decided to abuse the power of the Gawd Contract once again by adding a few stipulations to the triple threat match. First, there would be no outside interference. Second, would be no ropes. Third, finishers like the Evisceration, Rex Effect and Kill Shot would be useless as the match will have to be won by submission. 

Sienna Jade vs Serena Bennett

At the Pain for Pride Festival, Sienna Jade lost to Stephanie Matsuda in a unification match between the Women’s World Championship and REVOLT! Pro Combat’s Freeweight Championship. This begun the demise of Jade’s run on Empire. Despite gaining success such as the Empire Tag Team Championship and representing Empire in the War Games Match at Territorial Invasion, it always felt like something was missing for Jade. Meanwhile, on the November 29 episode of Empire, Serena Bennett made her debut to the Empire viewers as the assistant of FOX Executive, Stephon Hunte. The purpose for Bennett’s place on Empire was to add a woman of color in order to appeal to that demographic. But, that was short lived. On the December 31 episode of Empire, Hunte gave Bennett an ultimatum after trying to speak her mind  and going against his wishes—bring the Specialists Championship back to FOX or Bennett was fired. At Road to Redemption, Bennett lost as she was choked to consciousness by Andrea Valentine, who went out to win the chamber match. In result, Bennett was fired. Shortly after, Bennett was offered an Empire contract by General Manager, Kendra Shamez. Over the month of January, we witnessed Bennett’s personality come out — brash and confident. She went undefeated as she waited to face Valentine for the Specialists Championship. On the January 17 episode of Empire, Valentine announced that her match with Bennett was going to be in a chain match at King of Elite. Meanwhile, Jade would go to Shamez’ office and demand for a rematch from what occurred at the Pain for Pride Festival. Shamez agreed.

At King of Elite, Bennett shocked the world by making Valentine submit to the Trap Queen. At that same event, we witnessed Jade capture the Women’s World Championship in a Triple Threat Match against champion Madison Kaline and Empress of Elite, Astraea Jordan. Soon after, we saw a wave of confidence return to Jade. On the February 28 episode of Empire, we would witness the clash between these two rivals as they faced each other in a champion vs. champion match. In result, Bennett would take advantage of the distraction from Cleopatra for Jade and roll up the Women’s World Champion for a victory. Even though Bennett lost the Specialists Championship, it did not stop her star from rising as she set her sights on the Women’s Grand Rampage Match. Meanwhile, Jade did her best to make sure that her title reign meant something. Bennett entered the Women’s Grand Rampage at one and put on an excellent performance as she won the entire match. At that same event, Jade retained her title after a bit of controversy by hitting Raven Roberts with the championship. With these two results, it made Sienna Jade versus Serena Bennett at Pain for Pride official. 

While Bennett had her ticket to Atlanta secured, Jade needed to make it through one last title defense before heading another Pain for Pride. The only thing that stood in her way from the big stage was Terminus and her opponent was none other than her former Jaded Wolfe Hearts sister, Tyler Wolfe. At Terminus, Jade managed to barely retain her championship after a hooded figure went and put Jade’s arm on Wolfe for the cover. The match for the Women’s World Championship had a curveball thrown at them. On the June 6 episode of Empire, Voltage co-commissioner, Veena Adams announced that with the demise of Empire, it was not only the Empire Tag Team Championships that would be considered defunct, but the Women’s World Championship as well. Instead of vying for the Women’s World Championship, both Jade and Bennett would be competing to become the first-ever Universal Women’s Champion. 

Matches

No.	Results	Stipulations
1	24/7 Contract Battle Royal - Winner: Consuela Rose Ava	Winner gets the 24/7 Contract earning them an EAW title match of their choosing at any time
2	Ryan Wilson def. Shaker Jones	Singles match
3	Woogieman (c) def. Provençal	Steel cage match for Big Boogie Bhampionship
4	Felix Hartley def. SOSA Henderson (c)	New Breed Championship
5	Mark Michaels def. Ms. Extreme (c)	PURE Championship
6	Andrea Valentine (c) def. Celes Dumont	Barbed wire steel cage match for Specialists Championship
7	Terry Chambers def. Drake King (c)	Interwire Championship
8	Jack Ripley (c) def. Osamu Arcichida	National Elite Championship
9	Heavenly Hell (Constance Blevins and Minerva) (c) def. The Wildecards (Xander Payne and Myles) (c), The Flo Bros (Thadd Blazevich and Crosby Carter, and The Revolution (Jake Smith and Joshua Nicholls)	Winner take all match for Unified Tag Team Championship and Empire Tag Team Championship
10	Amber Keys def. Cleopatra	Loser leaves company match
11	Tyler Wolfe def. Kendra Shamez	No holds barred match
12	Lethal Consequences def. Scott Diamond	Singles match
13	Kassidy Heart def. Ahren Fournier	Deathmatch
14	Cameron Ella Ava def. Xavier Williams	Singles match
15	TLA def. Cage	Singles match
16	Raven Roberts def. Visual Prophet, Damon Diesel, Lucas Johnson, Adam Graves, Charlie Marr, and Harlow Reichert vs. Vic Venom	Cash In The Vault ladder match
17	Impact def. Noah Reigner (c) and Rex McAllister	Triple Threat match for the EAW World Heavyweight Championship
18	Serena Bennett def. Sienna Jade (c)	Singles match for the EAW Unified Women's Championship
19	Malcolm Jones (c) def. Chris Elite	Singles match for the EAW Championship
20	Mr. DEDEDE def. Theron Nikolas (c), Jamie O'Hara, and Darkane	Fatal Four Way match for the EAW Answers World Championship
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

24/7 Contract Battle Royal match entrances and eliminations

     – Dynasty

     – Showdown

     – Voltage

     – Empire

     – Winner

Entrant	Brand	Elimination Order	Eliminated by	Elimination(s)
Korey Gaines	Voltage	20	Jesse Barlow	3
Cepheus St. Claire	Voltage	19	Jesse Barlow	0
David Gibson	Voltage	3	Hades the Hellraiser	0
Sabin Richards	Voltage	4	Hades the Hellraiser	0
El Landerson​	Voltage	11	Hades the Hellraiser	0
Hades the Hellraiser	Dynasty	12	Dante Lebeau and Korey Gaines	3
Feral Khan	Dynasty	2	Kevin Hawkins	0
Connor Hunt	Dynasty	5	Consuela Rose Ava	0
Ronan Malosi	Dynasty	18	Korey Gaines	3
Jesse Barlow	Dynasty	21	Consuela Rose Ava	3
Dante Lebeau	Dynasty	15	Miho Li and Io Ishimori	2
Eric Havoc	Showdown	10	Hades the Hellraiser	1
Kevin Hawkins	Showdown	8	Mammoth	2
Shane Gates	Showdown	14	Consuela Rose Ava	3
Archemides J Manson	Showdown	1	Kevin Hawkins	0
Mammoth	Showdown	9	Jesse Barlow and Ronan Malosi	1
Desmond Black	Showdown	6	Dante Lebeau and Ronan Malosi	0
Io Ishimori	Empire	16	Korey Gaines	1
Consuela Rose Ava	Empire	-	WINNER	3
Miho Lee	Empire	17	Ronan Malosi	2
Silver Ann Gold	Empire	7	Eric Havoc	0
Darcy May Morgan	Empire	13	Miho Li	0