| The Era | |
|---|---|
| |
| Statistics | |
| Real name | {{{realname}}} |
| Ring Names | Dade Davis & Chris Michaels |
| Height | {{{height}}} |
| Weight | {{{weight}}} |
| Date of birth | {{{birth_date}}} |
| Place of birth | {{{birth_place}}} |
| Date of death | {{{death_date}}} |
| Place of death | {{{death_place}}} |
| Resides | Dade: Boston, MA ; Chris: Roanoke, VA |
| Billed from | {{{billed_from}}} |
| Trainer | {{{trainer}}} |
| Current federation(s) |
PWA |
| Previous federation(s) |
cWo |
| Handled by | {{{handler}}} |
| Win/Loss Record | {{{winloss_record}}} |
| Debut | October 2002 |
| Retired | {{{retired}}} |
Dade Davis (real name Dade Alexander) and "HotShot" Chris Michaels comprised a professional wrestling tag-team known as The Era. The last teamed together in the Premiere Wrestling Alliance between 2007 and 2009. The two had been teaming and working in feds together since 2002. They are known individually and "The Franchise" Dade Davis and "HotShot" Chris Michaels. The tight-knit tandem was once a trifecta. Alongside Chris Cypher, they were known as "The Trio." Most people don't brag about past championships in this industry. But that's probably because nobody has the bragging rights quite to the level that Dade Davis and Chris Michaels do. The two had 46 combined title reigns in 25 combined years of experience before their last match as a team in 2009.
History[]
Birth of The Trio[]
Before Davis joined the powerful Omega faction at cWo To Hell and Back in October 2002, he battled against the group (which consisted of Michaels and Cypher) as part of Despair Factor. At the "To Hell and Back" pay per view event, Davis was set to team with "Ironman" Chris Briggs to challenge the tandem for their cWo World Tag-Team Titles. The big build-up to the match led to a Davis swerve when he attacked Briggs and joined Omega as their fifth member. However later in the night, Omega leader Notorious JON lost the world title match to former Omega member Heretic. Also on the line was leadership of the group, which Heretic used to disband the group. Little did he know that three of the members just weren't done dominating the company yet. The next night on eXecution, The Trio was born with one of the most scathing promos in wrestling history. Davis was also brought into the fold of champions as a third-member of the tag-team champions when the three tricked cWo Chairman Kyle Kash into allowing them to use "triad" rules as champions where all three are considered holders of the belts and therefore any combonation could team or defend the titles on any night. As the organization FsW began to battle with cWo, Cypher took a leave of absence and the future of the group was unknown.
Rise of The Era[]
With The Trio on hold at the very least, Davis and Michaels set their sights on the recently vacated United States title. Their first encounter against eachother took place on December 1, 2002 at Rebirth. Davis, who had recently been named Commissioner of cWo, made the match an Inferno match and eventually pinned Chris Michaels to win the title; still considered one of the best matches in cWo history. For several weeks leading up to the Rebirth event, with cWo's power group (The Trio) gone and the FsW situation escalating, promos and what was later determined to be backward masking was all over the company's broadcasts. A mysterious logo and word "Areeth" bombarded the company with the promise of a new power emerging. In the last segment of the Rebirth broadcast, the world figured out what it all meant when FsW's owner Chris Briggs took the ring alongside FsW World Champion Andrew Fiasco and cWo legends Davis and Michaels. The fans, the locker room, everyone was in shock as the company's rival joined force with cWo's best hope for salvation from Briggs.
Ending the FsW Invasion[]
In between runs of The Trio, HotShot and Davis helped pull off one of the biggest swerves in wrestling history when the cWo merged with Five-Star Wrestling. FsW had formed as a company by "Ironman" Chris Briggs, a friend of cWo's Andrew Fiasco and Chad "Exhero" Carr and former foe of some of cWo's elite. In the Fall of 2002, several disgruntled mid-card cWo stars lef the company and many them (Fiasco, Carr, Brent Adams, Tyler Preston and former cWo President Troy Turley) ended up in FsW. Davis made two apperances in FsW, first attacking the ex-cWo guys and then walking out on his World Title tournament match with Carr. Soon FsW and cWo came to terms on a merger. Then, Dade and HotShot, alongside Briggs and Fiasco, formed The Era to help take out cWo's powers. However, it was all a big joke for Michaels and Davis, who used their scheming abilities to run the two FsW leaders out of wrestling, helping to make The Era one of the businesses' most feared teams due to their abilities both in the ring and playing mind games with those around them.
The run of the original Era (Davis and Michaels' big joke) was highlighted by several comical editions of Michaels' weekly interview segment "The HotSpot," including a cookout edition where the two led Devon Dice to believe they were cooking his pet monkey Rocky, only to get Dice to urinate in his pants on camera. Briggs often took great offense to the antics, which he later learned was all part of the duo's Anti-Chris Briggs plan. Also, just to anger Briggs, Dade booked a US title match for "ratings sake" and then laid down for HotShot five seconds into the match, allowing HotShot to take the pinfall victory and the title, ruining the big build-up and ratings for the Briggs run Asylum show that had taken place of cWo's eXecution.
Often hated, Briggs never returned to cWo after Michaels and Davis defeated him while Fiasco was gone from the company for nearly six months.
The Trio, take two[]
The week after Briggs and Fiasco were run from cWo alongside their friend Chad Carr, Commissioner Dade Davis returned eXecution to the air, promising a major surprise addition to The Era. Later that night, Dade and HotShot announced the return of Chris Cypher. The next week on Carnage, with members subbing in at-will, the group won back the vacant cWo Tag-Team titles. At the end of the match, after being announced as the "tag-team champions, The Era," the three looked at eachother wickedly before all holding up three fingers and forcing ringside announcer Mic Benson to repeat his announcement, but calling the team The Trio. This run was their most visually successful as they held the tag-team titles (again defended with "triad" rules), Michaels was the US champion, Davis was the cWo Commissioner and Cypher won the World Title. However, after Cypher's world title upset loss to Devon Dice, he left the company and again The Trio's powertrip was off.
The Hall of Fame[]
The three were all honored at the Inaugural cWo Hall of Fame ceremony the night before Cyperslam 2. The first Hall of Fame class was originally set to include five members voted on by fans, the competitors of cWo and many industry greats. However, the overwhelming love for six people led to Davis, Michaels and Cypher all to be inducted alongside Mavis, Kyle Kash and Notorious JON. This was the first time in months the three really interacted and the reception the fans gave the three together spurned the idea of a Trio return.
The Trio Reborn[]
Michaels was heading up a faction of cWo youngsters, Davis was involved in a short-term nostalgic feud with Chad Thomas and Cypher was in cWo's hottest feud with Mavis. They were three men on totally different pages. But, one night in March, the stars aligned and The Trio returned to the cWo ring. After Davis and Cypher reunited early in the evening, Michaels and his team stepped up to face off with this new power; that is until HotShot took a steel chair to his understudies to pull yet another Trio swerve. The fan reaction and internet buzz was huge: The Trio was back.
Deceit[]
Four weeks after The Trio reunited, Chris Michaels and Chris Cypher made a bold decision that would help change the face of the business and the paths of each of the three men. Onthe April 13, 2003 episode of eXecution (one of cWo's two shows, one that Davis had great success on during his cWo Hall of Fame run, Michaels and Cypher turned on him. After defeating Johnny Vandal earlier in the night for his third cWo United States Title, Davis was celebrating with his Trio-mates when they attacked them with the help of Mavis. Cypher, Michaels and Mavis formed The New Trio, but were not very successful during their run together. After the attack, things were not the same between the three again for a long time on-screen or in real life. Because of the situation, Davis left cWo after the April 13 event with the company's initial run ending just a month later.
Cypher/Mavis' PWA, EHW and a cWo Return[]
When cWo closed it's doors after Kyle Kash turned over operations to Chad Thomas, former Davis allies and enemies Chris Cypher, Mavis and small partner Chris Michaels opened the doors of PWA during the summer of 2003. This was a great example of Davis, Cypher and Michaels putting their past difference on the back burner for good business. PWA did not last long and Davis had little to no interaction with his former friends and the man who took his Trio spot.
Davis re-opened his company, EHW, in the late Summer of 2003, this time with a whole new roster made up of cWo friends and others he had meant in various companies over the past year. Dade's fued with the company's rival internal faction UNstable (a group, headed by Chris Michaels that included Brent Adams, Jonas Kemp and later Chad Thomas) was the main storyline in EHW during its' five month run. At other points in the company's run, Davis did bring Andrew Eubanks (Mavis) and Chris Cypher into the company for short stints, still trying to do good business.
Davis' fued with UNstable was a rocky concept due to the heat between Davis and Michaels. The two worked well with on-screen promos with eachother, mostly because of the bitterness broiled up inside them both.
In February 2004, cWo reopened. The first main event of the first Carnage event" Chris Michaels defending the World Title against Dade Davis. In arguably the greatest cWo match, not including the original run of the company, Michaels topped his former friend. The company closed again a couple of months later before a desired Michaels/Davis fued could be launched.
PWA & a new ERA[]
At the urging of Chris Cypher, Dade signed with the Premiere Wrestling Alliance on December 31, 2007. After the death of his mother and the continued problems with his father's health, Dade's debut was pushed back several months. When he did enter a PWA ring, it was in the most shocking of ways, reuniting with Cypher and Michaels (whom had showed his face a couple of times in PWA at Cypher's side) at VOW, only to attack Cypher along with HotShot. Viciously hitting his finisher No Class on Cypher on the concrete floor, Dade helped end Cypher's career. A week later, through an intense and emotional journey to Cyhper's hospital bed, Davis and Michaels made their intentions clear and promised the PWA faithful that a new ERA was upon them. One week later, in the tandem's in-ring debut, they dominated Reckless Jack and Bryce Michaels (a highly respected member of PWA's predecessor organization TNW). The next week, there were already underlying issues with the team when Davis was late for a Violation event, then nonchalantly was pinned for the tandem's first loss.
At Odds[]
After their first loss, a small injury took Davis out of action for several weeks while Michaels turned it up on the singles end, winning the Premiere Title Tournament and defeating JJ Biggs for the title at Mob Rules. At the same PPV event, Davis won a 7-man Riot Rumble match to become the #1 Contender for the title. In a show of just how strong they are on their own, they followed Mob Rules with huge wins; Davis defeating Terminus, who had just loss the world title and Michaels teaming with Cross Recoba to defeat world champion Jason Sandman and #1 contender Kaito. The two met for the Premiere Title at PWA High Stakes on July 2, 2008 with Chris Michaels pulling out the win and retaining his title in a classic match. Afterwards, Davis shockingly thanked Michaels over the microphone, stunning the live audience even furhtur with a post-match embrace. One week later, with Michaels taking vacation time, Davis pinned the world champion Kaito in a tag-team match as this war seems to be at a cease fire, at least for now.
Back Again?[]
At Violation 36, Dade Davis gave himself a ringside seat for Michaels' contest with world champion Jiraiya Kaito. At Violation 37, the two will team again against the team of Michaels' "Point of No Return" Premiere Title challenger Ryan Shane and Dade's potential opponent Kaito, as well as the team of Matt Filth and Tom Fury. At Point of No Return, the pair (not on camera) said goodbye for good on a night where Dade Davis won the PWA World Title but Chris Michaels lost his Premiere Title and exited PWA to spend the remainder of his career in cWo.
The ERA returns at Vow2[]
After several months away from the PWA ring and much controversy that went along with their exits, The Era returned, much to surprise of everyone in attendance when Vow 2 opened on Pay Per View on April 5, 2009. The two were quick to enrage the crowd with their antics and anti-PWA promo. One week later, they put their money where their mouths are by returning to the ring with solo wins over Pierce Cavanaugh and Jackboot. During the next month, they ran through the PWA Tag-Team title tournament, only to lose to Bryce Michaels and London McCormack (M&M) in the finals at Mob Rules 2. The two teams faced in a ladder match rematch for the titles at June 25, 2009's High Stakes 2 where The Era won their first tag-team titles in 7 years with the victory and a little help from new PWA World Champion Jake Keeton, whom Michaels helped win the title in the previous match. The Era lost the titles at Point of No Return to the upstart team of Ashton Crowley and Tony Field (Dysfunction) and would never team again.
In 2011, when Dade returned to PWA, it was noted that he and Michaels had an unrepairable off screen falling out. According to industry dirt sheets, the two last spoke in July of 2010 and the two held high distain for each other.
Finishing and Signature Moves[]
Main Finisher: eXecution (Michaels superkick followed by Davis' No Class vertebreaker)
Secondary Finisher: Why Me? #2 (Michaels' Why Me? followed by Davis' Silver Spoon)
Title History[]
| PWA Tag-Team Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: London McCormack & Bryce Michaels |
Succeeded by: Tony Field & Ashton Crowley | |
| cWo Tag-Team Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| First Reign (Dade added as third partner already into the reign) | Preceded by: Jonathan Chavez & Joe Montouri |
Succeeded by: Titles Vacated when Trio splits up |
| Second Reign | Preceded by: The Trio |
Succeeded by: |
Notable Allies[]
- Chris Cypher
- Andrew Fiasco
- "Ironman" Chris Briggs
- Mavis
- Mayhem
- Jake Keeton
Notable Feuds[]
- Chris Cypher
- Andrew Fiasco
- "Ironman" Chris Briggs
- Chad "Exhero" Carr
- Devon Dice
- Jonas Kemp
- Johnny Vandal
- Matthew Ruddog
- FsW
- PWA
- Terminus
- 21st Century Ratpack (Cross Recoba & Freddy Fandango)
- M&M (London McCormack & Bryce Michaels)
- Dysfunction (Tony Field & Ashton Crowley)
External Links[]
==Theme Musics=="Indivisible by 3" by Schatzi (The Trio) "Bait & Switch" by Saliva (The Era c.2008-2009) "One Night Only" by Saliva (June 8, 2008 [forced to team])