The Experts - A History

[Alex Smiley]

(Editor's Note: I'm still in the process of updating this, I found the old post that covered up until 2011 lol.)

The Experts was started by Snake & Lodi/Bat-Mero in 1999. It's gone through many changes since then, but the heart remains the same. To have a unity among efeds.

The site re-opened in 2007, under the management of Jesse Gunn. Since that time, through our own determination and our constant drive to be the best and to support the sites we sponsor, we have grown to be the world's #1 interfed. Our strength lies in our friends. We recognize those feds out there that have proven themselves to be the best. In return, top quality feds choose us as their home. We're also not afraid to give the little guys a shot. We created the Regional section of the site for that very purpose, so that struggling or brand-new feds can have a chance to be seen in a game that has become harder and harder to become known.

We have a theory that a fed partnered with another will outlast one that goes solo. If that's true, than The Experts is a place for everlasting prosperity for efeds. The count changes from time to time, but we normally average 10-12 efeds in our network, spanning over 30 years of activity.

Certain events through-out history have shaped the site, given us our identity and solidified us as a force in the world of ewrestling. Here is a brief timeline of important events in Experts history.

*NOTE: items that are italicised are "in-character" and those that are not italicised are considered to be OOC events.*

1999 - The Experts opens its doors.

2000 - An unknown rookie named Jesse Gunn joins XCW, one of four feds affiliated with The Experts.

2000 - The Experts Invitational 2000 airs live on PPV.

2000 - The Extreme Tournament 2000, ran by Jesse Gunn crowns Smitty as the first True Expert.

2000 - The Experts goes through a split, due to political and directional differences between some of the staff and visitors. Two new sites are created. efed-ratings.com & eWrestling Domain.

2001 - efed-ratings.com closes and its owner (Snake) goes to help eWrestling Domain. As a form of unity, the name is changed to eFed Ratings Domain.

2001 - Six months after the re-merger, the site closes down.

2001 - World Legendary Wrestling opens its doors, ran by Jesse Gunn. The fed lasts six months and is a featured member of the interfed, Fedwars.

2001 - Alex McGregor (later called The Crimson Shadow) is kidnapped by Bonez, a legendary wrestler from EWO and member of The Eternal Circle. Alex barely escapes with his life, but does not know the identity of his kidnapper.

2002-2006 - The dark ages.

2007 - The Experts reopens, announcing The Experts Invitational 2007 to re-introduce the title of True Expert.

2007 - Smitty is nearly murdered in a New York subway by Bonez, lifelong friend of Smitty.

2007 - The Experts Invitational 2007 takes place, where The Crimson Shadow defeated five "legends" to become the new True Expert. Immediately following the match, an unknown sniper attempts to kill The Crimson Shadow. It was later discovered that it was Bonez.

2007 - The Crimson Shadow's girlfriend, Samantha Emerson, is kidnapped by Bonez. The Crimson Shadow later vacates the True Expert title, in search for his girlfriend and her kidnapper.

2007 - The Extreme Tournament 2007 crowns a new True Expert when Sewaside defeated Jason Blade.

2008 - Black Death defeats Sewaside in the GCW to become the new True Expert. The following week, he loses it to Reggie Fresh in the XWF. Two weeks later, Black Death regains the title, defeating Reggie Fresh and Legion. Back in GCW, Dandelion defeats Black Death for the title.

2008 - At The Experts Invitational 2008, Black Death wins the True Expert Title again, defeating a battle royal full of wrestlers to become the 3x champion.

2008 - Crimson's Quest comes to a halt, right at Legacy Plaza where he tracks down Samantha's kidnappers. Through a detailed chain of events involving ten other wrestlers, everything culminated in a showdown on the roof of the arena, where Bonez was thrown off to his death.

2008 - Adam (who calls himself Dragon), a member of The Eternal Circle, steals a blade owned by a legendary fighter from the 1600s bearing the same name. He comes to America with the blade, and gives it to Jesse Gunn for safe keeping. He later meets Ariana London, who he believes is the reincarnated bride of Dragon.

2008 - Dragon attempts to retrieve the blade from Gunn, only to be denied. Gunn has other plans, desiring to restart the Eternal Circle in America and choosing the Extreme Tournament as a place for it to begin.

2008 - The Experts unites with eFed Knights of The Roundtable, the online podcast.

2008 - The Extreme Tournament 2008 sets records as an amazing success. Level One outlasted 60 other wrestlers, including the champion Black Death, to become the new True Expert and becoming the rightful holder of Dragon's Blade.

2008 - The Collective comes to a formation at Rival Factions 2008, ran by Legion as the only rival to The Experts interfederation. Also during the show, Dragon's Blade is stolen by Ariana London, who betrayed The Eternal Circle into believing that she had joined them and double-crossed Dragon. Level-One defeats Scorpio to remain True Expert Champion.

2008 - Level One successfully defends the title of True Expert against Legion.

2009 - The Experts Invitiational IV sees Level One lose the True Expert Championship to Sandy Makel of TFWF in a 20-man Gauntlet match. We also saw legend Smitty return to take on Tim Kamen in a submission match.

2009 - Jesse Gunn, for health and personal-life reasons, steps down as admin at The Experts, and Russ takes the reins.

2009 - The Extreme Tournament attracts a staggering 64 people for the main part, and sees over 150 roleplays through it, overally being rated an 8.7/10 by fans and competitors alike.

2009 - Georgie Nickles overcomes the odds and Hannibal Cage to take the True Expert Championship after it was vacated as Level-One was dumped out of the tournament by Keaton Saint. Also Draeden Darksky stole a contract and made himself CEO of the company, before making the lives returnee Black Death and Ms. Nickles hell with his new counterpart, Level-One.

2009 - Rival Factions 2009 sees Hannibal Cage win a 20-man battle royal to become the #1 contender to the True Expert title for the next event, Georgie Nickles overcome Level-One to retain the True Expert Championship, however the big news of the event comes in the form of tragedy as a maniacal Draeden Darksky runs down Experts legend Black Death, hospitalising him indefinitely.

2010 - The Experts, The E-fed Knights and the Championship Wrestling Council form an eWrestling tri-brand as VWF owner and Experts global moderator Triple B takes over the reigns of the CWC. Immediately plans are put into motion for a big CWC vs. Experts event called 'On Hallowed Ground'

2010 - The Invitational V sees Hannibal Cage defeat Georgie Nickles inside of a steel cage to become the new True Expert Champion. Georgie also begins a rebellion against Darksky, claiming she knows about a mystical enemy of Darksky's called 'The Author'. It is also announed that the Experts will be debuting True Expert Tag Team Championships in a spring tournament, when Jose Ramon and Alexia Frost win a match to gain a bye into the semi-finals of the tournament.

2010 - The first Contendership Show plays host to a gauntlet match, in which Level-One and Cecile Lecrux draw to challenge for the True Expert at On Hallowed Ground

2010 - On Hallowed Ground proves to be a MAJOR success, drawing over 50 people from both communities and debuting solely-audio results. All members of the production team (Russ of Experts, Ian Monks of TFWF and EFK, Triple B of CWC and VWF and T-Bone of CWC) are highly praised for the event. It is described as 'making e-fedding history' with many wrestlers/members proudly displaying 'On Hallowed Ground - I was there' userbars to commemorate it.

2010 - On Hallowed Ground results in a huge Experts victory over CWC as team captain and new GM, Michael Thunder, leads his team to victory. The One Ring Circus (MDK, Ryan Ruckus and Ornery Hillman) shockingly turn their backs on the Experts, defecting to Team CWC, however Jose Ramon manages to pull of a sole-survivor victory for the Experts. Hannibal Cage also retains his True Expert Championship.

2010 - The decision is made to merger the Experts onto the EFK forums, shutting down the Experts' OOC capacity. The Experts continues to run events through its site, but all history and information/discussion is kept on the E-Fed Knights forum.

2010 - The Extreme Tournament 2010: Siberia proves to be the biggest of hits, attracting 97 roleplays from all across efedding to compete in the biggest Experts event in history. Ultimately won by Sandy Makel/Kenny the tournament kayfabe takes place in the Siberian Facility, utilising a whole new level of creativity for the roleplays. Other standouts from the tournament including Hannibal Cage's elimination in his first match, the ending of the Georgie Nickles/Draeden Darksky storyline and the rise of Jack Benevolence. The event would go on to capture Event of the Year 2010 from EFK.com

2010 - 97 wrestlers go down to just one as Sandy Makel wins the True Expert Championship, defeating Jack Benevolence in the final of the Extreme Tournament 2011. Draeden Darksky loses an I Quit match to Georgie Nickles, before being fired as Michael Thunder is made Chairman of the Board.

2011 - After almost a year-long hiatus the Experts returns in style with the Extreme Tournament 2011!

2011 - Extreme Tournament 2011:

2012 - Extreme Tournament 2012:

2013 - Extreme Tournament 2013

2013-2018 - Due to real-life commitments, Russ puts The Experts on indefinite hiatus. Around the end of 2014/beginning of 2015, the EFK forums become the MFX forums to coincide with the MFX Podcast. At the end of 2017, the MFX forums becomes the OPW Community after Alex Smiley (AlexK) takes over.

2018: ? ? ?