The JWL was a Professional Wrestling Fan Fiction series written by JIKTV. It took existing wrestlers, in some cases with new gimmicks, and set them in the eponymous promotion. It ran from 2001/2002-2014. It is available here. It has had 80 TV episodes and 6 PPVs. It was slightly Alternate Universe because, while it focused on wrestlers/managers/valets from WWE, WCW, ECW and others, it featured in some cases gimmicks or alliances that do or did not exist.
The JWL was a Script Fic that presented itself as a regular wrestling show. There was no shipping, smut, or episodes without it. Often the content of the episodes reflected real life wrestling happenings. See the Real Life Writes the Plot section for more.
The JWL was shut down in January 2014 due to the author running out of ideas and having no audience.
Also, some rules:
- 1. Much like on PG/Reality Era WWE programming, NO MEN HITTING WOMEN.note
- 2. NO Dusty Finishes, "Montreal Screwjob finishes," no WrestleMania IX/MITB run-in finishes, NO Fingerpoke Of Doom finishes.
- 3.When a wrestler/manager/valet/etc. is released/fired, that's it. Said person can no longer return. If a character leaves of his/her own choosing, he/she could potentially return albeit in a different role. (See below under Screw This, I'm Outta Here for the one time that this has happened.)
- 4.NO pregnancy/wedding/etc. angles.
- 5.NO hotshotted title changes (i.e., someone winning a title on a PPV and losing it on the following TV show.)
- 6.NO restraining order angles or anything that might involve a lawyer.
Finally, a warning: JIKTV'S personal biases toward/against certain people may come through at times.
Tropes Associated with The JWL (In-Universe):
- Aborted Arc: The mysterious videos with anagrammed messages that began on Episode 68, inspired by the "SAVEUS.222" videos WWE aired in 2007 to hype the return of Chris Jericho, that would have led to the debut of the Kat. The full explanation can be found here.
- Action Girl: (Currently active): Jacqueline, Melina Perez, Natalya Neidhart, Victoria, Aksana, Amber O'Neal
- There have also been the Revolution (Ivory, Molly Holly and 11 alumnae of WOW Women of Wrestling), Harley's Angels (also WOW alumnae), plus various women in many of the other groups.
- Alliterative Name:
- Arn Anderson
- Bam Bam Bigelow
- The Franchise Foundation, which included Scott Steiner
- Author Avatar: In the service of a Take That!, Paul E. Dangerously, on "Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I'm Episode 64?". 911 had just Squashed Mr. World Cup (Ken "Kenny Dykstra" Doane, aka Kenny from the Spirit Squad, in generic soccer gear with his face painted like a soccer ball). After the match, the fans chanted "One more time! One more time!"PAUL E. DANGEROUSLY: "Mr. World Cup, I am going to dedicate this next chokeslam to every American boy and girl who has ever had to play your stupid, boring, uneventful, idiotic, and, in every sense of the word, POINTLESS so-called sport."
- Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The main event of the second PPV, JWL SuperBrawl I, was the 22-woman Royal Rumble to crown the inaugural JWL Women's Champion, which was won by Molly Holly.
- Breather Episode: Being the first show after the Chris Benoit tragedy, Episode 54 was this, as all the Faces went over out of the need to send the crowd home happy.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Elijah Burke, who had a brief feud with Taz and then disappeared, never to be mentioned again.note
- Many wrestlers were either retired or released but did not receive in-universe explanations for their departures. This was partially due to there being a large cast.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: Khosrow Daivari, currently the manager of Daivari International, which includes "The Moscow Mauler" Vladimir Kozlov w/"The Lithuanian Sensation" Aksana and Trevor Murdoch, who was 1/2 of the JWL World Tag Team Champions with the late Lance Cade.
- Lance Storm (ret.)
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Twice on Episode 53.
- The show featured the debut of the Rock's "The Smackdown Hotel." The Rock ran down various Real Life wrestler interview segments, with the mention of Mike Awesome's note WCW segment "The Lava Lamp Lounge" being deleted.
- Later that same night, there was a tag match that was originally scheduled as the Royal Assassins (Randy Orton and Dave Batista, w/manager Jerry Lawler) vs. Balls Mahoney and Mike Awesome. Before the match, Orton started cutting a promo about "killing legends"note , and Orton's mic went out and a "We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties" message came up on the screen. When the show came back, Mahoney said that what Orton had said "was a load of crap." He then brought out his replacement partner, Masato Tanaka.
- Persona Non Grata: The following have all been fired for different reasons: Bradshaw, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Chyna, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Triple H, Lita, Rhino, Gangrel and X-Pac.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The deaths of Bam Bam Bigelow, Mike Awesome, Chris Benoit, Crush and Lance Cade.
- JWL Women's Champion "The Female Fighting Phenom" Jazz having to vacate the title because she was pregnant.
- Scott Hudson replacing Jim Ross as lead announcer after JR's last health issue.
- Jerry Lawler's heart attack led to the scrapping of an angle that would have involved his real-life ex-wife The Kat debuting and affiliating herself with the former Hardcore Alliance, Balls Mahoney, Masato Tanaka and 2 Cold Scorpio, against Lawler's Power Stable the Royals (The Rock, Christian, and the Royal Assassins [Randy Orton and Dave Batista]). See Aborted Arc above.
- Jack Swagger being fired and stripped of the JWL World Heavyweight Title due to his pot/speeding/DUI arrest.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Stephanie McMahon walked out after the Clique segment (see Leaning on the Fourth Wall above) near the end of Episode 3. She was later brought back as a masked Jobber named Miss X, though never identified as such.
- Serious Business: Everything. The focus is ultimately on the matches, not about interfering officials, love affairs, social media or any of the other nonsense that drags down current Real Life wrestling shows.
- Shout-Out:
- The (non-existent) dark (non-televised) "match" before Episode 35 was the Festrunk Brothers defeating the Butabi Brothers.
- "Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I'm Episode 64?"
- Get Your Kicks on Episode 66
- It Was the Summer of Episode 69
- Shakedown Episode 79
- Episode 80s, I'm Living In The 80s
- The "Mr. Roboto" and Theatre of Blood quotes at the beginning of JWL The Great American Bash I.
- From the Stranger's promo on Shawn Michaels on Episode 46
STRANGER: "As a great man in this sport once said, you will have to kill me to be finished with me!"- Episode 1 started with the entire roster coming out to the entranceway to KISS's "Rock N Roll All Nite," a reference to how IWA Japan would have their roster come out to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger." This intro was ultimately abandoned, and, ever since Episode 9, with the ten-bell count for "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, the only times the show opens with the entire roster on the stage is to honor someone in wrestling who had passed away. Unfortunately, this tends to happen a lot.
- Spanish Announcers' Table: Meng put Bubba Ray Dudley through it during the Faces of Fear vs. the Dudley Boys JWL World Tag Team Titles Tables Match at JWL The Great American Bash I.
- Stranger Behind the Mask: Literalized, as Shawn Michaels DID have a feud with a masked wrestler called the Stranger. While it wasn't someone who had previously been part of the JWL, it was someone with a connection to Michaels.
- Take That!: Using Shane McMahon as "Aldo Montoya," Eric Bischoff as "Kwang",note Vince Russo as "Doink the Clown",note Jonathan Coachman as "The Gobbledy Gooker", and Diva Search contestants Christy Hemme, Carmella DeCesare, Joy Giovanni and Michelle McCool as total Jobbers.
- Team Switzerland: Episode 38 started with Luna Vachon and Gangrel chasing Sable, Marc The Bodyguard (Marc Mero under a mask) and Torrie Wilson through the arena. JWL Women's Champion Molly Holly successfully defended her title against WOW Women Of Wrestling alumna Poison. As Molly was celebrating the win with the fans, Luna, Gangrel, Sable and her entourage suddenly barged into the scene. Poison woke up and joined her The Misfits stablemates Luna and Gangrel in the chase. Molly had no stake in the feud, and nobody asked her for help, so she could only stand and watch with a slight amusement.
- Tournament Arc: The series was shut down during the third one. The first was the JWL World Tag Team Title Tournament which ran from Episode 24 through JWL WrestleMania I. The second was the JWL World Heavyweight Title Tournament which ran from Episode 54 through JWL Vengeance I. The JWL World Heavyweight Title Tournament that was created in response to Jack Swagger getting fired started on Episode 76.
- Translator Buddy: Bryan Knobbs of the Nasty Boys, for manager Dusty Rhodes, at the start of Episode 39.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Get Your Kicks on Episode 66 featured HHH walking to the ring with his water bottle until he stopped and spat it out and started shouting "SALT! SALT!" He stormed to the back where he saw Jonathan Coachman with a salt shaker. HHH figured that Coachman must have been the one who put salt in his water bottle and started beating him up for it until Coach told him that he didn't do it. The question of who put the salt in HHH's water bottle was never resolved due to the total lack of response to it on WrestlingClassics.com.
- You Have Failed Me: A Yo Yo Plot Point:
- Episode 45 started with Trish Stratus firing everyone from her Power Stable Stratusfaction Inc. (Test, Albert, Val Venis, Kanyon and Lance Storm) for their lack of success against the Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and manager Terri Runnels).
- Francine fired Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner and Sid from the Franchise Foundation (led by her and Shane Douglas and also including during its existence [Episode 3 through Episode 49] Tazz, Kane, Justin Credible and Steiner's valet Midajah) for much the same reasons for their failure against Benoit and against the Dungeon of Doom (JWL version: Kamala, Earthquake, The Giant, the Yeti, "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus and the JWL World Tag Team Champions the Faces of Fear [Meng and the Barbarian], with managers Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart and the Master).