HIW stands for High Intensity Wrestling and it is a CAW wrestling league created by Karnage in January of 2008. HIW attempted a form of CAW in which normally shows are done in a fantasy setting, using fantasy characters and doing fantasy based storylines (or concepts) with them, and only using wrestling as a form of decision or closure for storylines. Many of these are based on science fiction literature and other works of fiction such as video games, films, comics, anime and such.
History[]
The first incarnation of HIW ran from January to October of 2008. A second incarnation is currently in the works. This section covers all that is remembered from the first incarnation.
Early HIW:[]
HIW's First Logo.
In the beginning, HIW tried to interact with the CAW community by making a news post signaling its arrival. In said news post, Karnage explained what the league would be about and announced a complete roster and three title belts, the HIW World Title, the HIW National Title and the HIW Underground Title.
Merely weeks after that, a show was posted. HIW - Road to the debut was shown to the CAW world and two episodes were produced. The purpose for Road to the debut was to showcase some of HIW's characters to the viewers. Road to the debut is non-cannon to current HIW continuity.
Traditional CAW Era:[]
(This era goes from HIW - Episode 1 to HIW Last Rights.)
During this time, HIW made it full time debut into CAW. There was not much support for it but episodes kept being produced regardless. After the first episode was posted, it was made known that female characters would no longer be a part of HIW(this has since been changed.), since a female division was taking place. There was not much to the shows during this era, not much storyline, no character interaction. Just matches set in a tame, real life environment.
HIW's first mega event, Last Rights, was the first attempt at anything fantasy-based. During this mega event, Ravenous went on to become the HIW Underground Champion and would go on to be the main antagonist of one of HIW's most talked about storylines in the lower card scene. The event also crowned the first HIW National Champion and HIW World Champion in Orochimaru and Ermac, respectively. At this point, the Ravenous storyline was a sign of the things to come from HIW.
Fantasy CAW Era - Phase 1:[]
(This era goes from HIW - Episode 5 to HIW Sanctuary of Sorrows.)
At this point, HIW was starting to become more complex in terms of storytelling. The use of titles for dialogue was being used more and thus character interaction and development started to deepen. Influences from leagues like EWE and PWA were also starting to take over and HIW began to alienate from the traditional form of CAW. Due to this, Karnage saw problems in some of the characters that were taking part in HIW at that moment, since some of those were already a part of EWE and PWA. This, among other events is what let HIW to cease operations in October 2008, which will be further explained in the next section.
Sub Zero confronts Shinnok at the end of Sanctuary of Sorrows.
During this time, Karnage had finally decided on a roster, some of the characters that were in the first few episodes were never seen again in HIW. Other characters were also signed to replace the ones that had left. With these decisions made, HIW was finally allowed to take off.
This era saw the beginning of the storyline that Karnage intended to be the driving force of HIW. The Sub Zero Vs Ermac/Shinnok storyline started to take place. People gave praise to this particular storyline, but it also had its set of problems. The previously mentioned Ravenous storyline also had its own set of twists and development during this. Other than that, there also were some other things going on with the rest of the roster at that time, but nothing note worthy.
By the end of the mega event, Sanctuary of Sorrows, Karnage saw many problems with HIW in terms of the booking in some of the minor storylines, some of the characters, and eventually in HIW overall. This of course lead to HIW's 2nd phase into Fantasy CAW, but it also lead to its eventual demise.
Fantasy CAW Era - Phase 2:[]
(This era goes from HIW - Episode 9 to the end of the 1st incarnation.)
HIW's Second Logo.
By this time, HIW had a few fans compared to when Last Rights was posted. Episode 9 not only saw the debut of a new logo, but it also marked the era of HIW in which storylines would attempt to have deeper meanings and would be shown in a darker atmosphere compared to how they were shown when HIW started(some of this is now known as Post-CAW).
There were many, many big plans for HIW, in terms of what was going to be showcased. At one point a HSW/HIW joint event was in its planning stages. But due to undisclosed reasons, in October of 2008, HIW ceased operations for and indefinite amount of time. Thus the joint event never happened and the ongoing storylines at the time never had proper closure. The fans at that point were disappointed, but eventually everything went back to normal in the CAW world.