2006 marked a time when the UWE e-fed had enough roster members to create two separate shows. The general managers in the definitive brand split were the kayfabe characters “Dirty” Drew Reynolds and Dez Taylor* (names have been retconned as of 2025).
The storyline went as follows… The UWE shows (formerly Friday Night Fear and Monday Night Mayhem!) came to fruition in early 2006 via announcement of a brand extension and a move from one show per week to two shows per week. AFTER HOURS debuted in January of ’06 before ECW on Sci-Fi (we were aiming and going for less Sci and more Fi without Kelly Kelly’s expose and sadly no Balls Mahoney).
Soon after the brand split and brand extension a live draft commenced. Members of the UWE community were welcome in a live group chat and Drew and Nate made picks in front of everyone. It was exciting! Well, it was exciting for Nate (me – the author of this story blog) because we kicked everyone from the group chat then I pondered… Did they really exclude me? So, we added everyone back and proceeded to do the draft picks where some out of character banter and deals were made in real time. Everyone who was an active member and contributer enjoyed it.
AFTER HOURS had “Dirty” Drew Reynolds at the helm and RAPTURE was Dez Taylor’s stomping grounds. Drew was a grunge era punk-rock-rap music fan who was essentially the loveable hobo that early 2000’s depicted as an ode to 1970’s to 1990’s punk rockers and grunge era legends like Kurt Cobain. Drew had the Vines look going for him and his gimmick was essentially he showed up in jeans, tee’s, whatever appeared to be footwear (whether or not it was his wasn’t clear) and a jacket a woman he had enjoyed a weekend or week of binge drinks and party time with had given him. Yes, this is from my memory and it made him an icon and a writer who provided great promos and hilarious interactions with roster mates and interviewers.
Dez Taylor was the retconned remnants of the late 2000’s emo writers not-so-sordid affair with portrayals of women in power as respectable, possibly misunderstood like Amy Lee’s, Gwen Stefani’s and in my mind Courtney Love (hey, I like her!). She was a fractional glimmer of Billion Dollar Princess, if you know who I am referring to, and the patriarchal figures lil’ gal and heir to his throne. But, this new rendition became a babyface under-dog in her own right, but… she was a throwback to soap opera stars and glamourous women who had to face twist and turn for her shot at being a leader.
These character arcs are important and I will explain after I dive into the rosters of the time and explain the iconic feuds we wrote eighteen years ago. What a hobby indeed.
Drew had the red show and Dez has the dark purple brand colour in lieu of dark green. RAPTURE was akin to WWE’s Smackdown! (it aired on Thursday’s until a move to Friday’s in 2006) while AFTER HOURS was the flagship show that aired live *fake cough* on Friday nights. Yes, RAPTURE was taped and aired Monday and AFTER HOURS was the live flagship show. But, the first RAPTURE is dated September 18, 2006 and the first AFTER HOURS is dated January 12. 2006. Why?
The first AFTER HOURS show was on January 12, 2006 while RAPTURE had the first showing later in the year due to the creation of the brand split. AFTER HOURS hallmarked a weekly schedule with one show and a roster of forty, yes forty, and more writers vying for a spot. There were plenty of names and characters with writers behind them hoping for championship gold and a main event spot.
Remember those WWE Diva battle royals that ended in mere minutes. Yes minutes, like 2-3 minutes… Well, Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment had a swath of those and the members weren’t too thrilled about being in opening matches because their written promos didn’t give them the creative freedom they wanted. Picture this; a show opener competitor doesn’t have the creative freedom to cut a promo later in the show like midcard and uppercard competitors do. So, it was important to get the chance to compete in the main event and booked later in the show because show openers weren’t reserved to Triple H or Paul Heyman like they were on real WWE programming of the ruthless aggression era.
September 2006 was an exciting time with the brand split and seperate rosters within a single community was meaningful. E-feds aka e-wrestling writing communities weren’t all that prosperous or long for the interwebs.
Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment began on Proboards, then switched to Invision, Zetaboards, Live then the smart phone app Tapatalk from 2004 to 2025.
Crossover shows existed for UWE and believe you me there were more supershows than you think! AFTER THE RAPTURE was chosen by my colleague and fellow writer Drew and to this day I am impressed with the branding of the shows and subsequent talent pools we each had to direct. UWE began on Proboards, then switched to Invision… then [later] the smart phone app Tapatalk [between the years 2004 to 2025].
RAPTURE’s theme song was chosen by Brandon or Danger (oop I can’t remember everything, guys…) and Brandon made us a music video intro and posted it to YouTube. Yes, in 2006. “Outta control” by Hoobastank was the theme song and it was hella good. On YouTube!
AFTER HOURS theme song was “All of my friends are dead” by Turbonegro and was selected by showrunner Drew. I still listen to both of these songs to this day, they’re catchy alternative rock tunes with punk edge. To me these songs are perfect for the vibe of the shows captured by the previous photos of the logos in this blog (generated by WordPress AI image tool, thanks WordPress.com!).
RAPTURE ROSTER AND AFTER HOURS LINE-UP
What were the rosters like for each show during the first and penulimate brand split? I did the math and with some omissions were made, because some roster members were as lame as our overuse of the figure of speech girl pants. There were 60 or so characters that belonged to 30+ active members booked over consecutive weeks.
AFTER HOURS ROSTER
Amy Starr (Diva Champion), Dante Nathaniel, David Stone, Donovan Carmichael, Henry Sydal Denson, JTX, Joker, Maddogg, Martin Adler, Melody Von Dutch, Natasha Lynx, Neveah Starr, Nikki DeVille, Rhys Jenkins, Ryan Starr (Hardcore Champion pre-24/7 rules), Skilgannon, Slade, Steel, Steve Norton, Styx, Tempest and Viper.
The roster was fleshed out with Drew Reynolds who double upped as General Manager and wrestler, ring-side announcer Danger who occasionally competed, 3 announcers and 1 ring announcer. The grand total was 28 roster members.
RAPTURE ROSTER
Brandon Sorrow (Tag team champion), Chrystie, Cthuhlu (Tag team champion and not to be mistaken for monster streaming service Hulu), Daisy, Darren Matthews, Donna Mari, Drake Hahn, Hermanni Linstrom, Jake Rifle, Jamie Lynn, Latin X Tim, Ronnie Cage (International champion), Sephiroth du Lac, The Shadow Warrior, Smoke, StoneRoc, The Deadman (Word heavyweight champion), Vicky and Warren Peace.
8 people were inactive or storyline injured (they were automatically RAPTURE purple until they returned… most defected to AFTER HOURS because they were scared of the Ministry. Or maybe the wanted to be team red). 6 people comprised the announcers and managers including Dez Taylor who was known as Ms. Manning the General Manager. All together there were 33 roster members.
**If you can remember what roster Ghostrain was on I will retcon Steel out of the universe**
Notable characters like Rikter Caine, before Chaz Penderton and the era of Se7en. sat on the RAPTURE inactive and injured list for weeks until joining the AFTER HOURS brand. Other infamous characters, who were basically talent enhancement to make other writers look good, like Chaos were apart of the RAPTURE brand.
Although the above roster lists from 2006/2007 list the titles on their respective shows the titles could switch brands. Pay-per views and supershow AFTER THE RAPTURE was the arena for cross-over booking and interbrand matches. The writers were competitve and sought retribution, redemption and further opportunity to advance in power rankings for the sake of championship gold and success. Duskey, Rikter Caine, Ryan Starr and Danger traded the World title and it was like a game of pass that dutch or hot rutabaga.
The paramount cross-over feud was The Underdogs versus the Ministry of Darkness.
The paramount cross-over feud was The Underdogs versus The Ministry of Darkness. The Underdogs belonged to and made their home show AFTER HOURS while The Ministry sat on RAPTURE. The general managers Drew and Dez were the faction leaders of the Underdogs and Ministry respectively. However, between these warring and feuding wrestling factions existed a pletora of talent in the talent pool vying for their own victories and gold.
Dante Nathaniel became the choice candidate to compete on AFTER HOURS and represent red. He became the main event talent “Dirty” Drew Reynolds aligned with after Drew and Skilgannon formed the Underdogs stable. Dante Nathaniel won the UWE World title at November 2 Remember 2006 on November 29.
…some even left the federation because of it.
Dante Nathaniel lost the title to “Dirty” Drew on Feburary 21, 2007 in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. This was Drews third World title run. Drew became distant from his stable mate and became infuriated; he used his booking powers to book himself in a title match against Dante Nathaniel.
“This caused uproar in the uWe locker room with people citing power abuse, some even left the federation because of it.” (http://ewrestling.fandom.com/wiki/Dirty_Drew).
Ryan Starr, the Straight Edge superstar, was the first to overthrow the Deadman for the World Championship. The Deadman won the title back due to a similar infuriating thirst and quest for power under the control of Paul Heyman. This was before the retconning and phasing out of real names due to copyright claim, but nobody replaced Heyman. However, at Christmassacre on December 28, 2007 David Stone won the World Heavyweight Championship putting an end to the Deadman’s title run.
The Underdogs and The Ministry of Darkness had crumbled much like the leaders of the rosters. The power and authority figure characters succumbed to storyline twists like Drew turning villain and being sidelined and Dez secretly being power hungry and a product of a male dominated sports entertainment industry. The Deadman put one through a table and the other was levelled out with their devestating piledriver attack making the Deadman good again until David Stone, former New Found Glory tag member and member of Bad Attitude with Joker, Maddogg and Caroline Cage’s southern guitar waving friend.
The end of an era.
The roster split eventually ended in 2008/2009. The end of an era. The brand split was huge for creative writing realms of professional wrestling hobby fandom.
However, the fall of some meant the rise of others as talent rose to prominent positions and eventually championship accolades. But that’s a blog for another time (you write it though).
Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment 