Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) is aprofessional wrestling promotion based inGlasgow, Scotland, founded by Mark Dallas in 2006.^[1] It mixes elements of traditionalsports entertainment withhardcore wrestling; thus admittance is restricted to those over 18^[1] years old.

The company began expanding across the UK,^[2] and was featured in aVice Magazine documentary in 2012 andBBC documentary in 2014.^[3][4] It was namedUK Promotion of the Year byFighting Spirit Magazine in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018.^[5][6]

ICW formerly aired oncable television stationMyChannel across Europe. ICW records and releases the majority of their shows on limited editionDVD as well as producing series of their ownYouTube show,ICW Worldwide.^[7] In 2015, ICW launched their On Demand service (ICW On Demand), which has become the company's primary source of distribution of content.

On August 13, 2020, it was announced that ICW content would be available onWWE's video on-demand service,WWE Network.^[8]

Mark Dallas founded the promotion while living with his girlfriend in Glasgow'sRed Road Flats in 2006.^[10] After attending wrestling training to learn the business from the inside, he ran his first shows at Maryhill Community Centre.Drew Galloway was crowned the company's inauguralHeavyweight Champion on 15 October 2006 after defeating Darkside and Allan Grogan in a three-way match atICW: Fear & Loathing.^[11] Galloway held the title until 22 July 2007 when he was defeated by Darkside.^[12] After an almost 2-year hiatus, ICW returned on 9 May 2009 with ICW: Fear & Loathing,^[13] however, after another brief hiatus, the company began running shows every other month beginning withICW: Payback on 28 February 2010.^[14]

On 5 June 2010,ICW: Menace 2 Society, a new ICW Heavyweight Champion was crowned for the first time in over three years asBT Gunn won the vacant title in a 4-way match againstWolfgang, Liam Thomson and Johnny Moss. The event also kicked off a tournament for a secondary title, theICW Zero-G Championship.^[15] Another title change occurred on 4 September 2010 at ICW: Dazed and Confused when moments after defeating Red Lightning, BT Gunn was challenged by James Scott who won the match and joined the villainous Gold Label faction.^[16]

ICW: Fear & Loathing 3 signaled ICW's first venture into Glasgow City Center with the event taking place at Apollo 23 nightclub on 21 November 2010. The finals of theZero-G Championship Tournament took place withNoam Dar defeating Andy Wild, Falcon and Rob Cage in a four-way elimination match. The Zero-G Championship was briefly dropped by Dar to Lionheart at ICW: Summerbam on 14 August 2011 before winning the title back at ICW: Fear & Loathing 4 on 23 November.^[17][18]

2012 saw the introduction of a new event on 22 January, Square Go!. This event was headlined by an over-the-top-rope battle royal granting the winner a shot at the ICW Heavyweight Championship at a time of their choosing.^[19] ICW's next event, ICW: Smells like Teen Spirit, took place inThe Garage venue, in Glasgow; the venue would later host many ICW shows.^[20] The beginning of the year saw ICW gain TV exposure throughMyChannel, although their tenure on the station was short-lived as they were removed from programming after one of their shows was shown at an inappropriate time.

During the summer, theICW Tag Team Championship was introduced and, after a series of elimination matches, STI (Dickie Divers & William Grange) defeated The Bucky Boys (Davie Boy &Stevie Boy) for the titles at ICW: Hadouken!.^[21]

After the airing of an in-housemockumentary and his prominent role in theVice documentary,Grado became prominent in the promotion of ICW. At the 2nd Annual Square Go!,Mikey Whiplash secured his opportunity at the Heavyweight Championship while ICW ventured out of Glasgow for the first time with a show at Studio 24 inEdinburgh.^[22] In Edinburgh at ICW: Tramspotting, qualifying matches would begin for the new ICW Fierce Females Championship.^[23] The Tag Team Championship changed hands for the first time with STI losing their titles to The Bucky Boys in a ladder match at ICW: Get To Da Choppa.^[24] At ICW: Reservoir Dogs, ICW announced that they were being filmed as the subject of aBBC documentary.^[25]

On 7 February 2015, the ICW Heavyweight Championship was renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship following title defenses inEngland,Denmark and theUnited States by Drew Galloway.^[26] On 27 February 2016, ICW had their first show in Ireland namedThe Big Elbowski, whereBig Damo defeated Chris Renfrew for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.

On 20 November 2016, ICW ran theFear & Loathing IX PPV at theSSE Hydro, which was their biggest event to date and featuredKurt Angle,Team 3D,Ricochet,Finn Balor and others.^[27][28]

On 5 November 2017, on aRoad to Fear and Loathing X tour show in Cardiff,Triple H andNXT United Kingdom ChampionPete Dunne made a special guest appearance.^[29]

Three days later, Lionheart died by suicide,^[30] causing the ICW title to be vacated. Stevie Boy defeated Wolfgang for the vacant title atShug's Hoose Party 6 on 28 July 2019.^[31]

Leyton Buzzard, who had won the ICW World Heavyweight ChampionshipFear & Loathing XIV on 20 November 2022, became ICW's first champion to defend the World Championship outside of the UK since 2018. Inspired by Drew Galloway's internationally recognised reign, which spanned multiple countries, Buzzard eventually broke some of Galloway's records for international defences with matches in Italy, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Germany and Canada.^[32]

In January 2023, ICW announced that its deal with WWE had ended and their library would no longer be available through the WWE Network and Peacock.^[33] ICW began airing its weekly TV and events throughFITE, this began withThe 11th Annual Square Go airing as a PPV on 26 February 2023,^[34] during which it was announced that ICW would be airing its events viaFITE+ going forward.^[35] The first major event of this partnership wasGet The F Out! on 14 May 2023.^[36]

The promotion currently books most of its events in Glasgow with occasional events inEdinburgh. As the company grows, it has expanded to the rest of the UK, having held events inLondon andNewcastle with shows inLiverpool,Leeds andBirmingham booked in the future as part of a working relationship withO2 Academy venues. ICW runs shows in Glasgow'sThe Garage and Studio 24 in Edinburgh as well asABC Glasgow until its closure due to a fire.

As Fear & Loathing got bigger, ICW went on to host events atSEC Centre, and in 2016 held the biggest event in European wrestling since the Dale Martin Wembley Arena shows of the early '80s in Glasgow'sOVO Hydro with a claimed over 6000 attendees. Fear & Loathing would be held at the OVO Hydro in the two years following, featuring the likes ofRey Mysterio,Rob Van Dam,Noam Dar &James Storm.

In July 2018 after a recent fire that caused damage toO2 ABC Glasgow, ICW had to reschedule their 2-day summer event Shugs Hoose Party 5 to Glasgow'sO2 Academy for the first time ever.^[37]

In February 2019, ICW announced the first ever 'King Of Hawners' tournament, taking place on the 26 & 27 May, with 8 trios teams competing in the inaugural tournament. Bad Company (BT Gunn, Krobar & Stevie James) defeated The Wild Boys (Aaron Echo, Andy Wild & Kieran Kelly) in the finals to win the tournament.^[38]

ICW On Demand was avideo-on-demand service owned by Insane Championship Wrestling. All major ICW events were uploaded on the service shortly after taking place. The service also featured matches from the promotion's archives, dating back to 2012.^[39] Retrospectives of pre-2012 events, shoot interviews and documentaries were also available.

ICW programming was streamed on the WWE Network during theCOVID-19 pandemic. Per the end of the WWE Network deal in 2023, all new ICW programming is now streamed onTriller TV (formerly known as Fite+).

In December 2024, it was announced that all previous ICW programming would be uploaded toYouTube on a newvideo-on-demand service,ICW: The Vault. This uploaded all programming that had previously been featured on the WWE Network and that was lost with the transfer.

In a combination ofWWE'sRoyal Rumble andMoney in the Bank matches, the competitors compete in a 30-man over-the-top-ropebattle royal, the Square Go!, with the winner earning the Square Go Briefcase. This gives the holder an opportunity to cash-in the briefcase for an ICW World Heavyweight Championship match at any time of their choosing for up to one year.^[49] More recently, the contract holder has also had the option of cashing in the contract for a shot at theICW Zero-G Championship.

Year	Image	Ring name (Real name)	ICW recognized accolades
2016	—N/a	Carmel (Carmel Jacob)	One-timeICW Women's Champion[63][64]
2018		Drew McIntyre (Andrew Galloway)	Inaugural and two-timeICW World Heavyweight Champion[65]
2023		Lionheart (Adrian McCallum)	One-time ICW World Heavyweight Champion and two-timeICW Zero-G Champion[66]

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