Do Or Die Wrestling

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Do Or Die Wrestling was a pro wrestling school and promotion, created by Don Roid, an American indy wrestler who relocated to Poland some time in the late 2000s. It was the first professional (not a backyard) organisation of that kind in Poland, and its history reflects that pioneer status.

History

By the mid-2000s, Roid gathered experience performing for multiple smaller American and various European promotions. In 2008, after settling in Poland and finding about the non-existent state of Polish pro wrestling scene, by way of the Attitude forum, he managed to contact Andrzej Supron and Paweł Borkowski, which then led to the creation of DDW. DDW set out with high ambitions. They planned to host big events (for 1000+ spectators), to have some TV presence, and to invite foreign indy stars of the era to perform and train their own wrestlers. The reality, however, verified these plans and most of their events didn't see the expected numbers. Because of that, Supron and Borkowski soon parted ways with DDW, and went on to create the short-lived Total Blast Wrestling.

The organisation kept on going, however, producing several events a year. At first in Warsaw, later moving to Rzeszów (where Roid lives with his family) in the south-east of Poland, and finally up north to Gdańsk. That last move turned out inconvenient for Roid, who now had to travel across the entire country for shows and training sessions. Additionally, the team in Gdańsk started to run things without his input. Finally, Roid decided to close down DDW and let that team run things under a new banner. After purchasing the wrestling ring from Roid, that team went on to become Kombat Pro Wrestling.

One character in that history, although a non-wrestler, was Arkadiusz Pawłowski. Active on the Internet at the time, he had grand ambitions to bring WWE to host a show in Poland, although he had no experience or contacts to pull that off. That didn't stop him from claiming that DDW was going to host a match at Night of Champions II, an MMA event in Włocławek, and he was to book the show and gather sponsors and media coverage. That did not happen, and the actual showrunners denied any knowledge of his actions, calling Pawłowski a fraud. That did not stop him from getting a role in DDW as a ring announcer and manager. He was also a member of the aforementioned team that took over from DDW in Gdańsk. Several years later Pawłowski would go on to create PTW, this time with more experience under his belt, having similar ambitions to what DDW originally wanted to achieve.

Foregin relations

DDW held a couple of shows cooperating with the Hungarian wrestling scene, most notably Hungarian Championship Wrestling. Federations held some type of wrestlers exchange, with Hungarian wrestlers such as Renegade and Ron Corvus making their appearances in DDW, and Polish workers such as Kamil Aleksander, Mira and Don Roid working at a handful of HCW shows.

Polish wrestling scene

When Do Or Die Wrestling became the first professional wrestling promotion in Poland with its own school, it set some ground rules. Due to the fact that previously there were only backyard federations in the country, Don Roid adapted a very conservative regime for his workers, absolutely banning any type of wrestling involvement in Poland outside of DDW. Exclusivity clauses weren't lifted even after the creation of another professional federations, such as Maniac Zone Wrestling. This set up a precedent at the Polish wrestling scene, which was followed by every professional promotion in Poland up until 2023, when PpW and MZW co-created their show Żadnych Granic.