Table of contents
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History
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Formation in Maniac Zone Wrestling
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Green Revolution and leaving MZW
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Zieloni in Prime Time Wrestling
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Zieloni after Prime Time Wrestling
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Activity and recognition
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Members
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Honorary members
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Championships and accomplishments
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Trivia
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Timeline
"Zieloni" (The Greens) is the name of a group of Polish wrestlers who were originally connected to Maniac Zone Wrestling or started their career there. The name comes from the organization's primary brand color, and is sometimes cryptically abbreviated as ZLN GNG. Besides MZW they are also known from working in Prime Time Wrestling, PpW Ewenement and Legacy of Wrestling.
History
The group later named "Zieloni" formed itself from wrestlers and rookies who attended the 2018 edition of Summer Camp hosted by Polska Akademia Wrestlingu, a dojo operated by Maniac Zone Wrestling. A few of the Zieloni knew each other either from training in MZW, backyard federations such as Dream Factory Wrestling, or from online activity, but the class of 2018 PAW Summer Camp was the one where most of them officially got together. From this point on they formed a strongly-bonded social group. The group was heavly influenced by the teachings of Justin Joy, who brought a lot of experience from his stint on the UK wrestling scene, as well as his approach to wrestling. This philosophy pushed many of the Greens to quickly attempt wrestling abroad instead of only getting bookings in MZW, and to develop themselves as a performers, which proved beneficial to many of the Greens, such as Jacob Crane, Axel Fox and Gabriel Queen, in their future.
After Project 6 both Asmund and Justin left the MZW creative team and PAW coaching staff, with Justin eventually leaving MZW altogether following MZW's next show.
Green Revolution and leaving MZW
During the COVID-19 pandemic break the Greens remained strongly bonded, but due to the halt which was imposed on organising wrestling shows and trainings, in Poland as well as Europe, their morale went down. In the early-to-mid 2021 Boro and Axel Fox left MZW. They were soon followed by Jacob Crane and Gabriel Queen. It was later revealed that they joined the newly-created federation owned by Arkadiusz Pawłowski, Prime Time Wrestling. During that time, the overall dissatisfaction among the remaining Greens, caused by the lack of development in MZW, caused many of the workers to go rouge and perform in PpW at Ledwo Legalne and Poznań Supershow against MZW owner Shadow's will. Non-PTW Greens also attended REVOLUCJA to support their friends who were working at that show.
27th of October 2021 was the final straw for the disagreement between Zieloni and the MZW management. What became known as "Zielona Rewolucja" (The Green Revolution) was a day-long quarell between the MZW management and the Greens led by Olgierd. The argument was caused by MZW's ban on training women, which was an excuse to lash out on MZW for many other problems, such as lack of any stable direction of MZW's development, irregular training schedule and the disapproval of MZW's Greens appearing at other federation's shows - even as spectactors, let alone as performers. Eventually, both sides were unable to reach an agreement, which led the remaining Greens to leave MZW the same day. This left MZW with a drastically decreased active roster. Among the departures was also the reigining MZW Champion, Rafael Kid.
Zieloni in Prime Time Wrestling
After officially leaving MZW, most of active Zieloni members (excluding Isnorr, Rafael Kid and Madman Charlie, who joined PpW) joined Prime Time Wrestling in late 2021/early 2022. That was when they have become widely known as "Zieloni" - a name that came from their previous promotion's color scheme. Due to their solidarity and strong bond they became one of the main factions in PTW's locker room. The other factions were "the Originals" (who started in PTW, or joined PTW very early in its development) and "the Blues" (ex-KPW).
After the honeymoon period had ended, the internal tensions in the organization began. They were caused mostly by disagreements between these groups, and the management that often favoured loyalty of the Originals over the other groups. The first Zielony to leave PTW was Jacob Crane, who was offically released by the promotion due to alleged "lack of professialism and acting to the detriment of the federation" in August 2022. According to Zieloni, it was mostly due to tensions between Crane, the Originals and the management. These tensions stemmed from personal conflicts as well as Jacob's desire to focus on his career outside of Poland, as well as his willingness to coach his collegues in PpW Dojo. This was against the rules set by Pawłowski, who banned PTW talent from interacting with other Polish federations.
The next Green to part ways with PTW was the group's mentor Justin Joy, who left the promotion in April 2024. Later on he critised PTW on social media, citing constant regress in the federation after Legends, as well as the fact that he didn't want to work without payment. In the late 2023 and early 2024 Gabriel Queen and Vic Golden also left PTW, despite forming the most popular tag team in the promotion, Pure Gold. The rest of PTW's Greens left the federation in the wake of Total Blast From The Past.
During their time in PTW, many of the Zieloni often assumed important roles on the card and managed to reinvent their characters. Seweryn managed to become a senior referee in the federation. Vic Golden revamped his career and sealed his legend status thanks to the success of his tag team with Gabriel Queen. Olgierd also remade his persona and became a Legia Łysych hooligan with his partner Marco Hammers. Boro was paired with two Originals, forming PAKA with Taras and Disco Pablo, which allowed him to become a PTW Tag Team Champion thanks to the Freebird Rule. Axel Fox bacame a fan-favourite and one of the top underdogs in PTW. Despite the Green wrestlers' popularity among the fans, however, Zieloni were often lower-priority workers when it came to push, often being overlooked by Originals-focused Pawłowski who prefered to promote wrestlers he shaped himself.
Besides the PTW Tag Team Championship won by Boro - who never defended it in a match - Zieloni managed to won multiple PTW Awards, which were voted for by fans on the official PTW Facebook page.
Zieloni after Prime Time Wrestling
After the departure of Zieloni from PTW, sooner or later all of in-ring active members of the faction joined PpW Ewenement - with Sewi The Ref, Axel Fox and Aron Wake being the latest additions, making their official debut at Ale Grzeje. Both Crane and Fox became coaches of PpW's Ewenement Dojo, and the Greens apparently became well-integrated with the OG PpW workers.
Some of the Greens even made amends with the MZW owner, Shadow. This allowed workers such as Aron Wake, Olgierd and Sewi to return to Maniac Zone Wrestling in October 2024, almost exacly three years after the Green Revolution. Multiple Greens also joined Legacy of Wrestling, reuniting with many ex-PTW originals who also left Pawłowski's federation.
Activity and recognition
Despite being an important backstage faction on the Polish wrestling scene, Zieloni are rarely officially acknowledged in in-ring storylines, mostly due to the fact that they often work as kayfabe rivals in the majority of federations. However, their existence is known mostly thanks to their social media activity, where Zieloni sometimes break kayfabe posting materials from their private endeavors and events which they celebrate. Their connection is also sometimes recognized during build-ups to matches against one another. It was noticed especially during Legacy shows, when commentators remarked on a Green bond in a match between Gabriel Queen and Axel Fox. The Greens' existence was also recognized by Arkadiusz Pawłowski during one of the live streams, when he stated that overall, Zieloni's presence in PTW damaged the federation, seemingly holding a grudge against the members of the faction.
One of the few moments when Zieloni received a shout-out in an in-ring segment was during Isnorr's promo at PpW Ostatnia Prosta. In his segment he said that despite him having to vacate his Championship due to illness, he managed to fullfill his mission of making PpW a professional federation and bringing his friends, Zieloni, into the promotion.
Members
Honorary members
It is important to note that not all MZW wrestlers are Greens. The group was started by wrestlers who joined in 2017/2018, and created a strongly bonded social group, connected by their wrestling endeavors. Thus, wrestlers like Rafi or Sambor who also started their training in MZW, or Shadow who founded the organization, are not considered to be Greens.
Championships and accomplishments
Trivia
- The Greens are also known as Zielone Małpy (Green Monkeys) and their official mascot, used in their "shoot" promos and Instagram notes, is an orangutan "🦧".
- The group have their own insider championship called the "ZLN GNG Championship", shown mostly on their social media during the group's meetings. It was created by modifying the DFW championship belt, replacing its mainplate with a green one. The sideplates show wrestler Dave Batista.
Timeline
Members of Zieloni wrestled all over the Polish scene.
Gallery
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Unidentified Zielony with first version of the ZLN GNG Championship belt.
ZLN GNG Archives
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Rafael Kid with second version of the ZLN GNG Championship belt.
ZLN GNG Archives