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The Future Is Now For Damon Windsor

Posted: Dec 29th 2015 By: CMBurnham

Flash back to 2013. Johnny Z was the IZW Champion. Damon Windsor was his top challenger. Windsor pursued that IZW Championship for several months, coming the closest to winning it at Halloween Hangover that year in a Casket Match, only to be robbed of that victory by Mark Wilson.

Move forward to the summer of 2014. Gary Tool was the IZW Champion and had been forced to defend his title in the Impact Chamber against 9 other people, including Damon Windsor and Johnny Z. Windsor shocked everyone by committing the ultimate betrayal, turning his back on the fans and aligning with Johnny Z and Impact, Inc. allowing Z to reclaim the IZW Title for a second time.

Move forward just a little more into the summer of 2015. Johnny Z had won the IZW Title from Brad Michaels in a Triple Threat Match that also involved Jermaine Johnson. Z thus became the only person in IZW history to hold the Heavyweight and Tag Team Titles at the same time. Windsor did nothing to help Z win the title and Z began to proclaim an era of a new Impact, Inc where they did everything "Fair and Square". Windsor, ever the loyal disciple, preached that doctrine to everyone, especially Brad Michaels, who refused to fall in line. But come Redemption in September, 2015, things took a completely different form as Windsor once again proved he was someone who could not be trusted to look out for anyone but himself. He betrayed Johnny Z and allowed Brad Michaels to reclaim the IZW Title, in the process cementing the formation of the new Future Hall of Famers.

Even though Michaels was the leader of the group, it seemed very apparent that the backbone of the operation was Windsor. Every week, no matter if the other members were present, Windsor was there, antagonising the crowd and proclaiming the superiority of the FHoF. And even when it appeared that a major spanner had been thrown in the works for that group, Windsor accepted it all in stride. Mark Wilson, using his co-commissioner powers, forced Michaels to defend the title in the Monster's Bash Battle Royal and there was never a more controversial finish to that match. Johnny Z eliminated Brad Michaels, but the referees were dealing with Convict and Kevin Morgan on the outside and neither of them saw the elimination. Michaels, upon realising that, slithered back into the ring shortly after Johnny Z appeared to win the match by eliminating Damon Windsor and threw The Natural Born Leader over the top, officially being proclaimed the winner as a result. Things began to break down then between Co-Commissioners Mark Wilson and Shawn McHale and when no clear resolution could be found, the IZW Title was held up. Once again, the Impact Chamber would be called upon to decide the title as ten men would be given opportunities to claim that vacant title.

Mark Wilson chose Johnny Z, Kevin Morgan, Jermaine Johnson, Jordan Jacobs and Rage Logan. Shawn McHale, in return, picked Brad Michaels, Damon Windsor, Convict, Angel Camacho and Nathan Estrada. But Wilson had one more ace up his sleeve as he announced that Johnny Z and Brad Michaels would be the first two men in the match. Z was thrilled with this decision as he knew it guaranteed him 5 minutes of uninterrupted access to Michaels and he planned to do everything he could to exact revenge on the hell that Michaels had put him through since coming back to IZW in March.

When it came time for the match, Michaels and Z wasted no time in tearing into each other. With the ring surrounded by the Impact Chamber, that steel construction was used repeatedly and it is a miracle that no one suffered deep lacerations as much as their flesh was raked across it. As their 5 minutes came to a close, Michaels ended up slumped in a corner and Johnny Z found himself with a great opportunity to end Michaels' dreams of regaining that title. With less than 10 seconds on the clock before the third entrant appeared, Z connected with the Big Boot in the Corner and pinned Michaels.

And that was fortuitous for him as the next person in the match was Damon Windsor. By pinning Michaels, Z had avoided the potential of a 2-on-1 scenario that would last 5 minutes. Or so he thought. Because even though he was pinned, Michaels refused to adhere to the requests of the referees and leave the Chamber. Thus Z felt the brutality from both men for quite a while until they had sufficiently weakened Z to make it easy for him to be pinned. The crowd sat shocked as the man they hoped would become a 4-time IZW Champion was eliminated early from the proceedings and Windsor sat alone with a couple of minutes to spare for him to rest and recuperate.

The next eight competitors came out in their allotted times and the ring filled up with minor eliminations along the way. But when Kevin Morgan came out as the last entrant, things began to get very interesting. One by one, the participants fell until it came down to Windsor and Jordan Jacobs. Jacobs knew this was an opportunity that would rarely come to him and he intended to do everything he had to in order to walk away officially with the belt. On several different occasions, it appeared that Jordan had connected with all the force needed to keep Windsor down, only to have him kick out at the last split second. Equally, there were just as many times that Windsor hit big power moves only to see Jacobs muster up the heart and determination to keep fighting. Even when Lisa Generro introduced a steel chair into the Chamber and it connected with the head of Jacobs, he still would not stay down. It took a chokeslam from the top rope to finally drive all the breath out of Jacobs' body and leave him with no hope of kicking out.

Thus began the IZW Championship reign of Damon Windsor.

In support, the rest of the Future Hall of Famers came out to congratulate their teammate. And for a few moments, it appeared that Brad Michaels might try to claim the title for himself as he took the belt and gazed at it longingly before wrapping it around the waste of Windsor. With the IZW Title once again fully in their control, the Future Hall of Famers are once again a force that cannot be ignored.

And Damon Windsor has finally put to rest all the nay-sayers that proclaimed that he would never be more than second banana in the company.