The Backseat Boyz
Encyclopedia
The Backseat Boyz were a professional wrestling
tag team
that consisted of Johnny Kashmere
and Trent Acid
who competed in Ring of Honor
, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, Combat Zone Wrestling
, Assault Championship Wrestling
, the Premier Wrestling Federation, Jersey All Pro Wrestling
, and Japan
together. They were the first team in history to hold both the ROH Tag Team Championship
and the CZW Tag Team Championship
.
. They began wrestling together in the early years of the company with Dewey Donovan as their manager. The Backseat Boyz became CZW Tag Team Champions
by defeating the Haas Brothers
in June 2000. They began a feud with Nick Mondo
and Ric Blade
, who eventually beat them for the tag team title. After losing the title, Acid and Kashmere continued teaming together and competed against teams such as The Briscoes
, the H8 Club
, and VD. They also competed in singles action, and Trent Acid even won some singles titles.
In 2003, The Backseat Boyz joined Messiah
in his attempt to take over CZW and eliminate Zandig
as part of the Hi-V stable. At Cage of Death V, The Backseat Boyz teamed with the rest of the Hi-V members in the Cage of Death match against Zandig's ultraviolent team. The Backseat Boyz had some setbacks that night as Acid had to wrestle twice and Kashmere had to be the first man in the Cage of Death with Zandig. Both Kashmere and Acid were eliminated from the Cage of Death match, and Hi-V broke up after that night. They only wrestled a few more matches in CZW after Cage of Death, and in February 2004, they officially parted ways with the company.
The Backseat Boyz also wrestled in Ring of Honor
. They made their ROH debut in 2002 as CZW invaders at Glory By Honor when they jumped in the ring after coming through the crowd and made a challenge to any team. The challenge was accepted by Homicide and Steve Corino
. The Backseats won after Corino turned on Homicide. One year later at Glory By Honor II, they competed in a tag team gauntlet match for the vacant ROH Tag Team Championship
and won by defeating Special K
in the last match. This win made them the first team in history to win the tag team championship in both ROH and CZW. They only held the title for a few weeks as they lost it to Special K at the following show. They continued wrestling together in ROH until Johnny Kashmere left the company, leaving Trent Acid to wrestle in singles competition. The team also competed in their own promotion, Pro Wrestling Unplugged.
On June 18, 2010, it was announced by Kashmere on his Facebook
that Trent Acid passed away. He was found dead at his home by his mother. He was 29.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
that consisted of Johnny Kashmere
Johnny Kashmere
Johnny Kashmere is an American professional wrestler, best known as one half of The Backseat Boyz, along with the late Trent Acid...
and Trent Acid
Trent Acid
Michael Verdi was an American professional wrestler best known by his ring name Trent Acid. Verdi had worked as a tag team wrestler for most of his career, primarily as part of The Backseat Boyz with Johnny Kashmere, in several independent promotions in America, including Combat Zone Wrestling,...
who competed in Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor ' is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2002 by Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky. From 2004 to 2011, the promotion was under the ownership of Cary Silkin before being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May 2011...
, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, Combat Zone Wrestling
Combat Zone Wrestling
Combat Zone Wrestling is a independent wrestling promotion. In 1999, John Zandig and four of his students, Ric Blade, Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain began to run backyard wrestling shows in New Jersey and Delaware, showcasing a brand of hardcore wrestling dubbed as "ultraviolence"...
, Assault Championship Wrestling
Assault Championship Wrestling
Assault Championship Wrestling was an American independent wrestling promotion based in Connecticut and promoted by Jason Knight, a retired wrestler and manager, during the early 2000s...
, the Premier Wrestling Federation, Jersey All Pro Wrestling
Jersey All Pro Wrestling
Jersey All Pro Wrestling is an independent wrestling promotion based in New Jersey.-1997:Jersey All Pro Wrestling is an independent wrestling promotion that was founded by "Fat" Frank Iadeavia on April 19, 1997. This promotion was born out of a dream of "Fat" Frank. He wanted to take the promotion...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
together. They were the first team in history to hold both the ROH Tag Team Championship
ROH World Tag Team Championship
The Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship contested for in the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor. The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants usually execute...
and the CZW Tag Team Championship
CZW World Tag Team Championship
The CZW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned and copyrighted by the Combat Zone Wrestling promotion; it is contested for in their tag team division. It was created and debuted on February 13, 1999 at CZW's Opening Night event, where Jon Dahmer...
.
History
The Backseat Boyz were well known for their work in Combat Zone WrestlingCombat Zone Wrestling
Combat Zone Wrestling is a independent wrestling promotion. In 1999, John Zandig and four of his students, Ric Blade, Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain began to run backyard wrestling shows in New Jersey and Delaware, showcasing a brand of hardcore wrestling dubbed as "ultraviolence"...
. They began wrestling together in the early years of the company with Dewey Donovan as their manager. The Backseat Boyz became CZW Tag Team Champions
CZW World Tag Team Championship
The CZW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned and copyrighted by the Combat Zone Wrestling promotion; it is contested for in their tag team division. It was created and debuted on February 13, 1999 at CZW's Opening Night event, where Jon Dahmer...
by defeating the Haas Brothers
The Haas Brothers
The Haas Brothers was a Professional wrestling Tag team consisting of real life brothers Charlie Haas and Russ Haas. The team was very successful in the independent wrestling circuit, but Russ's death on December 15, 2001 led to the end of the tag team shortly after the brothers signed a contract...
in June 2000. They began a feud with Nick Mondo
Nick Mondo
Matthew "Matt" Burns better known by his ring name "Sick" Nick Mondo is a retired American professional wrestler. Burns is best known for his appearances with Combat Zone Wrestling...
and Ric Blade
Ric Blade
Ric Blade is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in Combat Zone Wrestling, where he was a one time Junior Heavyweight Champion and a one time World Tag Team Champion with Nick Mondo. Blade has wrestled in such companies such as Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling, Big Japan...
, who eventually beat them for the tag team title. After losing the title, Acid and Kashmere continued teaming together and competed against teams such as The Briscoes
Briscoe Brothers
The Briscoe Brothers are the professional wrestling tag team of Jay and Mark Briscoe. They are currently wrestling for the American promotions Ring of Honor, Full Impact Pro, Combat Zone Wrestling, as well as occasionally for the Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah.Their wrestling careers have...
, the H8 Club
H8 Club
The H8 Club is a professional wrestling tag team in Combat Zone Wrestling. The current team consists of Nick Gage and Nate Hatred.-History:The H8 Club has been around since the beginning of Combat Zone Wrestling. The original team was made up of Wifebeater, Justice Pain, Justin Kase, Ed O' Mac,...
, and VD. They also competed in singles action, and Trent Acid even won some singles titles.
In 2003, The Backseat Boyz joined Messiah
William Welch
William C. Welch is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name The Messiah.-Professional wrestling career:...
in his attempt to take over CZW and eliminate Zandig
John Zandig
John Corson was an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name, John Zandig. He is the founder and former owner of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based promotion Combat Zone Wrestling .-Biography:...
as part of the Hi-V stable. At Cage of Death V, The Backseat Boyz teamed with the rest of the Hi-V members in the Cage of Death match against Zandig's ultraviolent team. The Backseat Boyz had some setbacks that night as Acid had to wrestle twice and Kashmere had to be the first man in the Cage of Death with Zandig. Both Kashmere and Acid were eliminated from the Cage of Death match, and Hi-V broke up after that night. They only wrestled a few more matches in CZW after Cage of Death, and in February 2004, they officially parted ways with the company.
The Backseat Boyz also wrestled in Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor ' is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2002 by Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky. From 2004 to 2011, the promotion was under the ownership of Cary Silkin before being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May 2011...
. They made their ROH debut in 2002 as CZW invaders at Glory By Honor when they jumped in the ring after coming through the crowd and made a challenge to any team. The challenge was accepted by Homicide and Steve Corino
Steve Corino
Steven Eugene "Steve" Corino is a Canadian professional wrestler, who currently works for Pro Wrestling Zero1, Ring of Honor and numerous other independent promotions. Corino is a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion and ECW World Heavyweight Champion.-Early years :Corino began wrestling in 1994...
. The Backseats won after Corino turned on Homicide. One year later at Glory By Honor II, they competed in a tag team gauntlet match for the vacant ROH Tag Team Championship
ROH World Tag Team Championship
The Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship contested for in the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor. The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants usually execute...
and won by defeating Special K
Special K (professional wrestling)
Special K was a heel professional wrestling stable in Ring of Honor. They were billed as "rich kid ravers" from Webster Hall, New York City who had everything handed to them by their rich families. They had a spotfest style, performing many high flying and high risk moves with no regards to their...
in the last match. This win made them the first team in history to win the tag team championship in both ROH and CZW. They only held the title for a few weeks as they lost it to Special K at the following show. They continued wrestling together in ROH until Johnny Kashmere left the company, leaving Trent Acid to wrestle in singles competition. The team also competed in their own promotion, Pro Wrestling Unplugged.
On June 18, 2010, it was announced by Kashmere on his Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
that Trent Acid passed away. He was found dead at his home by his mother. He was 29.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- T-Gimmick (Double team crucifix powerbomb)
- Signature moves
- Backseat Driver (Sky lift dropped into a simultaneous neckbreaker / powerbomb combination)
- Dream Sequence '02 (Kashmere would lift up an opponent so Acid could hit a lariat takedown while remaining hold of their legs so he could turn them over into a Boston crabBoston crabThe Boston crab is a professional wrestling hold that typically starts with the opponent lying supine on the mat, with the wrestler standing and facing them. It is a type of spinal lock where the wrestler hooks each of the opponent’s legs in one of his arms, and then turns the opponent face-down,...
before Acid comes off the ring ropes for a leg dropLeg dropA leg drop or legdrop refers to an attack used in professional wrestling in which an attacking wrestler will jump and land his leg across a fallen opponent's chest, throat, face or head or in some cases, the groin/lower-abdominal area...
on the back of the opponent's exposed head. At this point Kashmere would release the hold and perform a bridging reverse chinlock before Acid hits a baseball slide to opponent's exposed face.)
- Entrance themesMusic in professional wrestlingMusic in professional wrestling serves a variety of purposes. The most common uses of music in professional wrestling is that of the entrance theme, a song or piece of instrumental music which plays as a performer approaches the ring...
- "ChaseChase (song)Chase is an electronic instrumental by Giorgio Moroder from the Academy Award-winning soundtrack and album Midnight Express , then extended and released as maxi single and made the Hot 100 singles charts in January of 1979, charting as high as #33....
" by Giorgio MoroderGiorgio MoroderHansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
- "Chase
Championships and accomplishments
- Assault Championship WrestlingAssault Championship WrestlingAssault Championship Wrestling was an American independent wrestling promotion based in Connecticut and promoted by Jason Knight, a retired wrestler and manager, during the early 2000s...
- ACW Tag Team ChampionshipACW Tag Team ChampionshipThe ACW Tag Team Championship was the top professional wrestling tag team championship title in the American independent promotion Assault Championship Wrestling. The first champions were Heavy Artillery who defeated Mind and Matter the finals of a championship tournament held in Meriden,...
(1 time)
- ACW Tag Team Championship
- Combat Zone WrestlingCombat Zone WrestlingCombat Zone Wrestling is a independent wrestling promotion. In 1999, John Zandig and four of his students, Ric Blade, Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain began to run backyard wrestling shows in New Jersey and Delaware, showcasing a brand of hardcore wrestling dubbed as "ultraviolence"...
- CZW Tag Team ChampionshipCZW World Tag Team ChampionshipThe CZW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned and copyrighted by the Combat Zone Wrestling promotion; it is contested for in their tag team division. It was created and debuted on February 13, 1999 at CZW's Opening Night event, where Jon Dahmer...
(4 times)
- CZW Tag Team Championship
- East Coast Wrestling AssociationEast Coast Wrestling AssociationEast Coast Wrestling Association is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded by promoter Jim Kettner in 1967. It is home to the annual Super 8 Tournament, one of the longest-running independent wrestling tournaments in the country...
- ECWA Tag Team ChampionshipECWA Tag Team ChampionshipECWA Tag Team Championship are the tag team titles contested in the independent professional wrestling promotion, East Coast Wrestling Association.- Title history :...
(1 time)
- ECWA Tag Team Championship
- Hardway Wrestling
- HW Tag Team Championship (3 times)
- Jersey All Pro WrestlingJersey All Pro WrestlingJersey All Pro Wrestling is an independent wrestling promotion based in New Jersey.-1997:Jersey All Pro Wrestling is an independent wrestling promotion that was founded by "Fat" Frank Iadeavia on April 19, 1997. This promotion was born out of a dream of "Fat" Frank. He wanted to take the promotion...
- JAPW Tag Team ChampionshipJAPW Tag Team ChampionshipThe JAPW Tag Team Championship is a championship in the Jersey All Pro Wrestling promotion. Being a professional wrestling championship, it is not won via direct competition; it is instead won via a predetermined ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a wrestling angle...
(2 times)
- JAPW Tag Team Championship
- Phoenix Championship WrestlingPhoenix Championship WrestlingPhoenix Championship Wrestling was a short-lived American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Toms River, New Jersey. It was founded by twin brothers Don and Mike Bucci in 2001 and promoted by Don Bucci until its close two years later...
- PCW Tag Team ChampionshipPCW Tag Team ChampionshipThe PCW Tag Team Championship was the primary tag team title for Phoenix Championship Wrestling. It was the second championship introduced by the promotion and first won by The Backseat Boyz from Combat Zone Wrestling's Ric Blade & Nicky Benz in Stanhope, New Jersey on March 3, 2001...
(1 time)
- PCW Tag Team Championship
- National Championship Wrestling
- NCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Ring of HonorRing of HonorRing of Honor ' is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2002 by Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky. From 2004 to 2011, the promotion was under the ownership of Cary Silkin before being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May 2011...
- ROH Tag Team ChampionshipROH World Tag Team ChampionshipThe Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship contested for in the American professional wrestling promotion Ring of Honor. The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants usually execute...
(1 time)
- ROH Tag Team Championship