| Anxiety Rising hasn't gone through too many members. It is rather prestigous to be called an "Anxiety Rising member. Yet not many people realize that. Perhaps Chen summed it up best on the week of October 13th, 2003, as he stated the following: "Anxiety Rising is arguably the most successful tag team –slash- stable in NAWF history and the most well-known stable today. Yet people call it a joke to be a member. Egocentric people would blame that on jealousy, that THEY were jealous because they couldn’t be a part of Anxiety Rising. But I know that as not being the case. I’m smarter than that. I know that many people dislike us, some hate us, and a few despise us. Yet to fully deny our skills is downright stupid." The Evolution The first remnents, if you want to say, of Anxiety Rising first appeared way back in 1999. It is in the NCW, Masset's second ever fed, where he first encountered the person who is known today as the loveable manager, Bruce. They teamed up to fight the tag team champions, successfully beating them. What had planned on being a quick acquantance, ended up having to be a friendship after they won the titles. Both men only shoot for quality title reigns, not quantity. So they wanted the reign to last, and to do that, they had to get along. So not only did a friendship form, but a tag team that will last for many years to come. The team did not have a name yet, so they just did the ole, "Masset and Bruce" as a team name. It wasn't until they lost the titles and Bruce gave up his wrestling career and became Masset's manager did a name form. They left the NCW, and into the EAC. Since they were no longer a team, just a wrestler and manager, they went with a more "single-wrestler-associated" name of Team Masset. Masset had a very successful singles career there, but also never gave up looking for a good tag team partner. Things looked up for him in his tag team search as, after winning the Insane Championship, Kings of Hardcore was formed. He gave the belt to a worthy friend of his, and it seems a successful group was formed. They went more or less undefeated for three months (They lost one stable vs. stable match due to a screwjob). However, disagreements, argues, and threats tore Kings of Hardcore apart. It ended with Masset being hospitalized by his own teammates that finally split the faction for good. After a little bit of revenge, he came upon the GCW. He was quickly confronted with their dominant stable; Champions of Power. Read Masset's History for the detail on COP. Masset has been looking to expand upon Team Masset, so when he won the International Championship and was offered a spot in COP, he agreed. But Masset was no follower. If he wants a stable "of his own," he'd have to take over this one, first. That proved quite difficult, as he was still a rookie, and this was one monster stable. But sure enough, he was given the opportunity to be declared COP leader, with only a 2-out-of-3 falls Deathmatch standing in the way. So Masset defeats the opponent, and thus is declared leader. Masset has again achieved what he was after...leading a group with several followers behind him. He thought, "heck, why stop there?" and he won the Vice Presidency. His ambition proved too powerful for him, for one retirement match later, his followers grew tired of his powerful ways, and turned on him, sending him out of the GCW. Masset returned to his simple life with Team Masset as he went though the next feds. It wasn't until the wZw did his tag team search hit a discovery. After a loss to Shaun White, the third member of Team Masset emerged...the infamous trainer, Snow White. Then another breakthrough...It was a Triple Threat First Blood match, in which Chen, a Last Call member, beat Masset and Livewire. Livewire proposed teaming up to stop Last call. Masset of course, accepted. They stuck with the name Team Masset, but the group of Masset, Livewire, and Bruce was short-lived. The wZw abruptly closed, halting any team production that has been happening. It is in the ASW, where the present finally begins to take shape. Pretty much out of the blue, Bruce brings in wZw enemy Chen, throwing them together as a tag team. Chen refused to call themselves Team Masset, so a new name was thought up. And thus, "Anxiety Rising" was the new name given to the group. Chen was very talented, having won the World Title in almost every fed thusfar. He only raised the prestige of Anxiety Rising. Several months later, Anxiety Rising, haven already developed a good name for themselves, brought in Livewire once again to the stable. He was NAWF's Lightweight champion, and helped Anxiety Rising out in those annoying stable matches and 6-man matches. The next great to add to Anxiety Rising's list of members is Hall of Famer, Shane "Never Surrender" Wausau. To show you how great a move that was to the image of Anxiety Rising, I'll just show you the blurb on the NAWF site. "Wausau has been in the NAWF on and off since the inception. His 5 Lightweight Title reigns are a record, and he holds the record for LW reign length. Competed as all of his alter egos in the 2000 NAWF Bowl, a la Mick Foley. Took a year off due to "cancer", but came back in February 2002 to finally complete his Grand Slam with protege Alex Marsley. Wausau has held at least one championship in the NAWF during all 6 years of its existence. Also won the NAWF-sponsored "King of the X-Matches" Tournament in August 2003." This led Anxiety Rising to such victories as Texas Three Step's War Games, claiming factional dominance in the NAWF. Unfortunately, Shane was injured in that match and has been out for an indefinite amount of time. For laughs, we will state that the next Anxiety Rising member is none other than Jhub Jhub, the you-know-what flinging monkey. Everybody loved Jhub Jhub. He was only with them for one month, but it was one month of hilarity. As Livewire retired, Anxiety Rising brought in David Braddock. He fit in surprisingly well, and has accomplished a lot in the NAWF as a singles wrestler and as a member of Hell's Fury. Unfortunately, in a "wrestler-boss" feud he had with NAWF owner Lou, David suffered massive head trauma and was forced to retire. Anxiety Rising went back to being a four-man group. In October of 2003 at All Mixed Up, both Masset and Chen received injuries and were forced to take a month off. Anxiety Rising was put on hiatus. Masset came back in early December '03 and did his thing in the singles scene while Chen was still out on injury. Chen finally came back at the beginning of 2004 and Anxiety Rising was once again whole. However, their re-debut was less than thrilling as they suffered defeat by Workrate Kings and The Elite (Through interference, no less). Chen could no longer feel the burning sensation he once felt for wrestling and decided it was his time to retire. February 15, 2004 was the last time the NAWF would see Masset and Chen together as Anxiety Rising. After that, Anxiety Rising dispersed. Five months and one World title reign record later, Masset started growing tired of the singles scene. Not wanting the name of Anxiety Rising to be forgotten completely, Masset takes steps to revive it. After realizing Bruce or Snow couldn't be a suitable partner, Masset begins a search for the newest member and partner of Anxiety Rising. Masset finally finds that man in Rederick, the newest member of NAWF. Anxiety Rising lives on. So there you have it, the very thorough history of Anxiety Rising. In summary, here are the stages Anxiety Rising took to get to its present stage: Masset and Bruce Team Masset Kings of Hardcore Champions of Power Team Masset Anxiety Rising |