Extreme Rising

In January 2012, Shane Douglas announced plans for Extreme Reunion, a new promotion influenced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Douglas cited his dissatisfaction with the state of the professional wrestling industry as his inspiration to create the new organization. To create interest for the inaugural show on April 28, Douglas undertook a guerrilla marketing campaign, which included attending the March 19, 2012, episode of WWE Raw. Douglas stood up during a match, causing cameras to cut away from him, and he was escorted out of the arena.

The inaugural event, also named Extreme Reunion, was panned by both fans and critics. The fans in attendance voiced their annoyance at the event by shouting negative chants at Douglas, who had booked himself in the main event. Former ECW Champions Sabu and Justin Credible were removed from the card on the night of Extreme Reunion for medical reasons. Douglas released a video days later, apologizing for the quality of the show, and promised changes going forward. Among the changes were altering the company name from Extreme Reunion to Extreme Rising, and bringing in younger talents, such as Matt Hardy, Homicide, Jay Bradley and Luke Hawx, as well as lucha libre wrestlers, to bolster the roster.

Extreme Rising held the Remember November internet pay-per-view (iPPV) on November 17, 2012, and the Card Subject to Change iPPV on December 29, 2012. Card Subject to Change saw Stevie Richards become Extreme Rising's first World Champion by winning a tournament final over Rhino. The company had planned to offer three shows during WrestleMania 29 weekend in April 2013, but the shows were cancelled due to poor sales. After a hiatus, Extreme Rising reorganized and announced that they would resume running live shows on December 28, 2013. Steve O'Neill took control of the promotion and said that he secured a deal that would put them on local television markets in the Philadelphia area. Extreme Rising subsequently became the first promotion to run shows in the ECW Arena after it reopened.

On April 22, 2014, Extreme Rising cancelled all upcoming events and closed their social media accounts. The cancellations came three days before a scheduled show in Philadelphia and scheduled talent said they were notified via text message. O'Neill advised those who had purchased tickets to contact their bank or credit card company to get a refund.