XPW was originally based in California, where controversy and X-rated content were of huge importance. In 2002, Shane Douglas returned to XPW, and the "All-New XPW" was relocated in Pennsylvania. Thanks to promotional efforts on the part of Shane Douglas and Cody Michaels, the East Coast invasion featured XPW garnering some success in cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Big Vision Entertainment held a second XPW reunion show in August 2009, which featured the beginning of a World title tournament, and the implication that a regular/full-time XPW is back.

XPW was founded in the summer of 1999 on the West Coast, particularly Los Angeles, California. The promotion based its style around hardcore wrestling, featuring many violent matches reminiscent of the Japanese death matches popularized overseas. In addition, XPW kept a huge focus on the soap opera aspect of wrestling, as the storylines involved porn stars, alternative lifestyles, profanity, and sadistic violence. The first show was in July 1999. The announce team for XPW consisted of Kris Kloss and Larry Rivera, with Kloss doing the play-by-play and Rivera taking on the role as a heel color commentator. Kloss's trademark was screaming expletives or shrieking a high pitched scream when something shocking occurred in a match, typically ruining the effect of the high spot. Rivera often sided with Rob Black, and his trademark announcing consisted of referring to Kloss as "chico", using "chico" in nearly all of his sentences, and occasional wandering into Spanish announcing. In this period, the promotion's main stars were homegrown wrestlers, but many former stars of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) passed through XPW following the fall of that promotion.

In 2000, Rob Black purchased six front row tickets for ECW's Heat Wave pay-per-view in 2000. The tickets for the show were given to a cadre of XPW talent, as their mission was to make it clear that ECW was on enemy's turf. At the beginning of the main event, the XPW contingent (The Messiah, Kid Kaos, Supreme, Kristi Myst, Homeless Jimmy and Kris Kloss) donned shirts emblazoned with the logo of their home company, gaining the attention of security and Tommy Dreamer. Security ejected the XPW group. A brawl in the parking lot then broke out between the XPW ring crew and the ECW locker room, but the XPW wrestlers were not involved. In the parking lot, several of the ECW wrestlers brutalized the XPW ring crew in a street fight until several of the ring crew members were left bloodied. Initial reports claimed that Kristi Myst somehow touched Francine and that prompted the incident, but Francine herself has since gone on record as saying that she was never grabbed or in any other way touched by any of the XPW crew, and other eye witnesses support the story that Francine never had a hand laid on her. XPW was not officially acknowledged on the telecast.

The main storyline for most of 2001 concerned heel stable called the "Black Army". The Black Army was run by Rob Black, assisted by his wife (porn star Lizzy Borden), and feuded with Sabu. Towards the end of 2001, another heel stable called the "Enterprise" emerged to feud with the Black Army. Originally consisting of former "Black Army" henchmen Steve Rizzono, Motivational Speaker TJ Rush, porn star Veronica Caine and GQ Money, the stable was completed at the Damage Inc. show when Kid Kaos won the XPW television title, turned his back on his uncle, Supreme, and aligned himself with the Enterprise. After this surprise heel turn, Kid Kaos dropped the "Kid" from his name and nicknamed himself "The Rock Superstar" Kaos.

At Baptized in Blood III in 2002, Shane Douglas made his return to XPW as the mystery opponent of Johnny Webb, winning the XPW title. Following the match, the revelation that Douglas and Lizzy Borden were allies emerged, which would crush Rob Black to the point that Borden inherited the power of XPW. The organization then based its operations in Philadelphia at the New Alhambra Arena.

XPW debuted at the former ECW Arena on August 31st, 2002 at the Hostile Takeover event, and Shane Douglas was the promotion's focal point for the rest of the year. Controversy arose when XPW signed an exclusive lease with the New Alhambra Arena, preventing other independent promotions from holding shows at the venue. As XPW continued to run on the East Coast, the risque storylines were quickly phased out, and a majority of XPW's West Coast employees were not a part of the "All-New XPW." The relocation to the East Coast also resulted in many former ECW stars passing through XPW, whether it be on a regular basis or one-night appearances. At one point, Kris Kloss was dropped from the announcing booth and replaced with former ECW commentator Joey Styles. Styles, however, left the company in December 2002.

They would eventually return back to their home of Los Angeles for a few shows in early 2003. In March 2003 they did a show in Pittsburgh, PA which sold quite well (approximately 1,500 in attendance) mainly due to Pittsburgh being Shane Douglas's hometown. This would be XPW's very last show. There were scheduled shows in April 2003 on The East Coast. Supposedly tickets were selling very poorly prior to the event, then XPW announced they were canceling the event due to a storm that wasn't as big as XPW boasted to be on their website.

In April 2003, Rob Black and Lizzy Borden were indicted on obscenity charges due to pornographic material produced by XPW's parent company, Extreme Associates. Federal agents in Pittsburgh had purchased the offending material, which depicted scenes of rape, urination, and murder. The stress of the trial took a toll on the owners of the company, and XPW could no longer be subsidized financially. In January 2005, the charges were dropped but on December 8, 2005 an appeals court revived the charges (See United States v. Extreme Associates). Xtreme Entertainment Group (which later split into XEG and Big Vision Entertainment, the company of which XPW co-founder Kevin Kleinrock would later become Executive Vice President) purchased the XPW name and video library in 2004. The only XPW pay-per-view was "The Best of XPW", a compilation of highlights which aired in August 2003.

As of 2009, the first three seasons of XPW's weekly television series have been released on DVD by Big Vision Entertainment. XPW matches have also been extras on several other Big Vision wrestling DVDs, including Forever Hardcore and the Hardcore Homecoming series. Several XPW alumni worked for Wrestling Society X, which was produced by Big Vision Entertainment.