EBWF began as a small regional promotion owned by Ashlee Ikeda in 2001. Then known as the Extreme Wrestling Foundation (EWF), the company merged with Tony Ikeda's Best Wrestler's Federation in 2002 to form the Extreme Best Wrestler's Federation (EBWF). The power couple appointed Tony Ikeda's brother, Wes Ikeda, as CEO in 2004, and Wes became chairman and owner of EBWF in 2007. At that time, Wes discontinued the use of Extreme Best Wrestler's Federation and referred to the company strictly as EBWF. Famous for saying "EBWF doesn't stand for anything." Wes turned the organization into a multi-media, international production company.
With a strong roster than initially included the likes of Triple H, Kurt Angle, Raven, Christian and Chris Jericho, EBWF quickly emerged as a challenger to WWE, and within a few years became the number one wrestling promotion in North America. But EBWF has had some difficult times in its 19 year history.
In 2011, EBWF's television network NBC exercised creative control on the company, removing Wes Ikeda from the Board of Directors and making a number of changes to its everyday operations. Wes had to buy EBWF out of their contract with NBC to regain control of the company.
In 2012, tragedy struck when a crazed fan entered EBWF's headquarters in St. Louis with a gun, injuring 48 people and killing 11 others. Wes Ikeda was one of the people who was injured, and his 16 year old daughter, Isabella, was fatally wounded. As Wes recovered from the injuries he sustained in the shooting, his long-time friend Chris Jericho was appointed interim CEO. Jericho held the position of interim CEO for over two years, before stepping down in December 2014 to return to the ring. When Jericho stepped down, Wes resumed his role as CEO.
After being an on screen character for several years, Wes Ikeda has taken on more of a backstage role in more recent years – similar to Vince McMahon's role in WWE. Wes still makes the occasional on screen appearance, but mostly focuses on the day to day running of EBWF. As a result, EBWF has had an on screen General Manager to act as the company's authority figure.
To date, there have been three General Managers in EBWF. The Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin, was appointed General Manager in September 2015, a role he held until March 2017 when he was defeated by Chris Jericho at WrestleMania. Austin had put his position as General Manager on the line in the match, and by defeating Austin, Jericho became the new General Manager. In October 2017, Jericho put the position of General Manager on the line against Jimmy Havoc, with the stipulation being that if Havoc lost, he would be fired from EBWF. Havoc won, and was subsequently appointed the new General Manager by the EBWF Board of Directors.
In 2018, Wes Ikeda returned as the authority figure on EBWF television and EBWF has been going strong ever since!