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Post by derrickzane on Aug 29, 2014 8:23:40 GMT -8
The Territories of the United States, once a patchwork of strong, regional promotions under the old World Wrestling Association, eventually collapsed into a state of disarray when the WWA collapsed, but with the ascension of the Virtual World Wrestling Alliance, the United States has consolidated into a three region “National” scene, each of the three, while able to tour in the others region is assumed to have dominance where their established borders are concerned.
For Prime Time Pro, its territory lies along the whole of the East coast, from New England to Florida, and west to Ohio and New Orleans. All American Pro Wrestling runs from Chicago to Kansas City, south to cover Texas, and west to Salt Lake City and Denver, while New Millennium Wrestling covers the whole of the west, based out of Los Angeles, it runs to the border with Mexico and north to the border with Canada, while rubbing shoulders with AAPW in Las Vegas.
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Post by derrickzane on Aug 29, 2014 8:25:09 GMT -8
The West: New Millennium Wrestling
The state of professional wrestling on the west coast of the United States had been a feast, then long famine situation. The old territory of the west, at the time under the banner of the old World Wrestling Association, was originally divided between the West Coast Championship Wrestling based out of Los Angeles, covering the region north to Bakersfield, south to San Diego, and east to Las Vegas, and Golden Gate Pro Wrestling in San Francisco, running north to Portland Oregon, until that region developed its own territory, south to meet with WCCW, and east to Tahoe.
From 1925 to 1961, the West coast was second only to the New York territory in terms of glamor and popularity in the way of fan support. Los Angeles especially enjoyed the closeness it had to Hollywood and the Golden Age of cinema, every Thursday night at the Grand Olympic Arena, Hollywood stars would rub shoulders with the average Joe to boo and cheer as the best in the business did battle in the square circle, watching such bouts as “Farmer” Hap Borski face “Beautiful” Brian Bastion for the World title, or the legendary “Marathon match” an hour and a half battle between “Pig Iron” Pat McKenzie and his long time arch rival Eddie Sharp.
The late 50’s saw a marked decline in the importance of the West in terms of the WWA, eventually GGPW’s owner, Lou Franklin sold the Portland region to a young promoter named Brian Davidson to cover some of his debts, and in Los Angeles, while the average fan still came out to watch the matches, much of the luster of old Hollywood had worn off, its stars having drifted off to other entertainments.
Eventually GGPW folded operations in 1974, breaking the territory into a number of smaller independent operations, most unable to survive longer then five years, and WCCW slowly shrank into the region around Los Angels it’s self with only the occasional show put on in San Diego.
The final death knell of the old WWA came in 1985, after decades of slow decline; the once proud association of Pro Wrestling companies fell, it’s territory system collapsing into a number of independent promotions, some stronger then others, who gathered what they could, others simply limped along. WCCW was such a promotion, its shows still run every Thursday night out of the now slightly crumbling Grand Olympic Arena were almost completely ignored by the majority of the cities population, when at last in 1990, the grand old lady finally passed away, closing offices early that year.
In 1991, a partnership between two established names in the business, “The Boston Crippler” Tommy Connolly, and “Gentleman” Ian Thorp looked at the state of Wrestling and saw the inevitable coming of the Virtual World Wrestling Alliance, its planning already starting to bear fruit, combining their savings, the two workers bought the Southern California territory rights and breathed life into the once proud WCCW, changing the name from West Coast Championship Wrestling, to something that would reflect the new age that was soon to arrive, wrestling for the new millennium.
So was born NMW, moving operations from the now condemned Grand Olympic Arena to a converted theater on the Sunset Strip, the early years of NMW were a mixed bag, of indifference at first, then a slow, burgeoning fan base, till at last a steady following was built, but for their successes, there were also failings, as Ian Thorp retired from active ring work in early 2003, returning to his native England, leaving Connolly alone to run the company, which he did for another four years, eventually bringing on another business partner in DavidHawk Actor.
NMW has proven its self a solid territory in the years that followed, however it eventually reached a plateau, unable to fall, but also unable to push higher, it was at this time that DavidHawk Actor made a suggestion to bring on a third partner, in the form of Sam Luciano, an East Coast mover and shaker who had made his name in the New York/Atlanta territory of Prime Time Pro. Thus is the state of New Millennium Wrestling, of the three major North American companies, NMW is considered the junior, slightly smaller then Chicago’s All American Pro Wrestling, and far, far behind PTP, however, Sam Luchiano has plans and designs to change all that, plans that may not mesh well with the old school mentality of NMW’s founding father Tom Connolly. Only time will tell what comes of this internal struggle for the soul of NMW.
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Post by derrickzane on Sept 17, 2014 12:29:53 GMT -8
The Heartlands: All American Pro Wrestling
All American Professional Wrestling was founded in one of the more interesting manners ever. Eddie Sharp, its founder and driving force for decades was arguably one of the greatest athletes to ever walk the earth. Born to a farming family in Iowa, Eddie excelled at the traditional three American sports, Baseball, Football and Basketball, but when he entered High School an argument with his basketball coach started a chance meeting with the schools wrestling coach. That meeting would lead to one of the most celebrated carries in professional wrestling.
Taking to the ancient sport of Wrestling like a fish to water, Eddie Sharp not only made the wrestling team his freshman year of High school he soon was bumped to the Varsity level, ending the year ranked fourth in the state, the next year he won the State Championship, and would remain unbeaten for the next two years. On graduation Eddie had plans to go to Iowa State, and was even being looked at by the United States Olympic Committee, all that changed on December 7th, 1941.
Eddie Sharp, like thousands of his peers went to war, joining the Marine Corps as an infantry man, and saw combat in the Pacific, taking part in operations to retake the islands lost to the Japanese. At the end of the Second World War, Eddie returned to a home that seemed locked in time. Perhaps this is what drove Eddie to his post war life.
Using the G.I . Bill Sharp entered the University of Iowa, while there, he tried out and was accepted for the university’s football team, their baseball team and of course their wrestling team, becoming one of the anchors of that program dominance in NCAA competition. On graduation Sharp entered the NFL draft and was picked up by the Chicago Bears as a Free Safety
Professional football however was less lucrative in the 50’s then it is today, so during the off season Sharp started performing in professional wrestling matches through out the Midwest as a means to supplement his income, and the fact that he was a nationally recognized athlete helped make him a draw.
Four years into his foot ball carrier Eddie tore a ligament in his knee, effectively ending his carrier with the Bears, however at this time Sharp had started to achieve top status in the world of professional wrestling, winning the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in a legendary bout against “The Iron Barron” Klaus Von Trapp, widely publicized as the “All American Hero” Vs. “The Former Nazi Villain”
Through out the 1950’s and 60’s Eddie Sharp was one of the most iconic of professional wrestlers in the world, eventually saving up enough to outright purchase the Illinois, starting All American Pro Wrestling, expanding to the Minnesota territories in 1968, and slowly increasing his influence west to Colorado and east to Michigan and Ohio in the 1970’s.
It was however in the late 1970’s that changed the face of the business for good or ill. Following a dinner conversation that Sharp had with his old “nemesis” Klaus Von Trapp, who had himself also purchased a territory, the Dallas based South West Championship Wrestling.
The idea was simple, and yet it had never before been done, while in theory, each member promotion in the WWA was united by a common goal and a mutually recognized set of championships, there was very little in the way of cross promotion interaction. AAPW and SWCW changed all that when they had the first of many super cards that would take place thought the 1980’s.
These events would catapult pro wrestling to a national profile that had yet to be scene at the time, and make the Von Trapp brothers, world icons, and perhaps all the more painful when one by one, tragedy would take the once mighty Von Trapps away.
Saddened by the slow decline of his family, Klaus Von Trapp, faded away from the wrestling business, it’s many years having taken their toll, and the pain of family loss keeping the old man from wanting to resist the more “energetic” advances of the Houston/ New Orleans based “Gulf Coast Professional Wrestling Council, run by Barry De Santos and his brothers.
The final joint AAPW/SWCW super card took place at the Dallas Fairgrounds, and was in some ways a final good by to the Von Trapp family, at the end of the night it was announced that the whole of SWCW’s territorial rights had been bought by the De Santos brothers and would be merged with GCPWC to form the new “United Texas Championship Wrestling” based out of the larger Dallas market, it would stretch from Arizona in the west, Nebraska in the north, and Louisiana in the east.
The big visions that the De Santos brothers had could not however match the realities of the Professional wrestling scene at the time, and by the early 90’s UTCW was a financial wreck, with the possibility that the whole mega territory would collapse.
At the last minute, in came Eddie Sharp, who’s AAPW had managed to weather the storm of the collapse of the WWA to build a viable, strong product on a burgeoning national level. Sharp suggested that the UTCW be folded into the AAPW as a sort of “Sister Promotion” under the over all AAPW banner, but otherwise allowed to book and perform shows in the region as they would have normally, his only condition, to reinstate the old SWCW Texas State Championship as their regional top title. Sharp would later admit this was for sentimental reasons, a tribute to his good friend Klause Von Trapp and the legacy of his family.
Recent years have found AAPW to be at a bit of a cross roads. Eddie Sharp, the patriarch and driving force of the promotion he built with his bare hands has long since retired, leaving the promotion in the hands of his son, Michael, who, while being a fan favorite, is not the athlete, or business man his father ever was, Michale has squandered numerous chances to propel AAPW to the premier position as the worlds most watched wrestling product, always seeming to be beat to the punch by Prime Time Pro based out of New York.
The De Santos family can smell blood in the water, and have been taking steps to try and take control of AAPW from Sharp, and in the west coast, there is the rumblings that the ownership shakeup in New Millennium could at last be the missing element to push them past the old war horse out of Chicago. Only time will tell if the legacy of All American Pro Wrestling will stand the test.
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