Continental Championship Wrestling
Encyclopedia
Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

 promotion based out of Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

 from 1974 until 1988 and Dothan, Alabama
Dothan, Alabama
Dothan is a city located in the southeastern corner of the US state of Alabama, situated approximately west of the Georgia state line and north of Florida. It is the seat of Houston County, with portions extending into nearby Dale County and Henry County...

 from 1978 to 1990, managed by Ron Fuller
Ron Fuller (wrestler)
Ronald Welch is a retired professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring names Ron Fuller and Tennessee Stud. He is the elder brother of Robert Fuller...

. When Fuller sold the promotion to David Woods, it changed name to the Continental Wrestling Federation. The territory had also promoted under the previous name of Southeastern Championship Wrestling prior to 1985. Promoters Leroy McGuirk, Roy Welch, and Buddy Fuller had runs operating the territory until Lee Fields reformed it into Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Gulf Coast Years

Nashville promoter Roy Welch had purchased the
Mobile-Pensacola end of Leroy McGuirk's
Tri-State Wrestling. Unlike McGuirk, who only promoted
in the Mobile-Pensacola area on special occasions
called spot shows, Welch decided to make
promoting in Mobile-Pensacola a frequent
attraction in the summer. However, due to his obligations in
Nashville, his son Buddy Fuller (Edward Welch) was
made booker for Mobile-Pensacola, and Fuller
eventually expanded the territory into
Mississippi-Louisiana as well.

At this point, the territory didn't even have a
name, its own belts, or even its own wrestlers (aside
from members of The Welch Family of course). They
often relied on wrestlers and champions from Buddy's
Uncle Lester Welch's territory that he ran in places
like Tampa, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia (which would
eventually become Championship Wrestling from Florida
and Georgia Championship Wrestling), as well getting
help from his father in Nashville, Tennessee, and some
occasional help from his Uncles Herb and Jack. These early attempts would start to unravel when Buddy Fuller failed to make payments to the territory from his father Roy Welch. Buddy's cousin Lee Fields (Albert Lee Hatfield) would save the territory and gave it the name "Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling".

Lee Fields would eventually buy the territory from Roy Welch and Buddy Fuller, and run shows in the area for almost two decades with Rocky McGuire booking Dothan-Panama City and Bob Kelly booking Mobile-Pensacola and Mississippi after a falling out with promoters in Louisiana with Mobile-Pensacola only running in the summer months. Kelly turned the promotion around from holding monthly and seasonal shows in a few towns which only drew a few hundred people to holding weekly shows in a different town night after night with local television exposure in each market, which led to each arena drawing thousands. Bob Kelly left the wrestling business in 1976 to enter real estate and spend more time with family, and Lee Fields found it more difficult to operate both his wrestling promotion and Mobile International Speedway
Mobile International Speedway
Mobile International Speedway is a 1/2 mile paved oval North American Auto racing track located in the Mobile County, Alabama community of Irvington, Alabama. The track is situated along U.S. Highway 90...

 at the same. So he sold it to his cousin Ron Fuller around 1977-1978.

The Southeastern Years

In 1974, Ron Fuller opened up Southeastern Championship Wrestling based out of Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

 where he focused mainly on the east Tennessee area. In 1977, Ron Fuller took over the territory his grandfather and father had originally founded when GCCW folded and Fuller expanded the SECW to run in the Southern Alabama, Northern Florida area in addition the Eastern Tennessee territory he already established. This was initially labelled ”the Southern Division” of the SECW treating them as two separate entities despite the original plan to run a talent exchange between the two involving talent spending sixteen months in one end of the territory and then spend eight months in another to regain momentum after losing steam in the previous one.

In 1980, several members of the talent roster and behind the scenes personnel left the territory out frustration involving backstage politics with Ron's brother Robert Fuller
Robert Fuller
Robert Welch is a professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Robert Parker. Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time.-Career:...

 who was considered lazy in terms of booking the terrirory, and spent many nights partying and felt his spot in Southeastern was owed to him since he was a member of The Welch/Fuller family. As a result, many of these defectors joined the Knoxville based outlaw promotion International Championship Wrestling
International Championship Wrestling
International Championship Wrestling was an independent professional wrestling promotion based in Lexington, Kentucky that operated from 1978 until 1984. It was run by WCW Hall of Famer Angelo Poffo, the father of Randy Savage and "The Genius" Lanny Poffo...

 owned and operated by Angelo Poffo.

After this, the Knoxville end of Southeastern experienced financial losses, and sold to promotions such as Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...

 and Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...

 for the next five years. Fuller then made Birmingham his main end of the territory with the Dothan end continuing to flourish, giving early exposure to future stars such as The Fabulous Freebirds, rising stars in the territory along the lines of Austin Idol
Austin Idol
Mike McCord is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name the "Universal Heartthrob" Austin Idol.-Professional wrestling career:McCord graduated from Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida...

, and appearances by Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....

 who would defend the NWA World Heavyweight Title in the area each year.

The Continental Years

Five years later, Fuller decided that it was time to reach beyond the Southern Alabama/Northern Florida area and re-purchased the Knoxville end of the territory, with this expansion came a name change to Continental Championship Wrestling. This was an attempt on Ron Fuller's part to compete with Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...

. After a failed negotiation with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

, he settled on moving the television show out of the small television studio and into the big arenas where they did house shows in order to give the promotion a national look and feel. While the name Southeastern restricted the promotion to a more regional feel, the name Continental gave fans the impression they toured all over North America.

In 1988, WCOV-TV
WCOV-TV
WCOV-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Alabama's Black Belt area licensed to Montgomery. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter southeast of Grady along the Montgomery and Crenshaw County line. The station can also be seen on...

 owner David Woods bought the controlling interest in the promotion from Ron Fuller, and he renamed it Continental Wrestling Federation in a further attempt to compete with Vince McMahon and appear to resemble a nationwide promotion, even to the point of getting an odd national TV deal with Financial News Network
Financial News Network
The Financial News Network was a television network that operated throughout the United States during the 1980s.-Founding:Financial News Network was founded in 1981 by two men: Rodney Buchser, who had been general manager of KWHY, Channel 22 in Los Angeles and Glenn Taylor. The concept originated...

. The promotion closed in December 1989.

Legacy

Despite many huge angles over the years, this territory often has status as the lost promotion. Such obscurity was due lack of media coverage during the Gulf Coast and Southeastern years since neither Lee Fields nor Ron Fuller believed their promotions should be covered by wrestling magazines and often did not allow reporters in the locker room to interview the wrestlers. This was to prevent the exposure to kayfabe
Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...

 and preserve the illusion of wrestling as a sport in this area. However, Fuller relented with the changeover to Continental in order to get national exposure for the promotion through said magazines, such exposure was at an all time high during the Eddie Gilbert period.

Due to the expensive nature of archiving at television stations before the home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...

 boom of the 1980s, much of the footage from the Gulf Coast era and the Knoxville portion of Southeastern no longer exists, despite a few bits of rare footage turning up here and there. However, almost all of the Dothan portion of Southeastern along with the majority of Continental footage still exists. They are still owned by David Woods and Woods Communications, and has managed to be one of the few archives not to be acquired by the WWE Tape Library

Possible Forerunner To ECW?

It is well known that the creative minds behind Continental during its final years, Eddie Gilbert
Eddie Gilbert
Edward Gilbert may refer to:*Eddie Gilbert , Australian Aboriginal cricketer*Eddie Gilbert , American wrestler*Ed Gilbert *Edward Gilbert, U.S...

 and Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman is an American entertainment producer, best known for his career in professional wrestling as a promoter, manager, commentator and journalist. He is also an occasional actor in film....

, were long time friends and worked together previously in Memphis and later in Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...

. While some ECW angles have roots in Memphis, it is possible early seeds were also sewn in this region as well. An angle with Lord Humongous (a then unknown Sid Vicious) had a similar build up to the one Tazz
Tazz
Peter Senerchia is a retired American professional wrestler and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, originally Tazmaniac and later shortened to simply Taz...

 later had in ECW. One that involved returning from an injury and coming back a fierce warrior, even using the same theme music, "War Machine" by Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...

 {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bGfTzS2s_w&feature=relmfu}. The main difference was the Lord Humongous angle was a complete work while the Tazz angle was based on a legit injury he suffered.

The angle was also notable for showing wrestlers tending to Lord Humongous backstage {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsMdyrGlzUg}. A more well known version of the angle would take place several years later in ECW with Tommy Dreamer
Tommy Dreamer
Thomas James "Tom" Laughlin is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is currently working for various promotions on the independent circuit. He is best known for his time spent with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment...

 injuring The Sandman in the infamous Singapore Cane angle where both faces and heels ended to The Sandman backstage. Also, Lord Humongous was blinded with ink thrown in his eye while The Sandman's cigarette was put out in one eye, with his Singapore Cane putting out the other eye.

Further, the final days of Continental also involved women and children in angles in a similar yet different way as ECW would later do. Such at the Tony Anthony
Tony Anthony
Darrell W. "Tony" Anthony is a semi-retired American professional wrestler best known as Dirty White Boy, who wrestled primarily for independent promotions in the Southeastern United States...

- Tom Prichard
Tom Prichard
Thomas Prichard is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, working in their developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling as a trainer using his ring name Tom Prichard...

 angle where the Dirty White Girl a.k.a Lady Mystic had one eye bruised to give the impression Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony had beat her. {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9XZ-eEW8Fo} ECW later featured male vs. female intergender matches at times. Also, there was an angle where Paul Heyman (then Paul E. Dangerously) and Eddie Gilbert attack Pez Whatley's 14 year old son. Several years later, Paul Heyman would book an angle in ECW between Raven and The Sandman that involved The Sandman's son Tyler Fullington.

A few rumors persist that the Hair vs. Hair cage match between Jerry Lawler
Jerry Lawler
Jerry O'Neil Lawler is an American professional wrestler, wrestling commentator, musician, businessman, commercial artist and film actor, known throughout the wrestling world as Jerry "The King" Lawler. He is currently signed to WWE, working on its Raw brand as the color commentator and occasional...

 vs. Austin Idol
Austin Idol
Mike McCord is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name the "Universal Heartthrob" Austin Idol.-Professional wrestling career:McCord graduated from Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida...

 would have occurred in this territory between Idol and Eddie Gilbert. While Idol was the heel in Memphis who cut Lawler with the assistance of Paul Heyman and Tommy Rich, Idol was a babyface in Continental who would have had his hair cut by Heyman and Gilbert. These videos {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLTNnyLKQRc},{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GImha-d0Cs&feature=related}, and {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xwl-EE22a4} seem to indicate such an angle was planned.

Also, with the politics of David Woods, Heyman and Gilbert were said to going behind Woods back and attempting to take his TV time and deals with the arenas. Heyman and ECW promoter Tod Gordon
Tod Gordon
Tod Gordon is the President of Carver W. Reed Co. Inc, a Philadelphia jewelry store and loan office that was established in 1860. He is also the founder of both defunct Professional wrestling promotions Eastern Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling...

 also later had problems with promoter Dennis Coraluzzo, this led to the infamous incident where former Continental rookie Shane Douglas
Shane Douglas
Troy Alan Martin is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name "The Franchise" Shane Douglas. In the course of his career, which has spanned nearly three decades, Douglas has wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling and briefly...

 threw down the NWA World Heavyweight Title to screw over Coraluzzo and make ECW more popular. Continental was also gearing up for The Road To Birmingham tourney to crown Eddie Gilbert as the new champ of Continental with a possible stunt to embarrass Woods and make Continental more popular. This can only be speculated as rumor since Gilbert and Heyman left over their sour relationship with Woods. The Road To Birmingham later took place in a watered down form. In addition, the Hair vs. Hair cage match in Continental never happened due to Gilbert and Heyman's departure.

Roster

For list of wrestlers who appeared in GCCW, SECW, CCW and the CWF please see CCW roster
CCW roster
This is a list of professional wrestlers and personalities that performed in the different incarnations of the Continental Championship Wrestling over the years :*1950s – 1978 Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling...

.

GCCW

  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship
    NWA World Heavyweight Championship
    The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship, which traces its lineage to Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 title and...

  • NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
    NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship and secondary title in the National Wrestling Alliance that was for the lighter wrestlers. It started in 1945 and still exists today. The title was unified with the National Boxing/Wrestling Association's...

  • NWA World Tag Team Championship
    NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version)
    The Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1957 until 1977. It was defended primarily in Tennessee and Alabama.-Title history:...

  • NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship or Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship was one of two identically named regional championship titles, a Southern and Northern division promoted by Southeast Championship Wrestling...

  • NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title for lighter wrestlers, board-controlled by the National Wrestling Alliance since December 1999....

  • NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Gulf Coast Version) (1955–1967)
  • NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship
  • NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship
    NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship
    The NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship was the main tag team championship in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling or NWA Gulf Coast. The Gulf Coast tag team championship is the successor for GCCW's version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship that was promoted in the Tennessee, Alabama, Florida...

     (1967–1977)
  • NWA Southeast Alabama Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship was created in October, 1962. Since its creation, the championship has been defended in a number of NWA territories throughout the decades....

  • NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Chammpionship (1958–1976)
  • NWA Mississippi Tag Team Chammpionship (1968–1973)
  • NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
    NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
    The NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship was a secondary tag team title promoted as the name indeicates mainly in the Tennessee region from 1967 until 1977, first by Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling from 1967 to 1974 then by its successor Southeast Championship Wrestling from 1974 to 1977 when it...

     (1967–1977)

SECW and CCW

  • NWA World Heavyweight Championship
    NWA World Heavyweight Championship
    The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship, which traces its lineage to Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 title and...

     (- 1987)
  • AWA World Heavyweight Championship
    AWA World Heavyweight Championship
    The American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association. All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, are now owned by WWE...

     (1987–1988)
  • NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
    NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship and secondary title in the National Wrestling Alliance that was for the lighter wrestlers. It started in 1945 and still exists today. The title was unified with the National Boxing/Wrestling Association's...

     (- 1987)
  • NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship or Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship was one of two identically named regional championship titles, a Southern and Northern division promoted by Southeast Championship Wrestling...

  • NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship or Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship was one of two identically named regional championship titles, a Southern and Northern division promoted by Southeast Championship Wrestling...

     (Southern Division 1987 - 1980)
  • NWA Southeastern Continental Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southeast Continental Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Continental Heavyweight Championship was a major title in the National Wrestling Alliance's Alabama territory called Southeastern Championship Wrestling. It existed from 1984 until 1988 when CCW became the Continental Wrestling Federation. The title continued on as the CWF Heavyweight...

  • NWA Southeastern Television Championship
  • NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship
  • NWA Southeastern Continental Tag Team Championship
  • NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Southern Division) (1978–1980)
  • NWA Southeastern United States Junior Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southeastern United States Junior Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Southeastern Junior Heavyweight Championship was a secondary title for wrestlers considered "Junior Heavyweights", that is weighing under 230 lbs...

  • NWA Southeastern Alabama Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship was created in October, 1962. Since its creation, the championship has been defended in a number of NWA territories throughout the decades....

  • NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
    NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
    The NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship was a secondary tag team title promoted as the name indeicates mainly in the Tennessee region from 1967 until 1977, first by Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling from 1967 to 1974 then by its successor Southeast Championship Wrestling from 1974 to 1977 when it...

     (1967–1977)

CWF

  • AWA World Heavyweight Championship
    AWA World Heavyweight Championship
    The American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association. All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, are now owned by WWE...

  • CWF Heavyweight Championship
  • CWF Tag Team Championship
  • United States Junior Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southeastern United States Junior Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Southeastern Junior Heavyweight Championship was a secondary title for wrestlers considered "Junior Heavyweights", that is weighing under 230 lbs...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK