Windy City Pro Wrestling
Acronym | WCPW |
---|---|
Founded | January 30, 1988 |
Style | American wrestling |
Headquarters |
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Founder(s) | Sam DeCero |
Owner(s) |
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Formerly | Windy City Wrestling |
Website | officialwcpw |
Windy City Pro Wrestling is an American regional professional wrestling promotion originally based in Chicago, Illinois. Established as Windy City Wrestling by retired wrestler Sam DeCero in 1988, the promotion was one of several major regional territories in the Midwest, along with Dick the Bruiser's World Wrestling Association, during the late 1980s and among the oldest independent organizations in the United States until its last promoted show in December 2010.
In November 2015, the expired WCPW trademark was re-registered by former Windy City Pro Wrestling wrestler James K. Duck.[1][2]
History
1980s
After retiring from professional wrestling due to a back injury, Sam DeCero purchased a 95th street garage on Chicago's South Side and began training local wrestlers, advertising as far as Hammond, Indiana. With Mike Gratchner, a former promoter and wrestling photographer, DeCero decided to establish his own promotion. Within a year, he had managed to secure investors including relatives, friends and co-workers and held the promotions first event at a South Side nightspot featuring Steve Regal against Paul Christy in the main event on January 30, 1988. The event, which was attended by 160 people, was successful, and soon the promotion began holding events in similar venues offering to hold cards ranging from $3,500 to $9,500.
DeCero soon began running televised wrestling events with then-22-year-old
Within four years, the promotion operated two training facilities and had a weekly half-hour television show airing on
During the late 1980s, the promotion featured many popular wrestlers of the era including
1990s
The annual Battle of the Belts supercard was aired on
In August 1999, the promotion began broadcasting live events via the internet through the website
2000s
The promotion managed to survive during the decade, and due in part to its wrestling school and televised events in the Chicago-area, several light heavyweight wrestlers such as Ace Steel,[18] Sosay,[19] Kevin Quinn,[20] Christopher Daniels,[21] "Tenacious" Terry Allen, Steve Boz, Brandon Bishop, Vic Capri, and Jayson Reign emerged from the promotion during the late 1990s and early 2000s. During the last several years, independent wrestlers such as Colt Cabana, Abyss and Austin Aries among others have made appearances in the promotion as have WWF veterans King Kong Bundy, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine,[22] and Jerry "The King" Lawler.
On May 20, 2000, WCPW promoted the Largest Battle Royal in History at that time. Battle of the Belts 2000, an event held in The Hammond Civic Center in front of 2500 fans, was an event main evented by a 3 ring, 120 person Battle Royal to crown the first-ever WCPW Battle Royal Champion.[23] Bigtime won the Championship that night in what is still the largest championship match in all of pro wrestling history.
The promotion remained popular with Chicago wrestling fans favoring its "old school" wrestling approach unlike "
In 2001, DeCero hired wrestler James "Bigtime" Duck to create the main event of Battle of the Belts 2001. Duck presented the Stacked Ring Battle Royale, a match dubbed "The Badder, Ladder, Royale". The match was held in front of 1900 fans and featured two rings side by side arranged like a staircase. The first ring was a standard wrestling ring. The second ring stood twice as tall as the first and had a ladder in it. The rules had 40 participants start in the lower ring and try to climb into the taller ring to attempt to set up the ladder to climb it and claim the Battle Royal Championship Belt suspended 50 feet in the air.
In 2004, with over 1,000 in attendance at
2010s
In November 2015, James Duck re-registered the name WCPW as a trademark and began plans for a relaunch. In May 2016, a wrestling company based in the United Kingdom began using the WCPW name for their promotion, delaying the launch. The UK-based promotion changed their name in 2017.[2] In 2018, the first match for this new WCPW was held in Chicago. Later events have since been hosted in DeKalb, Illinois.[32]
Wrestlers
DeCero operated a well-regarded wrestling school and helped train and/or promote new wrestlers,[33] such as
- Big Time[34]
- Christopher Daniels[33][2]
- Frank "The Tank" Melson[35]
- Greg "The Hammer" Valentine[36]
- Jonnie Stewart[37]
- Kevin Quinn[33]
- "Big Nasty" Ed Ross[33]
Championships
Retired, defunct, and inactive championships
Championship | Notes |
---|---|
WCPW League Championship | The major single title of WCPW. It was established in 1993, when the promotion's weight class divisions were created, and continued to be defended until 2010.[38]
|
WCPW Heavyweight Championship | The title of WCPW. It was established in 1988 and continued to be defended within the promotion until 2010. The title was served as the promotion's top singles championship before the creation of the League Championship in 1993.[38]
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WCPW Middleweight Championship | The title of WCPW. The title was established in 1991 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38]
|
WCPW Lightweight Championship | The title of WCPW. It was established in 1991 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38]
|
WCPW Ladies Championship | The title of WCPW. It was established in 1988 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38]
|
WCPW Tag Team Championship | The title of WCPW. It was established in 1988 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38]
|
WCPW 6-Man Tag Team Championship | The 6-Man title of WCPW. It was established in 1997 and continued to be defended until 2010.[38]
|
WCPW Battle Royal Championship | The battle royal title of WCPW. It was established in 2000 and continued to be defended within the promotion until 2010. |
WCPW Bare Knuckles Championship | The title was established in 1999 and defended until 2008. |
WCPW Midget Championship | The title was established in 1988 and continued to be defended until 2001. |
Lee Sanders Memorial Tournament winners
Between 2001 and 2010, Windy City Pro Wrestling hosted an open-invitational tournament, the "Lee Sanders Memorial Cup", as part of an annual tribute to longtime WCPW mainstay Lee Sanders, who wrestled as Staff Sgt. Storm, in which any independent wrestler throughout the U.S. was eligible to enter.
Year | Name | Date | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | Terry Allen | March 10, 2001 | Chicago, Illinois | |
2002 | Germel "GQ" Quinn | March 16, 2002 | Chicago, Illinois | GQ also won the UAPW Heavyweight Championship. |
2003 | Baltazar | March 15, 2003 | Chicago, Illinois | |
2004 | Mike Anthony | March 13, 2004 | Chicago, Illinois | |
2005 | Cassius XL | March 12, 2005 | Chicago, Illinois | Cassius also won the WCPW Middleweight Championship. |
2006 | Omega | March 11, 2006 | Chicago, Illinois | This would be his last match with the company due to injuries |
2007 | Mitch Blake | March 10, 2007 | Chicago, Illinois | |
2008 | Steve Boz | March 8, 2008 | Chicago, Illinois | The tournament final was a four-way match also involving Acid Jaz, Derik Durton, and Sean Mulligan. |
2009 | Chris Collins | March 14, 2009 | Chicago, Illinois | Collins was awarded the vacant WCPW Middleweight Championship. |
2010 | V-Factor | March 27, 2010 | Chicago, Illinois |
References
- ^ "WCPW Trademark of James Kirby Duck - Registration Number 5581176 - Serial Number 86832277 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- ^ a b c "Defiant – Reasons Behind The Rename?". BackBodyDrop. October 4, 2017.
- ^ staff (April 8, 1988). "Paul E. is managing to live Dangerously". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ISBN 1-4165-1058-3.
- ^ "Live bouts return to Amphitheater". Chicago Sun-Times. Apr 29, 1988
- ^ staff (December 11, 1989). "Still Learning The Ropes: Wrestling Promoter Pins Hope on School, Local TV pact". Crains Chicago Business.
- ^ Benaka, Lee (July 25, 2005). "The Lee Banaka Interviews: Sam DeCero". DeathValleyDriver.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007.
- ^ staff (May 17, 1991). "Amphitheater bouts to aid homeless". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ staff (August 12, 1988). "'Lover Boy' Condrey revs up for slugfest at Amphitheatre". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ staff (February 10, 1989). "Windy City champion Regal is ready to 'electrify' Cicero". Chicago Sun-Times.
- Wrestling Observer.
- ^ Banaka, Lee (July 25, 2005). "The Lee Benaka Interviews: Trevor Blanchard". DeathValleyDriver.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2002. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
- ^ Pearlman, Cindy (November 21, 2004). "Former pro wrestler prefers Hollywood ring". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ staff (May 22, 1993). "Raquel Copies Liz in Krantz's 'Torch' Affair". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ Kassulke, Natasha (April 20, 1995). "The Sailor' To Be Honored". Wisconsin State Journal. The Capital Times. p. 4. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ staff (February 25, 1996). "Razzle dazzle". Telegraph Herald.
- .doc). Sfifer.com.
- ^ Young, Doc; Les Thatcher (January 30, 2007). "Ace Steel & Kevin Kleinrock Interviews: Steel on Trump, Kleinrock/WSX". WrestleView.com.
- ^ "Sosay: Character Evolution". OfficialSosay.com. June 2007. Archived from the original on November 4, 2007.
- ^ "Interview with Kevin Quinn". PuroresuFan.com. June 2004. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008.
- ^ John M. Milner; Tim Baines; Corey David Lacroix (September 5, 2005). "SLAM! Wrestling Bios: Christopher Daniels". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Gallagher, Jon (March 23, 2006). "Wrestling at the Knox County Fair". The Zephyr.
- ^ WCPW. "Articles". WCPW. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
- .doc) on October 26, 2009.
- ^ Seay, Jenny (October 11, 2005). "Lords of the Ring: The fellowship of foes on the indy wrestling circuit". NewCityChicago.com.
- ^ Douglass, Ian C. (May 25, 2005). "Urban league lets wrestlers live dream, increase income". Medill School of Journalism. Archived from the original on June 19, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
- ^ Lou, Melissa (March 23, 2006). "So You Want To Be A Pro Wrestler?". Extra News. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
- ^ "Dave Attell's 'Insomniac' won't keep anyone awake". Chicago Daily Herald. Dec 5, 2002
- ^ Williams, Scott (June 1, 2001). "Wrestling: An interview with Rob Van Dam (Part Two)". Buzzle.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2002.
- ^ Douglass, Ian C. (May 10, 2005). "Windy City Pro Wrestling books its biggest show". Medill School of Journalism. Archived from the original on May 14, 2005.
- ^ Burbridge, John. "Hulk Hogan scheduled to sign autographs before WCPW card". nwitimes.com. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
- ^ "Show Results". WCPW. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Moore, Angela (August 3, 1993). "School Of Hard Knocks". The Munster Times. p. 44. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
- ^ Roach, Chris. "Sports Entertainment' done old school in Chicago". Columbia Chronicle. No. 33. p. 22. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ Begalka, Kurt (March 1, 1988). "A wrestling dream come true". Northwest Herald. p. 21. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
- ^ Miller, Nick (January 12, 2024). "WWE Legend Greg Valentine Details Worst Injury He Suffered In The Ring". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ Online World of Wrestling.com
- ^ ISBN 0969816154.