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76-599: The CWA New England Heavyweight Championship was a secondary wrestling title in the Century Wrestling Alliance . It was one of two secondary titles in use during the promotion's early years, the other being the CWA Television Championship , and dominated by Tony Rumble for much of its history. Rumble defeated Stanley Raymond in a tournament final held in Boston, Massachusetts on April 1, 1993, to become

152-627: A booker for ICW) as well as top stars Blackjack Mulligan , Mark Lewin , Austin Idol and Bruiser Brody . ICW also had a history of working with the American Wrestling Association , promoting joint cards in New England as well as AWA talent appearing on ICW shows from time to time. The ICW would expand beyond New England and produced cards in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York State. In

228-472: A 20-man battle royal for the vacant NWA New England Brass Knuckles title in Milford, Massachusetts . In December 2001, Fuller assaulted then-referee Barry Ace during a match after he had unintentionally caused Fuller to mistime a wrestling move. This incident caused some controversy and NWA New England Vice President Vinnie Capelli later issued a public statement which accepted full responsibility explaining that Ace

304-470: A continuing series of matches and skits of a wrestler impersonating wrestling " dirt sheet " writer Dr. Mike Lano. He was a self-claimed NWA World Heavyweight Champion but that his belt "was upstairs in the penthouse getting buffed by the Lano-ettes". The skits followed Lano as he attempted to convince Jim Cornette to become his manager. When Lano finally tracks down Cornette, who is seen stealing crackers from

380-707: A former IWCCW Light Heavyweight Champion who had been wrestling in the promotion as The Tasmaniac , agreed to appear at an IWCCW taping in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1990. However, after a disagreement between him and promoters Mario and Tom Savoldi, he left the promotion and eventually began competing in Eastern Championship Wrestling during the early 1990s. Val Puccio had a brief run in ECW as “Big” Val Puccio. Dudley Family member Dances with Dudley worked in IWCCW as

456-653: A hotel kitchen, he is challenged to a wrestling trivia duel. Following this, the skit ends with Lano going upstairs to the penthouse where he is attacked by Mae Young and the Fabulous Moolah . The promotion was mostly dominated by ex-IWCCW stars, and on occasion former WCW and WWF veterans, during its early years. Between 1993 and 1995, the CWA Heavyweight Championship was traded between The Iron Sheik , Vic Steamboat, Tony Atlas and Kevin Sullivan. Similarly,

532-471: A local high school in Thomaston, Connecticut , promoted by Ellen Magliaro. Tony Rumble had volunteered to manage Gary Steele but turned on him during the match, hitting Steele with his helmet, and allowing Ogawa to win the match with a choke-hold and regain the title. Ogawa, as well as Steele, were upset by his interference. A "visually upset" Ogawa challenged Rumble claiming he "didn't need his help" to win back

608-421: A longtime personality and having some limited promoting experience, Ellen Magliaro attempted to hire others to take on Rumble's role as head promoter and booker. None were able to recreate Rumble's success however and, within six months of his death, business had declined significantly. Sheldon Goldberg resigned from the promotion after a few months and six months after his death, Goldberg resigned his position with

684-582: A member of the “Sioux War Party” known as Dancing Wolf. Another Dudley Family member, Big Dick Dudley , also worked in IWCCW under the gimmick “Alexander the Great” IWCCW mainstay Mondo Kleen is one of the few stars to be signed by the World Wrestling Federation directly. Mondo was repackaged as "Damien Demento” in the WWF. Another ECW star who got his start in IWCCW was Tommy Dreamer who briefly

760-576: A small wrestling promotion, the Century Wrestling Alliance, with his wife Ellen Magliaro. Many of its stars chose to leave the Savoldi's for his new promotion including The Pink Assassin , "Surfer" Ray Odyssey , Vic Steamboat and "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas , then IWCCW Heavyweight Champion . As the IWCCW declined during the early 1990s, Rumble was able build up the CWA and eventually succeeded the former as

836-915: A three-way match in Sanford, Maine for the NWA New England Division X Championship. On 20 November, Gino Martino was awarded the NWA Colonial title after winning the annual 20-man battle royal at the 2004 Tony Rumble Memorial in Bellingham, Massachusetts . He later surrendered the title after winning the NWA New England Heavyweight title three months later. Just a week earlier, the Millennium Wrestling Federation had held its Tony Rumble Memorial battle royal at their Soul Survivor 2004 supercard held at Shawsheen Tech . The event

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912-631: A three-way match with the Big Islanders (Makua & Ka Hoku). The third and final night had an interpromotional match between Jason Rumble and NWA UK Hammerlock's Conscious in Nashville. On 25 November 2005, NWA New England held the 6th annual Tony Rumble Memorial Show at the Ringside Entertainment Complex in Revere, Massachusetts . Celebrity wrestler Robby Ellis took part in the event. In

988-570: A tournament final for the then vacant NWA New England Television title in Everett, Massachusetts . At the same event, Damien "Pitbull" Vachon and Pierre "The Beast" Vachon defeated The Rough Ryders (Nyxx and Devin Raines) in a three-way match with The Big Islanders (Kahoku and Makua) to win the NWA New England Tag Team titles. The Vachons, who had recently debuted in the promotion, are the sons of

1064-842: A working relationship talent from both federations travelled to the other federation to compete. The working relationship brought such superstars as Abdullah the Butcher , the Invaders and Hercules Ayala to the New England Area. Angelo Savoldi’s grandson ”Jumping” Joe Savoldi won the WWC Tag-Team Championship alongside Al Perez (known as the New York Rockers ) on January 6, 1985 when they beat Super Medico I and Black Gorman. During that period, these matches were shown on ICW television with Gordon Solie providing voice-over commentary to

1140-533: The Mat Marketplace newsletter, collaborated on a working agreement with Michinoku Pro Wrestling to bring its stars to perform in the United States. In February 1997, the groups efforts paid off when Michinoku owner and main star, The Great Sasuke , brought a group of wrestlers with him to Boston where they appeared in exhibition matches at an ECW television taping and a house show for the CWA. The latter show

1216-792: The NWA World Tag Team Championship , as well as the NWA New England titles, while with the promotion. World Championship Wrestling 's Harley Race , Barry Windham , Kevin Sullivan , The Rock 'n' Roll Express ( Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson ) and the World Wrestling Federation 's Steve Keirn (wrestling as Doink the Clown ), Jake "the Snake" Roberts , Jimmy Snuka , King Kong Bundy , The Honky Tonk Man and The Iron Sheik also made frequent appearances. In 1989, veteran wrestler and longtime on-air IWCCW personality Tony Rumble opened

1292-608: The WCCW Texas Title and appeared in several promos with the belt to announce the merger of the two federations. Kevin was billed as the “World Class” champion. The idea was that down the road the two champions (Tony Atlas and Kevin Von Erich) would meet to create an IWCCW title. Kevin appeared a couple of times in New England, wrestling at 2 or 3 TV tapings. He participated in a memorable interview with wrestler Tony Rumble , aka The Boston Bad Boy . During that interview, Rumble berated

1368-578: The 1980s, International World Class Championship Wrestling held interpromotional events with the Puerto Rican-based World Wrestling Council , the American Wrestling Association and World Class Championship Wrestling . Many of its former roster would later find success in the World Wrestling Federation , World Championship Wrestling , Extreme Championship Wrestling and elsewhere during the 1990s. Originally known as International Championship Wrestling (not to be confused with

1444-546: The 8th annual Tony Rumble Memorial Show , was held in Saugus, Massachusetts on 17 November 2007, and has been inactive since that time. NWA New England has held an annual tribute show in memory of founder Tony Rumble since the year of his death, the Tony Rumble Memorial Battle Royal being introduced the following year. It is typically an "over-the-top" battle royal , at times using Royal Rumble rules, in which

1520-501: The Billion Dollar Babies, leaving many of its titles vacant. IWCCW began to decline as its events were held irregularly throughout 1994 and early 1995. Despite a short lived revival in 1995 that saw former WWF stars such as Tito Santana and Koko B. Ware hold the IWCCW title, the promotion folded in the latter part of 1995. Mario Savoldi kept promoting cards in the New England area after the demise of ICW/IWCCW. In 1999 Savoldi

1596-562: The CWA Light Heavyweight Championship was dominated by Ray Odyssey and The Pink Assassin, and Double Trouble (Tony & Val Puccio ) were the first tag team champions, followed by Ray Odyssey and Vic Steamboat. Rumble himself would hold the CWA New England Heavyweight Championship a record 3-times during a five-year period before his wife, and then CWA President, stripped him of the title when

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1672-633: The NWA New England developmental league Impact Independent Wrestling. At the NWA 54th Anniversary show , held at the WrestlePlex in St. Petersburg, Florida on 26 October 2002, Jason Rumble defeated Rocky Reynolds in an interpromotional match between NWA New England and NWA Tri-State . The match was to decide the number one contender to the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship . His victory

1748-550: The NWA New England heavyweight title from beat Beau Douglas by submission via the Boston crab . The match was dedicated to late Tony Rumble. In June, Jason Rumble represented NWA New England in the 2002 J-Cup tournament in Elizabeth, New Jersey , but lost to Scoot Andrews in the opening rounds. Rick Fuller, then touring the Northeast independent circuit after his departure from WCW, returned to NWA New England and, on 9 June 2001, won

1824-664: The NWA on March 10, 2007. Silver areas in the history indicate periods of unknown lineage. Century Wrestling Alliance The Century Wrestling Alliance , formerly known as NWA Cold Front and NWA New England , was a New England–based American independent wrestling promotion located in Boston, Massachusetts . It was founded by Tony Rumble in 1989, a retired wrestler and manager in International World Class Championship Wrestling , and included much of its roster prior to and following its close during

1900-652: The USWA. Over the years ICW established a kind of “open door” policy, working with any federation or any individual competitor who was interested in working in the federation; this open door policy even saw the Japanese Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Brass Knuckles Champion Atsushi Onita challenge the ICW Heavyweight champion Tony Atlas to a Title Vs Title Match. Onita lost the match by Disqualification to keep

1976-510: The Von Erichs, and Kevin in return ran Rumble out of the studio when he signalled for the iron claw. Another World Class mainstay, Chris Adams, was to have been a part of IWCCW, but was not able to join the federation due to his legal troubles. After a short while Kevin Von Erich returned to Texas, effectively ending any plans to merge the two titles, but the name was kept. The IWCCW name lasted until

2052-789: The backbone of the CWA's success, had become more difficult to promote as the ex-NWA/WCW and WWF stars from the 1970s and 80s began retiring or had died. All these contributed to the promotions slow decline during the next several years. NWA New England was again present at the NWA 52nd Anniversary Show held at the Nashville Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee . Among the NWA-affiliate promotions included NWA East (PWX), NWA Mid-South , NWA Mississippi, NWA Nashville, NWA New Jersey, NWA New York, NWA Ohio , NWA Southwest, NWA West Virginia and NWA UK Hammerlock. The main event saw Jason Rumble win

2128-558: The brass knuckles title in Somerville, Massachusetts on 22 June 2000. Although the promotion was primarily known as NWA New England, or sometimes NWA Cold Front, it ran under its original name when holding events outside New England itself such as an 25 April house show in Ogdensburg, New York . This was partly due to contractual obligations agreed to with the NWA and did not affect its regular shows elsewhere in New England. NWA New England

2204-710: The card were Wagner Brown and King Kong Bundy . Two days later, Knuckles Nelson and Dukes Dalton regained titles from The Public Enemy in Dorchester, Massachusetts . Jeff Mangles also defeated Jay Jaillet to win the NWA New England Junior Heavyweight title. Earlier that year, the promotion was profiled by the ESPN series Outside the Lines . On 2 October, NWA New England hosted an NWA World Heavyweight title defense between Gary Steele and challenger Naoya Ogawa at

2280-403: The company to start his own promotion, New England Championship Wrestling . Magliaro finally turned the promotion over to Jason Dellagatta, an NWA New England wrestler known as Jason Rage, and helped develop his character "Boston Bad Boy" Jason Rumble, the kayfabe son of Tony. Although the promotion stabilized for a time, Dellagatta was never able to match the success that Tony Rumble had with

2356-589: The dominant independent promotion in the Greater Boston area. With help from personal friends such as World Wrestling Federation manager Jim Cornette and World Championship Wrestling booker Kevin Sullivan , he was able to bring in a number of wrestlers from both organizations throughout the decade. Rumble also developed a collection of local wrestlers as unique or entertaining " gimmick workers ", referring to them as his personal "whack pack". He also displayed an ability to pick up "sold shows", events in which

CWA New England Heavyweight Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-527: The early 1990s. The promotion eventually replaced IWCCW as the dominant independent promotion in the Greater Boston area and, in 1997, became an affiliated territory of the National Wrestling Alliance . Among the wrestlers who followed Rumble to the CWA included The Pink Assassin , "Surfer" Ray Odyssey , Vic Steamboat and "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas . As with IWCCW, several future stars of Extreme Championship Wrestling spent their early careers in

2508-622: The first CWA Light Heavyweight Champion defeating Flexx Wheeler in a tournament final in Windsor Locks, Connecticut and, three years later, The Public Enemy ( Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge ) won the CWA Tag Team Championship. They would eventually lose the titles to The Extremists ( Ace Darling & Devon Storm ) in Worcester, Massachusetts on 24 July 1996. It was around this time that Rumble began working with then ECW promoter Paul Heyman and Sheldon Goldberg, then editor of

2584-483: The first champion and went on to win the title a record three times. He was eventually stripped of the title by CWA President Victoria Van Ellen on January 24, 1998, when the CWA joined the National Wrestling Alliance , and was joined with the CWA Heavyweight Championship to create the NWA New England Heavyweight Championship . The title returned to its original name when the CWA withdrew from

2660-466: The following year and continued in later shows held by both NWA New England and the Millennium Wrestling Federation two years later. This would be one of the last events ever held in the Wrestleplex and it closed at the end of the month. The venue had not only been a home area for NWA New England but of several other local wrestling promotions including PWF Northeast, High Impact Championship Wrestling and

2736-446: The late 1980s and early 1990s, ICW cards occurred in towns like Harrisburgh, Middletown and Monticello, New York. This model was differentiated ICW from other regional federations, in that ICW was a very large territory that didn't have one town or city to act as its local base. So while the company had a presence in a wide area, it never got that strong local following of World Class, the PNW or

2812-579: The legendary Paul Vachon and mainstays of NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling . At the 3-day NWA 57th Anniversary show in Springfield, Tennessee , NWA New England Tag Team Champions Damien & Pierre Vachon defeated NWA Green Mountain Tag Team Champions Really Sensational ("Real Deal" Jay Davis & "Sensational" Sean Reed) on 6 October. On the second night, they lost the titles to Sonny Roselli & Larry Huntley in

2888-545: The main event. The promotion had been experiencing trouble booking events and had been on hiatus for the last seven months. While there were indications for a planned comeback during the summer, the promotion remained inactive for the remainder of the year. The promotion resumed running events again, with new arrivals Chad Merchant and Chad Peters, hired by Ellen Magliaro to take over promotion and booking duties. Two new titles were introduced that year. On 19 June 2004, Cameron Matthews defeated Shawn Styles, Gina Marie and Psycho in

2964-525: The match. At the end of the night, Rumble walked away holding three championship titles. Prior to 2007, Chad Merchant and Chad Peters had left NWA New England to start their own promotion in Vermont , NWA Green Mountain (later NWA Addicted). On 10 March 2007, Beau Douglas defeated Jason Rumble for the NWA New England Heavyweight title in Saugus, Massachusetts , ending Rumble's third reign as champion. Douglas had lost

3040-492: The program. A local car dealership, Atlantic Toyota, initially agreed to sponsor the show but pulled out at the last minute. Several weeks later, on 13 November 1999, Tony Rumble died of a massive heart attack. His wife Ellen took over the promotion, as well as his seat on the NWA Board of Directors, choosing to continue running NWA New England. Rumble's death greatly disrupted the independent wrestling scene in New England. Though

3116-515: The promotion closed down in 1995. A video series, All Star American Wrestling' was released during 1992 and 1993 which featured matches from IWCCW. In early 1993 however, many of its longtime veterans left the promotion to join the newly formed Century Wrestling Alliance (the present day NWA Cold Front ) promoted by former manager and booker Tony Rumble. Among those jumping to Rumble's promotion included then Heavyweight Champion Tony Atlas, Light heavyweight champion Joe Savoldi and Tag Team champions

CWA New England Heavyweight Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-656: The promotion entered into a working agreement with Kevin Von Erich to use the World Class Championship Wrestling name. Von Erich had sold the WCCW territory to Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler in 1989 but retained the rights to the World Class name (which is why Jarrett and Lawler created the United States Wrestling Association ). Since there was no real “home promotion” of WCCW the “merger”

3268-499: The promotion including Tommy Dreamer , The Tazmaniac and The Public Enemy ( Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge ) as well as established Northeastern independent wrestlers such as Amanda Storm, April Hunter , LuFisto , Alex Arion, Juggernaut , Metal Maniac, Al Snow , Tom Brandi , Handsome Johnny , Dan Quirk , Rick Fuller , Wagner Brown , The Extremists ( Ace Darling & Devon Storm ) and The Brotherhood (Erich Sbraccia and Knuckles Nelson ). Sbraccia and Nelson later won

3344-622: The promotion is hired by a school or private organization, and then continuously promote upcoming events from these shows. Within a few years, Rumble had carved out a sizable territory and was promoting shows throughout New England. While Rumble had already been a highly recognizable personality from his years in IWCCW, he also started a Public-access television show, Mass Madness , produced by Pat Doyle. The series had fairly high quality production and featured not only televised wrestling events but also comedic "wrap-around segments". One of these segments, "Tony Rumble's Mike Lano Chronicles", featured

3420-526: The promotion joined the National Wrestling Alliance. Rumble, having seen them perform in IWCCW, had also used future Extreme Championship Wrestling stars The Tazmaniac and Tommy Dreamer . In fact, Dreamer became the promotion's first heavyweight champion when he defeated Tony Atlas in a tournament final in Wallingford, Connecticut on 5 November 1992. On 3 January 1993, The Tazmaniac became

3496-654: The promotion's website, wrote and designed arena programs, posters and tickets. Sheldon was very well-connected due to his newsletter and his position on the Board of Directors of the Cauliflower Alley Club. He proved a valuable addition to the company and was especially involved in the promotion's association with the NWA. Sheldon would later become close friends with its president Howard Brody. Other important members were Patrick Doyle, television producer of Mass Madness , and Boston radio personality Jeff Katz. The promotion

3572-545: The promotion. His inexperience, both as a wrestler and businessman hindered Dellagatta's efforts as well increased competition from rival promotions desperate to take the promotion's top spot in New England. Another factor was the rapidly changing business during " the Attitude Era " instigated by Extreme Championship Wrestling, and later imitated by the World Wrestling Federation. The "sold shows", which had been

3648-436: The referees while Rumble snuck back in and eliminated the last man Beau Douglas. Rumble ended up winning the match making Ortiz submit to an Elevated Boston crab . At the start of the match, the referee was seen taking money from Johnny Fabulous in exchange for a priority mail envelope alleged to have medical records related to an injury Ortiz had recently suffered. He was also observed making deliberate "slow counts" throughout

3724-819: The rights to WCCW footage produced following its buyout by promoter Jerry Jarrett in 1988 and includes the video libraries of USWA Dallas , Wild West Wrestling and the Global Wrestling Federation , and IWCCW remains one of the few North American regional promotions whose collection is not owned by the World Wrestling Entertainment video library . During the late 1990s, the Savoldi family released several low cost DVD series including Classic Superstars of Wrestling which includes early matches from Steve Austin , Mick Foley and Booker T . IWCCW gave many future superstars their first breaks in wrestling and their first television exposure. The federation

3800-477: The rival promotion at this event. On 25 November 2006, in Saugus, Massachusetts , the 7th annual 2006 Tony Rumble Memorial featured several independent stars such as Wagner Brown, Scott Grimes and Millennium Wrestling Federation manager Johnny Fabulous, father of WWE wrestler John Cena . In the opening bout, Rumble had also won the Cruiserweight and X-Division titles in a five-way match between TNT, "Black Lotus" Matt Ledge, Paul Hudson and Cameron Matthews. On

3876-442: The same match for weeks in a row – Vic Steamboat’s title victory over Tony Atlas and Joe Savoldi beating the Tasmaniac for the IWCCW Lightheavyweight title were two of the matches that were shown repeatedly. IWCCW’s “Revolving door” policy often meant that events would be hyped on Television, but never actually happened in real life, the best example of this was an angle between ”Ravishing” Rick Rude and The Honky Tonk Man over who

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3952-549: The semi-main event, Luiz Ortiz defeated Beau Douglas for the vacant NWA New England Championship. During the annual battle royal, the veteran members eliminated the newer NWA members then stopped the battle royal to address the crowd with their fondest memories of Tony Rumble. At the conclusion of the night's events, Rumble's grandson Hunter was invited to the ring where he was given a baseball cap by Bull Montana. The MWF also held theirs weeks earlier, in association with AWA Superstars of Wrestling , at MWF Soul Survivor 2005 and which

4028-416: The similarly named ICW promotion run by Angelo Poffo between 1978 and 1984, or the ICW promotion run by George and Gil Culkin from 1977 to 1979), the promotion started holding events the Boston area sometime around 1984 or 1985. Initially ICW was affiliated with the Puerto Rico -based World Wrestling Council , recognizing the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship and the WWC Tag Team Championship as

4104-519: The taped matches. Sometime in 1985 the working relation between ICW and WWC ended, which led to ICW creating both a Heavyweight and a tag-team title with their own names on them in 1985-86. These matches were initially taped in what appeared to be a high school gymnasium, with Lou Thesz and Les Thatcher providing color commentary. ICW next worked out another working relationship with Championship Wrestling from Florida which saw several Florida stars come to ICW such as Kevin Sullivan (who also acted as

4180-448: The title to Rumble six years before in Nashville, Tennessee . Matt Ledge also won the NWA New England Cruiserweight title in a five-way elimination match against Legion Cage, Paul Hudson, Cameron Matthews and Scotty Vegas. That same day, it was announced that NWA New England was leaving the National Wrestling Alliance after nearly a decade under its banner, returning to its original Century Wrestling Alliance name. Its last advertised event,

4256-424: The title. Steele also threatened Rumble in a post-match interview, "promising to return to New England in the near future for revenge". During 1999, Mass Madness was eventually shown on regular broadcast television via independent UHF television station WNDS, out of Derry, New Hampshire . The show changed its format and, after 16 weeks, the station wanted to change the arraignment and be paid in order to air

4332-435: The titles separate. Around 1989–90 ICW began using more “kid oriented” gimmicks like “Super Duper Mario” (a wrestling version of Super Mario ) as well as Curly Moe , the Equalizers: Zip, Zap and Zoom and even had a “Teen Report” segment hosted by kids. Paul E. Dangerously , after being fired from WCW , went to work for the company as a writer, but was fired on his first day in the middle of his first TV taping. In 1991,

4408-405: The top championships in the promotion. The titles were never clearly named as “WWC” titles on ICW television, nor were they presented as being owned by ICW. On February 27, 1985, Dory Funk, Jr. defeated Carlos Colón for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title in Bangor, Maine . It marked the first time that the WWC Universal Title changed hands outside of Puerto Rico. During the time WWC and ICW had

4484-463: The undercard, Antonio Thomas defeated "Future Legend" Luke Robinson. Earlier in the night, two different matches were held to determine the opponents of NWA New England Heavyweight Champion Louis Ortiz in the main event. Wagner Brown defeated Beau Douglas and Scott Hanson in a triple threat match, and "Boston Bad Boy" Jason Rumble won a Royal Rumble-styled battle royal. Although Rumble had been eliminated, along with Todd Hanson, Johnny Fabulous distracted

4560-414: The undercard, saw The Brotherhood (Erich Sbraccia & Knuckles Nelson ) defeat NWA World Tag Team Champions NWA All-Star 's The Border Patrol (Agent Gunn and Agent Maxx) in an interpromotional four corners match with NWA Southwest's Team Extreme (Kit Carson and Khris Germany) and special guests Tully Blanchard and Dr. Tom Prichard . Barry Windham was originally scheduled to team with Blanchard but

4636-432: The vacant title at the supercard Extreme Revenge in Bellingham, Massachusetts. The title was eventually merged with the NWW Heavyweight Championship when Bidondi failed to arrive for a match against NWW Champion Beau Douglas at another supercard, Summer Blackout , in Attleboro, Massachusetts on 20 August, which ended the working partnership between the two promotions. The previous month, Adam Booker beat Beau Douglas in

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4712-439: The winner receives a match against the NWA New England Heavyweight Champion in the main event. This event should not be confused with a separate version held by the Millennium Wrestling Federation which, although is also held as a tribute to Tony Rumble, has no connection to NWA New England and is held at their supercard Soul Survivor . International World Class Championship Wrestling An "outlaw" wrestling promotion in

4788-414: Was also featured in Ringside Wrestling . On 24 January 1998, the Century Wrestling Alliance became an official affiliate for National Wrestling Alliance and renamed NWA New England, as was its titles. The secondary CWA New England title, previously held by Tony Rumble, would be merged with the main CWA Heavyweight title to create a new NWA New England Heavyweight Championship. The Light Heavyweight title

4864-449: Was assisted by outside interference from A.J. Styles and Mortimer Plumtree on Reynolds' behalf which backfire allowing him the victory. On 6 April 2003, NWA New England held a fundraiser at Riverside Middle School in Riverside, Rhode Island for victims and families of the Station nightclub fire , the proceeds later being donated to related charities. The event also featured Jonah from WWE Tough Enough 3 who wrestled Jason Rumble in

4940-593: Was even seen on Satellite channels in the United Kingdom . The ICW shows usually featured a combination of original ICW/IWCCW footage and repeats of footage from other territories such as WWC, Florida Wrestling, Memphis , the National Wrestling Alliance and vintage footage of the World Wrestling Federation . During its existence, the first over-the-air video music channel V66 added the syndicated show to daily rotation Monday through Friday at 7pm. From around 1990 and on ICW Television often repeated old ICW matches, sometimes presenting them as brand new, other times repeating

5016-406: Was headlined by Kevin Sullivan, still a booker at WCW, and had held the heavyweight title for the past two years. He would eventually be stripped of the title after losing a Loser-Must-Retire match against Chris Benoit on 14 July 1997. Rumble was so impressed by Goldberg that he offered him a position as the official CWA Commissioner. Goldberg oversaw merchandise sales at house shows, but also ran

5092-591: Was in many ways the breeding ground for future Eastern Championship Wrestling (later “Extreme Championship Wrestling”) performers due to the fact that Paul Heyman worked for the company as head booker in late 1989 and early 1990 and got to know quite a few of the people involved, such as Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge who both competed in IWCCW under different gimmicks. Rocco Rock was a masked high flier known as “The Cheetah Kid” while Johnny Grunge worked both as “Johnny Rotten” and “Equalizer Zap”. Heyman would repackage both men as The Public Enemy . Peter Senerchia ,

5168-478: Was involved in a promotion called Ultimate Professional Wrestling (not to be mistaken for Ultimate Pro Wrestling) which continued IWCCW’s tradition of mixing current wrestling with classic matches on their TV shows. UPW's website claims to be a direct continuation of ICW. Despite being a small promotion that mainly toured in the New England area ICW/IWCCW had a nationally syndicated show from its inception. The show, simply called International Championship Wrestling

5244-528: Was not a fully trained referee at the time. Fuller remained in the promotion during the next year eventually winning the heavyweight title from Beau Douglas in Woonsocket, Rhode Island on 13 July 2002. On 22 November 2002, the first annual Tony Rumble Memorial Show was held at the Wrestleplex in Woonsocket, the first of several tribute shows held in Tony Rumble's memory during the next five years. The "Tony Rumble Memorial Battle Royal won by 2nd Generation Brotherhood Member BIG DA The DarkAngel" would be introduced

5320-424: Was only really felt in ICW and mainly as a way to re-brand the federation so that it did not have the same name as Angelo Poffo’s old ICW territory. Due to this working agreement, ICW changed the name of the promotion to International World Class Championship Wrestling (IWCCW), using the same opening sequence as WCCW did in the 1980s, with Earth from the Apollo 16 mission in the background. Kevin Von Erich had won

5396-412: Was present at the NWA 50th Anniversary Show , held at the Cherry Hill Hilton's "Crystal Ballroom" in Cherry Hill, New Jersey , on 24 October 1998. The first match was a three-way dance between Tre, Ray Odyssey and The Inferno Kid for the NWA New England Junior Heavyweight Championship which lasted a little over 12 minutes and ended by count-out, allowing Tre to retain the title. The second match, part of

5472-655: Was renamed as an NWA cruiserweight championship. In addition, several new titles were introduced including the Brass Knuckles and Women's titles. Tournaments were held for several of these new titles. On 17 January 1998, Erich Sbraccia defeated Vic Steamboat to win the NWA New England Heavyweight title in Southbridge, Massachusetts . Violet Flame defeated Amanda Storm for the women's title in Bridgeport, Connecticut on 15 October 1999, and Mike Johnson defeated Trooper Gilmore for

5548-498: Was the best Intercontinental Champion of all time. Vignettes were aired for months on end, but neither Rude nor the Honky Tonk Man ever worked in an ICW ring to settle the issue. However, after quite a number of years, the owners of the IWCCW footage released this very match, long rumored to have never taken place, via their streaming service called Ultimate Classic Wrestling Network In addition to its television series, IWCCW owns

5624-541: Was unable to attend. Rumble had been the manager and cornerman for both events. The Brotherhood continued to defend the World titles, as well as the NWA New England versions, and included other members, most notably Dukes Dalton and Rick Fuller , who substituted for Sbraccia when he was injured. Fuller and Knuckles Nelson eventually lost the titles to The Public Enemy at a house show in Bolton, Massachusetts on 17 June 1999. Also on

5700-587: Was won by Ox Baker . On 30 July 2006, NWA New England was subjected to an "invasion" by Collision Pro Wrestling (now ACID Wrestling) after inviting promoter Brian Reese and the CPW roster to promote their organization at an event held at Sanford Sound's 10th Annual Bikini Car Wash in Sanford, Maine. Reese and his roster mocked the promotion announced their intention to "destroy NWA New England". Three NWA New England members, two of which were Gino Bauer and Barry Ace, defected to

5776-469: Was won by CWA alumni Bull Montana by eliminating The Outpatient. Montana had been Rumble's best friend and best man at his wedding. During 2004 and early 2005, NWA New England became affiliated with another local promotion, New World Wrestling, and had together co-promoted the tribute show. The Colonial title was soon being defended in both promotions. On 5 February 2005, "Bionic" Dan Bidondi defeated Chris Blackheart, "Gorgeous" Donny Rotten and Don Vega for

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