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45-562: 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

90-512: A city construction worker in Chicago. While on the job in 1987, he fell off a truck and landed on a steel plate suffering a severe back injury. He underwent surgery which required an intervertebral disc to be removed and two spinal fusions . Although he would recover from his injuries, he was told by doctors that he would unable to return to wrestling. DeCero also required surgery to remove growths caused by steroid use. He decided to open his own promotion, Windy City Wrestling , and spent almost

135-404: 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

180-406: A snack, then I'd have lunch, usually two Whoppers, two Big Macs, something like that. Then I'd have another snack in the afternoon. Then I'd go train. Then I'd have another protein shake. Then I'd come home and have dinner, which was usually a steak, five baked potatoes, a whole can of corn, or beans, or peas, or something like that. And I'd have a snack before bedtime, like a sundae or something. So I

225-478: A subsidiary. The company was founded by Andrew Filipowski in 1999. The company had 38 people on board of directors , including Michael Jordan , and on February 3, 2001, 27 members resigned as the company attempted to streamline its management. In July 2000, as the dot-com bubble burst, the company became a public company via an initial public offering . In February 2001, the company changed its name from Divine Interventures to Divine. In April 2001,

270-563: A supershow at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois in conjunction. While the event was a moderate success, it was not enough to turn the company around and in December 2010, WCPW ran its last event with DeCero as owner. 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

315-899: A week and, while in World Japan Pro Wrestling , faced IWGP Tag Team Champions Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura in a no disqualification match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship . DeCero praised the Japanese and described his experiences overseas in an interview years later. They train seven days a week out there [in Japan]. They use karate and everything in their matches. We went out there, and we wouldn't let them intimidate us. We just started banging heads, and we ended up having good wrestling matches, and they respected us. As soon as they started throwing chops in, or kicks or something, to our stomachs, we'd just label them right in

360-528: A year gathering the necessary capital from family and friends prior to its debut in 1988. Mike Gretchner was one of the biggest investors and later became the Windy City Wrestling's general manager . He also started a wrestling school, Windy City Professional Wrestling Academy, in South Side Chicago which trained hundreds of wrestlers during the next twenty years. In September 1988, the school

405-559: The American Wrestling Association where they became one of its top tag teams during the mid-1980s. Some of their highlight matches were against teams such as The Midnight Rockers ( Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels ) and AWA Tag Team Champions Curt Hennig & Scott Hall whom they faced in Hammond, Indiana on March 22, 1986. He and Mad Maxx also went on several tours of Japan where they earned as much as $ 3,000

450-617: The International Amphitheater , which later aired on WMBD-TV . During the summer, saw serious losses due to poor attendance, including losing $ 10,000 at a show in Rockford, Illinois and between $ 12,000–13,000 at the International Amphitheater. In September, despite drawing a large crowd at a card featuring Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy and Bam Bam Bigalow in the main event, the promotion still lost money. Within four years,

495-617: The World Wrestling Association as Slammin' Sammy Darro. One of his first matches was against one of his childhood heroes Dick the Bruiser . While wrestling in the WWA, DeCero met his future tag team partner Mad Maxx and, changing his name to Super Maxx , they eventually began teaming together. After winning the WWA World Tag Team Championship from Dick the Bruiser & Jeff Van Kamp in 1984, they moved on to

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540-463: The independent circuit , TNA and AEW . A native of Chicago, Illinois , Sam DeCero became interested in professional wrestling at an early age and remained a fan throughout his childhood. He often attended live wrestling events with his parents at the International Amphitheater , where he watched the Vachon Brothers ( Mad Dog & Butcher Vachon ), Hercules Cortez , The Crusher , Dick

585-729: 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. Super Maxx DeCero is also the founder of Windy City Wrestling based in Chicago, Illinois , one of the oldest independent promotions in the United States, and is responsible for training hundreds of wrestlers. One of his former students, Christopher Daniels , started his career in DeCero's promotion and later became an established star on

630-588: The Barbarian at the International Amphitheater in Chicago, Illinois on August 12, 1988. Other mainstays included "Mean" Mike Anthony, Trevor Blanchard, Rockin' Randy, Tony Montana, and The Power Twins (Larry & David Sontag). The annual Battle of the Belts supercard was aired on SportsChannel on May 22, 1993, and two years later, it presented Sailor Art Thomas a "Lifetime Service to Sport Award" on May 16, 1995. The promotion also began holding events in venues outside

675-582: The Belts 17 was held at the Hammond Civic Center on May 17, 2005; shortly before signing with World Wrestling Entertainment , Rob Van Dam had previously headlined a WCPW event against League Champion "Tenacious" Terry Allen at the building on May 26, 2001 attended by 2,000 fans. Reduced revenue as a result of losing talent to major promotions led to the closure of WCPW's South Side Production Studio. WCPW attempted to revive business by hiring Hulk Hogan to appear at an autograph signing in 2009 and promoting

720-439: The Bruiser , and other stars of the era . He became interested in music as a teenager and played the kettle drum in his school marching band . At age 16, while still in high school, DeCero joined a heavy metal band. Though achieving some limited success, he eventually left the band after six years. DeCero approached promoter Paul Krusky after attending a local wrestling show and asked about entering professional wrestling. He

765-725: 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 " sports entertainment " based promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation , and it began competing with rival promotions such as All American Wrestling , Independent Wrestling Association Midsouth and AWA Slam . Working with its affiliate organization Urban American Professional Wrestling in Chicago's inner-city areas in recent years, its South Side wrestling school

810-477: The Chicago wrestling scene to join him in doing the one thing that every person who has ever started a wrestling group in Chicago has always wanted to do - conquer Sam DeCero and his WCPW" . Billy Whack had previously promoted Lunatic Wrestling Federation, formerly based in Mokena and Midlothian, Illinois , which had rivaled DeCero's organization in previous years. In December 2010, Windy City Pro Wrestling closed. On

855-716: The Chicago-area such the Hammond Civic Center in Hammond, Indiana and Hempstead High School in Dubuque, Iowa in February 1996. In September, the promotion initiated in a nine-month legal dispute with Ted Turner 's World Championship Wrestling regarding trademark infringement over the use of the WCW acronym. The matter was settled out of court and in late 1997, the promotion was renamed Windy City Pro Wrestling (WCPW). In August 1999,

900-502: The Chicago-area, several light heavyweight wrestlers such as Ace Steel , Sosay , Kevin Quinn, Christopher Daniels , "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

945-490: The December 31, 2012 episode of WWE Raw , CM Punk and Paul Heyman cut a promo about Punk's injury where Punk brought out his "doctor," "Dr. Samuel DeCero." Since retirement, DeCero has begun a prolific career and venture into Misplaced Pages editing. Most notably, maintaining his alleged “illustrious career’s milestones.” YouTube A video amounting to over 3,000 views Divine (corporation) Divine, Inc. (stylized in lowercase), originally Divine Interventures ,

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990-424: 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. 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,

1035-459: The WCPW 2008 Hall of Fame. Head trainer Sonny Rogers and WCPW alumni Trevor Blanchard, Lips Manson, Zebra Kid, and Christopher Daniels accompanied them to the ring. That same year, DeCero became involved in a kayfabe feud with new co-owner Billy Whack who promised to "contact everyone who DeCero may have ever crossed by non-payment, bad business deals or personal reasons" and "invited every wrestler in

1080-472: The WCPW name for their promotion, delaying the launch. The UK-based promotion changed their name in 2017. In 2018, the first match for this new WCPW was held in Chicago. Later events have since been hosted in DeKalb, Illinois. DeCero operated a well-regarded wrestling school and helped train and/or promote new wrestlers, such as Between 2001 and 2010, Windy City Pro Wrestling hosted an open-invitational tournament,

1125-565: The area. Around this time, he started a sister wrestling promotion, Urban America Pro Wrestling, which ran events in Chicago's inner city neighborhoods and featured African-American and minority wrestlers. In May 2008, DeCero announced at a WCPW show that he would be turning over the promotion to Ripper Manson. It was also at this show that he inducted the Windy City Dream Team (Lance Allen and Eddie Strong), Kevin Quinn, Frank "The Tank" Melson, K.C. Knight and "Iron" Mike Samson into

1170-465: The company acquired most of the assets of MarchFirst for $ 120 million. In May 2001, the company agreed to acquire RoweCom for $ 14 million in stock. In July 2001, the company agreed to acquire eShare for $ 71 million in stock. In August 2001, the company agreed to acquire Open Market for $ 59 million in stock. In January 2003, creditors of RoweCom filed a lawsuit against Divine, claiming that executives fraudulently transferred $ 73.7 million that

1215-488: The face. That would set them back. [Japanese fans] are rowdy, but they're afraid of Americans. We used to carry a whip, snap the whip and wrap it around their neck, so they'd panic, go nuts. And if they hit one of us, and one of the chaperones and one of the Japs saw that, they'd take him in the back and practically beat him to death for hitting us. They were real strict. It was really a unique culture. I really enjoyed it out there. It

1260-537: 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 Morton College in Cicero for their supercard Battle of the Belts 16 grossing over $ 15,000, the following year Battle of

1305-686: The next two years bringing in a number of territory stars such as Mad Maxx, "Mr. Electricity" Steven Regal , Dennis Condrey , "Playboy" Buddy Rose , Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy , Bam Bam Bigelow and Bruiser Brody shortly before his death; it was also where The Texas Hangmen (Psycho & Killer) and manager Paul E. Dangerously started their early careers. Windy City Wrestling also ran a weekly half-hour television show on Sportsvision , produced and directed by DeCero, and aired in five markets within three years. In October 1990, DeCero appeared with head trainer Sonny Rogers and WCW Heavyweight Champion Hurricane Smith as guests on The Doug Buffone Show . The show

1350-598: The promotion as have WWF veterans King Kong Bundy , Greg "The Hammer" Valentine , 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. Bigtime won

1395-451: The promotion began broadcasting live events via the internet through the website LiveOnTheNet.com as part of its Sunday afternoon sports lineup featuring Mike Anthony, "Tenacious" Terry Allen, Ripper Manson, Stone Manson, Steve Boz, Willie "Da Bomb" Richardson, Sgt. Storm, The Outfit, Lips Manson and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. The promotion managed to survive during the decade, and due in part to its wrestling school and televised events in

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1440-501: 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 Paul Heyman , who was also working for Southeastern promotions Southern Championship Wrestling and the Continental Wrestling Federation . Their events were held at DaVinci Manor nightclub (originally Balaban and Katz 's Manor Theater) and

1485-769: The promotion operated two training facilities and had a weekly half-hour television show airing on SportsChannel . They also participated in several fundraisers for charity organizations including Toys for Tots , Muscular Dystrophy , Maryville City for Youth and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. During the late 1980s, the promotion featured many popular wrestlers of the era including Dick Murdoch , Shigeri Akabane , Dennis Condrey , Steve Regal , and George Ringo, who acted as honorary commissioner. Prior to his death in Puerto Rico, Bruiser Brody had been scheduled to face Nord

1530-400: The promotion would also organize fundraisers for local fraternal police orders, booster clubs , and high schools . Much of DeCero's charity work, as well as the wrestling school, attracted considerable media attention from newspapers and magazines. Windy City Wrestling was, at one point, ranked the fifth largest promotion in the United States. With the end of the 1980s wrestling boom, DeCero

1575-570: The ring and participated in wrestling matches for which he was paid $ 10. This story has always been subject to question, especially as DeCero's mom Kay would regale the Windy City roster with stories of how he would come home from training with Angelo Poffo at his home in Downers Grove and demonsrate some new hold or move he learned that night. From there, he spent his rookie year in Indianapolis for

1620-565: The top facilities in the region and whose students included Baltazar, Steve Boz, Terry Allen, Vic Capri, Trevor Blanchard, Jayson Reign, Mike Anthony, Ace Steel , Sosay , Kevin Quinn and Christopher Daniels . DeCero has also helped train referee Terry Hopper, female wrestler Sandra D and midget wrestler Puppet the Psycho Dwarf. In 1998, he had 70 students enrolled in his school. Several of his students have appeared as preliminary wrestlers at WWF house shows and televised events in

1665-464: Was a company that invested in internet companies during the dot-com bubble . The company was originally modeled after CMGI but changed its business plan after the bubble burst. The company's tagline was "an Internet Zaibatsu " and the company's goal was to create "a family of businesses that work collaboratively to create mutual opportunity and gain." In 2003, it filed bankruptcy and underwent liquidation after executives were accused of looting

1710-706: Was clean, a lot cleaner than it is in this country. They mop the damn sidewalks in the morning. People are clean, restaurants were spotless. Man, you don't even see a crumb on the table. It makes it real pleasant to eat, and just to be there. It's real expensive, though. Throughout his career, he wrestled many of the top stars in the Midwest and Central States territories including Bruiser Brody , Adrian Adonis , Dick Murdoch , Jesse Ventura , Mr. Saito and Nick Bockwinkel . Many of these wrestlers gained respect for DeCero, who frequently faced them in "stiff" matches , and has credited them for helping him during his early career. During his wrestling career, DeCero also worked as

1755-517: Was featured on Insomniac with Dave Attell in 2002. 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

1800-618: Was hopeful that his promotion would surpass the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation . He cited both the general decline of the NWA and Hulk Hogan 's departure from the WWF, as well as correctly predicting the close of Pacific Northwest Wrestling , as reasons for his promotion to become the top wrestling organization. It was also his opinion that fans had grown tired of sports entertainment and that Windy City Wrestling

1845-490: Was initially turned away by Krusky who told the 22-year-old DeCero he was far too small to compete. DeCero began training and within three months, he had increased his weight from 165 to 200 lbs. greatly improving his overall muscle mass . He later described his diet and training regimen in a 1991 interview, I was eating 10,000 calories a day. My diet was a shake in the morning with protein powder, two eggs, two bananas, and then I'd go out and have breakfast. Then I'd have

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1890-595: Was one of the few, if not the only promotion, actively promoting traditional " family friendly " wrestling. Although financial setbacks and the decline of the territory system eventually forced DeCero to keep the promotion based in the general Chicago area, it was the only Midwestern regional promotion to survive into the 1990s. He was also able to feature former WWF stars such as Brian Knobs , Bob Backlund , Greg Valentine and King Kong Bundy as well as younger Extreme Championship Wrestling wrestlers Rob Van Dam and Sabu . His wrestling school also remained one of

1935-486: Was profiled by the Chicago Sun-Times as reporter Larry Weintraub took part in a 3-hour training session under Frank "The Tank" Melson, Tarzan and DeCero. DeCero later said that it was his intention to bring back the "blood-and-guts wrestling that people loved years ago in the (International) Amphitheatre" and to make Chicago the center of professional wrestling once more. The promotion became very successful during

1980-657: Was really piling it in. I got up to 200 pounds, went back to see [Krusky], and he couldn't believe I was the same guy, because I wasn't fat, I was muscular. I was working out six days a week, real hard. Krusky agreed to take him into the business and, after paying him a fee, DeCero was introduced to a facility in Louisville, Kentucky where he was trained by Paul Christy and Randy Savage , as well as his brother Lanny and father Angelo Poffo , for eight months before making his debut in 1981. Throughout his training, he drove 14 hours to and from Louisville each weekend, helped set up

2025-544: Was taped at Ditka's Restaurant in Merrillville, Indiana , and also featured former Chicago Bears lineman Revie Sorey . By 1991, DeCero had promoted over 80 shows and helped organize fundraisers for Toys for Tots , Muscular Dystrophy and the Maryville City for Youth. One of his benefit shows with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless was held at the International Amphitheater and was attended by 4,000 fans. DeCero and

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