Aloysius Martin Thesz, known by the ring name Lou Thesz, was an American professional wrestler. Considered to be one of the last true shooters in professional wrestling and described as the "quintessential athlete" and a "polished warrior who could break a man in two if pushed the wrong way", Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, the greatest wrestling world champion in history, and possibly the last globally accepted world champion.
Anthony Durante was an American professional wrestler best known under the ring name "Pitbull #2" as one half of the tag team The Pitbulls, with "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe. The team is best known for their time in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where the team was the promotion's World Tag Team Championship once. Apart from tag team competition, Durante also achieved success briefly as a singles competitor, challenging for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on a few occasions while holding the ECW World Television Championship once.
Richard Wendell Morton is an American professional wrestler, currently performing on the independent circuit. For most of his career, Morton has performed with Robert Gibson as the Rock 'n' Roll Express, described as "the consummate babyface tag team". Morton has wrestled for multiple promotions in the United States including the Continental Wrestling Association, Mid-South Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, and Extreme Championship Wrestling, as well as the Japanese promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Wrestle Association R.
Joseph Edward Hitchen is a Canadian retired professional wrestler and trainer, known under his ring name Joe E. Legend. He also wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation from 2000 to 2001 under the ring name Just Joe.
William Fritz Ensor was an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel. He was best known for his work in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories.
Karel Istaz, best known by his ring name Karl Gotch, was a Belgian-American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, catch wrestler, and trainer. He represented Belgium at the 1948 Summer Olympics in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. In Japan, he is known as the "God of Wrestling" due to his influence on Japanese professional wrestling. Gotch significantly influenced the development of modern mixed martial arts (MMA). His students established MMA promotions and training schools to transmit Gotch's training. These include Shooto and Pancrase, both of which predate the UFC; Fighting Network Rings, and PRIDE, one of the most popular MMA promotions in history.
Tokimitsu Ishizawa, better known by his ring name Kendo Kashin, is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a two time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, a one time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and the winner of the 1999 Best of the Super Juniors. He is also known for his forays into mixed martial arts, most notably for Pride Fighting Championship (Pride), where he defeated Gracie Jiu Jitsu fighter Ryan Gracie at PRIDE 15. He currently wrestles for Pro Wrestling Noah.
Otto Wanz was an Austrian professional wrestler and boxer. He made his professional wrestling debut in 1968. He is a one time American Wrestling Association champion and former operator of the Catch Wrestling Association, where he was the promotion's inaugural World Heavyweight Champion, winning the title four times. He is overall a five-time world champion and the longest reigning world champion in Europe.
Paul Neu is an American professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his stints in World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the ring name P. N. News.
The Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany that was founded in 1973. It was run by Otto Wanz. The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions. During the late 1970s it overtook the old Verband der Berufsringer to become the dominant promotion in the German/Austrian wrestling territory, maintaining a high profile even after the invasion of WWF circa 1990. After its closure it was replaced in 2000 by the European Wrestling Promotion (EWP), which was renamed the Catch Wrestling Promotion (CWP) in 2023.
Luc Poirier is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) under the ring name Rambo and with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Sniper. Rambo was pushed as the top star of CWA after the departure of the promotion's owner Otto Wanz and became a major main event star. He headlined the company's flagship event Euro Catch Festival twelve times between 1991 and 1999, with his each match for the CWA World Heavyweight Championship. He is overall a four-time world champion.
Osamu Nishimura is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer. Nishimura formerly worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and MUGA World Pro Wrestling (MUGA).
Franz Schumann is a retired Austrian professional wrestler, who was well known for his stint in Catch Wrestling Association.
Larry Cameron was an American professional football player and wrestler.
Tony St. Clair is an English retired professional wrestler. He is well known for his stints in Joint Promotions and All Star Wrestling in the United Kingdom, Catch Wrestling Association in Austria and Germany, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He is also known as a trainer, with his trainees including "Gentleman" Chris Adams and Osamu Nishimura.
Ulf Nadrowski is a German professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ulf Herman. He is best known in the United States for his appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling where he was part of The Full Blooded Italians faction from 1998 to 1999. Herman is also known around the world for his time in the European independent circuit, most notably in the United Kingdom for All Star Wrestling, the BWF, Frontier Wrestling Alliance, and more recently 1 Pro Wrestling and Real Quality Wrestling.
The CWA Submission Shootfighting Championship was a professional wrestling singles championship in the German professional wrestling promotion Catch Wrestling Association (CWA). The championship was contested under 10 three-minute rounds.
CWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling junior heavyweight world championship in Catch Wrestling Association (CWA). The title was established in 1993 as a weight-class title along with the CWA World Middleweight Championship. Bonecrusher Sileo was crowned the inaugural champion by defeating Lance Storm at Clash of the Champions event on July 3, 1993. The title was defended in CWA until the promotion closed after holding its final event Euro Catch Festival on December 4, 1999. The champion Karsten Kretschmer then began defending the title in the German independent promotion Athletik Championship Wrestling (ACW), where he would lose the title to Eric Schwarz, who would retire the title in September 2000. The championship was contested under 12 three-minute rounds.
The CWA World Middleweight Championship was a professional wrestling middleweight championship in Catch Wrestling Association (CWA). The title was one of the two weight-based titles in CWA, along with the CWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, which was introduced in 1993. The title was created in December 1984 and a tournament was set up to determine the inaugural champion. The last previous holder of the European version of the World Middlweight Championship, Adrian Street, had moved to the United States in 1981. Tony St. Clair won the tournament to become the inaugural holder of the new CWA version on December 22, 1984. The title was deactivated when the company closed on December 4, 1999. The championship was contested under 12 three-minute rounds. A rival European version of the World Middleweight championship was promoted in the UK by All Star Wrestling and Rumble Promotions 1991-1996.
Euro Catch Festival was an annual professional wrestling event produced by Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) between 1991 and 1999. The event was hailed as the company's flagship event and the biggest event of the year. Two editions of the event were held once a year; the July event was held in Graz, Austria and the December event was held in Bremen, Germany. The 1999 edition of the event was the final CWA show as the promotion closed after that event.