 | This article needs to be updated.(May 2024) |
The following is a historical overview television coverage provided the National Wrestling Alliance's territories. The NWA began in 1948 as a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions.
On December 25, 1971, Georgia Championship Wrestling made its television debut with a special Christmas program. Beginning in late January 1972 the promotion's regular series, Big Time Wrestling, began airing on Saturday afternoons on WQXI-TV in Atlanta; the show was recorded for later broadcast over WJBF in Augusta and WTOC-TV in Savannah, stations located in two of GCW's major cities. Big Time Wrestling was hosted by Ed Capral, and featured ring announcer Charlie Harben and referee Leo Garibaldi, and included interviews with wrestlers pertaining to their upcoming matches.
The promotion underwent some big changes in 1972. Firstly, it started promoting matches at the then-brand-new Omni Coliseum. Secondly, it switched its television outlet from its original home, then-ABC-affiliated WQXI-TV (now WXIA-TV) to UHF independent station WTCG, then owned by Ted Turner. WTCG would become a satellite-distributed superstation in 1976, change its call letters to WTBS in 1979, and became WPCH-TV after its over-the-air Atlanta-area signal was spun off from the national TBS cable channel in 2007.
When WTCG became distributed via satellite in 1976, the renamed Georgia Championship Wrestling became the first television program produced by an NWA-affiliated promotion to be broadcast nationally. This program was hosted by Gordon Solie and was recorded in the studios of WTCG in Midtown Atlanta. Shows were taped before a small (yet enthusiastic), live in-studio audience, as were most professional wrestling TV shows of that era. The show featured wrestling matches, plus melodramatic monologues and inter-character confrontations—similar to the programming offered by other territories, including the Northeast-based World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). GCW's main show, which aired on Saturday evenings, was complemented with a Sunday evening edition.
By the early 1970s Jim Crockett Promotions had gradually phased-out its multiple weekly television tapings in such cities as Charlotte, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, and High Point, North Carolina, consolidating its production schedule into just one shoot (a Wednesday night videotaping at WRAL-TV in Raleigh), and then syndicating the broadcast to several local TV stations throughout the Carolinas and Virginia. In 1981, JCP moved to the WPCQ-TV studios in Charlotte (a station once owned by Ted Turner).
The local shows hosted by announcers like Billy "Big Bill" Ward (from WBTV in Charlotte) and Charlie Harville (at WGHP in High Point) gave way to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (known briefly in 1978 as Mid-Atlantic Championship Sports). Mid-Atlantic was hosted by Bob Caudle, (a longtime WRAL weatherman). Caudle was joined by a rotation of co-hosts (everyone from Les Thatcher all the way to Dr. Tom Miller), before David Crockett (another son of Jim Crockett Sr.) became Bob's permanent co-host/color commentary man (after ending a very brief career as a wrestler, himself). For a brief period, a secondary show, East Coast Wrestling, was taped at WRAL; it was basically a re-packaged version of Mid-Atlantic, and it was also announced by Billy "Big Bill" Ward.
In 1975, JCP premiered a new, syndicated show, Wide World Wrestling (renamed World Wide Wrestling in 1978). The original host of this show was former Georgia Championship Wrestling announcer Ed Capral. Subsequent Wide World/World Wide announcers included Les Thatcher, George and Sandy Scott, and Dr. Tom Miller. It was also hosted by the team of Rich Landrum and Johnny Weaver. In 1978, JCP later added a short-lived show, The Best of NWA Wrestling, which was taped at the WCCB studios in Charlotte (across the street from the now-Bojangles' Coliseum, a regular venue for Mid-Atlantic live events) and featured then-active wrestler Johnny Weaver sitting down with top stars in a "coach's show" format (in which host and guest did running commentary over 16 millimeter film footage of matches from local arenas). Rich Landrum and David Crockett appeared on "Best Of", doing promo interviews for local arena shows.
Ted Turner, whose Atlanta television station WTCG would become distributed nationally via satellite starting in 1976, had realized the value of professional wrestling for cable television in the early 1970s. WTCG aired Georgia Championship Wrestling's programming on Saturday evenings, and wrestling provided his then-fledgling enterprise (the future SuperStation WTBS) a source of cheap live entertainment which was well-suited to the station's target demographics. Turner could run per inquiry advertisements (for products like Slim Whitman albums and Ginsu knives) and take part of the sales profits just by providing the big viewing audience delivered by pro wrestling's loyal fanbase (wrestling generally did not attract large ad revenues at that time, due to negative industry perceptions of its lower-income target demographic).
SuperStation TBS's parent company, Turner Broadcasting System, had asked Georgia Championship Wrestling to change its public brand name to World Championship Wrestling, helping fuel rumors that the Jim Barnett-controlled company would go national itself; GCW acquiesced to the World Championship Wrestling name change in 1982. [24] Meanwhile, by 1983, JCP went from recording its weekly shows in a television studio to shooting on-location, in between matches at live arena events. After purchasing a mobile television production unit for $1 million, Crockett unveiled what became the NWA's dominant annual supercard, Starrcade. [25]
In 1984, McMahon's WWF purchased controlling interest in GCW from a number of its co-owners (including Barnett and brothers Jack and Jerry Brisco), thus gaining control of GCW's flagship Saturday night time slot on TBS. This tactic—co-opting the time slots of rival territories in their own "backyard"/local TV markets—was part of the WWF's national expansion strategy. To McMahon's surprise, however, the move backfired with TBS. When the WWF aired its first show on TBS on July 14, replacing World Championship Wrestling, viewer backlash was severe, as the show's Southern fans were incensed to see their beloved stars suddenly replaced—without advance notice—by an "invading force" of wrestlers from "up North," an event that has since become known in pro wrestling lore as Black Saturday. In response to the ensuing deluge of complaints, TBS granted an upstart promotion called Championship Wrestling from Georgia (backed by holdout GCW shareholder and NWA member Fred Ward and former GCW wrestler/booker Ole Anderson) an early Saturday morning time slot so that the local stars could still be seen. Championship Wrestling from Georgia's television show (which had the same name as the promotion itself), along with that of Bill Watts's Mid-South Wrestling (to whom Turner had also granted a time slot), easily surpassed the ratings for the WWF broadcast, which only featured clips and wrestler promos instead of original matches. The steep decline in ratings for the Saturday evening WWF show, and viewers clamoring for GCW's return, began to make the WWF's move a money-losing one. Eventually, McMahon cut his losses and sold the time slot to Crockett for $1 million. Although this gave Crockett vital national exposure, it also allowed McMahon to finance his own marquee wrestling event, WrestleMania. This chain of events was critical in Turner's eventual decision to purchase JCP and form World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1988.
Crockett bought out Ole Anderson's Championship Wrestling from Georgia, on April 6, 1985, [26] and was re-elected NWA President. This was to help counter the WWF, after it became America's dominant wrestling business in the wake of WrestleMania. Crockett then purchased both Saturday evening TBS time slots from Vince McMahon and filled the time slot with two hours of original programming filmed in Ted Turner's Atlanta studios. The programming aired under the World Championship Wrestling banner, which had been adopted by GCW before its demise. As a result of the success World Championship Wrestling now had from acquiring the Saturday night time slots, Crockett (along with JCP booker Dusty Rhodes) was able to establish an annual summer supercard, "The Great American Bash".
In 2000, several potential buyers for WCW were rumored to show interest in the company. Ted Turner, however, did not hold influence over Time Warner before the final merger of AOL and Time Warner in 2001, and most offers were rejected. Eric Bischoff, working with Fusient Media Ventures, made a bid to acquire the company in January 2001 [27] One of the primary backers in the WCW deal backed out after AOL Time Warner refused to allow WCW to continue airing on its networks, leaving Fusient to take that offer off the table while it attempted to bring a new deal around. In the meantime, Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division, and deemed WCW, along with Turner Sports as a whole, to be out of line with its image and saying that it "would not be favorable enough to get the "right" advertisers to buy airtime" (even though Thunder was the highest-rated show on TBS at the time). As a result, WCW programming was cancelled on TBS and TNT. [28] [29] In the book NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW by Guy Evans, it is said that a key condition in WCW's purchase deal with Fusient was that Fusient wanted control over time slots on TNT and TBS networks, regardless of whether these slots would show WCW programming or not. This influenced Kellner's decision to ultimately cancel WCW programming. WCW's losses were then written-off via purchase accounting; according to Evans: "in the post-merger environment, the new conglomerate was able to 'write down' money losing operations, essentially eliminating those losses because of their irrelevancy moving forward." [30]
The very first programming produced by Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the World Wide Wrestling Federation's immediate predecessor, was Heavyweight Wrestling . The show involved wrestlers of low card to main event status. Following an episode's final match, the ring announcers informed viewers about next week's matches. Most of the events were held in District of Columbia's National Arena. Ray Morgan did the commentary for the show and "Friendly" Bob Freed and "Smiling" Sam Morgan served as ring announcers. Usually the main events involved WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino retaining his title. The show ended in the summer of 1970 and was replaced by All-Star Wrestling.
All-Star Wrestling was a WWF promotional show that featured enhancement matches and interviews that were designed to further featured talent. The show was taped at the Hamburg Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. The show replaced Heavyweight Wrestling from Washington DC. All-Star Wrestling ran from October 2, 1971 through August 30, 1986, when it was replaced by the new program Wrestling Challenge . Challenge was the "B" show of the WWF's syndicated programming, behind Superstars . Typically, the show comprised matches with play-by-play from Vince McMahon, with occasional assistance from Lord Alfred Hayes and Pat Patterson; it was later hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura. From 1984 to 1986, the theme of All-Star Wrestling was David Bowie's "Modern Love".
Championship Wrestling is one of the original TV shows of the World Wrestling Federation. It included all the stars of the WWF, interviews and championship matches. The show lasted from 1972 until August 1986 and was the flagship of the WWF's programming until it was replaced by Superstars of Wrestling . In 1984, the show used "Thriller" by Michael Jackson as its opening theme. The host and announcer was Vince McMahon, often joined by a co-host.
WWF on MSG Network is a monthly television special that aired live from Madison Square Garden on the MSG Network from August 7, 1976 to March 16, 1997.
The NWA's territories were reorganized following the withdrawal of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). As other territories left the organization, the NWA would discontinued its memberships in August 2012. [31] [32] [33] [34]
In 2005 David Marquez, founded the NWA Pro Wrestling/Pro West, NWA Pro was the primary NWA territory of the West Coast, Japan, Mexico, Chile, and Australia, On May 13, 2007 NWA Executive Director Bob Trobich announced that the NWA will cut all ties with the primary NWA Territory at the time, TNA Wrestling vacating both NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Shortly after this, the Reclaiming the Glory tournament was announced to crown a new NWA Worlds Champion. Later that year NWA Pro announced that they would introduce a new TV Program witch would include taped Content from NWA Pro and other territories, on January 16, 2008 NWA Pro would introduce NWA Wrestling Showcase on Colors TV it would air from 2008-2010 before it was rebranded as NWA Championship Wrestling From Hollywood both were produced by Big Vision Entertainment and NWA Championship Wrestling From Hollywood was taped at Columbia Square Studios in Hollywood. [35] After launching on KDOC-TV, the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana [36] became the promotion's home venue. [35] On 12 May 2012, NWA Hollywood ran its first non-TV event in its history, with Scorpio Sky vs. Nick Madrid as it main event. [37]
Perth's Explosive Pro Wrestling had a television series on Access 31 called EPW Monday Night Wrestling from 2008 to 2010. [38] 2016 saw EPW start up its Vimeo channel, From the Vault, which now contains over 100 shows going back to 2003. [39] EPW action can also be viewed worldwide on platforms such as Demand Progress, [40] Highspots Wrestling Network, [41] and Powerslam TV. [42]
Cornelia, Georgia's NWA Wildside's weekly one-hour TV show aired nationally and was available to as much as 40% of the United States at its peak. In late 2004, Wildside was broadcast by The Wrestling Channel in the United Kingdom giving them a transatlantic audience.
On August 9, 2009, at New England Championship Wrestling's 9th anniversary show, NECW announced that starting on January 8, 2010, NECW matches will air from 4pm to 5pm on Fridays on Comcast SportsNet New England. That makes NECW the first pro-wrestling promotion on CSNNE since the channel (then Fox Sports Net New England) aired TNA Impact! from 2004 to 2005. NECW was to tape the debut broadcast for CSNNE on December 19, 2009, in Quincy, Massachusetts, but postponed the taping due to inclement weather. The first 4 episodes were posted on NECW's website after technical issues forced the show's debut on CSNNE to be delayed until February 2010. On February 20, 2013, New England Championship Wrestling announced plans to make their broadcast television debut on local station WMFP in approximately 2.3 million homes throughout the Greater Boston, Metro west, Blackstone Valley area as well as north into southern New Hampshire and the southernmost tip of Maine. Their 30-minute program began airing on the station Thursday nights at 12:30 a.m. starting April 4, 2013. [43]
Ohio Valley Wrestling's television programming originates from the Davis Arena in the Buechel neighborhood of Louisville. [44] Their weekly series, known informally as OVW TV, currently airs locally on WBNA-21 and is streaming online via FITE TV. As of 2020, through various syndication and distribution deals, OVW's weekly series is seen in over 100 million households in the U.S, and over 700 million worldwide. [45] [46] [47]
Pro Wrestling eXpress out of McKeesport, Pennsylvania had a weekly late-night television show that aired on WPTT. [48] In February 2013, Channel 22 began broadcasting PWX Steel City TV on Saturday mornings. The promotion originally had a late-night television show on WPTT during the late 1990s but had been off local television during the previous decade. PWX Steel City TV was syndicated to Channel 26 in mid-Mon Valley and Channel 56 in Westmoreland County reaching a potential audience of 400,000 viewers. Live shows were filmed at "The New PWX Wrestleplex" using a four-camera setup and a green screen for special features. PXW programming was shown in Western Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio and West Virginia on a total of 12 over-the-air television stations. [48] As of 2015, it is also available online via Roku and Vimeo.
In April 2015, Ring Warriors held a 6-hour TV taping at the WPBT studios. The company planned to broadcast the show in India, Singapore and Thailand. [49] On August 15, 2015, Ring Warriors announced an TV Taping deal at Tampa Letter Carriers Hall in Tampa, Florida. On July 23, 2018, Ring Warriors announced on Facebook a national television partnership with WGN America. [50] Ring Warriors would debut on the network starting September 15, 2018. In December 2018, it was announced that episodes of Ring Warriors would begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video, starting with the show's "Winter Finale" on December 22, 2018. [51] Ring Warriors ceased operations after the season finale on December 22, 2018.
NWA Shockwave out of Staten Island was known for its early use of the internet to promote itself, and was the earliest known wrestling organization to broadcast its events on a regular webcast; their show, "Shockwave TV", aired on ITV until 2005.
The first events and TV tapings for Smokey Mountain Wrestling were held in October and November 1991. Matches from these shows were first shown in February 1992. Bob Caudle, who was the play-by-play announcer on the TV program, would also proclaim at the beginning of each show that Smoky Mountain Wrestling was "professional wrestling the way it used to be, and the way you like it." Though the promotion was highly thought of, it struggled to get a profitable television deal, and operated throughout a wrestling recession that would not end until the second half of 1996. After years of operating in red ink, and the loss of financial backing from Rubin, Jim Cornette shut the promotion down in December 1995 to work full-time with the WWF. The last SMW show was held on November 26, 1995 in Cookeville, Tennessee (though it had been announced on SMW TV's November 25, 1995 episode that upcoming shows were to be held at the Collett Street Rec Center in Morganton, North Carolina on December 1, 1995, and at Cloudland High School in Roan Mountain, Tennessee the following night), and featured the entire SMW roster attacking Jim Cornette, who was then pinned by referee Mark Curtis. [52]
In 2007, Salt Lake City's Ultra Championship Wrestling-Zero left AWA Superstars to join the National Wrestling Alliance and began co-promoting shows with NWA Pro. By 2008, UCW-Zero was an official affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance. Martin Casaus, Cassidy, Kahn Kussion, Dallas Murdoch, and Derrick Jannetty all made appearances for the NWA during the NWA TV tapings in Las Vegas and later in Hollywood. During one of these tapings, Cassidy competed against current World Champion Daniel Bryan. Martin Casaus was a routine competitor on the NWA television show, taking on Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, Kahn Kussion, and TJ Perkins.
The West Coast Wrestling Connection on KPDX out of Portland, Oregon debuted on May 24, 2014. [53] The promotion shoots a live TV taping, typically the first Saturday of each month. These tapings were originally held at the Bob White Theatre in Southeast Portland, but have since relocated to the Jackson Armory. The television broadcasts team consists of Jeff Akin on play-by-play and Morty Lipschitz on color commentary.
The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) ended in 2001, with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) gaining a monopoly on the industry. While on a fishing trip, Bob Ryder, Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett contemplated their futures in the professional wrestling business. [54] Ryder suggested a company not reliant on television, but rather one going straight to pay-per-view. [54] In July 2002, Vince Russo joined Jeff and Jerry Jarrett's NWA-TNA promotion as a creative writer and would assist in the writing and production of the shows. Russo states that he coined the name "Total Nonstop Action", the initials of the company "TNA" being a play on "T&A". The original intention, as they were exclusive to pay-per-view, was to be viewed as an edgier product than WWE. [55]
Initially, TNA's weekly pay-per-view show operated as the company's main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions. These shows took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, nicknamed the "TNA Asylum". Xplosion launched on November 27, 2002, as TNA's first regular cable show and featured exclusive matches taped at the TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with TNA wrestlers. The last weekly pay-per-view took place on September 8, 2004.
In May 2004, TNA introduced its second weekly television program, Impact! (stylized as iMPACT!), produced at Soundstage 21, nicknamed the "Impact Zone", at Universal Studios Florida and broadcast on Fox Sports Net. [56] With the show's premiere, TNA introduced a six-sided wrestling ring, [57] [58] the implementation of the "Fox Box" displaying competitors and timekeeping for the match [59] and a generally more sports-like style than the sports entertainment style exemplified by WWE. [59]
Later that year, TNA would later secure a television deal with Spike TV; Impact! debuted on the network on October 1, 2005. The episode saw Team 3D make their TNA debut. [60]
Beginning in August 2012, promotions paid to license the NWA brand. This arrangement ended October 2017, when the NWA was acquired by Lightning One, Inc.
In 2004, Championship Wrestling Alliance's Championship Wrestling TV began airing locally on WCYB-DT2 and was later syndicated nationally on AMG-TV. It held weekly television tapings at the National Guard Armory in Morristown, Tennessee as well as house shows throughout East Tennessee. The promotion joined the National Wrestling Alliance as NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling in early-2011. [61] The announcement was made by CWA Commissioner Robbie Cassidy on the March 13th TV taping of Championship Wrestling TV in Gray, Tennessee. [62] On April 6, 2013, what was now known as NWA Smoky Mountain drew its biggest crowd to date with 2,017 fans attending a NWA Smoky Mountain TV television taping at Elizabethton High School. [63] In October 2013, Givens attempted to raise $15,000 on Kickstarter.com to improve the production values for NWA Smoky Mountain TV. The appeal raised only $1,485 before the 60-day deadline. The show became available on YouTube the following year.
NWA Southern All-Star Wrestling began broadcasting exclusively on cable on Comcast Cable channel 49 on Saturday nights at midnight. Then in 2009, SAW moved to Nashville's WNAB, broadcasting on Saturday nights at 8:00 P.M, and also began to be syndicated throughout the country. In 2010, SAW moved to 9:00 pm, then in 2011 moved to 10:00 pm. In 2012, SAW Moved to Sundays at 10:00 pm, then in 2013 moved to 11:00 pm, then moved to early Sunday mornings at 2:00 A.M. beginning in 2014. In the fall of 2015, SAW left WNAB, and was broadcast on internet only, until 2016 when SAW returned to television, and made its return to Comcast Cable channel 49 on Saturday nights at midnight.
As previously mentioned, in August 2012, the NWA discontinued its memberships and started licensing its brand to wrestling promotions. [31] By 2019, the NWA would transition to become a singular promotion. [32] [33] [34]
Powerrr is the flagship program of the NWA that currently airs Tuesdays at 6:05 pm ET on the official NWA account on X. [64] The series debuted on October 8, 2019, originally airing on the NWA's YouTube channel. [65] From 2021 to the end of 2022, the show had a first airing on Tuesday at 6:05 pm ET on FITE TV, with the episode debuting on the NWA's YouTube channel later in the same week in Friday at 6:05 pm ET. [66] Between February and September of 2024 Powerrr aired on the CW app. [67]
A companion series, titled Power Surge (stylized as NWA Powerrr Surge), premiered on April 13, 2021 and features wrestler interviews, unseen matches, and Power recaps. [68]
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP).
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc.
Jim Crockett Promotions is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1931, the promotion emerged as a cornerstone of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). By the 1980s, Jim Crockett Promotions was, along with the World Wrestling Federation, one of the two largest promotions in the United States. The Crockett family sold a majority interest in the promotion to Turner Broadcasting System, resulting in the creation of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1988. In 2022, Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. was restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett.
The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level rival of the World Wrestling Federation. However, Watts' business strategy quickly swung from "overnight" success to catastrophic failure, resulting in the 1987 sale of the UWF to another rival: Jim Crockett Promotions. The promotion began as an NWA territory, NWA Tri-State, founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s. Tri-State/Mid-South/UWF promoted in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi until 1987.
Paul Worden Taylor III is an American retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Terry Taylor and for his time as an in-ring performer in National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment. From 2003 until 2011, he worked as a road agent, trainer, interviewer and the director of talent relations in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Since 2012, Taylor has worked as a trainer in WWE's developmental territory, NXT.
Joseph Dorgan is an American professional wrestler currently under contract to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), using the ring name Johnny Swinger. Dorgan is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the Johnny Swinger name and with World Wrestling Entertainment as Johnny Parisi.
The NWA National Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the U.S.-based, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
Georgia Championship Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Atlanta, Georgia. The promotion was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia. The company was also known for its self-titled TV program, which aired on Atlanta-based superstation WTBS from the 1970s until 1984 when its timeslot was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation.
WCW Saturday Night is an American weekly Saturday night television show on TBS that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Launched in 1971 initially by Georgia Championship Wrestling, the program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992. Although initially the anchor show of the Turner Broadcasting-backed wrestling company, the September 1995 premiere of WCW Monday Nitro airing on sister station TNT usurped the show's once preeminent position in the company, as the primary source of storyline development and pay-per-view buildup.
WCW WorldWide is an American syndicated television show that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that aired from October 8, 1975, to March 31, 2001. At the time of its cancellation, WorldWide was the longest-running, uninterrupted weekly syndicated show of any kind on the air in the United States.
In American professional wrestling, the term Black Saturday refers to Saturday, July 14, 1984, the day when Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation took over the timeslot on Superstation WTBS that had been home to Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and its flagship weekly program, World Championship Wrestling, for twelve years. McMahon's purchase led to a longstanding rivalry between himself and WTBS owner Ted Turner, who later bought GCW's successor on the network Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and formed his own company under the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) name.
WCW Main Event, originally NWA Main Event, is an American televised wrestling program of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that aired from April 3, 1988 to January 3, 1998. For most of its run, it was the promotion's secondary show and aired on Sunday evenings on TBS. The show originally aired in 1988 as NWA Main Event. The rights to WCW Main Event now belong to WWE.
WCW Pro is an American televised wrestling show that was presented by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Along with WCW WorldWide, it was part of the WCW Disney tapings. The rights to WCW Pro now belong to WWE and 161 episodes of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling are available for streaming on NBCUniversal's Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets.
Best of World Championship Wrestling is an hour-long show, that was the Sunday evening edition of TBS' Saturday night wrestling shows, Georgia Championship Wrestling and NWA World Championship Wrestling. The rights to Best of World Championship Wrestling now belong to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
The 1980s professional wrestling boom, more commonly referred to as the Golden Era or the Rock 'n' Wrestling Era, was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and elsewhere throughout the 1980s. The expansion of cable television and pay-per-view, coupled with the efforts of promoters such as Vince McMahon, saw wrestling shift from a system controlled by numerous regional companies to one dominated by two nationwide companies: McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The decade also saw a considerable decline in the power of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a cartel which had until then dominated the wrestling landscape, and in the efforts to sustain belief in the kayfabe of wrestling.
WWE Libraries Inc., branded as the WWE Legacy Department, is an American media company that consists of the largest collection of professional wrestling videos and copyrights in the world. The Legacy Department is a subsidiary of WWE, the professional wrestling subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings. It comprises not only past and current works by WWE but also the works of now defunct professional wrestling promotions dating back to the 1930s. As of 2014, the library stands at 150,000 hours of content including weekly television shows, pay-per-views, and recorded house shows. The collection represents a very significant portion of the visual history of modern professional wrestling in the United States and Canada. WWE has made their classic holdings available through numerous home video releases, the Vintage television program, and on the WWE Network and WWE Classics on Demand services.
Professional wrestling in the United States, through the advent of television in the 1950s, and cable in the 1980s, began appearing in powerful media outlets, reaching never before seen numbers of viewers. It became an international phenomenon with the expansion of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Throughout the 1990s, professional wrestling achieved highs in both viewers and financial success during a time of fierce competition among competing promotions, such as WWF, World Championship Wrestling, and Extreme Championship Wrestling.
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that existed from 1988 to 2001. It began as a promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that appeared on the national scene under the ownership of media mogul Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to the launch of WCW as a separate promotion, the "World Championship Wrestling" name was used for a television program produced by NWA promotions Georgia Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions on TBS; the name came from an Australian wrestling promotion of the 1970s.
The Monday Night War or the Monday Night Wars, was an era of mainstream televised American professional wrestling, from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001, in which the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw and World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Monday Nitro were broadcast opposite each other in a battle for Nielsen ratings each week. It largely overlapped with the Attitude Era, a period in which the WWF used the term "WWF Attitude" to describe its programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002.
{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help){{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)