World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) is a defunct American professional wrestling promotion founded by media tycoon Ted Turner in 1988. For much of its existence, WCW was one of the top professional wrestling promotions in the United States, and was a significant competitor to the dominant World Wrestling Federation.
Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. was 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. 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 in 1988, resulting in the creation of World Championship Wrestling.
Edward McDaniel was a Choctaw-Chickasaw Native American who achieved fame as a professional American football player and later as a professional wrestler. He is notable for having held the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship five times. McDaniel was a major star in prominent National Wrestling Alliance affiliated promotions such as Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling, NWA Big Time Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions.
Richard Van Slater better known by his ring name "Dirty" Dick Slater, was an American professional wrestler who wrestled in the 1970s, 1980s, and mid-1990s for various promotions including Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Joseph Melton James is an American retired professional wrestler and Hall of Famer, better known by his ring name, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. In the course of his career, which spanned five decades, Armstrong held numerous championships throughout the Southeastern United States. His four sons, Joseph, Robert Bradley, Steve and Brian, all became wrestlers.
Paul Frederik was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager, better known by his ring name, Paul Jones. He is best known for his appearances with professional wrestling promotions in the Southeastern United States, in particular with Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling – where he had 23 championship reigns and led the stable Paul Jones' Army – and Championship Wrestling from Florida.
Thomas Richardson is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tommy “Wildfire” Rich. He is a one time former National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion and Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Champion. He primarily appeared in Georgia Championship Wrestling and Memphis throughout the 1980s, as well as World Championship Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling throughout the 1990s.
Kevin Francis Sullivan is an American professional wrestler and booker, perhaps best known for his role in World Championship Wrestling.
Eugene Avon Anderson was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. He is best known as one-half of the tag team The Minnesota Wrecking Crew with Lars Anderson and Ole Anderson. He was a marquee performer for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from the late 1960s, appearing with promotions including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (ACW). The Minnesota Wrecking Crew were named "Tag Team of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated in 1975 and 1977.
Leati Sika Anoa'i Amituana'i, better known as Sika Anoa'i or simply Sika, is an American Samoan retired professional wrestler. He is best known as one-half of the tag team The Wild Samoans with his brother Afa. Championships held by Anoa'i over the course of his career include the WWF World Tag Team Championship. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2012. He is a member of the Anoa'i family and the father of professional wrestlers Rosey and Roman Reigns.
Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia. The territory was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
Joseph Hamilton is an American retired professional wrestler and current wrestling promoter and trainer. In his active days, Hamilton was best known as one half of the tag team The Assassins where he was called "Assassin #1". When the Assassins ended, Hamilton wrestled as "The Assassin" and "The Flame" both while wearing a mask.
WCW Saturday Night is a weekly Saturday night TV 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 Ted Turner-backed wrestling company, the September 1995 premiere of WCW Monday Nitro airing on sister station Turner Network Television usurped the show's once preeminent position in the company, as the primary source of storyline development and pay-per-view buildup.
James Edward Barnett was an American professional wrestling promoter, and one of the owners of the Indianapolis National Wrestling Alliance promotion, Australia's World Championship Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling.
Samuel K. Mokuahi was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Sammy Steamboat.
Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship Wrestling and Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling territories owned by Fuller, who purchased the Knoxville territory from John Cazana in 1974 and the Alabama/Florida territory in 1977. When Fuller sold the promotion to David Woods in 1988, the name was changed to Continental Wrestling Federation.
Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling was a Southeastern independent professional wrestling promotion based in Marietta, Georgia. It was founded by retired wrestler and former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes in 2000 and, during its three years in operation, held events throughout the Southern United States in Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and Alabama; it was especially popular in Atlanta, Georgia and Dothan, Alabama where the promotion regularly held events. TCW also cooperated with rival independent promotions by holding interpromotional shows with Florida Championship Wrestling. The promotion, at its height, had a successful weekly television series in the Atlanta-Macon, Georgia area and had planned to air one live pay-per-view event before its close in 2003.
Joe Pedicino was an American professional wrestling announcer, commentator, promoter, television and radio producer. He was a well-known on-air personality in regional territories of the Southern United States during the 1980s, being an announcer and commentator for Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling, and as host of the nationally syndicated Superstars of Wrestling with his wife Boni Blackstone and Gordon Solie from 1986 to 1992.
Francois Miquet was an American professional wrestler who worked primarily in the United States of America under the ring name Corsica Joe. As Corsica Joe he teamed up with Jean Louis Roy, who was billed as "Corsica Jean" to form a very successful tag team known as "The Corsicans". The Corsicans held a number of tag team championships, especially in the southern National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories of NWA Mid-America, Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling. He was the brother of Felix Miquet who was also a wrestler, but worked primarily in the United Kingdom. He was married to female pro wrestler Sarah Lee, sometimes billed as "Sara Corsica".
Southern Championship Wrestling (SCW) was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Marietta, Georgia by Jerry Blackwell and operated from 1988 to 1990, and was continued by his successor, Joe Pedicino, who ran the promotion as Georgia All-Star Wrestling for another year.
