The Continental Wrestling Association (later on
“Championship Wrestling Association”) was a wrestling promotion
managed by
Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was
the name of the "governing body" for the
Championship
Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually referred to as
Mid-Southern Wrestling.
This promotion was a
chief NWA territory during the 1970s and early 1980s while
operating out of Tennessee
and Kentucky
. The
CWA was a member of the
National Wrestling Alliance
until 1986 and affiliated with the
American Wrestling
Association until 1989. In 1989, the CWA merged with the
World Class Wrestling
Association to form the
United States Wrestling
Association thus ceasing to exist as a separate entity.
History
The split
The professional wrestling territory commonly referred to as the
“Memphis Area” was originally part of the
NWA
Mid-America promotion that was founded in the 1940s and
operated in Memphis, Tennessee and in Nashville, TN, but also
included stops in Chattanooga, TN, Jackson, TN, Louisville, KY,
Lexington, KY, Bowling Green, KY, Evansville, IN, Birmingham, AL,
Huntsville, AL, Tupelo, MS, Jonesboro, AR, Dayton, OH, Wheeling, WV
and even small towns in southeastern Missouri, northern Georgia and
eastern North Carolina. The "NWA Mid-American" territory was a tag
team hot bed for most of its early years, featuring tag teams in
nearly all of its main events, and sometimes featuring only one or
two singles matches to compliment an evening of tag matches. Such
teams as The Von Brauners, The Interns, The Infernos, The Bounty
Hunters, Tojo Yammamoto and Jerry Jarrett, Don and Al Green, Bobby
Hart and Lorenzo Parente, The Fabulous Kangaroos, Jerry Lawler and
Jim White, The Fabulous Fargos, and a host of other teams were
regulars. During the mid 1970s the focal point of the territory
changed from tag wrestling to singles action around the same time
as Jerry Lawler's rise to become the "King", and a split that
forever changed the territory.
In the mid 1970s the territory split in two, with separate
promoters for each half. Jerry Jarrett ended up as the promoter in
charge of Memphis, Louisville, Lexington and Evansville while still
part of NWA Mid-America. While Nick Gulas who had been the primary
booker promoted the other half of the territory. A dispute arose
between
Nick Gulas and Jerry Jarrett.
Many of the wrestlers in the promotion were upset at Nick Gulas for
over booking Nick’s son
George Gulas in the
extremely profitable Memphis half of the territory. George Gulas
was not built very well at all, he was tall and lanky but physical
build was something which was not all that important to the fans in
the area, but he was also not a great worker. It was very hard to
believe, even for wrestling fans used to poor built wreslters, that
George could regularly beat his larger more experienced foes.
George was given matches and wins over long time veterans of the
territory without "paying his dues". Unlike
Greg Gagne the son of legendary
promoter
Verne Gagne, George just was
not very believable. It was nepotism at its worst. However this was
not all that uncommon in pro wrestling. The problem was that George
just did not have
the "it" factor that
it takes to draw "heat". This started the rift, and eventually
Jarrett decided to go his own way. Jarrett decided to break away
starting competing cards at the Cook Convetion Center in March
1977. Nick Gulas who lived in Nashville eventually made "Music
City" his home base running weekly cards at the Fairgrounds and all
over Middle Tennessee. Originally Gulas was backed by many of the
areas top draws but Jerry Jarrett had two aces up his sleeve. First
he was backed by
Jerry “The King”
Lawler. Lawler had just toppled Jackie Fargo as the headliner
of the area, and second was that with Lawler he had Memphis.
Memphis was clearly the hot spot for the territory. Gulas did
attempt to run shows in Memphis for some time but without the
headliner, Lawler, he could not compete. The split between Gulas
and Jarrett created the Continental Wrestling Association as a
totally separate promotion run by Jarrett. In 1980 after only three
years, the Gulas territory folded when Nick Gulas retired and the
CWA took over some of the more profitable locations including
Nashville and Louisville.
NWA affiliate
After the split from Nick Gulas, the CWA became a National
Wrestling Alliance affiliate, which entitled the CWA to NWA World
Heavyweight Championship defenses. The champion would regularly
tour through the territory defending the title against top
contenders. With the World champion being a “traveling champion”
the main title of the CWA was the Southern Heavyweight Title, which
was nominally sanctioned by the NWA (into 1978) or the AWA
(beginning in 1978).
The
cornerstone of the CWA was the weekly Monday night shows from the
Mid-South
Coliseum
in Memphis, where the cards regularly drew full
houses. These shows were repeated in some form weekly in
Louisville and Nashville (on Saturday nights). Having three major
shows at all three cities, and additional shows through other towns
in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Northern Alabama
made the promotion loads of green into the early 1990s. These shows
showcased a series of legendary wrestlers as they made their way
through the Memphis territory; future superstars such as
Hulk Hogan performed there before the birth of
Hulkamania, as well as NWA headliners such as
Harley Race,
Terry
Funk,
Jack Brisco, and
Ric Flair. A who's who of wrestling superstars
made visits to the area usually to face Lawler. While Lawler was
oftentimes a "heel" or bad guy wrestler he was still the "home
team." No matter what dirty tricks the "King" had played on the
locals when an out of town wrestler would surface Lawler was
cheered. For a while Lawler was managed by an old high school pal
Jimmy Hart. That was until Lawller broke
his leg in a backyard football game. During Lawler's absence, Hart
proclaimed Paul Ellering as the "New King" of wrestling. When
Lawler returned he engaged in the promotions biggest war.
The biggest run of the promotion was the Jerry Lawler,
Jimmy Hart feud which would last throughout the
80s. Jimmy Hart's "first family" included dozens of wrestlers who
Hart brought in to face Lawler. Included in this list were
The Iron Sheik, The Dream Machine, The
Nightmares,
Eddie Gilbert,
Ken Patera,
Jesse
Ventura,
Hulk Hogan,
Bugsy McGraw,
Kevin
Sullivan,
Bobby Eaton, "Killer Tim
Brooks",
Paul Ellering, and countless
others. The feud ended when Hart was signed by the
WWE and Lawler won a match against Eddie Gilbert in
which the stipulation was Hart leaving the territory.
The
federation also aired live Saturday-morning wrestling cards from
the studios of WMC-TV
in Memphis,
hosted by Lance Russell and Dave Brown. In the
territorial era of wrestling many local promotions had huge ratings
with their wrestling shows, but none of them topped the ratings for
the weekly CWA show which drew previously unheard of shares behind
the strength of Lawler's local popularity.
Throughout the late 70s, 80s and into the early 90s, Jerry Lawler
also engaged in bitter top of the card feuds with
Dutch Mantell,
Robert
Fuller, The
Mongolian Stomper,
Bruiser Brody,
Jimmy Valiant,
Austin
Idol,
Rocky Johnson,
Tommy Rich,
Randy
Savage,
Rick Rude (Known as Rick Rood
then), and
Bill Dundee among others.
These men were on and off again partners to Lawler. One week they
were allies the next week they were feuding. Of all the Lawler foes
Bill Dundee was probably his most bitter rival. The "Superstar" was
easily the second biggest draw behind Lawler, despite his short
frame, Dundee's charisma made him a draw. Fans were nearly split in
the area as who they would cheer for no matter which wrestler was
the "good guy."
The Mid-South Coliseum also played host to one of the most famous
angles not only in the CWA but in all of wrestling, an angle that
would get nation wide exposure on
Late Night with David
Letterman.
Andy Kaufman comes to Memphis
In the early 1980s, Andy Kaufman would routinely wrestle women
during his shows, soon proclaiming himself the “Intergender
Wrestling Champion” where he would offer women $1000 if they could
beat him. As part of this performance, Kaufman would imply that
these matches were “real” and thus also imply that professional
wrestling was not “real”, which countered the sacrosanct belief of
fans in that era that wrestling was "real".
Kaufman even started appearing on the Mid-South Coliseum shows
wrestling women in the undercard matches, and after winning Kaufman
would berate the Memphis crowd and proclaim his own greatness in
the sport. He even went so far as to claim that no woman could beat
him and if they did – he would marry that woman. Enter Jerry
Lawler, proud defender of wrestling and angry at Andy Kaufman for
mocking the sport that made him a star, so he decided to coach one
of Kaufman’s opponents. Kaufman still won despite Lawler’s coaching
and gloated like it was going out of style, until Lawler had enough
and pushed Kaufman, sending the comedian on a tirade.
The fans loved every second of it, watching the local star defend
the sport against the arrogant actor from Hollywood. When the
inevitable Lawler/Kaufman match was finally held, the Mid-South
Coliseum was packed to the rafters. The delighted fans saw Lawler
execute two
Piledrivers
(a move that was "banned" in Memphis) after which Kaufman was
carried out of the arena on a stretcher (kayfabe). The following
day several newspapers reported that Kaufman had in fact broken his
neck.
Several weeks later, Kaufman returned to the Mid-South Coliseum
wearing a neck brace, and the skinny comedian vowed to get even
with Lawler no matter what. The feud got national exposure in
several newspapers after Kaufman’s supposed injury, and it would
get even more press after Kaufman discussed it on
Saturday Night Live. But that was
just a preview of things to come.
On
July 27,
1982,
Kaufman and Lawler were guests of
David
Letterman on
Late Night with David
Letterman. Kaufman still wore the neck collar to indicate
that he still had not gotten over the brutal match five months
earlier. After the two argued back and forth, Lawler got fed up,
stood up and then slapped the comedian out of his chair and off the
stage. Kaufman responded by throwing a cup of coffee on Lawler and
then storming off while cursing up a storm.
The wild antics of Lawler and Kaufman made the NBC network
executives uneasy, believing that the hatred between the two was
real and that mayhem could break out at any time. Kaufman and
Lawler would keep claiming that their hatred was real, that their
actions were real and that they would maim one another if they got
the chance. Kaufman and Lawler's famous feud and wrestling matches
were later revealed to have been a staged "
work", as the two were
actually friends. The truth about it being a work was kept secret
for more than 10 years after Kaufman's death, until the Emmy
nominated documentary
A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman
aired on
NBC in 1995. Coincidentally,
Jim Carrey is the one who reveals the secret, and
would later go on to play Kaufman in the 1999 film
Man on the Moon. In a 1997
interview with the
Memphis Flyer, Lawler claimed he had
improvised during their first match and the Letterman incident.
Although officials at St. Francis Hospital stated that Kaufman's
neck injuries were real, in his 2002 biography "It's Good to Be the
King...Sometimes," Lawler detailed how they came up with the
angle and
kept it quiet. He also said that Kaufman's explosion on Letterman
was the comedian's own idea.
AWA affiliation
At the end of 1982, Jerry Lawler had seemingly won the
American Wrestling
Association World Title from
Nick
Bockwinkel, but due to the match's controversial ending, the
title was returned to Bockwinkel with a rematch scheduled for
January 1983. On the night of the match, manager
Jimmy Hart showed up in Bockwinkel’s corner, face
bandaged after being beaten up by Lawler in December. Near the end
of the match a familiar face showed up – Jimmy Hart. In the
confusion Bockwinkel managed to win the match after which Andy
Kaufman unwrapped the bandages to reveal the ploy, thus reigniting
Lawler’s feud with Kaufman. The Lawler/Kaufman feud would end in
the early part of 1983 after Jerry Lawler threw a fireball at
Kaufman, ending his run with the CWA. After Kaufman left, Lawler
refocused his efforts on Jimmy Hart and his
First Family
stable.
Lawler challenging for the World title and almost winning it was a
recurring theme throughout the mid-1980s, with neither the AWA nor
the NWA being willing to actually put their main title on Lawler.
The NWA World title was not defended very often in the Memphis
area, usually touring with companies that had more political clout
in the Alliance, which meant that the CWA actually featured the AWA
World champion more regularly than the group of which they were
actually dues-paying members. In 1986, Jarrett broke off from the
NWA with their titles either being renamed “AWA” and/or the "NWA"
prefix was simply dropped (i.e. the NWA/AWA Southern title became
solely the AWA Southern title) and the AWA World Champion was the
only really recognized World champion in the federation. In 1988,
plans were set in motion to actually merge the AWA and the CWA into
one federation in an attempt to counter the
World Wrestling Federation’s
national expansion. The federation was renamed the
Championship Wrestling Association in late-1987
when Jerry Lawler began co-promoting with Jarrett. Subsequently,
all singles titles in the CWA (
AWA Southern,
CWA/AWA International and
NWA Mid-America
Heavyweight) were merged in order to recognize one CWA
Heavyweight Champion.
On
May 9,
1988 in Memphis,
Jerry Lawler took on the reigning
AWA World Champion
Curt Hennig and won the title. As the
year went on the AWA/CWA alliance was expanded to include the
World Class Wrestling
Association out of Texas, with a title unification match set
for the AWA’s first (and only)
pay-per-view,
AWA SuperClash III. Lawler won
both titles in controversial fashion—the match was stopped due to
excessive blood loss from
Kerry Von
Erich -- and was declared the “Unified World Champion”,
cementing his claim by carrying the AWA, CWA and WCCW titles with
him.
Due to controversies following the PPV, the CWA (and WCCW) broke
off their relationship with the AWA and Lawler was stripped of the
AWA World title. In retaliation, Lawler kept the physical AWA World
Heavyweight championship belt for not getting his payoff for
SuperClash III.
The end of an era
After the cooperative attempt with the AWA failed, Jerry Jarrett
bought WCCW from the Von Erichs and unified the two promotions as
the
United States
Wrestling Association in 1989, thus ending the era of
Continental Wrestling Association.
CWA alumni
The list of wrestlers that had short stints in the CWA is too
extensive to list. The list below is a partial list of CWA
regulars, guys who stayed around for a good period of time, made a
name for themselves or got reestablished in Memphis.
Singles wrestlers
Tag teams
CWA titles
Literary references
The CWA has been referred to in several wrestling biographies, most
prominently in co-owner Jerry Lawler's
It's Good to Be the
King... Sometimes ((2003) ISBN 0-7434-5767-6
Autobiography)
Notes
- Jeff
Jarrett and Ricky Morton were the first and only CWA
Tennessee Tag Team Champions, the title was retired sometime after
they defeated Brickhouse Brown and King Parsons on July 24 1989 in Memphis, Tennessee to win the title.
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