Mid 20th Century
36-607: 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
72-488: A heart attack later that year after a match versus Ox Baker in Savannah, Georgia . The death set off some internal problems, with Ray's widow Ann, who had worked closely with Ray and expected to get her share of the promotion being shut out in favor of Bill Watts , with the promotion being renamed "Mid-South Sports." Ann Gunkel decided to start her own promotion outside of the National Wrestling Alliance , which she named
108-555: A best-seller. On March 29, 2008, Jim Ross posthumously inducted Solie into the WWE Hall of Fame in the Class of 2008; appearing on Solie's behalf were his five children, Pam, Danise, Jonard, Eric and Greg. Later the same year WWE's WWE Classics on Demand video service began offering The Film Room with Gordon Solie , hosted by Ross, focusing on Solie's announcing and interviewing of a specific wrestler or group of wrestlers involved in
144-508: A match booker , who also wrestled as Ole Anderson . This move set the stage for an important move in wrestling history, involving another regional promoter: Vince McMahon . In July 1984, the Brisco brothers sold their stock in GCW to McMahon for $ 900,000. In return McMahon received GCW's television time slots on WTBS, which McMahon then claimed for his WWF, which was in the midst of expanding into
180-620: A national promotion. McMahon also guaranteed jobs with the WWF for the Briscos; Gerald Brisco remained with the WWF/WWE for decades before retiring in 2009. After working out a few prior commitments, Georgia Championship Wrestling ceased to exist. GCW announcer Freddie Miller was the only member of the original GCW on-air cast who neither quit in protest nor was replaced by the new owner. McMahon had underestimated two major factors, however. The first
216-756: A ring announcer, making $ 5 a night emceeing weekly shows in the Tampa Bay area, learning about the sport from John Heath, Eddie Graham , and Don Curtis . He soon began working for Championship Wrestling from Florida, and in 1960, he moved into the broadcast booth to become the lead announcer for CWF's Saturday morning television shows, a spot he would occupy for the next quarter-century. During that time, he commentated on matches featuring some of pro wrestling's biggest legends, including WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes , The Brisco Brothers and Dory Funk Jr ., among numerous others. Solie rose to national prominence when Superstation WTBS began broadcasting pro wrestling, and
252-574: A wink. In 1987, a board game, Gordon Solie's Championship Wrestling Trivia Game, was released by Sports Entertainment International, Inc. Solie eventually entered wrestling myth, and often stayed out of angles , but lots of them became historic once he was involved; one such angle was in Georgia when the Magnificent Muraco confronted Solie, threatening to hurt him. Solie's broadcast partner Roddy Piper saved Solie, turning babyface in
288-479: A young age. His mother then remarried and her new husband adopted Gordon at the age of four. He attended Southwest High School in Minneapolis, where he chose radio as a major and went by the nickname "Josie". He ran the school PA system and participated in several high school productions and drama workshops at local radio stations. He moved to Tampa, Florida, in the 1950s after completing military service in
324-442: Is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling . "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within the convention of the show , the company is a sports governing body which sanctions wrestling matches and gives authority to the championships and is responsible for maintaining the divisions and their rankings. In truth,
360-855: The National Wrestling Alliance , act as an umbrella organization which governs titles that are shared among multiple promotions. During the 1950s, the National Wrestling Alliance oversaw many wrestling territories such as Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and NWA San Francisco , in a business model known as the "territory system". This is a list of the most notable past and present professional wrestling promotions. Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct (Modern-era) Defunct (Territory-era) Active Defunct Gordon Solie Gordon Solie (born Francis Jonard Labiak , later Jonard Pierre Sjoblom , January 26, 1929 – July 27, 2000)
396-567: The United States Air Force . Early in his career, Solie worked as a stringer . He learned about stock car racing by competing as an amateur chauffeur on Florida's Suncoast and announcing outdoors at tracks around the United States. He conducted radio interviews with other stock car drivers and boxers, and in his spare time, visited libraries to learn about the human anatomy. Solie began his pro wrestling career as
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#1732783416197432-406: The "All-South Wrestling Alliance." Mid-South Sports's longterm prospects were not good at that point, most of their wrestlers had gone with Ann, and Ann's promotion had gotten Mid-South's television time slot, though both promotions aired on WTCG. (Ted Turner and Ann Gunkel had both attended Brown University and were rumored to be romantically involved.) After two years of strife, a trouble-shooter
468-535: The 1970s until 1984 when its timeslot was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation . Georgia Championship Wrestling was formed in Atlanta in 1944 by promoter Paul Jones (retired wrestler Andrew Lutzi, not Paul Frederik who later was given the name) as ABC Booking. ABC held its matches at Atlanta's Municipal Auditorium on Friday evenings. Jones operated ABC for thirty years until his retirement in 1974, though from about 1970 until 1972 he
504-568: The Universal Wrestling Federation) in 1987. When JCP ran into financial difficulty, Turner Broadcasting took over the promotion in November 1988 to keep the programming on its network, naming the new subsidiary World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after the title of its then-flagship program. In 2001, the WWF purchased the assets and trademarks belonging to WCW, including the entire tape libraries of GCW and JCP. While
540-521: The WWF purchased the tape library in 2001, the trademarks owned by businessman Grady Odom still remain active. After several reunion-style events, the intellectual property of Georgia Championship Wrestling was transferred to promoter Chris Nelms in 2020, and the resurrection of GCW began as events have been held across central Georgia. General Specific Professional wrestling promotion 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s A professional wrestling promotion
576-540: The WWF-produced series, which garnered lower ratings than previously, Turner began giving time slots to other southern wrestling promotions. Ole Anderson continued to operate on a smaller scale in the territory, promoting Championship Wrestling from Georgia out of Atlanta, which briefly aired on TBS Saturday mornings. Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling , which operated in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi,
612-577: The company serves as a touring theatre troupe , as well as event promotion body for its own events. Most promotions are self-contained, organized around one or more championships and do not acknowledge or recognize the legitimacy of other promotions' titles unless they share a working agreement. Governing bodies, such as the CyberFight , United Wrestling Network , WWNLive , Allied Independent Wrestling Federations , Union of European Wrestling Alliances, Pro Wrestling International and, previously,
648-512: The disease on July 27, 2000, at the age of 71. His wife Eileen (known to friends as "Smokey") had died three years before, also from cancer. In 2005, Florida Media, Inc. published a collection of Solie's short stories and poetry in Gordon Solie ... Something Left Behind . Solie was survived by his five children Pam, Jonard, Denise, Greg, and Eric. In 2005, Solie's posthumously released memoir Gordon Solie ... Something Left Behind became
684-417: The exposure helped him branch out, leading to Solie working for promotions in Georgia, Alabama and Puerto Rico. A technique that Solie used was when he wasn't speaking words into a microphone, he actually recorded them on paper for remembering. Much of his fame stems from the gravelly sound of his voice calling the in-ring action and his unique lingo, and is often called "The Walter Cronkite of Wrestling" or
720-690: The persona in which they were working. Following the folding of CWF in 1987, Solie returned to Georgia and became one of the lead announcers for the NWA ( National Wrestling Alliance ) later WCW television programs. Solie was once asked to join the World Wrestling Federation but declined the offer as the company wanted him to wear a tuxedo. Solie also worked for the Continental Wrestling Federation and USA Championship Wrestling based out of Knoxville. That
756-413: The process. According to wrestling lore, Solie had wrestlers that he was interviewing place him in holds so he could understand them better and call them more realistically, because he wanted to learn how it felt to be on the defensive end of a hold. He also made a point to never learn a wrestler or manager's real name because he wanted to avoid making the mistake of calling someone by any name other than
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#1732783416197792-486: The product, saying it was a “damn shame” that wrestlers had turned into ‘roid freaks and lamented the lack of respect for the history of the business. Solie's last announcing job was to be the Heroes of Wrestling pay-per-view in 1999, but he could not attend due to failing health. He was diagnosed with cancer soon after his retirement, and in the late-1990s, his vocal chords were removed due to throat cancer . He died of
828-510: 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 . Many of the NWA's regional promoters were unhappy, but Barnett claimed since he was only using Georgia-based wrestlers, that there was no harm. Whether or not Barnett was in fact taking
864-496: The promotion national is a matter of dispute. Some wrestlers, such as Roddy Piper , say that he was in fact doing so, but was prevented by fears of crossing organized crime figures involved with the sport. Throughout the 1970s, Georgia Championship Wrestling was one of the main shows that kept the Superstation alive. In 1982, Georgia Championship Wrestling changed its main programming name to World Championship Wrestling at
900-563: 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
936-479: The request of Ted Turner. GCW also expanded its reach into parts of Ohio and Michigan which were considered "open territory" at the time. A January 1983 show in Dayton, Ohio, was the first show held in that city in five years. A power struggle in late 1983 forced Barnett to sell most of his shares in GCW to a consortium consisting of wrestlers and brothers Jack Brisco and Gerald Brisco ; Paul Jones; and Al Rogowski,
972-465: 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, and change its call letters to WTBS in 1979, ultimately becoming the national TBS cable channel. The new television deal would be one of Gunkel's last decisions. Ray Gunkel died of
1008-553: The “Howard Cosell of Wrestling." He sometimes is credited for popularizing the term "Pier-Six Brawl" to describe a wild brawl, and was also notorious for noting when a bloodied superstar was "wearing a crimson mask." His oft-imitated signature call of a suplex as a "su-play." His signature sign-off was: "So long from the Sunshine State (or if working in Georgia, "So long from the Peach State of Georgia,") followed by
1044-424: Was a natural transition for "The Dean," who had also been Georgia Championship Wrestling 's lead announcer before it became a subsidiary of NWA/WCW. He remained there until his eventual retirement in 1995; the last event he appeared in was the 1995 Slamboree . Solie had also worked for New Japan Wrestling as a commentator for overseas tapes and videos. Following his retirement from the sport, he started to dislike
1080-447: Was an American Florida -based professional wrestling play-by-play announcer working for Georgia Championship Wrestling , Championship Wrestling from Florida , USA Championship Wrestling, Continental Championship Wrestling , and World Championship Wrestling . He is regarded by many as one of the greatest and most influential wrestling announcers. Solie was born on January 29, 1929, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His parents divorced at
1116-459: Was assisted by his booker Ray Gunkel . Jones was so infirm by this time (he died in 1988) that Gunkel effectively ran the promotion. 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
Georgia Championship Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue
1152-482: Was called in: Jim Barnett , who had owned promotions in Indiana , Michigan , Ohio , Colorado and Australia . (The Australian promotion was called World Championship Wrestling .) At this point, Ann's promotion went downhill, being locked out of arena dates, with wrestlers defecting to Mid-South, and finally Ann Gunkel's All-South Wrestling Alliance folded in 1974. When WTCG became distributed via satellite in 1976,
1188-606: Was given the Sunday evening time slot previously used by GCW that the WWF did not take. Eventually, on March 30, 1985, McMahon sold the Saturday night time slot to Jim Crockett, Jr. , a Charlotte, North Carolina –based promoter who ran NWA-branded shows in the Mid-Atlantic states. Jim Crockett Promotions took over production of the Saturday television show using the same set. JCP purchased Watts's promotion (by then renamed
1224-421: Was mainly used as a re-cap show, featuring matches which had previously aired on the WWF's main programming such as WWF Championship Wrestling and WWF All-Star Wrestling . This angered WTBS owner Ted Turner, who believed McMahon reneged on a promise to have live matches originating from Turner Broadcasting System 's Atlanta studios. As a result of dissatisfaction by the audience and Ted Turner himself with
1260-473: 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
1296-509: Was the differences in tastes between fanbases of different geographical regions. The WWF's style of wrestling sharply differed from that of GCW, with the WWF featuring cartoonish characters and storylines and squash matches and GCW featuring more athletic competition. Secondly, Southerners resented the symbolism of a " Yankee " company coming down from the North and "taking over" their wrestling. In addition, WWF World Championship Wrestling
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